The
overall mission of Information Technology Services is to provide access to
information, research and instructional resources, to provide appropriate
facilities to house these resources, to ensure fundamental information literacy
skills, and to deliver services integral to the university's information
infrastructure, as well as all necessary technology and information support to
the State University of West Georgia community.
The State
University of West Georgia's office of Information Technology Services (ITS) is
dedicated to providing members of the University of West Georgia community with
the technological resources and support needed to be successful and productive.
Information Technology Services is a service organization consisting of highly
skilled and motivated computing and telecommunications specialists with
expertise spanning a broad range of current technology. Information Technology
Services acts as an advocate for technology on campus and works closely with
departments, colleges and schools to address related issues. ITS works to
provide current state-of-the-art computing, communication, and delivery methods
to all faculty, staff, and students.
|
Department Goal |
University/Department
Mission |
Bread & Butter Goal |
|
Maintain the campus IT infrastructure ensuring the reliability and security of electronic resources. |
A stable IT infrastructure provides the means for offering quality teaching research and public service. |
9,10 |
|
Develop an IT staff capable of delivering superior services to the campus |
Information Technology Services is a service organization consisting of highly skilled and motivated computing and telecommunications specialists with expertise spanning a broad range of current technology. |
6,9 |
|
Support the technology needed to conduct the administrative functions of the university |
Efficient and effective business processes improve the quality of student life. |
9 |
|
Provide efficient helpdesk services |
Adequate technical support is a key to fostering the use of technology across the curriculum. |
9 |
|
Enhance the student experience by providing the technology resources necessary for insuring technically competent graduates. |
Supports student services, which increase opportunities for academic success and personal development and enhance the quality of student life. |
5 |
|
Explore emerging technologies |
New technologies offer opportunities to enhance educational excellence. For example, New methods of communication allow for one on one dialog resulting in a more personal environment. |
9 |
|
Outcomes |
Assessment |
Results |
|
ITS maintains 99% uptime for all systems and the campus network. |
Server and switch logs were reviewed. |
Due to the security incident in Sept. 2001 system downtime for the year exceeded 1%. |
|
ITS ResNet student assistants will support residence hall networking. |
ResNet calls were analyzed. |
In FY02, ResNet student assistants completed over 900 request calls. |
|
ITS will respond to helpdesk calls within one working day. |
HelpDesk calls for FY02 were analyzed. |
The average time to close a call was 13 hours. |
|
ITS will complete all Banner upgrades within the time frame specified by the BOR. |
BOR upgrade schedule was reviewed and compared to campus completion dates. |
BOR banner updates were all completed before the required dates. |
|
ITS will complete Banner report requests within 2 working days. |
Banrpt-L user list logs were reviewed. |
For FY02, ITS completed 366 banner programming requests, 98% of which were completed within 2 working days. |
|
ITS will maintain a 95% customer satisfaction rating on helpdesk calls. |
Completed customer satisfaction surveys were analyzed. |
ITS succeeded in maintaining a 95% customer satisfaction rating. |
|
New staff positions and promotions. |
Enhancements of core IT services |
New and improved services were implemented for the campus –wireless network pilot, personalized email. |
|
ITS will lead a student managed organization, Student Information Technology Services or SITS, to provide free PC support for all enrolled students. |
Successful acquisition of technology fees to support the project, and analysis of SITS helpdesk calls. |
ITS received student technology fees in FY02 and FY03 to fund Student Information Technology Services. To date, this organization has acquired the necessary hardware, software, and people ware necessary to provide this service. 150 requests for assistance have been logged since July 2002. |
|
ITS will support and maintain a computer lab adequate to meet the needs of the student body. |
Occupancy records were analyzed. |
Occupancy rates averaged 70%. Lab hours were extended by working with SGA. |
|
Enhance campus IT security. |
Analyzed firewall logs, and virus scanner log. |
Tens of thousands of unauthorized probes of the campus were blocked by the firewall rules, and 28474 infected emails were cleaned. |
|
Involvement with Facilities and Planning |
Review of construction blueprints. |
Re-design of several aspects of multiple construction projects. |
|
ITS formed incident response team and will respond to all hacking incidents. |
Analyzing number of response. |
The team responded to fifteen incidents. |
|
ITS will support academic resources such as WebCT, Richards College of Business, Continuing Education and Alumni servers and maintain 99% uptime of these resources. |
Analyze server and switch logs. |
With the exception of WebCT, these resources were available 99% of the time. WebCT was down due to the security incident in Sept. |
Banner upgrades often have unanticipated effects on the user population. To reduce these effects, and still maintain on time completion of Banner upgrades, a more formal testing mechanism was put in place. The major Banner users are asked to review banner upgrades in a non-production instance of the database before upgrades are scheduled.
The condition of Information Technology Services continues to improve. ITS addressed a number of staff related issues this year. Market adjustments were made to several key staff salaries. In addition, the department had three vacancies in FY02 that have now been filled. However, in order to hire qualified personnel into areas of strategic need, ITS consolidated salaries of the three positions into two. These resources were allocated to the areas of system support and networking, but this has left other areas of the department short staffed (desktop support and programming). Much of the staff still works over 50 hours a week and additional personnel are needed to maintain satisfactory levels of customer service. Student Information Technology Services and ResNet helped address the specific needs of students, but are over whelmed by the unanticipated needs of the student population, especially campus residents.
