Information Systems & Technology Annual Report
Other 2021 accomplishments
UPDATE FOR 2021
| What has been done? | What does this mean? | Which IST group led this project? |
|---|---|---|
| Function Point system implementation with Creative Services | Implemented a new workflow management platform for Creative Services, to modernize their processes and enable more efficient intake and workflow. | Departmental and Campus Applications (DCA) |
| International Student Arrival and Quarantine | Within Portal, implement a new module to support the return of International Students who are travelling to Canada, and are required to quarantine upon their arrival in Canada. This functionality both supports students and helps to meet the University’s regulatory requirements to the federal government. | DCA |
| Customer and Business Relationship Management system with Waterloo International | Partnered with Waterloo International to implement a system to centralize many paper and digital processes into one primary information system. | DCA |
| Addition of Webcam interview module to WaterlooWorks with CEE |
Technical implementation of major new functionality for WaterlooWorks to enable webcam interviews within the WaterlooWorks platform for both students and employers |
DCA |
| Upgrade of the Space and Plant Management System with the Space Office and Plant Operations | Upgrade to the latest version of Archibus, which includes integration with ADFS for logging of maintenance requests by campus community members, as well as a mobile app for use by staff around campus. | DCA |
| Implementation of a new Business Process Management Tool | This new platform for campus will offer an inexpensive, low/no-code platform to take on many business process automation and document repository tasks across campus. | DCA |
| WCMS 3 Project | Continued development of the University’s next generation web platform. Implementation and migrations will begin in mid-2021. | DCA |
| Built new Online Bursary application | Provided a responsive questionnaire to collect information from students and guide them through applying for financial assistance. As this included the addition of Academic Bursary, a bursary to help with technical expenses caused by COVID-19, applications for assistance jumped from 300 to over 4,500. | Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) |
| Developed bulk transcript functionality | The production of bulk transcript used by GSPA to assist students applying for the Tri-Council Scholarships and OGS (Ontario Graduate Scholarships). The process will also be used by the Centre to handle transcript requests they receive from students. | ERP |
| Workday security and process review | In addition to upgrades and improvements, a thorough Workday security review was completed including the initiation of a robust termly process to review access. | ERP |
|
Dubhub CRM project |
The Dubhub CRM project integrated 5 CRM systems into the Azure data lake to provide reporting on matching and data quality. Work continues on governance and pilots to leverage this capability. | ERP |
| Support campus partners with data requests | Supported Math to provide the data feeds for the Vena budgeting system to aid their faculty in monitoring and planning; with Finance, established a vendor scorecard to advance how the relationship for a major system is monitored; with CEE, migrated their on-premises data to the Azure data lake; supported the SSO automate the analysis and presentation of MSLQ (Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire) with their pilot groups, which has helped them to expand the number of courses that they can provide this service for. | ERP |
| Campus Power BI training | Provided the first Power BI training to campus and refined the offering to aid in report building. | ERP |
| Completed a proof-of-concept of Quest running on the Oracle Cloud within a Canadian datacentre | This work helped build confidence in the capabilities, security, and administrative efficiencies that are provided. | ERP |
| Graduation Recruitment Transformation project | Contract signed for the Slate application to support the Graduation Recruitment Transformation project. System configured so that graduates can apply directly to the University of Waterloo in early 2021. | ERP |
| Decisions.com initiative | Completed the procurement and setup of a Business Process Management tool called Decisions.com. | ERP |
| Teams Roster Sync | Courses can be taught collaboratively online using Microsoft Teams to complement LEARN. We can now auto-synchronizing Microsoft Teams with class and section data as students add/remove courses. | Technology Integrated Services (TIS) |
| Office 365 email migrations | Completed migration of employees to Microsoft Office 365 Exchange Online and migrated students from @edu to Waterloo tenant. Students and employees can effectively collaborate together using the Microsoft suite of tools, including Teams for online teaching and learning. | TIS, Client Services (CS) |
