Information Technology Services Annual Report
This is an exciting time for Information Technology Services as we look to the future and
work on the next technology plan for the college. To support the planned growth of the
institution we will have to look at new and creative ways to affordably scale our
infrastructure while at the same time adapt our solutions to match the learning
expectations of our current and future students in an effort to prepare them for successful
careers.
Below is the status of a few of our key projects over the last academic year that set the
stage for our next leap forward:

We completed the primary phases of the new Recruiter Enrollment Management
System implementation. This project has been a challenging task for the
Admissions and IT staff. We collectively have succeeded in moving our
applications for the School of Arts and Sciences to the new platform and we have
executed the initial campaigns scheduled for this time of year. Ongoing work
continues on reporting as well as preparing for the migration of applications for
the School of Graduate and Professional Studies which will begin after the first of
the year.

In collaboration with our colleagues in Communication and Marketing we have
been working on the deployment of the new website. Good progress has been
made and we are nearing the launch point for the first phase.

As our next step on the mobile computing front we have purchased an iPad cart
equipped with 25 iPads for the education division. This fall we will continue our
planning and evaluation of virtual application and desktop infrastructure for the
college. Once in place, users of the various computing devices around the college
will have access to a common platform and computing experience from anywhere
at anytime.

In support of the Doane Leadership program and the office of Human Resources
we have develop a web-based employee recognition site titled Living Doane. On
the site, faculty and staff can provide timely recognition of faculty and staff in
terms of their contribution towards our mission or demonstration of one or more
of Doane’s values. More than 100 nominations have been submitted already. You
can visit the site at: http://www.doane.edu/livingdoane

As a key step in our ability to recover and restore services from a disaster we have
move our secondary storage area network (SAN) from our Data Center in the
Chab Weyers Education Hixson Lied Art building to the University of Nebraska
Data Center located in Nebraska Hall on the UNL campus. The move is part of a
pilot by Network Nebraska to offer an affordable disaster recovery site for
participating institutions. Most importantly we are now synchronizing and storing
mission critical applications and data from our three campuses at this facility. We
enhanced the quality of our technology infrastructure by completing several key
projects, including the programmed update of firewalls in our primary data center
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in Crete and servers and switches on all three campuses. Additionally, with the
financial support of the College Park board we installed a managed wireless
system in the Grand Island facility. We have a private wireless network accessible
to Doane and are providing community Internet access to visitors of the facility.
We have also increased the density of our wireless in several of our Residence
Halls.
Additionally, we are in the process of installing 18 multi-function printers equipped with
scanners and copy capability. The majority of these units are part of a planned refresh but
we have added new units in the residence halls and several other key locations around
campus. At the same time and as part of a sustainability initiative we are deploying these
new units we will be installing print management software across all three campuses.
During the fall we will study the data generated from the software and develop a plan this
spring to operate more efficiently as well as reduce our impact on the environment.
From an enterprise information perspective we collaborated with the Business Office and
HR to complete the implementation of Kronos our online time and attendance solution.
Additionally, we developed a new master identity database to centralize the management
of several key student-facing applications including our food services, card access, time
and attendance and bookstore systems. An emergency contact database was also created
for Student Leadership to provide easy access to contact information in the event of a
student emergency. Several reports were updated as well including the Advancement’s
monthly, President’s report, and several key admissions reports.
We successfully upgraded Blackboard again the summer to the latest version. As part of
the upgrade we now have access to additional building blocks that will allow us to
integrate open courseware and modules from key vendors.
To support our growth and in collaboration with Academic Affairs we have established
two new positions that will directly impact our ability to deliver:
1. Professor of Instructional Design to work with faculty on advanced uses of
educational technology.
2. Instructional Technology Coordinator to support student, faculty and staff
technology needs on the Grand Island campus.
3. Additionally, we have filled the programmer analyst position vacancy in
Administrative computing.
Lastly, we have continued to develop and refine the next version of our technology plan
as the institutional plan unfolds. What follows is a draft of the major initiatives currently
identified for the final plan that will be produced in May. On the draft we have identified
which institutional goals and objectives are supported by the initiative.
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Doane College Information Technology Strategic Plan
Information technology is an increasingly vital element of the learning, teaching, research
and student life at Doane College. Students, faculty and staff have driven and adopted the
use of technology on our campuses just as they have in their personal lives. The
expansion of the College’s use of technology and its global footprint increases the
demand for another major advance in technology services.
Additionally, a number of technology trends are emerging that impact the environment of
the College:
1. Cloud computing continues to advance as a means of provisioning IT services
to the community.
