JMU Information Technology

Major Accomplishments by Characteristic 2003-2004

5. The university's strength is its people and thus, we will invest in both professional development and instructional innovation and excellence.
   • Information Technology staff have again taken advantage of a variety of training and professional development opportunities both on- and off-campus. On-campus included twelve staff members completing the Supervisor Training Leadership Series through Human Resources and Drew Davis completed the Impact3 Leadership Development Program. Off-campus, staff from Information Systems attended a number of PeopleSoft training classes and several attended the Higher Education Users Group Conference hosted by PeopleSoft. Computing Support staff attained a total of twelve certifications and utilized over $4,400 of H1-B funded training opportunities. Technical Services identified key needs in the areas of EMC, Network Routing, Windows/Linux/Netware Server Administration, Security, and Backup/Storage. Training was provided to appropriate staff in these areas. Staff from Technical Services and Computing Support attended Novell’s Brainshare Conference. Other major areas of training focused on the Commonwealth of Virginia’s new Project Management Standards and Computer Incident Response.
   
   
6. The university will be a diverse community whose members share a common JMU experience.
   • Robin Bryan served on the Presidential Commission on Diversity by chairing the Classified Staff subcommittee.
   
   
7. The university will serve our state and the region, but through its people, programs and accomplishments, will be recognized on a national basis.
   • JMU in October 2003 was ranked 15th in the nation in a survey by the Princeton Review of “The Top 25 Most Connected Campuses”, identifying colleges with cutting-edge technology for its students.
   • JMU in April 2004 leads the Commonwealth among colleges and universities in providing wireless campus access. Intel Corporation, in its first top 100 ranking, placed JMU 39th in the nation and the highest ranked college in Virginia.

9. The University will enhance and diversify funding sources to achieve initiatives campus-wide.
   • Restructured the funding model used for telephone PIN numbers to generate additional income and enhance service. The changes went into effect on May 10, 2004.
   
   
10. The university will develop broad-based financial support and involvement among alumni, parents and friends.
    
    
11. The university, to enhance and support its programs, will expand its strategic alliances with external partners.
    • Along with partners from George Mason, UVa, and Virginia Tech presented information about the VASCAN (Virginia Alliance for Secure Computing and Networking) as part of the Educause national conference agenda.
    • Received the Governor’s Technology Award for JMU’s participation in originating the VASCAN (Virginia Alliance for Secure Computing and Networking) consortium to share expertise and best practices on information security.
    
    
12. The university will follow a planning process that emphasizes accountability and ties resource allocation and initiatives to the concepts of institutional effectiveness.
    • Completed the review of the critical functions and systems as the basis for annual update to the JMU Contingency Plan for Central Computing and Telecommunications.
    
    
13. The university, through its planning process, will clearly align aspirations, wills and resources to achieve its goals.
    
    
14. The university will involve the entire community in a well-defined, consistently-used and commonly understood process for planning and decision-making.
    

