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| Quick Notes
Congratulations to the following people for their years of service at Syracuse University:
David Hubbell, Instructional Technology Consultant - 5 years
Mary Kasprzyk,Technical Specialist I - 10 years
Cheryl Brown, Training Analyst - 30 years
Nelson Pardee, Support Analyst - 35 years |
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IT Out and About
Connecting with the campus and beyond
Susan Watts was elected to a second term as President of the OrangeOrators Toastmasters Club at SU. She also attended Toastmaster's Leadership training. Linda Saul was trained and participated as a Docent volunteer for the Winslow Homer exhibit. This is the first time that they have enlisted volunteers from the SU Community, who are required to take several training sessions to learn about Homer and to practice giving tours. The exhibit will be at SUArt until October 11. Glenda Ranallo and Andy Clark facilitated a session on the topic of process improvement for Arts & Sciences Student Services at their staff retreat in August. |
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What do you think of this newsletter? How could it be changed to be more useful? What about it is important to you? What isn't? After you're done reading this issue, please take a short online survey to help us understand your thoughts about this newsletter and guide the development of its future editions. Click here to take the survey.
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Updates
Keeping current with software, systems, issues and devices
OnBase Upgrade Successfully Completed
Saturday, September 12 saw the completion of the upgrade of the OnBase Information Management System. Coordinated by ITS's Enterprise Application Systems (EAS) group, this upgrade involved moving to application version 8.2 and database version 10g, as well as moving to a completely new supporting infrastructure. "New functionality as a result of the upgrade paves the way for queued high-priority OnBase projects", notes Sam Scozzafava, Director of EAS, "Thank you to everyone for your support and patience during this upgrade."
Windows 7 and Office 2010 Testing The Technology Leadership Council (TLC) has formed a subcommittee chaired by Stanley Ziemba to test Windows 7 for software and hardware compatibility with the SU computing environment. Results of the testing, and more information about Windows 7, can be found at the Windows 7 Test Group Site, https://sp.syr.edu/its/tlc/win7/default.aspx. The subcommittee is also testing the technical preview (pre-beta) of the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Office 2010. A section for Office 2010 will be added to the site as soon as a formal beta is released. If you would like to participate and submit test results, please email Stanley Ziemba at sjziemba@maxwell.syr.edu. Exert your inFLUence!
Here at SU, the effects of H1N1 (originally nicknamed "swine flu") were very mild at the end of the Spring term. Over the summer the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization tracked the occurrence and severity of influenza cases. CDC expects that there will be a new wave of cases in the US over the fall, overlapping but not replacing the normal seasonal flu. H1N1 has thus far caused mild-to-moderate disease, especially among the most vulnerable populations, which include most of our students (youth up to 24 years of age). As you know, flu can spread easily from person to person. Please take these steps to help contain flu transmission :
- Practice good hygiene by covering your mouth and nose (with tissue or the inside of your elbow) when you sneeze or cough, and by frequently washing your hands with soap and water, or by using hand sanitizer.
- Recognize the symptoms of the flu (fever at 100°F/38°C or higher and/or the signs of a fever such as chills) and STAY HOME until you are 24 hours past the fever, without the help of fever-reducing medications (such as aspirin, acetaminophen, naproxen or ibuprofen).
- Get the flu shot. Plan to get the seasonal and H1N1 vaccine, as they become available. For the latest information on flu vaccine clinics, as well as complete and current information about flu preparedness at SU, visit http://sunews.syr.edu/h1n1flu/index.html.
Higher Education H1N1 Flu Map
The International Association of Emergency Managers - Universities & Colleges Caucus has introduced Version 3.0 of its popular Higher Education H1N1 Flu Map in order to account for the large volume of data and shift in reporting focus of institutions.
 Version 3.0 shifts away from the reporting of the number of suspected, probable and/or confirmed cases. The H1N1 Influenza virus is so prevalent on most campuses at this point, that the tracking of individual cases is irrelevant. Additionally, numerous jurisdictions are no longer conducting confirmatory testing of cases. As such, the new map focuses on overall campus impact of the virus as average, above average or extraordinary case rates. Furthermore, given the number of reports the map receives on a regular basis, it has been decided that a new map will be generated for each month of flu season. The map for September 2009 is located at http://tinyurl.com/HigherEdH1N1Map-Sep09. iPhone App Maps Outbreaks HealthMap's Outbreaks Near Me application provides real-time disease outbreak information at your fingertips. On your iPhone you can see all current outbreaks in your neighborhood, including news about H1N1. The app allows you to search and browse outbreak reports on an interactive map, and set automatic alerts whenever an outbreak occurs in your area. If you spy an outbreak, you can report it using the app's reporting feature. Outbreaks Near Me is free and available at iTunes. Download it at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=328358693&mt=8.