2. Increasingly capable and ubiquitous mobile computing platforms (smart
phones, netbooks, tablets) continue to shift the focus of computing and communications
away from the tethered desktop environment.
3. Software applications used by students, faculty and administrators to work,
learn and collaborate will increasingly become a matter of personal choice rather than be
selected for them by the institution. As one example, Google Apps for Education
Marketplace has provided an increasingly effective set of applications within reach of all,
which will undoubtedly be selected without the participation (or guidance) of the
institution.
4. Finally, and potentially the most transformative of all, new models for
providing students and faculty with access to digital educational content are emerging,
potentially removing our bookstores from the supply chain and even perhaps the
institution.
Our desire to grow enrollments, the speed of technological change and the worldwide
economic challenge brings an overarching need to be innovative, agile and achieve
efficiencies to leverage available College resources. We will need to implement
governance structures support innovation and focus our resources to facilitate thoughtful
investment in technology. We will rely more heavily on advisory groups to identify,
review and prioritize new projects and the enhancement of our enterprise systems.
In 2010, an Adhoc Committee was formed consisting of key College stakeholders,
including Faculty Members, Deans, Trustees and Technology to discuss the changes that
may occur in the next three to five years in higher education in the areas of academics,
research, and technology. They were then asked for their thoughts on the changes needed
at Doane College to support these changes and improve the college in the areas of
teaching, learning and research.
Over the last 12 months we broadened our focus as part of the strategic planning process
to support the needs of our constituents. Based on these and other discussions, 5 strategic
areas of focus emerged:
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1. Teaching and Learning
2. Scholarly Research
3. Enterprise Solutions
4. Infrastructure
5. Continuity and Security
6. Innovation and Transformational Technologies
Teaching and Learning
Enhancing the Learning Environment
Enrich the learning experience of students at Doane by enhancing the learning
environment. Accommodate a variety of teaching styles and take steps to increase the
flexibility in our modes of delivery. Provide training opportunities for faculty in online
learning methods, and support faculty use of technology inside and outside the classroom
as well as online.
Facilitate college-wide discussions for an online learning strategy to ensure overall
quality of online learning in keeping with Doane's reputation.
Increase the flexibility of our Learning Management System by integrating Google Apps
and Blackboard and increasing the availability of best-of-class communications,
publishing, and social media tools within the College’s distributed learning environment.
Bring mobility services to the Course Management System and other enterprise systems
through the support of netbooks, tablets, eBook readers and smart phones.
Lecture and Seminar Media Services (Goal 2, Objective A, Strategy 2b)
Create a multi-year development plan for implementing lecture capture services in
designated Smart classrooms on all three campuses to enhance the learning experience.
The plan should emphasize the addition of lecture capture services to College classrooms
and encompass the workflow for capturing, encoding, editing, and distributing digital
content, as well as the related storage, access, and reuse of the content.
Information Commons (Goal 3, Objective D)
Develop a multi-year proposal with the VPAA and Library to create and information
commons. Include new capabilities for supporting seminar and small-group activities,
assistive technology, media and writing labs and videoconferencing services. Initially
make use of the existing Library, Helpdesk and CM20 workspaces to create the required
elements.
Learning and Teaching Spaces (Goal 3, Objective C)
Improve the experience of student learning at Doane by developing more flexible
classroom designs that accommodate a variety of teaching and learning styles.
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Drive the adoption of best of class informal learning space design on campus. Some of
the opportunities in this area include developing improved collaboration areas. In
collaboration with faculty and facilities, develop and implement a set of learning space
standards and construction guidelines.
Living and Performance Spaces (Goal 3, Objective C)
Continue to improve students living experience through technology by maintaining a
robust and ubiquitous wireless infrastructure, and safety, entertainment, on demand
services (vending, laundry, etc.) and academic technology solutions in the residence
halls.
As part of the Master Planning Process, update the performance sound systems in Fuhrer
Field House, Heckman Auditorium, Whitcomb Conservatory and Simon Field. Equip
these same facilities with the infrastructure to support video production.
Expand the use of Digital Signage across the college. Finish installation in Residence
halls and move to Academic and Administrative buildings.
Scholarly Communication and Electronic Publishing (Goal 1, Objective E)
Develop and deploy electronic publishing platforms for new programs in creative writing
and scholarly publications for Doane College formatted to deliver via the web to the
desktop and mobile devices. In collaboration with the library, support self-publishing
efforts for students and faculty using new forms of communications technologies, such as
blogs, mobile apps and other emerging social media applications.
Doane Website and Portal (Goal 4, Objective C, Strategy 7) (Year 1)
Support the Office of Communication and Marketing in the implementation of a new
informational website to serve our prospects and external audiences.
