UNCW/Jamie Moncrief
Annual Report 2012-13
Information Technology Systems, UNCW
www.uncw.edu/ itsd
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
Information Technology Systems
Annual Report 2012-13
Table of Contents
Introduction, 2
Teaching & Learning, 4
ITS Student Involvement, 10
Efficiency & Innovation, 13
Strong Infrastructure, 18
ITS Security, 22
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
INTRODUCTION
As Interim CIO of Information Technology Systems
(ITS) it has been my great pleasure to work with the
highly skilled and professional staff of this unit. The
accomplishments documented in this Annual
Report tell an abridged version of the total
contributions made daily. This work happens at
nights, on the weekends and behind the scenes to
ensure that UNCW students, faculty and staff have
the technological services needed to be successful
in their daily work. Even though there is no
additional compensation, ITS staff set up alerts on
the systems and networks so they can respond
quickly and, in many cases, before the campus
experiences any interruption in service. This
dedication can’t be captured in the projects and
accomplishments listed in an annual report, but the
uptime of services listed in the stats throughout
this report should not be overlooked.
Former President Bill Clinton and Leah Kraus
As with all IT organizations, ITS has experienced budget and staffing challenges. This has not deterred
nor slowed the pace of improvements, innovations or collaboration. From using leasing to replace tenyear old storage, to being recognized by Cisco for the strategic alignment of infrastructure to support
teaching and learning, to collaborating with Office of University Relations and Student Affairs on two of
their initiatives creating efficiencies for their offices and the campus, the ITS staff members have
demonstrated what it means to DARE to SOAR.
Below are a few examples of our ITS staff being recognized by their faculty, staff and student colleagues
from across campus:
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“Thank you so very much for the great presentation and useful information. I very much
appreciate your time and support. Students found the information very useful for their practice,
as instructional technologists.”
“I wanted to share my sincere appreciation to you for the quick response, dedication, and
resolution that ITS EMPLOYEE provided my employee when her computer was infected with a
virus. ITS EMPLOYEE responded expeditiously and provided encouragement that he would do
whatever it took to restore her computer back to working order. KUDOS”
“Thank you so much for your help! As always you are so responsive and helpful and always,
always with such a wonderful attitude. We are so lucky to have you here.”
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
•
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“My sincere thanks to ALL involved. It is a pleasure to be able to work with all of you. We are so
lucky here at UNCW to have this tremendous collaboration. It does not exist everywhere.”
“First off, I want to thank you for your perspective during the call today. The amount of
forethought you put into the “new Data Elements” announcement was incredibly impressive; as
always, we are grateful for the work you put into Data Mart. It definitely shows in your results,
and the quality of your data.”
“They have done everything we have asked including prioritizing our requests, responding to
emails, calls, and texts after hours and during lunch, creating accounts for us to use during
testing, and just genuinely helping out at every turn. I just wanted to let you two know how
great they have been to us during this project.”
“I just wanted you to know that ITS EMPLOYEE has once again gone over and above
expectations in helping our department with our software, TutorTrac. Last Friday he stayed late
– well after 5:00 – to complete a update with the TutorTrac support people.”
“I just wanted to recognize what a valuable employee you have in ITS STUDENT EMPLOYEE. My
daughter, who is a rising senior at Chapel Hill, is applying to UNCW for summer school. We have
had great challenges with registration due to her being in Grenada, Spain for a study abroad
program. Communication is very difficult especially when trying to send transcripts from
summer schools past, electronic challenges, etc. ITS EMPLOYEE was the perfect calm and mature
helper for this frazzled, sometimes frantic Mom. ITS EMPLOYEE helped get my daughter
registered which is very important to keep her on track for graduation. Thanks again.”
“Every time i need help the help is courteous, smart, and helpful. thank you TAC.”
“I couldn't let the opportunity to share some feedback go by, so thanks in advance for taking the
time to read this: I can't say enough about what a spectacular job ITS EMPLOYEE has done for
our team. Beyond his incredible expertise in being able to solve any problem we throw at him –
and we've had some complicated ones! - he always helps us understand the solution in a
layman's way, which makes our jobs a lot easier moving forward. His dedication, enthusiasm,
and, well, his friendliness have gone a long way toward making me feel even more welcome at
UNCW, and I know my entire team is grateful for his support each and every time we work with
him.”
“Thank you for volunteering your time to make Dare to Soar such a great success. We
welcomed more than 600 students and many of their family members for a total of just over
1600 visitors. Many of the students and parents were very impressed at the availability of the
faculty and staff during this day and were excited to have the opportunity to speak directly with
you. Dare to Soar would not have been such a success without your assistance!”
