CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
This report was produced by the Centre for Educational and Information Technology (CEIT) of Douglas College, and covers the past fiscal year (April 2015–March 2016). Concept, coordination, editing and design: Glauce Fleury. Photos and illustrations: GraphicStock, Glauce Fleury and CEIT archives. CEIT Douglas College 700 Royal Avenue New Westminster, BC V3M 5Z5 Copyright Š 2016, Centre for Educational and Information Technology, Douglas College. All rights reserved.
Introduction to CEIT .......................................................................................................................... 5 Academic Technology Services .......................................................................................................... 6 What we do ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 Why our services are relevant ......................................................................................................................... 6 Top projects 2015–2016 ................................................................................................................................. 7 Our numbers ................................................................................................................................................... 9 2016–2017: What’s next? .............................................................................................................................10
Application Services ........................................................................................................................ 13 What we do .................................................................................................................................................. 13 Why our services are relevant ....................................................................................................................... 14 Top projects 2015–2016 ............................................................................................................................... 14 Our numbers ................................................................................................................................................. 16 2016–2017: What’s next? ............................................................................................................................ 17
Client Services ................................................................................................................................. 18 What we do ................................................................................................................................................... 18 Why our services are relevant ........................................................................................................................19 Top projects 2015–2016 ............................................................................................................................... 19 Our numbers ................................................................................................................................................ 22 2016–2017: What’s next? ............................................................................................................................ 23
Infrastructure Services .................................................................................................................... 24 What we do ................................................................................................................................................... 24 Why our services are relevant ....................................................................................................................... 24 Top projects 2015–2016 ................................................................................................................................24 Our numbers ..................................................................................................................................................28 2016–2017: What’s next? ............................................................................................................................ 28
IT Security ....................................................................................................................................... 30 What we do ................................................................................................................................................... 30 Why our services are relevant ....................................................................................................................... 30 Top projects 2015–2016 ............................................................................................................................... 30 Our numbers ................................................................................................................................................ 31 2016–2017: What’s next? ............................................................................................................................ 32
Appendix A: CEIT organization chart ................................................................................................. 33 Appendix B: More CEIT numbers .................................................................................................... 34
Contents
Message from the CIO ....................................................................................................................... 4
T
he last fiscal year was full of challenges and achievements for CEIT. As usual, our teams pulled together to accomplish several strategic projects. Here are a few of the highlights:
Credit: BCNET
Infrastructure Services went above and beyond during the move of the Main Equipment Room to a new location. They moved about 150 pieces of equipment, and reconnected everything successfully in 18 hours. All systems were back online with the absolute minimum of downtime. In October 2015, Application Services tested and implemented a major Banner release, including testing by each business owner. We are well positioned to take on the next big challenges, namely introducing Degree Works and a test environment for XE, Banner’s next major release. Our IT Security team has worked diligently to maintain and increase the levels of protection afforded to our employees and students. We know that everyone is probably tired of the constant reminders to watch for those ‘phishing’ messages, but it is working to increase awareness and avoid the negative impacts of compromised credentials and systems. For those who have not availed themselves of the Securing the Human security training, we strongly recommend finding some time to work through the series of short videos. Many employees have told us how interesting and valuable the training was to them. Academic Technology Services have been working very hard to increase the types and frequency of faculty training opportunities and, with the plans in place to phase out myDouglas, this has been critical to the success of Blackboard Learn and the new Community features. Client Services have been dedicated to improving the reliability of labs, library public computers and the many mobile devices being asked for by staff and faculty. Increasing the number of virtualized applications was also a strategic priority, and we continue to work on the availability and reliability of these tools.
Ian McLeod, Chief Information Officer.
In October 2015, CEIT made some changes to our reporting structure, which seems to be well received by both the staff and College community (new organization chart on page 33).
Message from the CIO
Continuing the momentum
Lastly, I want to thank the entire CEIT team for their hard work and commitment. Once again this year, our survey results improved or held steady in virtually every category, which means they reached or surpassed a performance of 80% on a scale from 0 to 100%. The CEIT goal is to reach 80% in all categories every year (see data throughout the report and in the appendix). We are pleased to see continued improvement, and strive to do even better. Consistent levels of service response and a focus on confirmed resolution of closed calls will be priorities for the teams in 2016. Read on for more examples of the work CEIT is involved in.
Who can forget the joint effort of launching DC Connect, our intranet service? It continues to grow in popularity and is the ‘go-to’ place for employee information on what is going on at the College. CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
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Introduction to CEIT
What we do
C
EIT is staffed by a team of 54 professionals and two co-op students — most with computer technology backgrounds — who are responsible for the provision and support of the educational and administrative technologies used by students, staff and faculty at Douglas College. Our department comprises five major areas (see the organization chart on page 33): ¾ ¾ Academic Technology Services (ATS) is focused on the teaching and learning applications for technology. ¾ ¾ Application Services manages the major programs and services used by Human Resources, Payroll, Finance, Purchasing and the Registrar’s Office. ¾ ¾ I T Security assists the College community in keeping technology and data safe from harm.