Implement a portal to provide personalized information for Doane students, faculty, staff
and alumni to network with colleagues and access the information and resources they
need or are interested in.
Ellucian (formerly Datatel) Recruiter (Goal 2 Objectives A & B) (Year 1)
Implement a state of the art enrollment management system that includes web and social
media tools to support interactions between prospects, parents, counselors, coaches and
faculty members. The tool includes a modern customer relationship management tool and
directly interfaces with Ellucian Colleague.
Research Computing
Research Computing Support (Goal 1, Objective H) (Year 1)
Implement required services and infrastructure that support the college’s research
community, including high throughput computing and advanced data storage services.
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Continue development of research infrastructure, partnerships and services to provide
access to high-performance computing and large-scale storage systems to support the
growth in research data, image files, simulations, and research video.
Develop a pool of consultants and programmers who work directly with Doane College
researchers and students, allowing the researchers to incorporate the most advanced
research computing and visualization practices into their research work.
Science Hubs (Goal 1, Objective H)
Facilitate access to multi-institutional science hubs (i.e., high-productivity research
workflow systems) for research groups that depend on successful collaboration activities
among teams at multiple colleges, universities, and in partnership with national and
international research labs.
Enterprise Systems (Goal 2, Objective A & B)
Continue to enhance our enterprise systems to support the business of the College.
Continue to evaluate hosted and software as a service solution to focus and maximize the
use of financial resources to support Doane’s mission, strategic initiatives and core
strengths.
Business Intelligence (Goal 2, Objective A & B)
Support Doane’s information needs by completing the successful implementation of an
enterprise-reporting tool to expand that meets the needs of the college. These systems
offer tools for analysis and decision-making across the College and are designed to
provide data security and adherence to compliance and regulatory requirements.
Increase integration of these systems to allow convenient self-service access to
information anytime and anywhere across a variety of devices and platforms, including
approved third party systems.
Document Management (Goal 2, Objective A & B)
Implement a document management system, in partnership with business units, to
capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents based on
organizational processes. This includes digital asset management, document imaging,
workflow, and records management. The system will reduce the need for storage and
distribution of paper documents, and allow business process issues and compliance
requirements to be incorporated in the systems and practices of the College.
Video Conferencing (Goal 2, Objective A, Strategy 2b) (Year 1 – Grant)
Implement desktop, classroom and conference room based videoconference solutions
across the college’s communities in order to support easier collaboration, enable costsavings in travel expenses, support distance learning efforts, and improve global access to
the college’s programs.
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Digital Media Services (Goal 3, Objective D)
Provide digital media services that are especially important for research and education
and feature a wide range of capabilities related to live media, visualization, imaging,
conferencing, simulation and 3D modeling. This effort will be coordinated with the
Information Commons initiative to address space and resources.
Implement media management systems for digital media content, allowing for efficient
access and use of digital assets to support multiple activities at all campuses.
Infrastructure
Network Infrastructure Enhancement (Goal 2, Objective A & B)
Continue to deliver high-quality, reliable information technology and communication
services by anticipating the College’s requirements, monitoring performance and
providing the flexibility to expand capacity as needed.
Develop a strategy to replace the existing legacy phone system while minimizing the
campus infrastructure and cost of operations.
Design and Implement a dedicated high-performance networking environment to support
the demands of data-intensive research, including imaging, high-performance computing,
simulation and collaborative activities.
Implement IPV6 Networking protocol to ensure international compliance and access to
global Internet resources.
Mobility (Goal 2, Objective A & B)
Continue expansion and improvement of WiFi and cellular services to improve mobile
device access across the campuses.
Carrier-Neutral Distributed Antenna System (Goal 2, Objective A & B)
Develop a strategy to provide carrier-neutral cellular services to enable signal reception
for multiple carriers both inside and outside Doane buildings. This service will provide
improved access for emergency notifications, continuity of business operations and
access for guests that use carriers that are not currently supported by local providers.
Performance and System Reliability (Goal 2, Objective A & B)
The network, data center, and application infrastructures are simultaneously becoming
more complex and mission-critical. The efficiency and effectiveness of this infrastructure
depend upon proactive monitoring of systems and measurement of capacity, ranging from
the end user’s experience of application performance through network latency and
processing loads, to the demands on power and cooling. Implement a monitoring system
and set automatic triggers to proactively alert the team of pending and future needs.
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Data Storage (Goal 2, Objective A & B)
Develop and implement a cost-effective storage architecture to address the future needs
of academic, administrative, and student needs.
