Workgroup Report October 2014

ITS Leadership Team

Recent Accomplishments

• ITS Staff reorganization post LIS de-merger
• Creation and adoption of new organization statements – Mission, Vision and Values – based on initial strategic planning exercise
• Launched new ITS web site
• Reboot Tech Partners team, including establishment of new charter
• Establish Strategic Planning Advisory Team
• Completed FY14 IT Audit with favorable results
• Set FY15 ITS-wide goals with supporting project planning that includes milestones with target dates and accountability
• Created ITS staff recognition protocol
• New change management/tracking web application in production for CSNS and InfoSec in support of better change governance

Priorities for next 3-6 Months

• Evaluate first release of new ITS KPIs
• Evaluate MISO Survey results
• Reinforce new ITS Mission, Vision and Values
• Release ITS Service Level Agreements, ITS wide customer service assessment
• Development of ITS Strategic Plan
• Evaluate work group goals & project plans
• Submit FY16 ITS Budget
• Improve ITS engagement with the Middlebury Community
• Assess ITS Staff skills, job satisfaction levels, staffing capacity levels, staff organization, and cross work group collaboration

Administrative Systems

Recent Accomplishments

• Implemented Preferred Name, Pronoun, and Prefix (Title) in Banner
• Implemented Emergency room assignments changes for Commons Deans
• Completed Ellucian Data Center Move
• Implemented Monterey Online Decisions Portal
• Implemented Nolij Workflow and Forms in UG Admissions
• Moved Identity Management Phase 1 info production
• Implemented Nolij Scan/Store/Retrieve for BLSE
• Implemented iModules and decommissions Harris

Priorities for next 3-6 months

• SalesForce implementation for MIIS
• BLSE online application and Nolij integration
• Rebranding effort for MIIS and Middlebury College
• Nolij Scan/Store/Retrieve in HR, Advancement, and Finance
• Develop Project Management standard for ITS
• Implement Hyperion Budget and Planning and Hyperion Strategic Finance
• Evaluation of Hyperion EPM 11 Replacement

Central Systems & Network Services

Recent Accomplishments

• New Facility - The CSNS offices moved from Voter Hall off-campus to 700 Exchange St. This was a momentous move as the CSNS group has existed in some form or another in Voter Hall for over 20 years. Along with the staff offices, we have also relocated much of the data center equipment into a new data center also at 700 Exchange Street, including fiber channel switches, servers, network devices & over a ton of hard drives.
• New Staff Member - In August Travis Stafford accepted the position as Senior Systems Administrator/Integrator. He came to us from Enterprise Applications where he was a Senior Software Engineer for the past 8 years. We’re excited to have such a talented addition to the team.
• Computer Science Lab Upgrade - Working together with the Computer Science department and ITS User Services, the Computer Science PC lab was upgraded. Previously there were 26 PCs that were 4+ years old, after the upgrade there are 32 new PCs and monitors running an updated OS as well as expanded network capacity to accommodate the new computers.
• Monterey Firewall - With help from MIIS IT Staff and Middlebury InfoSec, the WAN router/firewall at MIIS was upgraded from Juniper’s SRX to a Palo Alto firewall. This new firewall enhances MIIS’s threat, vulnerability & virus filtering as well as increasing visibility of the overall network health.

Priorities for next 3-6 Months

• Finalize Data Center Moves - There is still some equipment to be moved from campus data centers to the 700 Exchange St data center. As well as some equipment to be moved between data centers on campus. Scheduling time and resources with Facilities will be key with these moves.
• Wireless SSID Redesign - The current wireless SSIDs, midd_secure, Midd-Standard, and Midd-Unplugged will be replaced with new ones, tentatively named MiddleburyRegistration and MiddleburyCollege. The goal of this is to ensure that all wireless clients on our network are secure and identifiable.
• New Staff Member - We have an open position posted for a Senior Network Administrator. This will be a key position to complement and enhance the team. The college’s network is a common resource upon which the whole community depends. It is a service that efficiently offers Middlebury strategic advantages in all aspects of the Institution’s academic mission and activities.
• Upgrade Microsoft Exchange email platform - We are currently running Microsoft Exchange 2010 as our email and calendar platform. We plan to upgrade to Exchange 2013 over the Holiday Break. This will keep us up to date with current email offerings and set us up for future enhancements.

Helpdesk – Call Center and Walkin

Recent Accomplishments

• Of the 6947 tickets that were closed in the first quarter by ITS, 2883, or 41% were closed by the Call Center and Walk-in  
• Of the 2883 tickets closed by the Call Center and Walk-in, 2869, or 99% were resolved within 30 minutes

Priorities for next 3-6 Months

• Professional Development – The Call Center staff will analyze ticket data to determine where increased skill and knowledge within the group could reduce the number of tickets that need to be escalated to other groups. Each staff member will attend professional development training in one or more of those areas.
• The Call Center Staff will begin a process of developing a list of Best Practices when creating tickets for request types and categories. They will work towards greater consistency in ticket creation by formulating and documenting questions that need to be asked at ticket creation so regardless of where the ticket is routed all information needed for the next step is complete.   