I am exceedingly proud of ITS employees for their commitment to UNCW; they have taken on challenges
as opportunities. We are excited about the 2013-14 year and more opportunities to provide leadership
and service.
Leah Kraus, Interim CIO
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
Stats at a Glance
33,204 total tickets resolved
85% of customers providing
feedback “agree or strongly
agree” that their tickets
were resolved to their
satisfaction.
UNCW/Jamie Moncrief
90% of customers providing
feedback “agree or strongly
agree” that the ITS
representative resolving
their ticket was “courteous.”
98.23% response rate of
15 minutes or fewer for
Classroom Operations to
respond to classroom
emergencies
117 laptops from B1NAR1ES
rented to students
840+ personal computers
serviced at B1NAR1ES
16,194 AskTAC searches
1000+ customers assisted
with log me in rescue (with
92% satisfaction rating)
TEACHING & LEARNING
Distance Education Services
Telepresence / Classrooms without Borders
ITS supported a total of over 7,300 hours of academic, administrative
and ad hoc (“by request”) programming in the Distance Education
(DE) Classrooms (providing support from 8 a.m. – 9:30 p.m., 7 days
per week). Highlights:
• Over 5,100 hours of academic and 2,200 hours of
administrative and by request programming were supported. This
included 87 recurring academic courses (2012-13 AY) and 24
academic courses (summer 2012-13), including lecture capture, guest
lectures, thesis defenses and committee meetings, UNC General
Administration conferences, research consortia and special events,
etc.
• ITS continued to promote and support partnerships with
various academics programs across campus at both the graduate (e.g.,
MIT, MBA, CMR) and the undergraduate levels (e.g., Pre-Engineering,
Computer Science, Foreign Languages and Literatures, Public and
International Affairs, Biology and Marine Biology, History,
Psychology, the School of Social Work and various departments within
the Watson School of Education).
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
•
New DE Classrooms: The successful installation and
integration of the Teaching Building #1053 Distance
Education Classroom was completed (opened August
2012). We also supported the design, engineering, and
integration of the McNeil #2056 Distance Education
Classroom (scheduled opening May 2013) and the
Cameron #123 Distance Education Classroom
(scheduled opening June 2013).
Blackboard Learn
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“The DE classrooms at UNCW are
fundamental to the success of the PreEngineering program at UNCW. Each
semester we offer a number of DE
engineering courses from NC State
University live via video conference. My
students are completely engaged in the
classes and are able to ask the
engineering professor questions in realtime. This most certainly enhances their
learning of course material. I have found
the DE staff to be extremely responsive
and dedicated to helping me facilitate the
courses we offer. King Hall 202 is
equipped with top-notch technology and
my students are fortunate to have access
to such a classroom on this campus.”
– Dr. Amy Craig Reamer, Director,
Pre-Engineering
•
Infrastructure enhancements led to a stabilized
Blackboard Learn environment. This stability allowed
for greater focus on providing many new features, such
as course-to-course navigation, inline grading, a new
and improved calendar feature and a new content
editor.
•
The new Blackboard Advisory Board met 3 times and
established a 2-year maintenance schedule for
Blackboard Learn upgrades and maintenance.
According to board member Tammala A. Bulger, “The Blackboard Advisory Council was a
positive addition to the UNCW community. The collaboration between faculty and ITS staff
provides for effective management of Blackboard changes and implementation.”
•
Blackboard goes mobile, allowing faculty and students to access Blackboard Learn course
content from their mobile devices using the Blackboard Mobile Learn app. This app provides
access to grades, announcements, assignments, discussions, tasks, class roster and more. Since
the activation of Blackboard Mobile Learn in August 2012, we have had 9,039 unique visitors.
“I just thought I would write with a few shout-outs about the new Bb features… I really like the new cumulative
grading feature. It is great! Also, I really like the preview feature in the assignment grading window – I can view
word and PDF documents without having to download them and launch another application. I can even comment
(write in red) on their assignments – all within Blackboard. Nifty!"
– Dr. Dan Johnson, Associate Professor / Assistant Chair, Music Department
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
eProctor
ITS deployed eProctor, the electronic proctoring service,
which allows UNC system students to locate proctoring
centers when needed for taking online exams. The InterInstitutional Registration system was also deployed. In
support of UNC Online, this system allows students at one
UNC system institution to register for classes at a sister
institution.
