OIT News – January 2009

OIT News
Monthly news briefs, information, and announcements
Office of Information Technology, NC State University
Issue 15, January 2009

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For the up-to-the minute reports on OIT systems, see SysNews:
http://sysnews.ncsu.edu
For help with computing problems, contact the NC State University Help Desk:
http://help.ncsu.edu
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01: OIT Strategic Operations Plan now online
02: WolfWise Team plans town hall meetings for current GroupWise users
03: New antivirus software is now available as a free download!
04: All invited to OIT Lunch and Learn session, Facebook
05: Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Fair will be held February 2nd
06: New project inventories campus’ data network paths
07: OIT offers AVTech consulting services
08: Certification of security access to the Student Information System (SIS) due January 31st
09: Program aims to protect sensitive data on campus Web sites
10: SIS training, Student Records Go Live in February
11: SAR training scheduled for January 22nd

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01: OIT Strategic Operations Plan now online
Under the direction of Vice Chancellor Marc Hoit, OIT completed its first Strategic Operations Plan in December, 2008. The plan is the first part of a three-phase planning process launched by Dr. Hoit to improve the use of information technology as a driver for change at NC State.

The OIT Strategic Operations Plan focuses on creating a new vision for OIT and improving organizational operations. It includes four new implementation projects chosen for their potentially high benefit to the university. These are a new Student Email Initiative, Centralized Storage Project, Identity and Access Management, and University Data Mart.

To download the Strategic Operations Plan, read more about OIT strategic planning, or submit your comments, visit strategic planning

02: WolfWise Team plans town hall meetings for current GroupWise users

The WolfWise implementation team plans to hold two town hall meetings in early February to discuss the move of current GroupWise users to the new WolfWise system. The team will also hold a town hall meeting for technical staff in early February. WolfWise is NC State’s implementation of Novell GroupWise for its single centrally supported calendaring and email solution.

Current GroupWise users will be moved to the new WolfWise system according to their email post office boxes and will be notified two weeks in advance of the pending move, which will occur over a weekend. The WolfWise project schedule can be viewed online at the WolfWise Web site (no longer available).

For recent WolfWise changes, please visit the WolfWise Web site (no longer available). If you have any questions or feedback, please send them to the WolfWise implementation team via the feedback form on the WolfWise Web site (no longer available).

03: New antivirus software is now available as a free download!

NC State’s new antivirus products – Trend Micro OfficeScan 8 for Microsoft Windows and Intego VirusBarrier X5 for Mac OS X – are now available for download. All faculty, staff, and students accessing campus systems are encouraged to upgrade immediately to take advantage of the superior protection offered by these new antivirus products. Each computer connected to the campus network must have a university-approved antivirus program installed and kept up-to-date. Support for all Symantec products provided by NCSU will end on June 22nd, 2009. For everything you need to make this switch, including FAQs and download instructions, visit the NC State Antivirus Resources Web site at http://www.ncsu.edu/antivirus.

04: All invited to OIT Lunch and Learn session, Facebook

The campus community is invited to attend the Office of Information Technology’s Brown Bag Lunch and Learn session, “Quickstart Guide to Facebook for New Users,” from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, February 10th in 216 Scott Hall. Facebook is a free social networking Web site that allows people to interact and share information. During this session, Twanda Baker of OIT Design, Education and Outreach will show participants how to set up their Facebook profile, connect with co-workers and friends, protect their privacy, navigate around pages, and communicate using the Facebook Wall and Inbox. To register, visit http://webapps.ncsu.edu/classmate.

05: Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Fair will be held February 2nd

NC State’s first Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Fair will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, February 2nd in the Centennial Campus Engineering Building 2. Sponsored by OIT Linux Services and the Computer Science Department, the fair will be an “unconference” style event featuring keynotes, demos, presentations, and hackfests offered by NCSU students, staff, faculty, Red Hat Engineers, and guests. The organizers encourage you to sign up now to hear the Red Hat keynotes on running successful Open Source projects, to show off a project of your own, to hold a session on an open source topic, or just to listen, learn, and foster collaboration among the NCSU FOSS community. For more information and to signup for the fair visit: https://opensource.ncsu.edu/FossFair2009.

06: New project inventories campus’ data network paths

The iTRACS project – ComTech’s inventory of NC State’s physical data network paths – is underway. October 2008 marked the beginning of phase I of the project, which consists of collecting data on building horizontal cabling – the cabling that goes from a jack/outlet in a customer’s work area to a switch port in a telecommunications room. To date, 25 buildings have been inventoried accounting for 1,143 outlets and 33 switches.

