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Information Technology Services Annual Report 2008-09

Michael Sherer, Director ITS

Executive Summary

For ITS, academic year 2008-09 was significantly about planning and restructuring, and lots of spade work for significant technology transitions. The year began with the successful migration from Blackboard to Moodle for course management, the arrival of Frank Johnson as ITS's new supervisor, and the loss of Vickie Miller to reorganization. Jenzabar announced the phase-out of Oracle support and the sunsetting of CampusWeb, creating a large, difficult and potentially disruptive migration to EX 3.0 on SQL Server and JICS 7 Portal, now scheduled to occur in October 2009. This project has consumed large amounts of staff and administrative time, but it was only one of several major initiatives. Zimbra beat out Google Apps and Exchange for our future collaboration platform, creating a firm deadline for the move off of Eudora/POP3, GC File got a major upgrade and restructuring, we tested and ultimately bought our first virtualized storage system--a Sun open storage appliance, we tested and switched to a commercial helpdesk package--SupportSuite, began planning a campus-wide WiFi upgrade and prepared for the switchover to iLight for high-speed Internet access.
In the Fall, Frank and Michael reworked the ITS Strategic Plan, promoting broader campus strategic objectives and setting a new course that shifts technology investments to new technology paradigms emphasizing mobility, virtualization and green computing. The revised plan was submitted to the President's Council in December where it received strong support. In the winter, the President requested an ITS benchmarking report and then, in lieu of an external audit, a ground-up rethinking of IT which led to a second restructuring of ITS Support and ITS Media. At the time of this report, ITS has successfully migrated to Zimbra, we are on a 1 Gb iLight Internet connection, SupportSuite is in production, we have a test environment of Jenzabar EX 3 on SQL Server and JICS 7 nearing rollout, and our team is in place for the next round of transformational change. It has been a challenging year on many fronts, but also one marked by great progress on important issues that should ultimately strengthen Goshen College and its IT environment.

ITS Accomplishments for Academic Year 20008-09

Academics

o Successfully transitioned from Blackboard to Moodle, saving the college $30,000 per year, ad infinitum.

o Covered for Floyd Saner's sabbatical, handling Moodle support and miscellaneous Ed Tech-related support issues.

o Ad 36, Ad 20 and Ad 28 were brought up to 2008 M1 classroom standards during Summer 2008

o Proposed, designed and implemented Lighting Systems upgrade for AD28. Integrated lighting with Crestron room control

o Added scalers to most M1 classrooms, upscaling video sources to XGA for better image quality.

o Placed 15 new Panasonic 3500 lumen projectors during Summer 2008

o Phased out 1800 lumen models. All classrooms are 3000+ lumens

o Got classroom MUR funds in the budget for the first time.

o Preparing to roll out Mahara e-portfolio tools during Summer 2009.

o Assisted ASL in creating a workable digital video workflow during academic year 2008-09.

o Upgraded ASL labs to support new digital video workflows.

o Consulted with Physical Education and purchased specialized PA gear for Phys Ed course use

o Designed and implemented video recording workflow for ED 201: Foundations for Education - each student required to use video for certain assignments. Developed documentation for students.

o Researched and implemented flash-based video recording system for all Oral Comm courses and Music Dept. juries

o Completed upgrade of WY318 with next gen videoconferencing technology

o Installed HD video distribution and display system in Video Production lab that supports instruction for Comm 212 and 312

o Researched copyright issues on behalf of faculty desiring to use audio/video resources in Moodle. Assisted faculty in digitizing and uploading content when appropriate

o Redesigned Creston interface for campus classrooms to improve user experience.

o Reworked the Classes folder system on GC File

o Assisted with the mPress computing setup in Columbus, OH

Admission

o Updated the online admission app for Fall 2009

o Explored the feasibility of migrating from GoldMine to Jenzabar EX Admission. Elected to hold off until Summer 2010.

o Purchased the JICS Admission Officer and Candidate modules. These products are now slated for implementation in Summer 2010.

o Assisted Amos Kratzer in porting the GoldMine bridge to SQL Server

o Upgraded the bulk mailer to improve personalized mailings.

