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Overview of the State of Information Technology on MUS Campuses

Overview of the State of Information Technology on MUS Campuses. Mark Sheehan, CIO – MSU-Bozeman (for MSU) Ray Ford, CIO – UM-Missoula (for UM) November 2004. STRUCTURE OF THIS REPORT. THE GENERAL QUESTIONS How are MUS campuses doing with their IT infrastructure?

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Overview of the State of Information Technology on MUS Campuses

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  1. Overview of the State of Information Technology on MUS Campuses Mark Sheehan, CIO – MSU-Bozeman (for MSU) Ray Ford, CIO – UM-Missoula (for UM) November 2004

  2. STRUCTURE OF THIS REPORT THE GENERAL QUESTIONS • How are MUS campuses doing with their IT infrastructure? • How do MUS IT efforts compare to national benchmarks? • Are students on our campuses getting what they need? • What challenges do campuses face with regard to IT? OUR APPROACH • Provide high level overview now • Ask in which areas the Board would like more details

  3. WHAT ARE WE DOING? STRUCTURE OF IT ON CAMUSES • CENTRAL RESOURCES AND SERVICES • Networks (voice, data, video) • Enterprise Information System (EIS) • Banner and ancillary systems • Web environment • Course management system (WebCT, Blackboard) • Library system • Help Desk • Hardware sales and maintenance (IT Center or Bookstore) • Student computer labs (part) • Support for student PC ownership

  4. WHAT ARE WE DOING? STRUCTURE OF IT ON CAMUSES (cont’d) • DEPARTMENTAL RESOURCES AND SERVICES • Student computer labs (part) • Local PC and application support • Local Web servers • Instructional computing resources and personnel • Research computing resources and personnel

  5. PRIMARY EISBANNER AND RELATED SYSTEMS ALL CAMPUSES • Have central Banner environments – in Missoula and Bozeman • Are developing secondary backup/disaster recovery sites as budget permits • Are on a regular Banner upgrade cycle, remaining current with manufacturer’s releases • Have software license maintenance costs and hardware replacement costs centrally budgeted • Are utilizing Banner/Web services to offer more efficient services to employees and students • Are developing “campus portals” to further improve services

  6. OTHER EISWEB ENVIRONMENT ALL CAMPUSES • Are utilizing specialized course management systems to provide instructional materials over the Web (more about this later) • Are evaluating Web content management systems to make the task of developing and updating content more efficient • Are beginning to look hard at how Web-based facilities can be used to streamline business practices

  7. OTHER EISEMAIL AND LIBRARY SYSTEMS EMAIL SYSTEMS • All campuses utilize email to streamline business practices • But are struggling with the ever-increasing volume of incoming “spam” and viruses LIBRARY SYSTEMS • UM and MSU use different but highly interoperable systems • But struggle to meet the demand for costly on-line content

  8. OTHER EISCOURSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ALL CAMPUSES • Use course management systems (CMSs) at some level • Are working to expand use of CMSs • Hope to integrate their CMSs with Banner, Banner’s Web facilities, and their emerging campus portals to improve seamlessness of: • Advising • Class schedule • Classroom • Grade book • Transcript

  9. ALL EISASSESSMENT How are we doing? (1) • Banner and library systems are mature and stable • PeopleSoft and Oracle alternatives in use elsewhere are less so • Universities have implemented many Web services for students and employees • Portals will multiply the available Web services when rolled out (summer and fall 2005)

  10. ALL EISASSESSMENT How are we doing? (2) • General Web services are based on stable platforms • Universities have mutual emergency assistance agreements • Web pages are not now centrally branded and managed • Both universities have projects to expand use of standard style, branding, and templates • Both universities are evaluating content management systems

  11. ALL EISASSESSMENT How are we doing? (3) • Email systems at all campuses are migrating toward Web-based systems • Available anytime, anywhere • Soon all will be integrated with university portals • Library systems are mature and effective • Based on industry standards • Highly interoperable • Portal integration is planned

  12. ALL EISCOMPARISON (1) Primary EIS and Portal • 65% of doctoral-level universities either have or are implementing integrated primary EIS systems like Banner • 58% of doctoral-level universities either have or are implementing a Web portal; another 30% are planning them EDUCAUSE Core Data Survey, 2003

  13. ALL EISCOMPARISON (2) Course Management System • 65% of doctoral-level universities support a single commercial course management system • 13% of doctoral-level universities support more than one commercial course management system • At 12% of doctoral-level universities faculty use course management systems for all courses EDUCAUSE Core Data Survey, 2003

  14. ALL EISCOMPARISON (3) Use of courseware management systems • University of Montana–Missoula • 56% of students have CMS accounts • 15% of sections use CMS • Montana State University-Bozeman • 47% of students have CMS accounts • 8% of sections use CMS

  15. STUDENT COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTMUS Owned Facilities (1) • Student ownership of computers is not mandatory for all students at any MUS campus • Certain programs do require computer ownership (e.g., MSU Architecture & UM Law) • All campuses offer central student computing labs • Degree of centralization varies • Some central labs • Some departmental or program-specific labs

  16. STUDENT COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTMUS Owned Facilities (2) • All campuses are moving toward: • Regular hardware refresh (3-4 year cycle) • With the help of student computer fee revenues • Centrally supported software purchases and/or campus agreements (e.g., Microsoft Windows and Office, MacOS, Symantec/Norton anti-virus) • Mandatory administration/security standards for installation of security patches, anti-virus updates, etc.

