Monthly review- March 22, 2008

IT Monthly Review

March 22, 2008

The past month in IT:

• The IT department has closed 295 helpdesk tickets.
• Received word that NWEA has released TestTaker 6 for MAP testing. In related news, Verona started their annual testing and had the same problems we did last year. This does not bode well for our tests, but perhaps the new version of TestTaker will help.
• Installed the demo version of Lightspeed Total Traffic Control to test for deployment.
• Re-refined the parent mass-mailer system for approvers to make it smoother. Still have a few bugs to work out, though.
• Revised PowerSchool backup scheme to give us monthly historical archives in addition to disaster recovery restoration points.
• Test implemented a Groupwise-based calendar for reserving the DSO North Conference Room.
• Ordered equipment for the Technology Integration Program (TIP) requests.
• Drafted 2008-09 budget for IT department.
• Chose specs for standard desktop to be ordered this summer.
• Performed troubleshooting on the OMS server to solve poor performance.
• Migrated all printers to a new server to reduce the dependencies between email and print queues.
• Dealt with a slight increase in spam received by users due to expiration of "Energize Updates" on our current anti-spam system. We are hoping to implement the new system within weeks, and therefore don't want to pay the annual subscription renewal. Actual percentage of spam increase has been negligible, but some users are getting 5-10 per day instead of only one per day. We still block most spam. Our ratio of spam blocked to email allowed is 10:1. You can see in the graph below that the amount of spam (red) is still being blocked, and is much greater than the number of messages being allowed (in green).
• Dealt with systems that are still not compliant with the new DST change schedule.
• Implemented SAML single sign-on for Google Apps domains.

The past month of the Information and Technology Literacy Team:

• Developed budget for 2008-09.
• Started planning for the logistics of actually implementing the ITLT Professional Development Plan.
• Did some on-the-fly keyboarding research to recommend to administration.
• Brainstormed possible ways to proactively deal with the migration to digital TV signals, which is resulting in scarcity of analog AV equipment we use.
• Coordinated our involvement with the SACs to incorporate ITL outcomes into curriculum.
• Reviewed summer course offerings.
  

In the past month, Jon:

• Was principal for a day at OMS. Twice.
• Assisted with the A-team Tier 1 Indicator culture subcommittee
• Participated in planning the WiscNet Future Technologies Conference
• Researched keyboarding best practice and made recommendations to the administrative team
  
• Created an A-Team wiki
• Presented the ITLT Professional Development Plan to the board
• Assisted with the transition of a long term sub TRT at RCI.