We are a strategic asset for UMKC’s missions of leading in health sciences; deepening and expanding strength in the visual and performing arts; developing a professional workforce and collaborating in urban issues and education; and creating a vibrant learning and campus life experience.
Information Services has adjusted to changes in the overall approach to IT both at the UM System and local campus level. IS is moving towards a more remote based support model that has lowered our overall staffing level. The campus is moving towards a new base and custom services support model. Base services provided to the entire campus and custom services are specific to an academic, auxiliary or support unit.
Customer satisfaction continues to remain extremely high. Support Services has a 96% Very Satisfied rating. This chart represents customer satisfaction data collected from surveys closed by Support Services for the period of July 2018 through September 2018.
Since combining the Call Center and Desktop Support groups on October 1, IS Support Services has monitored the first contact resolution as a new metric to determine the effectiveness of moving to a more focused remote based support model.
Support Services moved forward with a recommendation from an external consulting group and leadership to consolidate two support teams. The staffing change was recommended to increase efficiencies. On October 1, the new Technology Support Center went live. This new group was comprised of two teams - the Call Center and Desktop Support. There was a significant cross-training effort that occurred during the fall timeframe to accommodate these changes as well as the staffing reductions that occurred during the same period, due to budget cuts. Cross-training efforts will continue throughout the coming months.
Information Services is rapidly migrating to Windows 10 in anticipation of the scheduled end-of-life of Windows 7 on January 14, 2020. With thousands of computers to upgrade before then, this is a multi-year project. We have migrated over 500 Windows 7 computers.
In addition to upgrading Windows 7 to Windows 10, we have successfully upgraded over 500 Windows 10 computers to newer versions. The goal is to upgrade another 2,500 systems this fall.
We have worked on a u-wide initiative to plan and implement a new IT Service Management tool (ITSM) which will replace Remedy. The new system, called Cherwell was identified and purchased just prior to the end of 2018. Numerous initiatives have been completed thus far, including the design and development workshops, a new service catalog, governance policies, etc. Campuses worked together to configure the system with a goal of streamlining and standardizing many of our processes. We are on schedule to complete phase one with an estimated go live date of October 1, 2018.
We expanded on our thin imaging project to include all of the campus Apple computer labs. This required packaging all the lab software in order to take advantage of the new process.
In addition, multiple JAMF upgrades were completed. JAMF is the solution used to manage and deploy software to campus Apple computers.
Continued work on the consolidation of campus domains into a single, shared, UM AD domain. Much work was done to determine the framework for the new domain, determining an appropriate shared governance policy, and identifying the technical requirements for the new domain. In addition, user migration testing plans have been formulated and testing has started. User migration is expected to occur in 2019.
The Testing Center has recently worked with Support Services on the implementation of Pearson Vue to become a certified Vue test center. Over several weeks and working with various technical teams on campus, we now have a fully functional Pearson Vue test center on-campus that is actively administering tests.
Pearson Vue now allows UMKC to administer certifications exams from organizations like CompTIA, Cisco, Microsoft, and VMware as well as many other examinations for multiple industries. Not only will this appeal to our student base but faculty and staff of the university as well as the community.
Worked with Honeywell on their EBI building Integration System for Climate Control to resolve security issues on systems throughout the campus.
Microsoft’s SCCM is the primary tool used for asset management and software installation. We have used SCCM to install 27,564 pieces of software across campus. 1,786 of these were initiated via our software deployment webpage by IS technicians and IT liaisons. We also imaged 783 lab computers using the Operating System Deployment functionality of SCCM.
We have leveraged SCCM so that faculty and staff can now upgrade their Windows 10 computers via SCCM with just a couple clicks. The framework is in place to expand this functionality in the future.
IS reached out to researchers across campus to determine how we could better support their IT needs and what gaps currently existing. As a result of these conversations, IS procured eight high-end color laser printers to help meet researchers printing needs. These printers will be installed in key locations in early 2019.
Working with other IS departments to standards and improve Linux support. While the majority of Linux users are involved in research computing to some degree this is not 100% across the board. These improvements will help with other groups as well.
This project provided a new Whole Foods store, a new UMKC Student Health, Disability Services and Counseling Center, new luxury apartments, and a new parking garage. IT/AV scope was contained to all network infrastructure and a small conference room that will be used by all departments. IS did install a new network utility corridor in preparation for this project, which involved removing all existing overhead cabling and installation into an underground vault. During this review period, all equipment was installed and the project was completed. The departments were relocated into the new space and trained on the equipment.
IT project to relocate existing and install additional wireless access points to expand wireless coverage throughout the Law School building. During this review period, we facilitated installation of 17 additional 802.11ac wave2 access points in the School of Law and repositioned several existing access points to optimal 24 Information Services Accomplishments January - June 2018 locations for wireless coverage. 43 access points are now providing high-speed wireless coverage to all corners of the Law School.
IS Project to upgrade 23 ILE rooms in FY 18 to HD widescreen digital video and projection systems, enhanced audio processing with web conferencing, and voice over IP features. This is an effort to keep the highest quality student experience. During the last review period, we collaborated with the Registrar’s Office to identify and schedule rooms to be upgraded, updated system designs to accommodate ILE spaces with more equipment than typical, and purchased equipment. During this review period, we worked with CFM and other units in IT to update all 23 classrooms on the identified list to complete the project.
This project is to bring the building infrastructure in Scofield Hall to current standards by rewiring the voice and data jacks on all floors in the building. This process involves ongoing infrastructure improvement efforts, but we are managing each building as individual projects to better track costs/materials/timelines. This building has five floors and was rewired one floor at a time. One new IT room in Scofield Hall was also built out as part of this project.
This project involves removing cable TV from all of the residence halls/student apartments and installing a new video on demand service from SwankTV to be called “rooflix.umkc.edu”. SwankTV will provide a virtual video caching server with a web portal for student access. During this review period, we completed the security scan, finalized the contract with the vendor, installed and tested the servers, disconnected the previous vendor services, spun up new video services and tested services. This work was expedited and completed within a 6-week timeframe to meet the customer’s request of completing prior to students moving in for the fall semester.
This project involves replacing old network switches in IT rooms around campus. Nine buildings were upgraded during FY19. This keeps the network up to current standards, provides greater bandwidth and more reliable end-user network connections.
During this review period, TMS activated to resolve 564 reported client issues. Each resolved issue resulted in the client receiving a survey about their experience to complete. Below is both the monthly aggregate data and the Net Promoter Score (NPS) (calculated from the “average” scores).
Average NPS was 90.17
IS made significant progress on ongoing infrastructure upgrade initiatives while supporting phone and data related add, move and change requests, a large number of buried cable marking requests, and support tickets.
Replaced network switches in the following buildings:
Database Server Design, Implementation and AdministrationProvided maintenance and support for 62 software applications, websites and services including:
Provided software engineering and project management resources for the following projects:
Generated detailed reports for departments based on their evaluation scan data.
Scanning Services provided during this period include:
IS Foundation Services (ISFS) provides secure, professionally managed data centers to meet the growing information technology (IT) needs of academic and administrative units at UMKC. ISFS serves as the primary system administrators for 400+ servers as well as providing assistance and technical support for campus IT Liaisons.
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