ITS personnel that were housed in the Computer Center Annex were relocated to Cobb Hall, addressing some of the short-term space needs of the department. A few staff from the Boyd Building were also relocated to Cobb Hall, freeing up much needed space in the data center.
Networking
The campus
firewall was upgraded and enhanced to better protect campus resources. In
addition, inline virus scanning software was purchased. This software removes
viruses from email messages before they reach the users mailbox. From Nov. 2001
to June 2002, this software has prevented 28,474 infected email messages from
being delivered.
A thorough
analysis of the campus network was performed and several areas were identified
for upgrades, the largest being the College of Education. Callaway and Gunn
Halls also received upgraded equipment.
With the
relocation of certain staff to Cobb Hall, the data center in the Boyd Building
was reorganized and an additional UPS was acquired to support future network
and server expansion.
Wiring
projects for construction or renovations in Athletics, Publication and
Printing, Melson Hall, Mandeville Hall, Z-6 and other buildings were completed.
ITS also relocated the computing equipment for several offices through out the
year.
Student Focused
Services
ITS worked
hard in FY02 to secure technology fee funding for Student Information
Technology Services, or SITS. The goal of SITS is to provide free hardware and
software support to all currently enrolled students. A graduate assistant, who oversees
a team of five technical student assistants, manages SITS. These SAs work
together with the customer to help diagnose and repair problems. This mentoring
relationship helps the customer learn about their PC, and provides the SA with
real job skills.
ResNet student
assistants completed over 900 requests for assistance in the residence halls.
ITS worked
with the BOR to secure the Student Microsoft Campus Agreement. This agreement
was funded by student technology fees and provides each enrolled student with a
free copy of Microsoft Office and WindowsXP.
The PC lab in
the University Community Center was upgraded from PIII PCs to new Dell PIV PCs.
There are a total of 36 workstations available in the lab for student use. Over
the summer ITS worked with Student Government to extend lab hours until 2AM
beginning Fall 2002. The server that supports the lab was also upgraded.
In conjunction
with Student Services, ITS, in an effort to gather a valid email address for
every student, wrote a banweb enhancement to require students to enter a valid
email address before they could further access the system. ITS estimates over
2,500 new email addresses were collected. The web based software used to read
email was also replaced this year, with a new, more stable product.
ITS worked
with the Distance Learning office to upgrade WebCT to the most current version,
and assisted them in the selection and implementation of HorizonLive, a
software application that supports both synchronize and asynchronous learning.
Administrative
Computing
Banner was
upgraded to the latest version, which includes the Curriculum, Advising and
Program Planning (CAPP) module to assist in determining degree program
requirements.
ITS worked
with Business and Finance to complete negotiations on the BlackBoard One Card
project. The One Card project will continue into FY03. ITS and Business and
Finance also began a Resource25/Schedule25 implementation at the end of FY02.
This software supports event planning and room scheduling. It will allow for
more efficient use of classroom space and facilities.
ITS worked
with Student Development to purchase the software package SEVIS, which will
help the campus meet the new federal regulations governing international
students.
ITS worked
with the Alumni Office to upgrade their alumni database and several departments
in Student Services were migrated to a new more robust file server.
ITS provided
PeopleSoft support for the Student Financial Services.
Customer
Service
ITS completed
over 1,600 helpdesk calls and answered over 5,000 telephone or email requests
for assistance. The average time to close a helpdesk call was 13 working hours.
Customer satisfaction remained at the 95% level, despite an increase in the
average time to close a call from last year. To improve customer service in the
telecommunications area, the helpdesk began logging all telephone work orders.
TechLife, the
online technology guide for faculty staff and students, was updated and also a
hardcopy version was developed for distribution in student orientation packets.
ITS also participated in new student orientation sessions, providing hands on
assistance with banweb and student email accounts. ITS also had a display board
and materials available during orientation sessions.
ITSNews, the department
newsletter, was converted to an online only publication.
The main campus website was redesigned in FY02. The re-design included a complete change in navigation along with a new look. In addition to the main campus web site, ITS developed or expanded websites for:
Art Dept Online Presentation for 16th Century Building Renovation
Project
Graduate School application and automated response.
TechFees online submission of project requests, and display of
awarded projects
Developed a website for SITS
Implemented ITS System Status page to help inform campus up system
downtime
Distance Learning online reservation tool for Horizon Live
software.
Student Involvement Survey for Student Activities
Assisted in revisions of Geosciences website
Assisted with revisions for Waring Lab website.
Maintained the SACS Website
Developed Student MCA Website
In addition to developing web sites, ITS wrote or enhanced on-line applications for registering for the Regent’s test, student government elections, and the annual report template.
ITS staff
attended over thirty different conferences and training events.
ITS provided
hands-on experience in PC troubleshooting, networking and software support for
thirteen students. Three full time staff and one student assistant became Dell
certified technicians.
IX.
Other Awards, Distinctions, Achievements
N/A