Interim CIO: Brian T. Nichols

Office of the the CIO: Security & Policy Officer: John Borne Human & Financial Resources Officer: Susan T. Crochet Communications & Planning Officer: Sheri J. Thompson LOUIS: Sara Zimmerman, Executive Director LONI: Donald Vandal, Executive Director

Information Technology Services: User Support & Student IT Enablement: Pam Nicolle, Interim Executive Director Michael P. Smith, Director Technical Services Stacey B. Morales, Director Customer Service University Information Systems: Cynthia M. Hadden, Deputy CIO David Alexander, Associate Director, IS Architecture FrankO’Quinn, Associate Director, Systems Programming Stephen Heyward, Assistant Director, Distributed Systems and Technology Administration Robin R. Ethridge, Director, Portal Technologies and Technology Administration Douglas A. Pacas, Director, Financial Information Systems Byron D. Honore, Director, Enrollment Information Systems University Networking & Infrastructure and High Performance Computing: Ric Simmons, Deputy CIO Sean G. Robbins, Director, Network Engineering Terry Doub, Director, Network Operations Samuel P. White, Director High Performance Computing

Information Technology ServicesLouisiana State University200 Frey Computing Services CenterBaton Rouge, LA 70803

P: 225-578-3700F: 225-578-6400E-mail: itsinfo@lsu.eduWeb site: www.lsu.edu/cio

Letter from the Interim CIORecognitionTorchbearer AwardsUSSMoodle 2012Faculty Technology CenterYear in Review 2012FITSUISTechPawLoozaPAWS RetiresAdvancing the Network UNI/HPCFinancial Report

02030506060708101213141516

Photo Courtesy of Kevin Duffy, ITS

Dear Colleagues:

I’m pleased to present the 2012 edition of Momentum – LSU Information Technology Services’ Annual Report. The past year has seen sustained IT growth despite the challenges posed by institutional transition and budget reductions. We continue to provide LSU with a stellar IT environment, worthy of its flagship status.

Among other achievements in 2012, Information Technology Services (ITS) has completed its efforts to migrate institutional e-mail to the cloud, made significant investments in improving the networking infrastructure, and partnered with the Center for Computation and Technology (CCT) to purchase storage for research faculty as well as a new supercomputer called SuperMike II. ITS completed enhancements to the power and cooling of the Frey Computing Center and increased LSU’s bandwidth through the Louisiana Optical Networking Initiative (LONI). Research buildings were upgraded to 10 Gbps, and desktop connectivity was upgraded to 1 Gbps.

ITS enhanced teaching and learning through the deployment of Moodle2, the Faculty Technology Center (FTC) sponsorship of training events, and the provision of online courses via LSU Online. Getting LSU ready to offer LSU Online has required substantial database changes, program changes, and investments in new and existing technologies like Moodle, Adobe Connect, and Kaltura, a media management and streaming solution. Additional efforts will likely be needed in the years ahead to ensure the continued success of these programs.

2012 marked the end of an era with the retirement of PAWS, LSU’s homegrown portal environment. For over fifteen years, PAWS served as the campus’s portal for accessing LSU information and resources online. PAWS’s replacement, myLSU, is poised to house the next generation of LSU resources as they evolve. Other key technical changes included noteworthy upgrades to the Virtual Lab, Tiger Bytes 2, TigerWare, and GROK.

LSU Information Technology Services• LSU Receives Best myCampus Award from the CampusEAI

Consortium for its deployment of myLSU (June 2012)

Alexander, David• Professional Association of SQL Server, SQL Saturday Program

Committee Member

Brignac, Greg• A Gumbo of Education, Collaboration and Outreach at LSU.

