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| Quick Notes
ITS Staff Milestones
Congratulations to the following people for their years of service at Syracuse University:
Susan Heeley, Administrative Specialist II - 30 years
Patricia Stanley, Information Technology Analyst - 10 years
Announcements
Please welcome Josh Slade to ITS! Josh has joined the NSM-CSS team as an Information Technology Analyst. He comes to ITS from the Auxiliary Services department where he was a Data Systems Administrator. Josh has been with the University for almost five years and is pursuing a BS in Information Technology & Management from the iSchool. His office is in MH 250A. Please stop by or drop him a note at jslade@syr.edu to welcome him aboard! |
Updates
Keeping current with software, systems and devices
ITS Support During the Winter Break
(December 24, 2008 - January 4, 2009)
ITS Walk- in Support Centers are closed starting Tuesday afternoon, December 23, 2008 and will reopen Monday, January 5, 2009.
Phone Support for Students, Faculty and Staff
Starting Wednesday, December 24, 2008, ITS will follow normal "after hours" operating practice. At all times during the winter break (December 24, 2008 - January 4, 2009), individual users can report problems with ITS-supported computing and network services by calling (315) 443-2677 and pressing option three (3), or by emailing consult@syr.edu. ITS will respond by the end of the next regular business day (January 5, 2009).
ITS will be monitoring computing and network services throughout the winter break and will respond appropriately if system-wide problems occur. Suspected system-wide problems (i.e., those experienced by more than one faculty or staff person) should be reported to the IT support staff serving the department of the affected users. Departmental IT support staff will be able to contact ITS, if necessary, to resolve any issues.
At all times during the Winter Break (December 24, 2008 - January 4, 2009), IT support staff (DSP, FBAs and others) and essential University staff who have major system issues will be able to call ITS's winter break support phone number and speak directly with the ITS on-call staff, who will either resolve the issue, or have someone who can resolve the issue contact the caller within one hour. This number is for major system issues only, and will be in use only during the winter break; it will not be used for this purpose after January 4, 2009.
DSPs and other departmental IT support staff, especially those supporting essential University staff who will be working on campus during the winter break, who wish to receive ITS's winter break support phone number should email their request to Maureen Reilly at mlreilly@syr.edu. The request must include the requester's contact information (Requester's name, title, department, and best telephone number(s) and email address(es) to reach you during the winter break). This informs ITS of which units might need support, and will enable contact by ITS should requests for support intended for distributed personnel come directly to ITS. Requests for the special phone number must be sent before close of business Monday, 12/22/08.
ITS Website Ideas
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 cfinkle@syr.edu. | |
ITS Out and About
Connecting with the campus and beyond
Linda Saul has been exceptionally busy lately sharing her expertise with students. She was a guest speaker at the Management Information Systems class for undergraduates at the Maxwell School. The instructor, Jim Goldstein, who expects to finish his doctorate this spring asked Linda to speak about being a project manager and leading large IT projects, including pitfalls that can occur and how to avoid them; how IT projects are decided on; how they are managed; and implementation strategies. The class was particularly interested in the lessons learned, which Linda says are usually the most fun to talk about!
IST 673, Strategic Planning in an Information-Based Organization also hosted Linda as a guest presenter. The class was very interested in hearing about Project Management and speaking with a real Project Manager to get first hand information on the role. Linda provided experience-based, thoughtful answers to the curious students. According to instructor (and Associate CIO) Andy Clark, "the students definitely found value in the discussion as all of them mentioned topics Linda talked about in their next weekly assignment. In that assignment they provided me with a question they still had about a topic and all asked thoughtful additional questions about Project Management. Linda kindly provided answers to those questions that led to more fruitful discussion in the next class."
Linda also spoke to a project management class at SUNYIT in Utica. This connection was made through Susan Watts (ITS, EPS) who has a friend taking the course. The class was interested in having a practicing project manager visit and speak about real life as a PM.
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IT Professional Development
ITS staff on the cutting edge
Training & Education
An article by Peter Morrissey entitled "Is Your IP PBX Secure?" appears in the 12/1/08 issue of Information. The article features steps to take to ensure security for VoIP PBX systems.
