IET Report : Campuswide Technology Highlights

Current Report

IET focuses on campus budget reduction planning

For the last several weeks, at the provost's request, the deans, vice chancellors and vice provosts have been working with their units on strategies to reduce campuswide operating expenses in 2008-09 while maintaining the campus' ability to pursue its research, education, and outreach missions with distinction. Information and Educational Technology (IET) has been working in close collaboration with the Office of Resource Management and Planning and the provost to accommodate, in the most thoughtful way possible, a budget reduction of $1,462,026. Some reductions were made by re-assigning and streamlining administrative processes. Others reflect savings achieved through favorable, successful renegotiation of vendor contracts (i.e., the site license for Oracle). In some instances, services had to be cut, and some staff reductions were necessary. A worksheet is available that provides a short description of each IET reduction measure, a corresponding degree of risk, and the associated impact. IET's reduction measures are being vetted with the community in an effort to ensure all major impacts are fully understood and mitigated to the extent possible. Web site: vpiet.ucdavis.edu/IETBudgetPlanning.pdf.

Data Center projects focus on long term solutions

Several longer-term and near-term efforts are under way:

The Data Center Work Group (DCWG) chartered at the IT Leadership Council (ITLC) meeting on February 1 performed a two-year window tactical analysis on the projected growth of data center resident equipment at the four campuses, and reviewed the availability of data center floor space within the UC, both now and approximately three years forward. On May 9, the group, which consists of representatives from the Office of the President, UC Davis, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz, provided the oversight committee with their findings and recommendations. The oversight committee will provide their observations and recommendations to the ITLC at the May meeting.
A Request for Proposal (RFP) has been distributed for a consultant to review the needs of several representative campuses within the UC system and provide recommendations toward the establishment of a shared data center environment that would practice sustainability and realize economies of scale in collocation offerings. The oversight committee will work with the consultant and put forward a proposal for the establishment of a project office to oversee the project manager who will work closely with the consultant for the next year.
A two-to-four year interim solution is being developed as UC Davis moves forward toward a permanent data center solution that will accommodate the computing needs of our community for the next 20 years. The provost established an oversight committee, called the Strategic Approach to Investments in Computing Facilities Committee, to assess the immediate needs of the campus. They in turn established a workgroup to gather data on the supply of server rooms throughout the campus and the demand for additional computing space, and make collocation recommendations for interim housing. Contact: Morna Mellor, director, IET-Data Center & Client Services, mwmellor@ucdavis.edu.

Administrative IT roadmap committee establishes recommendations

In early January, the Administrative IT Roadmap Oversight Committee developed a set of recommendations for the establishment of a campus framework for an IT Administrative Roadmap. In developing these recommendations, the steering committee followed several overarching and strategic investment principles. The oversight committee also established a process to enhance campus IT governance, including the creation of eight interconnected "domains". In spring 2008, a "proof of concept" was launched when the Student and Curriculum Support domain was established. IET contact: Dave Shelby, drshelby@ucdavis.edu. Web site: vpiet.ucdavis.edu/SIS_Review.cfm

Administrative Computing Policy review process gains experience, improvements

The UC Davis Administrative Computing Policy (PPM 200-45) defines a uniform format for sharing with the campus community, reviewing, and providing input into significant technology projects. The policy establishes a flexible and collaborative review process through which project sponsors can obtain timely feedback from campus technology leaders, functional unit experts, and other key stakeholders. Since the policy was adopted last September, six projects have been reviewed: Banner SIS Revitalization; Web Content Management System; Faculty and MSP Recruitment System; Campus Roles Management System; PeopleAdmin; FacilitiesLink; and Online HR Document Routing System. There is consideration of expanding the current process to allow sponsors to submit "conceptual" project descriptions even earlier in their development. Contact: Jeff Barrett, jtbarrett@ucdavis.edu. Web site: admincomputing.ucdavis.edu

Identity Management plan in works

The main campus and Health System have initiated efforts to define and meet common identity management needs. Early identity management plans suggested the implementation of a roles management solution. However, the campus and Health System re-engaged the Burton Group in the spring to assist in better understanding their current common identity management challenges and needs. The Burton Group will also guide an early summer workshop that will help establish an implementation timeline for specific identity management components. IET and Accounting and Financial Services (A&FS) are continuing their collaboration to explore interim roles management solutions that can be leveraged into the larger identity management roadmap. Contact: Debbie Lauriano, Director, IET-Application Development dalauriano@ucdavis.edu. Web site: vpiet.ucdavis.edu/init_identity.cfm

Fall conference committee identifies key technology needs

For the campus to support advanced research, and to build its reputation as a center of innovative teaching, scholarship and engagement, it needs more computing power, network access, data storage, and other components of a healthy cyberinfrastructure. The "Chancellor's Fall Conference Action Plan Committee Recommendations," which expands on work begun at the chancellor's conference on information technology in Lake Tahoe last September, presents four suggestions to:

Enhance the campus IT commitment to research infrastructure
Enhance the campus commitment to educational technology
Support campus IT infrastructure for outreach and engagement
Establish a method to set ongoing priorities for campus needs in IT

Pete Siegel, vice provost for Information and Educational Technology, appointed the 10-member committee last Oct. 30, asking it to develop a concise, five-year vision, including specific goals that could be substantially achieved within a year. Bernd Hamann, associate vice chancellor for research and a professor in computer science, chaired the committee. Since last fall, the campus has come to better understand the size of the budget reductions UC Davis faces. Even so, the committee identified important issues that require the campus's attention, such as the need for data center space. Key work in specific areas relating to infrastructure will continue on several fronts. Specific timing for broader aspects of the plan will be determined at a more opportune time for the campus, following further discussions this fall. The draft report was presented to the Campus Council for Information Technology (CCFIT) and shared with the Council of Deans and Vice Chancellors in May. To review the draft report, visit vpiet.ucdavis.edu/fallconference.cfm. Contact: vpiet-info@ucdavis.edu.

