UNCW/Jamie Moncrief
Annual Report 2011-12
Information Technology
Systems, UNCW
www.uncw.edu/ itsd
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
1
INTRODUCTION
Information Technology Systems (ITS) staff and student
workers welcome and embrace the challenges required to
meet the changing needs of UNCW with a robust, cost-effective
and community focused approach.
The 2011-12 year was another year in which ITS collaborated
with our campus, the UNC System and other entities across the
state and nation. These collaborative efforts resulted in new
applications, a stronger infrastructure, more efficient processes
and, most importantly, improved and enhanced resources for
our living-learning environment.
UNCW/Jamie Moncrief
Contents:
Introduction, 1
Teaching and Learning, 2
Academic Research
Computing, 6
Efficiency and Innovation, 9
Strong Infrastructure, 13
ITS Outreach, 16
This year, ITS staff members shared their innovations,
professional knowledge and experiences by presenting at local,
regional and national conferences and meetings. ITS employees
have also given their time and energy to UNCW by teaching
First-Year Seminar, serving as guest speakers in the classroom,
participating in Move-In and volunteering at various campus
events.
In the 2011-12 year, ITS became part of Academic Affairs,
allowing for greater resource and service alignment and
opportunities to collaborate more closely with colleges and
schools. The creation of the Classroom and Computer
Technology Services department, the support for more than
double the number of Distance Education courses taught
through new video technologies and the increased support of
Academic Research Computing clearly demonstrate the
commitment of ITS to the academic core of the university.
ITS is proud to live up to its logo’s declaration—“Together We
Make IT Happen”—with our collaborative accomplishments,
many of which are highlighted in this report. Additional
achievements can be found at www.uncw.edu/itsd in the
“New and Noteworthy” section.
IT Governance, 19
Appendix, 24
– Leah Kraus, Interim CIO
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
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QUICK STATISTICS
99.9% uptime (average) for
all UNCW systems
96.94% response rate of 15
minutes or less for
Classroom Operations to
respond to classroom
emergencies
UNCW/Jarrett Piner
443 project requests
completed
TEACHING AND LEARNING
68 student workers for ITS
during fiscal year
Classroom Support
5,500 hours of academic,
administrative and ad hoc
programming on the
Distance Education and
Video Networks
In the 2011-12 academic year, ITS introduced a new unit: Classroom
Operations. Classroom Operations was formed to keep classroom
downtime due to technology issues to a minimum. The goal of this
group is to respond to classroom emergencies, reported via the IP
Intercoms or the Technology Assistance Center (TAC), in 15 minutes
or less. In 2011–12, Classroom Operations had a 96.94% response rate
of 15 minutes or less.
41,662 total tickets resolved
Additional improvements to classroom support include:
5,500+ hours of academic,
administrative and ad hoc
programming on the
Distance Education and
Video Networks
768+ titles accessed in
SkillPort Books 24x7
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Increased training opportunities (50+ training sessions for
faculty).
Instruction on baseline classroom systems.
Instruction for advanced systems, such as SMART
Boards, Turning Point “clickers,” lecture capture, etc.
Dedicated clicker technology support.
Installed touchscreen controls in high-end rooms, making the
rooms more user-friendly.
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
Telepresence / Distance Education
ITS supported a total of over 5,500 hours of
academic, administrative and ad hoc (“by request”)
programming on the Distance Education and Video
Networks (NCREN and State of NC ITS) from 8 a.m.
to 9:30 p.m. seven days per week. Specifically, this
year ITS:
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Matt Zeher
Supported faculty and students during over 3,800 academic programming hours on the Distance
Education and Video Networks including 51 recurring academic courses, more than double the
amount from last year’s 24 academic courses.
Supported partnerships with academic programs across campus at both the graduate (MIT, MBA
and CMR) and the undergraduate (Foreign Languages, Public and International Affairs, PreEngineering, School of Social Work and Watson School of Education) levels.
Supported over 1,700 hours of administrative and “by request” conferences and programs
(including UNC General Administration conferences, faculty meetings, research consortia and
special events) reducing time, travel and energy costs to the UNCW campus.
Completed the successful upgrade/refurbishment of 2 Distance Education Classrooms.
