Office of Learning and Information Technology

 

 

University of Wisconsin System CIO Council

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Madison, WI

 

 

UW Service Center Update

Two-factor Authentication Recommendation

Mobile Device Security

Learn@UW Update

Library Shibboleth Project Update

VMWare Contract Negotiations

WiscNet Update

Procurement Update

Future Meetings

 

Attendees

 

 

 

UW Service Center Update

UW Service Center Director Larry Henderson reported that the Service Center is committed to collaborating and working with their stakeholders and partners as exemplified by the following meeting schedule:

 

• Service Center Executive Committee (Monthly)
• Service Center Steering Committee (Twice Monthly)
• HR Directors – (Monthly)
• CBOs – (Monthly)
• CIOs – (Monthly)
• Campus Visits – (Twice per Month)

 

There have been recent campus visits with chancellors, CIOs and CBOs at:

• UW-Eau Claire
• UW-Stout
• UW-Milwaukee
• UW-Parkside
• UW-Whitewater
• UW-Madison

 

Upcoming campus visits are scheduled for:

• UW-Milwaukee (Follow-up)
• UW-Stout (Workflow)
• UW-Parkside (Workflow)
• UW-Platteville (Reporting)
• UW-Madison
• Business School
• Law School

 

The goal is to meet with all of the UW System (UWS) institutions before the end of the year.

 

Based upon Henderson’s prior experience at Frito Lay, he would like to implement an end-to-end, “Store to Door” support model for the UW Service Center. This will enable the Human Resources System (HRS) to function like a true enterprise system for the UWS rather than a dozen different systems.

 

Targeted Improvement Initiatives (TIIs) will address issues that were not fully taken care of during the HRS go live. TIIs are tied to workflow difficulties as identified by trouble tickets (WiscITs.) 

 

TII Status as of June 1, 2012

TII	Description	Anticipated Changes
eBenefits (precursor)	Prepare for deploying the next eBenefits	Increased access to employee self-service, portal use, and use of a dedicated HRS training environment
Benefit Root Cause	Analyze the Benefits WiscITs to identify root causes	Address Root Causes: Incorrect Terminations, Job Data Changes (Continuity Code, Expected Job End Date, and Full Time/Part Time / Rehired Annuitant)
Payline Automation	Enable campus entry of Payline adjustments	Improved access and credentialing
Enhance Time & Labor	Enhance Auto Security to be run by individual employee / department	Improved access and credentialing

 

New TIIs to rectify incomplete process mappings based upon the lessons that have been learned will include:

 

1. Reporting analysis and improvements
2. Salary cost transfer/direct “Retros” to correct paychecks
3. Self-service (e.g., employee and manager self service)

 

A new four-tier reporting structure will be developed with input from the UWS institutions. It will include:

 

Tier 1: End-user Reports to support various Business Processes

·         Run ad hoc for problem solving and scheduled operations reports

·         Report Types: PS Query or EPM Reports

·         Example: Paycheck summary

 

Tier 2: End User Dashboards

·         Pushing of data to stakeholders  (versus waiting for their pull)

·         Ensure timeliness and accuracy

·         Data cleanup or review required

·         Example:  Miscellaneous Event Report

 

Tier 3: Management Reporting for HR Directors and Department Heads

·         Assist decision making

·         Metrics: Quality of Data, Workload, etc.

 

Tier 4: Executive Dashboard for Provosts, Chancellors, Vice Chancellors

·         Balanced Scorecard

·         Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

 

Employee self-service is not well understood by UWS employees and not all of the modules have been implemented yet. The PeopleSoft self service functionalities include the following:

 

 

Functionality	Description/Details
eBenefits	Employees use eBenefits to review, add, and update their benefits information.
ePerformance (Performance Management)	Self-service evaluation management application for managers, employees, and human resources (HR) administrators. You can use ePerformance as a tool for planning, collaboration, communication, assessment, and monitoring evaluations for two purposes: performance and development.
eCompensation	Employees use eCompensation review their compensation histories
ePay	ePay interfaces with Global Payroll, Payroll for North America, and Payroll Interface to enable workers to review and in some cases update payroll information through self-service transactions.
eProfile	eProfile is a collaborative application that enables employees to maintain their own profiles, thereby decreasing administrative time, costs and increasing data integrity. eProfile ensures that data changes comply with your organization's requirements.
eDevelopment	Employees use eDevelopment to: Maintain their personal profiles View job profiles Search and compare job profiles Create an interest list of job profiles in which they are interested Review approval history of profile Request training Review their training information Managers use eDevelopment to: Review and update profiles for their direct reports Approve profile changes Search and compare profiles View and maintain job profiles Complete reviews and observations for regulated individual reports Request training for their direct reports Review training information for their direct reports

 

Today, some UWS institutions have shadow systems that are performing some of the above functions.

 

The UWS institutions don’t always have a clear sense of what to expect from the UW Service Center (SC). Therefore the SC is creating a master calendar that can be filtered by institution.

