Office of Learning and Information Technology

UW System ITMC/LTDC/LAMS/CUWL/EMTC JOINT CONFERENCE

September 13-14, 2004

Green Lake, WI

Plenary Session

Welcome (Ed Meachen)

Ed Meachen presented the "state of the union" of technology in the UW System (UWS). Ed Meachen and others met with Kevin Riley on his very first day as President of the UW System. The future of networking is the number one headache of the UW System and is currently in the political realm. In the future, the UWS wide area network will need to be run inside, alongside and within the State of Wisconsin's nascent education network. The UWS is currently in a holding pattern trying to figure out how to do this.

The second major issue is the Appointment, Payroll and Benefits System (APBS) because the attempt to hit the go-live date in January failed. The best guess at this point is that it will go live in April.

On the positive side, UW-Parkside has gone live with the PeopleSoft Student Administrative System, which was a major effort for the MILER Core Team and UW-Parkside staff. MILER is also working on integration between PeopleSoft and Desire2Learn (D2L). D2L itself is a major accomplishment, and was brought online within budget.

The library demonstrations that are next on the agenda are also very impressive. There are new opportunities in the Academic Co-Lab, which has moved to a new location and secured new funding. They are leading a learning object repository movement and a D-Space project in partnership with UW-Madison for digital archives. A new repository from Australia will be installed shortly, as will the repository from D2L.

The IAA identity management project is working with D2L, and will be extended to other products as well. The Collaterals movement keeps generating ideas and products, and is a major creative force in the UW System.

Even though harrowing budget, network and late project issues face us, there have been terrific accomplishments in the last year.

Exlibris MetaLib Library Portal and SFX Linking Services (Valerie Malzacher and Todd Digby)

A UWS Libraries Strategic Direction from 2001 called for the implementation of searching tools for full text information. The resources were identified and committed toward that goal. The searching resources available to users now extend far beyond the catalog and include abstract and index databases, subject gateways, online encyclopedias, etc. "It's not just the library catalog anymore."

Another driver for full text search capabilities is that more and more students begin their research with Google and other Internet search engines instead of the library catalog. This habit doesn't get them deeply into the resources that are provided, and paid for, by the UWS libraries. Roy Tennant of California has said, "Only librarians like to search. Everyone else likes to find."

The project tried to identify software that would:

  • categorize and describe the many electronic resources that are available
  • help users discover resources, and take full advantage of the expensive scholarly material owned by the UWS
  • provide a single search box for everything, similar to Google, for users with different levels of expertise: simple, advanced and expert
  • allow searches without learning many arcane search languages, e.g., battle vs. battle? vs. battle*
  • make it easier for users to locate full text or print when either is available
  • help students incorporate a variety of formats into their research
  • provide options to materials that are not locally owned

The process included

  • a Council of University of Wisconsin Libraries (CUWL) task force that issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) in 2003
  • contracting with Exlibris for the Metalib and SFX software in January 2004
  • implementing the software on behalf of the UWS libraries

Metalib and SFX are hosted on a shared server located at DoIT at UW-Madison. Separate instances are maintained for each UWS library and the UW Colleges as a group to maintain local branding.

SFX

SFX is based on an OpenURL standard and accepts metadata and builds a link to resources in any external library system or database that is OpenURL compliant, e.g., a catalog entry, an ILL form that is already filled out, etc. Behind the scenes is the central knowledgebase where the descriptions of the library's subscriptions and rules for the linking reside.

Metalib

Metalib has many different names, e.g., broadcast searching or federated searching. UW-River Falls calls it supersearching. It provides a standardized interface to multiple sources via multiple protocols, e.g., z39.50, http and XML. It allows for the grouping of resources, e.g., online journals, licensed databases, etc. Resources can be pre selected for quick searching so that users don't have to deal with lists of hundreds of resources. Searches and links can be saved for later use.

Desire2Learn Update (David Wirth & Kathy Pletcher)

Desire2Learn is now in the second year of implementation. It is in full production, but bugs are still being addressed. The steering committees are being reconstituted. The technical subcommittee is no longer a UW System subcommittee but now a part of the Learn@UW utility itself. The conversion subcommittee is turning its focus to archiving now that the the conversion efforts away from Blackboard and WebCT are largely complete.