¾ ¾ Infrastructure Services supports the wired and wireless networks, servers, storage, backups, connection to the Internet and telephony. ¾ ¾ Client Services is accountable for purchase, installation, replacement and ongoing support for equipment such as computers, mobile devices, printers and scanners. The Office of the CIO provides support and communications for a wide range of CEIT administrative services, answers the College switchboard, produces student ID cards and covers technology-related counter services at both campuses. This report details the major areas of CEIT, their accomplishments in the 2015–2016 fiscal year and main plans for 2016–2017.
CEIT supports:
Did you know?
215 e-classrooms 20 computer labs 4,045 computers and laptops 264 printers and multi-functional devices 1,400 staff and faculty 23,500 students
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
For the 2015–2016 fiscal year, CEIT worked with an operating budget of $6.6 million and managed an education technology capital allocation of $1.6 million.
Our team 54 employees + 2 co-op students
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A
cademic Technology Services (ATS) provides many services at Douglas College, including online course development, management and support; learning space design and technology integration; event coordination and support; media production; and technology-related training.
Why our services are relevant ¾¾ We are a proactive and collaborative service provider of technology integration solutions for our faculty, administration and staff. ¾¾ While our services are diverse, we are always looking for the balance between responsiveness, engagement and strategy. ¾¾ We have been involved in many projects or events that support the College strategic plan.
Academic Technology Services
What we do
¾¾ We work in the area of student and faculty engagement, and superior teaching quality.
Did you know?
$200,000 was invested in educational technology. 213 workshops were offered. 689 hours of technology training were provided to employees. 1,000 courses were moved from myDouglas to Blackboard. 315 employees transitioned from myDouglas to Blackboard. 69 events received support from our staff. 879 hours were spent on event support.
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
Our team 10 full-time employees + 1 part-time employee
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Academic Technology Services
Top projects 2015–2016 ¾¾ myDouglas to Blackboard migration ¾¾ Blackboard performance improvements ¾¾ Hybrid course development
myDouglas to Blackboard migration We developed the transition strategy that allowed over 300 faculty to successfully move from myDouglas’s limited learning management system to the more fully formed Blackboard LMS. Our strategy included new documentation, focused workshops, and regular and consistent communication. Communication and personalization, by the way, were the keys to the success of this transition. We dedicated time to announce this change from different angles. Given the simplicity of myDouglas, we started people off with the basics of Blackboard. Future workshops can address advanced tools.
Accomplishments ¾¾ We managed an institutional shift for over 300 faculty, by personalizing our workshops, and training and support efforts to speak to the individual needs of our clients. Workshop attendees told us they are more confident to use Blackboard. ¾¾ We improved the Faculty and Student Blackboard Community resources site for new and advanced users.
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
“
I had no experience with Blackboard, but I went to the workshop and two days later I was using it to set up my courses […] I can’t see me going back to myDouglas. Ken Anderson, instructor, Bachelor of Physical Education and Coaching Coordinator in the Sport Science Department.
Taking the training was helpful to be more strategic on how to use the material…it’s making my life much easier. Lisa Smith, instructor in the Sociology Department who had used other LMS in a previous job, became familiar with myDouglas to teach in the fall 2015 and, then, learned Blackboard to teach from winter 2016.
”
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Academic Technology Services
Blackboard performance improvements We implemented weekly testing to ensure that Blackboard performance and reliability reached and maintained an acceptable level. We were looking for task-specific response times in under three seconds or comparable to the results of our partner institutions: University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) and Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC). We created five basic performance benchmarks that will continue to be used for testing: ¾¾ Load all of your personal courses. ¾¾ Open a single class or course. ¾¾ Open a discussion thread. ¾¾ Access content in a folder. ¾¾ Access the grade centre.
accomplishment ¾ ¾ By developing these benchmarks, we were able to see performance inconsistencies between the two server nodes, so we replaced the slower server. Other performance improvements were made with the help of the Application Services team, Blackboard and other enterprise service providers. Below, a snapshot of those improvements. Nodes 2 and 3 represent the improved server arrangement.
Blackboard performance Benchmarks
Original response times Node 2 Node 3
Load your personal courses
Open a single class or course
Open a discussion thread
Access content in a folder
Access the grade centre
16.2
6.9
19.6
6.0
8.0
4.2
3.2
1.8
2.6
3.4
3.9
2.8
1.5
2.3
2.9
OBS: all the response times are given in seconds.
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
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Academic Technology Services
Hybrid course development We have continued our role in hybrid course design, development and support, that is, we have provided technology structure and allowed faculty the integration of technological solutions that encourage a variety of learning styles and objectives. Through the Hybrid Development Network (HDN), we have given special attention to faculty that are new to this way of teaching. In 2015, we had smaller groups and oneon-one training, which allowed us to develop relationships and promote engagement that hopefully will spread across the College. During this period, we assisted 18 faculty on their journey to hybrid course development and delivery.
accomplishment ž ž The outcomes of the HDN were a new video recording space, the Guest Speaker Series and the online design template.
