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STRATEGIC GOALS AND
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
OIT has aligned its portfolio closely with the university’s strategic plan and overall goals.
We have projects and initiatives supporting each goal, and we would like to take this
opportunity to highlight some of them.
Epitomize the Scholar-Teacher Ideal
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Upgraded Academic Technology Systems
Over the summer of 2010, OIT partnered with CTRL to upgrade AU’s Blackboard learning
system from version 7 to version 9.1. The new version has a more attractive and intuitive
user interface that allows operations to be completed in fewer clicks. In addition, this version
adds new Web 2.0 functionality to courses, such as the ability to create class blogs or student
journals, integration with YouTube and Flickr, and an improved Grade Center. With this
upgrade, OIT also shifted the architecture to improve redundancy and systems availability.
Partnered to Introduce Online Technology Training
Across campus, demand continues to increase for effective electronic learning packages
and tools, so OIT partnered with CTRL and the library to subscribe to an online technology
education suite from lynda.com for the 2009–2010 academic year. This service allowed
authenticated AU users to take hundreds of online courses in common software applications,
multimedia, and other technology topics, through a Web browser. We were pleased that use
of these tutorials steadily increased over the academic year, with a total of more than 24,500
individual tutorial videos viewed. As a result, the subscription was renewed for another year.
Introduced a Comprehensive Tool to
Manage Faculty Activity
OIT partnered with Academic Affairs to
implement the first phase of the new
Faculty Activity Reporting System, which
will serve as AU’s central repository to store,
track, and report information regarding
individual faculty teaching, research, and
service activities. The initial data collected
was used to facilitate creating the 2009
Faculty Annual Report. This fall the system
will be enhanced with customization
specific to AU faculty needs and easier
“The implementation of a Web-based management system
to collect, store, and track information regarding AU faculty
teaching, research, and service represents a true collaboration
between Academic Affairs and OIT. Going digital has not been
without its bumps—as evidenced by phase I and
now phase II of the Faculty Activity Reporting
System project—but through the continued
partnership, we are well positioned to
have a truly robust system to highlight
our faculty’s accomplishments in various
fields.”
—Phyllis Peres, Vice Provost for
Undergraduate Studies and Interim Dean
of Academic Affairs
navigation and reporting capabilities.
OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
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Facilitated Access to Google Collaborative Tools
“The Information Technology department faculty use Google
Apps to introduce their undergraduate business students to
the world of Web-based collaboration and commerce. The
popular, and competitive, Information Technology Review
(ITR) requires student groups to work collaboratively to
research, write, and present a new, innovative information
technology product or application. Google Docs allows
students to work both synchronously and asynchronously
toward the development of their ITRs. Google Sites, coupled
with Google Analytics, allows students to
quickly create a Web ‘business’ for the
world to see. Experiencing quick
success reduces student ‘fear’—they
do not need to be graphic designers or
high-flying entrepreneurs to participate
on the Web.”
Two years ago AU migrated student e-mail services to a
—Jill Klein, Executive in Residence,
Kogod School of Business
behavior of visitors to their Web sites.
solution hosted by Google, giving AU students reliable
access to the suite of online applications that Google
provides, including e-mail, calendar, and contacts. This
past summer OIT supported a group of innovative Kogod
School of Business faculty members as they began to
explore using the Google suite of collaborative tools
in their classes. Their students used Google Docs to
create and share online documents and Google Sites
to create shared, interactive Web sites. This fall the
faculty are planning to use Google Groups to encourage
collaboration through moderated and self-service groups,
as well as Google Analytics to have students analyze the
UPCOMING PLANS
Upgrading Campus Wireless Network
AU’s wireless network usage continues to grow exponentially with many of our students, staff, and
faculty using multiple mobile devices on a daily basis. In fact, we regularly have more than 3,000
concurrent users connected to the network. To better handle the growing need for wireless connections,
OIT is deploying a new wireless architecture in phases over the next 18 months. Tenley campus and
the new School of International Service building were completed in the summer of 2010. Main campus
residence halls will be converted next, followed by the remaining on- and off-campus buildings.
After implementing this architecture from Aruba Networks, we will be able to more than double our
wireless capacity and take advantage of the latest 802.11n standard. We expect this industry-bestpractice distributed architecture to greatly reduce the risk of a large-scale system failure.
Piloting a Virtual Computing Research Lab
“The Virtual Computing Research Lab will improve the
overall experience and quality of academic technology
services provided by the Center for Teaching, Research, and
Learning. In particular, it will provide faculty and
students with on-demand access to up-todate quantitative and qualitative research
applications over the Internet. This new
virtual research environment will also save
our users time and money and expand
their opportunities for collaboration.”
— Assen Assenov, Assistant
Director, Center for Teaching,
Research, and Learning
This fall OIT plans to partner with CTRL and the library
to pilot a virtual lab environment, with the goal of
providing all connected users with around-the-clock
access to specialized academic applications regardless
of their physical location. These virtual labs will help
create an infrastructure to encourage faculty and
students to engage in cross-campus and cross-university
research that has not been possible with the current
physical lab spaces. Through this effort, we also expect
to improve the university’s emergency preparedness by
making remote lab sessions possible during times when
the university is closed or inaccessible. Over time, virtual
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OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
labs can facilitate improvements in the quality and quantity of distance education and hybrid classes,
while reducing the total cost of creating and maintaining lab environments.