Blackboard Learn
1,087 files were uploaded to
TealVision this year with over
56,085 hits on the videos.
In an effort to keep our systems current and provide faculty and
students access to the latest functionality in our course
management system, Blackboard Learn (Bb Learn) was upgraded
to service pack 8 (SP8) in May, 2012. New, improved
functionality includes: updated look and feel, improved courseto-course navigation, various activity reports and automated re-grading.
Focusing on operational efficiencies and proactive monitoring, the Learning Systems team developed
several automated checks to send early notification to faculty who have scheduled assignments during a
maintenance window, and they also added enhanced monitoring techniques for advanced notifications
of system performance issues.
A Bb Advisory Board was established as part of the new ITS Governance structure. This board will
provide input regarding the strategic direction and development of the campus learning management
system. The board is co-chaired by a member of the Learning Systems team and a faculty member.
Blackboard Learn is also utilized in non-traditional/non-Banner courses offered by Public Service,
Continuing Studies and other academic units providing non-credit professional development and
certificate courses. To date, there are 68 non-credit courses in Bb Learn.
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
Binaries Services Increased
Binaries on-campus technology store and hardware repair center saw students taking advantage of new
services that were implemented within the year.
Services include:
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Binaries Tech Store serviced
more than 500 personal
computers and was able to get
all student workers Dell
hardware certified and one
student worker Apple Sales
Certified.
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Fall 2011, ITS went live with
“AskTAC,” a new self-service
knowledgebase for technology
related information available to
the UNCW community 24/7.
Faculty, staff and students have
the ability to search from more
than 100,000 solutions
regarding UNCW technology,
Blackboard, Microsoft, Apple
and more. This year, there were
more than 15,550 total searches
in AskTAC.
60,359 laptops were checked
out at the Equipment Checkout
Desk this year in the Learning
Commons.
SkillPort CBT employee course
accesses increased 22% and
course completions increased
56%.
An enhanced area, which includes demo
laptop units and literature from vendors,
designated to help parents and students.
A new ticketing system which helps with
reporting and workflow.
A Deep Spar machine which allows for
more comprehensive data recovery on
very corrupt hard drives.
A laptop rental program, which provides
laptops to students while their computers
are being repaired.
SkillPort CBT & Books 24x7
Free to faculty, staff and students, SkillPort offers
numerous Computer Based Training (CBT) courses
and an online collection of over 20,000 business
and information technology books (Books 24x7).
SkillPort CBT was utilized by 1,921 faculty, staff and
students this year, with 4,346 course accesses and
3,293 course completions. Books 24x7 had over
768 titles accessed. A number of faculty members
(e.g., Communications Studies faculty) continually
assign CBT books and courses to their students for
convenience and to help with the escalating cost of
books.
This year 7 new SkillPort 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 orientation
information without having to come to campus.
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
Increased Wireless / Wired in Academic Buildings
Fifty-two wireless access points in Randall Library and areas of
Union/Fisher were upgraded to 802.11N access points. This upgrade
provides users of wireless network devices higher speeds and more
capacity in these areas. It also expands outdoor wireless coverage of
the athletic fields and Kenan Hall outdoor wireless.
The campus wired infrastructure was upgraded to increase capacity
by converting all building uplink connections to the core to 1Gbps.
Morton Hall was rewired, and wireless access coverage in the
building greatly improved. The installation of redundant fiber across
areas of campus improved capacity and high availability.
UNCW’s mySeaport
campus portal was
awarded “Best
myCampus Award”
from the CampusEAI
Consortium
in June 2012.
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
ACADEMIC RESEARCH COMPUTING
ARC Support
“ITS’s ARC services are
invaluable. They provide my
students and collaborators a
shared network hard drive
space that has a robust data
management plan. This lets us
more easily collaborate on
multiple projects and decreases
the likelihood that our hard
work will disappear with a
hardware failure. In addition to
the storage space, ARC provides
my laboratory with several
virtual machines which lets us
flexibly grow our computational
capacity as problems demand it
by tapping into shared
resources on campus.”
Dr. Stuart Borrett
Assistant Professor
Biology and Marine Biology
Academic Research Computing (ARC) is designed
to allow researchers access to a broad array of
technical resources while also providing test
environments for work on grants and experimental
applications. To assist faculty and students in their
engagement of pure and applied research, ITS
continued our commitment to the exploration of
high performance and grid computing, high-speed
networks, virtual environments, data storage and
backup and research-based software titles.