19. The university will provide technologies and laboratories that are widely accessible to the entire campus community.
    • Completed upgrade of student system to PeopleSoft’s web-based release Version 8. Utilized the Active Tune process from Mercury Interactive to simulate and test the new system under load. This allowed us to successfully prepare for system demand after go-live of version 8. Developed and delivered training for 500+ SA users.
    • J-Ess – Two phases of J-Ess (JMU Employee Self-Service) have been made available to university employees. Training was developed and delivered. Phase I included pay advice, leave, compensation and training summaries. Phase II included updates of addresses, phone numbers, emergency contact information and publication privacy restrictions. The third phase is in the process of being determined through seeking input from stakeholders. A proposal will be made to management by the end of the fiscal year.
    • Began re-implementation of Finance System and a June 2005 “go-live” is targeted to support a fiscal year transition.
    • Implementing a new bulk mail process to go live by June 30, 2004. Messages are categorized as “official” or “informational” and must be approved for faculty/staff by Human Resources and for students by the Registrar’s Office. Faculty and staff may opt out of “informational” but not “official”.
    • Installed or improved wireless network access in CISAT Modular, Moody, Roop, Burruss, Miller, Sheldon, Duke, Godwin, Taylor, College Center, Showker, Convo Center, Wilson-Telecom, Hoffman, 1598 South Main and HHS. Also installed wireless in two houses in Washington, DC to support students during their participation in the Washington Semester Program. Conducted a “Wireless Rodeo Day” to assist students, faculty and staff in configuring their laptop computers to use the wireless networks.
    • The following buildings have been rewired and upgraded to 100mb connections: Roop Hall, Frye Building, Warren 3rd, 4th, 5th Floors, Wilson 3rd, 4th and 5th floors Wellington, Smith, Smith-Annex, Med Arts South, Court Square, Warren Hall – Old Bookstore Offices, Hillside Lab, Chandler Lab, Moody, Wampler Hall IT Staff, Ashby Lab, Varner Hall, Maury Hall Lab, Carrier Library Lab, Library Media resources, and South Main Warehouses. Rewired and installed 100mb access in computer labs in Miller G40, Hillside, Burruss, and Carrier Library.
    • We contracted with Dimension Data to assist us in developing a three year plan for our backup and storage needs. The project kicked off in March and was completed in June with these objectives: to review JMU's storage and storage network requirements for the next 36 months, to review JMU's current backup/recovery requirements to supports the storage requirement, to review JMU's current disaster recovery requirements to support the storage requirements, to develop a storage, storage networking and backup-recovery road map for the next 36 months and to document the 36 month road map.
    • Combined General and IS training programs. Move-in to the newly renovated combined facility is scheduled for June 2004.
    
    
20. The university will continue to be recognized as an efficient, overachiever in its use of resources in the total educational program it offers.
    • e-grading through e-Campus was piloted for faculty in Fall 2003 and made mandatory in Spring 2004. A method for uploading grades in mass was piloted and will be available to all faculty in Summer 2004.
    
    
21. The university will provide a high level of service to all members of the JMU community.
    • Wrote and supported web-based model for Student Government Association elections. In addition, coordinated and assisted the SGA with their on-line elections by organizing placement and setup of computers in strategic areas around campus.
    • Worked with the Libraries and Educational Technologies to develop and distribute an IT satisfaction survey.
    • Significantly reduced the number of RIAA violations by working with Student Affairs and Human Resources to establish a process for handling complaints received from the recording and motion picture industries about students and/or employees who download/distribute copyrighted music and videos.
    • Completed an information security Incident Response Plan. This work will help IT achieve compliance with an internal audit point on this topic. The plan was implemented in February 2004 and has been used as a guide in handling several recent incidents.
    • Supported a significant upgrade to the Blackboard course management system by providing technical expertise in designing the architecture and assisting the CIT department with resolving issues at school start.
    • A phased roll-out of eVa has begun and is being evaluated by a steering committee represented by Finance, Procurement and Information Systems. The roll-out will continue in a phased manner due to on-going changes in the system.
    • Implemented and upgraded the interfaces for non-centralized systems which included PowerPark e-commerce, Health Center system, and the AXIS Telecom system.
    • Phase out use of Social Security Numbers. Many uses of SSN have been eliminated and analysis continues. An enhancement to the student system was added to mask either part or all of the SSN field as added protection. The work is on-going as interfaces and external systems are evaluated.
    • Supported recovery efforts from the Medical Arts fire.
    • In the Spring semester we installed two Intrusion Detection Devices on our Internet connections. These devices have raised our security fence by allowing us to block viruses, worms and scans from entering our network.
    • Our new E-mail system was installed in the Spring of 2002, but was not under load until the Fall of 2003. The major enhancements for this system were the ability to get to e-mail from anywhere using the Web, virus and spam filtering and faster message delivery.
    • We successfully upgraded the E-mail system in May of 2004. The upgrade included the latest version of software, new hardware for all Message Directors, the addition of a fourth Director and the re-distribution of all users over three Message stores instead of two. The latest version of software has enhanced Webmail processing, better virus and spam filtering and many new features.
    
    
22. The university will continue to offer and develop programs and services with the student as its ultimate focus.
    
    
23. The university will provide students and student-athletes with a comprehensive and competitive intercollegiate athletics program.
    
    
24. The university's campus will be attractive, safe and friendly.
    • Hillside Lab has been equipped with security cameras and card-reader access which has all but eliminated security incidents in the lab. Card-reader access on all other labs is in process of being installed and expected to be completed in June 2004.