Office of Technology Services. Annual Report Strategic Alignment. Service Excellence. Innovation. IT Security. IT Foundation.

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1 Annual Report Strategic Alignment Service Excellence Innovation IT Security IT Foundation Communication OTiS, the Office of Technology Services Team s friendly little helper is always on duty. Whether keeping a watchful eye out for cyber-criminals or providing helpful information and services to our customers, OTiS is ready to lend a helping hand paw. Office of Technology Services

2 Introduction The Office of Technology Services (OTS) is proud to release our Third IT Annual Report. Our purpose in publishing this annual report is to offer transparency and insight regarding OTS activities to the customers we support. Link Alander, Vice Chancellor and CIO The report provides a high level review of the past year s accomplishments, as well as statistics and facts about our day-today operations. While it doesn t list all of the 497 projects completed in , the report does highlight those with a substantial system-wide impact. In addition, this year we have highlighted our project management practices, along with project capacity. The report also provides insight into how OTS is funded along with our stewardship of the resources provided. And finally, we conclude with a look into the coming year and what customers can expect from OTS next. While we strive to provide the best possible service to you faculty, staff and students our customers, we also strive to be better citizens and look Beyond IT. From scholarships to food drives the OTS family looks for ways to support our students and community. We hope you find our annual report useful and informative. Link Introduction... 1 Our IT Environment... 2 Strategic Alignment... 3 Service Excellence... 5 Innovation... 7 IT Security IT Foundation Communication Project Management Budget Looking Forward Beyond IT - The OTS Scholarship Campaign Funding in progress 50% met Funding in progress 49% met Funding in progress 45% met Funding in progress 48% met Funding in progress 48% met $15,000 Fully Funded Funding in progress 50% met $7, $7, $6, $7, $7, $7, LSC-CyFair Goal: $15,000 LSC-Kingwood Goal: $15,000 LSC-Montgomery Goal: $15,000 LSC-North Harris Goal: $15,000 LSC-Tomball Goal: $15,000 LSC-University Park Goal: $30,000 $15,000 Fully Funded Funding in progress 86% met $12, $15,000 Fully Funded Funding in progress <1% met Four scholarships have been fully funded. $15,000 Fully Funded $15,000 Fully Funded $15,000 Fully Funded Funding in progress 25% met In 4 years, OTS has raised $151, % of OTS employees contribute to scholarships through payroll deduction. $3, Veterans in Technology Goal: $30,000 $ Women in Technology Goal: $30,000 System Goal: $60,000 1

3 Our IT Environment workforce years average years of IT experience per OTS employee 150 industry certifications held by OTS employees 128 OTS employees are IT Service Management certified infrastructure 16 virtual data centers 3.6 Petabytes total replicated storage in LSC private cloud 0.2 Petabytes more than last year 6 college server rooms 38 TB RAM in the private cloud 2 main data centers 6.3 Thz total processing power 0.8 Thz more than last year learning space 4,924 total number of rooms containing technology system-wide smart classrooms 2% increase in tech-enabled classrooms since last year computer labs for students hardware 16,866 computers supported 2,017 cloud desktops 1,845 printers supported 1,715 virtual desktops deployed fall semester preparation 1,381,509 Microsoft patches completed from 2,244 updates 35,526 unique programs installed 3,580 computers replaced as part of hardware refresh program 2

4 Strategic Alignment Work on what matters most OTS has two types of Strategic Alignment initiatives. The first set of initiatives is derived from Lone Star College s Strategic Plan and the colleges strategic plans for All of the objectives have a technology component and are a joint effort between OTS and system and college leadership. The second set of initiatives reflects objectives Lone Star College is pursuing at a system-wide level as identified by the Chancellor's Cabinet. These objectives may have some overlap with those in the first set, but are sufficiently distinct to warrant inclusion as separate initiatives. Planning for 2016 As we near the last half of 2015, we are reflecting on the ways in which we have met and/or exceeded the strategic plans for Lone Star College and the Office of Technology Services. OTS is currently awaiting the new Strategic Plan for Lone Star College as well as those for each college. Preparations are already under way to devise a new set of initiatives to reflect how OTS will assist in pursuing the system-wide goals. 3

