CAMPUSWIDE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY POLICY AND PLANNING

1. New Vice Provost Web Site. The Office of the Vice Provost-Information and Educational Technology unveiled its new Web site on May 1. Located at http://vpiet.ucdavis.edu/, the site describes the structure of Vice Provost Bruno's Office and highlights the steps taken recently to strengthen its campuswide information technology policy and planning function. These steps include:
   • The creation of the UC Davis Technology Infrastructure Forum (see http://tif.ucdavis.edu/). Composed of representatives from all campus schools, colleges, and administrative units, this group will provide an ongoing mechanism for centralized coordination of the campus information technology infrastructure (with an emphasis on middleware issues), and
   • The addition of a Policy Analyst (hired in early April) and Security Coordinator (under recruitment). Both positions will provide direct support to the Vice Provost and to the Academic and Administrative Computing Coordinating Councils.

2. Instructional Technology and Digital Media Center. In February, the Office of the Vice Provost-Information and Educational Technology announced the creation of a new Instructional Technology & Digital Media Center. Planned to be operational by Fall 2000, the Center will provide a cohesive, service-oriented entry point for faculty to a broad range of technology and digital media services. The Center will be under the leadership of a UC Davis faculty director, assisted by an associate director. Both positions are under recruitment. (See http://vpiet.ucdavis.edu/itdmc.html.)

3. Recruitment for Chief Operations Officer. Several candidates are being considered for the position of Chief Operations Officer. This position will provide leadership, oversight, and day-to-day operational management of the Division of Information Technology. (See the vacancy listing at http://vpiet.ucdavis.edu/recruit.html.)

Communications
See the May 2000 UC Davis Report to the Communications Planning Group at http://iet.ucdavis.edu/pubs/CPG/CPG5_00.html.

Major Campuswide Projects

Windows 2000 Planning
For the last two months, the Windows 2000 Project Team has focused on testing the compatibility of Windows 2000 Professional with major UC Davis administrative computing systems. The results are in, and Pro has passed. By the end of June, the team will formulate recommendations to help campus departments transition over the next 12-18 months.

The project team is also

• Designing and setting up a campuswide Active Directory within the Data Center to simulate and test the feature in diverse business environments
• Conducting comprehensive testing of the critical administrative applications
• Working closely with early-adopter departments to document lessons learned and ensure future compatibility with the campus Active Directory
• Developing documentation and materials for end users, including on how to connect to the modem banks.

The group will host a Windows 2000 "Boot-Camp" on campus this month. (For more information on the UC Davis Windows 2000 Project, see http://win2k.ucdavis.edu/.) MyUCDavis Web Portal
The Faculty and Student MyUCDavis portals are expected to be available in Fall 2000. Plans to create a portal for staff are also on the drawing board.

Sponsored by Undergraduate Studies, Student Affairs, and the Registrar's Office, MyUCDavis is a portal that integrates a range of UC Davis online applications, services, and resources (including Web-based email, course Web page templates, classroom information, grades, class schedules, course management tools, Degree Navigator, news, etc.). The portals were designed with feedback from students and faculty; they are set up to pull relevant and up-to-date data from campus administrative and academic computing systems. (See the prototype at http://sysdev.ucdavis.edu/myucdavis/.)

UCCSC 2000
This year's UC Computing Services Conference will be held at UC Davis on July 23-26. The conference is structured around a central theme ("Portal to the Future") and five tracks (Management, Technical Support, Looking Ahead, Lessons Learned, and Wild Card). The project team has sent a call for proposals. The deadline for submitting proposals is June 1. (See http://uccsc.ucdavis.edu/ for updates and to submit a proposal.)

The conference is an annual event providing a wide range of computing professionals an opportunity to network, share solutions, and discuss future projects and technical challenges.

i-Drive Pilot
The i-drive pilots are running smoothly. The pilot started with 500 students in the School of Law and 400 in the Graduate School of Management. At the beginning of Spring Quarter, it was made available to 4000+ dorm residents.

 

New recruiting, retention, and professional development programs
Like many organizations, we are focusing on the IT staffing crisis, particularly by developing a pool of students and staff and preparing them for higher-level information technology positions. Current efforts include:

• A new applications development group providing students and entry-level professional staff experience in applications development. The group is responsible for short-term projects, particularly those focusing on the development of campuswide administrative computing systems. We plan to expand this model to other technical areas, including networking, security, and system administration.

• Internships for students. Three students who volunteered to work with the Prototyping Group received internship credit for working on New Media projects this past quarter. Work included designing animation and interfacing sound and graphics using Flash and Director. Future projects are being reviewed for internship potential.

IT Manager Training
Two training sessions will be held this month to inform managers about liability issues and suggest methods of mitigating or reducing liability costs related to management practices. On May 12, IT directors, human resources analysts, budget analysts, and MSOs will attend an informational meeting regarding the campus's General Liability Program. On May 15, a half-day workshop will be offered to a group of 25 IT managers. The group will get an overview of employment law and participate in a mock trial situation to demonstrate the potential results of management actions.

Dealing with Workforce Issues
IT and other units reporting to the Office of the Chancellor/Provost are participating in a series of eight workshops for staff/supervisors/managers. The workshops are made possible by pooling staff training and development funds made available annually from Human Resources & Risk Management. The workshops are designed around major workforce issues that have emerged via the campus's Staff Workload Issues Task Force and the Work/Life Balance Task Force. The workshops are scheduled between April 26 and June 29. Topics include professional communication, communicating about performance issues, time management, and dealing with organizational change. Depending on the success of these workshops, additional cooperative offerings will be considered.

