Information Technology Services Report to the Board of Trustees August 4, 2010 Information Technology Services August 4, 2010 (Prepared: July 14, 2010) This update provides a brief look into the activities initiated or completed in the Information Technology Services Division. LEADERSHIP Establish leadership in the areas in which we have chosen to excel. •
Shared Service: PeopleSoft Implementation Project at LCCC The University of Akron continues to support Lorain’s ERP implementation. Following on the successful launch this past Spring of LCCC’s PeopleSoft applications, University of Akron personnel continue to meet regularly with LCCC to implement business processes that occur later in the business cycle that are yet‐to‐be completed. Financial projects underway include fiscal year‐end rollover, budgeting, fiscal year‐end close, and financial reporting. Human Capital Management (HR) projects to be completed include leave processing, automating faculty load payroll calculation, absence management, COBRA administration, and electronic PAFs. We expect to complete these projects this summer. The next step with this project is to combine the IT organizations from UA and Lorain. We expect this consolidation to reduce the total IT headcount required to support both institutions. Our goal is to have the IT organizations combined by the end of this fiscal year. We also plan to begin working with Provost Sherman; Akron’s new CFO; VP of Student Affairs, Charlie Fey and the senior leaders at Lorain to plan and execute phase II of shared services which includes combining select business units. Phase II is expected to take 12‐24 months due to the complexity of this phase. •
Curriculum Approval Process Review: Timeline revised The Faculty Senate’s Curriculum Proposal Process Improvement Project is being delayed to give the faculty more time for testing and training. While the original plan called for training during this summer with an early Fall rollout, UA and our project consultants, Team Informatics, revised the timeline when it became necessary to add extra time to further engage faculty in design and review of the revised curriculum approval process. The revised timeline calls for training to begin in mid‐
November with a rollout of the new process to the campus by January 2011. The old curriculum proposal system will be used to support program and course changes for the Fall semester. 2|ITS UPDATE
ENGAGEMENT Design ITS services to function for the public good – for our students, the institution and the communities that we serve. •
During the summer, the web team has continued to work on converting University departments and colleges to the new web design. The University’s New Web Pages New Web Sites Launched in June/July 2010 • Board of Trustees • Wayne.uakron.edu • College of Engineering • Health Sciences and Human Services • Creative and Professional Arts • Honors • Nursing Web Sites Nearing completion • Education • Institutional Research • ITS • Engineering • Arts and Sciences • University College • Office of General Counsel • Student affairs is launching sites as they become ready 3|ITS UPDATE
•
Continuing and Professional Education As part of the University’s ongoing effort to expand our capacity to deliver continuing and professional education, we have invited a company, Destiny Solutions, with a best‐in‐class non‐credit delivery system to campus July 26 to conduct a fit/gap analysis. This analysis will determine if the Destiny software provides the non‐credit functionality required by Summit College, Wayne College, Medina County University Center and Lorain County Community College. •
Campus‐wide Scheduling: Series25 A committee comprised of end‐users from throughout the University defined a need to implement a common scheduling system. The committee selected the vendor CollegeNet to provide an appropriate solution for the goal of implementing an enterprise scheduling solution integrating all existing room/resource data. The purchased solution, Series25, will create efficiencies in scheduling and optimize the utilization of resources and facilities. The companion reporting tool, X25, will provide the university unprecedented access to data concerning our use of resources and space. This reporting will allow decision makers at all levels of administration to understand how space and resources are utilized and to make informed decisions regarding their efficient use. Our ultimate goal is to minimize the capital investments required to support our continuing growth by maximizing the utilization of our physical assets. The first round of training was completed at the end of June and an implementation team was assembled. Data standardization decisions are being made and data source identification, collection, and entry will proceed from these decisions. •
