July 2009

Sometimes the full impact of any project is seen most clearly with time. Certainly, more than one year after the last module went live in our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) initiative, it’s clear that the technology landscape at Kent State has been transformed. The ERP implementation has increased not only the accessibility, but also reliability and security of all of our information systems.

Now, the numerous individuals throughout our division and across the university who were involved with the ERP project are being recognized with two national accolades: a 2009 CIO 100 award from CIO magazine and a Campus Technology Innovator Award from Campus Technology magazine.

Both awards recognize the dedication, hard work and innovation of our teams, and I want to congratulate all of you for your role in these successes. Through this recognition, your efforts are serving as a model for other universities who may be exploring similar projects at their campuses.  More importantly, you’ve brought significant benefit to the entire Kent State community.
 
Ed Mahon
Vice President for Information Services
and Chief Information Officer

Staff News

The division welcomed the following new hires in June:

• Michael Carson, senior IT user support analyst, End User Support Services
• Jennifer Goings Smith, executive director, Planning, Security and Disaster Recovery
  

Congratulations to the following employees who mark a service anniversary at Kent State in July:

• Administrative Support: Kathleen Banas, 28 years
• Course Management: Preeti Palvankar, five years
• E-Services: Jason Dunfee, one year; Jamie Jackson, 25 years
• Educational Technology: Jay Frye, 10 years
• Enterprise Application Services: Danielle Tricker, two years
• Helpdesk: Jann Dittmer, 31 years
• Network Services: Doug Westfall, seven years
• Operations: Margaret Misra, 21 years
• Project Management: Amit Mali, one year; Michael Papania, one year
• Telecommunications: George Hough, three years; Gerald Thomas, 26 years
  

Diversity and Inclusion Group Update

Mark your calendars! This year’s Information Services picnic will combine the efforts of the ISVT and the IS Diversity and Inclusion Group. It will be held on Thursday, Aug. 4, from 2:30 to 5:00 p.m. at Plum Creek Park. The picnic will include the usual fun and games, but this year will feature a new twist with the food. Attendees are asked to bring an ethnic dish (which doesn’t necessarily have to be from their own background) that can be made for less than $10. All those not bringing a dish will be asked for a $10 contribution toward the purchase of additional food. More details will follow.
 
Diversity Dates for July:

• July 4: Independence Day (United States). Did you know that the first Independence Day actually was celebrated on July 8, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was read to the public? A federal, legal holiday was declared in 1941.
• July 26: This date marks the anniversary of the 1992 signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodations, public services and telecommunications.
  

Infrastructure and Operations

Client Infrastructure Group

• The group is documenting the training and support materials needed by federated personnel in preparation for the summer/fall rollout of the full Altiris Client Management Suite to nearly 4,000 computers on the Kent Campus. The three-phase rollout, which will take place throughout the upcoming fiscal year, begins with patch management, inventory and reporting before progressing into common software delivery and finally departmental software delivery.
• Testing has begun on Dell's ImageDirect, which allows systems to be imaged with a Kent State standard operating and application suite at the factory level. Testing will continue throughout the summer with a go-live for ordering in August.
  

Network/Telecommunications Services

• Multicast technology now has been enabled on Regional Campus links. This will allow programs such as the LearnLinc e-learning application to run without being on a legacy T1 circuit.
• The department has completed the initial phase of the One Communications project, which entailed converting 45 POTS lines (short for Plain Old Telephone Service) from AT&T to One Communications. This will result in a cost savings of approximately 50 percent. 
• The Student Financial Aid Call Center has been expanded; five additional agent positions were created, and a new Global Navigation (GNav) real-time monitoring and reporting tool was added.
  

Operations

• The Library Data Center staff, along with members of the Server Support and Enterprise Support and Application Services groups, completed the upgrade of one of two Uninterruptible Power Systems (UPS) during the week of June 8. The backup power options for the Data Center have improved dramatically. In the event that the Library generator does not start promptly, the battery time has been increased from a few minutes to approximately 40 minutes, placing the university within a best practice model. The completion of the upgrade to the second UPS will take place later this summer.

Security and Access Management

• The Office of Security and Access Management offered training for data stewards and security administrators on June 10. There was good dialogue among attendees, and several discussion points will be investigated for process improvement opportunities. A follow-up training session will be held toward the end of summer or beginning of fall. If you would like to attend the next training or contribute announcements and other discussion points, please contact Brendan Walsh at bmwalsh@kent.edu.

Educational Technology

• Educational technologists recently completed training for the upgraded version of the Vista course management system for representatives at the Kent State Trumbull Campus. Materials used in this training will be incorporated with existing support information on the Vista help site (elearning.kent.edu.)
• Staff from across Educational Technology will be participating in Kent State’s second annual Summer Exploratorium, in conjunction with the Faculty Professional Development Center. Teamed with faculty partners, they’ll host workshop sessions for faculty on topics ranging from Second Life and social networking to blogging, desktop conferencing and e-portfolios. The two-day event, which focuses on the use of technology for teaching and learning, will take place on Aug. 13 and 14 in Moulton Hall.
• Kim Yoder in English is working with Educational Technology on a project for students learning English as a second language (ESL). The project will use iLinc to connect 200 to 300 people from across the globe, ranging in location from Germany to Taiwan. Students will meet synchronously and use the breakout functionality of the application to work together in groups.
  

End User and Business Services

• The division’s new computer repair service, the Tech Spot@ResNet, launches a pilot this month, in partnership with Residence Services. The Tech Spot will provide diagnostic, troubleshooting and hardware repair for the personal computers of Kent State students, faculty and staff members. Services include virus and spyware removal, data backup and restoration, software and hardware installation and computer optimization, among others. Full operations will begin this fall.
• In preparation for the transition of Helpdesk services at the end of the year, End User and Business Services is conducting a refresh of information currently stored within the Kent State Service Desk Knowledge Base. Subject matter experts are being asked to review their knowledge articles and to update any inaccurate information, as well as to supply new documentation as appropriate.
  

Enterprise Support and Application Services

• Enterprise Application Services is in the process of writing a Kent State version of the Multiple PIDM, or personal identification master, resolution for Banner. The application is being customized for situations and data specific to Kent State and is targeted for a fall implementation.
• Research is underway for a new Java portlet technology, the platform of the Luminis V (FlashLine) product. Google Applications are also being examined to determine what effect they could have on development at the university.
• Progress continues on the Banner v8.2 upgrade project. The release date from SunGard Higher Education is June 30, 2009. Preliminary technical work is underway, and functional testing is scheduled to begin on Sept. 15. The Kent State go-live is planned for February 2010.