Provide an Unsurpassed Undergraduate Education
and Experience
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Implemented Technological Tools to Support AU Central
The one-stop focus for student services is a transformational strategic goal for AU. A cross-functional
team of campus leaders has been working toward this goal and reached an important milestone this
past year: the creation of a new unit, known as AU Central, to serve as the single point of contact for
students when they need to resolve issues relating to financial aid, student accounts, and registration.
AU Central front-line staff were trained and empowered to respond to and resolve student issues by
employing new business processes and referencing a critical set of student data.
To realize this new unit and facilitate its interaction with
the three related business offices (Office of the Registrar,
Financial Aid, and Student Accounts), technology
solutions were needed. OIT completed several
infrastructure projects in support of this new unit—a new
queuing system manages walk-in student traffic, a phone
system appropriates student calls to the correct queues,
and a management system handles student cases as they
are escalated across the four offices with a fully closed
feedback loop to the students. This approach ensures
high-quality, thorough service and allows the university
administration to analyze the data to better understand
the origins of the questions and identify strategies to
reduce confusion and complexity in the future. Several
process improvement initiatives have been identified
“The successful launch of AU Central (AUC) as planned
was made possible through the collaborative efforts of
OIT staff with the cross-functional project team. From
the initial planning stages to the implementation of the
technology solutions, OIT staff were instrumental in
ensuring the goals and timelines of this project were met.
The IT training provided to all AUC staff in learning the
intricacies of the new infrastructure systems continues
long after AU Central opened. On behalf
of academic affairs, I would like to
express our sincere appreciation to OIT
leadership and staff for yet another ‘job
well done.’ I look forward to working with
all of you as we move on to the virtual
one-stop project.”
— Violeta Ettle, Vice Provost for
Academic Administration
and undertaken already, with several more planned over
the next academic year.
Expanded IT Walk-In Service
After a successful pilot in the spring of 2009, OIT simplified the process for students to receive
technical assistance by creating a walk-in service to address the most common problems. Examples
include password resets, laptop wired and wireless network configuration, health check remediation,
virus removal, system restoration, hardware repair referrals, and encryption of AU-owned laptops.
The walk-in service resolved issues for more than 850 students during the past academic year. The
amount of time to resolve each of these problems was dramatically reduced since students could seek
help when they needed it, at a time most convenient for them. Staff efficiency also improved as the
need to schedule in-room appointments has been eliminated.
OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
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UPCOMING PLANS
Implementing AU’s New Portal
AU continues to mature our Web presence. While our
current portal is a transaction-rich platform, it is based
on older technology that is difficult to extend and
build upon, and it lacks some of the contemporary
aspects that our students, faculty, and staff need
to use it as a true collaborative platform. OIT has
been working in collaboration with the campus
community to architect a new portal using Datatel’s
ActiveCampusPortal solution, which is based on an
open Microsoft SharePoint environment. We expect
to roll out the new portal to our campus community
in phases beginning early this fall. The new portal
platform will enable collaboration, offer better design and a flexible architecture, and allow targeted
messaging and notifications for individuals as well as specific sub groups.
Introducing Virtual One-Stop Services
With the formation of the physical component of one-stop student services (AU Central) behind us,
campus leaders are now focusing on shaping and maturing the virtual component. Many of our current
online student services were built with the objective of automating a process from the point of view of
a specific functional unit, rather than anticipating needs and questions from a student perspective.
With a successful rollout of virtual student services, OIT expects about 80 percent of processes will
be available through the virtual applications, while the remaining 20 percent will require face-to-face
interaction. Virtual student services will have an interactive design to guide students through available
choices and assist them in decision making.
The first phase of the virtual student services program will focus on transforming processes related to
student accounts, financial aid, and registration. The ultimate goal through future phases will be to
establish a virtual platform for all student services, which will transcend organizational boundaries and
focus solely on getting students what they need through a simple, interactive Web interface.
Improving Degree Audit and Advising
AU’s current degree audit reporting system has many exceptions built into it, so although it is fully
automated, ongoing student planning requires a manual process to continuously evaluate and apply
these exceptions. The system is difficult to use as a planning tool due to the interface and associated
processes.
OIT is currently working to implement new degree audit and advising applications. The new degree
audit system factors in degree requirements much more gracefully, while still allowing for flexibility and
discretion. The advising solution will be fully integrated with the degree audit system and will have
built-in curriculum planning functions to fully automate the continuous interaction between advisors
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and students. This will allow both students and their advisors to more easily and effectively make plans
to reach their shared goal. It also will allow the university administration to better anticipate desired
course offerings over a broader timeframe.
Act on Values through Social Responsibility and Service
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Reduced Environmental Footprint with Greener IT
OIT has made a commitment to reducing the power,
cooling, and space requirements of our data center
environment. Over the past year, virtual servers have
become the standard platform for all enterprise
applications that will support them. Our server
virtualization and consolidation efforts have allowed us
to shrink from more than eight racks of servers to less
Did you know?