 

The SC is beginning to identify potential HRS modifications that might need decommissioning as part of the HR Design and University Payroll System (UPS) Projects. They are currently working with both HR Design and UPS to identify and assess any potential additional modifications (e.g. grandfathering, differences between HR Design/UPS, calendars, etc.)

 

In migrating to an enterprise support model, handoffs are the keys to an effective “Store to Door” delivery, including:

• Workflow Centric Orientation -- Less paper and greater data integrity
• Responsiveness/Value -- Faster campus support
• Accountability -- Enhanced accuracy & timeliness
• Reporting -- Four-tier structure
• Common Tools & Processes -- No baton drops!

 

Calls coming into the Service Center are mostly from campus HR professionals, not employees, so the support model is being redesigned to have the UWS institutions provide the Tier 1 support. The intent is to create ticketing systems for the UWS institutions that are shared with the WiscIT system, probably using SharePoint, so that data does not have to be rekeyed. The institutions will be able to see what is happening at the Service Center and vice versa. ImageNow dashboards will probably be used to make the workflow transparent and visible. It was acknowledged that not every UWS institution currently has SharePoint and ImageNow, often because of cost.

 

Objectives for the FY 13 SC budget include aligning planned expenditures, meeting operational needs and maximizing the enterprise value of the TIIs that are funded separately. Cost containment plans include:

1. Continuing aggressive Project Management Office work on TIIs, institutional projects, and Service Center projects
2. Establishing statements of work for Huron Consulting for FY13 and developing a “sunset” strategy
3. Transferring knowledge and competency assessment from technical to functional staff
4. Reducing exempt employee overtime
5. Positioning the Service Center and the HRIS modifications to cost-effectively meet the needs of the HR Design & UPS
   
   

Efforts are being directed to support the campuses with implementation of a new support model:

1. Using enterprise work flow analysis and process mapping to streamline and improve bottlenecks and inefficient processes
2. Engaging multiple stakeholders in planning, implementation and deployment
3. Leveraging the use of a “Store to Door” delivery model

 

In summary, the Service Center has:

• A commitment to collaboration via:

1. Campus visits and projects
2. Piloting of TIIs
3. Proposed new TIIs
4. Fiscal year end work
5. HR Design / UPS

A commitment to an enterprise-wide support model and tools

A planning process underway for the FY13 budget focusing on:

1. Cost containment
2. Stabilization
3. Efficiency/effectiveness

 

The CIO Council will plan to have engagement and dialogue with Henderson on a quarterly basis.

 

Two-factor Authentication Recommendation

 

Chris Liechty reminded the CIO Council that the fully supported tokens recommended for two-factor authentication for Human Resources System (HRS) professional users are either USB keys or smart cards. Institutions can choose one or the other, or even decide on a person-by-person basis. There is also a second recommendation for a flexible solution for those institutions that have their own Shibboleth Identity Providers (IDPs) so they can use whatever method they prefer, e.g., handheld devices, provided the solution has been reviewed by the Technology and Information Security Council (TISC) and the IAM committee.

 

Before implementing the proposed solutions or purchasing hardware, final verification is needed that:

-          HRS can accept a second factor authentication

-          The Wisconsin Federated ID’s shim will work

 

This project depends upon resources from the Service Center and the DoIT Middleware Group and both have other priorities and resource constraints. Elena Pokot and Lorie Docken will begin discussions with Larry Hendersen. If two-factor authentication is not a priority of the Service Center Executive Committee, it will not be a priority at the UWS institutions even though the CIO Council recognizes its importance.

 

The CIO Council members would prefer to buy standard hardware tokens themselves rather than purchasing thousands of tokens through a Common Systems budget request that would ultimately be charged back to the UWS institutions.

 

Mobile Device Security

Chris Liechty reported that a TISC subgroup has begun looking at issues of mobile device security. By assumption, mobile devices do not use desktop operating systems and therefore desktop security devices and software do not work on them. iOS and Android comprise 90% of mobile operating system market.

 

The security categories and issues identified by the subgroup are:

-          Bring Your Own Device (for personal devices)

o   People are motivated to care for devices they have purchased

o   Does the UWS have any control over personally-owned devices and their connections to networks and data?

-          Device Management (for UWS-owned devices)

o   Technical support challenges

o   Help desk challenges

o   Software/app licensing issues

o   Level of device management

o   Patching, updates and anti-malware

-          Policy Issues

o   Exceptions to the desktop paradigm

o   Limits of policy reach to personally owned devices

o   Incident response implications

-          Data Protection

o   University data on a personally-owned device

-          Network Infrastructure

o   Management of mobile devices

o   Bandwidth issues in crowded areas

o   Secure versus encrypted wireless connection

o   Use of 3/4G non-university infrastructure

 

David Lois noted that some of the above issues are not mobile-specific, and he raised the issue of people putting university data on cloud services as a way to transfer the information to mobile devices. This issue is also not unique to mobile devices.