Our numbers 100
Academic Technology Services: Excellent & Good %
80 2012
60
2013
40
2014
20
2015
0 Courtesy
Skills
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
Timeliness
Quality
Overall
This team elevated their level of service in 2015, with a strong push towards training and usage of Blackboard and the Community features. This has been well received by faculty, and is reflected in the results showing all five metrics at or above the 80% goal.
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Academic Technology Services
2016–2017: What’s next? Ongoing
Hybrid Development We have partnered with faculty from Accounting, Biology, Business, Child, Family & Community Studies, Communications, Criminology, English, Geography, Philosophy, Sports Science and Veterinary Technology to either develop full hybrid courses or to step onto the hybrid path. Some instructors, such as Sarah Paynter, Brandy Dudas and Barbara Lee, have developed and delivered hybrid courses. Others are taking an incremental approach to technology integration and course revision.
It is exciting to move from theory, conversations and planning to supporting faculty with their course development. An example of this support is the creation of our recording room, which has enabled multiple faculty to create videos and podcasts that meet their objectives. From social engagement videos to specific step-by-step instructional resources, faculty are engaging in alternative content delivery to the benefit of their students. This is a big step forward.
September 2016
Texidium e-textbook integration ATS will continue our support of Texidium — an e-reader platform that allows students to search for and highlight relevant content, bookmark pages for review, take personal notes, print and keep all this information synced on multiple devices. We are in the process of completing our second userinterface pilot. In September 2016, we will move onto a third pilot that includes a student payment process. To date, faculty from Health Sciences, Commerce and Business, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Science and Technology have participated in the pilots. Faculty were selected based on the instructors’ familiarity with e-textbooks.
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
Evaluation and recommendation of communication technologies We have too many options and a fair amount of overlap, such as Skype for Business, Blue Jeans, two flavours of Collaborate, and room-based and standardbased video conferencing and audio conferencing. ATS will develop a series of information pieces around each technology, including basic functionality and best-use cases that will allow our clients to choose the appropriate solution. We will also take this opportunity to justify or release ourselves from financial commitments.
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Academic Technology Services
Development of guidelines for externally-hosted and cloud-based technologies ATS is a member of a Learning Technology Steering Committee (LTSC) working group responsible for developing guidelines, and providing resources and recommendations for faculty and students about the use and application of externally-hosted and cloudbased technologies that support teaching and learning at the College. These guidelines, resources and recommendations meet existing provincial and institutional policy. The working group is formed by: ¾¾ Bill Archibald, Faculty, Business ¾¾ Laurie Beckworth, Faculty, Anthropology ¾¾ Nina Blanes, Faculty, Nursing ¾¾ Tim Paul, Manager, Academic Technology Services ¾¾ Debbie Schachter, Director, Learning Resources and Records Management
October 2016
Commitment to innovation: the Lightboard In educational technology, there are a number of factors to consider and two important questions to ask: Is it pedagogically sound and easy to use? Does the technology support the learning objectives defined by the instructor and can we minimize the technological barriers? With this in mind, the Lightboard has significant potential. The Lightboard is a large pane of architectural glass lit by strips of LED lights along the top and bottom of a frame. When someone draws on it with fluorescent markers, the annotations and diagrams pop out for their students. It is simple in design, but powerful and practical.
work is in the support strategy. We have the resources and knowledge, and innovative funding is approved. Now we will champion this technology from the planning stages to the technical recording and delivery of the final product.
Part of the magic to making this
With our assistance, faculty will
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
be able to walk into our studio with a plan and walk out with a finished online mini-lesson. They will not be burdened with learning new software or video editing. If they can write on a whiteboard, they can immediately use the Lightboard and focus only on communicating their ideas.
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Academic Technology Services
January 2017
Revision of the technology training direction The completed 2016 Instructional Technology Training Needs Assessment survey will allow us to review our current training practices and refocus our efforts. We will take this opportunity to explore gaps in our service and in the sustainability of the current training model. With reverence to Chris McDowell’s three-year event support plan, we will develop a three-year technology training plan. The idea is to lay out how we can retire some training efforts, repackage others, and explore new and interesting educational technology opportunities.
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
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A
pplication Services provides administrative application development and support, administration of databases, identity and access management, and installations, upgrades and support for applications that span the whole organization. More specifically, we provide: ¾¾ A pplication development for business functionality. ¾¾ Business process improvements and automation. ¾¾ A ccess control for Banner, myDouglas and Blackboard. ¾¾ Design specifications for integrations between our applications and Banner. ¾¾ Installations, upgrades and maintenance for Banner, Blackboard, myDouglas and databases. ¾¾ Assistance in the maintenance of other vendor-supported applications.