OIT reduced the server power consumption
in our data center by 50 percent, while
simultaneously increasing our server count by
more than 60 percent.
than two, which has greatly reduced the power load on
our data center. Another benefit of this effort was that
the amount of heat returned into the room was reduced,
lessening the cooling requirements.
Our virtualization efforts also have resulted in significant
efficiencies in the amount of time it takes to deploy,
manage, and restore servers. Physical servers usually
take days to weeks to procure and implement, whereas
virtual servers can be deployed in a matter of minutes.
This initiative has allowed OIT to become more
“OIT’s server virtualization initiative is a great example
of synergy between sustainability and business
goals—saving energy and money and
improving service all go hand in hand.
The Office of Sustainability commends
projects like this that help American
University attain our goal of carbon
neutrality by the year 2020.”
— Chris O’Brien, Director of Sustainability,
Office of Sustainability
responsive to the needs of the university, and we are
proud to support AU’s goal of carbon neutrality.
Standardized Workstation Lifecycle Management
The centralized workstation lifecycle management program officially began this year. This program was
designed to reduce waste and cost by moving what was a decentralized process to a program with
central oversight and management. OIT collaborated with partners across the university through the
Next Generation working group to determine the requirements and formulate the revised processes. In
the short time since its implementation, the program has already proved to be successful in reducing
the overall cost of replacing university workstations.
Moving forward OIT will work to further refine the process and drive down the amount of time it takes
to get workstations in the hands of the faculty and staff who need them. OIT plans to place a service
level agreement around the process to manage expectations and ensure that we are meeting the goals
of our customers.
OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
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Engage Alumni in the Life of the University,
on and off Campus
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Rolled Out Colleague Advancement Reporting
Last summer OIT replaced the existing gift-processing, fund-raising, and alumni-management
system—Benefactor—with Colleague Advancement. Soon after, we linked student and alumni data,
making it possible to introduce a prospect-to-alumni lifecycle. With this comprehensive model in
place, the team turned its attention to making better reports available to mine the integrated data.
We are now implementing an improved reporting model using a new tool called Informer, which will
allow users to work more easily with the data and generate custom reports.
UPCOMING PLANS
Maturing Colleague Advancement Reporting
Although we have made significant improvements in Colleague Advancement reporting, much work
remains. In trying to generate reports from the new system, we realized that our existing underlying
processes and rules are quite complex. We believe the university community will benefit from
standardizing and assessing improved methods to gather data through a broader use of new tools.
A significant focus for OIT for this academic year will be to provide better end-user reporting tools to
reduce the complexity of accessing and running the reports.
Integrating the Alumni Community and Management Experience
OIT plans to partner with the Office of Development to facilitate selection and implementation
of a set of tools to achieve an integrated alumni community experience, blending existing social
networking strategies. Currently, there are multiple stand-alone tools providing pieces of functionality
that do not integrate to provide a holistic user experience. The project’s goal will be to select
a platform that gives alumni the interaction and services they need, which will create a better
experience and increase engagement.
“The new online application system is a service that Human
Resources has been excited about for some time, so we
were extraordinarily pleased to see it go live this spring as
promised. We consider OIT a valuable business partner
because of their intimate knowledge of our business
processes; that knowledge coupled with the applications
integration with Datatel led to the success of this project.
We anticipate an overall improvement in job
applicants’ experience searching for new
positions at AU. The new system also
provides better analytics to track searches
and offers additional support to hiring
departments, eliminating a myriad of
paperwork.”
— Beth Muha, Executive Director of
Human Resources
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Encourage Innovation and
High Performance
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Rolled Out Online Application System
OIT partnered with Human Resources to roll out a new
online employment application system. The old manual
application process involved multiple steps. Candidate
résumés were sent to an e-mail box and had to be
individually routed to the hiring managers, who would
often then forward them to the search committee for
input. Also, the data was difficult to mine for reporting
purposes since it resided only in e-mail.
OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
The new system provides beginning-to-end online services, from creating the job requisition and
routing it through the approval process to managing candidate applications. The system also supports
search committees in working collaboratively through all aspects of the hiring process.
Modernized Campus Network Infrastructure
This past year OIT continued the three-year AU data network modernization project, completing the
phase II distribution layer network upgrade. This phase involved installing and configuring 22 new
routers and 72 access layer switches in 28 on-campus and off-campus buildings. Additionally, we
segmented the network better and improved redundancy by moving all network printers and special
devices to dedicated networks and changing our network admission control services to an out-ofband model to minimize widespread downtime in the event of a problem. This new network admission
control configuration processes authentication, performs the security health check, remediates any
issues, and then quickly passes the users’ traffic onto the network.
The third and final phase of the project, which involves upgrading the access layer network, began this
summer and will be implemented in parallel with our new wireless architecture.
Improved Performance and Reliability of E-mail
OIT made several significant improvements to our e-mail
infrastructure, enhancing performance and reliability.