 

The CIO Council is particularly interested in policies and tools for mobile device management. In many cases, institutional policies are lagging behind developments in mobile technology. However the use of device management tools needs to be driven by policy. Policy efforts should also have an educational component. Lichty noted that TISC was created as a technical group, not a policy group. Elena Pokot proposed that TISC recommend the policy issues that should be addressed by the UWS institutions for personally-owned mobile devices.  

 

Mohamed Elhindi suggested sharing policy language among the UWS institutions and Ed Meachen recommended looking at the policy language already developed by non-UWS institutions. Chip Eckardt and Mohamed Elhindi will work with TISC in this effort. Bruce Maas recommended that Judy Caruso also be invited to join.

 

Learn@UW Update

 

Lorna Wong reported that the upgrade of Desire2Learn (D2L) to version 10 took place successfully at UWM last night. The upgrade for the remainder of UWS will take place next week. The upgrade includes major changes in the user interface to make it cleaner. Since the UWS is the first major institution to take this upgrade, the D2L company has been providing considerable support and attention.

 

The migration of authentication from the IAA Authorization Hub to the Wisconsin Federation was a major, shared effort on the part of the Learn@UW team, the UWS institutions and the D2L company over two years. A few UWS institutions migrated ahead of schedule and the final cutover was on June 4, 2012. Learn@UW needs to know if and when institutions set up their own IDP servers.

 

The Learning Analytics pilot project is moving ahead steadily. The data warehouse for internal D2L transactions will be installed in a beta version in early July and will be put into production by the end of the month. The subsequent step will be to install the report server. The three pilot institutions (UW-Madison, UW-Platteville and UW Colleges Online) are identifying their target courses for spring 2013. Funding has been augmented by a Growth Agenda grant, so the project will be supported for three years and possibly extend beyond the three initial campuses.

 

A D2L e-portfolio showcase event will take place tomorrow at Union South on the UW-Madison campus and will feature two prominent keynote speakers and the work of 14 faculty members with their respective classes.

 

Library Shibboleth Project Update

 

Mitch Lundquist reported that the IAA Authorization Hub is retiring in summer 2012 in favor of the Wisconsin Federation for authenticating to the Voyager Library system. In the last two months, an additional six institutions were brought onboard. The list of completed institutions includes:

 

• UW-Stout
• UW-Eau Claire
• UW Colleges
• UW-Parkside
• UW Extension
• UW-Madison
• UW-Milwaukee
• UW-Platteville
• UW-Green Bay

 

VMWare Contract Negotiations

 

Chris Hopp reported that the current VMware Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) will soon come to an end. The license has saved the UWS hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nevertheless, the technical account manager provision of the contract has not proven to be valuable to the UWS institutions. Many departmental purchases have only included basic maintenance, not production level maintenance, to save on costs.

 

In the next contract, obtaining higher discounts will require an increase in the number of licenses purchased, perhaps more than will be needed for some time. Deployment of new licenses has been slowing recently. However, the potential for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure deployments is on the rise. The company would like to see its customers expand their use of vCenter operations, but widespread adoption of these capabilities within the UWS is not certain.

 

The existing ELA can be renewed for two more years at production level maintenance, which not every user has chosen. Meanwhile Microsoft is being aggressive with its new VM technology and some UWS institutions are interested in the offerings from Citrix.

 

Generally speaking, the UWS institutions do not have plans for major increases in the scope of their VMware deployments, but would like to stay on production level maintenance. There are still three months to purchase products under the existing ELA. A set of questions about future directions will be distributed to the CIO Council via email. Also included will be information on reduced price admission to the VMworld conference in August and additional training courses in Madison.

 

In addition to the ELA, VMware licenses can be purchased through the state’s software contract and through MECC.

 

WiscNet Update

 

Dave Lois reported that the state legislation that impacts the University of Wisconsin’s participation in WiscNet is almost a year old and any changes will be made in a public and transparent manner. Ed Meachen’s retirement will create a vacancy on the board that will be filled by UW-Whitewater Chancellor Telfer.

 

Procurement Update

 

Ruth Ginzberg reported that Gus Juffer is a new employee in the Office of Procurement who will work primarily on networking and hardware contracts.

 

Version 11.1 of the Oracle database product will be going into sustaining support in August. That status doesn’t include necessary upgrades and fixes. A quote has been requested for extended support for version 11.1, which will cost extra. Institutions that have upgraded to version 11.2 will not be affected.

 

Negotiations with Microsoft will finalize a Select agreement soon. The Microsoft Campus Agreement expires at the end of August 2013 and a new Enrollment for Education Solutions (EES) agreement will replace it. A negotiating team will include representation from the UWS institutions. Chip Eckardt is interested in putting together technical demonstrations of Microsoft’s new products.

 

Future Meetings

 

The upcoming CIO Council meetings are:

-          July 19^th –Video Conference (9 to 11 a.m.)

-          August – No meeting

-          September 20^th – In-person meeting at Madison

-          October – In conjunction with the ITMC meeting in Stevens Point

-          November 15th – In-person meeting at UW-Green Bay

 

Meeting dates, the directory of UWS CIOs, and meeting summaries are available at: http://www.uwsa.edu/olit/cio/