Presented at ACUTA 2012

Crochet, Jennifer• User Enablement, Business Intelligence, and Third Party

Applications. Presented at LACRAO

Doub, Terry• Internet2 Program Committee Member

Ethridge, Buddy• Flying into Moodle 2. Presented at the West Coast Moodle Moot

2012• FERPA, ADA and Other Scary Acronyms. Presented at the West

Coast Moodle Moot 2012 Ethridge, Robin• IT Challenges in Higher Education. Presented to LSU AITP Esmail, Hala• Making Your Moodle Course Student-Friendly. Presented at the

West Coast Moodle Moot 2012

Fazely, Michael• LSU ITS TSP Bootcamp Presenter

Gill, Robert• LSU ITS TSP Bootcamp Presenter

Hadden, Cynthia• Past Conference Chairs Share Their Reflections. EDUCAUSE

2013 promises new challenges and opportunities. ITS, in collaboration with other campus entities, must continue to make progress to replace its legacy systems, deploy “big data” storage to the research faculty, upgrade the wireless network, initiate an institutional e-mail retention service, complete the LSU Geaux Shop e-procurement project, and invest in new backup technology for institutional data. ITS will also continue its Network 2015 efforts to lifecycle replace all of the campus’s network gear.

The biggest challenges ahead remain the continuation of business processes despite the retirement and loss of area experts coupled with the replacement of core institutional systems with ERP solutions.

Sincerely,

Brian T. NicholsChief Information Officer

Enterprise 2012 Panelist• EDUCAUSE Southeast Regional Conference Program Committee

Member

Handal, Jeffry• Internet2 Program Committee Member• IEEE International Standards Coordinator• IEEE (USA) K-12 Stem Literacy Committee Member• Netguru Committee Coordinator• ACUTA IPv6 List Moderator• IT2.0: Changing Our World. Presented at ACUTA• The Road to IPv6: A Campus in Transition from Learning to

Educating. Presented at the Security Impact of IPv6 Summit 2012.

• IPv6 Security Tech Talk. LSU ITS Tech Talk Series Hopkins, Dustin• LSU ITS TSP Bootcamp Presenter

Love, Donna• Staff Senate Service Award

Morales, Zack• LSU ITS TSP Bootcamp Presenter

Mouton, Dustin• LSU ITS TSP Bootcamp Presenter

Mumphrey, Gary• LSU ITS TSP Bootcamp Presenter

Nicolle, Pam• EDUCAUSE Learning Technology Leadership Institute 2012• International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher

Education Review Board Member• Journal of Educational Computing Research Review Board

Member• Wadsworth Publishing/Cengage Learning Textbook Reviewer

Letter from the CIO Recognition

02 03

Photo Courtesy of Kevin Duffy, ITS

Photo Courtesy of Kevin Duffy, ITS

Razafindrakoto, Serge• H323 to SIP – The Evolution Has Begun. Presented at IAUG

Russo, Robert• What is the Moodle Gradebook? Presented at the West Coast

Moodle Moot 2012• A Tour of LSU’s Open Source Offerings. Presented at the West

Coast Moodle Moot 2012• Development Sharefest Leader at the West Coast Moodle Moot

2012• Program Committee Member, West Coast Moodle Moot 2012

Shaidaee, Sherwin• MyLSU Links: A QuickLaunch Navigation Alternative. Presented

at the CampusEAI Annual Conference

Simmons, Ric• ACUTA Vendor Liaison Committee Member• Internet2 ITEC Steering Committee Chair

Sirman, Karen• A Gumbo of Education, Collaboration and Outreach at LSU.

Presented at ACUTA 2012• Shaking up Traditional Training with Lynda.com. Presented at

SIGUCCS 2012

Thompson, Sheri• Getting Your Campus Ready for Change. Presented at the

CampusEAI Consortium Annual Conference• CampusEAI Consortium Portal Development Advisory

Committee Co-chair• Campus EAI Consortium Annual Conference Planning Committee

Member• EDUCAUSE Quarterly Reviewer• EDUCAUSE West Southwest Conference Planning Committee

Member

Yan, Le• HPC User Symposium. Organizer

Ziadeh, Sam• LSU ITS TSP Bootcamp Presenter

Recognition continued

ITS celebrated the efforts of LSU community members who have supported technology advancement campus-wide and awarded its Torchbearer Award for Leadership in IT Advancement for the second year in a row on November 30. This year’s recipients, Thomas E. Rodgers, E. William Wischusen and Stephen Barr have made significant contributions over the last few years.