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Oracle Chosen for Identity Management
Application suite with more functionality will replace IdM
Oracle's Identity Management (OIM) suite has been selected to replace the current identity management system (IdM) at SU. IdM is the system that creates NetIDs, email addresses, access to ITS resources (such as email and Active Directory), and is used to create sponsored accounts. The current system includes homegrown processes that send identity data from Peoplesoft HRSA, ID Card and Advance, eProvision (aka DayOne), Sun Directory Services, Enterprise Directory (aka LDAP), and account self-service. Oracle was chosen over other IdM vendors because of its functional capabilities and its vision and investment in identity and access management technologies. The project to develop and implement OIM will take about 18 months, and will involve ITS, distributed support staff, Institutional Advancement, Enrollment Management, Human Resources, and IT staff at SUNY ESF. Information about project objectives, scope and timeline are available in Confluence, or by contacting project leads Cindy Hoalcraft (clhoalcr@syr.edu clhoalcr@syr.edu, x4809) or Steve Leonard (sleonard@syr.edu sleonard@syr.edu, x3243). |
ECM and Business Continuity Plans
Ensuring operations when events go bad
What would we do if the University's mission-critical data and applications were unavailable because of flood, fire, or some other disaster? What would our users do? To ensure we're prepared Dr. Louis Marcoccia, Syracuse University's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, directed all Business, Finance, and Administrative Services (BFAS) business units to develop and periodically test Business Continuity Plans. In implementing this mandate, each of the business units within BFAS developed strategies that will allow the continuation of their operations in the unexpected absence of staff, space, or technology.
Business Continuity (BC) can be defined as the ability of an organization to continue to function during or immediately after a disastrous event. BC plans may be different depending on several variables including, for example, the day of the week the disaster occurs. For example, an event on the day paychecks are printed is more critical than if it occurred when no checks are to be printed.
While some areas have formulated plans that rely on manual processes and procedures, other areas rely on Energy and Computing Management's (ECM) business continuity data center to maintain mission-critical business operations. This data center is a fully independent, redundant data center that can be brought online within minutes after a disaster to provide BFAS access to critical systems. All systems currently hosted at or maintained by ECM have a tested, fully-functional business continuity plan. These include all websites; databases; remote access systems; departmental data (G: and H: drives); the abilities to print to network printers and interface with and transfer data to and from enterprise systems; all HVAC and card access life safety systems; specific components of enterprise systems; and other BFAS and non-BFAS departmental systems and services.
To accomplish this, ECM uses a variety of technologies and techniques including server virtualization, synchronous and asynchronous file-level and block-level replication, entire virtual machine (VM) replication, and both purchased and home-grown tools and utilities.
For more information about how BFAS is ensuring that its BC efforts keep pace with evolving business practices and technologies, please contact Stephen Rieks, Associate Director of Systems and Services, at x4912 or sjrieks@syr.edu.
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| Evaluation of Request Tracking
(aka "ticketing") Systems
Survey response indicates high interest
A work group has been formed to evaluate request tracking systems (like Service Desk) in order to recommend a product and accompanying support structure. Group members are Kevin Barnett (L.C. Smith College of Engineering), Ray Dow (LEMP), Cindy Hoalcraft (EPS), David Hoalcraft (AASC), Larry Quaglia (Student Affairs), Lorraine Sauro (IS) and Eric Sedore (NSM). The team's primary objective is to recommend by late-January 2009 a request tracking solution that will be accepted and used by the entire IT community at SU.
During the first week of December, the committee invited staff to participate in a survey of requirements for request tracking systems. Over 150 responses were received indicating a high level of interest in the topic. Results will be summarized and published very soon, and will be used to prioritize the broad range of features available in these systems.
A decision on whether and when to move forward with the work group's recommendation will be made by the Technology Leadership Council and the project sponsor, Chris Sedore, Interim VP for Information Technology and CIO. Project details are available on Confluence and by contacting Cindy Hoalcraft (clhoalcr@syr.edu or x4809), or any of the work group members.
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Chris Sedore Named Interim Vice President for Information Technology/CIO
ITS has new collaborative reporting structure
Christopher Sedore, associate CIO and chief technology strategist, has been named interim vice president and CIO, responsible for the day-to-day management of Syracuse University's Information Technology and Services department.  "Chris Sedore is the ideal person to serve as interim CIO, as he has been a key leader within ITS, has worked both in the schools/colleges and in the central administration, and is widely respected both on and off campus for his technical acumen and leadership," says Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric F. Spina. In a new collaborative reporting structure, ITS will be overseen jointly by Spina and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Louis G. Marcoccia. Spina will provide day-to-day leadership, and he and Marcoccia will work with interim CIO Sedore on strategic directions and ensure that ITS is providing central technology support across both the academic and administrative functions of the University. Sedore has served as associate CIO since August 2007 and director of network and systems management and chief technology strategist since October 2005. He has been responsible for administrative and academic computing, the campus network and server infrastructure, the datacenter, telecommunications and oversight of distributed support. As chief technology strategist, he has advised SU's leadership on technology directions for the University. He is also past chair of the Technology Leadership Council. Before moving to ITS, Sedore was an IT professional in the Maxwell School for more than 11 years, lastly as director of Maxwell's Information and Computing Technology Group. Sedore's work has focused primarily on the management and application of technology. He has contributed to the development of open-source operating systems and network applications, and he has worked on the broader application of technology to collaboration, education and research with University partners in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Israel, Italy and Peru. | |
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IT Connections is published monthly by Information Technology and Services. Story ideas can be submitted to Chris Finkle by the first Monday of each month. |
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