Throughout the spring and early summer, we upgraded the
Lotus Notes client software for all of our users to version
8.5.1 to mitigate the risks posed by an announced security
vulnerability in earlier versions. The new client software also
offered new features and functionality, such as in-line spell
checking, enhanced contacts search, and the capability to
merge multiple calendars into a single view.
Did you know?
OIT began enforcement of an allowed sender list on
our mail servers to stop phishing attacks—
e-mails that use a version of “@american.edu”
in the sender address to look more legitimate to
our user population and attempt to trick you into
clicking on a link or sharing personal information,
such as passwords, banking information, and PINs.
This past summer OIT also created back-end duplicate copies of our e-mail servers, also known as
clusters, to provide improved uptime. In the event of a server failure, e-mail and calendars will now
continue to be available through the Lotus Notes client software or the Web interface, as the system
will automatically switch to the clustered server.
Due to the growing number of mailboxes that exceed recommended storage sizes, there were several
e-mail service interruptions this past year. To improve system performance and reliability, OIT designed
an e-mail archiving solution to reduce the number of messages stored on the production e-mail
servers, while still providing easy access to historical information to support critical university activities.
The system is currently being tested with the goal of extending it to faculty and staff during the next
academic year.
OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
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Increased Focus on Performance Measurement
OIT continued to focus on performance improvement
and aligned our business processes with industry
standard best practices, based on the ITIL standard. We
extended the successful techniques for measuring and
demonstrating improvement in our primary customer
support delivery organization to the other units within
OIT. A monthly performance dashboard is shared with
senior management to compare current progress trends
with those in the previous year for support request
volumes, telephone wait times, and the mean time to
resolve support requests. These performance metrics
are also discussed in weekly operational meetings. In
addition, monthly performance metrics are provided to
Did you know?
This academic year OIT reduced the mean time to
resolve support requests by 34 percent despite an
increase in the total number of requests received.
all OIT directors, empowering them with the tools and
information necessary to coach their staff and improve
performance across the units. This effort has resulted in
dramatic improvements over the past year.
UPCOMING PLANS
Upgrading Case Management Systems
This academic year OIT will be leading the initiative to upgrade our c.Support case management
system to a new Web-based product called iSupport. This solution will replace several disparate tools
to fully integrate our incident, problem, and change management processes, based on ITIL best
practices. The new system will allow us to record customer issues faster, streamline identification and
escalation of problems, and track our efforts to restore service as promptly as possible.
The case management systems used by Public Safety, AU Central, the Office of the Registrar, Financial
Aid, and Student Accounts will also be upgraded to iSupport.
Implementing Business Intelligence as a Reporting Platform
While AU’s existing analytical platform, EagleData, offers robust data storage and reporting, it is a fully
custom environment that lacks standard tools. Reporting is limited to running canned and prompted
reports, because it does not provide an option for ad hoc analysis or report creation. Additionally,
EagleData does not easily lend itself to an extension that would support the institution’s growing data
needs.
OIT has invested in building a strategy and roadmap that provide a strong foundation and direction
for this invaluable analytical platform. The strategy includes a high-level vision, business intelligence
architecture, and a business intelligence roadmap to help AU maximize return on present and future
investments. Using the roadmap as our guide, OIT embarked on a careful evaluation of tools and
selected MicroStrategy as the enterprise business intelligence tool.
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OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
We are planning the first phase of the implementation, to create an executive dashboard that includes
a key set of indicators for the institution. OIT is working with a cross-functional team to design the
dashboard and will be rolling out a pilot version to the university leadership later this year.
Future phases will focus on additional data sets, such as enrollment and finance. The overall goal is to
give end users the ability to create their own reports and analyze the results, without additional coderelated support from technology staff. Users will have the ability to create their own ad hoc reports, use
powerful drill down features, and even perform predictive analysis.
Implementing Strategic Plan Measurement and Assessment Platform
Since the adoption of the strategic plan last year, AU has been working toward the goals, objectives,
and action steps set forth in the plan. At the request of President Kerwin, a committee was formed
to develop a set of measures and a plan for tracking progress toward the goals. OIT partnered with
this campus committee to select TracDat as the tool of choice to track and report on progress on an
ongoing basis. The tool also allows units to maintain
individual plans that link to the broader university
plan. Implementation is underway with a full rollout
planned in phases through the upcoming academic
year. Future phases will involve using the tool to build
the institutional assessment programs and potentially to
manage accreditation.
Developing a New System for Individual Performance
Management and Staff Development Plans
OIT is excited to partner with Human Resources as
we consider building an integrated plan for managing
the training of staff across campus. Two related
projects are being evaluated—the possible redesign of the performance management process and
an integrated platform to manage training activities. Ideally these systems would be connected to
provide a meaningful way for both individuals and supervisors to track progress toward individual
staff development and training plans, influenced by feedback provided through the performance
management process.
Win Recognition and Distinction
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Selected to Mentor the Next Generation of CIOs
American University Chief Information Officer Dave Swartz was honored with a faculty appointment
to the EDUCAUSE Institute Leadership Program for 2010 through 2013. In this role, Swartz conducts
interactive seminars to mentor and develop leadership abilities in information technology leaders who
are aspiring to become chief information officers.
OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
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Honored for Security Best Practices
TechForum presented the chief information security officers from
American University, Georgetown University, and The George
Washington University with the International Security Best Practices
Award for creating a Memorandum of Understanding Cyber Security
Addendum. This document is designed to ensure that the computing
resources of each university would be made available to the other two
in the event of a major cyber security incident. This partnership among
the universities also allows the collective information security staffs
of the three schools to make themselves available in the case of any
large-scale attack or incident where additional expertise is required.
TechForum remarked, “the partnership among three major American
universities is a replicable model for all institutions, including those in
the for-profit sector.”
Chaired EDUCAUSE 2010 Security Professionals Conference
In early 2009 Cathy Hubbs, chief information security officer, was nominated to chair the EDUCAUSE
and Internet2 Higher Education Information Security Council’s 2010 Security Professionals Conference
planning committee. The Security Professionals Conference is the premier forum for strengthening
the ability of the higher education sector to protect information assets from the continually changing
threats and respond to the ever-increasing compliance requirements imposed on our community.
Cochaired EDUCAUSE Information Security Council
Swartz was appointed to cochair the EDUCAUSE and Internet2 Higher Education Information Security
Council for the 2009–2011 term. This prestigious group works to improve information security and
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OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
privacy programs across the higher education sector through its community members and focused
partnerships with government, industry, and other academic organizations. The council actively
develops and promotes awareness and understanding, effective practices and policies, and
solutions for the protection of critical IT assets and infrastructures.
Received Recognition
OIT takes pride when we are recognized for distinctive service and accomplishments. OIT staff
received a number of external awards over the past year.
> Laura Ballou, Terry Fernandez, Cathy Hubbs, Edward Martin, Kamalika Sandell, and Dave
Swartz—SIGUCCS Communications Award of Excellence for Computing Services Public Web
Site (for Office of Information Technology Web site)
> Laura Ballou, Terry Fernandez, Cathy Hubbs, Edward Martin, Kamalika Sandell, Dave Swartz,
and University Communications and Marketing—SIGUCCS Communications Award of
Excellence for General Service Promotional Materials (for Office of Information Technology:
Year in Review, 2007–2008)
> Kabo Botlhole, Terry Fernandez, Cathy Hubbs, CaroLyn Jimenez, Edward Martin, Kamalika
Sandell, and Dave Swartz—SIGUCCS Communications Award of Excellence for Electronic
Computing Newsletter (for AU Information Technology newsletter, spring 2009 edition)
> Terry Fernandez and Edward Martin—SIGUCCS Communications Award of Excellence for
Computing Services Public Web Site (for Information Technology @ AU for New Students
Web site)
> Terry Fernandez, Edward Martin, and University Communications and Marketing—SIGUCCS
Communications Best of Category Award for Printed How-To Guides (for Getting Connected)
Awarded OIT Staff Performance
OIT recognizes the exceptional efforts and
accomplishments, both collaborative and individual, of
our staff. In December we celebrated the first annual
internal OIT awards program.
> Laurie Ambach—Campus Partner Award
> Matteo Becchi—Enlarger Award
> Terry Fernandez—Leadership by Example Award
> Chris Gehring—Vision Award
> CaroLyn Jimenez—Customer Service Award
> Dale Roberts—Dependability Award
> Funda Topcuoglu—Initiative Award
Winners of the first annual OIT awards, December 2009.
> Eric Weakland—Critical Thinker Award
OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
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Engaged in Professional Development
OIT encourages its staff to contribute to their own professional development planning and execution
in ways such as belonging to professional organizations, writing technical papers, and delivering
presentations.