The first D2L International User Conference took place in August in Madison with over 300 participants. The focus was on building relationships, sharing problems and sharing solutions.

Learn@UW is dealing with performance issues now that everyone is off of Blackboard and WebCT. Many tools are not working properly and generating timeout errors ("500 errors"). Software and hardware solutions are being investigated. The patches provided by D2L are being shepherded into a once per month schedule except where necessary to address performance issues and feature problems.

In spring 2004, there were:

  • 2,893 D2L courses
  • 1,972 Blackboard courses
  • 548 WebCT courses

For fall 2004, one can assume that the Blackboard and WebCT courses have been folded into D2L.

D2L does not have synchronous whiteboard functionality so UW-Stout is piloting Breeze Live as a service to the UW System. Training was held in August for the site administrators. It is now up to them to set up Breeze accounts for faculty members. It is not yet an integrated solution within D2L.

The Training Committee is moving from a train-the-trainer model towards one of preparing materials for training faculty and students. An online repository of materials may be built.

The Functional Enhancement Group is still soliciting feature requests from faculty and students. The goal is to consolidate requests from all of the UWS institutions so that D2L isn't pulled in numerous directions. The process is being revised to be more timely and based upon a focus group approach.

The Conversion Subcommittee is transitioning to an Archiving Subcommittee. There are currently different archiving processes and policies in place throughout the UW System.

The Technical Subcommittee is now the Learn@UW team. They are working closely with D2L and communicating with UW-Milwaukee's technical team, which is currently running its own set of D2L servers. The communication has become much stronger over the last few months, with the ultimate goal of bringing UW-Milwaukee into the Learn@UW utility a year from now.

Currently, almost every campus has integration between D2L and their student administration system and the IAA authentication hub. The next integration project is the submission of grades from D2L to the various student administration systems. Pilots are underway at UW-Madison and UW-Green Bay, with a goal of accomplishing grade submission by the end of the fall.

Q: Is there a goal to avoid adding any new courses given the response time problems? A: No, in fact the opposite is true. Other institutions have tried to turn off administrative features, which has had poor fallout. Instead, the focus is on receiving more patches from D2L which will improve the indexing in the database. Microsoft hyper-threading technology is also being explored. When UW-Milwaukee comes onboard at Learn@UW they will be on a separate database, which might be the model for more efficient use of clustering and making use of idle backup servers. Version 8 of D2L represents a total redesign and allows for database partitioning which will enable the smoother implementation of multiple database servers. Unfortunately, it is two years away.

Q: What is the projected usage for fall 2005? A: It could be about double and continue to double annually until perhaps virtually courses will use D2L in some capacity.

The overall Steering Committee is responsible for:

  • oversight of the project management
  • oversight of the Learn@UW utility and their Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the UW System Administration
  • oversight of budget and financial planning
  • advocacy for the project

The SLA was reviewed this summer, and appears to be adequate so no changes are planned. Financial issues are looming as load increases and performance struggles. Operating at the current funding level will result in a project deficit in a few years. Budget discussions with the provosts are commencing.

Planned outages are difficult to schedule for the installation of patches from D2L, and will become even more challenging once the grade integration is adopted. Most campuses have a two week window for the submission of grades. Courses are being offered 24x7, twelve months of the year.

Overview of “Next Generation Education Networking” (Brian Remer & Ron Kraemer)

Due to the Governor's mandate, the UWS is now part of the Department of Administration (DOA) BadgerNet RFP Solicitation. Responses from the vendors are due on September 20th. It is not yet clear what DOA is actually buying. The vendors will make offers and everyone will need to figure out what that means for D2L, video networking, etc. at reasonable prices and performance. DOA wants to have a vendor selection, a proof-of-concept, contract negotiations and an SLA negotiated by Christmas, and a contract signed by January 1, 2005. This is a very ambitious schedule. It is understood that the UWS will be able to buy both vendor-managed and user-managed access and services. Therefore, a portion of the traffic will presumably still be managed by WiscNet. The Wisconsin Collaborative Network Initiative (WCNI) group is discussing governance of the network. Several models have been proposed. It would be advantageous for the UWS to have its own SLA with DOA.

