Information Technology Status
September 2011
New Library Discovery Search
Discovery offers the ease and convenience of a Google search to lead users to high-quality academic
resources from the Library and beyond. Users no longer have to choose one database to search as a single
query retrieves results from most of the Library resources. The default search limits to full text results to
provide fast results and eliminate the frustration of trying to track down an article not in the Library. If a
scholarly article is required, a check box limits the search results to scholarly articles only. Discovery is
especially useful for new library users who don’t know where to start or are unclear about how to use the
Library, users who only need a few good articles and books on a topic, or for anyone doing a search on an
interdisciplinary topic trying to find results from a variety of perspectives.
Human Resource Information Systems Updates
Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) has created Web pages to help provide transparency to the
campus community about the projects being worked on in the HRIS unit. Project information includes a
project overview, timeline and what improvements can be expected with the completion of the project.
Absence Management Self Service (AMSS): http://www.csuchico.edu/hr/hris/amss/index.shtml
Absence Management Self Service is a CSU system-wide project that replaces the existing paper process
for reporting absences with an electronic process via CMS PeopleSoft. Employees will have the ability to
enter absences through HR Self Service on the Portal. Departments will have more current and accessible
absence information for their employees through PeopleSoft. Supervisors and managers will be able to
review and approve absences electronically. There are a number of very beneficial elements to this project
including significant reduction in paper use, increased use of HR Self Service, and it establishes the
mechanism for future work flow processes through use of “Reports to” functionality and work emails within
PeopleSoft. In July 2011, Information Resources went live as our pilot group for AMSS. Approximately 130
employees are currently using AMSS. Feedback has been very positive and HRIS continues to work to
ensure that the system and training will be in place for the campus go-live. The campus go-live is targeted for
July 2012 in the HCM 9.0 environment.
Pension System Resumption (PSR): http://www.csuchico.edu/hr/hris/PSR/index.shtml
Testing and data cleanup has been occurring over the summer for a September 19, 2011 go-live. The
CalPERS Pension System Resumption (PSR) system will replace over 49 systems currently in use by
CalPERS including the Automated Communications Exchange System (ACES). This provides a more
streamlined environment for managing member enrollments, benefits and contributions with CalPERS. PSR
will continue to allow CSU, Chico and other campuses to update, enroll and report Health Plan enrollments
via an electronic interface. From an employee’s and/or retiree’s perspective, implementation of PSR will
result in a more robust experience for CalPERS members when accessing the online “my/CalPERS system.”
HCM 9.0 Upgrade: http://www.csuchico.edu/hr/hris/Upgrade9/index.shtml
Started Pass 2 in July. Pass 2 testing will continue through December 2011. For the Human Resources
modules, this upgrade includes improvements to the CSU’s alignment with PeopleSoft delivered functionality
and enhanced features of existing live modules. For Chico these modules include: Workforce Administration,
Absence Management, Time and Labor, Academic Personnel, Benefits Administration, and HR Self Service.
The overall look of pages throughout the Human Resources modules remains similar for the majority of
campus users. Additional navigation options and search display functionality will provide users with broader
options for navigation and more efficient search results. Pass 3 to begin in January 2012 for a March 2012
go-live.
PeopleAdmin: web page coming soon – October 2011
Beginning this fall, HRIS will be partnering with the Employment unit to implement PeopleAdmin.
PeopleAdmin is a SaaS (software-as-a-service) that is a web based solution for automating the entire recruit
to hire process. Initial implementation will be for Staff and MPP position recruitments. Project scope and
timeline are being defined. Some functionality is targeted to go live in January 2012. More information will be
shared about this project throughout the fall 2011 semester.
Blackboard Learn Pilot is Launched
This summer, 14 faculty took an initial training workshop and began creating courses in the new campus
learning management system, Blackboard Learn. These 14 faculty and their approximately 1,000 students,
represent all colleges (except Agriculture). They will be piloting the new system and providing their feedback
and insights for all of us to benefit throughout this fall semester. The first meeting of this group was very
positive about the changes in Bb Learn. They will meet on a monthly basis to report out on what they
discover and how Bb Learn works for them and their students.
Proposed Goals for Bb Learn Rollout
TLP is hoping to have about half the Chico State faculty trained over the fall semester with the goal of using
Bb Learn to teach with in the spring 2012 semester. The balance of the faculty will follow in fall of 2012.