| Wireless core infrastructure migrated to Cisco from Aruba | Access points (AP's) are being installed in all campus buildings providing improved wireless coverage and increased performance for high density locations. Expect to begin ’turning on' Cisco AP's in January 2021. | TIS |
| Campus Switch Refresh project | Improved performance and reliability of campus network. | TIS |
| Local storage upgrades | Local storage upgrades completed providing 2 Petabytes of usable storage in each datacentre. | TIS |
| Email improvement project |
A standardized campus email system with enhanced threat protection. |
TIS |
| Campus telephone migration project | Support and migration of ~200 extensions/month from legacy phones to Skype for Business softphone client. Provides telephony to off campus/remote users. | TIS, CS |
| Datacentre firmware upgrade | All datacentre networking equipment firmware upgraded to recommended versions providing improved reliability and security. | TIS |
| SCCM upgrade | SCCM upgraded to current branch providing improved reliability, security, and management of workstations across campus; 240+ applications packaged and deployed to over 4,300 managed workstations. | TIS |
| Office 365 ProPlus | Completed deployment of Office 365 ProPlus. | TIS |
| Migration to Active Directory Federation Service (ADFS) | Migration of CAS and Shibboleth-based authentication processes to ADFS; over 300 relying party trusts. | TIS |
| Jira Service Management pilot and implementation | Completed pilot of Jira Service Desk (now called Jira Service Management) with campus partners to assess and evaluate its effectiveness as a ticket management and integrated IT service management (ITSM) solution. Current implementation of Jira Service Management is ongoing. | CS |
| OneDrive awareness initiative | Promotion of OneDrive storage solution as alternative to current N: and R: drives. | CS |
| SharePoint Online project | Investigate and support current on-premises SharePoint 2016 sites to SharePoint Online or alternative solution e.g. Teams. | CS, TIS |
| Teams support | Provide support to campus community as they transition to using Teams more prominently for remote work/learning, conferences, Teams Live Events. | CS |
| Kanopy Media Services | Expansion of Kanopy media streaming service for online teaching. | CS |
| Mandatory Duo two-factor (2FA) authentication implementation | Lead implementation of mandatory 2FA for a number of central campus systems; database availability groups (DAG's) implemented by TIS; end user support provided by CS. | Information Security Services (ISS), TIS, CS |
| WatIAM integration with WatCard | Improves identity assurance processes. | ISS |
| WatIAM management of Office 365 licenses | Newly automated provisioning of cloud services based on role reduces staff time and improves overall service. | ISS, TIS |
| Version upgrades for IAM, Grouper, and Shibboleth | Ensures the University is using the most current and supported software required for security updates and system integrations, such as Canadian Access Federation. | ISS |
| SIEM improvements | Enhanced responsive intrusion detection capability. | ISS |
| Security awareness content for remote work | Facilitating a secure remote workforce during the current work from home environment. | ISS, CS |
| Campus Check-In | Worked with the Space Planning and Safety Offices to roll out “Campus Check-In” tool to meet the University’s obligations for COVID-19 building occupancy, contact tracing, and reporting. | DCA, CS, TIS |
| Using Microsoft 365 applications in courses | Course pilots started in the summer, with 350 courses in the fall. While not fully adopted for teaching, MS 365 applications are of interest and ITMS is tracking integration by D2L to embed applications more tightly in LEARN. | Instructional Technologies and Media Services (ITMS) |
| Learning Environment Retreat | Biannual event by ITMS, CEL, CTE, Library, and Bookstore to plan 18 months to 2 year horizon; topics: lessons learned in speedy move online (working together, edtech tools readiness/gaps, agility, etc.); reviewing progress on our 2019 recommendations in Edtech Challenges Plan (draft). | ITMS |
| Keep Learning Planning groups | Ongoing Keep Learning website additions (e.g., captioning, media creation, large remote classes); advice and support for exams; creation of and participation in workshops (live and recorded), https://uwaterloo.ca/keep-learning/training-and-events | ITMS |
| LinkedIn Learning agreement | Negotiation of an agreement for continued use of LinkedIn Learning after the end of the provincially funded agreements. | ITMS |
IST projects and initiatives
Please visit the IST Projects page for a full list of projects or initiatives and their descriptions and status. This report includes work completed over the past year.
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