5 Did you know? "Class Search" is the most visited site in mylonestar. EDUC 1300 Student Survey During the Fall 2014 semester, all EDUC 1300 students were surveyed regarding their technology use. The results of the survey show that the vast majority of our students, 93%, have access to both a computer and the Internet at their home. Additionally, incoming LSC students are utilizing smartphones, laptops, and tablets on campus to text, , research, and listen to music. 4,142 students participated in our online survey What did we learn? Mobile devices brought to campus by students daily smartphone laptop tablet 93% of students have a computer at home 94% 43% 20% While on campus, students use their mobile devices for a variety of functions including, but not limited to: texting browsing the internet taking pictures or video 95% of students have internet access at home 78% of students use the wireless network when on campus reading and sending listening to music checking current events using social networking sites playing games personal banking 4

6 Service Excellence Continuously improve The OTS Service Excellence initiatives focus on enhancing and expanding existing OTS-provided technology services. The OTS team is focused on student success by promoting classroom innovation, standardization, technology services that are identified by our customers and the measurement of those services, exceptional customer support and system-wide purchasing to reduce costs and increase efficiencies. OTS team's service responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Develop policies and procedures for college operations Establish enterprise-wide hardware standards Continually update, according to established standards, computer equipment to ensure customers have the computing resources they need Provide exceptional support for computing classrooms, labs and offices Provide A/V support Ensure that the administration, management, and support of istar is performed for installations, testing, research and deployment of new solution modules, upgrades, bundles/fixes, any customizations/changes, security and accessibility, multiple integration points with in-house and third party applications, and second level technical support for Business Owners/Units Earning Certifications The OTS Service Desk was awarded the HDI Team Certified Award for its commitment to service excellence through the adoption of best practices and the acquisition of enhanced skills and knowledge. Eighty-five percent of our Lone Star College OTS Service Desk agents became certified over the summer, earning them the HDI Team Certified Award. And as of the end of FY2015, 100% of our service desk agents are now certified. 5

7 Did you know? The OTS Service Desk Customer Service Rating is 4.6 out of 5 stars. Providing Premiere Software Starting in the fall of 2014, Lone Star College was able to offer all of our students and employees the ability to download Office 365 for free. We upgraded all LSC-owned computers to Office 2013 throughout the semester, so employees now have the ability to download Office 365 at home and get the same user experience they have at work. And for both students and employees, this allows them to use Office applications on their mobile devices. They can download it on up to five personal devices, so they can have the same applications on their smartphone, tablet, laptop and desktop. This agreement with Microsoft also allows every student and employee to have 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage. Students can utilize the tool to store and share their files with their classroom team members when working on team projects. During summer 2014, Lone Star College finalized a system-wide license with Adobe to allow all of our employees the ability to purchase an annual subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud at home for a drastically lowered cost than what is usually offered at the education rate. Faculty and staff that have not had the ability to learn these programs on their own, limited by the high cost of Adobe products, have expressed enthusiasm at now having the ability to learn and use these products at home. Team members that already use the products on their work computers, now can use it at home as well. And those that do not use it at work, but have expressed an interest in learning the software, can now do so. We have received many notes and calls of appreciation from employees for this new service. Tracking Progress and Capturing Knowledge Our IT service management tool, ServiceNow, continues to grow to support more and more parts of our institution. We have been consolidating applications to increase interoperability, thus giving us better analytics. Virtually all of our IT projects are now tracked within ServiceNow and dashboards are provided to give everyone a high-level view of the progress of each project and highlight any that may be delayed so they can be addressed right away. Also, within ServiceNow, we are finalizing a Knowledge Management process to capture the knowledge of our team members so it may be archived and shared across locations as well as with our customers. Knowledge articles will be created either from existing incident tickets or from scratch, edited by subject matter experts and published to the Knowledge Base within our ServiceNow IT service management tool. The team will capture internal processes to be shared internally with other OTS team members as well as publish external self-help articles for Faculty, Staff, and Students to help them address typical issues themselves before needing to engage the OTS Service Desk ,560 Service Desk tickets opened average speed to answer an incoming call 36 sec. compared to 1 min. 12 sec. last year 2x faster average time a caller is on the phone 3 min. 39 sec. IT issues are resolved on first contact with the OTS Service Desk 80% of the time Percentage of customers who said they were satisifed with the level of service they recieved 98%