> Matteo Becchi—Contributing author of 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know—
Collective Wisdom from the Experts (Book by Barbee Davis)
> Matteo Becchi—Member of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Project Management
Institute
> Terry Fernandez—Judge for the SIGUCCS 2010 Communication Awards Competition (for
Printed How-To Guides and for Printed Instructional Classroom Material)
> Terry Fernandez—Member of the SIGUCCS 2010 Communication Awards Team
> Michael Grinnell—Presenter at EDUCAUSE Security Professional Conference 2010 (“Hot Topic:
Virtualization Security”)
> Cathy Hubbs—Copresenter at EDUCAUSE 2009 Annual Conference (“Collaborative Cyber
Security Response”)
> Cathy Hubbs—Keynote speaker at Fairfax County Government Security Seminar 2009 (“Our
Blended Society”)
> Cathy Hubbs—Panel member at CSO Executive Seminar Data Protection and Encryption 2010
(“Data Protection and Encryption Best Practices”)
> Cathy Hubbs and Dave Swartz—Copresenters at EDUCAUSE Security Professionals Conference
2010 (“Welcome and Introductions” and “First-Time Attendees: How to Get the Most Out of
the Conference Experience, and an Introduction to the Higher Education Information Security
Council”)
> Miriam Radakovich—Presenter at R25 Mid-Atlantic Users Conference (“R25 Web Services Case
Study with University Library”)
> Miriam Radakovich—Presenter at CollegeNet Annual Users Conference (“R25 Web Services
Case Studies: Digital Signs, Room Monitors, and a Master Calendar”)
> Kamalika Sandell—Presenter at NCCI National
Conference 2010 (“Achieving Institutional
Effectiveness in Making IT Investments”)
> Dave Swartz—Copresenter at CyberSecurity Summit
2009 Conference (“Higher Education Information
Security Council [formerly the Security Task Force]
Community Update”)
> Dave Swartz—Copresenter at EDUCAUSE 2009
Annual Conference (“Blackboard, Moodle,
and Sakai” and “Higher Education Information
Security Council [formerly the Security Task Force]
Community Update”)
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OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
> Dave Swartz—Copresenter at EDUCAUSE Security Professionals Conference 2010
(“EDUCAUSE/Internet2 Higher Education Information Security Council and REN-ISAC”)
> Dave Swartz—Keynote speaker at JUCC Information Security Challenges Conference 2010,
Hong Kong (“Enforcing Information Security Policies in Today’s Higher Education Community”)
> Dave Swartz—Panel member at EDUCAUSE 2010 Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference (“CIOs
and Enterprise IT: Tackling the Tough Issues”)
> Dave Swartz—Presenter at EDUCAUSE Enterprise Information and Technology Web Seminar
(“Join the Discussion: A National Dialogue on Higher Education Trends, Challenges, and
Strategic Plans”)
> Eric Weakland—Presenter at EDUCAUSE Security Professionals Conference 2010 (“Cloud
Computing: Clear Skies or Rain?”)
Earned Certifications
As the central IT provider to AU staff, faculty, students,
and guests, we feel it is important to have objective
validation of our knowledge and skill sets. OIT staff
attained a number of professional and technical
certifications in the past year. We have a goal of
maintaining a 1:1 ratio of relevant, current technical and
professional certifications to personnel at all times.
> Nahlah Alsiryani, Laurie Ambach, Matteo Becchi,
Lana Ludanova, and Funda Topcuoglu—AU
Innovation Facilitator
> Matteo Becchi—Certified Scrum Master and
Project Management Professional
“Research conducted by HR in October and November
2009 identified that 75 percent of all training on campus
happened outside of HR. As a department that requires
continual training as the result of being in a fast-paced field,
the IT group looks far and wide for training opportunities
as evidenced by the list of accomplishments this past year.
IT representatives also serve on the AU Training Partners
team that is focusing on advancing on-campus training
and facilitation to the next level through cross-campus
coordination. IT team members have been
providing a key leadership role within the
group by sharing their collective, and
individual, insight, experience, and
vision into the use of technology as a
methodology for learning.”
> Paul Hardy—MicroStrategy Certified Project
Designer and Certified Report Developer
— Dawn DePasquale, Chief
Learning Officer for Staff,
Human Resources
> Irene Lam—MicroStrategy Certified Project
Designer, Certified Report Developer, and Certified Document Developer
> Isabelle Graham, Michael Grinnell, and Homer Manila—QualsysGuard Certified Specialist
> Jacqueline Palumbo—ITIL Foundations Certificate in IT Service Management
> Saeed Pater-Rov—Red Hat Certified Technician for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
> Dale Roberts—Red Hat Certified Engineer for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
> Joni Snyder—IBM Certified System Administrator for Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5
> Ben Wall—IBM Certified Associate System Administrator for Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5
> Eric Weakland—ISACA Certified Information Security Manager
OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
21
Completed Web Phase II
“The launch of the university’s redesigned Web site in
March 2009 was an impressive and justly celebrated
milestone that represented the first phase in an ongoing
rollout of high-priority initiatives. OIT and University
Communications and Marketing continue to build on their
successful partnership to refine, supplement, and enhance
the university’s Web presence. While others in
the higher education Web community
speak of the competing goals between
their IT and marketing departments,
our units are exemplars of a strategic,
collaborative partnership that gets
things done.”
—Michael Heasley, Chief Web
Strategist, University
Communications and Marketing
When the redesigned university Web site launched in
March 2009, with a content management tool called
CommonSpot, most, but not all, campus groups had
made the transition to the new site. Over the past year,
we focused our support on the more than 75 different
groups who had yet to complete the Web redesign
journey. All units are now fully converted (more than
1,200 additional pages), with the exception of a few
specialized sites, such as Athletics, Washington College
of Law, and WAMU. One of the major initiatives this past
year was redesigning the library Web site, which recently
went live.
Completion of phase II of the Web project also included
introducing many new features, such as increased use
Did you know?
of media, more interactive tools, and a full redesign of
AUpedia based on feedback from students.
The year after the redesign, the number of
page views for the AU Web site increased by 75
percent (from 17,587,907 in FY09 to 30,841,483
in FY10).
UPCOMING PLANS
Releasing New Web Features
With the major focus on Web redesign behind us, OIT
plans to include more interactive tools on the Web and
integrate more social networking platforms. AU is in the process of rolling out a blog tool that can
be used by all members of the community. The first set of blogs using this tool will be ready to go
live this fall. We expect full adoption to come in phases over the next few months. Another important
consideration for the Web team will be the mobile delivery of content.