Information Security and Business Continuity
Security Information and Event Management (Goal 2, Objective A & B)
Review and recommend software technology that collects, processes, and manages
security logs generated by networked systems and devices. Adoption of security
information and event management technology will provide the College with the ability
to quickly identify and react to critical conditions (e.g., cyber attacks, malicious traffic,
policy violations, etc.) and provide comprehensive auditing and reporting capabilities in
support of regulatory and policy compliance.
Network Access Control (Goal 2, Objective A & B)
Update or replace our existing network access control that determines how a device may
access Doane’s network. As a result, the College will be able to integrate a remediation
process and ensure computers are operating securely in compliance with Doane policies
before network connectivity and interoperability is allowed. This process will be
seamless to users that are found to be in compliance with College policies.
Disaster Recovery Site (Goal 2, Objective A & B) (Year 1)
Establish a disaster recovery site at the University of Nebraska to mitigate the risk of
partial or complete loss of our primary data center in Crete or our servers on the Lincoln
or Grand Island campuses.
HVAC and Power Management (Goal 2, Objective A & B)
Our power and HVAC infrastructure in the data center is now 5 years old and we need to
ensure that the support systems will continue to deliver “24-7” availability, through:
preventative measures; detection and remediation of underperforming and failing
equipment; identification of future resource and capacity needs; rapid alert and diagnosis
of service issues and orderly recovery. Work with Facilities to assess and update the
HVAC and power for the data center. This includes the installation of a standby generator
to power the facility.
Customer Service - Technical Support
Centralized Services Desk (Goal 2, Objective A & B) (Year 1)
As part of the Information Commons initiative: integrate the various college information
desks and helpdesk’s to facilitate a seamless customer-focused support environment,
including convenient phone and Web-based assistance and availability of our systems
and services.
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Print Management (Goal 2, Objective A & B) (Year 1)
Implement a print management solution for the college to maximize availability and use
of our college-wide resources. This tool will identify the best resource across the college
for large outputs, allow redirection of jobs to alternate locations when a central device is
unavailable, notify support staff of technical and pending supply issues and allocation
and management costs.
Innovation and Transformational Technologies
Blended and Online Programs (Goal 2, Objective A, Strategy 2b)
Develop a plan to support the growth of online and blended programs with infrastructure
and technology staff for Doane College. Additionally we will need instructional design
support for faculty teaching these courses.
One-to-One Mobile Program (Goal 1, Objective E, Strategy 2)
Develop and Implement a one-to-one initiative for students and faculty. As a first step,
prepare a draft plan and budget.
Bookstore (Goal 2, Objective A & B) (Year 1)
Explore opportunities to provide eText’s and Course packs for Doane Courses. Continue
to expand our text rental program on all campuses. Monitor trends and growth of the
eText market and develop a strategy to address the shift in the market for the college
brick and mortar and online bookstore.
Virtual Desktop and Applications (Goal 2, Objective A & B)
Provide centrally hosted applications on and off campus via the web and a lower cost
alternative to standard desktop computers for personnel who do not require mobile
computing.
Social Collaboration (Goal 4, Objective C, Strategy 7)
Incorporate social media collaboration (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others as
developed) to facilitate new collaboration and communication opportunities for students,
faculty, staff, alumni, and the general public.
Cloud Computing (Goal 2, Objective A & B)
Cloud computing describes a method of computing, storage, and networking that extends
services without restrictions on location or instance. Software applications and data are
allowed to reside and perform their functions wherever resources are available under
described performance or delivery criteria. Google Apps is an example of a service we
already have in place at the college.
In the near term, cloud computing may offer alternatives to investment in certain
computational and data storage. Students may use services like Dropbox, for
supplemental storage or backup of modest amounts of information.
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1. Teaching and Learning
Initiative
Target
Strategic Planning
Outcomes
Provide an enriched
technological environment that
facilitates communication,
research, and effective service
across all campuses
Create a new Information
Technology Strategic Plan to
support the institution’s
strategic initiatives and
plans for future growth.
Develop specific strategies to
support the goals and
objectives assigned by the
Planning Stewardship Team:
Goal: 1 Objectives E, G, H,
Goal 2 Objective B
Goal: 4 Objectives A, C., D
Goal 5 Objective C
Instructional
Design
Support faculty use of
technology inside and outside
the classroom as well as online.
Completed Faculty Needs
Assessment to identify initial
areas of focus for technology
skills development.
iPad Pilot
Expand faculty pilot of iPad2 in
the teaching and learning
environment.
Purchased 25 iPads for
Education Division to
support training and
development of future K-12
educators.
Video
Conferencing
Purchase and install Life Size
video system funded by
EPSCOR Grant for Sciences.