We also provide support for the applications listed below: ¾¾ Banner: Student (supports the functions of the Registrar’s Office), Finance (supports the Finance department), and
Human Resources and Position Control (supports HR and Payroll). ¾¾ Banner Self-Service for Students (supports functions such as registrations, payment and course schedule), and for Employees and Faculty (supports the functions of grade entry for students and personal information). ¾¾ Blackboard (online learning management system). ¾¾ myDouglas (portal for the Douglas College Community that provides email for everyone). ¾¾ ID card system (prints the ID cards for registered students). ¾¾ FAST Portal: Finance, HR and Student Reporting tools for Finance, HR and the Registrar’s Office respectively.
Application Services
What we do
¾¾ FAST Portal: Web Requisitioning (used to create requisitions for commodities and services online). ¾¾ Laserfiche (document management system). ¾¾ QlikView (institutional reporting and dashboard tool). ¾¾ O perating Capital database.
Our team 10 full-time employees
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
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Application Services
Why our services are relevant ¾ ¾ We analyze and program applications that support the business, when changes in the business are required. ¾ ¾ We grant employees access to Banner applications, based on their roles in the institution. ¾ ¾ When the College purchases software that requires data from Banner, we design interfaces to exchange data between them, all in close liaison with the vendor. ¾ ¾ We analyze and resolve issues that prevent the software from functioning as expected. ¾ ¾ When the vendor releases new versions of the software, we perform the upgrades to introduce new functionality, fix problems and keep up with changing technology.
Did you know?
577 users are active in the Banner application. 14 enterprise projects were completed in the last fiscal year. 284 operating capital requests were processed.
Top Projects 2015–2016 ¾ ¾ Blackboard upgrade ¾ ¾ Banner upgrade ¾ ¾ Douglas App implementation ¾ ¾ Implementation of FAST Portal Human Resources Reporting ¾ ¾ Change in FAST Portal authentication
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
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Application Services
Blackboard upgrade As part of our annual upgrade, we installed a major release of Blackboard to keep its environment up-todate. When upgrades are released, ATS and Application Services decide together what needs to be installed and when. Then, before a new semester, we install these upgrades and fixes (in the scope of this project, we also included a security patch to the database version). Mostly, faculty and students involved in online or hybrid learning are affected by these changes. But if the upgrades modify administrative features, then Blackboard administrators will be also impacted.
Accomplishment
¾ ¾ We have kept the Blackboard environment up-todate for the start of semester.
Banner upgrade In October 2015, we upgraded all the Banner modules that support the College, and this change allowed us to be more relevant in the versions of Banner required for Banner XE. The upgrade was a long process that involved all the departments that use Banner applications: Registrar’s Office, Finance, Purchasing, HR, Payroll, Infrastructure Services and Application Services.
We redid the customizations that had been introduced over the years, tested the software and resolved any issues raised before releasing it to our users.
Accomplishment
¾¾ We now have the most current Banner releases to support Banner XE modules.
Douglas App implementation In March 2016, a team with members from CEIT, Registrar’s Office, Marketing and Communications Office, and Office for New Students released Douglas App for Androids and iPhones. Douglas App is a quick and user-friendly way for students to access academic information, such as grades, timetables and exam schedules. They can also read College information and receive important announcements and information through notifications.
Accomplishment
¾ ¾ D ouglas App is available for current, past and future students in Google Play Store and App Store.
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
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Application Services
Implementation of FAST Portal Human Resources Reporting FAST Portal Human Resources Reporting was released to the users in June 2015. It provides reporting on staff hires, jobs, payroll and other employee-related information.
Accomplishment 他 他 The tool makes possible for the Human Resources and Payroll departments to report on the data from Banner on their own, without a lot of IT intervention.
Change in FAST Portal authentication The authentication for FAST Portal modules, such as Finance Reporting, Human Resources Reporting and Online Web Requisitioning, was changed. Instead of using Banner credentials, we are now using the computer network credentials.
The changes reduced the need to call the CEIT Help Desk about password resets.
Accomplishment 他 他 Previously, employees who did not use Banner on a regular basis and forgot to change their Banner password every three months would be locked out of FAST Portal. This change in authentication cleared out that issue and reduced the number of calls the CEIT Help Desk receives regarding password resets.
Our numbers Application Services: Excellent & Good % 100 80 2012
60
2013
40
2014
20
2015
0 Courtesy
Skills
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
Timeliness
Quality
Overall
In 2015, this team was involved in a number of significant software upgrades and reporting tool installs. The metrics exceeded the 80% goal in four areas, with timeliness only slightly below.
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Application Services
2016–2017: What’s next? JUNE 2016
Banner XE release in a test environment Banner XE, also known as Banner 9, is the next generation of Banner. Ellucian, the vendor, has been deploying Banner functionality in Banner XE over the last few years. Banner XE is meant to be flexible and modular, which gives the ability to phase in projects. Our goal is to release some of the modules into a test environment, so that our users can feel what it is like to use Banner XE and start planning the migration to the new version.
