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| Quick Notes
ITS Staff Milestones
Congratulations to Dan Kirkpatrick at Arts & Sciences, scientific research IT analyst/system administrator, who is celebrating 10 years of service at Syracuse University. Congratulations to Charles Savage at Architecture, computer consultant II, who is celebrating 10 years of service at Syracuse University.
Congratulations to Eric Mumpton, support analyst, who is celebrating 15 years of service at Syracuse University.
Congratulations to James Pampinella, information technology manager, who is celebrating 20 years of service at Syracuse University.
Congratulations to Douglas Hague, communications technician, who is celebrating 20 years of service at Syracuse University.
Congratulations to Antonio Giacovelli, communications technician, who is celebrating 20 years of service at Syracuse University.
Congratulations to Natalie Vincent, information technology analyst, who is celebrating 30 years of service at Syracuse University.
Congratulations to Raymond Dow, instructional technology manager, who is celebrating 35 years of service at Syracuse University.
Staff News
Congratulations to Julie
Hughes who has accepted the Telecom - Network Coordinator position in Network
and Systems Management. Formerly, Julie worked as the Office Coordinator for Network and Wiring
Service. In her new role, Julie will be responsible for the administration and
coordination of the telecommunications, network, and cabling infrastructure
records for Network and Wiring Services. The
University Senate, made up of faculty, students, staff and administrative
members, is the academic governing body of the University. Andy Clark, EPS Chief Process Architect, is running
for Senate election to represent ITS in the upcoming staff elections.
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Mission: Web Content Management System
Cascade Server puts web content
owners first
Syracuse University's online presence evolved during
the 1990's, as did the technology, from a campus-wide information system based on simple text, to today's familiar
website with highly graphical screens
based on HTML. With the adoption of the web as an important
publications channel, came two significant challenges: managing the rapidly
growing collection of documents/pages, and removing the increasingly deep technical
barriers that prevent content producers from personally maintaining the
currency of their sites. Enter web content management systems (WCMS). WCMSs
decouple the technology from the content, allowing content creators to focus on
their writing and publication.
The WCMS
project is co-sponsored by Nicci Brown, Associate Vice President, Marketing and
Communications at the office of Institutional Advancement and Gary McGinnis,
Director of Information Technology and Services. Phase 1 milestones are:
product evaluation,selection and implementation
including the migration of the re-designed "www.syr.edu" site into
the content manager. Phase 2 will focus on the creation of a sustainable ITS
service that will be able to help interested departments, colleges and schools
realize the benefits of the WCMS.
"The
syr.edu site is the virtual 'storefront window' of our University. The
adoption, and implementation, of an effective WCMS will greatly enhance our
ability to communicate with the many audiences-both internal and external-who
access the site," said Brown.
The
team:Project manager Kathy Kinney,
technical lead Eric Mumpton, EPS consultant David Harris, web developer Geoff Berger, IA technical lead Al Weinberger, web specialist Marcello Prattico, DBA
Eric Patten, web applications developer Jim Pease, and NSM resources Rich Ameele and Chris Croad round out the rest of the team. The
first objective: Choosing a WCMS that would
simplify web development and maintenance, allow more reuse and sharing of
content, and make it easier to establish more consistent branding across all Syracuse University websites.
The
Web Technologies subgroup of the TLC Web Design and Policy Group and the WCMS Project team evaluated several
products including Alfresco, an open source solution, and ultimately chose Hannon
Hill's Cascade Server based on the following criteria:
- Provide a feature rich,
scalable, common web development tool and standard for compatibility with a
Higher Education cross-platform environment,
- Create consistent University
branding as well as website look and feel for use across campus,
- Offer a supported tool for use by
all colleges, schools, and departments,
- Enhance efficiency with the ability
to share and reuse content, images, templates, etc. among many sites,
- Delegate web
content updates to the content owners,
- Provide a process for online submissions,
review, edit and approvals,
- Facilitate University
compliance with various regulatory services, such as ADA,
- And include built-in
capabilities such as automatic scheduling, document aging, link checker,
and spell checker.
With the
product chosen, the implementation team has been able to complete the software
and hardware purchases, and installation objectives. Next will be the configuration of the
product, which the implementation team hopes to have completed by end of
February.