Challenges include:

  • UWS participation in reviewing the responses to the solicitation
  • understanding the costs of the proposals
  • ensuring Internet 2 access on a network that may include for-profit interests
  • defining the role of WiscNet
  • defining the governance of the overall network
  • creating SLAs between the vendor and DOA and between the UWS and DOA

ITMC Breakout Session

Discussion of “Next Generation Education Networking” (David Lois, Brian Remer, Perry Brunelli, Michael Schlicht & Ron Kraemer)

The BadgerNet Request for Information (RFI) solicitation is using a process that is unfamiliar to the UWS. The Department of Administration is using special procurement authority. The qualified finalists that are consortiums led by AT&T/Charter, MCI and SBC. The process is expected to continue as follows:

  1. the proposals from the three vendors will be received on September 20th
  2. only the person overseeing the procurement will look at the cost information
  3. a small group at DOA will triage the proposals for compliance with the procurement provisions
  4. if there are enough proposals that comply, they will be forwarded to a small group to review, hopefully including one representative from the UWS. They will not have access to the cost information. The WCNI governance group, which includes CESAs and school districts, will likely not be involved at this step.

The WCNI governance group will be briefed about this process on the 23rd. The UWS will have a very short time to react to whatever information it is allowed to see. The contract will be for a minimum of five years, with extensions for up to five additional years. It is understood that the vendors will be submitting five-year costs.

One of the UWS requests in the contract is jumbo frames, which the vendors would rather not provide, presumably because it would require a higher caliber of equipment.

Q: What are the implications on D2L etc? Q: Given the vagueness of the solicitation, at this point we don't have the information to ask intelligent questions.

Q: Can the prohibitions against VoIP in the current Centrex contract be used to argue against going down a similar path again? A: DOA considers the current Centrex contract a success, even though it doesn't include VoIP because it presumably lowers the cost to the taxpayers. The sheer numbers within the UWS allow for buying down the prices in contracts that are shared across all of state government rather than simply lowering costs to the UWS and students.

The RFI allows for vendor-managed and user-managed ("unmanaged")services. From the DOA perspective there are two kinds of traffic, the traffic that goes to other BadgerNet members and traffic to the internet. Vendors will be allowed to submit two prices:

  1. for vendor-managed traffic through the core router to others within BadgerNet
  2. for unmanaged ("user managed") traffic through the core router to others outside of BadgerNet

The bid includes three pieces, which are similar to the services that DOA currently offers:

  1. video traffic
  2. managed LAN traffic
  3. virtual circuits

There will also be three quality levels available:

  1. high quality (presumably for video)
  2. medium quality (presumably for inter-agency LAN traffic)
  3. low quality (presumably for internet traffic such as the UWS uses)

DOA says that any agency can buy traffic at any of the quality levels.

For governance, DOA is thinking of using the Technology Leadership Council model to make non-binding recommendations to the state CIO who will set the direction. Therefore it is important to have an SLA between DOA and the UWS that is backed by the Governor and the President of the UW System. The concern is that the new network will move bits efficiently within the state, but that isn't necessarily what our students and researchers need.

The recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education had a number of quotes from individuals in UWS that resulted in much discussion. The interviews were done six to eight weeks ago before many developments transpired. Most of the legislators appear to be supportive of the telecommunications vendors. It is difficult to explain these issues simply and convincingly to legislators, chancellors and regents. For most of the other constituencies, the prospect of this contract represents business as usual.

Q: Would it be possible for us to document what we're paying now through WiscNet and what we're getting for it? A: Yes, and if we drive down costs for the state customers overall, we should try and share in those savings. Perhaps we should look at prices five years ago and extrapolate how much extra we'd be paying today if we'd locked in prices for five years. Of more importance than money, are the potential lost opportunities if the UWS is in an inflexible contract.

Security Policies / Password Management Discussion (Paul Rediske)

Paul Rediske is the chair of a systemwide team that is looking at auditing and security for APBS. The items that will be discussed this afternoon are not just APBS, IAA or campus issues. The goal is to create a baseline level of security across the UW System that causes the least amount of inconvenience for users.

Definitions:

  • access control mitigates unauthorized access and the damage resulting from unauthorized access
  • authentication is the recognition of a user. It can be based upon what someone knows, e.g., a password; what someone has, e.g., a credit card; or who they are, e.g., a fingerprint. Most UWS applications rely on single factor authentication, whereas most financial transactions require two or three factors.
  • authorization is the granting of an authenticated user rights to a particular application. Most often, it is done together with authentication by each application in a single step. Therefore, most UWS faculty, staff and students have to remember and manage a bunch of IDs and passwords, and the number is proliferating. The UWS IAA process separates authentication from authorization and allows the same login ID and password to work across numerous systems. Authentication is provided by each users' campus according to its own standards.