Flexible and modular, Banner XE will give us the ability to phase in projects.
Titanium implementation Titanium (a product by Titanium Software Inc.) is an electronic medical records system designed for university and college counselling centres. We will be installing this software to serve the Student Affairs and Services. The tool will modernize Douglas College Counselling Services, by improving the capability to keep track of students’ activity with counsellors (and across counsellors) and to keep online notes/records of these interactions within a database designed for this work.
DECEMBER 2016
JANUARY 2017
Cheque Scribe upgrade
Degree Works
We will be upgrading Cheque Scribe, cheque printing software. This is a mandatory upgrade. This software is used by the Finance and Payroll departments to print cheques for the Douglas Community and vendors.
Degree Works (a tool by Ellucian) helps students plan and graduate on time, by providing tools that show the courses and requirements they need. The initial phase is to deploy the academic advising and student planning portions.
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
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Client Services
What we do
C
lient Services is comprised of the Help Desk and Desktop Support teams. These two teams directly assist all users of technology in offices, classrooms and computer labs, and provide personal computing support to students, faculty and staff wherever they are. Learn more about each team:
Help Desk ¾ ¾ Answers service calls and requests coming by phone and email. ¾ ¾ Resolves the majority of calls on first contact and forwards the remaining to other CEIT teams for attention and resolution. ¾ ¾ Utilizes and maintains a service management system to monitor service levels and work order queues, help identify problems, administer user satisfaction surveys, and compile statistics and reports. Desktop Support ¾¾ Responds to incidents and service requests related to the users’ personal computers and other technology needs. ¾¾ Takes care of a large install base of Collegeowned personal computing devices in the New Westminster and Coquitlam campuses; in Surrey, where the Training Group has one of its offices; and in the hands of all users. We manage PCs (2,997), laptops (968), Mac laptops (80), tablets (239), networked laser printers (200), and multi-functional devices for copying,
printing and scanning (64). Out of 2,997 PCs, 1,178 are reserved to students: 679 in New Westminster and 499 in Coquitlam. They are installed in major labs, special-purpose labs, libraries and student work areas. The remaining PCs are located in e-classrooms, employee workrooms and offices.
Our team 13 full-time employees + 2 co-op students
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
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Client Services
Why our services are relevant ¾ ¾ We solve technology-related issues to help all users move forward with their regular activities. ¾ ¾ T hrough the Help Desk, we ensure that users always have a live person to receive their calls/inquiries and the issues are dealt with expeditiously. ¾ ¾ T hrough the Desktop Support, we ensure that the College-provided technology is functioning well and all technology users receive support when they need it. ¾ ¾ T he Desktop team assists all technology users, and manages and maintains the life cycle of the College PCs, laptops and mobile devices (from provision to disposal).
The Desktop Support managed:
Did you know?
2,997 desktop PCs 968 laptops 80 Mac laptops 239 tablets 200 networked laser printers 64 multi-functional devices
Top projects 2015–2016 ¾¾ Students Helping Students ¾¾ S ervice Management System replacement planning ¾¾ Evergreen replacement project
The Help Desk counted:
18,231 9,670 47%
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
calls and emails work orders first-call resolution rate
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Client Services
Students Helping Students This project provided more direct support to students in the use of technology. Two co-op students assisted fellow students with on-campus technology support in highdensity areas, such as computer labs and libraries in both campuses.
Sandeep Lohia (left) and Denis dos Santos (below): CEIT co-op students in winter 2016.
accomplishment 他 他 We provided in-person and remote support to Douglas College students by responding to 2,010 requests for help with ID cards, logins, computer functionality, printing, wireless and connectivity.
Service Management System replacement planning The Help Desk has been using an application called Service Desk Express (SDE) to track requests for services. SDE showed its age, and the vendor told us that the support would be discontinued. After finding and analyzing suitable options to replace it, we decided on the System Centre Service Manager (SCSM), a product from Microsoft that integrates well with our current environment and future direction in IT.
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
accomplishment 他他 We guided CEIT in choosing the replacement of SDE. SCSM is a system that allows the department to manage service calls more effectively and efficiently. The users are able to submit service requests online and receive automatic, regular updates regarding the status of their calls.
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Client Services
Evergreen replacement project CEIT maintains a four-year life cycle for all College personal computing devices. Every year the Desktop team replaces the oldest PCs. In the 2015–2016 fiscal year, we replaced: ¾¾ 380 employee PCs ¾¾ 358 student PCs ¾¾ 84 laptops ¾¾ 7 Apple desktops and laptops for special cases In the same period, we also added: ¾¾ 6 PCs ¾¾ 59 laptops ¾¾ 4 mobile tablets Retired computers and laptops are offered first to Douglas College programs. The balance is donated to charities that place them in needy organizations, as it happened to St. Christopher’s School, in Nanyuki, Kenya, where most students have access to computers only at school. “This donation is a great relief and will change the lives of many kids,” says Bernard Muthu, principal of St. Christopher’s. According to Muthu, computers are expensive to the average Kenyan and not every school receives government funds, yet the federal government has required schools to integrate e-learning into their curriculum.