“Our ITS support representative is
ALWAYS courteous, prompt,
knowledgeable and efficient.”
– UNCW staff
SkillPort CBT & Books 24x7
Free to faculty, staff and students, SkillPort offers numerous Computer Based Training (CBT) courses and
an online collection of over 22,000 business and information technology books (Books 24x7). Highlights
this year include:
•
Five new custom courses were developed to enhance professional development and student
engagement. For example, the new Nursing Orientation
custom course met a significant need for the School of
Nursing, allowing incoming nursing students access to
SkillPort Stats
orientation information without needing to travel to campus.
•
A new use of SkillPort by faculty this spring was in the
“Seminar in Human Resources Management” class (MGT-495).
Students were assigned 29 SkillPort courses to prepare them
to take the PHR Certification exam. SkillPort has courses that
are PHR certified and are approved by their governing body to
prepare learners to take the exam.
5,019 courses accessed
3,866 courses
completed
804+ titles accessed in
Books24x7
Classroom Services
AV Technology
The new Teaching Lab Building and the Student Rec Center Expansion Capital Projects both incorporated
a significant amount of AV technology with $1.7 million and $700K of AV, respectively. Both buildings
had openings without incident. ITS staff participated in the design/build process for both buildings
starting at the conceptual design phase. Staff provided feedback, monitoring and guidance throughout
construction.
•
The Teaching Lab Building was cited at the annual state conference of architects and facilities
meeting as being one of the top 10 “smoothest commissionings” in the state for 2012-13. The
Teaching Lab has 22 baseline + classroom systems, a DE classroom and 37 individual working
labs that include 55” flat panels and enhanced audio systems.
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
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The Student Rec Center has 7 multipurpose/conference rooms, which follow the
standard baseline + classroom standards, as well
as 3 other unique controlled spaces (the
indoor/outdoor pools, the MAC gym and the
workout bays) and 29 flat panels (55”).
“I am an ‘older’ student and frequently
baffled by computer issues, so it is
great to be able to come to TAC for
assistance! Thank you.”
– UNCW student
Classroom Response Time
ITS continued to keep classroom technology downtime to a minimum with the goal of responding to
classroom emergencies within 15 minutes (in 15 min. or less).
•
Goal was met on 98.23% of calls. The instances when we were not able to do so were due to
having more calls than technicians able to respond (e.g., 1 field tech and 2 simultaneous calls).
In those instances, calls were responded to as quickly as staffing allowed.
Expansion of Touch Panel Systems
ITS continued expanding the touch panel systems which also allow remote access and control.
•
Touchscreen systems were added to all classrooms in the new Teaching Lab Building and
Student Rec Center Expansion Capital projects, as
well as in several non-academic spaces.
•
Control systems are in the process of being added in
10 classroom spaces (equipment has all been
purchased with 2012—13 budget; installation to
occur during the summer 2013).
•
At the completion of the latest implementation
phase, all tiered auditorium-style academic spaces on
campus will have touchscreen controls, as well as
several other baseline + spaces. This will bring our
total number of touchscreen spaces to 67 locations.
TealVision Stats:
890 files uploaded
1,519 files accessed
2,437 files hosted
105,000 hits on all videos
Training
•
Training opportunities were offered to faculty on the use of baseline classroom systems and
advanced systems (such as SMART Boards, clickers, lecture capture, etc.). ITS staff conducted
over 100 training sessions for faculty, staff and students on a variety of topics, both in group
sessions as well as in individualized training. Training topics included basic smart classroom
operation, Turning Point operation and creation, lecture capture, Skype, document cameras,
digital recording (i.e., basic video recording) and Scantrons.
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
•
ITS also offered numerous instructor-led training opportunities
for faculty, staff and students. Examples of this year’s courses
included iPad @UNCW, iPad Apps @UNCW, Adobe InDesign,
Intro to Photoshop and Adobe Web PDF Forms. Total attendees
for all courses this year: 916.
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Technology
Assistance
Campus Services
TAC Enhancements
AskTAC, UNCW’s
The Technology Assistance Center (TAC) continues to provide quality
service to the UNCW community while also offering a strong learning
environment for its student employees. Of note, TAC employed 54
student workers throughout the fiscal year.
self-service
This year, the leadership of ITS and Randall Library collaborated enabling
expansion of the Technology Assistance Center (TAC) and relocation of
the service desk for equipment checkout. These enhancements have
resulted in improved efficiencies, additional technical services during
final exams and reduced labor costs of staffing multiple service locations.
knowledgebase for
technology info, had
16,194 total searches
this year.