Recently, UWSA and the UWS institutions were surveyed to determine the standards they used for authentication and authorization. On a a number of campuses, password standards are only guidelines, which allow for a dictionary-based attack. This makes systemwide ERP systems vulnerable. It doesn't make sense to have a house with many doors, some of which have deadbolts and alarms, and some of which are screens doors with simple hooks.

The APBS audit team has suggested there be a baseline of security across the UWS institutions that is balanced against cost and inconvenience to users. These best practices are:

  1. password length of a minimum of 7 characters - 2 UWS institutions are not at this level
  2. password complexity, e.g., a password that is not in a dictionary, not a login ID, not a user's name, not a reversal of the preceding three, and a minimum of three of the following: upper case, lower case, numeric or special character - 5 UWS institutions are not at this level
  3. passwords changed every 90 days - only 2 UWS institutions require any kind of changes
  4. passwords can be re-used only after 6 intermediate changes - only one UWS campus has a similar policy
  5. passwords can be changed only once per day to prevent immediate changes to a prior password - no campus has any standards on this
  6. system lock-outs after 3 unsuccessful attempts - only a few UWS campuses have any kind of lockout provisions
  7. system logoffs after 15 minutes of inactivity - only one UWS campus has an inactivity logoff
  8. prohibiting password sharing by policy and information campaign
  9. an active information security awareness campaign

Information security awareness campaigns are designed to change culture and are typically lighthearted and cost effective. Two UWS institutions have started information awareness campaigns. UW-Milwaukee has implemented an information security campaign as part of the comprehensive security program in its Gramm-Leach-Bliley compliance. The campaign has a mascot and distributes a bookmark listing the ten best practices for desktop security awareness and a free resource CD that includes the McAfee anti-virus software configured for automatic updates. The CD has been given to all new freshman, and faculty and staff as desired. There was also a front page article in the faculty/staff newspaper.

The audit team will recommend that as many of the 9 practices be adopted by as many UWS campuses as possible. They will also be talking to the CIOs and CBOs.

Q: Isn't the major concern the APBS superusers, and shouldn't they be held to higher standards than other users? Password changes every 90 days are difficult to attain. Discussion: These recommendations raise the security bar for all campuses. There are political and technical reasons for why campuses do or don't enforce password changes. For example, campuses that don't run 24x7 help desks might not want to lock people out after a few failed password attempts in the evening. An alternative would be to put up a self-service password change system, which might in itself open new holes. As frequent password changes are enforced, the load on the support staff increases as they deal with password resets and users post their passwords on their monitors because they can't remember them. It is difficult to get people to change their initial password. Often they hang onto it throughout their entire college career. One problem with disabling a password after 3 unsuccessful attempts, is that one user can lock out another by doing bogus logins with their ID. Both faculty and students are likely to forget their password if they don't have to use it for a couple months.

Q: What negative affects are campuses suffering right now from their relatively lax security measures? Discussion: Ideally password changes should be forced when people break up with their boy and girl friends so they don't retaliate by dropping each others classes.

Q: What will ordinary students, faculty and staff be able to access when APBS goes online? Discussion: There will be a self-service component that will allow people to changes things such as addresses, phone numbers, marital status, etc. Someone could re-direct someone else's U.S. Mail if they gained access to their password.

Q: Has anyone seen any abuse of self-service password change facilities? Discussion: A lot of financial institutions have these kinds of facilities and they probably wouldn't do so if they were losing money.

Q: Has any campus required or generated netIDs for all of their students faculty and staff? If APBS self service uses the "standard" campus email ID and password, what will be done for those who don't use email? Discussion: About a half a dozen UWS institutions issue IDs to everyone and typically require a subsequent activation on the part of the individual. One campus puts all of its payroll stubs online. A person can only view their stub by using their ID and password.

Q: Why can't access be layered, such that different applications require different levels of security for users of different purviews? Discussion: Campuses that use Microsoft Active Directory cannot create different levels of security for different users unless that is done within the application.