“
This donation is a great relief and will change the lives of many kids. Bernard Muthu, principal St. Christopher’s School (Nanyuki, Kenya)
accomplishments
”
The placement of computers at St. Christopher’s School was coordinated by Afretech Aid Society, a Delta-based registered charity supporting developing countries. Afretech’s president, Bonnie Sutherland, remembers that the computers were delivered to the school in one day and, on the following day, everything was installed. “They must have worked all night to get this set up,” she says.
¾¾ We installed a new, improved version of student PCs with 16 GB of RAM and a Solid State Disk (SSD) hard drive in the computer labs in Coquitlam. Besides, additional 358 fast PCs have been installed in the New Westminster labs in 2015.
The machines that are not donated go to electronics recycling by certified environmentally responsible recyclers.
¾¾ We are now giving users local administrator rights for new laptops to allow them to install drivers and software.
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
¾¾ With faster PCs, we significantly cut down the user login time in the labs.
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Client Services
Our numbers Desktop Services: Excellent & Good % 100 80
2012
60
2013
40
2014
20
2015
0 Courtesy
Skills
Timeliness
Quality
Overall
This team continues to improve, and four of the five metrics are at or very close to the 80% goal. Timeliness of services continues to be a challenge for this team and has been identified as a priority for 2016.
Help Desk: Excellent & Good % 100
Performance in each 2012 category has been very good, and in 2015 the 60 2013 goal of 80% was met in 40 2014 four of the categories, with timeliness very 20 2015 close at 77%. The Help 0 Desk has an emergency Courtesy Skills Timeliness Quality Overall number (local 5333) for faculty who are at risk of losing a class due to technology issues. Technicians are dispatched immediately when an emergency call is received. In 2015 the CEIT team responded to 343 requests for emergency service, which is an average of 6.6 calls per week. The service has been very successful and appreciated by faculty. 80
Classroom Tech: Excellent & Good % 100 80 2012
60
2013
40
2014
20
2015
0 Courtesy
Skills
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
Timeliness
Quality
Overall
Improvements were made in each category in 2015, with all five exceeding the 80% goal. Technicians have been working to upgrade and simplify the technology functionality in classrooms and meeting rooms, with good success.
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Client Services
Lab Support: Excellent & Good %
100 80
2012
60
2013
40
2014
20
2015
0 Courtesy
Skills
Timeliness
Quality
Overall
Lab support metrics have improved significantly in all five categories. This is attributed to new hardware in the past two years, as well as simplified images, virtualized applications and faster logins.
2016–2017: What’s next? JULY 2016-SEPTEMBER 2017
Implementation of Microsoft System Center Service Manager The implementation of System Center Service Manager (SCSM) as our service management system will be our number-one Help Desk project. We aim not only at transitioning and improving the Service Desk Express (SDE), but also implementing new system capabilities to support other stages in the life cycle of IT services. SCSM will enable the department to improve the
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
service levels to all users by providing them with additional means to interact with the CEIT teams in an easier and more expeditious way. The implementation will happen in stages: one to replace SDE (before 2018), and another to enhance and add capabilities to the Service Management System (in 2018 and beyond).
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I
nfrastructure Services is responsible for the end-to-end computing experience for all students and employees at Douglas College. Our team builds the desktop computer configurations, serves the applications that students and employees require to work, and builds and maintains the network that their information travels on. At the same time, we ensure that their data is housed on our servers and safeguarded from loss.
Why our services are relevant ¾ ¾ We provide fundamental services to the virtual collaboration of everyone at the College: desktop computer configuration; application delivery; network and Internet access; automatic network account provisioning and deprovisioning; network and wireless authentication; file and resource access; network
and server security; telephone services; data backup and restoration; email; and server operation and maintenance. ¾¾ W ithout this network infrastructure and the movement of data from one place to another, our work methods and styles would return to the 1980s, when we used sneakernet (the transfer of data through removable media, e.g., compact disks and flash drives, as a way to share the work with our colleagues).
Infrastructure Services
What we do
We have approximately:
Did you know?
3,000 desktops imaged 1,000 laptops imaged 200 servers 160 network devices 6,000 concurrent wireless users 1,600 telephones
Top projects 2015–2016 ¾ ¾ Main Equipment Room (MER) build, upgrade and move ¾ ¾ Continued conversion of telephones to VoIP ¾ ¾ Implementation of EduCloud
Our team 11 full-time employees
¾ ¾ Processes automation and systems integration ¾ ¾ Completion of Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
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Infrastructure Services
Main Equipment Room (MER) build, upgrade and move In 2015, Douglas College was funded by the provincial government to build a new MER, the space that houses the bulk of the IT equipment that services the needs of our clients. This construction happened between September 2015 and February 2016. CEIT staff moved server and networking components to this room in February 2016 in a marathon 18-hour session.
accomplishments ¾ ¾ We now have a state-of-the-art MER, which will serve the College well for the coming decades. ¾ ¾ We removed a number of significant risks from the College’s risk register. The previous MER was in danger of water damage from a number of sources, including overhead water pipes and a washroom above the room.