Prior to the outreach of ITS to promote ARC,
faculty often stored large amounts of data on their
desktops. This year, more than 10 faculty members
transferred numerous terabytes of valuable
research data to the ARC servers, ensuring the
data was backed up and available to the faculty for
their research. Successful ARC pilots this year have
demonstrated the effectiveness of the program,
allowing it to be expanded into areas such as
temporary dedicated servers for researchers.
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
ARC in Progress:
ChemSpec: The Chemistry Department has four desktops that control and store data for their NMR and
mass spectrometers. They are looking to relocate the data to the NAS so that data can be centrally
backed up and easily available to researchers in their offices and labs. We opted to setup NetVault
clients on each of the four desktops to ensure backups of the data. We are working with the vendor to
make changes to the software to allow it to write to the share.
ArcGIS Server: Creating a unified ArcGIS Server
environment has provided the Department of Geology and
Geography and the Department of Environmental Studies
the ability to take advantage of the GIS and Web server
features. Other departments (such as CMS) are also looking
at ways they can utilize this server.
Tealware Physical Desktops: Setting up physical desktops
with additional resources using repurposed hardware allows
researchers to run simulations on more robust equipment.
We have successfully added a system into Tealware and
been able to access it through the Web interface. We are
continuing to explore our options.
“Excellent customer service…
Appropriate follow-up with
information to achieve
resolution… Thank you for
timely, relevant, and userfriendly approaches exhibited by
the technical support
representative.”
– UNCW faculty regarding ITS
support
Additional ARC Projects:
(View specific details on projects at
www.uncw.edu/ITSD/learning/arc/projects.html)
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Data Storage – Chemistry, Environmental Science, Psychology
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Test and Development Servers– Information Systems
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Phylogenetic Analysis and Computation – Biology
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Electronic Medical Records – Nursing and Computer Science
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Student Development Projects – Computer Science and Information Systems
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FORTRAN Computations – Physics
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Genetics Analysis – Biology
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Computational Analysis – Biology
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Systems Ecology Web Server – Biology
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Legal Psychology - Psychology
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Experimental Analysis of Behavior - Psychology
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
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Combat Operational Stress Injury Prevention - Computer Science
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@Risk License Server - Cameron School of Business
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Necropsy Data Storage - Biology
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MATLAB Computational Support - Biology
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Orff Schulwerk Webliography - Music
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Cornell Critical Thinking - Watson School of Education
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Auditing Server for Accounting - Cameron School of
Business
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Confluence for Collaboration- Office of Research
Support and Sponsored Programs
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Assistive Technology Demonstration and Lending Watson School of Education
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Competence Management Software - School of
Nursing
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MIT Program - Watson School of Education
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Statistical Analysis - Mathematics and Statistics
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“The person on the other end of the
line was absolutely great. His help
was greatly appreciated along with
directing me to your website to find
material…”
– UNCW staff regarding ITS
support
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
UNCW/Jarrett Piner
EFFICIENCY AND INNOVATION
Declaration/Change of Major Application
What used to be a cumbersome, paper intensive procedure for declaring/changing majors and making
adjustments to a student's program is now a simple, online process. Thanks to collaboration between
ITS, University College, Office of the Registrar and numerous academic departments across campus, an
automated, paperless system is now in place. This system allows students to make changes to their
program of study via mySeaport.
With this streamlined application, students log in to mySeaport and click on "Major Declaration /
Curricular Updates," and both students and departments are notified electronically to complete the
needed steps in the process.
Online Photo Submission Application
Incoming students now have the ability to upload their own photo to their
OneCard via the UNCW OneCard Online Photo Submission application.
Thanks to collaboration between Auxiliary Services, the Department of
Computer Science and Information Technology Systems, incoming students
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
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utilizing this application no longer need to stand in long lines to get photos taken during Orientation.
Developed in-house, the application streamlines the OneCard process for students and staff. Prior to
Orientation, a new student logs into mySeaport and clicks on the online application. They are instructed
to upload and preview their photo. The photo is validated through a backend process, and the card is
printed. When the student arrives on campus for Orientation, they simply pick up their OneCard. It's
quick, easy and hassle-free, and it is a time-saver for both students and staff.
