Info
ormatiion Teechnology SServicees Re
eport to the
e Board off Trustees
Decem
mber 15, 20010 In
nformation Technologyy Services Decem
mber 15, 20110 (Prepared: November 23,, 2010) STUD
DENT SUCCEESS Commiitment to Exxcellence •
With th
he unlimitedd license now
w in effect fo
or Panopto FFocus, many
more in
nstructors arre adopting this technollogy to supp
port student learning. LLecture Captu
ure and Stude
ent Views m Focus is a simple soolution for ccapturing lecctures and offfering them
for late
er viewing. Itt has the abiility to captu
ure audio, Po
owerPoint lectures with narraation, and sccreen capturres with narrration. Focus o
offers integr ated note taaking, enabliing the view
wer to take notes aat any point in the preseentation and revisit them
m. During the Fall sem
mester, the lo
og for the to
op 30 coursees using Focu
us showed
d that almosst 60,000 minutes of reccorded lectures were viewed
d by 1,629 unnique studen
nts. •
C
Campus‐wide
e Innovation
n A pilot of the innovvation, collab
boration too
ol Spigit will begin during
g the sprring semesteer. For 90‐‐days Spigit w
will be in plaace and used
d to submit iideas. The pilot will enggage studen ts in identifyying ways to
o improve on
n student retention and succ ess. Througghout the pil ot, a commiittee compriised of Subjeect Matter Expertss (SMEs), ITSS, and the Innovation Mo
onitor – the senior‐level person monitoring the ideas – will review tthe tool and
d its use. Near the end
d of the pilott project, the committeee will make a recomm
mendation tto senior management w
whether the University should continue ussing Spigit fo
or the remain
nder of the yyear or to disconttinue its use . Next stteps: •
•
•
•
•
•
Work with SSpigit to devvelop a markketing and co
ommunications plan Brand and llaunch the student success‐ focused
d pilot Monitor thee process Evaluate Sppigit Recommend its continu
ued use or d
discontinue it If the recom
mmendation
n is to continue using it, w
we will workk to identify othher uses for tthe tool (e.gg., generating and refinin
ng ideas to: im
mprove operaational efficiency, reach new markets, increase stuudent attend
dance at cam
mpus eventss, etc.). 2|ITS UPDATE
•
U
UA’s Award W
Winning Effortts Two Un
niversity of A
Akron offices were seleccted as winn
ners in the Center for Transforrming Studeent Services’ (CENTSS) 20
010‐11 ored for the o
online servicces Innovattion Awardss. The officess were hono
they prrovide to stuudents. In the ““personal seervices suite”” category, tthe Counseliing Center website
e won seconnd place for its website w
while the Caareer Center’s Internsship Search PPreparation video won tthird place. •
Counseling Center web
bsite: http://www
w.uakron.edu/counseling/ •
Internship ssearch prepaaration video
o: http://www
w.xtranormaal.com/watch/6578029// The CENTSS projecct is co‐sponssored by Stu
udent Affairss and ITS. CENTSSS provides edducational institutions w
with the tools and training they ne
eed to devel op and delivver high‐quaality student services online. GLOB
BAL RELEVANCE Develop Dynamic aand Globallyy Relevant Prrograms •
The university‐leveel phase of th
he Faculty Senate’s Currriculum Proposal Process Im
mprovement Project, inttended to acccelerate curriculum approvaal, is nearingg completion
n. In early No
ovember, usser acceptaance testingg was compleeted. Duringg that time, sselected use
ers verified
d the perform
mance and ffunctionalityy of the softw
ware. C
Curriculum A
Approval Pro
ocess Review
w Followiing the user acceptance testing, theere was a brief pilot roll o
out during which selectted faculty u
used the new
w system to process live
e proposals. A gener al rollout of the new curriculum pro
oposal proce
ess was sch
heduled for mid‐December. Training for facultyy members w
was availablee by mid‐November. Effectivve January 22011 the new
w system willl be operational and will serve as the only cuurriculum prroposal entrry system forr the Universsity. At that point the old system will be closed permanently and enttry of all new
w curriculum
m proposals will be in the new system. Followiing the univeersity‐level p
phase of thee project, design work will begin o
on the collegge‐level. Thaat work is plaanned to run
n through summe
er 2011. Mucch of the preeliminary wo
ork for the ccollege‐level was completed in cconcert with
h the Universsity‐level. Ho
owever, the
“build” phase wherre the softw
ware is develo
oped still neeeds to be comple
eted. 3|ITS UPDATE
•
TThe Universitty’s New We
eb Pages The we
eb team conttinues conveerting Univeersity departments and college
es to the new
w web design
n. Web Sites launchedd: • Engineeringg • Buchtel Col lege of Arts and Sciencees • Education
• ITS Web sittes nearing ccompletion
• University C
College • Office of Geeneral Counssel • Student affaairs continues to launch
h sites as theey are ready
• University PPress DISTTINCTION Facilitate Faculty D
Developmentt and Successs by Expand
ding Clusterss of Interdissciplinary Teeaching and Research •
Instructional Servicces completeed the upgraade of our online learnin
ng system (Springboarrd) to versio
on 9 at the beginning of Fall 2010. T
The next po
oint release w
was compleeted on Noveember 7, 201
10. SSpringboard (Desire2Learn) Springb
board's imprrovements in
nclude: •
Desire2Learrn2Go – access Content, News, Boo
okmarks, Grades, andd Calendar tools from yo
our iPhone, Blackberry, or Android sm
martphone. •
Option to suubscribe to email notificcations for D
Discussions.