Infrastructure Services Manager Kim Reeves and Network Technician Marena Karasevich discuss maintenance of MER (at the top); staff work 18 hours straight on the last stage of the move (above) that not only removed the existing risks, but also created an organized space (right).
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Infrastructure Services
Continued conversion of telephones to VoIP In the past, the telephone system ran on its own independent network and wiring to all of the offices. Looking at the College’s financial responsibility, CEIT continues to move all telephone traffic to our data network, a process known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). This project was scheduled for completion in the fiscal year 2016-2017, but was moved back for completion in 2017-2018. We are also implementing Skype for Business, previously named Microsoft Lync, department by department, to achieve a unified
communication environment to assist our clients in their business processes and needs.
accomplishments ¾¾ We reduced ongoing costs and reliance on legacy phones. ¾¾ With VoIP, we increased reliability and the number of features. ¾¾ Employees are mobilized by having one local they can be reached at regardless of which campus they are at.
Implementation of EduCloud The changes in the IT services landscape over the last few years have been significant. Cloud computing allows for access to new server resources without having to buy physical devices. We are using EduCloud, a private BC-hosted cloud computing service.
accomplishment ¾ ¾ We have built development environments for Blackboard, Banner XE, Banner Mobile and CSIS instructors.
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Infrastructure Services
Processes automation and systems integration We are always looking at automating repeatable manual processes, so that the work is completed as soon as a decision is made. For example, when the College hires employees and records this information in Banner (our authoritative student and employee system), a network and an email accounts are automatically created for them. Other automation solution has been to assign accounts into roles. Roles can be as broad as a department or as narrow as a workgroup or team. Access to resources is automated based on a role or position and not on a person. This procedure allows much more efficient assignment of access to resources now and in the future.
subsequent publishing of that information in DC Connect.
Improvements like this positively affect our network performance and increase the speed and security at which the information arrives to our clients. At the same time, they lower the complexity and amplify the value of our processes. We achieved our goals by thoroughly planning, paying attention to details and minimizing the impact to our clients.
¾ ¾ We have automated provisioning of employee accounts into roles and used this information to provide faster access to resources.
accomplishments
¾ ¾ We have simplified our processes to deliver more value and less complexity to students, employees and administration.
¾ ¾ We have simplified the update to the extensions and location information for employees, and the
¾ ¾ We have improved our ability to make software changes and updates to the student labs. ¾ ¾ We have increased the security of our networks, servers and client computers.
Completion of Business Impact Analysis (BIA) Safety, Security and Risk Management has embarked on an enterprise-wide Business Continuity Management program, and the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is a major part of that. BIA is the foundation of the business continuity planning. It examines an organization’s operational resilience by assessing its business unit functions to determine the
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
impact of a disruption or interruption, the tolerance for downtime and the resources required for timely recovery.
accomplishment ¾¾ We coordinated the development of BIA submissions for all CEIT teams.
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Infrastructure Services
Our numbers Telephone Services: Excellent & Good % 100 80 2012
60
2013
40
2014
20
2015
0 Courtesy
Skills
Timeliness
Quality
Overall
Recent upgrades to the telephone system and handsets, including a move to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), have improved the ability to maintain reliable voice systems. Four of the five metrics exceeded the 80% goal in 2015, with timeliness falling just short. Timeliness is a priority for this team as well.
2016–2017: What’s next? JUNE 2016
Implementation of SharePoint In the fall of 2015, Douglas College implemented an intranet called DC Connect, which makes it easier for departments and faculties to share information with all employees. Phase 2 begins this year with collaboration between teams and sites with document storage. Future phases will address the need for services such as a document management system and the potential to automate workflows. We will be heavily involved in this implementation both to assist the success of this enterprise-wide rollout and to ensure that CEIT has the internal technical knowledge and processes ready to support the College employees. We are also consulting with departments to assist in the creation of new document management structures in connection with the Records Information Management system.
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Infrastructure Services
JUNE–AUGUST 2016
Migration of Internet service provider Douglas College will be switching our Internet service provider from Provincial Learning Network (PLNet) to British Columbia Network (BCNet). This change will increase the bandwidth available to our students and employees, and vastly improve the reliability of our connection to the Internet. This work will require the upgrade of our network firewalls and Internet gateway routers.
AUGUST 2016
IT contingency planning We will be upgrading our data backup solution with new hardware to increase our ability to recover from data loss and our flexibility to ensure that all data is backed up in a secure location.
