October 2008  
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In This Issue
Updates
ITS Out & About
IT Professional Development
PeopleSoft HRSA Upgrade a Success
Video Surveillance Project Update
TeamDynamix Kicks Into High Gear
EDUCAUSE releases Core Data Services Summary Report
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Quick Notes
 
ITS Staff Milestones
 
Congratulations to the following people for their years of service at Syracuse University:
 
Timothy Bailey, Comm. Technician/Coordinator - 20 years
Gregory Milby,  Support Analyst - 5 years
 
Announcements
 
Please welcome Tia Hardee to ITS!  Tia joins us as ITS' first Human Resources and Organizational Development Manager and will be part of the CIO Office team. Tia will be leading our human resources activities, including development of our HR programs and procedures, recruitment, compensation, and professional development. She comes to us from Cianbro Corp. where she was the HR Manager.  Prior to that, Tia was the Senior Human Resources Specialist at Liberty Resources, Inc.  Tia received her MBA from LeMoyne College.  Please stop by and say 'hello' - Tia's office is in 4-129 Center for Science and Technology.
 
Please welcome Randy Whittaker to Syracuse University. Randy started this month as an IT Consultant in Academic Applications and Service Centers, but he has been working with the Service Centers group since June on temporary assignment. When he's not here handling support calls from students, faculty, and staff or investigating general computing problems, Randy is attending Columbia College pursuing a Bachelors degree which he intends to transfer and complete at SU in Information Management and Technology. He has acquired three industry certifications: A+, Certified Novell Administrator (CNA) and Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP). Prior to coming to SU, Randy provided Helpdesk and Desktop Support for Stickley Furniture, National Grid and Empire Vision Centers. When he's not working or studying, Randy enjoys live theatre and is a proud season ticket holder for SU Football and Basketball. His office is located in 1-129 Center for Science and Technology.
Updates
Keeping current with software, systems and devices

ITS is in the early phases of assessing its website in preparation for a major site redesign project. You're invited to submit ideas for site content and features.  Please send your thoughts and ideas (including, if applicable, the URLs of other sites that demonstrate the type of thing you're suggesting) to Chris Finkle at [email protected].
 
If you have logged into Confluence recently, you probably noticed a new space at the very top of the list in all caps called ITS INTRANET. The new ITS Intranet space is where you can find information about the CIO office and ITS areas including links, contacts, administrative forms and procedures, meeting agendas and minutes, communications, and ITS resources. This space combines various ITS spaces and information into a one-stop portal. Anna Hermann and Cindy Barry launched this project to consolidate several ITS "spaces" on Confluence into one easy-to-use, comprehensive area. In doing so, they hoped to create an ITS portal that incorporated all existing information yet was flexible enough to add new information as needed. Please stop by the space and explore the main categories under each tab.  If you have any suggestions, comments or questions, contact Cindy Barry.
 
ITS Out and About

Connecting with the campus and beyond
 

For the second year in a row, Marlon D. Legaspi and his daughter Jennifer, along with Beth Mosenthal, a graduate student in SU's School of Architecture, were coaches in the Town of Dewitt Parks and Recreation Fall Youth Soccer program. They coached Team Orange, consisting of girls and boys in Grades 3 to 5, on Saturday mornings at Maxwell Park.
 
 
Take the United Way Step Up Challenge
 
You should have received by campus mail your pledge card for this year's campaign for the United Way of Central New York.  Your contribution helps ensure that hope endures among those with the greatest needs right here in our community, and is especially important in these trying economic times.  Take the Step Up challenge by starting to give or by increasing your gift by at least $52 a year and you'll be entered to win a great prize you choose, valued at $3,000!  Return your pledge card now, or enter your gift online through the e-pledge system.
 
Lonely DCVG [DVDs, CDs, Videos, Games] Day is coming soon - a digital benefit for the United Way
 
You know you have them. Lurking in the closets. DVDs you haven't watched in years. CDs you bought for one song.  Videos of Barney and How to Golf Like a Pro. Computer games mastered and long forgotten. Well, this is your chance to give those lonely (but legal) items a good home. 
 
Bring your unwanted original media (no copies, please) in to Cindy Barry, RM215 Machinery Hall during the month of October. Cindy will collect them for a one-day event to benefit United Way: Lonely DCVG Day on November 3rd. On that day, all items will be available to anyone who wants them. Monetary donations will be accepted and appreciated.  Any leftover items will be boxed up and brought to the local Salvation Army. 
 
Contact Cindy Barry with any questions.

 

IT Professional Development

ITS staff on the cutting edge

 

Training & Education

 

Cindy Barry presented a Confluence training class on October 1 to members of the UNIX group, including Nicole Skyrca, Nasser Masrouri, Rich Ameele, Lenny Heisler and Peter Jepson.

 

Conferences & Forums 
 
Dave Tiedemann and LEMP colleagues John Capozzolo, Liz Moore and Les Padzik attended the New York Computing in Higher Education Symposium (NYCHES) meeting at Cornell on 9/25/08.  Topics discussed included Network Cost Recovery Models, Classroom Capture, Inventory Management Software, Accessible Multimedia Lecterns, Network Control of Classroom Systems, and Student Computing Surveys. There was also a lab tour.
 
Peter Morrissey attended the Interop Conference in New York City September 15 - 19. Interop claims to be the leading global business technology event with the most comprehensive IT Expo and Conference available. 
 
Peter also went to the ACUTA Conference in Boston October 5 - 8, and attended What's New in Communications Technologies.

