University Information and Technology Services
Introduction
2020 was a challenging year for the campus and the UITS team. While many of the teams identified priorities were put on hold to facilitate changes made necessary by the global pandemic, they were empowered to make significant changes for the long-term betterment of the campus IT environment. While the work to address the needs of students, faculty, and staff throughout the pandemic required a complete re-focus, UITS-KO was fortunate that so much of our strategic efforts over the prior years had been planned and executed with business continuity and remote availability of IT services and support in mind. To see this work and these strategic investments fully leveraged throughout the pandemic is a source of pride for UITS.
Throughout this most challenging of years, the individual leadership, flexibility, ingenuity, and perseverance the entire UITS-KO team exhibited were impressive. In a situation laced with such uncertainty, there was plenty of opportunity to fail. The staff of UITS-KO rose to the challenge and not only addressed the immediate needs of our campus community but also pushed forward on some significant initiatives. This report is not exhaustive but will cover the most important accomplishments of UITS-KO in the areas related to COVID response, web operations, technology enhancements, support for university initiatives, and communications.
Re-organizing Support Operations COVID closures
The COVID-19 response of campus was planned and executed quickly. Systems that had previously been underutilized, such as Pulse Secure VPN, Zoom, and Kaltura quickly became mission-critical for most of our faculty, staff, and students as they began working and learning from home. The campus IT staff devised processes and systems quickly for supporting these remote activities. The utilization of BeyondTrust remote assistance tools became critical for IT Support Staff to provide service for a campus community that was working remotely.
Yet, while most campus community members worked from home, campus leadership recognized the need to provide access internet, computers, and printing for those who did not have access at home. UITS-KO staff were designated as essential personnel and worked onsite to ensure continuity of Library operations. Team members facilitated circulation processes for Sprint Hotspot loans and Laptop and Chromebook checkout and return. Additionally, a Kiosk was set up for the IT Support Center and the IT Training Center utilizing Zoom. Students who visited onsite could receive contactless support with remote operators. This onsite team also performed many hands-on tasks to support our remote workforce, including setting up scheduled restarts on critical customer systems to facilitate reliable remote desktop connections.
CrimsonCard operations were modified because of the pandemic as well. Throughout periods of closures, cards were printed in batches and distributed by appointment to reduce long lines in physical proximity. As more normal operations resumed, UITS-KO staff worked with CrimsonCard administrators to introduce the new service of sending cards by mail.
IT Training operations moved to fully remote support and have continued that way throughout the pandemic. The team’s overall service numbers are down (in large part to the absence of in-class training sessions.) The trainers report that training outcomes are more successful utilizing the remote format, as students must complete the work in a guided fashion. Students learn more about supporting their own systems through remote training support.
Web Operations
The UITS-KO Web Services team has worked remotely throughout the pandemic. While much of their efforts revolved around COVID-19 communications, the team was able to resume normal project operations and enjoyed a great deal of success in their work. Some selected highlights from 2020 include:
#1 ranking academic institution website for ADA accessibility out of over 3,800 nationwide
Refreshed Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion web pages in partnership with IU Kokomo Media & Marketing
New home page in collaboration with IU Studios & IU Kokomo Media & Marketing
Upgraded campus web space to Google Analytics 360 in partnership with IU Studios
Leveraged Academic Program Search service in partnership with IU Studios
Hired Bepko intern to support and enhance IQ Wall
Collaborated with IU Kokomo Media & Marketing to support urgent campus communications during the public health emergency
Technology Enhancements
UITS-KO has well-established technology refresh cycles, but throughout the pandemic, most of these processes were put on the back burner due to supply chain issues and the impossibility of providing refreshed equipment to employees who were working at home. As operations normalized and more staff could work on campus, we continue to work hard to catch up on these core processes of lifecycle replacement.
As CARES ACT funding was made available, Campus Leadership aggressively pursued technology solutions to the challenges posed by distancing requirements and quarantines. Additionally, with the new Event Center, considerable work was undertaken to establish network connectivity for the building and to create a large 90 seat UITS-KO staff worked tirelessly through the Spring and Summer to prepare for a Fall semester like no other. Below are some of the major technology enhancements completed by the team in 2020:
Installed outdoor Wi-Fi parking lot hotspot in North Parking Lot to provide drive-up internet access for IU Secure, EduRoam and IU Guess access.
Cares Act Technology Purchases
Devised 3 Classroom Technology ‘Enhanced Zoom’ prototypes – Good, Better, Best.
Completed upgrades to campus learning spaces: 100% Zoom Ready
Installed Additional Camera and Microphones in over 70 learning spaces to support enhanced Zoom experience and facilitate active learning via remote.
Created temporary classrooms in Kelly Center West Wing to provide spacing
Integrated lectern technology and large format displays in 7 temporary spaces
Completed additional networking infrastructure to support Wi-Fi and Classroom technology in the temporary spaces.
Made 50 webcams available Deans for distribution to faculty for use in remote teaching.
EC Building Preparation: Tested cabling, integrated wired and wireless networking equipment and established LAN connection to campus network core to bring building online.
Established temporary learning space (Zoom ready lectern and dual projection) in EC Gymnasium space for large 90+ classes.
Worked with UITS-BL technicians and the CTLA to create an Academic Media Studio Space designed for innovative faculty members who strive to teach their material in new and exciting ways.
Support for University Initiatives
While COVID and campus needs dominated our work list, UITS-KO staff were also highly integrated into University-wide IT initiatives that were made necessary by tightened budgets and planned retirements of existing systems. This list includes:
UITS-KO took the lead in guiding KO campus users through personal and departmental Box Migrations to Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive.
UITS-KO Staff migrated themselves and assisted some key staff with their Exchange Online Migration beginning in early fall. This work continues.
UITS-KO System Administrators worked with IU Print administrators to move student printing to new IU Print Servers.
UITS-KO Web services staff-led campus stakeholders through SiteHost migration.
Communications
Communications is always vital to our IT operations but became even more critical through a pandemic and a period of multiple system migrations. Work in standardizing tools, standardizing our communications across regional campuses, and reinforcing university messaging for migrations and significant work\learn from home initiatives was critical to success for UITS-KO.
UITS-KO Standardized its communications platform on the enterprise CRM solution: Salesforce
UITS-KO staff collaborated with Regional UITS colleagues to develop a Communications Calendar to support our annual messaging cycle.
UITS-KO worked to re-enforce University-wide messaging, tailoring information for the regional campus community