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Network Master Plan Update
Campus-wide removal of unused cabling makes way for fiber
While work continued inside several buildings this summer, much was done related to SU's Network Master Plan (NMP) to prepare for the upgrade of the outside plant infrastructure, including the replacement and/or augmentation of underground fiber optic cabling between buildings. The first step was to make room in the existing conduit system by removing existing abandoned and unused cable in the underground conduit system.
ITS hired ECC Technologies and sub-contractor Syracuse Utilities, who, with help from Network and Wiring Services (NWS) staff, removed approximately 22 miles of abandoned coaxial and twisted pair cabling from all conduit, whether manhole-to-manhole or manhole-to-building. The effort began in July and was completed by August 15th.
 This work posed potential threats to SU's network integrity. If proper precautions had not been in place, the existing fiber optic plant could have been jeopardized, impacting one or more buildings. The crew from Syracuse Utilities was familiar with the necessary practices and precautions, and made this a seamless implementation. Many thanks to Nathan Martin from NWS for his efforts going to every building on North Campus and cutting the cables to facilitate removal. With such an aggressive timeline, this was no small task.
With the removal of the old cables, new single-mode fiber optic cabling will be installed in most if not all administrative and academic buildings on North Campus during the summer of 2010. This will provide a more robust and survivable computing environment for all as we move further into the world of gigabit computing.
The inside plant upgrade for Phase II of the NMP is progressing well. Two buildings (H.B. Crouse and the Hall of Languages) will go out to bid in September, with construction following in late October or early November. As always, space acquisition for new telecom room construction continues to be the "long pole in the tent" as space is at a premium in most or all of buildings being upgraded. This tends to drive NMP design and construction schedules. Currently there are eight other buildings in various stages of design, heralding one of the busiest NMP construction phases to date.
Design is complete and construction will soon start on installation of new fiber optic cabling in the new Center of Excellence. As part of that build, fiber will be installed at the Syracuse Stage Complex to enhance its connectivity to the main campus. Design and fall construction is also pending for a secondary fiber optic path between North and South campuses to serve the new Green Data Center (GDC). The primary path was completed last year and the secondary path will need to be completed prior to installation of critical elements in the GDC. Plans are currently under review with the City of Syracuse since Common Council approval is required for all excavation activity within the city. To expedite the installation timeline, sub-contractor bid packages have been released in anticipation of Common Council approval. With that approval, construction will begin.
There is much happening in the world of the NMP! Stay tuned for future updates as we move forward with these challenging endeavors. For more information, and updates as they occur, visit the NMP website at http://nmp.syr.edu.
by Dennis Punch
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ITidbits
Facts and figures about IT
On average there are over 20,000 devices connected each day on SU's wired network.
Typically there are over 5,000 Dell computers on the network. The next closest computer is Apple with just under 1,500.
AirOrangeX wireless covers the entire campus using 4,000 radios. This number is growing. |
What Do You Think is On The Horizon?
Take this quick poll and voice your opinion
All kinds of things are likely to happen in the coming 12 months. Take this poll to indicate what you think is the most likely event on our horizon. Last month's poll indicated our readers thought it most likely that a federal law would be passed banning texting while driving. Place your vote to see how that stacks up against other possible events.