The group was generally concerned about the unintended consequences from the proposed practices, which would likely work better in a company that had control over its users as opposed to a university.

Campus Roundtable

UW Colleges had a bid for network connectivity for four campuses. The Governor cancelled it, but it was reinstated after intervention by the UWS President. Access Wisconsin was the winner. One of the campuses has faculty on party lines and no voice mail due to lack of investment. A vendor was given the go-ahead to install an updated system, but was advised by the Department of Administration that it would not be in their own interest. The UW Colleges still has a relationship with Learning Innovations, but the Colleges has taken over the help desk function. It will run 6 am -11 pm using the Footprint management software.

UW-Eau Claire is looking to change out its administrative systems to ORACLE, but not PeopleSoft. They are planning on replicating the current systems in near real time and moving the legacy self service functions to the web. They hope to pilot registration via the web with the new environment in April. Subsequently, the back end and data warehouse will be updated. There will be significant deliverables throughout the project rather than a big splash just at the end. An online documentation collection has received an award. A telecom consultant's report looked at the alternatives to Centrex, which turned out to be cheaper. A cell phone contract for the residence halls is being considered. The campus has also received a bid for bandwidth from an alternative provider. The campus is entirely wireless except for inside the residence halls. They migrated to Office 2003 during the summer and included anti-spyware functionality. An update to Exchange also took place during the summer. The campus website has been updated.

UW Extension is experiencing a lot of vacancies and interim positions in top management. Planning for APBS is underway in conjunction with HR because they have many different types of employee categories that don't exist on other campuses. The shadow systems need to be upgraded. A serious review of Learning Innovations is underway that involves all of the campuses that work with them. A procurement card tracking system has been developed that lets people do their own auditing through a web services module written in ColdFusion MX. It has been given to UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison. DOA has complimented the system. A conference and customer relationship management system is being investigated jointly with UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison. A new integrated email/calendar system running Outlook on the desktop and Linux in the back end is being investigated. All applications have been moved off of the Madison mainframe. Identity management is a challenge because their faculty have both UW Extension appointments as well as appointments at other campuses.

UW-Green Bay had major renovations in the lab sciences building. Another residence hall was opened so 40% of students now live on campus. The chancellor has a Learning to Life initiative which has resulted in a high tech downtown learning center that is located five miles from campus. With the lull in major PeopleSoft implementations, effort has been put towards improving advising reporting services for faculty and implementing the PeopleSoft gradebook. An import function for scan-test sheets into the gradebook has been developed. They are piloting integration between the PeopleSoft gradebook and D2L grade rosters. A web survey was conducted in the spring with the goal of updating the technology plan. High satisfaction was expressed with the infrastructure and basic services. Open forums on the future of teaching will be held in the fall. About 10% of residence hall computers were infected with viruses at the start of classes. Mailware and spyware were much more prevalent than in the past. The computers were moved to a quarantine network until they were remediated, which provides a huge motivation for students. Perhaps a help desk will be created in Residence Life or a chargeback service implemented. Edge network switches will be replaced, and wireless coverage will be expanded.

UW-La Crosse brought up its administrative systems on a new platform a year ago. The voice registration system was replaced with a web based system. A new module giving faculty staff and advisors access to student data is coming up this fall. Wireless is in all of the major buildings. Perfigo was implemented this fall and the network was stable during the back to school crush. All student machines in the residence halls were reviewed for Microsoft patch levels and had Norton anti-virus software installed. Twenty-eight classrooms were recently upgraded and all of the teaching podiums are locked down with faculty login required and the software images managed remotely. The student cash card has been replaced with the Tower One card through a company called Higher One. Students receiving financial aid can access their change through the card. Faculty and staff can also use it.