•
Accessibilityy improvements in My C
Courses widgget and Quizzes. •
Notificationn area messaage improveements – “Saaved Successfullyy” and otherr status messages appeaar in lower right‐hand ccorner of the screen. •
Insert Stuff – easily embed media, such as YouTTube or Flickkr videos. In an efffort to conttinuously improve our seervice to facculty, we hosted an annual SSpringboard Faculty Survvey in Octob
ber. Next steps include
e forming a FFaculty Steerring Committtee to regullarly seek faculty input into nnew featuress, upgrade scchedules, su
upport needss, and traaining optionns. The first ffaculty steerring committee meeting
g was held in Novem
mber. 4|ITS UPDATE
•
C
Campus‐wide
e Schedulingg: Series25 The entterprise scheeduling solu
ution projectt continues tto move steadilyy forward. W
We intend to
o use Series 25 for all campus scheduling (i.e., EJ Thomas, Stu
udent Union
n, Athletics, SStudent Wellne
ess, all classees, etc.). This schedulingg approach w
will make it much e
easier to dettermine whaat events aree occurring o
on campus, eliminaating potentiial conflicts and improviing services (i.e., parking
g, police, etc.). An inve
entory of un iversity spacce including feature detaails was comple
eted by the i mplementattion team under the guiidance of Jim
m Haskelll. Spaces havve been enteered into thee test system
m and define
ed as acad
demic, athlettic, and/or eevent. The tesst system inttegration witth PeopleSo
oft is complete and throu
ugh coordin
nated effortss with the Reegistrar, thee implementtation team has begun running testt academic ccourse placeements. •
R
Recruiting So
olutions: E‐R
Recruiting The Un
niversity of A
Akron is plan
nning to use e‐recruiting to connect with po
otential empployees. E‐reecruiting is an online too
ol that can help streamline the recrruiting proceess. Online rrecruiting tools can play an active rrole in attraccting candidates to the U
University. In earlyy November,, vendors beegan to respond to an RFFP for consultting servicess to assist with the functtional configuration of th
he software. Next stepps will be to select a ven
ndor and asssign the working team. •
TTime & Labor Oracle's PeopleSoft
ft Enterprise Time and Laabor is desiggned to supp
port the tim
me reporting needs of a w
wide range o
of business ffunctions, includin
ng payroll, fiinancial and cost accoun
nting, projecct manage
ement, empployee beneffits, and orgaanizational aadministration. PeopleSoft Time annd Labor is p
part of Oracle’s PeopleSo
oft Enterprisse Human
n Capital Ma nagement suite of appliications. Feature
es include: •
•
•
•
•
•
One‐Stop M
Managerial TTime Reportiing Online Timee Reporting Built‐in Appproval Proceesses Flexibility a nd Accountaability Support forr Multiple Time Reportin
ng needs Integration with PeopleeSoft Financials Applicattions mid‐November, the projeect team, led
d by HR/Payyroll and As of m
assisted
d by ITS, wass ready to laaunch the prroject, i.e., b
build a charte
er, scope sstatement, pproject plan,, and identifyy resources.. This phase should be completeed by mid‐D
December. 5|ITS UPDATE
•
Grants Management: Post‐award An RFP was created to obtain professional services with expertise in implementing PeopleSoft Grants Management Post‐award (e.g., grants billing and receivables) The project combined two distinct processes; modifying the UA chart of accounts to better record and track research and implement the post‐award processing component of the PeopleSoft Grants Management application. Due to the prohibitive cost of the responses, it was agreed by a committee from Finance, Research, and ITS, that the project should be split into two phases. The first will be to modify the UA chart of accounts and the second to implement PeopleSoft Post‐awards. A project plan was created for the chart of accounts during the Fall semester. A new RFP will be issued for the post‐award component in early 2011 with a start date projected for summer. •