Support and Training

o Implemented SupportSuite, an integrated help desk/problem tracking system.

o Phased out Eudora on campus, which involved migrating 290 users to Thunderbird

o Began testing Snow Leopard and Windows 7, upcoming releases of our supported operating systems.

o Restructured support services to reflect the loss of Vickie Miller

o Restructured in Summer 2009 to reflect the loss of Kevin Gross

o Trained over 100 users on Zimbra during summer 2009.

o Created Zimbra documentation and a Zimbra website to facilitate dissemination of migration-related information.

o Solved 3,340 help desk calls from July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009. Support solved 3,173 of those tickets.

Labs

o Closed UN 001 and converted UN 004 to a dual-boot lab of iMacs.

o Upgraded Comm Hub layout Macs to 4 GB RAM.

o Began planning for a dual-boot iMac upgrade in UN004 and closing UN 001 for Fall 2008.

o Upgraded NC 12, UN 002 and the Connector and Ad 21 to dual core PC 2008 models.

Offices

o Upgraded from MS Office 2003 to 2007

o Upgrade Adobe Creative Suite version from 3 to 4 on the Mac Side

o Performed memory upgrades on over 100 office computers to 2 GB in response to greater memory requirements of new software.

o Performed 290 Eudora migrations, user by user over the course of the last year and a half.

Mobile Computing

o Tested iPhones/iPod Touches with Zimbra in preparation for July Zimbra rollout.

o Completed migration to IMAP mail clients in June 2009.

o Zimbra webmail/calendar provides a full-featured web-based collaboration suite available from any computer worldwide.

o Phased out support for serial Palm devices.

Printing

o Found usable remanufactured toner cartridges that get our HP 4250 printers down to less than 1 cent/page in toner costs. We are projecting cost savings of $2,400 next year.

o Printer upgrades were largely on hold for budgetary reason. However, we did upgrade the executive office color laserprinter due to a hardware failure.

Data Systems

o Large amounts of staff time and energy went toward preparing for the transition from Oracle to Microsoft SQL Server in October 2009.

o Ported GC Online code to SQL Server, including online timecard, online app, GC Navigator, course evaluations.

o Ported Caravel to run against SQL Server

o Prepared to migrate to JICS 7 from CampusWeb

o Deferred migration to the Jenzabar EX admission module til Summer 2010.

o Created migration procedures for the primary database

o Began porting InfoMaker reports, stored procedures and SQL scripts

o Overhauled GC Backup servers

ITS Media: General

o Participated in the EPA audit of campus, documented soldering procedures and battery recycling plans.

o Designed new storage space in the Union for Communication Dept Video production gear such as the boom and steady cam units.

o Consulted with Communicaton Dept to define space needs in future Union facility

o Assisted with facility tours and evaluations of candidates for Video Professor position

o Assisted SST, Theater Dept. and Learning Center with FM database hosting on our Filemaker server

o Provided services for 533 workorders

o Managed 2284 equipment checkouts

o Created 1538 ID cards for Library/RFC community members

ITS Media: AV Systems

o Completed CITL and PR conference room installs, trained faculty.

o Installed HD television system in MAO lounge

o Consulted with CMC and installed projection systems in the Fellowship Hall.

o Managed $20K purchasing and implementation of broadcast equipment as per 5 yr plan

o Supported numerous maple scholars requests for assistance with video/audio production

o Installed new audio racks, patchbays and listening assisted systems in the Umble Center PA (over 80 hours of labor)

o Purchase and installed projection system in the Umble center

o Managed installation of distributed PA system in CITL for noise cancellation

ITS Media: Event Support

o Co-ordinated planning with OCE on Zimbra migration

o Assisted with evaluation of EventPro software for OCE, purchased, installed and configured software.

o Managed all PAS show audio needs, including booking and day-of-show management of external rental house systems

ITS Media: WGCS Support

o Managed radio station facilities, including increased responsibility for the WGCS tower site, oversaw repair of tower light, and began annual inspections according to FCC guidelines

o Migrated globeradio.org streaming services from helix to icecast server, allowing mp3 streams

o Covered WGCS supervision duties while Jason Samuel was on CITL study grant in Costa Rica

o Replaced 15 yr old patchbays and studio wiring at WGCS as portions were starting to fail. (120 hrs of labor, over 2000 terminations)

