Moodle
The intent of this document is to describe Moodle course management services provided by the
Office of Information Technology, define boundaries of such services, and identify levels of services
all users should expect.
Moodle is open source course management software that enables instructors to create feature-rich
course websites.
Definition of Services Provided
Moodle Information: http://www1.umn.edu/moodle
Instructor Training: http://www1.umn.edu/moodle/instructor/training.html
Student Online Orientation: https://umconnect.umn.edu/moodleorientation
Moodle is an open source course management system. Instructors can create course websites that
include text, multimedia learning resources, and activities. A rich set of tools and features are
included to enable collaboration and group participation. These tools can be used to teach classes
completely online, to enhance traditional classes, and to support hybrid learning environments.
Moodle is supported by active peer forums that are accessible at http://moodle.org.
Service Performance
Hours of Operation
It is the goal that Moodle is available 24x7x52. Normal support hours for the team are between 8:00
a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Systems are monitored 24x7x52. The System status is
available at: http://systemstatus.umn.edu.
Performance Measurement
Performance measures for Moodle Services will be available online spring 2011 at
http://www.umn.edu/moodle/performance.
Change Management
Change Management is the structured approach OIT uses to manage changes to the University of
Minnesota IT environment via formal request and approval mechanisms. By employing a
consistent, structured approach to change management, we are able to ensure that all changes are
efficiently and promptly handled, thereby minimizing the impact of change-related incidents on
service delivery. The Change Approval Board (CAB) oversees and approves OIT changes to service.
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There are four change categories: Standard, Normal, Urgent, and Emergency. For more information,
visit the Change Management website.
Scheduled Maintenance
Moodle has time reserved for scheduled maintenance between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and Noon on
the second and fourth Sundays of each month. During scheduled maintenance, the expectation is
that Moodle services will not be available. Every effort will be made to use this time window to
perform maintenance activities. If the maintenance window extends beyond anticipated end time,
the System Status page will be updated accordingly. The schedule of OIT maintenance windows is
published on the System Status page.
Should maintenance be required outside of the scheduled maintenance window, an announcement
will be posted to the System Status page.
Service-Impacting Maintenance
If a scheduled maintenance activity is expected to impact service, OIT intends that information
regarding that maintenance activity will be communicated via the System Status page, the Moodle
support site forum, and the MyU portal. It is OIT’s intention to communicate scheduled
maintenance no fewer than 10 business days in advance of the maintenance activity.
Communications
Communications about maintenance will include the start time, anticipated end time, and a
description of the maintenance to be performed (upgrades, patches, etc.). Moodle
instructors/designers will be contacted via email, and the Moodle site News Forum at
https://moodle.umn.edu/mod/forum/view.php?id=14 will be updated. Information is also posted
on the Moodle support site, the MyU portal and the System Status web page.
Dependencies
Moodle is dependent upon the University data center power, network, and related systems. The
availability of those systems will have a direct impact on the availability of this service.
Service
Dependency on Service
Service
Provider
Power
Network
Central
Authentication
There must be power to the Moodle servers
There must be network connectivity to the Moodle servers
There must be a connection to the central authentication
system to enable users to log in with Internet IDs and
passwords
A room temperature environment is required for the Moodle
servers
There must be a connection to the PeopleSoft/Data
Warehouse system to perform student enrollments and course
info feeds
There must be a connection to the MyU Portal to enable portal
population per user enrollment (Although the MyU Portal is
not required for use of Moodle, it is an entrance point for many
users)
OIT
OIT
OIT
Environment
PeopleSoft/Data
Warehouse
MyU Portal
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OIT
OIT
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Vendor
Vendor support may be required for resolving complex
Vendor
problems. Support timetables from vendors are highly variable
and will extend time needed to resolve problems.
Service Provider and Customer Responsibilities
Staffing
The Moodle support team currently is responsible for the implementation of the product,
updates/upgrades, management of the central service, and providing best practices for the
collegiate/departmental units for administering services for their area.
OIT Duties and Responsibilities
The Moodle support team provides support to instructors and IT staff in local units in addition to
the support offered by the University’s 1-HELP service. The Moodle support team is available to
handle support requests during normal business hours (8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. weekdays, excluding
official University holidays.
Site Creations
Sites are created within two business days of receipt of a site request via the site request form at:
https://moodle.umn.edu/course/request.php.
Enrollment
Users may request that auto-enrollment be enabled (or not) for their Moodle site at the time of site
creation.
Standard Support
It is OIT’s intention that user support requests should be answered/resolved or
acknowledged/updated within one business day. Questions can be submitted via the Instructor and
Community Support Forums (https://moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=44), Service Center
ticket, or email to moodle@umn.edu.