UW-Madison is adding a student applicant role to their portal. The view is currently being defined. The Epicentric infrastructure will be replaced with open source in a year. Mywebspace, based upon Xythos, came up last month giving access to 100MB of space. Virus and spam software was upgraded. The policy was changed from having an opt-in to an opt-out spam filtering service with very little negative user reaction. In the last year, a new campus 10G backbone was brought up and all departmental networks migrated onto it. In phase II, departmental LANs are being upgraded with the assistance of DoIT. A tool suite has been provided to the departments to promote cooperation with DoIT. A proposal for expanded wireless coverage is in the works that would install three access points in every IDF on campus. A 3 year license extension was signed for the Norton anti-virus software for the entire campus community for work and home. Free CDs with Norton were handed out at student orientation. The help desk knowledge base has been growing significantly with over 3,000 questions publicly available. Keeping it up to date is a significant ongoing effort. There are about 1,100 computers in campus labs. Usage continues to be high despite 95% ownership of computers by students because the portal and related tools make their work easily accessible from labs as well as home. The lab program has close to 250 laptops available for checkout on various schedules. Network security is being improved. A Tipping Point product will be installed in front of the modem pool. PKI efforts have begun. A system for creating guest IDs for conference rooms, etc. is being developed. DoIT is working with Graduate School to install a grants management system. The only vendor on the back end that meets the requirements is PeopleSoft. Custom development is being done on the front end. Funding is being secured and faculty being courted. The goal is to begin the project in earnest in July. Free consulting from PeopleSoft for the upgrade to version 8.9 is being pursued. Campus systems and interfaces are being adjusted to work with APBS without continued access to the underlying databases. Planning for year six of the public health information network is underway. The funding is helping to build infrastructure that can be re-leveraged.

UW-Milwaukee has a new chancellor and within his first week he spent a few hours touring the IT facilities. The campus is going through an IT review that was occasioned by the change in CIO. They are actively strengthening their relationships with UW-Madison in areas of commonality. They are seriously moving forward with migration of their D2L courses to Learn@UW. Teams are now being formed and the target is for some courses to be running at Learn@UW in summer 2005. The campus has just purchased the Xythos file share system and begun pilots. Full rollout is expected in summer 2005. Enterprise email solutions are being evaluated. A consultant is about to come in to help evaluate Content Management Systems. The PeopleSoft portal will go live with 1,000 users in November. There will be a presentation on the portal activities at the September 24th Collaterals meeting. 802.11g wireless connections are being installed in most of the campus buildings. A security awareness campaign is underway as part of their Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act compliance activities. They are also looking at the Digital Measures system for faculty load reporting, student surveys and as an alternative to Pick-a-Prof for student feedback on their experiences with professors.

UW-Oshkosh is not moving to PS 8.9 for awhile, so the underlying application servers and Storage Area Network were upgraded. The database processors are next. The email system was upgraded in August. Wireless is being expanded, and the campus network segmented into VLANs. There is growing demand for VPNs so a concentrator may be acquired. The delay of APBS is negatively impacting the replacement of the legacy system. Historical HR records will be moved into a ORACLE database. The telephone billing system is being rehosted.

UW-Parkside has all PeopleSoft modules live and is now going through shakedown. In addition, within the next 2 months or so, all of the bolt-ons should be accommodated. The servers will then be overhauled.

UW-Platteville is finishing a major upgrade to the account management system. Staff are in Novell training this week. They will register all students via the web this fall. A new Computer Science and Engineering building will come online in January with 220 machines in labs and offices. They are also beginning the implementation of Ad Astra for facilities management. The project includes participation from the Auxiliaries.

UW-River Falls computer labs were remodeled over the summer, including a new networking lab for the Computer Science department. A classroom upgrade project was completed. They are in good shape in regards to the D2L conversions from Blackboard and WebCT. They are testing video over IP for better conferencing facilities. Footprint help desk software was installed over the summer. They also implemented Ad Astra facilities scheduling software to work in conjunction with PeopleSoft Student Administration. Darwin is operational. A textbook rental system is up. Still to be completed are an interface between LDAP and the Student Information System. Work on wireless authentication is proceeding. The legacy Novell system is being phased out.

UW-Stevens Point has finished a cell phone RFP for resale to students, faculty and staff for personal use. It will be rolled out in 3-4 weeks. E-checking is being accepted over the web, in addition to the $6M volume in credit cards that was experienced last year. Wireless was installed in all classroom buildings over the summer. The core routing switch was upgraded and VLANs and secure connections are being promulgated. Their portal is undergoing its third rewrite to support user groups. The campus web site is also being rewritten for ADA compliance and a focus on user groups.

