University of
Connecticut
UITS Goals for Fiscal Year 2009
For the fiscal year 2009 UITS has determined that the following goals will constitute the project work that we will be able to accomplish. These goals were determined based upon input from UITS staff, IT Governance Groups and a number of other unit level discussions over the past several months. Given the budget situation at the University we have worked to ensure that the priority goals are those that will move the University and Division forward in accordance with our IT Strategic Plan.
These tiered goals represent multiple levels of commitment that staff are expected to be aware of. The level of commitment is based upon the priority associated with each grouping, with High being those goals that we should consider as top priority and Low being those goals that are considered as lesser in priority. UITS will make every effort to accomplish the High goals and work on the lesser goals as resources allow. It should be noted that this document is a “living” document and subject to change as the University priorities may dictate a change in UITS priorities.
It should be noted that several initiatives have been put on hold due to resources not being available. These include Podcasting, Identity Management and the SA EPM reporting solution. As resources are identified and provided these initiatives will change to an active status.
High Priority
Emergency Communications - The final Emergency Communications protocols will be implemented. The project deliverables will be put in place, tested and incorporated into the Public Safety notification process. The deficiency in the text messaging solution will be addressed and the completed business plan will be finalized and implemented. This will complete the initial implementation of protocols to be utilized in the event that emergency notifications need to be sent to UConn constituents in the event of an actual emergency. (More …)
Encryption Recommendation - The pilot encryption project which will provide a recommendation regarding software and resources necessary to fully encrypt all UConn PCs, will be shared with the governance groups and once the hardware/software solution and the necessary resources have been identified phase II of the project will commence to begin encrypting University hard drives. (Completed)
Exchange 2007 - The Exchange 2003 infrastructure (hardware/software) will be upgraded to the newer Exchange 2007 infrastructure for faculty and staff e-mail. (Completed)
HCM - The legacy Human Resources System known as Genesys will be replaced by the Oracle / Peoplesoft HCM application. UITS will complete the installation and have a production system running. (More …)
SA 9.0 / SADM Retrofit - The Student Administration System will be upgraded to version 9 due to the vendor halting support for the current version. Project initiation began in FY08 and will continue until the scheduled implementation date of October 2008. (Completed)
Video Head End ˜ Cable Services - The equipment residing in the “Head End” is over 10 years old. It does not have the capability to transport “High Definition” or “Digital” signals. There will be an FCC mandated industry change in February 2009 requiring all broadcast television stations to convert the signal they send into a digital format. Also, on June 30th, 2009 the current contract with the supplier of 90% of the University programming, as well as the satellite programming, expires. This project will be undertaken to work on the issues noted above as well as address some additional ones. The first is to renew or obtain a new source for programming, combining both our current standard and satellite programming contracts that are in existence today. The second will be to replace the existing distribution system. The newer system needs to support “High Definition” or “Digital” programming and must be able to port over to the IP network in the future. Also the newer hardware, based upon today’s standards, should take up 50% less rack/floor space and have a 50% less load on both the HVAC and Electrical systems. (More …)
Medium Priority
NMP - Work continues to upgrade and enhance the entire UConn network, including electronics, building wiring and wireless access. A revised master plan has been completed and will be presented to the Buildings and Grounds Committee. (More …)
UniCenter ServicePlus Service Desk (USD) - The problem and change management system will be upgraded to version R11, introducing numerous service enhancements, a knowledge base and workflow, stipulated as necessary in a recent audit of the system. (Completed …)
Pinnacle - The Telecommunications management system will be upgraded to the latest release, providing a number of service enhancements as well as moving to a vendor supported release. (More …)
FAMIS - Project to support capital projects initiatives, to include extensive report writing, UITS application development for additional functionality outside of the FAMIS application itself, vendor management, application support, implementation of business and application configuration changes upon FAMIS upgrades, and application business process development.
Firewall - The firewall implementation will be completed in the data center by moving the Windows and Unix infrastructure behind the firewall enhancing security to these servers/networks as well as satisfying an audit finding that this protection is lacking. (Completed …)
HuskyCT - The course management system will be upgraded to the latest release providing the community with various service enhancements . (Completed)
Low Priority
Vulnerability Assessment - The University of Connecticut Information Technology Services (UITS) will be engaging an outside independent organization to evaluate, through a network vulnerability assessment and penetration testing, the level of security of the University’s IT resources that reside within the UITS Server Farm from external attack. It is expected that such an initiative will provide information to UITS concerning the effectiveness of existing security efforts and potentially build the case for future security efforts.
ADSM Sunset - UITS will be sunsetting the very old ADSM tape backup system this year. Each user of this system will be sent an official message announcing the date that we will be shutting this service down, giving them one year to sign on to the new service (TSM), which will have fees associated with it or to find their own alternative service.
Pod Casting Recommendation - There has been much discussion on the Storrs and regional campuses about podcasting. A recommendation as to what it would cost to build and manage a production podcasting service will be delivered shortly.
Other (as resources are made available)
Workflow Applications - Project to enhance our general purpose workflow solutions platform and develop workflow applications for high impact business process.
Portal & Content Management - Research and technical initiatives to improve, by personalization and applications integration, our web presentation to students, faculty and staff.
Student E-Mail - Two options are being explored for student email services: contract out to one of the free email offerings or put the students on the exchange server. We hope to achieve one of these options by late summer 2009.
File Services - If staffing can be made available during this fiscal year, UITS will move forward with the file services project. This will offer file services to all faculty and staff at this point. Future discussions will ensue concerning file services for students. (Note: an outsourced student email system may address this problem.)
Voicemail Replacement - The existing voicemail system, the “OCTEL 350”, will be what the vendor considers end-of-life in June 2010. Beginning in January 2009 a project will begin to look at alternatives to replace this system. Since “Voicemail” in of itself is no longer considered a stand-alone system, some version of a “Unified Communication System” will be investigated and implemented.
Updated: 08.18.2009