Network Services

o Upgraded GC File to 8 Terabytes of capacity, up from 3 TB. Access speed is now 3 times faster. Quotas have tripled over last year and now stand at 3 GB.

o Installed new Zimbra mail/calendar server, which is also faster and offers greater capacity.

o Implemented a new anti-phishing technique that reduced the number of phishing attempts

Web

o A redesign of www.goshen.edu is underway, with the objective of aligning the look of GC web space with the new Peace by Peace campaign.

o Paul Meyer Reimer took a full-time Physics Professorship and his FTE was not replaced. Web responsibilities for 2009-10 will need to be restructured to take this into account.

Video

o Michael served on the search committee to replace Ron Johnson. The process resulted in the hiring of Seth Conley, an anchor from West Lafayette. The video production portion of that position remains unfilled.

Security

o There were no significant security breaches in 2008-09.

o There were increases is spam volume and phishing attacks became more sophisticated. Both required ongoing adjustments to our mitigation strategies.

Planning/Administration

o Transitioned to supervision by Frank Johnson, special assistant to the president.

o Restructured ITS twice, resulting in the reduction of staff by 2.0 FTE

o Presented a strategic plan to the president's council, which was ultimately approved and budgeted for.

Personnel

o In October, Vickie Miller moved from her role in ITS Support to serve as assistant director of Human Resources.

o Kevin Gross began transitioning from his role in ITS Support to responsibilities in Institutional Research

o Dan Stutzman took on Kevin's desktop and lab PC support responsibilities.

o Paul Housholder has assumed the buik of Dan Stutzman's WGCS support responsibilities.

o Paul Meyer Reimer took a full-time professor of Physics position at GC. His 0.3 FTE load is being absorbed by others in the department.

Conferences and Training

o EduCAUSE 2008 in Orlando, attended by Michael Sherer

o Fall ICI Tech Summit attended by Michael Sherer

o Spring ICI Tech Summit at St. Francis University attended by Michael Sherer and Paul Ortman

o In-house training on tSQL and .NET attended by David Hodges, Paul Ortman, Gordon Bontrager, Theo Budiardja and Amos Kratzer

o Labman 2009, Notre Dame attended by Pam Osborne and Dan Stutzman

o InfoComm - Paul Housholder, Mike McHugh

KPI Goals for 2009-10

ITS KPI Goals for 2009-10 are building last year's goal of expanding beyond quantitative data to qualitative data. We gathered uptime data and this year will prepare a simple customer satisfaction benchmark survey. Server uptime for all GC servers was 99.91% for the year.

Challenges and Opportunities

As we look ahead to 2009-10 the challenges have shifted. ITS is down 1.6 FTE from the previous year and has taken a significant productivity hit as staff members learn new responsibilities and redefine service levels. We are an organization with significantly less capacity to respond to short-lead-time requests, special projects, and at times even basic technology requests. At the same time, it is not clear that the campus has in any way lowered its expectations for research, development and support. The next year will be one of significant adjustment, even as we work to complete the Jenzabar-related projects and make progress on redefining desktop and mobile computing paradigms. The loss of Paul Meyer Reimer will be more significant than many people realize. Though only 0.3 FTE, Paul was very effective in guiding the college web presence forward.

On the opportunity side, we are now on iLight, which now makes new high-bandwidth applications possible. Both ITS and academic faculty will need to be alert to the full-range of possibilities. Moodle, Mahara and Zimbra all present opportunities for rethinking the way we do certain academic and administrative processes. For example, we have already created scripts to import academic scheduling data for faculty and calendar admins. The Union renovation project represents both challenge and opportunity. Good space planning for both IT and academics will take time away from other responsibilities. Transition planning for the renovation in ways the limit disruption and downtime will be challenging. In the end, however, the process of rethinking our services in the context of now space will be energizing and create new opportunities.

