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IT Services Weekly Update

Critical Services (Banner, Moodle, Wireless, Internet)

  • All services functioning normally.

KPI Spotlight

Within the past 3 weeks, we’ve seen about 257,000 logins to the student webmail system from 8,842 unique users.   If we break down these quarter million logins, we see:

  • 60,000 from on-campus
  • 197,000 from off-campus

On average, this breaks down to:

  • 11,600 logins/day
  • 490 logins/hour
  • 8 logins/minute

Distribution of these logins through the hours in the day:

webmail_logins_hourly

Service Improvements

  • Excel Training – We have brought in an external trainer to provide an introductory course on Microsoft Excel for faculty and staff, which started on Feb 21 and has 24 participants.  The course consists of four 2-hour sessions, and participants have indicated that it is excellent material and is being delivered very effectively.  We have booked several other courses in the future, including Outlook Tips & Tricks, Word level 1, and Excel level 2.
  • SWATCA – The annual Teachers’ Convention is the largest conference hosted on the University campus, and includes heavy use of audio/video technologies in our classrooms and computer labs.  All accounts suggest that this year’s event went very well.

IT Services Weekly Update

Critical Services (Banner, Moodle, Wireless, Internet)

All services functioning normally.

KPI Spotlight

As we enter the busy mid-term exam period, the Learning Management System (Moodle) is functioning well with the heavy load we are seeing:

Feb 13 – 453 exams completed (one room)

Feb 14 – 643 exams completed (two rooms for 6 hours of the day)

Service Improvements

We have installed Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs) in Anderson Hall, Turcotte Hall, and Tsuu T’ina House.  This ensures that our network infrastructure supporting wired and wireless network and telephones continues to operate in the event of a brief power outage.

ups

IT Services Weekly Update

Critical Services (Banner, Moodle, Wireless, Internet)

All services functioning normally.

KPI Spotlight

The IT Services project register is used to track project initiatives within IT Services and ROSS (Student Information Systems):

Active Projects: 32

Proposed Projects: 10

Projects completed within the past year: 67

Service Improvements

The Registrar’s Office noted that students were having difficulty locating the Academic Calendar.  A new link has been added to the Home Page to facilitate access.

academic_calendar_link

Mac viruses – the end of an era

A recent virus outbreak affecting hundreds of thousands of Macs has signaled the end of the days when Apple’s computers were largely ignored by virus authors.  Apple has since released an update that removes the virus and corrects the underlying problem (available through the Software Update function).  ITS is currently working with technical staff in the Faculty of Education to identify and procure a campus-wide anti-virus tool for Macs to protect against future threats on this platform.

IT Services Portfolio

In order to increase ownership of its PM processes and to better connect with its business units, IT Services has embedded a staff member as the go-to resource within each of its units. These embedded staff members will ensure project reporting and processes are happening in a consistent and timely fashion. They report to the ITS unit managers, and have a dotted-line relationship with the Manager of the Project Management Office.  The PMO no longer actively manages projects, but is ultimately responsible for all reporting and processes.

Website launches

IT Services launched a number of newly redesigned websites within the past month, including the Privacy Office, Alumni Homecoming, Advancement Giving, Science Complex, and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit.

24-Hour study centre

IT Services was asked by the CRDC to try to provide more space for students to study prior to final exams.  With the support of Security and the CRDC, ITS was able to open the Anderson Hall labs 24 hours a day through most of April. Security monitored the labs and the CRDC raised awareness to students.

On-site training

IT Services recently initiated on-site Microsoft Excel training to 25 staff members in Arts and Science. ITS was able to find a partner to deliver onsite, instructor-lead training.  Feedback has been very positive. ITS is working toward online training for all Microsoft applications as well for students who want to work at their own pace.  This training can lead to Microsoft certifications.

Fine Arts cost savings

The New Media department is replacing its lab computers this summer.  The initial specifications included a very powerful machine and the initial quote from ITS’s vendor of choice (Dell) was over budget.  After learning that New Media was attempting to rebuild with cheaper parts, ITS and Materials Management were able to negotiate with Dell to drop its price, which resulted in a saving of $50,000. The equipment is also now fully supported as a result.

Moodle report card

Final exams are now over and the central LMS Moodle administered more than 4000 exams – the highest number to date. Prior to final exams, ITS and CRDC staff met to determine how to improve service for students.  As a result, the recent final exam period experienced nearly flawless service.  A couple of very small incidents affected one or two users but did not result in outages.  This is now the benchmark for the Moodle service. Systems and service upgrades will be implemented during the summer to strengthen this operational standard.