ITS Annual Report: Talking Points and Institutional Effectiveness Statements July 27, 2010 Contact: Gloria Thornton

Transcription

1 ITS Annual Reprt: Talking Pints and Institutinal Effectiveness Statements July 27, 2010 Cntact: Glria Thrntn This extract frm the ITS Annual Reprt 09-10, highlights sme imprtant ITS activities fr 09-10, especially as they related t the UNCG Strategic Plan fr and ur University s cre values. It als includes Institutinal Effectiveness highlights which demnstrate ITS s cmmitment t cntinuus imprvement in supprt f ur University clients. Annual Reprt Sectin 1: Activity Highlights (Internal/Transparency/na/na/na): Campus-wide ITS Prject priritizatin, prject sizing, implementatin supprting alignment with Client-driven academic and business needs. During fiscal year, ITS wrked with the Administrative Systems Cmmittee (ASC) t create a technlgy prject priritizatin prcess that better aligns staff resurce cmmitments with client academic and business needs. Under the new prject priritizatin prcess, an alltment f prject resurce hurs is made available fr ASC highest pririty and divisinal pririty wrk at the beginning f the fiscal year. Resurce hurs are allcated t prjects by skillset and tracked acrss the year. Using the new prcess, hurs frm apprpriate ITS resurces were made available fr mre than 50 ASC/divisinal prject pririties. ITS als cmmitted significant time t develpment f the TimeTrack prject reprting system t enhance visibility f and access prject effrt reprts and statuses. (External/Cllabratin, Sustainability/SA1/G1.7/Research & Teaching): Prvide netwrk expansin in supprt f distance learning and research fr faculty and students; and (External/Cllabratin/SA4/ G4.1, 4.4/Research): Cmplete the Greensbr metr fiber lp that extends the high perfrmance/high availability campus netwrk t remte lcatins including Gateway Research Park Suth Campus and dwntwn. Cmpletin f the Greensbr metr fiber lp enabled extensin f the UNCG campus netwrk t the Gateway Research Park Suth Campus, and t large research units lcated in

2 dwntwn Greensbr, prviding mre rbust and reliable cnnectivity back t the main campus and t the internet verall. ITS develped multiple redundant pathways t the internet ver new fiber infrastructure wned by UNCG, via the Nrth Carlina Research and Educatin Netwrk s (NCREN) Reginal Pints f Presence (RPOP s) n Suth Flrida Street and Suth Elm Street dwntwn. UNCG became a full member f Internet2, the natin s leading cnsrtium fr the develpment and use f advanced netwrking technlgies, in early The many benefits f membership include access t Internet2 s high-perfrmance netwrk. As a result f these effrts, UNCG nw has essential redundant cnnectivity t the Nrth Carlina Research and Educatin Netwrk (NCREN), Internet2 natinal research and educatin netwrk services, and cmmdity internet services. This level f high perfrmance/high availability internet cnnectivity is critical fr develpment and expansin f n-line and distance learning initiatives, and fr supprt f research effrts that require enhanced, high perfrmance netwrk cnnectivity. Additinal netwrk expansin wrk began n campus in Spring 2010, with the expansin f wireless netwrk cverage within the Residence Halls. This initiative will result in the availability f full UNCG wireless netwrk service in the twenty-ne student Residence Halls, prviding imprtant benefits t UNCG students wh live n campus. In additin t prviding traditinal high speed wireless internet cnnectivity, this initiative will fully cnnect resident students t the campus wireless netwrk frm their rm. Resident students will be able t ram seamlessly acrss the campus frm ne lcatin t anther withut lsing their wireless cnnectin r having t cnnect t different wireless netwrks in different lcatins. Wireless service acrss the campus will be cnsistent frm residence halls, t classrms, t the library, t cmmn areas such as the Ellitt University Center. Resident students will be able t fully access all f the campus technlgy services prvided ver the UNCG wireless netwrk directly frm their rm. This initiative is expected t cmplete in mid-august, 2010, with the new service available when resident students mve in fr the fall semester. (External/ Cllabratin, Sustainability/na/ na/na): Cntinued supprt f utsurcing pilt (ispartan fr faculty/staff), with pssible launch f campus-wide migratin