8 Innovation Put great ideas into play The OTS Innovation initiatives advance the organization in the innovative use of technology to meet Lone Star College s unique challenges and needs. The following initiatives advance the organization in the innovative use of technology to meet Lone Star College s unique challenges and needs. Maximize involvement of Technology Advisory Councils (TACs) in IT decision making Improve the Chancellor s Faculty Technology Innovation Grant (CFTIG) process Encourage innovation in IT Support college-led innovation If You Build It, They Will Come When planning a new center or college, or planning the renovation of an existing site, administrators want the ability to see all of the options that are available across the system and what the estimated cost is to outfit each type of room from a standard classroom to a custom collaborative space. Because these initiatives were faculty-led and faculty-driven, there are different collaborative classroom configurations across the system. Some classrooms are outfitted with networked monitors and workstations around the room, while others use more cost efficient portable Smartboards that students may be using in the workplace. Others include a set of ipads to use for classwork activities. The book details what hardware and equipment is provided by Technology Services and what elements, such as cooling and power, are the responsibility of Facilities so they know what teams to address when planning a space. Our collaborative classrooms are in high-demand by our faculty, who are coming up with more and more ways to utilize these classroom configurations to increase student participation, knowledge sharing, and team work. Because the initiatives were faculty-led, faculty-driven, there are different collaborative classroom configurations across the system classrooms that are outfitted with networked monitors and workstations around the room, classrooms that use more cost efficient portable Smartboards that students may be using in the workplace, and classrooms that have a set of ipads to use for classwork activities. Contributing to the Higher Ed-IT Profession Lone Star College s Office of Technology Services received important recognitions this past year. First, the Center for Digital Education awarded honors to Lone Star College for the fourth straight year in its annual Digital Community Colleges Survey. The survey recognizes colleges for their innovative uses of technology to achieve first-rate student learning environments. These classrooms offer an extremely collaborative environment where students can bring their own devices, or use LSC-supplied devices, to connect to a workgroup shared display so the whole workgroup can collaborate in real-time. The unique approach has proven very popular and enlightening with faculty, especially adjuncts. OTS leaders represented Lone Star College throughout the year by presenting at regional and national higher education conferences on a range of topics including: IT strategic planning Governance Agility Virtual desktops Cloud computing 7

9 Did you know? mylonestar Mobile had 12.8 million total page views in the last 12 months College Technology Advisory Council (C-TAC) Grant Recipients The following projects are just a few of the highly innovative C-TAC grant recipients for : Bringing Together Past and Present Music Equipment This grant is allowing the LSC-CyFair music department to integrate old and new technologies to give students hands-on experience with both analog and digital technology they can expect to see in studios. Equipment is being purchased to allow analog boards to communicate and be integrated with digital equipment and computers, which will allow recording from rooms throughout the building into the computer in one of the classrooms. Enabling a BYOD Learning Atmosphere This grant has provided funding to LSC-Tomball to purchase and install collaboration tables, huddle-boards, and a whiteboard for a collaboration/bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom. Students are encouraged to bring their mobile devices to use in the classroom as tools to share and collaborate with others. Providing Groundbreaking Technology This grant gave the Visual Communications Department at LSC- North Harris the ability to obtain upcoming, groundbreaking technology the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality headset. This equipment will benefit students in the Game Design and Animation tracks, making the programs more attractive to potential students as well as give them the opportunity to develop content for the latest industry technology. Utilizing ipads in Clinical Settings This grant increases the effectiveness of tracking student clinical progress by providing ipads for use in student clinical courses. The goal is to encourage innovation in IT as well as support college-led innovation. The ipads will be used by students for documentation and record-keeping, can be used to facilitate teaching while at clinical, and to pilot an electronic clinical documentation system called Trajecsys. Creating Real-Life Laboratories This grant provided equipment for the Honors Chemistry Laboratory to provide the opportunity for honors chemistry students to work in a real-life laboratory setting, such as those they will encounter in the workplace. The equipment purchased includes a micro-centrifuge, chiller, freezer, and Protean i12 IEF System. Enhancing Tutoring with Technology This grant is aimed at obtaining new technology resources and equipment for qualified tutors to assist traditional and non-traditional students in gaining a broader perspective of what is being taught in the classroom. A collaboration of four components will be implemented at one of the Tutoring Centers to assist students in reaching their maximum level of mastery in their classes. The four components consist of: A multimedia web-based program called Glogster EDU that allows tutors or instructors to create learning tools to enhance the knowledge and skills of the students. SOLID Professor web-based CAD education resource tool that is designed to give engineering students a reference to help increase their knowledge and understanding of SolidWorks and AutoDesk. A Smart Document Camera with Mixed Reality Tools to assist students in the areas of Biology, Math, and AutoCad. Students will be able to work on projects in 3D form, as well as manipulate objects. The Camtasia Studio 8 screen recording and video editing program will give tutors the ability to create professional tutorial videos by recording screen movements and actions. The resulting interactive videos will have click-able links, tables of contents, search capabilities, and more for their students. 8

