Around Campus
Our network technician team is in CARSA to finish off the wireless (~35 access points), IP paging system, speaker activations, and door access control systems in 8 telecom rooms. The performance gym will need to be provisioned for dense wireless, and we have initiated the PC0486-Lecture Hall Wireless project to inform and test dense wireless. Here’s Donny Leong in action getting ready to do wireless installs in Elliot 168! Photo Credit: Ryan Pollak
We are preparing an information booth for the ConnectU information fair in May. We are planning to bring meaningful demos and information about University Systems services to faculty and staff attending this event.
UVic used a combined 15626 minutes of BlueJeans video conferencing from Feb 1-27th!
Our Audio Visual Services provided hardware and technology support for the UVic Edge special announcement: an event set-up spanning two stories with hidden wires along pipes and down balcony surrounds, multiple displays including a rigged screen and a projected image crossing over the space, and the use of equipment never before in AV inventory. The work leading up to the successful 20-minute announcement were two full dry-runs, several on-site visits and meetings, a full-day of moving equipment, and the usual last minute changes! We produced DVDs and a web-format file of the recording.
Go-Lives and Updates
UVic receives about 945,000 email flows each day and our spam protection typically blocks about 495,000 of those. We regularly review and update our spam protection to ensure it is working well, while also ensuring that false-positives (rejections of emails that are not spam) are kept at essentially zero. Last week we implemented another Internet black list (a list of IP addresses that are known to send significant spam and phishing emails) and as you can see by the black area in the attached graph, this has again improved our ability to block spam.
We completed a production upgrade of the PaperCut printing management system to version 14.3. We are initiating a project that includes the move from a physical server to a virtual server, a disaster recovery process, and review of operational responsibilities.
The new online application to graduate system went live on February 16. When students are nearing the completion of their degree requirements, they must apply to graduate, affirm the program they are intending to graduate with, and select their desired convocation period. This new online system replaces the legacy paper-based system, and enables such features as real-time validity checking to reduce errors, as well as accepting online payments.
The new self-reported grades application went live on February 15. In the past, offers of undergraduate admission for BC current high school students were made only after receiving final grades from the Ministry of Education. However, in recent years eligible students have had the opportunity to provide their actual and estimated grade 11 and 12 marks so that we can evaluate them for possible early admission. The previous self-reported grades system was originally written as a “quick and dirty” solution for an immediate problem and was not designed for long term use. The new system addresses a number of security and usability issues with the previous system, and is tied in with the new online admissions system, providing a superior student experience.
Training and Events
Graham Tranter from Internal Audit will be providing a session for us on Auditing and Project Management on March 18. Sign-up is on the PMO SharePoint site.
We have made changes to our Project Management Methodology to make our processes more effective in terms of assessing and handling privacy related issues on projects. There will be two information sessions held in March where these changes will be presented. Sign-up is on the PMO SharePoint site.
Trish held an informational Lunch and Learn about fiscal year end on February 27. Project Managers and Managers attended this session to learn about UVic and government deadlines, how the General Office prepares for fiscal year end, and what we can do to help! The presentation slides are available on the Systems SharePoint site.
DSS staff attended two training sessions on the new SharePoint 2013 services soon to be production and available to clients on campus. This was a great opportunity for Client Technologies to do a dry run of new SharePoint training courses and DSS staff to get up to speed on our new SharePoint environment!
We attended a Microsoft Education Technology Day to gain information about upcoming Microsoft technologies (such as Windows 10), deployment techniques, and management tools. This information will help to ensure that we are maximizing our effectiveness in managing Microsoft products for our faculty and staff.