Exit Interview Program
In cooperation with campus departments, the Campus Human Resources and Risk Management Office (through its Compensation/Employment Services unit) is examining the development of a more robust exit interview program. After assessing programs conducted elsewhere and those already in place across campus, a proposal will be developed.

Student Computer Ownership: Statement of Expectation
The Academic Computing Coordinating Council (AC4) has approved the statement of expectation concerning student computer ownership. Starting in Fall 2001, undergraduate students will be expected to own a computer that meets certain minimum performance standards and can connect to the Internet. The statement will be published in the 2000-2002 General Catalog and made available through other pertinent communication mediums. (See http://ac4.ucdavis.edu/.)

LEAD Report Under Review
The LEAD project team has submitted its final report and recommendations to the project sponsor, the Academic Computing Coordinating Council (AC4). The AC4 initiated the Learning Environment Architecture Development (LEAD) Project in August 1998, as a first step toward establishing a plan for distributed learning on campus. The report summarizes the instructional technology needs assessment (conducted through a series of surveys, interviews, and think tanks with faculty, staff, and instructional technology consultants) and offers nine recommendations on how to address those needs. The AC4 is reviewing those recommendations. (See the report at http://lead.ucdavis.edu/.)

Fourth Open Access Computer Lab in Four Years
On April 24, a new open access computer lab opened. A small computer room was converted into this new open access lab in hopes of increasing computer availability for students. (Last quarter saw nearly 100 percent station usage across all labs during the peak periods of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays.)

Located at 307 Surge IV, this lab is equipped with 17 computers, including five quick-access stations, and two wheelchair-accessible stations. In an attempt to curb the amount of paper being printed each quarter (and related costs), the computers are set up to print double-sided. Depending on the success of the pilot, duplex printing may be extended to other labs.

Classroom Development Project
The University Registrar is sponsoring a Classroom Development Project to upgrade all 120 general-assignment classrooms on the UC Davis campus. The project is designed to improve the quality of classroom instructional presentation technology. The goal is to equip each classroom with a consistent set of media equipment and controls (as defined by the campus's Instructional Space Advisory Group).

Standard classroom equipment includes:

• A SmartPanel, a control device developed at Stanford University. The SmartPanel makes possible the concurrent operation of up to four output devices (e.g., computers, VCRs, DVD players, and document cameras).
• A data-video projector. With the press of a button, the instructor can choose the image from any one of the devices to be sent to a ceiling-mounted LCD data-video projector for display on a projection screen.
• An Internet connection, a VCR, and a sound enhancement system.

As an adjunct to the technology upgrades, the Classroom Development Project also includes facility improvements, including carpeting, upgraded chalkboards with multiple sliding panels, zoned dimmable lighting, new paint and acoustical treatment, and new furniture for both the students and the instructors.

Three Computer Rooms Receive Permanent Support
In March, permanent funding was granted for two open access computer labs and one computer classroom. These computer rooms -1 Olson, 301B Surge IV, and the Station- were originally created and operated as part of a three-year pilot program. The demand for these rooms is very high; each often sees 100 % utilization between the peak times of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. The recent allocation of Instructional Technology Funds will allow each of the rooms to continue to stay open past the 2000-2001 fiscal year.

Interest in Teaching and Technology Grows
The Arbor, a faculty consulting center for teaching and technology, saw over 300 visits from faculty during the Winter quarter. These visits were balanced between attendance at seminars and drop-in or scheduled appointments for training or consulting. The Arbor saw a 60 percent increase in seminar attendance over last Winter quarter. The 11 seminars offered in Winter 2000 focused on various instructional technology issues as well as demonstration and discussion of new tools for faculty.

Media Technology Helps Doctors Learn
The Prototyping Group combines three dimensional graphics, animation and sound to teach doctors at the UC Davis Medical Center how to spot child abuse. A project worked on in conjunction with Dr. Stephen Boos of the UCDMC is intended to test a process to develop CD based training. The project is intended for distribution to medical students and medical professionals in the field to teach them how to diagnose and report child abuse injuries. The project will be completed in mid June.

 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE COMPUTING HIGHLIGHTS

Data Administration
The Data Warehouse team is currently preparing a presentation for the Administrative Computing Coordinating Council. This presentation and successful evaluation of the project will ensure a recommendation for institutionalizing the data warehouse project on campus, in partnership with Information Technology, as a core-funded effort.

DaFIS

• The original Decision Support server, which was more than 3 years old, was recently replaced. The old machine was not capable of holding enough disk space without a significant hardware reconfiguration. The new machine (an L-class HP 9000) has more processing power, and a faster, more flexible, more fault-tolerant disk architecture.

• Transaction Processing had two small releases early this year. Release 3.1 included the much anticipated Mass Change Account Delegate document, which eases departmental workload by allowing multiple delegate changes on one document. Release 3.1.1 contained the Document Approval Routing screen, which provides users a look at the future routing of a document.

• TP release 3.2, in production in April, contains a number of changes designed to insure greater accuracy of information input into DaFIS financial documents. Improvements to the way discounts and taxes are calculated are in this release . This release also contains functionality which will allow the UC Davis School of Medicine create a new chart of accounts (chart S).

• Decision Support 4.0 was released in April. This release contained the most new queries at one time since DaFIS went on line. Other major parts of this release were the Object Grouping system, designed by the Customer Advisory Team, that allows users to develop custom reporting; and a report caching system designed to enhance performance.

• The online enrollment system for DaFIS Training was upgraded to allow employees to print their DaFIS certificates from the web. Certificates are updated daily, so users have the most current copy available on demand. The online enrollment system is also moving to login based on employee ID in order to eliminate updating problems when login ID's change.