Managing Computer Images
In 2011–12, we were able to reduce the “footprint” for computer
image files by using Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager
(SCCM). Previously, there were almost 400 unique images (due to
differences in hardware, operating systems and the software needed
in each location). These have now been reduced to just a few files in
SCCM. This reduction has allowed us to save over 5 TB of valuable
network storage and eliminate approximately 1,600 man-hours
annually (the time needed to update the previous image files) which
equates to 80% of a full-time position.
“I have found the ITS student
program to be a very positive
experience. It is extremely
beneficial for prospective coders
to have the opportunity to
practice their knowledge in an
institutional setting on real Web
applications.”
- ITS student worker
(developer)
UNCW Web Site Redesign and Implementation of Web Content Management System
Working with University Relations staff and Web content managers from across campus, ITS converted
256 websites to the new UNCW templates, completing the transition to the new “look and feel” and
improving the technical foundation of the
UNCW website. This process, initially slated
for over a year, was completed in just 4
months.
We also implemented a new Web content
management system (Umbraco), which
allows us to produce more dynamic Web
content and gain efficiencies managing this
content. The updated News & Events site
(uncw.edu/news) and the new Talons
Magazine (uncw.edu/talons) were built
using this content management system,
allowing University Relations to have a
central repository for articles and images
which can be created once and published to
both sites.
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
UNCW Sign-In System
With its comprehensive, user-friendly features, the UNCW Sign-In System continues to gain popularity as
it streamlines and improves processes at UNCW. Built in-house, the system boasts numerous features
including the ability to track attendance, gather statistics, utilize a dashboard feature, print name tags,
send desktop notification when an individual arrives and much more. The Sign-In System also is able to
integrate with mobile devices, such as the iPad, which was used during fall 2011 move-in.
Areas that use the UNCW Sign-In System include:
 Athletics
 Technology Assistance Center
 Communication Studies
 Financial Aid
 Isaac Bear
 International Programs
 Registrar
 Faculty Senate
 Career Center
 University College
New Netcom Services
ITS provided a new phone conferencing service to the campus, resulting in increased usage of on-hand
resources instead of paying for an outside service. ITS also implemented inbound faxing to faculty/staff
email accounts, resulting in savings of resources, a greener approach and positive feedback from faculty
and staff.
“I cannot thank the people I
work with enough for helping
me adjust to this new
environment and really
shortening the learning curve
for me by constantly providing
me with guidance and help
whenever I need it.”
- ITS student worker
(developer)
Imaging Upgrade
UNCW’s imaging service and environment was successfully
upgraded to current versions and a modern virtual architecture to
provide for growth and flexibility of the service as the university’s
demands grow. The new design removed dependencies on legacy
hardware and provides increased capabilities with respect to
Disaster Recovery as imaging becomes more integral to the dayto-day operations of UNCW. In fiscal year 2011–12, the imaging
system processed and stored the equivalent of approximately
1,345 reams (or roughly 3.4 tons) of paper. The in-house upgrade
and process development resulted in cost avoidance of $80,000.
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
Enhanced Student Checklist - Teal Ticket
Working with Admissions, ITS added enhancements to the
online Teal Ticket, providing each incoming undergraduate
student with a checklist of actions needed to complete the
enrollment process. In past years, the Teal Ticket was only
available to freshmen, but the newly upgraded Teal Ticket is
now available to the following student groups as well:
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Transfer
Extension
Special High School
Summer Permission
Special Undergrad - Non-Degree
From a survey of incoming
students and parents taken
during 2011 Orientation:
97% of parents and 95% of
students taking the survey
“strongly agree” with the
following statement: “I found
the Teal Ticket to be helpful.”
ITS also added an administrative component to help the
Office of Admissions and various departments create and
maintain Teal Tickets for each semester.
New Graduate Application Checklist
In partnership with the Graduate School and application service vendor, ITS developed the “Graduate
Application Checklist” to provide graduate school applicants with a status update and checklist for
application completion. The checklist alerts students to items missing, thus speeding up the application
process.