“This project was a great collaboration among
administrative and academic units and could not have
been possible without the extraordinary support from
OIT staff. What started out as a small project in the
University Center several years ago has led to a large
expansion of the program to include more than 30
digital sign monitors throughout campus. The end result
has been the development of a network
of digital monitors that allows faculty,
staff, students, and visitors to obtain
information about the wide range of
activities and events taking place at
American University.”
— Bernard Schulz, Special Assistant
to the Vice President, Office of
Campus Life
22
Installing Four Winds Digital Signage
In conjunction with the Office of Campus Life, OIT
has successfully led the installation across campus of
digital signage from Four Winds Interactive. A total of
31 digital displays are being deployed, including three
interactive signs. To date, the project included procuring
and implementing the new infrastructure. Much work
continues, such as designing the content to represent
the university as an integrated entity while allowing
units to showcase information specific to themselves
and the location and modeling governance for ongoing
management and decision making.
OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
Employ Technology to Empower Excellence
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Upgraded the Network Admission Control System
Since 2004 AU has used the Cisco Clean Access (CCA)
system to limit access to the university network to
authenticated members of the AU community and
to perform a health check to make sure that each
workstation meets our minimum security requirements.
This past summer OIT performed a large-scale upgrade
of the system to expand its functionality. Now CCA
is able to perform a health check on Windows 7
workstations and support a larger variety of antivirus software. This upgrade also positions us to begin
performing a health check of Macintosh workstations in the next academic year.
Patched AU-Owned Computers to Avoid Exploitation
OIT uses patch management to safeguard AU-owned computers and data from cyber criminals
looking to exploit applications that are out of date. In April 2010 OIT began using the LANDesk
patch management technology to guard against a known vulnerability in the Adobe Flash Player that
could allow cyber criminals to take control of a user’s computer, stealing data, passwords, and more.
In June we began a standard repeatable monthly cycle of installing patches to vulnerable systems
campus-wide to ensure AU-owned workstations running Windows operating systems are protected.
We are currently working with our technology partners across campus to test the delivery of patches to
Macintosh workstations, and we expect to roll out this capability later this year.
Scanned the Data Center Servers Weekly for Vulnerabilities
OIT moved from quarterly to weekly vulnerability scans of the data center servers to further our
continuing efforts to safeguard AU’s computer and data assets. Reports are analyzed and shared with
relevant systems engineers and developers to correct any identified vulnerabilities. After a vulnerability
has been remediated, the next weekly scan is used to confirm that the vulnerability was successfully
closed.
Developed Advance Warning Indicators
With the recent investments made to realize AU’s comprehensive strategic plan and in light of the
current economy, it is critically important that AU maintain a focus on financial indicators. To this
effect and as planned last year, OIT has led the development of a set of indicators to act essentially as
warning signs to help guide us through continued investment decisions. This set of indicators has been
released to a few select members of the university leadership, who are evaluating them for rollout to a
broader university constituency, possibly along with the executive dashboard currently in development.
Upgraded the Datatel Infrastructure
OIT continually strives to mature the infrastructure of the university’s integrated enterprise resource
planning system, Datatel. To that end, we successfully led a major initiative earlier this year to upgrade
the server, the operating system, and the database software. An added benefit of the effort was that
OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
23
authentication to the system was changed to enable users to log in using their network user name and
password instead of a separate set of credentials.
Matured Change Management and Incident Management Practices
Two years have passed since OIT first adopted a formal change management process and created
an internal Change Advisory Board (CAB). Weekly meetings continue to review change events that
have occurred in the prior week and to preview and approve change event requests set to occur in
the future. This type of structured discussion helps to reduce the amount of high-impact, unplanned
downtime, as it brings visibility, analysis, planning, and awareness to our changes.
The maturation of our change management practices continued this year, as we began evaluating and
measuring our change success based on a number of factors. The CAB first examined each change
event to determine if the change management process was followed and recorded changes that varied
from these standards as change process exceptions.
The CAB also evaluated if each change was successful and everything went according to the plan.
Examples of changes that might not have met our expectation of success would include those that
exceeded the scheduled implementation time, caused unexpected downtime, generated a high
number of support requests from customers, or varied from the deployment plan and required
undocumented steps.
OIT also formally documented our incident management process to better handle problems affecting
multiple users simultaneously. We defined the roles and responsibilities of our designated incident
manager, documented our communication plan to share information and updates internally as well
as with our customers, and collectively worked to restore service as promptly as possible. We expect
this function to continue to mature in the next year as we integrate our incident, problem, and change
management systems.
Expanded Service Level Agreements
OIT continued to align more closely with information
technology service management best practices. We
added four service level agreements (SLAs) and two
memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with partners
throughout campus, while working to mature all
existing SLAs through the renewal process with lessons
learned over the past year, service measurement, and
governance.
Chief Information Officer Dave Swartz signing a service
level agreement.