To help those wishing to move their
website(s) into Cascade, ITS is currently working to define a flexible service
offering that could include initial consulting, template creation, and training
for content managers. "Interest is building across campus and we expect
broad adoption thanks to Institutional Advancement's vision, leadership and
sponsorship of this project", said McGinnis. For more
information about this project, visit the Content Management System space on Confluence. |
Team Dynamics brings ITS together
TeamDynamix is an application name and a
vendor name, but it is also a powerful portfolio management tool that will
consolidate and standardize project, task, time, and resource management. The project team, comprised of Susan Watts, Glenda Ranallo, Cindy Hoalcraft, and
Kathy Kinney, is currently developing the scope and implementation plan.
The
software will allow ITS to have a single view of the various types of work being requested, collaboratively
select and prioritize projects within the organization, and identify existing
staffing constraints. The integrated time tracking component allows for a
simplified and more automated method of recording actual time spent while
eliminating duplicate administration.
The
web-based TeamDynamix tool rolls all data up into a single repository allowing
for timely collection and reporting of project, task, and resource availability
information. The one page views provide project snapshot status, and
drill-down analysis can supply valuable insight. 'What if' analysis makes
it possible to evaluate staff availability to complete work on projects within
specified timeframes, and adjustments can be made to project schedules and/or
staffing allocations. Customizable desktops give staff control over their
own project and task information. MS Project and Excel integration offer
additional flexibility. Forums, Instant Messenger, and News panels with
RSS feeds can provide enhanced communication, and instant feedback.
In
the coming weeks, the project team will be assembling focus groups to proceed with
the implementation. Additional status updates will be provided for this
exciting new tool as the project progresses.
For
more information about TeamDynamix, contact any member of the project team.
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From the CIO's Desk
Paul Gandel, vice president for Information Technology/CIO
Welcome back to a new semester. I am very pleased at the progress we continue to make on our major
projects. The Network Master Plan is gearing
up to tackle significant rewiring projects at key academic buildings such as Link
Hall, the Physics Building, the Science and Technology Center, Newhouse
Communications Center I, Newhouse Communications Center II, and the Schaffer
Art Building. We have also met key
initial milestones of our Human Resources/Student Administration system upgrade. The conversion of the campus from Novell to
Microsoft's Active Directory/Exchange is nearly complete, and by all measures,
a smashing success. Thanks to all of you
who made this possible. In addition, the
re-engineering of our vital systems using virtualization for more reliable,
flexible, and resilient systems is proceeding at a good pace.
On the organizational side, we have undergone much self-reflection in
order to build a stronger IT organization; one where we can depend on each
other and the University can depend on us. I have received positive feedback from the IT community about the
direction we are heading. Perhaps some
of you were simply being kind. Nevertheless, I suspect from the responses,
we are doing a few things right. Thanks
to all of you for your support, patience, and tolerance for any of my ideas
that weren't so hot!
While we have made excellent progress, I realize we continue to face
many challenges. An aging data center, lack
of physical space, continual organizational and operational improvements, and
of course, working with limited resources are just a few that come to
mind. We also face the challenge of
learning new systems and technologies that will make things better in the long-run,
but in the short-run can be somewhat painful.
Now David Rubin, Dean of S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, has
issued yet another challenge. When he
spoke at our campus-wide IT staff meeting, he posed the question of whether
technology has made things better or worse over the past eighteen years he has been Dean at SU. While we
may not agree with his pessimistic assessment of technology's role, the
question he raised is important. It is a
question we must continue to ask ourselves as we work on our various projects
and listen to people like David. We need to be mindful that our contributions must
always benefit the campus community, meet client expectations, and move the
University's aspirations forward.
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IT Professional Development
Below is information about the professional development activities in which members of the University's IT community have been involved. Those who want more information about the various topics and events can e-mail the participants.
Training
David Snow in
Information System attended a five day class offered through PeopleSoft on Data Management and Upgrade Release 8.48 in New York City, New York, in January.
ConferencesJim Pampinella and Dennis Punch attended the BICSI Conference in Orlando, Florida, in January. | |
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IT Connections is published monthly by Information Technology and Services. Story ideas can be submitted to Cindy Barry by the third Wednesday of each month. |
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