Gartner contract renewed

Gartner Inc., a leading technology research and advisory group, has an online database that includes thousands of articles covering more than two dozen major subject areas, from application development and enterprise architecture to process management and regulatory compliance. With support from the Office of Administration, Information and Educational Technology (IET) recently renewed the Gartner contract for an additional year-part of IET's commitment to invest in services and information that help faculty, staff and students learn from others and keep pace with developments in technology. Contact gartner@ucdavis.edu for additional information or to obtain an access account, available at no additional cost to members of the campus community. Additional IT research materials and services are available through UC Davis' membership in Educause. Visit educause.edu/login to create a personal profile.

Emergency notification system continues to move forward

Significant progress has been made since January on the automated notification system, and the project has moved into Phase II of the implementation plan. Phase I involved uploading contact information for all faculty, staff and students currently stored in the online directory. Phase II will provide faculty and staff the opportunity to add personal emergency contact information into the system as well as additional modes of communication. As part of Phase I, IET led the effort to test the main campus and health system voice and data network capacity under the strain of increased notification traffic. Highlights of the test results were shared system-wide at an IET-hosted symposium in late March. Earlier in March, the UC Davis alert system was used to send an informational email to all staff, faculty, and students when the Tercero dorms were evacuated. Delivery times for the 50,000+ emails were extremely fast (95% of the emails were sent within 15 minutes). Phase III of the implementation will include inputting student contact information into the system and is scheduled to roll out in October. Contact: Laine Keneller, project manager, lwkeneller@ucdavis.edu.

UC Davis Web Content Management Initiative discusses plans for deployment

Co-sponsored by University Communications and Information and Educational Technology (IET), the Web Content Management Initiative is a multi-phase plan to encourage campus units and departments to more efficiently publish and manage the content of their department and official UC Davis Web sites. The implementation committee-which includes technical and Web publishing representatives from academic and administrative units across the campus- began meeting in March to plan the adoption and implementation of the selected solution for the campus, Hannon Hill Cascade Server. Members of the project team also met with campus groups, including Council of Deans and Vice Chancellors (CODVC), Campus Council for Information Technology (CCFIT), Technology Infrastructure Forum (TIF), and the Communications Council, to publicize the selection and discuss plans for deployment of this highly anticipated resource. The Web CMS has also undergone administrative review as stipulated by PPM 200-45. This collaborative review process allowed comprehensive yet timely feedback regarding the anticipated impact of the project on campus business processes and on faculty and staff workload. Through the process, great interest and support was expressed by the campus technical community. The next steps include submitting a formal purchase request and developing a funding strategy for recurring license fees, and ongoing maintenance and administrative activities. See cms.ucdavis.edu. Contact: Elliot Lopez, project manager, ellopez@ucdavis.edu.

SmartSite continues to grow; oversight committee appointed

Slightly more than 38% of all course sites in winter quarter and more than 41% of all course sites during spring quarter 2008 were hosted on SmartSite. Unique logins during peak periods surpassed 12,000 per 24 hours, indicating strong adoption amongst faculty and good usage by students. In April, the oversight committee-which includes a cross section of administrators, instructors, and students-was appointed by Vice Provost Pete Siegel and began meeting. Their work will help guide the growth of SmartSite and shape the strategy and timeframe for completing the transition from the course management tools in MyUCDavis to SmartSite. In mid-May, the oversight committee shared recommendations with Campus Council for Information Technology (CCFIT). They recommended that programming for GradeBook be marked as the highest priority for the SmartSite programmers; MyUCDavis course tools will continue to be used until the 'new' GradeBook is finalized; a full one year transition period for faculty; and the need for the campus to commit resources to support all the uses of SmartSite, including research, collaboration, admin, as well as teaching and learning. Contact: Kirk Alexander, project manager, kdalex@ucdavis.edu. Web site: smartsite.ucdavis.edu

Banner team and Student Affairs revitalization initiative jumps ahead

During winter quarter, the Banner Team and Student Affairs completed the project proposal and published a preliminary plan (per PPM 200-45) for campus review. The Banner team continues to move forward and is working on the detail analysis and redesign of how the UC Davis business needs will be implemented. Contact: Debbie Lauriano, Director, IET-Application Development dalauriano@ucdavis.edu.

DMCA notifications down in FY 07-08, RIAA activity up

While UC Davis has received fewer Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notifications so far this fiscal year, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) activity since mid-April threatens to more than make up the difference by the end of the year. RIAA claims that better technology allows them to catch more alleged offenders. Jan Carmikle, UC Davis' DMCA designated agent, reports receiving 20 "early settlement letters" since February 2008 and one subpoena in April for four names. An additional subpoena is expected. Contact: Jan Carmikle, jdcarmikle@ucdavis.edu.