The new SLAs pertained to the management of the
CommonSpot content management system, the
c.Support case management system for Public Safety, the c.Support case management system for OIT
and our technology partners, and the R25 scheduling system. The new MOUs brought clarity to the
roles and responsibilities of several services that are shared across multiple functional units for the One
Card System and University Video Production Services.
24
OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
Installed Technology Infrastructure in New School of
International Service Building
OIT completed the design and setup of the technology
infrastructure at the new School of International Service
building. This included the provision of wired and wireless
network services; the installation of more than 800 data and
400 telephone ports; the provision of indoor wireless voice
coverage for Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile; and the extension
of cable TV service to the building. The new SIS building is
also the first main campus building to use the new wireless architecture from Aruba Networks, which
employs the faster and more reliable 802.11n standard with 100–150 megabits per second.
UPCOMING PLANS
Converting to Datatel Web User Interface
OIT is excited to plan for switching all campus Datatel users to the system’s new Web interface, called
WebUI, over the next year. This new interface allows for simple, secure access to the system from
anywhere, as long as users connect to AU’s virtual private network first. WebUI also offers the ability to
customize the screen, expands access to Macintosh users, and allows us to fully decommission the old
desktop user interface, which has a number of security challenges.
Partnering with Campus on New Interactive Centers
OIT is assisting CTRL and UCM with plans to introduce a high-tech media center for lecture capture
and audio and video creation, editing, and production, as well as blending of multimedia files to
integrate formats. OIT’s primary contribution will be
to provide centralized storage services and enhanced
network speeds and reliability. We will also provide
counsel to plan for service needs and scalable, leveraged
investments.
In addition, OIT is involved with selecting cutting-edge
technology and integrating it into AU’s new Welcome
Center. In partnership with the Office of Enrollment, OIT
has helped to select a technology called Vista Spyder,
which will enable AU to offer a high-end visual and audio
experience to our campus visitors.
“The Office of Enrollment, along with other campus
partners, has been working in collaboration with OIT on
a new admissions welcome center. In today’s competitive
market, a traditional campus visit is no longer sufficient. It
must provide the student with a total campus experience—
authentic, comprehensive, and customized—and
technology is one of the means by which this
can be accomplished. The experience that
we will launch in spring 2011 as a result of
our collaboration with OIT promises to set
AU apart and will provide students with a
one-of-a-kind visit experience.”
—Sharon Alston, Executive Director of
Enrollment
Improving Voicemail Messaging Infrastructure
This fall OIT will deploy our next-generation voicemail architecture in phases to campus users. This
system uses an integrated messaging model, which means users will be able to send, receive, store,
and listen to their voicemail messages through their e-mail application on their computer or on their
BlackBerry, in addition to their office phone. This project will replace AU’s 20-year-old voicemail system
with one that provides the same basic functionality and includes a wide range of additional features.
OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010
25
Encrypting University-Owned Desktops and Laptops
Building a repeatable process for encrypting AU’s workstations
became imperative, since the first phase of implementation required
an old-fashioned “sneakernet” approach, which required calling
each person to schedule an appointment and then walking to
the workstation. As AU’s IT asset lifecycle changes by 20 percent
each year due to replacement needs, we have worked to integrate
encryption into multiple processes. We encrypt new workstations
before they are delivered to the customer, and we encourage
customers to drop by our walk-in service in the Anderson Computing
Complex with their laptop for a self-serve approach.
Building Research Infrastructure
One of the biggest challenges identified by the Research and Infrastructure Task Force is the ability
to provide faculty awarded research funding with timely reports and/or data to help manage these
accounts. OIT will accomplish this by extending AU’s newly created business intelligence reporting
infrastructure. In addition, OIT plans to roll out an electronic research enterprise management system
to oversee the lifecycle of grants, including pre-awards and post-awards. OIT also plans to support
building a high-performance computing infrastructure, where supercomputers can be used to solve
advanced computation problems.
Forge Partnerships by Leveraging Our Capital Location
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Matured Continuity Processes and Infrastructure
To increase the reliability and availability of our key systems, like Blackboard, Datatel, and e-mail, OIT
took several bold steps over the past year to mature our business continuity architecture. We signed a
contract with CoreSite in Reston, Virginia, to provide an off-campus, redundant data center to ensure
the continuity of operations should a catastrophic event happen in the D.C. area. Over the summer,
core network and storage infrastructure components, including the latest generation of network
switching and routing equipment, were installed so we could begin the process of replicating key
services in this location.
In addition, two new storage area network (SAN) systems were deployed at both our primary and
business continuity data centers. Using this equipment paired with our virtual server environment,
we are able to replicate our servers and services to this remote site seamlessly with no noticeable
disruptions. To protect the data in our offsite location, we installed an intrusion prevention system, a
firewall service module, and load balancing equipment. In the event of a catastrophic failure of our
primary data center, we will be able to quickly bring up services for key systems at the remote site. Over
the next year, OIT will begin deploying more of these redundant systems prioritized based on criticality.
We are documenting all of these changes in our Business Continuity Plan and will test them annually.
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OIT YEAR IN REVIEW: 2009–2010