10 Innovation Put great ideas into play Supporting Great Ideas We also financially support our faculty members great ideas. In addition to projects that are funded through our regular annual budget planning process, the Office of Technology Services provides up to $550,000/year to fund innovative academic initiatives across our system. Each of our six colleges is given $50k to spend on IT-related projects that impact teaching and learning. The selection process is rigorous and a cross-functional team selects the projects. For the sixth straight year, OTS also provides up to $250,000 for IT-related initiatives that must: 1) deliver an interdisciplinary, integrated learning experience for students and/or 2) enhance teaching and learning by promoting student engagement, success and/or student use of technology. Over the years we ve funded collaborative classrooms, ipadcentric curriculum, portable Smartboards, a solar-wind hybrid energy system, a SIM baby, digital microscopes, and virtual reality headsets. Additionally, we have partnered with our LSC-Online and Office of Analytics & Institutional Reporting teams to further support faculty by providing them with instructional designers and research analysts housed at every college to improve the instructional design, assessment, and reporting of their initiatives. For more information please visit: The following page lists the CFTIG Grants that were funded at the colleges this year. 9

11 Did you know? Lone Star College currently has 5,875 rooms containing technology system-wide. That's an average of almost 1,000 per college! Chancellor's Faculty Technology Innovation Grant (CFTIG) Recipients Cisco Academy Remote Access LSC-CyFair: Donna Ivey and LSC-Kingwood: Lisa Hall This grant will provide remote access to networking equipment to students in the Cisco Networking Academies to initially provide access to students who take CCNP or CCNA Security classes. However, the end goal is to expand access in order to offer fully online courses to give students who currently cannot attend face-to-face classes, due to work or family commitments, the ability to complete the program. M.A.S.S.S.P.E.C. - Molecular Analysis Supporting Supercritical CO2 & Soxhlet-Phycologically Extracted Crude Oil 5 Colleges, 10 Departments, Faculty Lead: Danny Kainer (LSC-Montgomery) This grant will fund the purchase of a mass spectrometer, a high resolution analytical instrument for oil and other complex substances. The equipment will integrate with existing systems in use and will add significant experiences in chemistry, physics, biology, geology and related courses to bring cuttingedge technology training and experiences to our students and establish Lone Star College as a national leader in STEM education. Lone Star College Astronomical Mobile Observatory LSC-Montgomery: Aaron Clevenson, John Wakefield and Kathleen Ensenat; and LSC-North Harris: Louis Jisonna, Jr. This grant will fund the purchase of a computerized 25-inch Dobsonian Telescope and a small cargo trailer to create a mobile observatory to be used with astronomy classes at LSC colleges and sites throughout the system. The large telescope enables students to see more faint deep space objects in greater detail and exposes them to modern controls and tools for locating these objects, significantly enhancing the learning experiences for students. Applied Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for Geospatial Analysis LSC-CyFair: Buck Buchanan & Michael Konvicka This grant will fund the purchase of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) commonly known as a drone, but in practical terms is a flying HD camera to be primarily used in Geography and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) courses. However, the UAV is broadly applicable to other disciplines that use aerial surveys for research, data collection, and analysis (e.g. Anthropology, Fire Science, Visual Communications, Biology and Environmental Sciences, Geology, etc.). Makerspace