President's Report - FY10 Q4
€ Pilot and assess application delivery through the new
KeyServer infrastructure (carried over from Q3)
On track. Pilot is ongoing and we've expanded the pool
of available applications to include Adobe CS5 (just
released) applications, including Captivate. We were
able to get Adobe and Sassafras to work together directly
to begin resolving some of the interaction and patching
issues we have seen.
€ VMware images early summer deployment to the community
The student, admin, and base images are complete and
are being tried out in the field by our DLC collaborators
and Service Desk students.
€ Service Desk participation in Campus Preview Weekend
The Service Desk and FSX had a successful presence at
Campus Preview Weekend.
Some other accmplishments from Q4 are below. Again, feel
free to trim as needed. I think the only two I'd definitely
like to see in the report are a note on the KSL-CopyTech
transition and the Athena WG wrapping up phase 1.
Athena and Student Computing:
=============================
* Space updates and carpet replacement in W20-575 (largest
student computing lab)
* SUN Solaris decommissioning complete (all centrally
deployed Athena workstations are now Windows or Ubuntu
Linux)
* Development of Debathena / Lucid
Development is pretty much done (some cleanup items remain).
Deployment on track for summer. Public beta machines are up
for public use by students in dorms and several computer lab
locations.
Student Printing:
* KSL to CopyTech transition
We've been working with KSL and CopyTech to transition service
and maintenance from a third-party vendor (KSL) to an MIT
service provider (CopyTech, part of DSL), in preparation for
a possible implementation of Pharos hold-and-release printing
for public student printers this fall (pending approval of
Athena working group phase 1 recommendations). The transition
is effective July 1, 2010.
* Pharos Pilot reviews of W20 and Baker House pilots
Pilots remain operational and continue to garner positive
reviews from students.
Faculty and Departmental Engagement and Outreach:
* Athena Working Group
The Athena Working Group completed it's phase 1 report
and recommendations to the sponsors (Dan Hastings,
Marilyn Smith) but approval of recommendations and
chartering of phase 2 is delayed until later this summer
due to scheduling constraints. We expect that we may
begin moving forward with printing recommendations ahead
of the other two areas of recommendations (Quickstation
kiosks and cluster/computer lab spaces).
* Video Portal
The Video Portal project (a MIT CET / ACCORD chartered project
involving people from the Libraries, OCW, and IS&T) is approaching
delivery on August 1, 2010. The goal of the project is to create
a section on the Teaching With Technology web site which
aggregates best practices, resources, and specifications for
any video use in education at MIT.
* Kaltura
The Libraries are replacing TechTV's back-end service provider
(Viddler) with more comprehensive service from Kaltura. The
swap is expected to be complete by the end of August, and will
include several immediate and potential feature additions such
as web-based editing, media management (including images),
integration with Touchstone and LDAP (group membership), and
so on. I have mainly been working with Steve Gass in a
consultative capacity, but mention it here because it involves
effort from several areas of IS&T to help with integration
work, and I'm not sure it is being highlighted elsewhere. We
are also looking at a successful Kaltura implementation by
the Libraries as a possible alternative for current Thalia
customers.
* Via the GIS Planning group, the Libraries, IS&T, and OEIT
worked through several small projects to streamline GIS lab
operations, including hardware renewal and service staffing
FY10 Q3
Oliver Thomas' email to Barbara Goguen and cc: Gresham, Sheppard and Aufiero (dated 4/12/2010)
SUBJECT: Re: Q3 Narrative Reminder
Thanks Barbara! I had not submitted anything yet.
Pat, FSX also has one missed/carry forward goal from our list of goals in the Q2 report:
> - Deliver the next release of Debathena, tracking the public release of
> Ubuntu “Karmic”
- Postponed until summer 2010 due to upstream issues and delays in Ubuntu
"Karmic"
Thanks,
Oliver
======
Goals for Next Quarter
- Implement process for Asset Recovery for IS&T and community
- Complete VIP Exchange migrations
- Partner with the Office of the President to develop and implement a
process to ensure future Institute wide publications (e.g., Task
Force Report) are accessible to the entire MIT population - Co-lead an initiative to define a framework (aka menu of options)
for Institute certifications. Partnering with RACC to leverage the
framework to begin developing a certification program around Sponsored
Research Administration - Deliver the next release of Debathena, tracking the public release of
Ubuntu “Karmic” - Deliver W20 and Baker House kiosk-based printing pilots with CopyTech
and student organizations, and assess their effectiveness and potential
for larger deployments - Pilot and assess application delivery through the new KeyServer
infrastructure - Work with OIS to distribute updated Citrix ICA clients for Mac and Windows
from IS&T software download site - Pilot distribution of a VMware image for business help applications
- Complete PCI compliance incident response
======
On Apr 12, 2010, at 10:12 PM, Barbara J Goguen goguen@mit.edu wrote:
> Not sure whether Oliver or Chris have submitted anything yet, so thought I would at least send along a collection, slightly edited, that was compiled by the Service Desk Team Leaders last week. Needs some mor editing work, but it at least provides a starting point for SD and FSX.