3 Fllwing the successful August 2008 launch f ispartan (Ggle) student and a successful staff pilt within ITS, a decisin was made in Fall 2009 t prceed with a campus-wide pt-in fr faculty/staff interested in migrating t ispartan (UNCG's implementatin f Gmail services). As f late June 2010, 1,215 faculty and staff had mved t ispartan. ITS als cmpleted implementatin f the Ggle Message Discvery archiving slutin. Building n the success f UNCG s student migratin t Ggle, UNCG has cntinued t wrk cllabratively with Ggle and ther universities in the develpment and implementatin f Ggle Apps fr Educatin (GAFE) services. An ITS staff member represents UNCG n the GAFE Custmer Advisry Bard, and ITS prvided leadership in frming the Nrth Carlina Ggle Apps fr Educatin (NC GAFE) Users Grup a grup f technical representatives frm public and private institutins wh wrk cllectively n GAFE implementatin and supprt issues. (External/ Cllabratin, Transparency, Sustainability/na/ na/na): Cmplete design and implementatin f Micrsft Active Directry and the General Cmputing Netwrk (AD/GCN) t enhance technlgy services and security, and t imprve peratinal efficiency and cst effectiveness. ITS cntinued effrts t migrate the campus frm the Nvell netwrk t the new Active Directry/General Cmputing Netwrk in an effrt t prvide better service and security while reducing the csts f maintaining multiple cmputing platfrms. In fall 2009, ITS mved itself plus 4 ther University departments wh run "call centers" t the new AD/GCN envirnment. ITS then fcused effrts n supprt f Windws 7 in the new AD/GCN envirnment. In Spring 2010, supprt fr the new Windws 7 perating system was first made available t the campus when several finance-related departments frm Business Affairs were successfully mved t AD/GCN with Windws 7. (External/ Cllabratin, Sustainability/na/ na/na): Cmplete the campus Vice ver IP (VIP) implementatin t prvide enterprise vice services t campus in a cst effective, sustainable manner. In 09-10, all campus units were mved t the University's Vice Over IP (VIP) system, which allws UNCG t effectively leverage its existing investments in netwrk, fiber, data center and telecmmunicatins clset infrastructure t prvisin vice services in the mst

4 cst effective way. Prir t implementatin f VIP, Telephne Services was lsing mre than $200K annually in prviding Centrex based vice services t UNCG faculty and staff thrugh AT&T. Cntinuing the existing Centrex service mdel withut transitining t VIP wuld have resulted in a cmplete depletin f reserves within 10 years, leaving the University with n resurces t refresh vice services infrastructure. Implementatin f VIP prvides a sustainable lng-term mdel fr supprting the cntinued delivery f csteffective vice services t UNCG withut raising basic vice service rates, and replenishes vice services reserves in preparatin fr the next infrastructure refresh cycle. (External/ Cllabratin, Transparency, Sustainability/na/ na/na): Begin Phase II Campus-wide Hardware Prcurement Prgram (CHP) t ffer increased discunts fr University printer and peripheral purchases. In 09-10, the fcus f this effrt changed frm printer/peripheral discunts t the launch f the UNC System Cmbined Pricing Initiative (CPI) t secure even better pricing and services fr PC prcurement by cmbining purchasing pwer acrss the UNC system. UNCG ITS prvided leadership fr the UNC CPI Task Grup. Cmputers with discunts negtiated thrugh the UNC-System CPI are expected t be available fr purchase thrugh UNCG s CHP prgram in late summer (External/ Respnsibility, Transparency /S4/na/Research): Wrk clsely with faculty research representatives t identify survey tl needs and identify a pssible University-wide slutin ITS prvided leadership and funding fr acquisitin f a web survey tl that will facilitate the University s success as a High Activity research institutin. Wrking in cnjunctin with the Research Advisry Cuncil (RAC), Institutinal Research, and the Academic Technlgy Crdinating Cmmittee chair, ITS cmpleted a prduct-selectin prject in which the Qualtrics web survey tl was selected and endrsed by the RAC. The prduct license has been acquired and implementatin is underway. (External/ Sustainability/S4/na/na): Supprt Executive Staff's decisin t eliminate the paper University directry by enhancing the cntent and frmat f the UNCG nline directry. In supprt f the University s fcus n sustainability, ITS cmpleted enhancements t UNCG's n-line directry at directry.uncg.edu t include cntent frmerly fund nly the in

