(A)(2) Cloud Part B Narrative, North Carolina, June 2013
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Race to the Top Progress Update
Sub-criterion (A)(2)/(A)(3)
Part B: In preparation for monthly calls, States must submit written responses to the following
questions for two application sub-criteria (e.g. (A)(2) and (D)(4)). 1 All responses in this section
should be tailored to the goals and projects associated with this sub-criterion.
Application sub-criterion: (A)(2) Building strong statewide capacity to implement, scale up &
sustain proposed plans; (A)(3) Demonstrating significant progress in raising achievement and
closing gaps
North Carolina’s self-described goals for this sub-criterion
•
Develop a blueprint for robust PK-12 technology infrastructure (i.e., an education technology
“cloud”) based on high reliability, availability, performance, and efficiency.
•
Deploy NC Education Cloud infrastructure and service delivery platform to provide digital
resources and tools to support all Race to the Top initiatives.
Relevant projects
•
NC Education Cloud
Questions: (Pilot revision)
1. Is the State on-track to implement the activities and meet the goals and performance
measures that are included in its approved scope of work for this sub-criterion? If so,
explain why. If not, explain why not.
Yes, the NC Education Cloud (Cloud) work is on track, as evidenced by the following
accomplishments:
•
SAS is working with NCDPI and an initial set of pilot districts on the iSeries (AS/400)
“infrastructure as a service” rollout. The iSeries infrastructure was procured, configured,
and deployed to the SAS cloud data center in Cary, NC in the last quarter of 2012. The
original 20 pilot sites have been substantially migrated. Work is underway to identify the
next round of expansion sites.
•
The Cloud team is working with SAS and the providers of the two dominant Financial
Systems used in LEAs and charter schools statewide and working with them to develop a
migration strategy that moves the financial and Human Resources (HR) systems to
modern x86-based systems.
•
The Cloud team has identified gaps between off-the-shelf solutions and remaining
NCDPI needs surrounding HR and Licensure systems, and is developing a strategy to
close these gaps in the next release of department-maintained HRMS software.
1
On each monthly call, program officers and states should work together to select two sub-criteria for the following month.
OMB Control Number: 1894-0011
Expiration Date: October 31, 2011 (A)(2) Cloud Part B Narrative, North Carolina, June 2013
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•
NCDPI has also executed a contract with SAS in support of Cloud data integration
efforts. Work is now being carried out to develop a large Operational Data Store (ODS)
that combines both information from PowerSchool and other data systems at NCDPI.
•
NCDPI has executed a contract with Identity Automation to provide Identity and Access
Management (IAM) Services to LEAs and charter schools. The Cloud team is working
closely with the vendor to develop the Technical Implementation Plan for the project. We
anticipate this work to be complete by 6/30/2013, with the build and deploy phase
beginning shortly after.
•
The Cloud Team, Identity Automation, and MCNC are working collaboratively to
determine service management roles and responsibilities for the production IAM system.
This work will ensure a high level of customer service ongoing, as districts are onboarded to the system.
•
We are deploying the production system of the Learning Object Repository (LOR)
leveraging the existing NC Community College System installation. We have loaded
both the NC essential standards and the common core standard schemas into the LOR.
We are currently scaling the solution in the NCITS Data Center.
•
We continue to collaborate closely with the Home Base team to incorporate content,
learning management, and classroom management tools and integration with the selected
vendors that were awarded components of the Instructional Improvement System (IIS).
•
We have deployed and completed a survey of wireless capabilities and 1:1 computing
initiatives across the state to meet the objectives of Cloud Blueprint Strategy 5, which
includes developing a digital inclusion model to support instruction in all classrooms
across the state.
•
We are working with the Home Base team to identify “early adopting” LEAs and charter
schools with whom to partner in implementing the IIS platform. The work of the
aforementioned wireless and 1:1 survey is continuing to inform this work. We anticipate
that each partner LEA selected will need individualized support based on their unique
circumstances. We are developing strategies within the Cloud team and MCNC to
provide technical assistance where needed.
•
We have deployed a dedicated resource at MCNC to help LEAs and charter schools
migrate to cloud based email and collaboration solutions. To date over 74 of 115 LEAs
and 40 charter schools have migrated to cloud solutions (either Google or Microsoft
Live).
2. Does the State have evidence indicating the quality of implementation for this subcriterion? What is/has the State doing/done as a result of this information?
There is some trepidation on the part of the LEAs and charters, NCPDI, NCITS, and some
legacy vendors related to the changes we propose as part of the broader NC Education Cloud
work. That fear is to be expected and is certainly evidence that the message is out. Despite the
fear related to change, we have invited 30 LEAs to participate in the iSeries pilot deployment
instead of 20 due to the high level of LEA interest. LEAs and application vendors alike have
begun to rely upon the existence of the IAM service in their future plans. The vendor
OMB Control Number: 1894-0011
Expiration Date: October 31, 2011 (A)(2) Cloud Part B Narrative, North Carolina, June 2013
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community has developed and launched services that align with the early Cloud planning and
specification work. LEAs continue to migrate to Cloud-based email, content filter, firewall, and
instructional platforms. While the delay of the IAM RFP has caused some workflows,
specifically the IIS, to shift—overall the remainder of the IAM deployment should remain on
target, as NCITS’ involvement in the project is no longer significant enough to be a source of
potential delay. Additionally, collaboration between the Cloud and Home Base teams will
hopefully yield positive results for the initial round of LEAs and charter schools selected for IIS
deployment.
3. What obstacles and/or risks could impact the State’s ability to meet its goals and
performance measures related to this sub-criterion?
There continue to be two primary obstacles that could negatively impact the Cloud
implementation work - namely, highly vocal critics and the State ITS organization.
There are some vocal critics of the Cloud work. Some of the critiques identify reasonable and
well-understood concerns that are important factors that need to be addressed when considering
migrating a service to the Cloud. Many critiques are unfounded and based primarily on a desire
to avoid change. We need to stay the course, thoughtfully considering critical input.
The State ITS organization fundamentally disagrees with migrating towards provider-delivered
cloud services, in most cases because these services are inconsistent with the NC ITS operational
and receipts models. The primary impact on the Cloud project is delaying procurements. While
we have successfully mitigated this risk on a number of occasions already, we will continue to
experience delays where NC ITS approvals are required.
We believe both of these risks are manageable.
Evaluation: Based on the responses to the previous question, evaluate the State’s performance
and progress to date for this sub-criterion (choose one):
Red (1) Orange (2) Yellow (3) Green (4)2’
2
(updated June 2013) Red – substantially off-track and/or has significant quality concerns; urgent and decisive action is required;
Orange –off-track and/or there are quality concerns; many aspects require significant attention; Yellow –generally on-track and
of high or good quality; only a few aspects require additional attention; Green – on-track with high quality.
OMB Control Number: 1894-0011
Expiration Date: October 31, 2011