B1NAR1ES Services Increased
B1NAR1ES, the on-campus technology store and hardware repair center,
increased services and added new merchandise. This year, B1NAR1ES
became financially self-sufficient. All expenses, including salaries, were
paid from B1NAR1ES income. Of note, B1NAR1ES employs five student
workers. Highlights for 2012-13 include the following:
Repairs
•
B1NAR1ES continued to provide warranty repairs for Apple and
Dell computers and started repairing out-of-warranty laptops
from any computer manufacturer. This year, B1NAR1ES serviced
844 laptops and performed 166 data recoveries.
Apple Success
•
According to a statement from an Apple representative,
B1NAR1ES ranks as number one in the Southeast for revenue
from their Apple on Campus campaign. They are also in the top
rankings for their marketing efforts, growth and performance
pertaining to the Apple program. B1NAR1ES second-quarter
Apple sales increased 75% this year.
The Technology
Assistance Center
(TAC) checked out
64,849 items from the
Equipment Checkout
desk this year.
Laptops / chargers
comprised 83% of all
checkouts.
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
Certifications
•
All student workers and the staff technician were certified
for Dell hardware repairs.
•
B1NAR1ES staff technician completed Apple Certified Mac
Technician (ACMT) training.
Cost-Effective UNCW Lifecycle Program
•
This year’s lifecycle computers included replacements for
faculty/staff machines, computers for labs and classrooms,
high-end video editing stations for Film Studies and
systems for UNCW’s Onslow County extension site.
•
ITS continuously works with faculty and staff across
campus to surplus the oldest computer systems – those
that can no longer run the campus baseline software –
while replacing and updating parts of older systems that
can still run baseline software, in order to get the most use
from every computer.
UNCW/Jarrett Piner
Student Flash Drive Enhanced with Mobile Site
UNCW/Jarrett Piner
For the fourth year in a row, ITS led a cross-campus initiative to create and distribute a branded,
preloaded flash drive to all incoming freshmen and transfer students. The drive contains information for
connecting to UNCW’s network, and it also points to a “UNCW welcome students” website featuring
helpful information, videos and web links to assist students. This year’s “welcome students” website is,
for the first time, mobile compatible (www.uncw.edu/welcomestudents).
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
UNCW/Jarrett Piner
ITS STUDENT INVOLVEMENT
ITS is exceedingly proud of our student employees and the students who serve on ITS committees. While
they continually impress us with their day to day accomplishments, several of our students received
notable recognitions and awards this year. Highlights include the following:
ITS Student Worker Alyssa Gandhi Receives Cornerstone
Distinguished Service Award
Information Technology Systems is pleased to announce that Alyssa
Gandhi, a UNCW senior and student worker at B1NAR1ES Tech Store,
recently received a 2013 Cornerstone Distinguished Service Award
which was presented to her at the Cornerstone Awards Banquet on
Wednesday, April 17.
Alyssa Gandhi
Complete Article: www.uncw.edu/it/bulletin/2013/04/its-studentworker-alyssa-gandhi-receives-cornerstone-distinguished-serviceaward
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
IT Bulletin Profiles - Exceptional ITS Student Workers
Adam Beame – TAC
Adam Beame, a graduate student in the Cameron School of
Business' Master of Science in Accountancy (MSA) program,
began working at the TAC on his first day in grad school. But he
already knew he'd like the job, since he worked at the TAC as an
undergrad as well. Taking only one semester between his
graduation from UNCW with a BA in Economics and his return to
the MSA program, Beame eagerly came back to UNCW and his
position as a student worker at the TAC. He notes, “The TAC staff
makes the TAC such a great environment to work in… Being able
to work with such a great team is one of my biggest motivators to
come back and work at the TAC."
Adam Beame
Complete Article: www.uncw.edu/it/bulletin/2012/10/adam-beame
Dan Wuensch – Student Developer
Dan Wuensch, a senior majoring in MIS, began working as a student
developer for ITS in the summer of 2012, and according to his
supervisor, Kris Anderson, “He has been a tremendous asset to ITS.
His willingness to help his team members and find solutions to issues
is exceptional. We are lucky to have him.”
When asked about his experience working with ITS, Dan states, “My
position with ITS has been a huge blessing to my academic and
professional career. Being a student Web developer allows me to
learn effective programming techniques under the supervision of Kris
Dan Wuensch
Anderson as well as plan, engineer and test my own applications. Our
team closely collaborates on projects, evaluating each other's code,
debugging and offering suggestions to improve upon existing processes. The opportunity to learn
organizational behavior in a professional setting is highly valuable to our futures.”