UW-Stout is in the third year of their laptop program, which now includes close to 5,000 computers in the hands of freshman, sophomores and juniors. This fall, the freshmen from two years ago got new laptops in addition to the incoming freshmen. From this point forward, half of the school will get a new laptops each year. Breeze Live has been installed and will be shared with all of the UWS. Their wireless network is moving to 802.11g for the entire campus. Concurrent software licenses are distributed to students using the Keyserver product.

UW-Superior's provost likes the University Technology Committee to prioritize activities. He takes their input seriously. Some 180 computers were recently replaced, which is a significant percentage. The PeopleSoft portal is being rolled out in October to target the November pre-registration. It is tying into Microsoft for web access and webdav. They are developing an elearning tab with links to D2L and library resources as well as an ecommunity tab for the Exchange campus calendar. There will be no single signon in the first implementation. Cisco layer 3 managed switches have been deployed campuswide. In the dorms there are access control lists that block out certain protocols. New priorities are classroom and lab computers, as well as computers in the dorms. Internet bandwidth has been increased to 10 Mbits. Blue Socket is used for wireless LDAP authentication and encryption. Microsoft PKI is being investigated. Barracuda is being used as an edge anti-spam device. A collaborative computer work room has been opened in the library. The next Board of Regents meeting will be audio streamed from UW-Superior in October. It can be accessed via a pointer from the UWSA website.

UW System Administration has been busy with the transition in the President's office. An event management system is being installed. Blackberrys are being acquired, interest is spreading and the chancellors may become intrigued. The Governor mandated DOA to use its exception procurement authority to establish the Blackberry contract. Cingular is the better option from an operational perspective at $40/month for data and $50/month for voice. Calendaring cannot be integrated unless a local server is installed. A project with the Department of Workforce Development informs campuses of people who don't pay child support. A web redesign project is underway using templates. The ADL Co-Lab has moved downtown and the HRIS staff have moved out to Research Park.

UW-Whitewater is implementing web payment solutions and an advising system with electronic records and mandatory advising appointments for students. Cisco wireless 802.1x is being deployed. Student web storage was deployed in February that is nominally 100M per person with both private and public folders and an e-portfolio space. A print queue release system has cut paper usage significantly even without charging. Students were on campus for two days before classes started, so technology training programs were offered for 1,600 of them. The Collage Content Management System was selected. Deployment will begin in the next couple months. A collaborative initiative is underway with the LTDC to develop Flash animations.

The Collaterals Group is looking into a systemwide license for Magic and Footprint help desk software with a back to back presentation at the September 24th meeting. They are also trying to understand PeopleSoft 8.9 as well as possible. They are working on grade integration between D2L and PeopleSoft and continuing to support UW-Parkside's implementation.

The ADL Co-Lab is heavily involved in games for learning with assistance from faculty from UW-Madison. Six graduate students have been employed to build inexpensive games, use off the shelf games, and assess learning outcomes with off the shelf games.

Norris Report on Common Systems (Ed Meachen)

Don Norris of Strategic Initiatives Inc. has been employed by the Board of Regents and UWS for a number of studies. He was also hired to look at the UWS Common Systems approach, especially since a systemwide IT plan hasn't been generated for a couple of years. He was asked to provide an assessment of the investments in Common Systems, to investigate the alignment of the Common Systems with the UWS focus on teaching and learning, and to recommend how to leverage the Common Systems and stimulate the next round of investments.

His efforts began in April, and a draft report was just generated. It captures the input of the CIOs very well:

  • Better decision making occurred in the presence of a strong project champion and project manager with input from the CIO Council.
  • APBS was viewed as not having adequate CIO input and advice.
  • The selection of D2L was risky, but overall very good.
  • Major successes of Common Systems included selecting D2L, developing the MILER Core Team, using the FASTAR and Learn@UW utilities and negotiating systemwide licenses and contracts.
  • The greatest success was the library automation system which actually predated the Common Systems process.

The report says that knowledge transfer from one Common Systems project to another is largely informal and there is no formal process for building off of previous experiences. There was also general agreement that leadership was shown in launching and financing Common Systems as a set of individual projects, but not as a compelling vision or set of outcomes. Therefore, Common Systems have failed to win the support of pioneering campus leaders. Common Systems have been seen as a benefit primarily for campuses that haven't historically invested very much in technology and they provide plain vanilla solutions rather than a superior solution.