This project will increase our ability to recover from data loss.
MARCH 2017
Expansion of Skype for Business Skype for Business (previously named Microsoft Lync) is a consolidated application platform that shows a person’s presence and availability in the organization. Employees can be contacted at their extensions, cell phones (if they use a mobile provided by the College), email and Instant Messenger. For example, Skype for Business shows their presence as “busy” if they are in meetings because it is integrated with the Outlook calendar. With this type of information available, the application will allow employees to quickly choose the method they consider the most efficient at the moment to contact someone. We are deploying Skype technology on a department-by-department basis.
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IT Security
What we do
I
T Security plans, develops, promotes and evaluates the effectiveness of the College’s information security systems, which includes information security policies and procedures, vulnerability audits and assessments, investigation of information security breaches, and incident response activities.
Why our services are relevant ¾ ¾ We protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information at the College. ¾ ¾ We enable business and reduce liability for the College.
Did you know?
Phishing emails are increasingly used to try and compromise our computer environment. As information security gets better and better, the bad guys are resorting
to phishing attempts to try and obtain user credentials for our environment. We have improved our phishing defences (see stats under Our numbers section on page 31).
Top projects 2015–2016 ¾ ¾ Information security awareness training ¾ ¾ Notifications of phishing attempts to the College community
All Douglas employees should take advantage of this training.
Information security awareness training In 2014, we implemented an information security awareness training program called Securing the Human. The online training covers various topics in information security, including selection of good passwords, protection of the computer and home network, and Internet safety.
accomplishment
Our team 2 full-time employees
¾ ¾ To date, 41 per cent of the College employees have completed or started the training.
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IT Security
Notifications of phishing attempts to the College community To address the risk from phishing emails (those designed to trick us into giving up our user ID, password or other personal information), we started sending out warnings to employees. These warnings include the actual phishing email that attempted to obtain College account information. Identification information has been added to the warnings to demonstrate why the email was identified as a phishing email. This
is an ongoing procedure. The CEIT Help Desk has also implemented a standard template for notifications to help users quickly distinguish a genuine message from our team versus a phishing attempt.
accomplishment žž By building solutions to block access to phishing sites, CEIT has protected the College against credential disclosure.
Our numbers Phishing Attempts - 2015/16 25 20 15 10
5 0
Phishing Clicks
People who Clicked
Since September 2015, we are keeping stats on the number of employees who clicked the links in the phishing emails the Help Desk sent out warnings for (we also blocked them from actually getting to those links). Eightynine employees were saved from 94 phishing attempts.
Spam emails blocked in 2016 Month
Number of spam emails blocked
Average number of spam emails per email address
January
37,385
14.99
February March April
40,634 53,662 48,919
15.87 20.72 19.51
May
104,999
40.35
June
183,884
73.91
CEIT Annual Report 2015-2016
Our email service provider blocks spam messages on our behalf (see the numbers on the left). Although not shown in these stats, some email addresses receive more spam than others. The reason is our Internet habits. For example, people who often click spam links or register for contests are likely to receive more spam than those who do not.
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IT Security
2016–2017: What’s next? Addition of security controls
Encryption of mobile devices
We will keep adding security controls to detect security incidents and intrusions. Most of the current controls are preventive in nature. The detective controls provide information when the preventive controls fail.
We will be adding encryption to Douglas mobile devices to prevent information disclosure in case they are lost or stolen. These devices include College laptops, tablets and smartphones.
Implementation of two-factor authentication Our two-factor authentication will use a password and a code obtained from your smartphone. For someone to access your account, they would have to know your password and have access to your smartphone. This year we will be rolling out two-factor authentication for key support and application accounts that have access to sensitive data.
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Appendix A
CEIT organization chart CEIT Ian McLeod CIO Office of the CIO
Academic Technology Services Tim Paul Manager
Application Services Shalini Verghese Manager
Infrastructure Services
IT Security and Client Services
Kim Reeves Manager
Andy Scott Manager
Projects and Business Solutions Amandip Sidhu Manager
Desktop Services Kerry Wong Supervisor Help Desk Services Michele Perry Supervisor Updated on June 2016
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CEIT Effectiveness: Excellent & Good %
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
The data on this page and under Our numbers, in each CEIT section, reflects the feedback received from staff and faculty surveys. The previous survey was held in November 2015.
2012
Appendix B
More CEIT numbers
2013
In addition to measuring each 2015 department area individually, respondents were asked to rate the entire CEIT group on seven effectiveness metrics. Substantial increases have been noted in strategic direction, client relations and leadership, while the remaining four areas have held at approximately the same level or slightly higher. The same 80% level as a group is the CIO’s goal by the end of 2016. 2014
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Technology Satisfaction: Excellent & Good %
2012 2013
Besides measuring the 2015 department performance, survey respondents were asked to rate their satisfaction with a number of the technologies supported by CEIT. In 2015 there were substantial improvements in at least six of the metrics.
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2014
34