UNCW/Jamie Moncrief
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
UNCW/Jamie Moncrief
STRONG INFRASTRUCTURE
Infrastructure Improvements
This year, ITS made strategic investments and decisions in designing, managing and supporting our
server and storage infrastructure. Improvements include:
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Increased server consolidation to virtualization platforms.
Improved management of the exponential growth in academic, desktop, virtual server and
storage environments.
Enhanced redundancy and replication for our Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server database data.
Completed production deployments for major system platforms: Email Archive, SharePoint, and
TealWare (Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop).
Data Center Efficiencies
Consolidation and efficiencies streamline the management of our infrastructure and save money
through the use of both standardization and virtualization.
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ITS embraces reducing our carbon footprint in the data center while providing a more reliable
system infrastructure. This year, 30 servers were sent to surplus, saving power, floor space and
cooling needs.
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
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Our enterprise backup infrastructure has been co-located in a third
location on campus to ensure our recovery is not dependent upon
our active data center(s).
We are taking advantage of a new type of backup technology called
continuous data protection, which can increase the frequency of the
backup without negatively impacting the network or services hosted
by the system.
Disaster Recovery
The campus network core was upgraded to increase functionality and
capacity and to improve Disaster Recovery (DR). ITS installed a more robust
network Intrusion Protection System(IPS), relocated wireless control devices
and upgraded firewall modules, providing increased protection, redundancy
for high availability and improved DR.
Databases
The backbone of applications from Banner to SharePoint is the database
infrastructure. Availability and reliability of these services are critical to the
success of the enterprise. This year, our enterprise SQL and Oracle
infrastructures (hardware and software) were upgraded. Some
enhancements include: backup encryption, enhanced DR and high
availability.
14
Average Uptime for
UNCW Systems
Banner: 99.9%
Blackboard: 99.4%
Exchange: 99.9%
Network: 99.9%
Sammy: 99.9%
SharePoint: 99.9%
UNCW Web: 99.9%
Virtualization – UNCW’s Cloud
VMWare: 99.9%
Our virtualization platforms have experienced a 95-100% growth each of the
past three years. By using virtualization, ITS has been able to move
applications that traditionally required dedicated hardware into the “cloud.”
Examples of these enterprise level applications now hosted on virtual
machines include Blackboard Learn, Banner and Exchange Mail. We run
approximately 425 virtual servers between 2 VMware clusters.
The TealWare Cloud, UNCW’s Software Anywhere solution, hosts 112
applications for students, faculty and staff providing access anytime,
anywhere to almost any device as long as there is an Internet connection. In
addition to high availability of discipline specific and other software,
TealWare allows us to quickly update software and add more capacity for
popular applications. Hosted applications are online, which helps license
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
15
management, saves customer install time and increases application
availability.
Storage
After a year of evaluations and assessment with internal and external
parties, ITS has identified the next storage solution for the university
community. During the coming months, ITS will move existing data to new
hardware. In addition to providing additional redundancy we will be taking
advantage of the new virtual storage technologies used in most cloud
solutions. As we move forward, we will be allocating storage for new
requests for our academic and research community (ARC) and extended
storage capacity for other researchers already using ARC storage. We will
have automated workflows for research groups so that data is moved to
network shares for better access and protection. We will also be looking at
improving email and file storage as we move forward. Our plan is to
complete the process by end of fall 2012.
Adoption of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard
27002 for Security and Audit
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard 27002 is a
security standard of practice being adopted by the UNC system.
The UNCW IT Security Department conducted a thorough review and
vetting for a unified Information Security Standard. UNCW was the first
university within the UNC system to complete the vetting and
implementation process for the adoption of the ISO 27002. Several
universities within the UNC system used the UNCW ISO 27002 crosswalk
framework as the standard in the development of their own security
policies.
Quick Statistics
124 virtual desktops
deployed for Watson
School of Ed and Cameron
School of Business, and 20
additional virtual
machines available for
ARC community
30 servers sent to surplus
saving power, floor space,
and cooling resources in
the data center
52 wireless access points
in Randall Library and
parts of Union/Fisher
upgraded to 802.11N
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
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ITS OUTREACH
Computer Training for the Campus Community
Approximately 350 faculty and staff members attended ITS
computer training during the past year. Training courses included,
among others: Intro to Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe
Contribute, iPad @ UNCW, SharePoint Capabilities & Advanced
Features and IT Security. Additionally, ITS offered the “Computing
@UNCW” program to help faculty and staff make the most of the
IT services available at UNCW.