Thomas E. Rodgers is recognized for working effectively among all levels of administrative leadership on campus and leveraging his array of interests, knowledge, and leadership skills into positive actionable steps and direction for students at LSU. Over the last few years, and through his leadership role in Student Government, Thomas has demonstrated his interest in the integrated role that technology plays in student success. He has added his voice within the Student Technology Fee Oversight and Moodle Development Advisory Committees, and has demonstrated knowledgeable and well-documented opinions. He has a vision for how technology can enhance the student academic experience on campus. Thomas has been a champion of ITS, advocating on our behalf to the Reveille, administration, and his fellow students. He advocated strongly on the merits of the myLSU portal, selling it to Student Government and providing valuable feedback throughout its development and release.

E. William Wischusen, professor of biological sciences, receives this award as his efforts and involvement have definitely had a positive impact on our campus. Bill’s enthusiasm and curiosity make him an inspiring role model for life-long learners of all ages. Bill is a faculty member who has strongly supported technology initiatives which impact teaching and learning on our campus. Dedicated to fostering student engagement in his classes, his desire to provide students with opportunities to more fully participate in their educational experience has led him to explore new technologies for learning and teaching. In 2005, Wischusen chaired the faculty committee that selected a student response system for use on campus. He continues to be a leader in the use of this technology to involve students and to promote active learning in the classroom. In 2008, he served on the committee which selected Moodle as our campus-wide course management system. He not only maintains his own course sites, but he also provides resource sites to assist his fellow faculty members and TAs in setting up their sites. An active beta-tester for Moodle 2, Bill currently serves as a member of the Moodle Development Advisory Committee (MDAC).

Stephen Barr, LSU Auxiliary Services director of retail development and technology, has been a wonderful partner to ITS over the years. Flexible and open to new ideas, Stephen played a key role in advocating on our behalf for Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance. A keen proponent of IT security, he worked with ITS personnel to ensure a smooth transition to the new standards we have in place to protect our data that we transmit to vendors to secure payments, something which benefits the entire campus community. In addition, Stephen can always be counted on to include ITS early on in any project he has in the works. His thoughtfulness in including us in the planning stages has resulted in increased efficiencies and the knowledge that his project will work well within our infrastructure. Stephen is a diligent promoter of technology advancement with the best interest of campus at heart.

Torchbearer Awards

0504

43,077 Incidents reported to the Help Desk•31,133Callsreceived•97%callanswerrate•90%of our customers are satisfiedor very satisfiedwith theirservice.

GROK: Statistics: (as of 12/6/12)•TotalArticleCount–9,402•#ofArticlesUpdated–27,325•#ofuniqueeditors–68

•TechTalk:LSUPKIServiceandSecuniaOverviewMarch8,2012•TechPawLooza 2012: Educate! Connect! Discover! March 14,2012;950+attendees;http://www.lsu.edu/techpawlooza

•TechTalk:DellUpdatesApril4,2012•TechTalk:Adobe@LSUShowcaseMay9,2012•TechTalk:PublicKeyInfrastructureJune6,2012•DellKacewebinarsofferedtoTSPsJune7,2012•TechTalk:IPV6SecurityJune20,2012•GeauxWifi2012August20-24,2012•August30:TSPPortalimplementation•Women in Technology Careers (WITC) Panel Discussion &Networking for High School and LSU Students: 150 attendeesSeptember20,2012

•TechTalk:AppleUpdates:Deploying IPads inEducation usingAppleConfigurator andOverviewofMountain LionSeptember27,2012

•TSPBootcamppresentationseachWednesdayOctober24-Dec.5,2012

USS

TopTigerWare

Downloadof2012Microsoft

Office 2010

#ofTigerWaredownloadsin

2012223,182

Top3GROKarticlesof20121. Moodle 2

2. Wireless at LSU3. Public Access Computer Labs

Undergrad course sections•OfferedatLSU--3,375•CreatedinMoodle–3,593•Usedforinstruction–2,663

Graduate course sections•OfferedatLSU–2,176•CreatedinMoodle–1,308•Usedforinstruction–544

Instructors•ActiveMoodleInstructors–1,611• LSUInstructors–1,980

All Students•Studentsinactivecourses–27,487•StudentsatLSU–30,078

Undergraduate Students•Undergradsinactivecourses–26,686•UndergradsatLSU–27,496

Moodle in 2012FTC:

Offered workshops and webinars for LSU faculty, staff, and students. Workshops include: Adobe Connect, Moodle Express (webinar), Engaging Students with PowerPoint, Excel 2010- The Basics, Moodle Basics and Beyond, Moodle Express, Moodle Gradebook, Moodle- Beyond Multiple Choice Questions, Moodle- Expanded Features, Engaging Your Students With Moodle Discussion Forums, Using Moodle for Assignments: File Submissions or Online Journal, Moodle Collaborative Features, and Using Clickers as a Teaching Tool.