Helpdesk – Service Requests

Recent Accomplishments

• 51 Lab computers were upgraded
• 134 Faculty and staff computers were configured and deployed
• All Windows lab computers were updated to 64-bit OS via Kace
• All Apple lab computers were upgraded to Mavericks OS.
• All requests for academic software installs and upgrades were completed for the Fall semester
• Service Requests provided planning, testing and documentation estimates for the Wireless Upgrade project, and helped CSNS determine that the project could not be safely completed before the start of the Fall semester.
• Service Requests led the Project to inventory and address all of the business uses of Outlook public folders and calendars in preparation for the Exchange 2013 upgrade.
• Of the 6947 tickets that were closed in the first quarter by ITS, 1195, or 17% were closed by Service Requests.
• Service Requests provided documentation and representation of ITS in orientation activities for Language Schools and the Class of 2018.

Priorities for next 3-6 Months

• Expand Kace deployment to entire campus of college owned computers
• Identify all remaining XP computers and their primary users to begin process of addressing security for those that cannot be upgraded.
• Preparing Capital Equipment projections for FY2016.
• Complete the testing and documentation for the Wireless Upgrade Project.
• Complete estimates and project planning for the testing, documentation and training for the Syncplicity Implementation Project.

Information Security

Recent Accomplishments

• New Staff Member – In August, Paul Dicovitsky accepted the position as Network Security Administrator. He came to us from the banking sector where he was responsible for information security operations for many years. The InfoSec team will benefit from his extensive experience.
• PCI Compliance - A high-availability firewall configuration was deployed to better protect PCI-related assets, including; POS terminals, application servers, and PCI workstations.
• IT Systems Inventory – Server infrastructure assets were inventoried and a risk-based approach to conducting vulnerability assessments was developed to help streamline and prioritize remediation activities.

Priorities for next 3-6 Months

• Network Security – Complete the migration of retail operations into the PCI enclave. Improve email firewall protections.
• Client Security – Upgrade and re-deploy Sophos End-Point protection suite to all managed computers.
• Server Security – Create a server build process checklist including host hardening guidelines. Conduct ongoing vulnerability assessments of critical servers and systems.
• Data Security – Increase education and awareness efforts related to safeguarding sensitive and confidential data. Conduct content audits to help data stewards locate and secure sensitive and confidential institutional data.

Media Services

Recent Accomplishments

• We are supporting three technology-enhanced classes that are using videoconferencing technology to connect faculty and students at Middlebury, Monterey and across the globe.
• Boardroom renovation
• Concert Hall renovation
• Athletics History Wall selection
• Upgraded A/V equipment in sixteen classrooms: Sunderland 122 and 130, BIH311, BIH403, BIH411, BIH417, CHT003, HILLCREST200, ATAA100, ATD102, AXT302, LIB220, MNR222, MNR320, MNR404, MNR405.
• Installed TV systems in CTLR, and three 700 Exchange street
• 515 events supported
• Board of Trustees committee presentations via video
• The debuts of the new Boardroom and the new Concert Hall both occurred on the same weekend, with the Board meeting and the Clifford Symposium being simultaneously scheduled. Both went well.

Priorities for next 3-6 Months

• Upgrade A/V equipment in six classrooms.
• Plan the upgrade of Axinn 232, one of the three premier screening spaces on campus.
• Upgrade the audio system in Mead well before Commencement.
• Install A/V equipment at the renovated Breadloaf Inn (one large conference/dining room and one meeting room).
• Install & commission new videoconferencing classroom(s)
• A/V installations in the renovated Field House
• Evaluate and propose a secure, reliable and high quality video streaming solution
• Evaluate and propose a solution to add redundancy to videoconferencing platform
• Evaluate and propose a solution to implement Digital Cinema Projection
• Begin project to upgrade the infrastructure used for overflow and streaming

Telephone and Printing Services

Recent Accomplishments

• LIM 8 moved from Voter to 700 Exchange Street and dial tone established
• Move of staff extensions and printers to Exchange Street, Painter House, Davis Library, and Marbleworks – 119 tickets completed in one week.
• Telephone system replacement RFP completed and sent to vendors
• Bidder conference and site survey held
• Assisted with the switchboard phone protocol proposal
• New classes of services to various categories of telephones ahead of announcement to discontinue telephone billing completed

Priorities for next 3-6 Months

• Evaluate VoIP telephone systems and provide FY16 budget figures for a new telephone system
• Complete extensions and printers to Marbleworks for Human Resources move

Web Technologies and Applications

Recent Accomplishments

• Drupal 7 upgrade for MIIS
• Logstash, Kibana, ElasticSearch implementation in conjunction with ISI
• Extensive progress toward moving web-forms to new secure forms server
• Collaborated with ISI to build out new Drupal development server environment

Priorities for next 3-6 months

• Drupal 7 upgrade for Middlebury
• MIIS and MIDD rebranding efforts
• New MiddCORE site implementation
• Refill open WTAS Manager and Senior Software Engineer position
• History Wall in Athletics Complex