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Blackboard Opens Strong
Version 9 is off and running at SU
The new version of Blackboard, version 9, was made available to users on July 15 for fall semester courses. By the end of Opening week (Friday, August 28), 915 Blackboard courses had been made available to students. Since then, the total has risen to more than 2,600 courses in the system. 17 group training sessions were held for Blackboard during Opening week, along with numerous individual training sessions, adding up to a total of more than 243 faculty, staff and teaching assistants who were trained. Notable attendees included Buzz Shaw, Sandy Hurd, David Rubin, Ron Cavanaugh, Kal Srinivas and Neil Strodel. These sessions included "What's New in Blackboard" , "Blackboard Overview", "Blackboard Grade Center", and "Introduction to Blackboard." Between Saturday morning and end-of-day Thursday, 271 incidents were logged in Service Desk concerning Blackboard. This peaked on Wednesday with 69 tickets. On Tuesday 8/25/09, a problem was identified with Blackboard that was preventing file uploads and access. This turned out to be an OS limitation on the number of items in a single directory and was resolved 25 hours after the problem began. In addition, a vendor-supplied fix was deployed on Friday morning to correct a problem with categories in the Grade Center. Blackboard Organizations are now being used to host critical functions such as faculty and student on-boarding, faculty and student orientation, coordination of TA's and teaching materials, and community service testing. A First Year Experience organization was created in Blackboard, hosting the shared reading materials for more than 1200 students and instructors. Blackboard continues to be an integral part of our support of teaching and learning at Syracuse University. Its success is a result of the dedicated efforts of a great group of staff members, including all of the Service Center staff for answering calls and supporting users. Tom Downes, Cheryl Brown and Dianne Pizzuti have done a spectacular job with training; David Castle has provided superb system administration; Tom Downes delivered outstanding level 3 support; Nicole Beck, David Castle, Rich Ameele, Jim Oad, and Wade Stringer have been essential to helping resolve technical issues. For more information contact Michael Morrison. |
Information innovations pay off for students, ITS
A team of almost 80 ITS employees, student staff and TEK  Sytems temps fanned out across campus to welcome and support incoming students and their families during Opening week in August. From the "Taking Care of Business" tent on the Quad, to the residence halls, to South Campus apartments, team members were on hand to help students connect their computers and other devices to the University networks, and to assist with other technology issues.  "From all indications, this year's was the smoothest move-in we've had on the IT side" said Chris Sedore, SU's Vice President for Information Technology/CIO. "Our students generally were more able than in the past to connect on their own to SU's networks, and our systems performed admirably, with quick resolution to the few issues that arose." Students and parents were clearly impressed by the services they received, as shown in these comments provided on the follow-up survey:
- "The service was timely and efficient. I was impressed with the help that was provided."
- " have absolutely nothing I think ITS should improve upon. Within minutes of hanging the sign on my doorknob, I received assistance."
- "ITS did a great job and I am very thankful for their help."
- "You guys did a great job!"
Jenny Gluck, director of Academic Applications and Service  Centers, attributes this success to information innovations. "ITS's Opening team, lead by project manager David Hoalcraft, made substantive improvements in the information we sent and made available to students and residence hall staff, in the information we gathered and reported about our work, and in the way we put information to work to guide and assess our efforts," she said. Among the innovations implemented this year were:
- Revamped the hang tag and fix code process, resulting in more accurate collection and documentation of student requests for help. This included more precise code descriptions, and a decision tree chart for picking the right code, and a pocket card for quick reference.
- Using twice-daily extracts of Network Access Control data to track successful network connections by location, aiding deployment of field staff.
- Improved communications to new students, including a "computing checklist," pre-arrival email notifications and advice, more effective ITS website resources, and enhancement of the Opening packets given to arriving students by the addition of a campus map showing ITS resources and an outer envelope with advice on safekeeping of OS and applications disks.
- An enhanced Confluence site to support ITS's Opening activities, putting all information and data in one, easy to find and navigate location.
- Implementation of a new training session for Residence Advisors, delivered as an integral part of their RA training and focused on ITS services and capabilities and how to take advantage of them.
- Implementation of a customer satisfaction survey of the students who requested assistance using the hang tags.
 During the five days of Opening (August 26-30), 7,032 residential students successfully connected to the campus networks. The ITS Service Center took 771 support calls, and 602 residential students using hang tags received assistance for 716 problems. There were 1,585 requests for IT assistance; 45% resulted from hang tags, 15% were for Blackboard. 79% of all requests were from students, 10% from faculty and 4% from staff.
"Thanks to all of you, whether working in the residence halls or on South Campus, keeping an eye on things in the office, helping out in the Service Centers, or moving other start of the semester or regular work along," said Chris Sedore. "This great start to the fall semester is the result of a group effort and you should take pride in starting the year off on such a great foot!"
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Your feedback and insights will help improve IT Connections
After you're done reading this issue, please take a short online survey to help us understand your thoughts about this newsletter and guide the development of its future editions. Click here to take the survey.
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IT Connections is published monthly by Information Technology and Services at Syracuse University. Please submit story ideas and news items to Chris Finkle. |
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