ACADEMIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS GROUP

SunGard Presentation of Financial Aid

C&C is exploring the option of running SunGard as a stand alone application that will interface with our existing student information system. SunGard representatives will be at UCR on June 2nd and June 11th to present their Financial Aid system to C&C and the UCR Financial Aid group.

Integrating GROWL with an Online Schedule of Classes – C&C is developing a schedule of classes search function that is directly tied to enrollment. Students will be able to invoke a search function directly from the enrollment screen and in turn, enroll directly in classes selected from the search results.

Formation of Campus Advising Technologies Workgroup – UCR has established a standing sub-committee to provide guidance on advising issues and Student Data Query System (SDQS).

Initial discussions to include:
Addition of 3rd week census official option
Admissions query tool option that would be driven by “Application Term”, and not require enrollment.
Addition of Placement scores for use in tracking
Frozen GPA, and Academic Action; add Grade Delay flag
Advisor name lookup functionality
"English language" data dictionary with descriptions of data in the SDQS
Discussion of a plan / proposal to provide training / best practices / workshops to a broad SDQS users group.

Fully automate SIS into iLearn

In addition to the current enrollment feed, UCR is creating new feeds for Course Catalog Descriptions, Special Topics section descriptions, Schedule information (time and location), Instructors, TAs, and Cross-listings. The process will include fully automated SIS extracts, FTPs, and iLearn import updates (no manual intervention).

iGrade Default Use

The use of iGrade is becoming more widely used, and increasingly accepted by both the Registrar’s Office and the academic departments as the best form of grade submission.

In preparation for mandated use, several enhancements are being made:

Courses will use iGrade by default, and require intervention to have a paper grade roster printed.
Enhanced management reporting to track grades not submitted
iGrade to SIS “grade change” audit trail to allow classes whose grades were delayed, to use iGrade to submit their grades after the official final grades process flags them as ‘GD’.
Pulling final grades to iGrade from iLearn gradebook.
Functionality to allow TAs to post grades to portions of classes within iGrade, but will require the faculty of record to approve and submit the grades to SIS.

INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY GROUP

ENTERPRISE COMPUTING GROUP

Connexus Update

Connexus Version 1 is currently running in conjunction with a single sign-on Shibboleth Authentication which identifies the user profile of individuals who log in with their UCR NetID with specific travel information based on preferences and history.
The program transmits nightly feeds to Trondent, who update the travelers profile information and fans it out to online booking agencies. Users can then book travel through Orbitz, BCD, etc., in the Connexus database with pre-populated information.

Connexus Version 2 will expand the Connexus program by incorporating a purchase order module inside the travel system. Users will be assigned a number per travel request and once the travel has been booked, the expenses will be paid via an online electronic feed along with FAU information and will auto ledger entry pay via the ghost card system.

The bank feed to UCR will include “standard” information (e.g. transaction ID, date, merchant, amount, and Connexxus ID). C&C will create code that integrates this information with the FAU information on the iTravel trip to disburse the expenses. Settlement for all Connexxus ID bookings will be via a Ghost Card. C&C will create code that integrates this information with the FAU information on the iTravel trip to disburse the expenses. Plan to code over the summer and release in fall 2008.

Ledger Reconciliation and Storage System (LRSS)

To satisfy auditing requirements C&C has developed a tool that electronically records and demonstrates that campus departments and units have appropriately reconciled financial ledgers. The LRSS also facilitates the reconciliation process by permitting departments and units to store reconciled ledgers electronically on secure campus servers. The LRSS requires two electronic certifications: the first is provided by a Reconciler, certifying that the ledger has been reconciled; the second is provided by a Certifier, confirming the reconciliation has been appropriately completed. LRSS is also tightly integrated with EACS and there’s a ledger recon matrix that SAA’s have to set up to define who is accountable for reconciling specific FAUs.

The Ledger Reconciliation and Storage System was developed in response to the Statement of Auditing Standards (SAS 112) auditing requirements. SAS 112 requires UCR to identify key internal controls and then consistently document that these controls are operational. SAS 112 applies to UCR financial statements (ledgers) beginning with the 2007 fiscal year.
The system has been deployed and is currently in production and in piloting mode with partial campus usage. This is the third month of the pilot.

For additional information, please view the LRSS website at http://cnc.ucr.edu/lrss

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

C&C has deployed a counterpart of the eCAF system which was used for electronically developing proposals for contracts and grants for extramural funds, research funding, etc. The IRB is specific to proposals requiring sensitive subject matter such as, research on human subjects (children, pregnant women, etc.), stem cells, or animals in which extra caution must be used as to not endanger the subject or cause them long lasting ill effects. Additional scrutiny is required for such research to describe and disclose risks and highlight benefits. IRB incorporates an EACS based electronic workflow approval routing process that will assign an approved request a research number that can then be submitted via eCaf. This new system of electronic approvals allows for international interaction allowing the workflow and approval process to progress timely and efficiently.

Beta testing has been completed.

Emergency Notification System (ENS) Force decision for Campus Community

To enhance UCR's HYPERLINK emergency preparedness, the campus launched a new emergency communications system utilizing SMS text messaging to rapidly notify the entire campus community via text messaging, e-mail, and voice mail in the event of a large scale crisis occurs.

To aid in enrolling the entire campus into the ENS system, Acting Chancellor Robert Grey formulated a plan to compel students, faculty and staff to opt-in to receive emergency notifications. Students, faculty and staff will need to make an opt-in/opt-out decision in order to continue to have access to many campus online resources. After March 22, 2008, students who wanted, for example, to see their final grades online in GROWL were prompted for an ENS opt-in/opt-out decision before being allowed to continue to their online grades. Beginning May 30th, 2008, faculty and staff will need to make that same ENS opt-in/opt-out decision or access to many campus online systems will be blocked.