  17. STUDENT COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTASSESSMENT • FTE students per public computer (est.) *2003 Campus Computing Survey

  18. NETWORKING LEVELS OF NETWORKING Network types: • Campus • Between offices; between buildings • Intercampus • Between campuses; between campuses and state agencies • Wide Area • Between campuses and the Internet and Internet2

  19. NETWORKING CAMPUS NETWORKING Components and issues (1): • Building wiring • Requires replacement on 10-year cycle • Current standard is Category 6; most buildings have Category 5/5e • Major overhaul will be required in 3-5 years • Campus backbone • Most campuses have fiber optic backbone • Good for another 10-20 years • Most campus backbones operate at one gigabit per second • Faster than most current PCs can transmit or receive • May prove inadequate for emerging research needs

  20. NETWORKING CAMPUS NETWORKING Components and issues (2): • Wireless networks • Offer generally slower speeds than wired networks • Do not support some popular applications will, e.g., audio file sharing • Offer greatly enhanced convenience • PCs • PDAs • Very popular among students • Turns public areas into “labs” • Enables classroom innovation • Has student recruitment and retention value

  21. NETWORKING INTERCAMPUS NETWORKING Summitnet • Partnership between UM, MSU, and the State IT Services Division • Has been useful for: • Linking smaller campuses to larger ones • Linking all campuses to state government agencies and OCHE • Providing transport for METNET video teleconferencing services

  22. NETWORKING WIDE AREA NETWORKING (1) Internet: • Connects campuses to other universities, government agencies, organizations, and commercial enterprises • Primary conduit for email and Web traffic • Supplements Summitnet for intercampus communication • Demand from students and employees doubles every year or two

  23. NETWORKING WIDE AREA NETWORKING (2) Internet2: • A separate, uncongested, high-speed research-focused network • MSU-Bozeman, UM-Missoula, and UM-Montana Tech are participants • Requires expensive high-speed circuit • Takes some load off of “commodity” Internet circuits • Research community demand for I2 is increasing much more rapidly than campus demand for Internet

  24. NETWORKING WIDE AREA NETWORKING (3) Future networks: • MSU-Bozeman has a grant to increase research network bandwidth this year to 2.4 gigabits per second (a 50-fold increase). • UM-Missoula has taken a leadership position in the Northern Tier Networking Consortium which seeks to bring similar research network speeds to the I-90/I-94 corridor from Washington to Minnesota. • MSU and the state IT Services Division are also a members of NTNC

  25. NETWORKING ASSESSMENT Campus networking: • The campuses are keeping pace with technology Intercampus networking: • Summitnet can continue to serve the universities for 3-5 more years – longer if NTNC becomes reality Wide Area Networking • MSU-Bozeman and UM-Missoula are leaders in our part of the country.

  26. NETWORKING COMPARISON (1) • Commodity Internet bandwidth • MSU-Bozeman and UM-Missoula provide 45-50 megabits per second (mbps) • Only 17% of doctoral universities provide 44 mbps or less • 60% of doctoral universities provide 90 mbps or more 2003 EDUCAUSE Core Data Survey

  27. NETWORKING COMPARISON (2) • Internet2 bandwidth • MSU-Bozeman and UM-Missoula provide 45 megabits per second (mbps) • Only 19% of doctoral universities provide 44 mbps or less • 63% of doctoral universities provide 90 mbps or more 2003 EDUCAUSE Core Data Survey

  28. FUNDINGREVENUE SOURCES All campuses fund IT from a variety of sources: • Regular funds (tuition and state money) • Specific fees (Student Computer Fee, Technology Fee, Instructional Equipment Fee) • Charge-backs for some services • Campuses with large research programs may have additional large but restricted funding for IT

  29. FUNDINGBUDGETS All campuses: • Are constrained in the new initiatives they can take on • Face challenges in having to continually support new technologies • Are managing to stay more or less even, helped by cost decreases in some areas • Are seeking stability and efficiencies

  30. IT expenditures as a percent of total institutional expenditures: FUNDING FOR IT *2003 Campus Computing Survey

  31. CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTSUniversity of Montana • Missoula • Implementing CampusEAI Oracle portal; Missoula first, then other campuses • Working to join Lariat regional optical network • Montana Tech • Development of wireless network • Development of an Access Grid Node • Western • Installation of wireless laboratory • Completion of Gigabit campus network backbone • Helena College of Technology • Working with ITSD on sharing network infrastructure

  32. CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTSMontana State University • Billings • Implemented Voice-Over-IP for telephone & unified messaging • Academic Technology Development Resource – 60 computers • Bozeman • Implementing Luminis Portal with and for all four campuses • Bringing up 2.4 Gbps Lariat regional optical network • Great Falls • Developing a campuswide wireless network • Building grant-supported Consolidated Classroom • Northern • Purchased 4 TB network-attached storage for shared disk space • Enabled secure wireless access in Library and Student Union

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