Future financial arrangements for Common Systems need to reflect:

  • realistic and transparent expectations
  • accountability
  • evenhanded treatment for all campuses

The next challenges for Common Systems are the issues of visioning, planning and change management. Common Systems are at a crossroads. Specific challenges include:

  • The WEROC network must be established
  • CSIAWG must be part of the emerging vision
  • portals are being pursued in a much too fragmented fashion
  • finances need to be secured

The report reflects the formation of the Common Systems initiatives as an effort of the UWS CIOs without much involvement from general campus leadership. Strategic IT alignment and leadership within the UWS is still less than it should be. Our strategic planning has been decidedly bottom up, whereas some of our peers are focusing more on planning at the top.

The final recommendations include:

  • sound financial planning and project management, which includes a commitment from the UWS President and the Common Systems Review Group to support the realistic costs of the projects
  • addressing project management issues with accountability, but without politics
  • quick and decisive resolution of the APBS project as the lynch pin for the success or failure of the overall Common Systems initiative
  • expeditiously establishing the WEROC network as the heart of the Common Systems and strategic initiatives
  • renewing the Common Systems Review Group with greater authority over, and responsibility for, the accountability of projects
  • leveraging technology to create new value propositions to improve teaching and learning

The final report will likely be distributed by Thanksgiving and will be discussed at an IT Summit on January 13, 2005 that will hopefully include the CIOs, CBOs, Provosts and Student Affairs leaders.

Purchasing Update (Helen McCain and Lori Voss)

Microsoft

Those UWS institutions that received a notice saying their Microsoft Campus Agreements have expired should not worry. Negotiations are being completed and the process is being well documented. CDWG has appointed a volume licensing specialist who is helping in the effort. Microsoft has been fairly flexible in helping correct errors in the processes. Bills, which will include the contract insurance levies, will be sent out to the UWS institutions in the October timeframe. Pricing for the third year hasn't yet been determined. A group will also be formed to look at the next renewal cycle. Major changes in Microsoft's approach are not expected.

If there is an interest in a briefing from Microsoft and CDWG on technology directions, including Longhorn, contact Lori Voss (lvoss@uwsa.edu).

ORACLE

The UWS and ORACLE are getting close to a resolution on the application product dispute. The UWS has agreed to not develop and use certain bundled features, but the logistics of doing so have not been worked out. The features in question will still come bundled with the CDs. The UWSA attorneys are still working on the details.

IPEDS reporting, which underlies biennial adjustments in payments to ORACLE, is supposedly not part of current ORACLE contracts with higher education. Ed Meachen talked with Frank Goldberg who suspects there are inaccuracies in the IPEDS reports of faculty employment which may have resulted in our overpaying on the ORACLE contract.

Informatica

A legal challenge has been proffered for how Informatica is being used with multiple repositories. The standard license agreement has changed since the UWS bought the product through a reseller/broker.

Within the procurement office, internal planning sessions were conducted and a web survey is being developed for the various constituent groups in the next four to six weeks. Vendor relationships are being reviewed. Apple may offer some better pricing. Unions are challenging the contracting for services. They are looking for notification of every contract outside of the employee base. They have some support in the legislature, who have requested a report on contractual services from DOA. A simple minded report would result in inflated and inaccurate numbers due to how the UWS account codes are used for academic services that don't fall under Chapter 16.

DOA is redoing its contracting to centralize procurement and focus on mandatory contracts. The UWS has been fortunate to be exempt from the server consolidation and PC standardization contracts. If the UWS institutions receive promotional pieces from vendors regarding a supposedly mandatory contract, they should know that it doesn't apply to them.

A survey of the current and desired use of ImageNow, Magic and Footprint will be distributed shortly. Procurement authority already exists for ImageNow. A number of institutions are also interested in an educational contract for McAfee with new pricing in light of Symmantic's aggressive stance.

UW-Superior's Dell prices went up when they were transferred to the Minnesota rep instead of the Wisconsin rep. The MDS system at UW-Madison can provide Dell computers to anyone across the state with direct invoicing and shipping to the purchasing campus.

ITMC Business Meeting

The current ITMC Executive Committee has been in place for over a year. The by-laws call for an election at the first meeting of the year, which will be at the spring conference. People interested in nominating themselves or others for the Executive Committee should inform Marian Ritland, RITLANMM@uwec.edu. An online evaluation of this conference will be conducted shortly.