Number of workshops: 116Number of attendees: 296

• Offered customized departmental/group workshops for LSU faculty, staff, and students.

Number of workshops: 62Number of attendees: 532

• Documented service/help provided into the Footprints system.Number of Footprints ticket closed by FTC stafffor 2012: 2344

• The FTC sponsored/hosted Tech Talks, Coffee Talks, Webinars, and Technology Share Fair.

Coffee Talk: 2GTA Panel Presentation House: 1GTA Webinars: 7Share Fair (TechPawLooza): 1

• Established relationships with departments throughout campus (department visits, faculty meetings).

Number of visits: 58• Offered individual and group consultations (these are recorded

in Footprints tickets).• Offered assistance and support by phone, e-mail, walk-in,

through Moodle Welcome Course forums, and by appointment (these are recorded in Footprints tickets).

• Offered extended support hours/weekend coverage for critical times (beginning and end of semester).

• Assisted in organizing and participating in the Faculty Colloquium 2012

• Assisted in planning TechPawLooza 2012 (about 950 attendees)• Participated in distance learning seminar with Dr. Holton for the

distance learning initiative.• Participated in campus-wide events such as the LSU Benefits

Fair and New Faculty Orientation.• Participated in and attended the Women in Technology event.

• Attended workshops and webinars (professional development) (Example: Echo360, Kaltura)

• Publicized FTC events, services, contact information, hours of operation. (TV displays in buildings on campus, LSU Today Calendar, IT Wire, ITS Training calendar, e-mails, and flyers).

• Researched and evaluated technologies and software (video, web conference tools, chat software, etc.).

• Provided support for video services as it relates to online courses, blended learning environments, web-enhanced and face-to-face courses.

• Researched for troubleshooting hardware and software issues.• Participate in bi-monthly Moodle meetings regarding issues and/

or concerns.• Administered the process of clicker use in classrooms (gathered

information from instructors, communicated with LSU Bookstore and Multimedia Classroom Support, helped troubleshoot issues that arose, and provided documentation).

Number of instructors using clickers:• Spring 2012: 48• Summer 2012: 11• Fall 2012: 54

Number of courses:• Spring 2012: 83• Summer 2012: 11• Fall 2012: 88

Number of students (may be duplicated):• Spring 2012: 12,760• Summer 2012: 836• Fall 2012: 13,885

• Piloted ResponseWare with 2 instructors and 10 students• Assisted in the implementation of Moodle 2- faculty/staff/

student support, hosted Moodle 2 Preview event, created GROK documentation, and conducted workshops/webinars.

• Created and updated documentation (tip sheets, quick guides, etc.) for Moodle 2 and other software which are available in GROK as well the ITS website.

• A Faculty video-editing suite was implemented in 107 Middleton

Faculty Technology Center

07

2012 Year in Review

0908

FITS Recommendation I: Provide a solid foundation of IT infrastructure at LSU that is modern and kept up-to-date:

• Upgraded the Virtual Lab (VLAB)• TigerWare Advancement• GROK advancement• Multimedia classroom and public access lab• Cell phone charging stations deployed• Completed the ARI project – a $2 million NSF grant which served

to upgrade networks in research buildings. Research buildings were upgraded to 10 Gbps, and desktop connectivity was upgraded to 1 Gbps.

• Throughout the campus, network equipment no longer supported was upgraded to the most current version available.

• Completed a renovation of the Data Center which increased the power and cooling footprint.

• Increased Internet bandwidth via LONI, essentially tripling the bandwidth

• Completed the migration of LSU faculty and staff from the Exchange 2003 email system to a hosted Microsoft Office 365 system. Mailbox sizes were increased from 1 GByte to 25 GByte.