Directions for Online Learning Instructional Services is developing a framework to support the expansion of online degree and certificate programs at The University of Akron. Information Technology Services is preparing informational materials for Provost Sherman on the past and current state of e‐learning at The University of Akron. Based on support from the Provost, a strategic plan will be refined and implemented. In collaboration with the Office of the Provost, resources will be provided to assist in determining market demand for specific UA programs. •
Contributor Relations In order to support the ever increasing demand for alumni and development services, a group has begun investigating new technologies to support Contributor Relations. A new customer relationship management based application is being sought to more effectively deal with alumni and friends of the University. Such a package would allow improved collaboration between colleges and the Development Office and provide development officers with state‐of‐the‐art, off site interaction with the system. 4|ITS UPDATE
•
Laptops for IT Career Camp IT has partnered with the College of Business (CBA) to mentor high school students and encourage them to pursue technology degrees. June 7‐11, CBA hosted the IT Career Camp. The week‐long day camp was organized by CBA’s Center for Information Technologies and eBusiness (CITe), in conjunction with Project Grad Akron. As part of CBA’s Career Camp, the University’s Information Technology Services Division provided 30 decommissioned IBM R40 laptops for use during the Career Camp. As a surprise at the end of the camp, the 30 students from Buchtel High School were then given the laptops to keep. These PCs, which were decommissioned five years ago, were slated to be donated when an opportunity was presented. INNOVATION Optimize our students’ opportunities for success by providing innovative services and instructional experiences. •
Information Technology (IT) has selected Spigit as the technology tool it feels will enable us to tap into the “collective genius” at the University. Spigit is a social networking tool that can be deployed across UA’s internal and external community. Faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of the University will have the opportunity to engage in networking. In collaboration with others who share the same interests and who are dedicated to finding creative solutions to like problems, idea development will flourish. Campus‐wide Innovation Timeline •
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•
•
•
•
•
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July 2010: Application Design/Development August 2010: Soft Opening o Populate UA site with ideas already gathered from strategic planning efforts o Engage key campus participants to ‘model’ good behavior and demonstrate how to use the tool August 15, 2010: Launch Marketing Campaign o Build interest and promote engagement in time for the Fall semester opening September 2010: Engagement begins o Publish links to UA site Ongoing Fall 2010: Idea Management/Review/Implementation o Interact with ‘unit’ representatives as needed o Respond to inquiries as needed o Monitor idea submissions o Monitor system use o Produce Managerial Reports periodically o Report Progress on Idea Implementation December 2010: Review System Design o Create targeted categories o Make other changes as needed January 2010: Re‐launch Spring 2011: Idea Management/Review/Implementation Process Continues 5|ITS UPDATE
•
Electronic Medical Records Representatives of the College of Nursing and the Speech‐Language Pathology & Audiology program identified the need for a system to automate patient scheduling, patient accounts/billing, and electronic medical records for their clinics. The two areas partnered with IT to research software applications that will meet the requirements identified for this project. Other medically oriented programs at the University were included in discussions. In July, a request for proposal (RFP) was issued to vendors who provide Electronic Medical Records (EMR). The timeline was to implement the EMR in August with full deployment by early September. At The University of Akron, the three areas that will use an EMR are Health Services (Division of Student Affairs), Nursing Center for Community Health (College of Nursing), and Speech, Lang/Path and Audiology (Summit College). Cost, benefit and proposed implementation details are forthcoming. INCLUSIVE EXCELLENCE Value differences with the intention of promoting learning, critical thinking and personal enrichment of students. •
As a result of turnover and our ongoing desire to centralize IT support across campus, IT is now supporting the College of Arts & Sciences Chemistry Department. When IT assumes responsibility for support of college departments, we always conduct a detailed review of the technology in place. Below are a few examples of the improvements that resulted. IT Support for A&S •