in Your Library LSC-North Harris: Norma Drepaul, David Puller, Ibrahim Elsamahy This grant will establish a Makerspace at the LSC-North Harris Library an incubation lab where people gather to work independently or collaboratively to create, design, invent, experiment, test, and prototype ideas or objects using equipment like 3D printers, small desktop CNC mills, robotics kits and design software. This initiative is a partnership between the library and three different disciplines at LSC-North Harris and is easily scalable to other libraries or learning centers across the system. BODYVIZ LSC-North Harris: Indrani Rajan and Mary Allen Digital Microscope Emulator LSC-Montgomery: Tom Lanthorn and Katheryn Gronlund This grant is for the development of an App that emulates a digital microscope and runs on a mobile device like an ipad. Currently, there are no off-the-shelf apps that have this functionality. This is a proof-of-concept project that, if successful, can be scaled system-wide to students in Biology, Microbiology, Anatomy & Physiology, and Biotechnology courses. 10 This grant will fund the purchase of BODYVIZ, a 3D visualization technology that uses actual human patient imaging and physiological data to build 3D images of organs, systems and pathologies. Students are able to do a fly through of the interior anatomy of a real human to isolate and render specific areas for further study. This technology is used in surgical planning in medical schools and also in osteopathic institutes across the country. Giving students this hands-on experience increases their engagement and success and prepares them for real-world patient care.

12 IT Security Protect our customers The OTS Security initiatives strengthen Lone Star College s security systems, processes and approach to identity management. Expand Identity Management systems and procedures Update IT security documentation Improve security procedures OTS highlights security issues to increase awareness and remind employees we each have a responsibility to protect Lone Star College s data. Projects to maintain a secure computing environment include updating encryption methods for collegeowned laptops, establishing an ID badge system, alerting customers to reported phishing attempts and encouraging all employees to alert the Service Desk when they come across a suspicious call or . Strengthening our Wireless Network During the last half of the fall 2014 semester, Lone Star College updated the wireless network across the entire system in order to improve security, keep up with demand, and to provide quality network services to support instruction and collaborative student work. The wireless network was configured with an SSID for students, faculty, and staff and one for guests. Faculty, staff, students, and visitors must now authenticate to the network in order to use it. An important part of this was the creation of our guest wireless account creation tool. Departments have the ability to create guest accounts for onetime (or short-term) use for individuals, or large groups who may be on location for events, such as job fairs. This allows us to ensure that only authorized parties are accessing the network, while also offering wireless access to community members. Championing Cyber Security Awareness Total s received 35,728,377 Fraudulent s blocked 6,865,796 Spam s quarantined 6,112,747 viruses blocked 3,581 3x more compared to x more compared to x more compared to This past year, Lone Star College became a Cyber Security Awareness Champion with OTS regularly tweets and posts security tips on digital signage, however, during Cyber Security Month (October) all students, faculty and staff were supplied with tips and information via messages and on our digital messaging system. Additionally, posters and other printed materials were supplied to the colleges and posted in prominent locations. For more information on Lone Star College's efforts to ensure cyber security, please visit 11