Departmental Training Opportunity
TLP is offering on a first-come, first-served basis, “custom training” for departments. This is the same method
used in the past when the campus transitioned to Vista. We would like to train in customized cohorts so
faculty groups can learn together and help one another. This benefits your students, too! Please contact
Laura Sederberg to schedule departmental trainings – the sooner, the better. This workshop, Transition to
Learn, requires a 90-minute block of time. Based on departmental needs it can be modified.
Training this Fall
Additional trainings will be available for individual faculty members. More workshops are currently in
development, and will be announced next month. Faculty must attend a Transition to Vista workshop before
being allowed to teach with Bb Learn next spring. For more information about our move to Bb Learn, please
watch this TLP Blog, and visit the TLP website http://www.csuchico.edu/tlp/.
Classroom Summer Projects Completed
For the centrally scheduled classrooms, ATEC upgraded 25 classroom projectors, upgraded 39 classroom
computers, and upgraded all Smart Classroom computers to Windows 7. At least 11 other departmental
classrooms were upgraded with new mediated equipment.
Campus Web Site Updated
“Our Region” was added to the campus web site at the end of the spring. Over the summer, the campus
home page was refreshed with new material and updates were provided for many sections including text and
photos.
Campus Computer Refresh
A total of 316 computers with 21” monitors were purchased and delivered through the program. The first
orders were placed in early April and the first deliveries were made in May. At this time 99% of the
computers have been set-up and delivered. ITSS averaged less than 2 weeks (9.6 days) from opening an
installation request to completion.
Application Whitelisting Update
The Bit9 whitelisting product was installed in July and the System Administrator attended training in midAugust. The purpose of this software is to secure campus PCs running Windows. Specifically, whitelisting
identifies “good” software (i.e. software not carrying any viruses or malware) and allows whitelisted software
to be installed normally by end users, while preventing “bad” software from being installed. Unknown
software will be subject to review before installation. Testing, configuration, and implementation is being
steered by a technical subcommittee of the Administrative Technology Committee (ATC). Currently there are
70+ machines in the alpha test, with a number of individuals in the pilot successfully running in the most
secure mode. Pilot testing will expand during the fall semester, with implementation processes further tested
and finalized and communications to various committees and the campus as a whole beginning. Mid-fall is
targeted to begin collecting application data to build the campus whitelist, with later fall beginning to move
machines into a more secure whitelisting mode.
Apple OSX Lion
ITSS has begun testing Apple’s OSX Lion for use on campus. There are known issues with connecting to
some campus servers, Office compatibility issues, licensing concerns, and other issues to be addressed
prior to wide release. For ongoing information, please visit the ITSS Lion wiki page:
https://wiki.csuchico.edu/confluence/x/ZwAJAw
Virtual Infrastructure Storage Upgrade – NetApp
The proposed upgrade to the data center storage infrastructure, described in the April status update to
UTAC, was completed during the summer. This new storage system (NetApp) has advanced features that
enable us to expand our “private cloud” services. Together, virtual servers, advanced storage, and an
advanced network infrastructure provide the core of our private cloud. As the chart below shows, we
continue to transition from physical servers to virtual servers and continue to expand the number of overall
servers in the data center. The NetApp data storage implementation was designed to support a 20% growth
in virtual servers over the next two years and has the ability to expand further as needed.
Data Center - Hosted Servers
Count by Year
250
200
150
20
100
50
65
74
139
Virtual
0
0
55
85
105
97
101
73
Physical
0
05-06 06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11
Butte Data Center Generator
The data center generator has been installed and testing is complete. We successfully simulated a power
outage and the process worked perfectly as designed. The generator is now in standby mode waiting to
provide power automatically whenever Butte Hall experiences a utility power outage.
SharePoint Phase 3
The third phase of the SharePoint project is scheduled to be complete in October and will make the
SharePoint solution available to staff and faculty across campus. This phase focused on improving the ease
of use and consistency of the system and providing a set of functionality that meets business needs, but is
also supportable. Training will be available (and for some users required) for both site owners and end
users. Our deployment and migration strategy is almost finalized, however we anticipate both building new
sites in the system and migrating existing sites for some period of time following our go-live.