•
IT upgraded and reimaged 20 old Gateway computers with the new GX280 computers. This provided newer technology and more standardization of the technology within the lab. IT’s Wide Area Network group installed new wiring for the first floor of the Chemistry department. The new networking replaces older wiring and standardizes the networking within the department by providing one connection per computer, thus improving performance and stabilization. As computers are changed to the new networking, they will be changed to the UAnet network domain, which will allow IT to provide improved support. We are proud of the success we’ve achieved centralizing and sharing IT support at The University of Akron, even though there is more work to be done. We have achieved over 85% centralization which provides significant economies of scales and cost savings. Kent is under 75% centralized and schools like Case Western are under 50%. 6|ITS UPDATE
•
CENTSS The University of Akron joined 25 Ohio colleges and universities in the Center for Transforming Student Services (CENTSS) project. This assessment of the technological capability of our web‐based student services is coordinated by the Ohio Learning Network and supported by Chancellor Eric Fingerhut. The CENTSS audit relies on institutional teams to conduct reviews of web‐
based student services. The results can be used to identify where a technology solution could be implemented to improve the ability of student services staff to provide service to students. In the first phase of the project, 17 student services in the Academic Services and Personal Services areas were audited. More than 100 faculty and staff have completed the audit survey for one or more service areas. The CENTSS audit team leaders from The University of Akron attended a meeting in Columbus where the collected results from all participating institutions were discussed. UA’s results on this first half of the CENTSS audit place our student services at a peer level with the rest of the participating institutions in Ohio. This audit confirms we are well positioned, from a student services perspective to scale our online course and program offerings. •
Telecommunications: Soccer Broadcast Media outlets will have state‐of‐the‐art technology when they broadcast University of Akron soccer from the new field. Information Technology’s Telecommunications is provisioning the construction of an underground duct bank and the installation of multimedia broadcast and communications facilities at the newly renovated Soccer Field. This initiative will provide state‐of‐the‐art connectivity for all media and has been designed to accommodate the growing needs of the adjacent sports venues, including softball and baseball.
•
Telecommunications: Memorial Hall Although the primary tunnel will be maintained after the demolition of Memorial Hall, the communications conduits to several buildings will be destroyed. In preparation, all communications cables have been replaced to: 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Rhodes Arena Student Recreation and Wellness InfoCision Stadium Spicer Residence Hall East Campus Parking Deck Work was completed prior to Capital Planning deadlines. 7|ITS UPDATE
•
Telecommunications: Miscellaneous National Polymer (NPIC): The communications infrastructure has been extended to provide data, voice and cable TV to the new building. Wired and wireless network equipment is installed and active. Wireless Hardware Upgrade: The following buildings have been upgraded: Bierce Library, Science & Tech Library, Law Library, Student Union, Exchange Residence Hall, and Honors. Distance Learning Network: A separate network has been installed for the sole use of the Distance Learning to provide greater bandwidth and flexibility to the high schools being served. DL staff has completed all testing on the independent network with excellent results. All DL hardware was migrated to the new circuit in July. Satellite Dish Move: All satellite dishes and services located behind the Lincoln Building have been either removed or relocated. Newer, smaller (3.5 meter) dishes have been installed. The former dish farm area has been reclaimed resulting in additional parking for students and staff. •
New Data Center ITS staff has met with IT personnel from AGMC, Summa, and Kent State concerning options for a new data center. The University of Akron’s interest is the result of our need for disaster recovery and the increase in hosting computing services for organization outside of the University. These functions require redundancy, uptime, higher security, etc. Four options are being considered •
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•