PeopleSoft HRSA Upgrade a Success
Effort finishes a day early, with minimum outage
 
The major upgrade to the PeopleSoft Human Resources and Student Administration (HRSA) system was completed successfully a day earlier than anticipated and without having to interrupt MySlice self-service as originally planned.  Project Manager Linda Saul credits the technical team led by Dan Edwards and their development of a detailed project implementation schedule and the use of a new backup protocol for the stellar performance.  "The team's attention to task detail and ability to back up data in significantly less time than expected enabled us to complete the critical path successfully and ahead of schedule," said Linda. 
Success would not have been realized without the active participation, support, and cooperation of the functional area teams, led by Project Leads Debbie Gardner and Cheri McEntee.  Technical and functional teams began their collaborative efforts with a discovery period in January 2007 and worked closely throughout the entire project and Go-Live weekend.
According to Linda, the ability to move faster than planned created logistical challenges for functional area data validators and acceptance testers.  "With a home football game on Saturday September 28, we faced parking and transportation issues" said Linda. "Allan Breese, Director of Business and Facilities Maintenance Services, and Al Sauer, Director of Parking and Transportation Services, were able to pull together a combination of special bus service and parking innovations that enabled us to work around the game."
"The efforts of so many people in this large effort are impressive," said Paul Gandel, Vice President for Information Technology and CIO. "This is another example of the value brought to SU through collaboration across functional boundaries. I commend those involved, and look forward to more such teamwork in the future."  
With the completion of Go-Live weekend, the upgrade project is winding down with only a few final steps remaining to officially close the project.
 
Video Surveillance Project Update
Seven vendors asked to submit integrator proposals 
 
It has been a busy summer for the video surveillance project. We made great strides developing residence hall camera locations, standards, technology choices, and cost models.  The video surveillance team and consultant have completed the camera design for the residence halls and will hire an integrator in November 2008. The standards and technology options, and costs models will be finalized with input from the integrator we hire.
 
Thirty-one integrators were sent a Request for Qualifications. Of the original candidate integrators, seven were deemed qualified based on the proposals they submitted.  These seven candidates remain and are in review:
  • Day Automation
  • Henry Brothers
  • IK Systems
  • North American Video
  • Security Integration
  • Seibold Security
  • TechNet Global
The integrator candidates will be given at least three weeks to write and submit their proposals, which will include video system build details, project schedule, and cost information.  After evaluating the proposals we'll select the one with the highest value and bring the successful integrator on board.  While the evaluation of qualifications took longer than expected, we're on schedule for having the build effort start this year.
 
Contact Jenny Gluck on x5772 or [email protected] with any questions.
 
TeamDynamix Kicks Into High Gear 
Core team stands ready to help you succeed.
 
Having completed evaluation and development efforts we have implemented the TeamDynamix software system. This software is a powerful portfolio management tool that will consolidate and standardize project, task, time, and resource management. The software has the potential to enable effective re-engineering of our processes and achievements, helping us to prioritize efforts, adapt to change, nurture innovation, and meet our commitments to ourselves and others on time and within budgets.
 
Thus far, most of ITS's work-including maintenance, operations and projects-has been put into TeamDynamix.  We are getting a better view of the wide array of work we are doing, including our upcoming plans and the effort required and being achieved for completing our work. ITS leadership can use this information to help with decision making, resource allocation and commitment confirmation.
 
A key feature of TeamDynamix is its ability to estimate and then track the effort or time associated with individual tasks.  This gives us a better view of our true costs, and the historical information will help us better estimate resources needed for our future work.  Various parts of ITS are currently using TeamDynamix to track their work.  The TeamDynamix core team-Glenda Ranallo, Kathy Kinney & Susan Watts-is working with departments and their members as they come on board.
 
Soon all of ITS will be using TeamDynamix to manage work.  This includes gathering information, prioritizing work, doing capacity planning, approving and implementing work and then entering time against individual tasks.  As we acquire skill with the software we'll get better at estimating and managing our work.  Importantly, as project demand approaches and exceeds our available resource capacity, TeamDynamix will enable us to determine the impact of rearranging projects to meet the needs of executive leadership and our ever-changing technology environment.
 
The core team stands ready to help you come up to speed and succeed. Glenda, Sue or Kathy is working with your department, so don't hesitate to contact one of them if you need help with TeamDynamix.
 
EDUCAUSE releases Core Data Services Summary Report
Course Management Systems & Open Source Software on the rise in fiscal year 2007

Educause released its annual Core Data Service Summary Report on information technology in higher education. The report covers fiscal year 2007 and is based on the survey responses received from 1,016 campuses.
 
Some of the survey's findings:
  • Of the institutions surveyed over 35 percent (up from 29 percent the previous year) reported that they use course management systems for all or almost all of their courses. Less than one percent said they didn't or didn't plan to use course management at all.
  • Almost 95% of institutions surveyed report issuing email accounts to all students.
  • Among institutions with residence halls, almost 98% offer high-speed network connections. Only 11% use wireless as their primary network connection technology.
  • 94.5% of responding institutions operate help desks, and only about 7% of those operate their help desks on a 24/7 basis.
  • Use of open source software increased from 47 percent to almost 51 percent of responding institutions.
  • Legal downloading services are offered at 15 percent of responding campuses, and another 17 percent are considering the option, marking the second consecutive year increase.
  • Among technologies deployed on campus networks, several saw notable increases last year, including anti-spyware software, voice over IP (VoIP), and personal firewalls, among others.
  • Forty-nine percent of responding institutions have deployed emergency notification systems (such as text message alerts) and 47 percent are exploring options. 

See the report online for details. 

IT Connections is published monthly by Information Technology and Services. Story ideas can be submitted to Chris Finkle by the third Wednesday of each month.

Phone: 443-2677