"Dashboard" Measures for ITD
- Fuel gauge: Funding/staff/spending trends
Funding in real dollars has gone down in last five years; services offered and usage have gone up. - Speedometer: Infrastructure and service capacity and usage
Network backbone 2006-07: Fiber optic, gigabit capacity; multi-link gigabit Ethernet mesh among five main distribution facilities. Supports ~50,000 data connections
Wireless nomad network 2006-07: Can support 8750 simultaneous users; strong authentication
ResNet: Students in on-campus housing with port/pillow network access: 100%; all ~7000 students Percent campus buildings with fiber optic connection to network backbone
2006-07: 97%; 100%classrooms have high-capacity network connections
Internet usage 2006-07: Average peak monthly load - inbound - 315Mbps; outbound - 447 Mbps
- Odometer: Number accounts, clients served, grants supported
Unity accounts provisioned 2006-07: 49,234 provides authentication (login/access) services for administrative and academic data/resources access
Unity Labs 2006-07: number machines supported: 335; Kiosks-campus-wide: 20
Number desktops using ITD-provided environment/kits:
Windows (WolfPrep): ~1700; Mac: 760; Unix: 396; Linux: 865
Email 2006: 24,181,181 average number messages handled/month (YTD12/06) WebMail used by up to 23,000 individuals a day.
Data Centers: Mission-critical machines monitored 24 x 7 x 365: 2006
~ 500 servers, 2 enterprise servers (Sun E25s), 1 mainframe; 2 data centers
Average number “batch” processes monitored (financial, payroll, etc): ~650/day
Funded Research Supported: $70 Million with mid-range High Performance Computing services
- Tachometer: Performance/uptime measures
Network (wired) backbone uptime in 2006: 99.956% (1/06 - 11/06):
Email - Unity IMAP Uptime 99.9 (1/06 - 11/06):
Web hosting: www.ncsu.edu 2006: Between 2 and 4 million pages/day; 70 to 100 thousand visits/day - Safety indicators and DMV: Security/compliance
Policy/procedures enhanced: e.g. Anti-virus requirements, Password Standards, Data Management Reg.
Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity measures: Data storage now mirrored in Data Centers I and II SPAM/hacker attacks in November 2006 put campus email relays at risk of crashSummary of Internal Audit and other IT security reviews:
- Overall campus IT and information security weakened by split security functions across two central groups and insufficient coordination among colleges
- Critical need for better backup and recovery storage services, especially related to research data
- Need to increase campus education/awareness of IT-related policy, procedures and resources.
- Drivers’ Ed., DMV, horn: Training, communication, outreach
New Student and Employee Orientations: 2006: ~4000 students attended NSO IT presentations
Free training for faculty, staff, and students: 177 classes; 1066 attendees
Publications: Fall 2006: 9000 copies “Computing@NC State” newsletter; award-winning web site - Temp gauge: Staff morale and professional development
Additional Full Staff meeting in 2006; high rate of participation in UNC CAUSE conferences; conferences attended as resources allow; 2 staff were recipients of Award for Excellence from Provost’s Office in 2006 - Check engine light: Crisis events
Tape Backup System reached capacity limits in November 2006;
Storage Management System reached capacity in December 2006;
Data Center II reaching limits of power and air conditioning for machine room;
Equipment replacement deferral due to budget cuts;
Research and Graduate Studies withheld full HPC funding commitment in 2006 - GPS navigation: Responsiveness to emerging trends and realities; feedback, surveys
UPA biennial sophomore and graduating survey trends over the last six years (2000-2006)
- Consistently high ratings for Overall Satisfaction with technology services
- Ratings for access to Internet were highest among all technology-related areas measured (peaked in 2002)
- Ratings for access to trained technology staff for help were among the lowest satisfaction ratings of any of the academic services; these ratings have been trending up, however
- Ratings for extent to which NC State contributed to developing students’ computer skills have decline
- 92% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that ResNet enhanced their ability to get course work done
- 74% used NC State-provided software for the required anti-virus computer protection (was 58% in 2002)
- Laptop usage on ResNet continued to increase: 61% used a laptop, 28% a desktop; 11% used both.
ComTech/University IT Infrastructure Subcommittee Survey (2006)
- 91% respondents said having access to campus computer labs was very or somewhat important
- Top reasons given for using computing labs: Access software so they didn’t have to buy it (62.5%); to kill time between classes (62%); availability of Wolfprint (51%)
- 1.6% of students said they did not have access to a computer for their personal use
- Consistently excellent reviews from faculty who use ClassTech supported rooms
Princeton Review/Forbes.com survey results
- NC State was named among the nation’s top 25 “most connected campuses” in January 2006
- Ranking based in large part on leading-edge (differentiating) courses and technology systems and resources provided by ITD, ComTech, and DELTA to NC State students and colleges. Survey emphasizes increasing importance of technology to students— and to the competitiveness of colleges and universities
- Doors: IT Accessibility
National recognition (ATHENS; DO-IT, etc.) for leadership in proactive accessibility solutions - Steering wheel: Leadership and unit reviews
- ITD launched 18 major new services, and upgrades to support NC State’s missions and business processes.
- In real money, ITD’s funding decreased 4% over this time
- Normal equipment replacement has been deferred, and staffing levels, especially for supporting critical campus-wide IT systems, remain precariously low
- ITD's greatest strengths lie in the expertise, institutional knowledge and commitment of its staff.
- Whitepaper published in 2004 called for a radical paradigm shift toward more integrated IT decision-making and implementation.
- Indications of progress include of HPC Partnership Program; growing campus participation in the Help Desk/problem tracking systems; growing number of collaborative projects , e.g. move from SSN as campus identifier, SIS project, HR Orientation training, I AM identity/authentication project, NC State Analytics Initiative, etc.