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Build a new Renovate the existing Cohabit – share data center with others Do nothing Representatives from UA, AGMS, and Summa will visit Involta’s Cedar Rapids, Iowa data center in July to further evaluate shared data center options. A formal proposal will be presented to senior management and the Board later this summer. ASSESSMENT Metrics that measure ITS utilization and improvement against targets. • ITS Metrics The most current ITS metrics available at the time of this report are attached. If a line item does not have a target, the metric is intended to indicate the amount of work or activity being delivered. Lines with targets indicate levels of performance we strive to achieve. 8|ITS UPDATE
ITS DEPARTMENT SCORECARD – MAY 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)
MAY
TARGET
*15
N/A
*16
>64.8%
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
<2%
N/A
N/A
*17
100%
99.9%
99.9%
99.9%
99.9%
N/A
0
N/A
N/A
N/A
MAY
APRIL
MARCH
5438
3m9s
87%
3982
4808
1043
1758
105
27%(1448)
920
718
4,573
3m38S
70%
3,800
4,882
4,274
4,530
4121
26% (1169)
1,420
2,860
5,283
1m52s
69%
4,033
5,173
4,574
4,652
25
25(1391)
1,585
2,509
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
99.88%
369 / 199
0
100%
392 / 207
0
100%
387 / 208
0
198716
47590
96
10539728
197068
46126
91
15617206
194470
43538
122
12101395
493239
1156018
592123
N/A
N/A
6.81%
11.00%
7.80%
N/A
99.50%
N/A
100%
100%
0
100%
11,369
100%
100%
0
100%
13,395
100%
99%
2
100%
13,707
100%
100%
0
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
2,363,764
231,662
662,743
35,151
2,884,139
294,243
763,115
33,221
2,933,937
295,516
698,184
32,643
1,381
152
150
130
100
45
N/A
N/A
72
42.75
N/A
9
119
58
N/A
21
159
48.75
N/A
47
1,000
688 Atomic
Learning
tutorials and
21 workshops
660 Atomic
Learning
Tutorials
339 Atomic
Learning
tutorials
9|ITS UPDATE
ITS DEPARTMENT SCORECARD – MAY 2010
MAY
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: Grad
Admissions applications: Law
Admissions applications: 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
(7,285 students)
Financial Aid
(3,451 students)
Payment
(8,159 students)
Refund
(2,578 students)
Waiver
(861 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 Manager 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
*10
*12
*11
MAY
APRIL
MARCH
N/A
N/A
115,676
919
107,654
931
95,627
918
N/A
364,277
225,956
172,672
N/A
N/A
31,750
27,430
25,413
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
1,628
5,821
1,674
3,341
163
11,351
14
298
99
1,530
49,767
8,558
441,313
1,509
3,558
1,635
3,286
156
10,100
12
317
135
1,685
96,177
12,308
1,167,312
1,339
5,288
1,724
3,010
171
9,233
46
494
353
2,035
45,413
8,162
1,223,318
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
19,544
25,525
2,679
100,603
13,622
127,460
82,580
9,809
30,689
3,253
1,129
10,470
7,137
28,559
8,128
6,732
3,439
48,889
17,453
2,036
461
15,004
126,143
107,944
999
15,852
860
488
10,075
7,763
19,991
4,809
705
501
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
3,902
2,331
458
6,691
3970
2618
455
7,043
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
652
375
207
70
4,764
1,511
622
375
177
70
21,549
5,217
62,074
14,704
2,411
255
7,605
22,549
8,419
1,772
11,119
1,003
236
11,975
10,218
16,494
7,595
1,190
749
885
3,830
2,578
455
6,863
1,904
622
375
177
70
16,578
4,221
*1
10 | I T S U P D A T E
ITS DEPARTMENT SCORECARD – MAY 2010
MAY
TARGET
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
*13
MAY
APRIL
MARCH
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
677
104
573
7,579
2,872
124
116
8
10,726
4,743
181
27
154
2716
1048
706
125
581
31,964
5,856
124
116
8
28,206
8,636
181
27
154
10,585
1,899
706
125
581
30,223
6,081
124
116
8
25,276
8,028
181
27
154
8,912
1,761
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
218
501
9,081
16
15
394
485
1824
2,976
23,255
50
82
4,151
2702
1556
2,972
23,685
50
82
4,151
2165
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
130
123
7
0
5
0
84
N/A
26,103
44,040
24,724
130
123
7
0
7
0
115
N/A
26,776
42,659
24,072
129
122
7
0
8
0
114
N/A
26,557
41,415
23,425
Footnotes
*1.
*10.
*11.
*12.
*13.
*14.
*15.
*16.
*17.
ITS managed clients logged in to the University network in the last 30 days.
Process Scheduler Stats are cleared weekly. Stats for April were not retained. We are keeping stats for May and future months.
FAFSA applications for financial aid.
Total is higher than unique users because individual students may have had more than one transaction.
Includes UA on-campus rooms and Medina County classrooms. This includes both distance and local use.
Only semester totals are available for Computer Based Assessment & Evaluation.
There are 10 days with no phone reports.
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.
Laptop Check-out centers included in report Student Union
11 | I T S U P D A T E