University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

IT Transformation Town Hall Meeting

September 14, 2007

Where's my Dell Computer!

Although the format for the September 14, 2007 Town Hall meeting was advertised as UB 2020 IT Strategic Transformation (ITST) Project Round Table discussions, organizers took the opportunity to address one particular set of issues with a presentation: “Where’s My Dell Computer!”, presented by Ray Volpe, the Program Director for UBMicro Services, the UB’s authorized higher education reseller which offers of computer products at special educational discounts.   The recent implementation of the Workstation Standardization project (a UB 2020 ITST initiative) team’s recommendations resulted in enormous cost savings on Dell computers (See Details).  Ray explained why we are experiencing delays at Dell and how to most effectively place orders. Volpe listed four reasons for the shipment delays UB is currently experiencing:

1. Dell’s installation of an incorrect software image;
2. The world-wide shortage of the glass used in notebook and flat-panel monitors;
3. An unpredicted simultaneous large order Dell received from the Federal Government; and
4. Replacement models having unforeseen hardware conflicts

  “We are not an exception; higher education schools all over the country are having similar experiences”, Ray added.  Ray reviewed the current timetable of expected delivery and advised that any orders placed today are estimated to take approximately four weeks to be fulfilled.

Volpe’s presentation continued by describing that a team has recently been created at UBMicro to focus solely on Dell order processing to provide quicker service.  The UBMicro website (click on the UB 2020 image) is by far the most efficient method to order the UB 2020 Dell computers, configured specifically for the common user at UB.  “The Workstation Standardization project team estimated that the UB 2020 configured computers should meet about 80% of campus needs”, Ray said.  The pricing acquired at UBMicro is not available elsewhere.  For those that are seeking to customize their new computers, the Dell OGS website has the best prices available, and is linked from the UBMicro UB 2020 web page.  Ray concluded “We are working on continued improvements to the communication process”.

Rick Lesniak, Director for Academic Services, emphasized “Please do not go to Dell directly to place orders.  It will take way more time to acquire your computer and it will cost more.  Go to the OGS sites.  We are really very lucky to have UBMicro for the huge value that it provides.   Other schools are chomping at the bit to have what we have.  We owe a debt of gratitude to the UB 2020 process and to UBMicro.”

Question: Will you be sending out the tracking numbers for customers to follow their orders?
Answer: We have done this previously upon request and are now implementing a more proactive service to automatically provide tracking numbers to all campus customers. You can expect this service in about two weeks.

Question: Is the Ghost software currently being distributed to departments available at no charge to the departments, and will the software upgrades be automatically provided? 
Answer: An assessment of campus needs is currently being concluded by ASCIT and distribution of the new licenses through UBMicro will follow shortly thereafter.

Question: Do we need to keep track of where the licenses for each computer are going?
Answer: Yes.

Question: Will UBMicro be stocking UB 2020 machines?
Answer: UB 2020 configured computers currently are stocked for personal purchases and small departmental orders.

Round Table Discussions

The remaining time of the Town Hall was held in a round table format where attendees were given the opportunity to participate in informal discussions led by project team leaders and members. Free-flowing exchange of experiences, discussions about project issues and goals, and exchange of questions and answers occurred among the eighty or so participants. Next is a briefing of the highlights of the conversations at the project tables and additional project updates as provided.

Shared IT Service Desk

The Shared IT Service Desk project table was a popular one, led by team member Matt Stock. At a critical point in the project, the request for proposals for the service desk tools has been submitted to purchasing. A main concern of attendants is related to the project scope. People are asking if the tools that are ultimately recommended will be made available to any and all UB areas, or just those with a focus of Information Technology. Matt explained that the primary focus is for Information Technology service areas at this time.

VoIP

The implementation schedule for being converted to the VoIP phone system is the big question for the VoIP project leaders. 951 VoIP phone sets are now working on the system and the team has begun planning the infrastructure build process with IPLogic. | See Schedule

Workstation Standardization

The Workstation Standardization project team leaders provided an overview of the standard hardware and software, the update process, and how the standards were developed. When asked about the lifespan of the hardware configurations, the team leaders explained that continued reviews of the configurations are occurring as part of the project plan, when hardware models are replaced by newer ones, or if there are significant changes to the software packages included in the base images. An overview was provided of X-Image3, the tool that is used to build the image, and of how the resultant Ghost and Dell Recovery format images are deployed. An item of concern is whether there will be a knowledge base for the standard configuration systems. A knowledge base would be very useful for finding out detailed information about how images are constructed and configured, where they can be obtained should a machine need to be re-imaged, where to get additional patches for images, and so on. It would also be useful to be able to provide feedback to such a knowledge base, such as driver issues and other concerns that may need to be addressed by future image builds. One idea mentioned is to establish a Wiki, where anyone can contribute their thoughts, ideas, findings, hints and tips.