Comprehensive Communication Plan for New Students
ITS continued to implement a comprehensive communications
plan to reach over 3,500 incoming students prior to their arrival at
UNCW. The layered approach—including printed mailings,
thematic e-mails, a preloaded flash drive, signs and more—gives
students the tools they need to be more prepared for their UNCW
ITS security officer Zachery
Mitcham served as a subject
matter expert at the ECCouncil CISO Executive
Summit 2011 in Las Vegas,
NV. Over 40 speakers from the
private, public and
government sectors gathered
to partake in 13 interactive
panel-based discussions.
Zachery served on the panel
for “Implementing a HighPerforming Information
Security Program.”
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
experience. Themes include: computer and software discounts, safe
computing, technology assistance, where to download antivirus
software, technology needed for your residence hall experience,
wireless info and more. See examples of materials in Appendix
under “Select Communications.”
ITS computer consultant Mark
Grover received the UNCW Staff
Award of Excellence on
October 5, 2011.
New IT Bulletin Developed
To best inform the UNCW campus of IT news, updates, information and events, ITS developed a dynamic
IT Bulletin in the Umbraco Web content management system. In addition to feature articles, this
newsletter includes the following sections: New & Noteworthy, SkillPort Online Book of the Month,
Security Corner, an IT Toolbox, and a profile of a student, faculty or staff member. With Umbraco, all
content is archived for future reference. The bulletin links off the ITS home page and can also be found
at www.uncw.edu/it/bulletin. See example of IT Bulletin content in Appendix under “Select
Communications.”
Flash Drive for Incoming Freshmen & Transfer Students
For the third 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 4 GB drive contains wireless
configuration scripts (PC and Mac) for hooking up to the wireless
network at UNCW and a welcome video comprised of numerous
UNCW students giving advice to new students. The drive also points
to a “UNCW welcome students” website which contains FAQs, videos
and web links to assist students with their transition to college
(www.uncw.edu/welcomestudents).
17
UNCW/Jarrett Piner
Co-sponsored Chancellor’s Council on Safety and Security Symposium
The Chancellor’s Council on Safety and Security (CCSS) serves as a cross-functional committee whose
combined goal is to make UNCW the safest campus it can be (consistent with the university’s mission
and objectives). The UNCW Chancellor’s Council on Safety and Security Symposium is a venue to
showcase safety and security activities available to all faculty, staff and students. This year’s Safety and
Security Symposium was co-sponsored by ITS and was well attended by the university’s faculty, staff and
students. Featured presenters included Chancellor Gary T. Miller along with guest speakers Brian Van
Brunt, President of the American College Counseling Association and Director of the Counseling and
Testing Center at Western Kentucky University, and Associate General Counsel at University of North
Carolina Wilmington, John P. Scherer II.
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
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Hosted the 2012 University of North Carolina System IT Security Council Workshop
This year, the UNCW IT Security department hosted the 2012 IT Security Council (ITSC) workshop. The
ITSC is a committee of the UNC CIO Council that serves as an advisory board for the Council on all
information technology security issues. Its membership is comprised of one representative from each of
the 17 UNC institutions, led by a chair who is annually elected by the membership. Each member
represents their respective campus in monthly meetings which offer a forum for discussion,
collaboration and cooperation on a wide range of security topics of mutual interest.
ITS Support of Campus Events
Throughout the year, ITS staff and student workers participate in numerous UNCW events, providing
technical, informational and A/V support and expertise.
Events include:
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Commencement
Student Orientation - freshmen,
transfer, graduate and Isaac Bear
Involvement Fair
Cameron Career Day
New Faculty Orientation
New Employee Orientation
Move-In
Seahawk Saturday
Employee Perks Fair
Information Systems and
Operations Management
(ISOM) Career Day
Dare to SOAR
WITX 2012 (Wilmington
Information Technology
eXchange Conference)
UNCW/Jamie Moncrief
ITS employees volunteered a combined total of 480 hours
for UNCW sponsored events and 4,200 hours for
community services this year.