Additionally submit Grant
request for 2 additional units
for the School of Graduate and
Professional Studies.
Implemented Life Size’s
Team Suite for the Lied
Science building and
submitted a grant request to
fund two additional units for
the School of Graduate and
Professional Studies.
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2. Administrative Computing
Initiative
Target
Outcomes
Kronos Time
Keeping
System
Implement the
Kronos’ Time
Keeping system
by July 1, 2012.
Student
Recruitment
Software
Implement
Ellucian (Datatel)
Recruiting
software Aug 1,
2012.
Doane
Website
Support OCM to
implement a new
website.
Blackboard
Upgrade
Upgrade
Blackboard to
version 9.1
Service Pack 8
Employee
Recognition
Application
Emergency
Contact
Form and
Database
Supported the Business Office in the
implementation of the Kronos Time Keeping
System on July 1, 2012 across the entire college.
In a collaborative effort with the Office of
Admissions, Implemented new web application
for prospective students of the School of Arts
and Sciences on Monday August 5th. Initial
campaigns and reports have also be en
launched on schedule. As of Oct 1, 2012 nearly
400 prospects have applied as compared to 332
for the same period last year.
The new website was launched in beta form on
October 2, 2012. We will continue to support
the completion of the core site, athletics subsite and a responsive mobile version.
Completed upgrade in August. Additional
building blocks are now available along with an
improved user interface.
Develop and
implement a webbased employee
recognition
application to
support the Living
Doane initiative.
New employee recognition application was
developed and implemented to support the roll
out of the new recognition program. So far, 123
Doane Drops have been created to recognize
individuals for living Doane’s mission and
values. http://forms.doane.edu/doanedrops
Develop an
emergency
contact form and
database for
students.
Completed the development and
implementation of the form in time for the
arrival of students on campus.
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Master
Identity
Database
Implement a
master identity
database to allow
sharing of
consistent
information
across access
control, food
services, time and
attendance,
bookstore and
library systems.
New database and application developed and
implemented on August 15th. The new system
significantly improved accessibility of key
services for students, reduced errors for food
services and improved speed for setting a new
student up in our systems.
3. Technology Infrastructure and Support
Initiative
Target
Upgrade
Firewalls
Campus
Managed
Wireless
High
Throughput
Computing
Cluster
Server,
Classroom,
Faculty and
Staff Refresh
Over the summer we will
upgrade the firewalls for our
data center.
Install Managed Wireless
System for Grand Island
Campus
Install 48 Servers and 192
additional cores provided by
Holland Computing Center.
Complete scheduled server,
classroom, lab, faculty, and staff
refresh programs.
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Outcomes
New firewalls were
implemented over the summer
as programmed to support
current and future demand.
Collaborated with College Park
to fund Managed Wireless
Controller and 15 Access Points
for the Grand Island Campus.
Doane purchased and installed
the system. In addition to
dedicated access for Doane
Students, guest to the facility
can access the internet.
Installed 48 servers provided
by Holland Computing Center to
expand local research
computing capacity at no cost
to Doane.
Upgraded scheduled
classrooms, faculty and staff
equipment
Multi-function
Printers
Install 18 new multi-function
printer’s (MFP’s) on campus.
Implement
IPV6
Deploy the next generation
internet protocol on Doane’s
wide-area network to ensure
access to global internet
resources.
Disaster
Recovery
Relocate EVA 4000 Storage
Area Network to Nebraska Hall
by Oct 1, 2012
Upgrade
Horizon Food
Services
Software
Upgrade food services software
and prepare for new plan
configuration.
4. Bookstore and Service Bureau
Initiative
Target
Upgraded existing and added
new MFP’s in residence halls,
academic and administrative
areas on campus.
As our Internet Service
Provider (ISP) the University of
Nebraska has scheduled the
deployment for spring 2013.
Migrated, Storage Area
Network (SAN) to Nebraska
Hall on the UNL campus and set
up replication of mission
critical data for Disaster
recovery on September 18,
2012.
Completed upgrade and
configuration of software prior
to return of students in midAugust.
Outcomes
Implement
CourseSmart
eText for
Online
Bookstore
Complete the implementation
of CourseSmart eText for
student purchase this fall.
Explore the
opportunity to
implement
online course
pack software
Work with Instructional
Designer and faculty to explore
and potentially implement
AcademicPub.
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Completed implementation of
ebooks for fall book purchases
at the School of Arts and
Sciences. We are currently in
the process of implementing for
the School of Graduate and
Professional Studies.
We are currently working with
members of the Information
Liaison Committee to identify
faculty to review and
potentially pilot the service.