FITS Recommendation II: Increase the accessibility of IT infrastructure and services to the LSU community.

• TigerBytes II upgrade and virtualization• TigerWare improvements including key distribution, tiled feature

software, and operating system tabs• Expanded license for Lynda.com training• Kaltura• Automated business processes through K2 Blackpearl• Expanded Lynda.com training to entire campus• Participated in World IPv6 Day• Retired PAWS portal

FITS Recommendation III: Provide a robust, multi-tiered support enterprise to meet the varying levels and specific needs of the LSU community.

• Help Desk processed 43,077 incidents• Held monthly tech talks, TSP Boot camp, and 2nd annual

TechPawLooza Trade and Share fair.• GROK advancements including touch based mobile interface

FITS Recommendation VII: Provide robust and plentiful IT resources to enable faculty teaching and student learning at LSU.

• Deployed Moodle 2• Continued working with the Moodle Development Advisory

Committee and the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to ensure faculty input and oversight in regard to Moodle development.

• Worked to ensure emerging technologies interfacing with LSU applications interface with Moodle.

FITS Recommendation VIII: Provide sound information systems featuring a rich set of applications and tools that address the increasing need for more effective and efficient institutional processes and provide for advanced academic analytics at LSU.

• Admission Enrollment Deposit - Implemented a new process that requires all admitted first time freshman students to indicate their intent to enroll by paying an enrollment deposit. This would result in a more accurate forecast of the size of the class and allow the University to better allocate resources to meet the needs of the new students.

• Student Records Self Reporting - UIS continues its efforts to roll out SAS Business Intelligence to administrative units on campus. As a result, a tool was developed for the Office of the University Registrar to create Ad Hoc reports to meet their operational needs.

• Document Imaging and Workflow- Implemented a Document Image and Workflow solution for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Student Aid that will allow the departments to electronically store and route an applicant’s admissions and financial aid documents submitted to the university in an effort to facilitate inter-office communication, reduce overall document processing time which will lead to a faster admittance timeframe, minimize student record errors due to data entry mistakes, and provide a means of securely retaining documents.

• College realignment/Consolidation- In accordance with the LSU mandate to realign and consolidate specific colleges and departments, processes were modified to accommodate mandated changes within student, financial and employee applications.

FITS Recommendation IV: Leverage LSU’s existing IT investments, and expend funding resources in the most responsible and efficient manner.

• Joined with CCT to leverage storage needs of institution along with the “big data” needs of researchers in making scalable storage purchase.

• Partnered with CCT to purchase new SuperMike 2 supercomputer.• Working with CCT on a replacement strategy for aging high

performance clusters used by researchers around the state to predict hurricane paths and conduct research.

FITS Recommendation V: Secure LSU’s IT infrastructure, safeguard the integrity of LSU’s information resources and the privacy of its user community, and ensure the continuity of LSU’s IT infrastructure and information repositories in the face of possible disaster scenarios.

• Completed the Security Audit began in November 2011. Received a “Very Good” rating.

• Developed PS 06.30 (“Retention of Electronically Stored Information”) policy for review, aimed at ensuring the retention of important e-mail records according to schedules promulgated by the University Archivist.

• Partnered with LSU System Office to deploy new public key infrastructure to seven of the nine LSU campuses.

• Working to identify new data backup technology and services in conjunction with a new data storage infrastructure.

• Conducted successful hot site test• Established remote mainframe operations via secure connectivity

to the hardware management and system consoles.

FITS Recommendation VI: Provide robust and plentiful IT resources to enable research at LSU.

• Provided support for faculty use of the Community Moodle server for research and other projects.

• LSU recently installed the newest high performance computing (HPC) cluster, dubbed “Super Mike 2.” Super Mike was ranked #250 out of 500 of the faster clusters in the world according to the Top500 organization.

• HPC continues to work with researchers enabling the use of HPC infrastructure for research. Training classes are offered each semester (and video recorded) to researchers. These training classes teach researchers how to access the HPC resources available to conduct research.