New Data Center ITS is preparing a Request for Proposal (RFP) to co‐locate our server hardware to a privately owned facility. We are looking for a highly resilient data center that will lower our annual computing costs. As previously reported, The University of Akron’s interest in a shared data center is the result of our need for disaster recovery and the increase in hosting computing services for organizations outside of the University. These functions require redundancy, uptime, higher security, etc. ENGAGEMENT Build and Sustain Vital Relationships and Partnerships •
As previously reported, ITS established a framework and process for selecting and managing PeopleSoft projects. Also, an initiative was completed in September that reviewed the process and the framework needed to manage all ITS projects. This review focused on improvements and changes to the framework and process as well as the implementation of tools to help automate and streamline them. Governance & Project management Current activities include establishment of a training program for the ITS group to be educated on the revised process. Additionally, communications and training for the rest of the campus is being established on the revised process as well. 6|ITS UPDATE
•
SShared Servicce: Ongoing support; ccombine tech
hnical and fu
unctional u
units The Un
niversity of A
Akron continues to support Lorain’s PeopleSoft ERP post “ggo live” envirronment. Deevelopment and infrastrructure supp
port continu
ue to be provvided for stu
udent, financial and hum
man capital manage
ement appli cations. A list off projects thhat remain ass part of thee implementtation has be
een created
d, reviewed for effort, and prioritizeed. Meetingss will be conduccted with ea ch applicatio
on area indivvidually to continue collectiing projects and prioritiees from funcctional units. Combin
ning Units: W
Work is undeerway to determine which units can
n be combin
ned betweenn the schools in an efforrt to more effficiently utilize existingg staff. The i nitial focus iis on Inform
mation Techn
nology. A study for Help Desk servi ces is underrway to create a strategyy and roadm
map for com
mbining unitss. An anticip
pated reportt will determ
mine the scop
pe of serviice, softwaree, and organ
nization Other ITS units beinng considereed include seecurity, tech
hnical trainin
ng, wide arrea networkking, and bussiness analyssts. •
D
Digital Signagge: Novicastt Halted; new
w laayouts availaable The Un
niversity has formally disscontinued tthe pilot with
h Funding Dynamics (Novicast). At this po
oint, we will neither add
d more scree
ens nor mo
ove to a full rrollout. The deccision to disccontinue thee project waas based on a survey and
d face‐to
o‐face discus sions with faaculty, staff,, and studen
nts. Many did not provvide respondents felt thhe screens w
were too com
mmercial or d
enough
h useful info rmation. Yett, most peop
ple liked thee idea of vide
eo signage
e and encou raged UA to
o find an alteernative to th
he current signs. For now
w, the plan i s to leave th
he screens in
n place and llet them continu
ue to operatte while we eevaluate oth
her options. Funding Dynamics will cont inue to main
ntain their screens, provvide supportt to UA, and
d evaluate thheir screenss. IT will ccontinue to w
work with th
he Universityy to explore video signage optionss. Student Afffairs has taken over thee initiative and is evaluatting options.. Included in
n their assesssment will b
be Novicast along w
with other pootential provviders such aas Four Winds Interactivve. 7|ITS UPDATE
COM
MMUNITY Promotte Vibrant annd Engagingg Environments and Facilities •
In orde
er to supportt the ever increasing dem
mand for alu
umni and develop
pment servi ces, a group
p has begun investigatingg new technologies to suppport Contriibutor Relatiions. The ob
bjective is to overcome softwaree limitationss to enable ggreater interraction with o create more alumni and friends of the University and to
collabo
oration with various constituencies w
within the U
University by using m
more centralized data. C
Contributor R
Relations Two wo
ork groups m
met to deterrmine shortccomings and
d needs for supporrting contrib utor relation
ns requirements from accross campu
us. Based o