Complete Article: www.uncw.edu/it/bulletin/2013/02/dan-wuensch
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
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UNCW’s Cyber Defense Team Receives Second Place Trophy at the SECCDC
ITS is proud to report that UNCW’s Cyber Defense Team (CDC) received the trophy for Second Place at
the Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (SECCDC). Two ITS student workers, Bryant Blevins
and Dan Wuensch, are part of the team of nine students who participated in the three-day competition
from March 5 – March 7. Complete Article: www.uncw.edu/it/bulletin/2013/03/uncws-cyber-defenseteam-receives-second-place-trophy-at-the-seccdc
B1NAR1ES Sponsors Student Robotics Team
B1NAR1ES was a sponsor of the “Wired Wizards” student robotics team
which built a robot and participated in the “FIRST” robotics competition.
FIRST is an international competition, and the Wired Wizards competed in
the NC regional level. The Wired Wizards were created by the UNCW student
chapter of ACM (Association for Computing Machinery). Graduate student
Jazmin Capezza, ACM president and Wired Wizards head coach, is a member
of ITS’s Student IT Advisory Council (SITAC).
ITS Student Technician Receives Internship
Derek Faver
Derek Faver, an MIS student and an ITS student technician in the DE
classrooms since 2011, received an internship for the summer of 2013 as a
Systems Analysis Intern for Fidelity in Durham, NC. According to Dan
Noonan, manager of Distance Education and Video Network Services, “We
are fortunate to have very bright student technicians with a wide array of
technical knowledge and skills. Above all is their focus on customer service.
Derek Faver is an outstanding example. He has excellent technical
knowledge, applicable real-world experience from his past military service
in the Coast Guard, internship work and, most importantly, a strong
commitment to customer service.”
Student IT Advisory Council (SITAC)
The SITAC is a group of nominated students who work with the
CIO of Information Technology Systems to enhance and increase
information technology services to students to best meet their
academic, social and extracurricular needs. This year, the
proactive group offered input and suggestions on wireless
connectivity, SPAM, iPrint, Blackboard, IT communications and
more. Bryan Florkiewicz, a member of the SITAC, notes, "This
council is such a great opportunity for student voices to be heard."
“The service I received from ITS was
extraordinary… the speed, courtesy
and effectiveness with which my
problem was resolved exceeded even
the highest ratings.” – UNCW faculty
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
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UNCW/Jamie Moncrief
EFFICIENCY & INNOVATION
Campus Efficiencies
Computer & Classroom Support
•
Remote desktop capabilities were used to troubleshoot and resolve many requests (including
software installation) remotely, which saved travel time and often reduced the time to resolve
for many clients.
•
An organized computer roll-down/re-distribution plan was
implemented with this year’s lifecycle purchase.
•
ITS assisted in the planning and procurement process to
create another GIS teaching classroom and lab.
•
The use of Microsoft’s System Center Configuration
Manager (SCCM) has reduced man-hours for lab Operating
System and software reloads and installations. The
management utilities built into SCCM have enabled
computer consultants to schedule OS reloads and/or
reimages in many of the labs across campus after hours, in a
completely automated manner.
“[TAC worker] was an amazing
help… he knew exactly what the
issue was from the beginning,
thus reducing my anxiety… He
was very professional and
courteous as well. I cannot thank
him enough!”
– UNCW student
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
Online Web Content Manager Course
In collaboration with University Relations, ITS developed and implemented a new, fully-online Web
Content Manager training course. This course, which is mandatory for all UNCW Web content managers
and editors, teaches specifics on how to access UNCW websites, produce and maintain accessible and
readable websites and effectively use Adobe Contribute content editing software. This year, there were
a total of 77 course completions.
Savings via Apple Bulk Purchases and Dell CPI
•
Coordinating the quarterly Apple Bulk purchase for UNCW allowed ITS to save the campus
$16,503.14 over the educational discount on Apple computers, software and accessories.
•
UNCW ordered 959 computers from the Dell Combined Pricing Initiative (CPI) in 2012–13. The
total savings over state contract prices was $514,345.52 which is an average savings of $536.34
per computer.
SeaOrg Enhancements
Developed in house four years ago by ITS, SeaOrg provides streamlined access to information on the
various student organizations across campus. Enhancements implemented this year include an
“intelligent search” feature that leverages powerful technologies. This new search algorithm allows
users to search by a wider range of terms including names, acronyms and keywords. Autocomplete
functionality suggests results and refines the list as individuals type. For example, searching “beach”
suggests Surfrider Foundation and Coastal Society.
