IT Transformation Town Hall Meeting
May 2, 2008
- Storage services largest priority for Enterprise Research Computing Services.
- Student Systems Transporation implementation includes document imaging solution, ImageNow.
Read on for more information...
The May 2nd, 2008 Town Hall, a bi-monthly event aimed at progressing communications through uniting Information Technology professionals to exchange ideas, provide a forum for feedback, and ultimately find opportunities for increased collaboration, offered two presentation topics.
Research Projects IT Update
The first presentation, entitled Research Projects IT Update, was given by Matt Stock, Manager, Enterprise Research Computing Services (ERCS). Stock provided information about ERCS, the recent research IT survey, and current projects and status. For the detailed slide presentation, click here.
Stock explained that the ERCS, a new unit of the Chief Information Office, is formalized with the goals of identifying research needs, implementing and supporting research services, and coordinating and managing such services within campus IT. Initially a survey tool was utilized to verify that the goals of ERCS were on track, to prioritize research IT investments and to identify high value projects. The survey results, which yielded a strong response rate, provided ERCS with a recommended set of specific topics to focus on:
- Plan for Increased Computing Needs
- Research Data Storage Needs
- Networking
- Collaboration Tools
- Research Grant Administration and
- Programming and Staff Support
The survey report is located here.
“By far, the largest concern is storage services and we are aiming to complement what other entities, such as the CCR, have in place to meet the needs,” Stock said. “We hope to bring in external funding in the future for storage services for research,” he added. The large data sets being stored by researchers are not only relevant for their current projects, they are most often called upon over a span of time, and therefore require long-term storage capabilities. “Developing an affordable storage solution is a priority,” Stock emphasized.
Planning began in November 2007 to implement Condor, a specialized workload management system for compute-intensive jobs. A collaborative effort between the CIO and the CCR units, the goal is to make unused computing capacity in public sites available to researchers. The project completed on schedule in early April 2008 providing a storage capacity of approximately 1.2 Teraflops.
Also in the project planning phases are MyUB Research Channel to improve the availability of information, a cross-institutional document collaboration tool to allow researchers to share documents, and a PI Faculty profiling system that has a searchable index of faculty research activities allowing faculty with common interests to easily connect.
Stock concluded his presentation by revealing ERCS’s list of future projects being planned, which include a Research Wiki, desktop videoconferencing, improved accounts management for external collaborators, research software licensing, a research drop box, and database collections.
Student Services Transformation: ImageNow Product
Next, Jim Gorman, Manager of Application Development, Administrative Computing Services facilitated an off-site demonstration of the ImageNow product in the Peoplesoft environment by Lori Kruse of Perceptive Softare, Inc.
Gorman first provided the background of Student Systems Transformation, a UB2020 large project that seeks to fundamentally transform the ways that faculty and staff deliver - and students access - the tools and services that support their university lives by evaluating the multiple components of our current student system and exploring ways to improve and integrate them.
Through the Student Services Assessment project, which reviewed our current systems, and formed an understanding of our business processes and the related needs for the system, Oracle has been selected as the solution to best fit our needs. “The Oracle package does student services extremely well, and there are 3rd party solutions that round out the package even better. ImageNow is one of those 3rd party solutions, which provides document imaging services,” Gorman stated. “Most campuses find that ImageNow is an effective solution. Furthermore, we don’t believe this will be limited to just Student Systems; it will be useful for other departments,” he added.
See Kruse's presentation materials, which include detailed information on the ImageNow software's features and capabilities.
Check the UB2020 IT Stratgic Transformation website for information on the next IT Town Hall, scehduled for a date to be determined during the summer.
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UB 2020 IT Transformation Project Communication Team