March 2008
black banner
In This Issue
NSM gets it in writing
A STAR is born
Picture it with Gliffy for Confluence
From the CIO's Desk
IT Professional Development
Quick Links
Join Our Mailing List
Quick Notes
 
ITS Staff Milestones
 

Congratulations to Maureen Reilly, office coordinator, who is celebrating 25 years of service at Syracuse University.

NSM gets it in writing
Documentation project enters pilot phase

The NSM Documentation project began in 2007 to establish documentation guidelines for all areas of NSM (Network and Systems Management) which would be applied to new documentation and existing documentation when significant changes to the content are required.

Sponsor Chris Sedore, Associate CIO, says, "Day-to-day maintenance, resolving operational problems, and disaster recovery all require good information-working without docs is like walking the high wire without a net-there is nothing to fall back on."

Cindy Barry, IT Technical Writer & Documentation Specialist and project manager, is working with NSM staff to create a systematic approach to documenting the infrastructure that NSM maintains. Key objectives include a low-impact approach to creating and maintaining documentation; maintaining consistency of terms and structure; organizing information within Confluence using standard naming conventions, indexes and labels to facilitate easy search and retrieval; and facilitating the documentation of critical systems.

One of the key challenges as ITS begins to address disaster recovery planning is solid documentation. Gaps in documentation could bring risk to the department and University in a recovery situation, as well as during day-to-day operations. In addition, central and consistent organization of information becomes vitally important as volume increases over time, and makes it easier to locate, maintain, and keep documents current. Adequate documentation can mitigate risks, provide reliable continuity of critical systems, reduce downtimes, and provide historical records for future reference.

"This project will allow us to bring all parts of the NSM infrastructure together in one place and create a repository of documentation that is truly beneficial to the department and the University," says Barry.

The planning, analysis, and investigation phases of the project have been completed, and the pilot phase is underway with the DBA group led by Wade Stringer, IT Architect for Enterprise Systems. Other areas of NSM will be prioritized and launched in 2008. You can see the current development of the pilot at Enterprise Systems Architecture.

For more information about this project, contact Cindy Barry.

A STAR is born
ITS teams with Student Affairs 

For the first time in Syracuse University history, students are being asked to play a leading role in setting the future direction for the University's IT infrastructure, thanks to the creation of the Student Technology Advisory Roundtable (STAR). STAR, a new group formed by Paul Gandel, vice president of Information Technology Systems/CIO, and Anastasia L. Urtz, associate vice president and Dean of Students, is envisioned as a way to engage the student body in the evolution of an outstanding technological environment that is aligned with the mission of the University.

The student leaders of STAR will work with ITS and Student Affairs to assess the state of IT plans, projects, services, and infrastructure at SU, in the higher education community, and within the technology industry; ensure student involvement in setting technology directions and guiding implementations; prioritize, develop, provide feedback, and continually assess strategic directions and initiatives that shape the technology environment; and serve as a forum to discuss technology issues. As the University's vision for Scholarship in Action moves the institution toward enhanced excellence, access and support, and engagement with the world, STAR students will be tasked with ensuring that the institution's technology is likewise improved.

Student members of STAR will have the opportunity to influence today's choices about new technologies and services, and to help shape the IT direction the campus takes in the future. Members will test new technologies and provide valuable feedback that will become part of the decision-making process regarding future IT services and purchases.

Student members have been recruited from a diverse pool of applicants by Student Affairs and ITS staff who serve on the STAR leadership team. Paula Maxwell, support analyst from Student Computing Services, and Clayton Parker, a third-year iSchool student, have been appointed STAR co-chairs. Members will meet at least four times a semester beginning this spring. Subcommittees may be formed as appropriate to further explore initiatives or resolve issues. STAR will set and review goals once each semester; these goals will be compatible with ITS' strategic planning and University fiscal deadlines. STAR will also produce an annual report describing its activities, status of work toward goals, and goals for the future year.

"I am very excited to be engaged directly with students to address technology issues on campus. This is a great two-way communication stream to gather input on current initiatives and understand desired future direction," says Maxwell.

Seth A. Tucker, director of the Dean of Students Office in the Division of Student Affairs, adds, "As technology has increasingly integrated into our daily lives, it has deepened its impact on student life issues. Syracuse University students very much appreciate the opportunity STAR affords them to proactively plan for this integration."