13 IT Foundation Build for innovation The OTS IT Foundation initiatives maintain Lone Star College s major systems and award-winning infrastructure to ensure it meets organizational technology needs. Improve use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system Extend IT Infrastructure/Network Enhance Private Cloud Expand use of collaboration tools Update current technology equipment standards Enhance IT project management Implement a new Learning Management System (LMS) Virtualizing Lone Star College is currently 98% virtualized in its server environment and has begun virtualizing desktops as well. Currently, we have approximately 1,800 virtualized desktop endpoints with an average of 450 concurrent users at any time. Our goal is to have 60% of our install base be VDI clients in the next two years. Our data centers were commissioned to support a hyper-density design by providing the capability to deliver 12 KW per liquid cooled rack, while reducing the PUE from 3.8 to a forecasted PUE of 1.4. This is accomplished by utilizing a liquid cooled rack design along with a modular UPS design that operate at 99.7% efficiency, compared to the previous 70% efficient UPS and 85% air conditioning. This is also accomplished by reducing the data centers' foot print by square footage. This accentuates Lone Star College s Green-IT initiatives by making our facilities one of the most efficient, high density data centers at a community college! Balancing Traffic Additionally, implementation of new F5 load balancers has allowed Lone Star College to better manage and make available applications that were not able to take advantage of these technologies in the past. We currently have Next-Gen firewalls, Palo Alto, in place to manage and monitor both inbound and outbound network traffic at a granular level pro-actively. Not only will this allow Lone Star College to better manage content and allow shaping of traffic to take priority, but it will also allow us to provide tighter security throughout our colleges and data centers by implementing policies and processes. Increasing Bandwidth Projects have been underway to continue to build on the high availability strategy adopted by Lone Star College. During fall 2014, we began updating our wireless network to improve security, keep up with demand, and to provide quality network services to support instruction and collaborative student work. All locations went live with new wireless network equipment in January, Replacement of network infrastructure will continue to occur in the next months to allow LSC to better align with industry and security practices. The wireless network was originally designed to support +/- 3,000 users, but the system was actually supporting +/-12,000 users, weighing down the bandwidth and slowing the system. All old Access Points that provided shared 100MB capability have been replaced with new Access Points that provide over 1GB shared capability and provide 1GB per device bandwidth. The system was upgraded to a ac standard, which provides a wider bandwidth and more spatial stream, downlink, and high-density modulation. Our next step, currently in the proof of concept stage, is to implement Log and Threat Management of the traffic that traverses the LSC network internally to monitor for malicious content and possible hacking attempts. This will give us the ability to respond real-time to any and all possible issues discovered on the network. 12 Storage capacity increased to 3.6 Petabytes (PB) from 3.4 PB last year.

14 Communication Connecting with our customers OTS considers client relations and communication a top priority, and we are always looking for ways to connect with our customers through our communications. These messages and images are tailored for their appropriate audience and then delivered in a variety of ways to meet the 7 C's of communication: Clear Concise Concrete Correct Coherent Complete Courteous OTS utilizes several channels of communication to help keep everyone in-the-know of technology changes and issues: Monthly Newsletter LoneStar.edu/OTS website Employee Intranet site RSS Feed mylonestar Portal Printed Collateral (fliers, posters, cards, etc.) Digital Messaging System Social Media Feeds Face-to-Face Meetings and Open Forums Introducing Our Little Pal, OTiS OTiS was the brain-child of Executive Director Marian Burkhart, who wanted to find a way to connect with customers on a personal level with a friendly, personable character. By using the Office of Technology Services acronym, OTS, and by adding "i" to the name, every OTS team member became a part of him. And who better than to represent a team of agile, enthusiastic team members that are always at-the-ready to help a customer, but an eager little terrier who always brings a smile to everyone's face. The first way we decided to utilize our new pal was to award an OTiS to a customer each month by holding a drawing from all the customers who submitted customer satisfaction surveys that month. Customer participation increased over 25% this year and 98% of customers responded they were satisfied with their service. We regularly hear from customers who are eager to share their feedback so they can win their very own OTiS to keep in their office as a reminder of the friendly team members in OTS. The types of information we communicate to customers include: Planned maintenance that will affect mission-critical services Unplanned outages of mission-critical services Announcements regarding new services or changes and their benefits to the organization Reminders about services that are available Helpful information and/or tips All communications to Faculty, Staff, and Students are drafted and reviewed by OTS Leadership prior to being sent so that we ensure we are including all relevant information in a clear, easyto-understand manner. All messages follow the same branding to ensure consistency and promote brand recognition, and we carefully determine the frequency of messages being sent so as not to dilute their effectiveness. 13 Our college mascots just like our customers all have a new best friend. Just like our OTS team members, OTiS is quick, agile, friendly, and always looking for ways OTS can help our customers succeed.