>
> Barbara
>
>
> On 4/12/10 3:55 PM, "Patricia Sheppard" <pshepp@MIT.EDU> wrote:
>
>> For those teams that have not submitted anything for the Q3 report, could you please share your accomplishments as well as Q4 goals/milestones with Elaine and I by the end of the day tomorrow? The final needs to be submitted to Marilyn’s office by next Tuesday the 20th, so the time line is very short and we want to make sure we have time to turn it around for your review and feedback.
>>
>> Thanks much!
> <SD&FSXQ3.docx>
___________________________________________
Barbara Goguen's email to Aufiero and Sheppard (dated 4/12/2010)
SUBJECT: Re: Q3 Narrative Reminder
Not sure whether Oliver or Chris have submitted anything yet, so thought I would at least send along a collection, slightly edited, that was compiled by the Service Desk Team Leaders last week. Needs some mor editing work, but it at least provides a starting point for SD and FSX.
Barbara
On 4/12/10 3:55 PM, "Patricia Sheppard" <pshepp@MIT.EDU> wrote:
For those teams that have not submitted anything for the Q3 report, could you please share your accomplishments as well as Q4 goals/milestones with Elaine and I by the end of the day tomorrow? The final needs to be submitted to Marilyn’s office by next Tuesday the 20th, so the time line is very short and we want to make sure we have time to turn it around for your review and feedback.
Thanks much!
Attachment for this email:
Telephony:
• Smooth transition of telephony from E19
• On-site support for VoIP transitions
o President/Provost/VP Research/Corporate Relations in bldg 3, 7, 10, 11, N52
o Facilities in bldg E19
o MITMCO in bldg E48
• Templates created for All VIP Offices, EECS, Microsystems Technology Lab, MIT Medical, Buildings 26, 34, 36, 38, 39, E23, E39, E40, E51, E52, E60, E70
• CSRs migrated to ACD
Student Staffing:
• Collaboration with Chuck Shubert in OEIT. Service Desk students as UROP employees a percentage of their time during IAP
• Successful Call Center student hiring took place early S10 semester
o Started another hiring effort to complete early Q4
FSX:
• Pharos printing pilot in W20 and W7
• Nominated SIPB for an MIT Excellence Award
• Video tools at MIT
• Athena/faculty working group started
Hermes:
• Hermes presented at NERCOMP with favorable reception
• 287 new articles, 551 modified articles
Hardware:
• 60 Athena machines on campus upgraded in the field (FSX)
• Student Laptop loaner program successfully loaned 70 laptops
Accounts:
• Accounts deactivation in January. Support for all MIT users needing sponsorship updates
Software:
• Academic computing virtual machine created (FSX)
• SPSS renewal
• Work for Matlab license renewal
• Keyserver pilot has started
• Group to review software and service release process has started
• Oracle 11G release ongoing
• Full support for Windows 7 – 32bit started
• Working with SWRT to improve Certaid for Mac OS X & Safari
• File Maker 11 Release
• TSM 6.1 client release project
• Snow leopard support 2/2/10
• Work done to release SAPgui patch that enables support for Windows 7
• Vmware Image project for Business Help applications
• Vpn.mit.edu went live
• VSLS inventory and cost/time estimate for all products almost complete
• Hiring process for vacated VSLS position nearing completion
Documentation and Community outreach:
• Support @ MIT page updated to make it easier to contact the Service Desk.
• Twitter feeds:
o Mobile Ninja getting significant use
o Service desk outage whiteboard listing available in restricted twitter feed
• Work for 4G symposium underway by Mobile Devices team
• Citrix documentation prepared for changes to citrix.mit.edu
• Educational Technology section of IS&T documentation being reworked (FSX)
• Old Athena documentation cleaned up and removed (FSX)
• Getting started documentation being reviewed (FSX)
•
Training/Professional Development:
• Service desk staff attended Windows 7 training
• Cross training of Service Center (Software/Hardware) under way
RT:
• Service Desk and FSX continue to support RT
• Daily trends data now extracted from RT saved for reuse in FileMaker
• Started in depth look at: How the Service desk uses RT
o Our process for ticket escalation
o Practices regarding queue access for IS&T and outside organizations
Email:
• Established internal working group for Exchange related issues
• Worked with OIS and customers to resolve issues with missing email
Network:
• FSILG internal network upgrades finalized early Q3
Upcoming Goals for Q4:
• Dell business process study of the Service Desk
• Matlab renewal by June
• AutoDesk license renewal
• VMware images ready for early summer deployment
• Citrix 10 documentation published in Drupal
• Campus Preview Weekend presence by Service Desk
• Windows 7, 64bit support coming
• Oracle client for Windows 7 release
• Work towards process for upgrading RT, to be completed between FY10 and FY11
• Performance appraisals
• SAPGui for Windows 7 release
• Cross Training of CSRs to broaden their technical skill sets
• Laptop recommendation changes
• Work on printer recommendations
• Reviewing documentation released by AUX with Service Desk consultants
• Internal billing updates, exploring TNSC billing model and tool
• ACD clients updated with new IP address for ACD server
• Outlook mrhalp Exchange profiles installed on all service desk computers to enable better troubleshooting
• Call center to migrate some phones to VoIP
• Exchange test matrix complete
FY10 Q2
Oliver Thomas' email to Elaine Aufiero and cc: to css-managers@mit.edu, Patricia Sheppard and Robert Smyser (dated 1/7/2010)
...