For more information on STAR, contact Paula Maxwell.

Picture it with Gliffy for Confluence
Diagramming made easy

If you use Confluence, you may have noticed a new link in the upper right corner of the pages named "Add Diagram."




This link launches a new diagramming tool called Gliffy. Gliffy for Confluence allows users to embed diagrams directly into any Confluence page without the need for an image attachment. This product is easier to use than Microsoft Visio while still providing solid diagramming functionality.

Some of the features of this product includes the ability to:
  • Insert a variety of shapes, connectors, arrows, colors, and text;
  • Adjust fonts, shapes, colors, background, and page size;
  • Display the diagram on the page as an expandable thumbnail or other size options;
  • Create hyperlinked text to any URL or email address.
The code is saved with the page with edit rights assigned via the page rights.

Instructions and a sample diagram can be found on Confluence in the ITS Confluence User Information space. This space was created for all content developers and contains helpful instructions about using Confluence, FAQs, new update notices, training information, and Confluence administrator contacts.

For more information about this article, contact Cindy Barry.
From the CIO's Desk
Paul Gandel, vice president for Information Technology/CIO

While snow is still on the ground and the weather stinks, in theory, Spring is just around the corner (yea right!). This is also the time that we tend to focus on money matters. On a personal level, tax time is here, and from an ITS perspective, next year's budget is being prepared. There isn't much we can do about taxes, so let's focus on next year's ITS budget.

While I've often been accused of being a "glass half-empty" type of person, I remain fairly optimistic about next year's budget picture. We will have our challenges, but overall the budget picture looks pretty positive.

We have made good progress in obtaining additional base budget funding from Central Administration to support the variety of programs and services that the University community is asking us to provide. The largest and most reaching project is our Network Master Plan where over $30 million of new University funding will be spent over five years to upgrade our entire network infrastructure. Moreover, the way this project was financed gradually builds up our base budget funding for networking so that we will be able to maintain and update the campus network well into the foreseeable future.

Networking isn't the only area where the need for additional budgetary support has been recognized by the University community. As some of you may know, for each new technology classroom the comes online, we receive funding to support the ongoing maintenance. This coming year, the amount we receive for each classroom will go up to reflect the increased cost of resources necessary to maintain these classrooms. Another area where we have faced lack of resources to meet rising cost is the maintenance fees for our enterprise wide software such as PeopleSoft and Blackboard. These maintenance fees have been growing by approximately 10% a year, while our operating budget was only increasing at about 1.5% a year. Needless to say, this leaves us with a considerable budgetary shortfall each year. The University recognized this problem and is now providing the necessary funding supplements to cover the yearly maintenance increases for enterprise software.

This year, we also received funding to start new projects: Cascade, our new Web Content Management system; OnBase, our new document management system; an effort reporting systems for grants; and a new video surveillance system for the University. All these projects carry the active partnership of other units on campus and strong University-wide financial support.

Improvements to the budgetary picture have come from more than just new resources. We have done our part as well. Efforts on the part of everyone in ITS have helped to decrease our costs and improve our efficiency. We have reduced our hardware, shut down unused services,  virtualized many systems, and will eventually trim our operational costs by switching to commodity hardware for some applications. With the implementation of TeamDynamix to manage our projects and tasks in the coming year, I suspect we will find additional ways to improve our overall efficiency and effectiveness.

Of course, not everything is rosy despite my new-found optimism. We continue to face challenges where the demands for our services far outstrip our financial resources. Nevertheless, I truly believe that by working together creatively, we can overcome these challenges. If an initiative is important enough, then we will find the means to make it happen. It's our version of "faith-based funding."

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

Kimberly Hewell from NSM attended an Outlook class offered through New Horizons on February 27 in East Syracuse, NY.


Seminars

Peter Morrissey from NSM attended a Team-Building, Mentoring, and Coaching Skills for Managers & Supervisors seminar by Fred Pryor Seminars on January 16 in Syracuse, NY.


Conferences
David Hoalcraft and Ted Rozelsky from AASC attended a one-day Nercomp Special Interest Group (SIG) event on "Help Desk Manager's Toolbox" on February 5 at The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.     


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.

Phone: 443-2677