15 Did you know? There were 22,572 password resets during the academic year. Total customer satisfaction surveys received 4,200 25% more Examples of a few of our social media posts: compared to % of respondents satisfied with their service Tweets posted 700+ in one Receive updates, tips and reminders from your pal, OTiS! OTiS Services promoted on social media OTS Service Desk Password Reset Accessing Wi-Fi Cyber Security Careers in OTS Office 365 Cloud Storage mylonestar App Pay-to-Print 24/7/365 Service 14

16 Project Management & Project Capacity Being good stewards of resources Project management practices in IT are not uncommon. What is uncommon is for a large organization to embrace a single project management methodology and project management tool. Over the last four years, the department has moved from basic to advanced project management. Why? Effective project management is about accomplishing the college's goal, being good stewards of resource, and delivering service. Submitting project requests via ServiceNow Once a customer submits a project request through our IT Service Management tool, ServiceNow, OTS members meet with the requester to review the impact to business practices and impact to existing systems, as well as provide a rough estimates of project cost and time-line. The project is then reviewed by multiple teams as part of our governance structure. During this process, the project is either approved and resources are allocated, or canceled. Managing projects and staff hours Last year, the department managed 794 projects of all sizes. Of these, 278 were medium-to-large projects that required extensive resources, both internal and external. A good example to illustrate the staff resources needed, both from OTS and other departments, is an istar bundle (PeopleSoft upgrades). A typical bundle project uses 460 hours of staff resources, and takes approximately 6-8 weeks to complete. For fiscal year 2016, Maintenance & Operation and Administrative functions are projected to account for approximately 122,000 staff hours (73% of total hours), leaving approximately 44,000 hours (27% of total staff hours) for projects. External project hours for fiscal year 2016 are estimated at 10,000 (based on current resources and budget). Reducing dependency on outside resources Project capacity is a discipline that OTS began maturing two years ago. One major goal was to reduce our dependency on outside resources (consultants) and perform more of these tasks internally. External Project Resources FY13 FY14 FY15 Consulting Hours Used 35, , , Project capacity is determined by the following items: Total staff and hours available Hours spent on normal administrative tasks answering s, meetings, etc. Hours spent supporting existing systems maintenance and operations a. Customer support ServiceNow tickets b. Service interruptions c. Standard security patching A second example is last year's wireless upgrade. This upgrade accounted for approximately 2,000+ internal staff hours and 1,000+ hours from external resources. 15

17 Budget Practicing fiscal responsibility The Office of Technology Services is funded by two sources: Operating Funds (68%) and Technology Fees (32%). Operating Funds are derived through taxes and tuition and are allocated in the annual budget process. They are used to pay for the department s operating expenses and represent a majority of the OTS budget. Operating Funds are used to pay the salaries of OTS staff and a host of operating expenses, including annual licenses and maintenance costs, IT infrastructure costs and enterprise software costs. Bond funds are not included in any of the budget items below; these are tracked separately. As a centralized service supporting the colleges, we use a project-based budget model and track all college related expenses using the istar Project Costing Module. The high level view of the budget uses a model that breaks down expenses based on the following three groups: In Support of the Colleges. Items in this group are support from the 24/7 Service Desk, Technical Services, Enterprise Applications, IT Security, Telecommunications and systemwide projects On Behalf of the Colleges. Typically this includes software license renewals and support contracts Directly at the Colleges. These are the OTS budgets at the colleges along with hardware replacements and project funds related to a specific college or colleges. Priority Considerations Budget Allocation 44% In Support of the Colleges 24/7 Service Desk, Technical Services, Enterprise Applications, IT Security, Telecommunications, and System-wide Projects 21% On Behalf of the Colleges Software License Renewals and Support Contracts The budget is broken down according to the following list of priorities: 1. Personnel/Benefits 2. Maintenance Contracts/Obligations 3. Telecom/Internet 4. Operations 5. Infrastructure (Server, Network, and Storage) 6. Computer Hardware/Refresh 7. Student Disability and Library Services 8. CTAC/CFTIG-Innovations 35% Directly at the Colleges OTS Budgets at the Colleges, Harware Replacements, and Project Funds 9. College Project Funds 10. Enterprise Project Funds The following page shows a comparison of the budget actuals from FY15 versus the allocations budgeted for FY16. 16