5 the annual printed directry. This allwed prductin f the paper directry t be ceased in 09-10, saving paper and ther material resurces used in its prductin. It als allws infrmatin previusly cntained in the paper directry t be updated in a mre timely manner, with each University department able t directly update their infrmatin as needed. (External/ Cllabratin, Sustainability/S1/G1.7,1.1/Teaching): Expand academic sftware available t students and faculty thrugh the UNCG Virtual Cmputing Lab, wrking with departments t meet specialized use needs as apprpriate. ITS cntinued wrk t expand the sftware available thrugh UNCG's Virtual Cmputing Lab (VCL) at its.uncg.edu/vcl, and increased the VCL capacity by an additinal 84 cncurrent seats. ITS als respnded t client cncerns abut initial sftware lad times by making technical changes t substantially reduce sftware lad latency fr select highdemand sftware packages. ITS als tested a slutin fr large file access/strage in VCL, and enhanced end-user dcumentatin n the VCL site. Usage f VCL, in terms f ttal # f reservatins, increased by 463% in FY (5,786 reservatins) cmpared t FY (1,026 reservatins). (Internal/ na/na/na/na): Implement Identity Finder sftware t identify and remediate restricted data (PII) issues fr University faculty and staff cmputers. A prject t implement Identity Finder was initiated in Spring 2010 with distributin f sftware t campus netwrk cmputers, and creatin f dcumentatin fr clients. ITS cntinues t prmte use f the sftware and remediatin f restricted data issues t better prtect individual s persnal infrmatin. Annual Reprt Sectin 3A: Institutinal Effectiveness Statements In Fall 2009, the University decided t prceed with a campus-wide pt-in fr faculty/staff interested in migrating frm Ltus services t ispartan (Ggle) . This decisin was made fllwing the successful August 2008 launched f ispartan fr students, which was assciated with a <25% increase in student satisfactin with services; and fllwing a successful FY staff pilt within ITS. As f late June 2010, 1,215 faculty and staff had mved t ispartan. The transitin t ispartan fr faculty/staff is expected t save the University a mdest amunt f mney, while imprving mbile access t , and prviding faculty and staff with mre ready integratin between their , calendar,

6 and ther cllabratin tls such as Ggle Dcs and Sites. In 09-10, ITS cmpleted wrk t mve all campus units t the University's new Vice Over IP (VIP) system, which allws UNCG t effectively leverage its existing investments in netwrk, fiber, data center and telecmmunicatins clset infrastructure t prvisin vice services in the mst cst effective way. Prir t implementatin f VIP, Telephne Services was lsing mre than $200K annually in prviding Centrex based vice services t UNCG faculty and staff thrugh AT&T. Cntinuing that service mdel wuld have depleted all funding reserves within 10 years, leaving the University with n resurces t refresh vice services infrastructure. Implementatin f VIP has prvided a sustainable, lng-term mdel fr cntinuing t deliver cst-effective vice services withut raising basic vice service rates, while replenishing vice services reserves fr the next infrastructure refresh cycle. T imprve the Virtual Cmputing Lab (VCL) service t faculty and students, ITS cmpleted wrk t expand academic sftware available t students and faculty thrugh VCL, t increase VCL capacity by 84 additinal cncurrent seats, t enhance end-user dcumentatin, and t substantially reduce sftware lad latency fr select high-demand sftware packages. Usage f VCL, in terms f ttal number f reservatins, increased by 463% in FY (5,786 reservatins) as cmpared t FY (1,026 reservatins). Reflecting the criticality f rbust and reliable netwrk cnnectivity between the University netwrk and the wider internet, ITS cmpleted wrk t develp multiple redundant pathways t the Internet ver new fiber infrastructure wned by UNCG, thrugh the Nrth Carlina Research and Educatin Netwrk s (NCREN) Reginal Pints f Presence (RPOP s) n Suth Flrida Street and Suth Elm Street dwntwn. UNCG nw has essential redundant cnnectivity t NCREN, Internet2 natinal research and educatin netwrk services, and cmmdity internet services. This level f high perfrmance/high availability internet cnnectivity is critical fr develpment and expansin f n-line and distance learning initiatives, and supprt f the University s expanding research actvity.