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
The SeaOrg search engine was demonstrated at the student orientation “Parent Breakfast” as a platform
for discovering campus involvement activities based on interests.
“Please tell your student worker he did a great job…The search bar has been awesome to show parents during the
parent breakfast during orientation, and very helpful for finding organizations for students based on interests.”
– Stacey Baisden, Assistant Director for Campus Activities & Involvement, regarding the SeaOrg Application
Development of SAS Reports
ITS worked with enrollment management and SAS to develop a proof of concept utilizing their business
analytics tools. Utilizing servers on-site (with the assistance of SAS for installation) and accessing
production data from ODS, multi-dimensional reports were produced for Admissions and Enrollment.
The Admissions reports provide the ability to drill down and select data based on a variety of
demographic information, and the Enrollment reports also have credit hours, headcount and tuition/fee
costs with term comparisons broken down by major, school/college, department, residence, student
level and location.
UNCW Home Page Enhancements & SWOOP
ITS worked closely with the Office of University Relations to redesign the News and Events application in
Umbraco to serve new goals, including more visible internal news for faculty and staff. The SWOOP
email is an early phase of this project, which will also soon include newsletters for individual divisions
and a calendar of featured events on the UNCW home page.
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
Crossroads Application
The Crossroads application, developed for Student
Affairs, helps track students who have sanctions
against them concerning substance abuse. This
application keeps track of meetings and schedules for
all students in the Crossroads program. It also handles
the distribution of surveys in addition to providing a
detailed report on the surveys after they have been
completed. Once a sanction has been completed with
Crossroads, Case Manage is notified that the student
either fulfilled the requirements or did not meet them.
This application greatly increases UNCW’s efficiency in
handling these particular cases.
“I don't know how [TAC staff member]
ended up being the one who drew the
short straw of helping me, but I'm so glad
to have gotten her call tonight. She's a
gem! You've really got some great folks
over there. Thanks a lot for sticking with
this 'til the end.”
– UNCW Staff
SACS Accreditation
ITS was integral in providing the technical expertise to produce the SACS Tenth Year Compliance
Certification report. This consisted of a website containing 98 narratives supported by thousands of
individual documents. ITS set up the structure and design of the report, formatted the narratives, and
organized and linked the documents to the relevant narratives.
After receiving the initial response to the Compliance Certification report from SACS, ITS then produced
the Tenth Year Focused Report, which provided additional information and clarifications to SACS in
response to their feedback. The process was largely the same for this report, which covered 11 of the
original 98 narratives.
Development and Implementation of GA’s Human
Resources Data Mart
In cooperation with General Administration, UNCW
Human Resources, Budget Office and other UNCW
business units, ITS developed and implemented the
second component—compensation reporting—of UNCGA’s Human Resources Data Mart to feed UNCW data to
a central repository at UNC General Administration. This
component is used by all institutions in the UNC System.
“I think that TAC is WONDERFUL. Your
staff is always helpful, knowledgeable
and courteous. You are so patient with
those (me!) who aren’t particularly au
fait with computers. Thank you for
this!” – UNCW faculty
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
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Assistance with Bulk Software Licensing/Discounts
•
ITS assisted several departments across campus with the bulk purchase of Final Cut X software,
saving the campus a total of $4,241.40 over the academic discount for individual licenses.
Student Media, English, COM Studies, University College, University Relations, Athletics and
Mathematics all participated.
•
A site license for LanSchool was purchased and implemented throughout campus labs. This
program allows software to be installed on multiple computer stations at the same time and has
saved over 100 man-hours on software installations alone. This software also allows faculty to
view all screens in the classroom at once in a thumbnail view and be able to pull up a student’s
screen to share with the class, among many other features.
Collaborative Campus Upgrades
In collaboration with business units across campus, ITS rebuilt the
university’s Banner Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to
provide a modernized infrastructure that supports future
enhancements and growth. This effort was accomplished without
acquiring vendor professional services. ITS also upgraded the eInvoice
and eProcument middleware in support of UNCW’s procurement
system, SciQuest. NOLIJ was upgraded from a client-based to a
service-based solution. The upgrade was completed in house with zero
downtime to the customer base. Total cost avoidance for these
upgrades is estimated at over $40,000.