For more information on ENS at UCR, please visit, : http://ens.ucr.edu

HR Applications

C&C is pursuing several exciting new Human Resource applications in conjunction with UCR Human Resources for campus and staff improvements. They are:

Grad SIS - Grad SIS, UCR’s new online graduate application, application review and admissions offer system, is currently undergoing a pilot deployment with 5 graduate programs for the 2008-2009 admissions season. The pilot has proved to be a successful test of the online application portion of Grad SIS, with over 1070 applications and 1800 letters of recommendation received electronically. The Grad SIS Steering Committee has authorized an expansion of the pilot for Phase II for the 2009-2010 application season, and 7 additional programs have agreed to participate. These programs will be participating in training and testing of the system during summer 2008, with deployment of the online application for Phase II scheduled for Sept. 1, 2008. C&C is currently processing 60+ enhancement requests from Phase I of the pilot.

Learning Management System (LMS )- UCR is currently participating in the UC-wide deployment of the SumTotal TotalLMS system for learning management. The LMS will be used to manage, monitor and administer staff training, certification and compliance, to allow for the creation of career development plans for staff, as well as other uses. UCR is currently readying a pilot deployment of the LMS using UCR’s ProCard online training module. The pilot will involve 170+ users who will take the online ProCard training through the LMS, and their supervisors, who will access the results of the online training through the LMS.

LMS Self Assessment - In order to effectively assign training and capture employee certification requirements for the LMS, UCR is currently developing a Self Assessment module. The Self Assessment, which will be completed by all UCR employees (or possibly by supervisors where appropriate), utilizes threaded and context-sensitive questions to determine appropriate required and suggested training activities for the employee. These training activities will be communicated via web service to the LMS, which will assign the training. The independence of the Self Assessment from the LMS will ensure its flexibility and minimize development costs associated with future upgrades of the LMS software. The Self-Assessment application is currently in the early stages of development, and a Working Group is currently being called to finalize the system specifications.

iReview

Development is underway for a new campus online Equity and Reclassification System, known as iReview. iReview is a routed online system that will bring complete electronic entry and processing for equity and reclassification requests, from initial entry within individual departments to final approval by Human Resources. iReview is currently under development with a pilot deployment expected for fall 2008.

Job Description Toolkit

UCR Computing & Communications is working with Human Resources on the upgrade of the existing Job Description Toolkit (JDT), used to create and catalogue employee job descriptions. This effort involves the porting of the existing system functionality and data to the Oracle environment, integration with other system utilizing job descriptions (ie. iReview), the addition of new system features, including a routed approval process for job descriptions. Mockups for the new system have been developed and a Working Group will be called shortly to oversee development.

Human Resources Data Warehouse - The Human Resources Data Warehouse (HRDW) has been developed in a partnership between C&C and Human Resources. HRDW will function as the campus system of record for Human Resources information, and a resource for both historical and statistical information relating to campus employment. HRDW is accessible both through a powerful query tool and via pre-defined reports. C&C is currently finalizing the first group of reports, and expects to deploy HRDW by July 2008.

COMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURE AND SECURITY

Purchasing ID Engines NAC System

C&C purchased a Network Access Control system from ID Engines to be deployed on campus in both the wired and wireless networks. The products purchased include the Ignition Server, a policy engine appliance that uses radius; AutoConnect, a tool that helps users by automatically configuring their 802.1x supplicant; and Guest Manager, which will allow other departments on campus to manage their guest accounts (for example UCR Extension).

Mail System Upgrade

All faculty accounts were migrated from an aging Network Appliance 820 to a new shelf on our existing NetApp 3020. The new storage offers higher reliability and the ability to expand the amount of storage offered to faculty.

C&C is also investigating alternates to the current mail system with a Microsoft exchange pilot and a Zimbra pilot.

Research Computing Seed System

C&C’s purchase of a 64-node AMD Opteron compute cluster has passed the Purchasing RFP and is due to be shipped in June. The seed system includes two 30TB storage arrays, one will mirror the other as a backup. This system will be part of UC Grid, and will be available to campus researchers of all disciplines.

Dr. Greg Beran, UCR Professor of Chemistry has also purchased a compute cluster that will participate in C&C's collaborative cluster. His cluster will also arrive in June and will be housed in C&C co-lo facillity.

For additional information, please visit the website http://researchtech.ucr.edu.

In particular, see the revised whitepaper for a description of the collaborative cluster structure and governance http://researchtech.ucr.edu/files/Computational_Clusters_Whitepaper.pdf

InfoBlox

C&C has purchased 5 Infoblox DNS/DHCP appliances to provide robust and reliable service to the campus. The appliances offer High Availability redundancy, and will be deployed over the course of the summer.

DMCA

In response to the dramatic increase of DMCA copyright infringement notifications, C&C has modified the rules on the Packeteer Packetshaper that sits on the residence hall network and shapes traffic between dorm students and the internet. The new rules only affect traffic that the Packetshaper can't identify (aka default traffic), and limits only the outbound traffic to 64Kbps. Hopefully this will discourage internet users from getting copyrighted material from UCR students.

LMS and the Travel Portal Connexus w/ UC Trust

Both the Learning Management and Connexus Travel Systems have been brought on-line as UC Trust enabled applications. These systems depend on federated identity management to provide training and travel information to students, faculty and staff.

Database Group

NETWORK SERVICES GROUP