18 Comparison of Budget Allocation FY15 Actuals v FY16 Budget 2% 1% 3% 3% 3% 9% 6% 7% 8% 1% FY16 Budgeted 1%2% 1% FY15 49% Actual 42% 20% 21% 11% 10% Personnel/Benefits Computer/Hardware Refresh Maintenance Contracts/ Obligations Infrastructure (Server, Network, and Storage) CTAC/CFTIG-Innovations Enterprise Project Funds College Project Funds Telecom/Internet Operations Student Disb. and Library Services 17

19 Looking Forward Planning ahead As we enter Academic Year , the Office of Technology Services currently has 123 active projects and 63 proposed or pending projects that are under review. OTS will focus on bond projects, critical infrastructure upgrades, and internal process improvements. istar Our OTS Enterprise Applications and Technical Services teams will be working on the integration of OnBase document imaging within istar as a content management solution. We will also be upgrading our data warehouse and analytics applications and implementing new load testing systems to ensure peak performance. College Network Infrastructure As we continue to strive for peak performance, the OTS Technical Services team will be upgrading our existing college network infrastructure. Our fiber optic network design will be reviewed in an effort to enhance connectivity, and we will be upgrading the college data center hardware at all locations. Classroom enhancements The OTS Campus Services team will be upgrading existing classrooms to current standards to ensure we are meeting the expectations and needs of all our faculty. We will be expanding video conferencing ability as well as upgrading our video on demand services. IT Security The OTS Information Security team will be collarborating closely with all teams to review and enhance our existing IT security systems, expand security tests, and improve processes related to IT security compliance and monitoring. OTS Quality Improvements Our OTS team will be reviewing practices and operations for efficiencies and improvements. As part of these efforts, we will be conducting an internal review using Gartner s IT score model for all core areas. Based upcon these results, the team will develop new processes and procedures to raise scores by one level by December Once the new Strategic Plan for Lone Star College is available, we will update our current technology plan to align with the new LSC Strategic Plan. Key Construction Projects Throughout the academic year, Lone Star College will be in the process of constructing new and renovating existing buildings. The OTS team is committed to ensuring that all IT aspects of these construction projects meet existing IT standards and are delivered on-time. 18

20 VISION TO BE THE INNOVATION & SERVICE EXCELLENCE LEADER IN HIGHER EDUCATION PURPOSE Serve the information technology needs of Lone Star College. STRATEGY Strategic Alignment Service Excellence Innovation Security IT Foundation MISSION Provide exemplary services that promote student success, quality instruction, effective employees, and a thriving community. VALUES Leadership Excellence Agility People Speed METRICS Efficiency Stewardship Customer Delight Service Performance Contributions PURPOSE VALUES STRATEGY METRICS Serve the information technology needs of Lone Star through: These beliefs are at the core of everything we do: We pursue a five-prong strategy: We measure achievement of our vision through: ACADEMIC SUPPORT Application of technology in the classroom LEADERSHIP Rally ourselves and others to achieve great results STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT Work on what matters most EFFICIENCY Operational effectiveness ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS Solutions that enhance productivity EXCELLENCE Surprise and delight our customers with our work SERVICE EXCELLENCE Continuously improve STEWARDSHIP Management of resources INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES Stable, robust framework AGILITY Rapidly change INNOVATION Put great ideas into play CUSTOMER DELIGHT Satisfaction CONSULTING Trusted advisor PEOPLE Treat everyone with respect SECURITY Protect our customers SERVICE PERFORMANCE Key Performance Indicators PARTNERSHIPS Cultivate relationships internally & externally SPEED Respond with urgency IT FOUNDATION Build for innovation CONTRIBUTIONS Build the profession