ITS Efficiencies
Wendia Implementation
By replacing the outdated Remedy ticketing system with a new
request system—Wendia—ITS avoided a costly upgrade and acquired
a product based on industry standards. This user-friendly system gives
faculty, staff and students the option of entering requests online
(24/7) and logging in to view the status of their tickets at any time.
Quick Stats
311 project requests
completed
56,771 sign-ins to UNCW
Sign-In System across 13
departments
SSRS Web Reporting:
•
•
•
•
3,880 Web reports
740 Web users
86,101 report
executions
237 average
report executions
per day
FOPE Spam Filter Implementation
Taking advantage of the Microsoft Campus Agreement, ITS avoided a
price increase and ongoing costs of $70,000 per year by implementing the Microsoft Forefront Online
Protection for Exchange (FOPE) spam filter, which replaced the Proofpoint spam appliance. FOPE
provides an aggressive approach to filtering out spam messages from UNCW email accounts.
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
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UNCW/Jamie Moncrief
STRONG INFRASTRUCTURE
Network / Communication
Network Infrastructure and Wireless Enhancements
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ITS supported 60 projects designing and installing
infrastructure to accommodate data, phone and/or
video. These projects ranged from room
design/renovation to entire building systems
design/renovation. ITS also installed additional fiber optic
cable between buildings to support Distance Education.
The security of manholes with access to communications’
infrastructure was increased. The distribution layer was
upgraded to position us to meet future network
demands, such as Gig to the desktop.
UNCW’s wireless technologies and
Distance Education were featured
in a case study article on the CISCO
website:
www.uncw.edu/it/bulletin/2013/03/uncwdistance-education-and-wirelesstechnologies-featured-on-cisco-website
There are over 44,000 registered devices on the UNCW network; of those, 32,800 are wireless,
demonstrating the growth in our “bring your own device” culture. ITS has embraced this growth
and strives to provide a seamless experience whether wired or wireless. Stats from a random
week show that during that one week the wireless network supported 21,000 unique devices.
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
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To meet the continual increase in wireless needs, more than 400
new wireless access points (WAPs) were installed on campus,
supporting the student experience. Three-hundred were in Housing
and Residence Life areas and the others in academic buildings.
These upgraded buildings include Wagoner, Watson, Dobo,
Cameron and Cornerstone, among others. ITS also tested special
outdoor WAPs in several locations to improve outdoor coverage in
those heavily used areas.
Upgrade to Voice Communications
ITS completed a system hardware refresh for the phone system voice
gateways located in Alderman Hall and the Netcom building. We replaced
end of life hardware for these buildings. This put all of the voice traffic
between those gateways on the data network, allowing us to eliminate the
older PBX/TDM networks. Most work was performed after hours and was
unnoticed by the campus.
Data Centers
Storage Upgrade
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Facing the challenge of a ten-year-old storage infrastructure that
was costly, insufficient and inefficient, ITS concluded a two-year
evaluation process (in fall 2012) that included evaluations with
vendors such as Dell, EMC and IBM. The goal of the evaluation(s)
was to reduce complexity, increase efficiencies, leverage new virtual
storage technologies and provide the ability to better report on
storage utilization. Over the fall 2012 semester and even through
the winter holiday, ITS staff worked to replace the outdated storage
with the new more efficient storage infrastructure. The end result:
140 terabytes of data were migrated over a four-month period with
very minimal down time.
Instead of requesting over $1 million, ITS was able to provide new
and improved services for the campus without any downtime or
additional dollars. For the storage infrastructure itself, ITS
negotiated a five-year operating lease for the storage for the same
budget as the ten-year-old storage maintenance cost. The added
benefit of this type of lease is that in five years ITS will be positioned
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Uptime
for
UNCW Systems
Banner: 99.99%
Blackboard: 99.91%
Exchange: 99.99%
Sammy: 99.99%
SharePoint: 99.99%
UNCW Web: 99.98%
VMware: 99.99%
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
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to upgrade its storage again. This allows for flexibility in
embracing new onsite or cloud-based storage technologies.
SQL Database Upgrade
The backbone of UNCW applications is the database infrastructure. This
year, ITS upgraded SQL and SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) to
version 2008 which provided increased functionality (ability to export
report results to Word documents; ability to export sub-report data; and
a new “LookUp” function which allows us to create a report using
multiple data sources). During the upgrade, 85 SQL Databases and 3880
SSRS reports were migrated.
Network Stats
44,024 network
registrations (faculty, staff,
students, printers, etc.)
