Information Resources
California State University, Chico
Chico Information Systems Committee (CISC) /Enterprise Systems Report
FY 2006 – 2007
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CMS v8.9 Upgrade
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Knowledge Management/Data Warehousing
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(WebCT Vista) Learning Management System Implementation
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Security
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Identity Management
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Business Process Improvement
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2/9/07
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Campus Activities for Facilitating Graduation
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Prospects (EMT Connect 2 Service)
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Hyperion/Brio Upgrade
Enterprise Hardware/Systems
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Server Virtualization
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Anti-Spam Appliance
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Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI)
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Project Training
CMS v8.9 Upgrade
In response to the CMS mandated timeline, Chico is upgrading human resources and student administration
from v8.0 to v8.9. The upgrade is scheduled cutover March 16th with go live to campus March 20-21. The
new version will improve workflow in all areas, reduce the need for some of the Chico specific modifications
that required maintenance locally (e.g. class rosters, degree audit report, etc.) and provide the campus with a
more up to date and efficient user interface (e.g. fewer screens to enter data, portal-like navigation, etc.).
Teams are working on revisions to the Chico portal channels for faculty and student self-service and
developing training materials. Costs for the upgrade have been less than budgeted since no consulting
support has been needed. (Chico CMS model – train and empower functional/technical staff)
Knowledge Management/Data Warehousing
The overall Knowledge Management strategy is to merge data from a variety of sources (e.g. Financials,
Human Resources, Student Administration, Housing, Alumni, Foundation, etc.) a logical warehouse model to
enable ease of reporting from multiple sources, eliminate collection of redundant data, provide common data
definitions, provide better security and auditing, etc. This year’s projects include conversion of the CMS HRSA
8.0 tables and reports to HCM v8.9 tables and reports for the March CMS upgrade. It also includes the
upgrade of our current HRSA RDS warehouse to the EPM model supported by the CO. In addition, we have
moved to and are stabilizing the Financials EPM warehouse, and will be providing a new version of
Hyperion/Brio reporting tool for campus use.
(WebCT Vista) Learning Management System Implementation
Vista implementation is in its 2nd year and this spring the target is for the majority of courses to migrate to
Vista, with summer slated for moving the remainder of WebCT CE courses to Vista. This migration is a very
complex and its success is critical. At this point, over 400 faculty have been trained and at least half our
students are taking a Vista supported course. Vista brings significant new functionality to faculty and students,
but at the same time raises the bar on internet browser requirements.
Security
This year’s projects focus on identifying and eliminating confidential data (SSN) on distributed computers,
evaluating encryption solutions for servers, user desktops, laptops, and network traffic, secure authentication
to critical systems (Multi-factor authentication), vulnerability scanning for servers, and secure storage
solutions for confidential information used daily. Password management, including self-service password
resets and enforcement of stronger password rules, is being rolled out to faculty and staff and new desktop
virus checking tools are being deployed.
Identity Management
IdM projects provide on-going support of Chico’s current environment including the Wildcat LDAP Directory
(student email, portal, modems, wireless, and library services) and the MS Active Directory (faculty/staff
email). Development projects include the Enterprise Directory project addressing LDAP requirements and
recommendations for technical architecture changes, development of initial authentication project for student
access to services to improved security(eliminate SSN), and improved student self service account
management, and participation in the CSU IAM Technical Architecture Group tasked with developing a
proposed technical architecture for IdM within the CSU.
Business Process Improvement Projects
Campus Activities for Facilitating Graduation – Chico is working with other CSU campuses in the design,
testing, installation, and implementation of modifications to CMS-delivered processes which support degree
progress and transfer credit functionalities in response to a November 2005 Chancellor Office mandate to
facilitate and improve the speed and rate of graduation of enrolled students. This two year implementation
commitment has anticipated process improvements that include the elimination of some paper processes,
less manual processing of transfer course information, better tracking of progress to degree, shorter turn
around time for transfer admissions to improve transfer student yields, and increased staff expertise for
ongoing advising support.
2/9/07
Prospects (EMT Connect 2 Service) – Leveraging Chico’s recruitment operations to meet enrollment targets
and keep up with the competitive nature of recruitment requires an investment in more up to date services
and technologies. Enrollment Management plans to enhance its website, refine and update its method of
collecting prospect data, and move to an electronic communication plan for collected prospects. This
implementation and four year maintenance project, that changes current vendor/practices, has anticipated
benefits that include increased communication with prospective students, better tracking of communications
and inquiries, greater ability to define and target populations of prospects, enhanced Chico branding with new
web based product, etc.
Hyperion/Brio Upgrade – Financial Services provides a repository of transactional reports that can be
manipulated with the Brio client version of the Hyperion software. The current client version installed at
Chico is outdated and only useable on the PC platform. Implementation of the upgrade has anticipated
benefits including a more up to date web-based reporting environment, allowing users to access the
report repository from either a MAC or a PC via an internet browser, and a more user-friendly, standardsbased, and intuitive environment for reporting.
Enterprise Hardware/Systems
Server Virtualization – Information Resources uses PC-based servers to handle enterprise computing
needs such as file servers, print servers, web applications, e-mail services, database servers, testing
environments, and backup and monitoring services. At present the systems group (ESYS) is housing and
managing over 90 enterprise servers and 14 co-hosted servers in our Butte Data Center. Estimates of
the need for at least 60 additional servers being moved to the Data Center for security considerations
alone requires a shift in thinking from one server for each application to virtualization. Server virtualization
technology allows one physical server to support many application environments. Adoption of server
virtualization technology should provide benefits including maximizing server resources, preserving server
best practices, minimizing or reducing infrastructure costs and provide ease of maintenance.
Anti- Spam Appliance –The campus has relied on open source technology to process incoming email
and score it for possible spam. We are experiencing a tremendous surge in email spam and our ability to
filter this volume of spam with our current systems is compromised. The most cost effective solution for
campus is to purchase a third party product to handle the spam filtering. This would standardize filtering
tools and methods centrally while still allowing users to review the mail that has been scored as spam if
they wish.
Training
As part of the Chico model for enterprise systems, training continues to be funded for technical and functional
staff on the projects. This year the technical and functional analysts attended security training, PeopleSoft
training, Oracle training, CMS workshops, IBM/Ascentials training, data warehouse training, Linux training,
and WebCT training.
2/9/07