• Undergraduate admission self-service application- Implemented new process for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions to allow students to withdraw their admissions application and/or change their respective major via the myLSU portal.

• Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS)- Implemented a new process to interface with a 3rd party vendor (ALEKS) which is used to determine whether students can schedule calculus courses, 1550 or 1551.

• LSU Geaux Shop Integration- A large scale development is underway to integrate (in near-real time) the university’s Accounts Payable, General Ledger, Vendor Master and Identity Management applications to LSU Geaux Shop, the university’s Procurement solution. Production implementation is anticipated for 2013.

• Footprints / Change Management Integration- Integration was performed between the Footprints Incident Management application and LSU’s change management software, enabling greater detail and easier tracking of legacy updates requested by university clients.

• ITS recently upgraded the storage environment. We are working with key stakeholders on how to make this storage available to the campus.

FITS Recommendation IX Support LSU student use of IT, not only as a tool in their learning, but to enrich their life experiences at LSU

• Provided mobile device charging areas throughout campus• Began upgrading the wireless network

FITS Recommendation X Provide IT advisory and communication channels to ensure the continued involvement of the LSU community in the implementation of the Flagship IT Strategy and ongoing day-to-day provision of IT services on campus

• New TSP portal released• Faculty IT Governance Councils (Research Enablement &

Infrastructure and Service) advised on storage needs prior to storage purchase and assisting with beta deployment

• The University organized two governance committees focused on financial and student administrative processes: the Financial Priorities Advisory Committee (F-PAC) and the Student Priorities Advisory Committee (S-PAC)

• ITS completed its program review process

FITS

1110

Photo Courtesy of Phoenix MacAiodh, CCT

Photo Courtesy of Kevin Duffy, ITSPhoto Courtesy of Kevin Duffy, ITS

Over the past year, UIS has dedicated its time to the support and enhancement of our existing enterprise systems as well as the integration of new technologies. The University has begun its exploration of new technologies to replace its aging enterprise infrastructure and is putting in place governance structures to guide the processes.

Supporting Mission Critical ApplicationsOver the course of the year, UIS personnel maintained and

enhanced mission critical processes that allow faculty to post grades and students to apply to the University, schedule classes, pay fees, add/drop courses and graduate successfully. In addition, they maintained and enhanced mission critical processes that support major cyclical activities in Human Resources and Financial applications, including federally-mandated tax reporting, fiscal and calendar year-end cycles and insurance open enrollment.

A task force of University administrative leaders was assembled in 2011 to look at replacing the University’s aging administrative information systems. In 2012, Collegiate Project Services, working with the task force, confirmed that the University’s administrative systems required replacement and recommended that the University take a best-of-breed approach in selecting new systems.

Recently, the University organized two governance committees focused on financial and student administrative processes. The Financial/Student Project Advisory Committees will focus on assessing short term risks associated with the existing administrative information systems and ensure the short-term viability of these systems until they can be replaced. Projects Completed in 2012

• Admission Enrollment Deposit - Implemented a new process that requires all admitted first time freshman students to indicate their intent to enroll by paying an enrollment deposit. This would result in a more accurate forecast of the size of the class and allow the University to better allocate resources to meet the needs of the new students.

• Student Records Self Reporting - UIS developed a tool for the University Registrar to create Ad Hoc reports to meet their operational needs.

• Document Imaging and Workflow - Implemented a Document Image and Workflow solution for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Student Aid that will allow the departments to electronically store and route an applicant’s admissions and financial aid documents submitted to the university in an effort to facilitate inter-office communication, reduce overall document processing time which will lead to a faster admittance timeframe, minimize student record errors due to data entry mistakes, and provide a means of securely retaining documents.

• College realignment/Consolidation- In accordance with the LSU mandate to realign and consolidate specific colleges and departments, processes were modified to accommodate mandated changes within student, financial and employee applications.

• Undergraduate admission self-service application- Implemented new process for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions to allow students to withdraw their admissions application and/or change their respective major via the myLSU portal.

• Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS)- Implemented a new process to interface with a 3rd party vendor (ALEKS) which is used to determine whether students can schedule calculus courses, 1550 or 1551.