Later phases of the iTRACS project will document fiber paths, manholes, telephones, risers between BDFs (Building Distribution Frames) and IDFs (Intermediate Distribution Frames), virtual racks, and cable test information.

07: OIT offers AVTech consulting services
The Office of Information Technology offers audio visual technology (AVTech) consulting services for traditionally lecture-style, general-purpose classrooms; conference rooms; labs; and other learning spaces. AVTech provides assistance with the physical design of the classroom, including low-voltage wiring paths, computer connectivity, sound reinforcement, and lighting; assistance with system design, including projectors, projection screens, control systems, DVD players, and table-top document cameras; and assistance with purchasing the required, compatible, and cost-effective combination of technology to equip the classroom. Faculty and staff who are interested in learning more about these services should contact Dan Tucker, Learning Space Technology Coordinator, at 513-7485 or via email at dan_tucker@ncsu.edu.

08: Certification of security access to the Student Information System (SIS) due January 31st

The OIT-Security and Compliance unit notified campus deans/vice chancellors in December of the need to review and certify their staff’s access to the Student Information System (SIS). The February upgrade of the Student Information System (SIS) requires a careful review and certification of SIS access. Campus is certifying SIS access roles that were based upon the user’s access in the legacy student mainframe system. Any changes or deletions that need to be made should be entered through the System Access Request (SAR) application. To ensure all changes are in place before the Records portion of SIS goes into production in February, certifications must be received by January 30th. To date, only five of 33 requests have been returned.

09: Program aims to protect sensitive data on campus Web sites
To protect the university against improper disclosure of sensitive data via the Web, OIT-Security and Compliance will expand its web certification program this fall to include all OIT hosted Web sites (both academic and administrative). Owners of these sites will certify annually that their Web sites either display no university sensitive information or have sufficient controls (such as passwords and/or encryption) in place to protect the sensitive data that they need to display. Security and Compliance will also develop a program for campus departments and colleges to certify their Web sites for protection of sensitive data.

Examples of sensitive data include:
* Personally identifiable information maintained for university business (social security numbers, bank account and credit cards numbers, etc.) – controlled under the State Identity Theft Act and credit card contractual security obligations (PCI DSS).
* Payroll, benefits, taxation, employment and disciplinary information – protected under the State Employee Personal Information Privacy Law.
* Identified personal health information, medical records, etc. – protected under the HIPAA regulation.
* Proprietary research data owned as university intellectual property and also under grant contractual obligations.
* Student information – protected under the FERPA regulation.
* Confidential legal and financial data (including student loans) – protected under the banking Gramm Leach Bliley Act (GLBA) and other university regulations.
* Any data that a user believes would cause substantial damage to the university if exposed to the public.

Security and Compliance reminds the university that improper disclosures of sensitive data via the Web can cause harm and embarrassment to students, faculty, and staff; can initiate legal action with significant financial penalties, effort, and cost to the university; and can result in immeasurable damage to the image and reputation of the university. It is everyone’s responsibility to safeguard such data.

10: SIS training, Student Records Go Live in February

The Student Information Systems (SIS) team is offering just-in-time, audience-specific training. Classes are being provided to teach functionality as it becomes available in SIS. On February 9th, campus will begin accessing all student records information through SIS using the MyPack Portal. This is not a change for faculty and students, but the look of the information will change. Administrators will begin using the MyPack Portal instead of Rumba to access student records information.

For more information, or to register for these training sessions, follow the “Training” link on the Student Information System Web site at http://www.ncsu.edu/sis:

* Training for staff and administrators called, “SIS Staff/Admin Training: How to Find Student Data in SIS.”
* Training for Directors of Graduate Programs and Graduate Secretaries or Administrators called, “SIS DGP & Graduate Secretary/Administrator Training” is now available.
* Training for Advisors called, “Advisor Training: Hands-on in Computer Lab.”

In March, campus will begin using SIS to register for summer and fall 2009 classes. Just-in-time training for those tasks will be offered in late February and currently include, “SIS Staff/Admin Training: Enrollment Tasks” and “SIS Training for Academic Advisors.” A number of those sessions are already available for registration as well. Follow the “Training” link at http://www.ncsu.edu/sis.

11: SAR training scheduled for January 22nd

Security Access Request (SAR) training for campus requestors and approvers is scheduled for Thursday, January 22nd in Room 312 of the Hillsborough Building. Please visit the following Web site to view available classes and to sign up for training. http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/solutionscenter/Training

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For help with computing at NC State, contact the NC State Help Desk:
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