Strategic Information Reporting Initiative

The topics that generated the most discussion at the SIRI project table were: the current status of the project, who is involved in the planning and building of SIRI, how will security be handled in SIRI, what data and information is included and how will it be pulled into SIRI, and what will be the impact of SIRI on current university transactional systems and departmental databases. Currently the SIRI project is in the second phase which is focused on financial and human resource data as well as on building the foundation of the system, including procurement of hardware, software, data modeling and creation of reports. Phase II of the project is on track for beginning rollout in February 2008, with a focus on incorporating financial and human resource data into SIRI with later phases including research, space, philanthropy and student data. The planning and building of SIRI is a collaborative effort which is necessary considering the number of large IT projects on campus and the need to really reach out across campus and leverage resources. Based on current system usage, it is anticipated that there will be roughly 1,200 users of SIRI, including senior campus leadership, administrative and financial officers and front end users. While the current plan looks to simplify access and security as much as possible there is also the goal of using mechanisms that exist for Infosource while addressing the need to incorporate access that crosses multiple data sources which hasn't existed in the past. There were specific discussions that arose regarding capital rehab expenditures and an additional conversation on differing procedures and policies for various data sources and how this plays a significant role sometimes in the business intelligence and logic that needs to be built into SIRI. One example given was with regard to use of encumbrances in some financial systems on campus. | See Membership List

Student Systems Assessment

The recent Student Systems Assessment project team update specifies the schedule of the upcoming vendor demonstrations available to you. The student systems software vendors that responded to the project's RFI will be presenting similar scripted scenarios. In addition, take a look at the archived updates, which address many of the questions and concerns that we've been hearing. | See Updates

Servers and Services Consolidation

The sub-teams of the Servers and Services Consolidation Project held discussions at their individual tables and are named Anti-Virus/Patch/Firewall/Backup, Database, E-mail - Exchange, E-mail - Unix, and File/Print.

Richard Amantia, team leader for anti-virus/patch/firewall/backup implementation team facilitated the discussion which was primarily on the topic of firewalls. Richard emphasized that the goal is to provide a node-managed solution, with a consolidated back-end. The UB Patch Manage Solution has moved in to the project management phase. The committee completed its work with two patch management vendors, Microsoft and Shavlik Technologies. Using their products, Microsoft WSUS and NetChk Protect, the committee brought forward a proposal to implement a "UB Campus wide Patch Management Solution".

The E-mail - Unix implementation team facilitator, Larry Schnitzer, summed up that the 4 prerequisites to unix e-mail consolidation are expected to be ready for test in a week or two by the nodes and interested parties. If this goes well a general rollout to the campus is expected to occur around mid October. The 4 prerequisites to unix e-mail consolidation are:

1. Improved spam detection and handling infrastructure using a quarantine and digest info sent to users.
2. A mail alias tool that allows delegate management of aliases.
3. Authenticated secure smtp service.
4. An improved e-mail filtering tool.

Several topics arose during the discussion at the E-mail - Exchange implementation team table including server redeployment, the migration schedule, e-mail archiving, and the plan for administrative accounts. It was clarified that post migration departmental Exchange servers can be redeployed and that an effort is being made to port current administrative tasks and functionality to the new consolidated environment. Questions regarding Symantec E-Vault, soon to be tested by the team, were fielded The E-mail ? Exchange implementation team is just concluding the analysis of the proof of concept (POC) engagement. The team is focused on completing any outstanding POC testing and finalizing the infrastructure design based on the testing results. Once complete, the team will begin to prepare the quality assurance environment for the evaluation of the active email archiving solution.

One of the most popular questions brought to the File/Print implementation team table was "When will the file service be made available" and it was explained that the project team is targeting that the pilot be rolled out during the spring 2008 timeframe. It is recommended that hardware purchases in the shorter term be evaluated against how immediate the needs are. The ideal scenario is to hold off on purchases until the file service becomes available if at all possible. Other topics of discussion include how departments will access the file service and how the UBFS replacement plan affects this project.

Currently, a gap analysis of the RFO responses that have been received is in progress. Also, initial archive, chargeback and quota models were recently presented to the team leader group for discussion.

The next IT Town Hall is scheduled for Friday November 2nd, 2007 at 8:30am in 120 Clemens on the North Campus.

We hope you found this UB 2020 IT Transformation Project Update useful and informative. We are always interested in hearing from you. | Contact Us

UB 2020 IT Transformation Project Communication Team