Non-Standard/Other
The Moodle Support team negotiates the resolution timeline with the client of an ongoing or
especially difficult question, especially if the question requires that we work with the systems staff.
Completion of special requests is negotiated with clients, depending upon the nature of the request.
Examples of special requests include: enrollment of non-PeopleSoft students (especially over 1,000
students to enroll), and non-credit offerings that require special setup within the Moodle system.
Archiving
Archiving occurs within two months of the end of a semester (barring special system circumstances
such as upgrades). Site snapshots are saved with all data intact as of the announced date of
archiving any particular semester. Currently, data are retained for two years.
The OIT Moodle support team will be expected to:
• Communicate about configuration or service changes to minimize disruption to end users.
• Notify customers about all maintenance
• Work with customers to handle any special requests.
• Meet response and resolution times associated with service-related incidents
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Customer Duties and Responsibilities:
•
•
•
•
Provide sufficient lead time for course requests and modifications
Adhere to any related policies, processes, and procedures
Report problems using reporting procedures described in this service statement
Provide input on the quality and timeliness of service
Problem Management
The status of University systems is available online at: http://systemstatus.umn.edu. Whenever
possible, users are encouraged to check the System Status web page before contacting technical
support.
Users are strongly encouraged to first contact technical support resources in their local unit if they
are experiencing problems with computers or applications. Local technical staff will be able to
resolve many problems or escalate them to the appropriate levels, helping to increase the speed
and effectiveness of the service response. Response time is dependent on the local unit’s technical
support processes and policies.
If local technical support resources do not exist or are not available (e.g., outside of normal work
hours) users are encouraged to contact the University’s 1-HELP service
(http://www.oit.umn.edu/help):
• On-campus – 1-HELP (1-4357)
• Off-campus – (612) 301-HELP (4357)
• Email – help@umn.edu
1-HELP hours are found at:
http://www.oit.umn.edu/help/contacts/
Monday-Friday: 7:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Saturday: noon - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday: closed
Outside of these hours, or on University holidays, callers may leave a message, which will be
responded to the following business day.
1-HELP will escalate incidents, when necessary, to appropriate service providers. All incidents and
changes reported to 1-HELP will be logged into Service Center, a tracking tool.
Problem Initiation
Problems may be reported by students, instructors, or designers via:
• The Technology Helpline at (612) 301-4357 (1-HELP on campus)
• Email to moodle@umn.edu or help@umn.edu.
• Submission of a request to the Instructor and Community Support Forums
(https://moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=44)
Disaster Recovery
Moodle is an important service. In the event of a disaster, recovering Moodle services is a high
priority. Redundancies are built into the Moodle system to minimize outages and to assure that
service is restored as quickly as possible in the event of a disaster. The production Moodle
environment consists of a load-balanced cluster of web applications servers and a redundant pair of
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database servers. In the event of a complete failure of the WBOB data center, a database failure, or
a storage failure, a manual fail-over process is used to migrate to infrastructure in an alternate
location. While operating in the alternate DR environment, total capacity is reduced to 20% of
normal. Recovery Time Objective for total failure is eight hours. Degraded or failed service
receives immediate attention and all available resources are brought into force to recover full
operations.
In the event of a campus-wide failure, or another event causing multiple service failures, Moodle
will be placed at a non-business critical level in the recovery queue, depending on the nature of the
failure. In other words, services like PeopleSoft or email would have a higher priority.
Communication
Information regarding unplanned service interruptions is posted as soon as possible on the System
Status web page at: http://systemstatus.umn.edu and emailed to help@umn.edu.
If the outage is expected to be longer than 15 minutes, an email will be sent to current instructors.
If the interruption will be prolonged (i.e., longer than an hour) an additional announcement will be
sent to all current Moodle instructors/designers via email, and to all users via the Moodle site News
Forum at https://moodle.umn.edu/mod/forum/view.php?id=14. Information will also be posted
on the Moodle support site, the MyU portal and the System Status web page
A post mortem will be released after the resolution of the interruption.
Policies
Policies relating to Moodle are online at:
http://www1.umn.edu/moodle/instructor/policies.html
University of Minnesota Information Technology policies are available on the web at:
http://policy.umn.edu/Policies/it/index.htm
Polices related to this statement include:
Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources
http://www.policy.umn.edu/groups/ppd/documents/Policy/Acceptable_Use.cfm
User Authentication for Access to University Computer Resources
http://www.policy.umn.edu/groups/ppd/documents/Policy/x500pol.cfm
More Information
For more information about this and other OIT services, visit the OIT service catalog.
Service Statement Maintenance
This statement of service will be reviewed annually.
Last revision: August 2010
File Name: Moodle.doc
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