on the diverrsity of needs, it was dettermined thaat an assessm
ment be connducted to seee if a comp
pelling busineess case exissts and if sso, what straategy should
d be used to meet needss. •
EElectronic Medical Recorrds: Vendorss U
Under consid
deration Representatives off the Collegee of Nursing and the Speech‐Languag
ge Patholo
ogy & Audiology program
m identified the need fo
or a system tto automaate patient sscheduling, p
patient acco
ounts/billing,, and electro
onic medicaal records for their clinics. The com
mmittee hass completed
d the vendor demonstrattions. The processs to secure ffunding for tthe project iss being completed based on the input from tthe vendors. At The University oof Akron, thee three areass that will usse an EMR are udent Affairss), Nursing C
Center for Health Services (Di vision of Stu
Commu
unity Healthh (College of Nursing), an
nd Speech, LLang/Path an
nd Audiolo
ogy (Summitt College). INTEEGRATED PLA
ANNING Achieve
e Measurab le Success • ITTS Metrics The mo
ost current ITTS metrics aavailable at tthe time of this report arre attache
ed. If a line ittem does no
ot have a tarrget, the metric is intend
ded to indiccate the amoount of workk or activity being deliveered. Lines w
with targets indicate levvels of performance we strive to ach
hieve. 8|ITS UPDATE
ITS DEPARTMENT SCORECARD – OCTOBER 2010
DAILY SERVICES PROVIDED
Support Center (Help Desk)
Number Support Center calls
Average Speed of Answer
1st Call Resolution Rate
Number of tickets opened by HD
Total tickets opened
Calls closed within four hours
Calls closed first day
Calls over one week old
Support Center abandoned calls
# of Users serviced at walk-in centers
# of Laptops checked out at walk-in centers
Central Servers (Data Center)
Data Center uptime percent (% of posted hours)
Mainframe uptime percent (% of posted hours)
Unix/Linux server uptime percent (% of posted hours)
Windows/Apple Server uptime percent (% of posted
hours)
Web Server www.uakron.edu uptime percent
Total number of virtual/physical servers on platform
Total number of data center outages
Messaging & Network
Total email accounts (UAnet IDs)
Total active email accounts (UAnet IDs)
Total forwarded email accounts (forwarded off campus)
Total emails processed (originates internally + originates
externally and accepted)
Total emails filtered (originates externally and either
tagged spam/virus or rejected)
Percent of emails filtered (percent of total mail originating
externally either tagged or rejected)
Email uptime percent (weighted by percent users
affected)
Total active network nodes
Data network uptime
Wireless network uptime
Total number of reported network outages
Web
Total Web page views
Total unique Web visitors
Total ZipLine (portal) logins
Total ZipLine (portal) unique logins
Printing
Total print jobs processed
Training
Total attending and completing class
Contact hours for classes
One-on-one training sessions
Application support – one-to-one assistance (tickets)
Number of visits to online tutorials (NOTE: Office 2003
training and WebCT training suspended in July and
August in prep of Office 2007 and new LMS)
OCT.
TARGET
*1
N/A
*2
>64.8%
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
<2%
N/A
N/A
*3
OCTOBER
SEPTEMBER
AUGUST
3931
1m24s
83%
4226
4973
3787
4134
84
17%(683)
1117
3240
5169
1m09s
82%
6230
6240
4666
5123
117
17%(885)
2445
3351
12519
1m30s
95%
9997
12583
9820
11192
407
16%(2051)
3463
1322
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
400 / 206
0
100%
392 / 207
0
100%
376 / 194
0
202284
52870
108
8295913
202433
52391
105
8142822
202184
52218
105
7228830
991
1620
219
0.03%
0.05%
0.01%
100%
100%
100%
17718
100%
100%
0
17837
100%
100%
0
17907
100%
100%
0
N/A
N/A
N/A
3,210,690
342,755
847,182
34,936
2,963,853
340,695
819,920
35,568
3,066,031
298,062
856,274
39,095
1,381
138
195
156
100
45
N/A
N/A
1,000
101
46.75
N/A
4
245
71
N/A
16
348
103.45
N/A
26
100%
99.9%
99.9%
99.9%
99.9%
N/A
0
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
99.50%
N/A
100%
100%
0
N/A
1,065 Atomic
Learning
tutorials
943 Atomic
Learning
tutorials
571 Atomic
Learning
tutorials and
39 workshop
views
9|ITS UPDATE
OCT.