Review of 2008-09 Goals and Strategies

Reflecting back on the goals for 2008-09

o Complete the Network 2010 upgrade (dorms in Fall 2008, Bradford Campus Manager) Delayed until Fall 2009.

o Get a green light for managed wireless in the dorms for next Summer. This project is funded and proceeding for academic year 2009-10

o Get connected to iLight. We are now live on iLight.

o Solidify our technology choices for Server Virtualization and Storage Virtualization. Made good progress here with KVM and Sun ZFS storage.

o Successfully roll out Jenzabar JICS portal. Decided to wait until JICS 7 was released. This is now scheduled for Fall 2009.

o Successfully transition faculty to Moodle LMS. Completed in Fall 2008.

o Complete a multi-tier emergency notification implementation. Tiers one and two were completed (SMS messaging and siren, with tier 3 (network notification) scheduled for implementation in Fall 2009.

o Solidify our strategy for messaging, collaboration and mobile support. W e are now live on Zimbra as of July 2009, which will be our collaboration platform for the next 3-5 years.

o Help Admission successfully transition to the Jenzabar EX module and JICS Candidate and Admission Officer. This has been delayed until Summer 2010.

o Help ASL successfully transition to digital workflows. Completed.

o Achieve closer alignment between IT planning and Executive planning. President's Council reviewed and approved the ITS Strategic Plan for the first time in December 2008

o Chart an achievable strategy for enterprise Business Intelligence infrastructure. A rollout of SQL Server Reporting Services is scheduled for Fall 2009.

o Pursue ongoing funding of classroom master plan. This was incorporated into the ITS Strategic Plan and approved at a level of $40,000/year.

o Research and Develop comprehensive strategy for migrating Departmental and library assets from VHS and DVD content to online content. No significant progress on this goal.

o Develop Technology plans (AV and computing) for key customers. No significant progress on this goal.

o Develop proposal for centralized funding for AV systems. This was worked into the ITS budget. However, at this point it's primarily an acknowledgement that these systems are currently unfunded.
2009-10 Goals and Strategies

o Successfully migrate from EX 2.9.x on Oracle to EX 3 on SQL Server

o Successfully migrate from CampusWeb to JICS 7

o Minimize departmental disruption resulting from the above migrations

o Play a constructive role in moving the Union renovation project forward

o Complete first customer satisfaction survey

o Regain equilibrium from staffing transitions of 2008-09

o Help ASL and Communication with key faculty transitions

o Help Admission successfully transition to the Jenzabar EX module and JICS Candidate and Admission Officer.

o Complete tier 3 of a multi-tier emergency notification implementation.

o Complete the Network 2010 upgrade (dorms in Fall 2009, WiFi, NAC/remediation)

o Develop Technology plans (AV and computing) for key customers.

o Help Admission successfully transition to the Jenzabar EX module and JICS Candidate and Admission Officer.

o Research and Develop comprehensive strategy for migrating Departmental and library assets from VHS and DVD content to online content.

o Get a campus-wide strategy for digital signage drafted and approved.

o Rework the GC Web strategic plan to reflect new staffing realities and institutional priorities.

o Begin experimenting with VOIP technologies.

o Get an IPv6 roadmap in place

Five Years Out

We are in the midst of a technological paradigm shift where mature desktop technologies are being challenged by new mobile, wireless, virtualized and web-based technologies. Unlike some technology transitions, there are economic incentives to move more aggressively into these new areas--lower hardware costs, lower power costs, lower staffing costs, and new business opportunities. In the space of 3 years, we will have turned over almost our entire technology infrastructure. In five years, we hope to have stabilized our strategies for administrative systems and business intelligence, desktop and mobile computing, classroom and academic technology storage and server management, networking, security, and the web. We also hope to be be in renovated space that maximizes staffing efficiency and service provision. While there are some major challenges and uncomfortable amounts of change, our hope is that through alignment and dialog with departmental and executive leadership we can continue to help the college move institutional business processes, curriculum and pedagogy forward in ways that leverage these new opportunities to advance GC's strategic objectives and keep the college competitive with or ahead of our peer institutions. This will take a sustained commitment across the institution to good planning and management and the larger college goals over the coming years if we are to realize our full potential.

Conclusion

Despite the challenges of the past year, ITS made substantial progress both on major projects and strategic technology planning. We believe that we are still well positioned and well-structured for moving the ITS strategic plan forward and support the broader mission and operation of Goshen College in the years to come.