• LSU Online – Several databases and systems had to be created and edited to ready the campus enterprise infrastructure to

UIS/University Information Systems

12

ITS held its second TechPawLooza on March 14, 2012 in the LSU Student Union’s Royal Cotillion Ballroom. There were over 50 exhibits and 950 people participated in LSU’s premier technology showcase.

TechPawLooza is a day-long event at LSU devoted to connecting

with LSU students, faculty, and staff in order to celebrate the ways in which technology is utilized at Lousiana State University for academia, student support and retention, technology support, and engaging the education community. The 2012 TechPawLooza celebration’s theme was Educate! Connect! And Discover! TechPawLooza enables participants to informally experience the technology on display.

provision new online programs which will be available in 2013. • Footprints / Change Management Integration- Integration was

performed between the Footprints Incident Management application and LSU’s change management software, enabling greater detail and easier tracking of legacy updates requested by university clients.

Projects in Progress in 2012

• LSU Geaux Shop Integration- A large scale development project is underway to integrate (in near-real time) the University’s Accounts Payable, General Ledger, Vendor Master and Identity Management applications to the University’s new procurement solution called LSU Geaux Shop. LSU Geaux Shop is built on SciQuest eProcurement service. Production implementation is anticipated for 2013.

• UIS continues its efforts to roll out SAS Business Intelligence to administrative units on campus, and is partnering with Financial Systems Services to automate business processes using K2.

TechPawLooza

13

Photo Courtesy of Phoenix MacAiodh, CCT

Photo Courtesy of Phoenix MacAiodh, CCT

Following over two years of planning and campus input, PAWS retired as the LSU portal and was officially replaced with myLSU in May 2012. Developed in the late 1990s, PAWS marked a significant technological advancement within all of higher education. PAWS was recognized in 2000 with the EDUCAUSE Award for Exemplary Practices in Information Technology Solutions. A homegrown portal environment, PAWS served as the campus’s one stop shop for access to LSU resources for over 15 years. The new myLSU portal builds upon the previous success of PAWS but provides the necessary architectural advancements to accommodate the next generation of IT needs. The myLSU portal positions LSU to continue housing its new information systems within a secure, single point of access.

PAWS RetiresITS’s High Performance Computing (HPC) and University Networking

and Infrastructure (UNI) divisions provide the infrastructure critical to the research, instructional, and administrative functions of the University. Over the last year, these two units have come to share the leadership of Ric Simmons, deputy chief information officer and executive director and continue to provide top-tier services to the campus.

Accomplished in 2012

• UNI Completed the ARI project – a $2 million NSF grant which served to upgrade networks in research buildings. Research buildings were upgraded to 10 Gbps, and desktop connectivity was upgraded to 1 Gbps.

• UNI and HPC joined with CCT to leverage storage needs of the institution along with the “big data” needs of researchers in making a scalable storage purchase.

• HPC partnered with CCT to purchase new SuperMike II supercomputer. Super Mike was ranked #250 out of 500 of the fastest clusters in the world according to the Top500 organization.

• UNI, with the help of Facility Services, completed a renovation of the Data Center which increased the power and cooling footprint.

• UNI worked with LONI to increase the institution’s available Internet bandwidth, essentially tripling the bandwidth.

• UNI completed the migration of over 5,000 LSU faculty and staff e-mail accounts from the Exchange 2003 e-mail system to a hosted Microsoft Office 365 system, and increased mailbox sizes from 1 GByte to 25 GBytes.

• UNI participated in World IPv6 Day.• UNI and HPC offered free training opportunities to the campus.

UNI started its Boot Camp for Technical Support Profesionals over the fall.

In the Works • UNI is currently upgrading the campus wireless network from

802.11 a/b/g to INCLUDE 802.11n – the latest upgrade available. The migration will continue over the next year.

• UNI is working on Network 2015 – a five year life cycle replacement strategy to upgrade network gear around the campus.

• HPC is working with CCT on a replacement strategy for aging high performance clusters used by researchers around the state to predict hurricane paths and conduct research.

• HPC continues to work with researchers enabling the use of HPC infrastructure for research.

• HPC is relocating the Visualization Lab from Middleton to Frey.

Advancing the Network UNI/HPC

15

1716