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
UNCW/Jamie Moncrief
IT GOVERNANCE
The IT Governance structure was updated in spring 2012. Details:
Information Technology at UNCW
The integration of Information Technology (IT) into the strategic and innovative direction of a university
is critical. The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) embraces the ever-changing higher
education environment and is capitalizing on it by augmenting the university’s strategic planning with a
culture of enhanced innovation. In light of this, the campus community must develop a process to
evaluate, prioritize and deliver the information technology resources necessary for these innovations.
UNCW has one centralized IT organization (Information Technology Systems; ITS) and several
decentralized IT departments that support specialized functions in their areas. It is important for all IT
areas to be included in the UNCW IT governance and process. This document will illustrate how each of
the decentralized IT departments will be incorporated into the UNCW IT governance process.
Governance
UNCW utilizes a variety of councils, committees, advisory groups and departmental meetings to provide
opportunities for the campus community to participate in IT governance. Feedback and communication
to, from and within these groups can provide requests for new services, updates on existing or new
services, recommendations or feedback on projects or priorities and additional information. This input
helps UNCW make informed and collaborative decisions regarding IT resources. In addition to the formal
governance (listed below), the central ITS organization’s Executive Council meets regularly with
departmental chairs and others across campus to gather feedback. The following is a list of the formal
councils/committees and their roles in UNCW’s IT governance.
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
ITS Executive Council:
Charged with providing IT strategic and tactical leadership to the CIO, the ITS Executive Council provides
leadership to and for the university’s infrastructure (networks and systems); application and system
development direction and standards; technical support for classrooms, students, faculty, staff and
special events; IT Security and Policies; and academic and administrative enterprise applications. This
council is responsible for understanding current and future trends and making recommendations to the
CIO regarding those trends and their strategic impact to the campus. This council is led by the CIO and
includes directors from each department in ITS. The council meets weekly.
IT Strategic Planning and Resources Council:
Charged with providing both IT strategic guidance and resource recommendations, the IT Strategic
Planning and Resources Council is the central point of contact for the various other IT
councils/committees. This council is responsible for recommending strategic initiatives and the
criteria/priorities for those initiatives. It is also charged with reviewing requests for projects/initiatives,
setting potential priorities and passing those on to the Chancellor’s Cabinet for resourcing. This council
includes representation from each area of campus and from some of the largest decentralized IT
departments. The group meets at least once per semester to review the strategic initiatives and criteria
and also has a standing monthly meeting to review any new requests. The council includes the following
membership:
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ITS Chief Information Officer (Co-Chair)
Chancellor’s Cabinet Representative (Co-Chair or designee)
Academic Affairs (up to three representatives for various programs)
Each College/School
Business Affairs
Business Applications
Student Affairs
Advancement
SGA Representative
GSA Representative
Decentralized IT Advisory Council:
The Decentralized IT Advisory Council is charged with reporting on departmental initiatives/projects.
This council also reviews the various IT areas and makes recommendations for efficiencies, including but
not limited to hardware/software purchasing and licensing, hardware standards and resource sharing.
This council meets at least once per semester. The membership is comprised of the following:



ITS Operations and Systems Director (Co-Chair)
Business Applications (Co-Chair)
Advancement
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12

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Cameron
College of Arts & Sciences
College of Health and Human Services
Center for Marine Science
Housing and Residence Life
Library
Media Productions
Others as needed
Watson
Systems Coordination Council:
The Systems Coordination Council serves in an advisory capacity to ITS on enterprise-related projects
and is responsible for approving baseline Banner modifications and data standards. The members of this
council are also responsible for communicating information to their respective units. The project leads
are comprised of ITS staff and key personnel representing each Banner module. This group meets twice
per month and includes the following members:
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ITS Director Integrated Enterprise Solutions (Co-Chair)
Co-Chair rotating among the council members
Academic Affairs Resource Management
Admissions
Advancement
Business Affairs
Business Applications
Faculty rep
Financial Aid
Financial Systems
Graduate School
Housing
Human Resources
Internal Audit
ITS DBAs
ITS Developers
Registrar
Student Affairs
“Thank you for the hard
work and support you
provided the Watson
School of Education,
enabling us to conduct
analysis of our students’
GPA and SAT data. Our
ability to monitor and
report analysis of these
data is important to our
assessment and
continuous improvement
efforts.”