Virtualization
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TealWare: The TealWare Cloud, UNCW’s Software Anywhere
solution, hosts numerous applications for students, faculty and
staff providing access anytime, anywhere to almost any device as
long as there is an internet connection. This year, ITS continued
to expand the Tealware repository of applications. Applications
added include Maple, Compustat, ARCGis, Adobe InDesign,
Illustrator, SQL Management Studio and UltraVNC.
Over 2 million total calls
VMware: ITS standardized the virtual environment on VMware.
We moved several applications from XenServer to VMware
including Banner Self Service, Blackboard Learn, EProcurement
and Pinnacle test server. We now have 400+ virtual servers
between two VMware clusters – one in CIS and one in Hoggard
data centers. We also provisioned virtual servers for several new
applications such as uDirect and Wendia.
system core
Recovery / Business Continuity
With the upgrade of SQL and SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), we
now have the functionality to mirror data between the two data centers
in Hoggard and CIS. The new Dell Compellent system provides 100%
redundancy for data storage in the two data centers.
in / out of campus
100% uptime for phone
99.99% uptime for network
100% uptime for network
core (with distribution
switches at 99.99%)
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
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Risk Mitigation
BTOP Hut and Redundancy
This year, the completion of the MCNC BTOP Hut on the UNCW
campus gives UNCW two separate redundant fiber links to MCNC
with ten times the capacity (with a third link in the planning
stages). MCNC—a technology non-profit—builds, owns and
operates a cutting-edge broadband infrastructure for North
Carolina’s research, education, non-profit healthcare and other
institutions. They are currently in the process of multi-year BTOP
(Broadband Technology Opportunities Program) projects, which
will result in a total of 2598.53 miles of newly operational
network infrastructure.
The effort on the UNCW campus required the placement of a
building on campus and the planning of fiber paths throughout
campus. As part of this effort, a 10 Gigabit/second connection
between MCNC in Raleigh/RTP area and MCNC POP (point of
presence) in Wilmington is now possible. These new fiber paths
to MCNC greatly reduce the potential of a network outage due to
either a manmade or natural incident, and they also help MCNC
provide improved network connectivity for Eastern NC citizens
and anchor institutions.
“I am so impressed with the
OUTSTANDING customer service [TAC
staff member] provided me in my time
of dire circumstance; by coming over to
the One Card office, diagnosing the
problem, suggesting a solution of a
blue ray player and going all the way
home to get his personal blue ray
player so we could use it during our
Orientation session. This is a STELLAR
commitment to Outstanding customer
service that I have never experienced
before. [TAC staff member] personifies
a willingness to help his fellow
employees that we all need to exhibit
which would make UNCW a better
place.”
– UNCW staff
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
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UNCW/Jamie Moncrief
ITS SECURITY
ITS Security Outreach to Campus
ITS Security continued to promote security awareness to the
campus this year via various outreach approaches. Events
included:
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Several Graduate School and Undergraduate
Information Security lectures.
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Training session for the CIS sponsored Collegiate Cyber
Defense Competition participants.
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Collaborative information security assessments of
individual divisions and departments.
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Participation in Employee Wellness/Perk Fair.
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Participation in the Chancellor’s Council on Safety &
Security Symposium.
“I just wanted to tell you about how
much help [TAC staff member] was… in
getting the instruction workstation
reconnected in our 1039 classroom. The
room was carpeted on Thursday and
Sunday afternoon we had to put the
room back together! The carpet folks
had disconnected some of the cables
for the instruction workstation and we
couldn’t get the projector to display
correctly. [TAC staff member] came
down and had it working in just a
couple of minutes.”
– UNCW faculty
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2012-13
IT Security Training Support to UNCW Cyber Defense Team
The ITS Security department provided Computer Security Incident response and systems change
management training to the UNCW Cyber Defense Team (CDC) in preparation for their Southeast
Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (SECCDC). The Cyber Defense Team is comprised of IS, CS and MS
CSIS students.
The SECCDC competition was conducted over a three day period, and the UNCW CDC placed second
overall in the competition.
Representation on EDUCAUSE Task Force
The ITS Security department represented UNCW on a
“Took less than 10 minutes from the
time I sent my email request in until
nationwide EDUCAUSE Security Awareness Metrics task force,
the problem was resolved. Thanks!”
organized to develop an Information Security Awareness
metric tool which higher education institutions can use in the
– UNCW student
measurement of their university’s efforts in securing
confidentiality, integrity and availability of the logical data that
is processed, stored or transmitted over their automated
networks. The UNCW IT Security Officer is the facilitator of the EDUCAUSE LinkedIn Group consisting of
over 23,000 members.
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