TARGET
DAILY SERVICES PROVIDED
Critical Application Data
Administrative logins PeopleSoft
Administrative users PeopleSoft
Logins to PeopleSoft self-service via ZipLine (students,
faculty, staff)
Number of PeopleSoft users via ZipLine (students, faculty,
staff)
NT Process Scheduler statistics
App Engine
Crystal
COBOL
PSJob
RoboFTP Script
SQR
XML Publisher
Admissions applications loaded: Grad
Admissions applications loaded: Law
Admissions applications loaded: Undergrad
Self-service enrollment requests (by students)
Self-service enrollment requests unique users (students)
Administrative enrollment/maintenance requests (by staff)
Administrative enrollment/maintenance requests unique
students
Transcripts produced
Enrollment verifications produced
Grades posted
Student financials transactions, unique students
Student financials transactions
Charge
(16,956 students)
Financial Aid
(2,146 students)
Payment
(7,359 students)
Refund
(1,504 students)
Waiver
(863 students)
Financial aid ISIRs loaded
Financial aid ISIRs loaded, unique students
Financial aid award transactions
Financial aid award transactions unique students
Financial aid disbursements
Financial aid disbursements unique students
University-Enterprise Managed Computers
Total Windows desktops clients
Total Windows laptops clients
Total Apple clients
Total Managed Clients
Lab Computers (count & utilization)
Windows Laptops (ITS managed)
Students Checkout
Mobile Teaching
Special Use
Total Logins
Total Unique Users
*4
*6
SEPTEMBER
AUGUST
N/A
N/A
87,772
929
100,985
929
202,135
925
N/A
222,289
171,100
445,135
N/A
N/A
28,881
28,701
35,199
1,614
3,166
2,049
3,081
166
10,170
20
335
87
2,939
84,668
11,682
17,173
6,786
1,760
3,258
2,770
3,345
159
11,246
14
255
0
1,508
3,349
1,406
7,023
3,110
1,682
4,067
2,896
3,331
157
13,110
12
311
24
1,103
54,235
9,291
32,510
9,793
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
17,315
1,845
190
19,852
191,326
163,194
5,198
19,969
1,968
997
1,531
1,158
10,609
4,809
3,282
2,127
14,875
2,480
516
15,760
108,219
54,327
15,226
30,261
7,921
484
2,944
2,019
17,313
5,070
9,427
5,098
17,643
3,625
8,146
30,571
423,039
232,498
76,837
99,193
12,748
1,763
6,044
4,247
30,684
9,900
59,902
19,274
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
4,138
2,721
459
7,318
4,103
2,750
454
7,307
4,088
2,748
482
7,318
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
592
345
177
70
12,529
3,677
592
345
177
70
14,909
3,955
592
345
177
70
5,619
1,924
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
*5
OCTOBER
*7
10 | I T S U P D A T E
DAILY SERVICES PROVIDED
Windows Desktops (ITS managed)
ITS General Purpose
Departmental
Total Logins
Total Unique Users
Kiosk Stations
Main Campus
MCUC
Total Kiosk Logins
Total Kiosk Unique Users
Apple Labs
Departmental Laptops
Departmental Desktops
Total Logins
Total Unique Users
Distance Learning/Audio Visual/Academic
Technology
Number of DL class sessions
Number of Springboard active course sections
Number of Springboard unique active users
Number of unique instructors using clickers
Number of course sections using clickers
Number of students (all sections) using clickers
Number of Audio Visual equipment deliveries
Department & Administration
Total ITS headcount at end of month
Full-time
Part-time
Consultant
Approved openings
On leave
Student
Total "Ask the VP" questions
Total department hours accrued for vacation
Total department reported vacation
Total department reported sick time
OCT.
TARGET
*8
OCTOBER
SEPTEMBER
AUGUST
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
707
108
599
29,869
6,535
132
124
8
26,576
8,409
181
27
154
3,633
991
673
104
569
32,247
6,645
132
124
8
30,894
9,328
181
27
154
5,327
1,318
677
104
573
11,225
5,010
132
124
8
15,471
6,875
181
27
154
1,942
890
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
1639
3,255
26,752
54
84
4485
3204
2153
3,186
27,606
51
74
4237
3077
514
3,093
26,611
19
24
497
786
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
126
122
4
1
4
0
135
N/A
23,072
1,821
676
126
122
4
1
4
0
135
N/A
23,345
2,695.50
676.75
130
123
4
2
4
0
126
N/A
23,345
2,695.50
676.75
Footnotes
*1. There are 10 days with no phone reports
*2. Industry standard for the first call resolution rate is 65.8%, for Higher Education 58.8%, industry target is 70.9%. Cost savings to the
institution for first call resolution is about $150 per call. Outsourced Support Desks FCR is 66.3%. ** HDI best practices survey 2007.
*3. Laptop Check-out centers included in report Student Union
*4. Process Scheduler Stats are cleared weekly. Stats for April were not retained. We are keeping stats for May and future months.
*5. Total is higher than unique users because individual students may have had more than one transaction.
*6. FAFSA applications for financial aid.
*7. ITS managed clients logged in to the University network in the last 30 days.
*8. Includes UA on-campus rooms and Medina County classrooms. This includes both distance and local use.
11 | I T S U P D A T E