– UNCW faculty
regarding ITS support
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
22
Student Government Association and Student IT Advisory Council:
The ITS CIO will meet at least once each semester with representatives from the Student Government
Association (SGA).
The Student IT Advisory Council (SITAC) is charged with assisting in the prioritization of students'
technology needs and requirements at UNCW. The ITS CIO chairs this council which meets monthly and
is comprised of 10-15 representatives from a diverse range of students across campus, including Isaac
Bear Early College High School (IBEC) students. The primary goal of this committee is to enhance and
increase information technology services to students in order to best meet their academic, social and
extracurricular needs.
Academic Advisory Council:
The Academic Advisory Council is comprised of three boards
focused on various areas of support for the academic core of
the university. The co-chairs of each board and the ITS CIO
form the council. The advisory boards and council meets at
least once each semester. The sub-councils are: Blackboard
(LMS) Advisory Board, Academic Research Computing Board
and Classroom Technology Advisory Board.
“The customer ethic at TAC is
superior, reflecting well on ITS and
the University as a whole. Bravo!”
- UNCW faculty regarding ITS
support
Blackboard (LMS) Advisory Board:
The Blackboard (LMS) Advisory Board is charged with providing input on the strategic direction
and development of the campus learning management system (LMS). This board is comprised of
members from the Learning Management Systems’ team, the Office of eLearning and faculty.
The board is co-chaired by a member of the Learning Management Systems’ team and a faculty
member.
Academic Research Computing Board:
The Academic Research Computing Board is charged with offering overall direction to providing
our researchers with the tools and infrastructure needed to facilitate their research efforts.
Committee research includes the exploration of high performance and grid computing, highspeed networks, virtual environments and technical resources. The committee is comprised of
13 members from academic departments and ITS.
Classroom Technology Board:
The Classroom Technology Board is charged with making recommendations to the Academic
Advisory Council regarding standards for classroom technology. These should include strategic
discussions of emerging technologies. The Board is co-chaired by a member of the ITS Classroom
Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
and Computer Technology Services department and a faculty member. The committee is
comprised of ITS and faculty members.
Faculty Senate / Information, Technology and Library Resources Committee
Duties. This committee shall make recommendations concerning the development of
information technology and library resources, services, and facilities. This committee shall also
make recommendations regarding University policy that pertains to general academic
computing, information access, and scholarly communication. Additionally, this committee shall
provide advice as part of Information Technology Systems (ITS) and the University Library’s
planning processes and on matters brought to it by the Chief Information Officer (CIO) or
University Librarian; shall incubate and recommend ideas to optimize information resources for
instruction and research; and shall serve as liaison between ITS, the Library, faculty, staff, and
students.
Membership. Eight faculty members including at least four from the College of Arts and
Sciences, at least one from the College of Health and Human Services, at least one from the
Cameron School of Business, at least one from the Watson School of Education, and one other
from the faculty at large, and two student members (to be nominated by the President of the
Student Government Association and the President of the Graduate Student Association). The
Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs; the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Institutional Research and
Assessment; the deans of the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Health and Human
Services, Cameron School of Business, Watson School of Education and Graduate School; the
University Librarian; and the Chief Information Officer shall be ex officio non-voting members.
IT Liaisons:
The IT Liaisons serve as contacts for ITS to facilitate feedback and dissemination of information
regarding support, services and training that affect either a specific area or the entire campus. Each
division, college and school has a designated liaison. The main role of each liaison is to distribute
pertinent information in a timely, effective manner across their area. Periodically, the liaisons will meet
with ITS leadership to discuss issues and initiatives, such as upcoming software upgrades, scheduled
outages, major releases or implementation rollouts, training and other important IT-related changes or
events that the campus needs to be aware of and, in some cases, prepare for.
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
APPENDIX
ITS Functional Org Chart
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
Select Communications
Flyer for Parents of Incoming Students
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
“Welcome Students” Page – UNCW Flash Drive
View full site at www.uncw.edu/welcomestudents
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
Auto-Generated Email to New Students
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Information Technology Systems - Annual Report 2011-12
Example of Profile in Online IT Bulletin
View full IT Bulletin at www.uncw.edu/it/bulletin
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