IT Advisory Board meeting – September 2022
Introduction
- Introduction to IT Advisory Board, the roles, and responsibilities of IST, and what to expect for the term
What is IST doing well?
- Duo 2FA is easy to use with the campus systems
- Quest is relatively reliable
- The portal android app works well, there are syncing issues with iOS calendar syncing.
Where can IST improve?
- Duo 2FA
- Crashes in Safari
- Allows for a 30-day cache on the computer but not on mobile.
- Concerns about lost phones after hours when an assignment is due
- Wireless internet
- Decrease dependency on in-person internet-based testing (ex. iClicker cloud). The system is not loading in-classroom in time for students to submit a response.
- Quest
- Can it be made to appear more visually appealing?
- Can it be reviewed for usability? It is not always apparent where specific topics will exist (ex. Add remove sections is in the course calendar not in the course select section).
- Crowdmark
- Issues submitting around deadlines when there is a high volume of requests to the system. Could there be a cache system (ex.dropbox) that has a higher capacity? Students would submit to the drop box which would create a time stamp and submit to Crowdmark as the system allows.
- Hosted list of all domains and services offered
- There is the Service catalogue, but would like feedback passed along to Faculty IT.
- Quest and MUO sometimes crash during course selection, is there a way to make it so the system can handle the volume of requests?
- Learn
- Allow a larger variety of files that can be uploaded and avoid zipping files.
What are some things we can implement quickly to make a difference?
- Increased transparency in network outage reporting
- Publish AP unit concurrency capacities to establish if they are reaching maximum load or if the number is at 0 there is likely an outage.
- Could a push be sent through the portal notifying of outages.
- Increase advertising of the IST Knowledge Base and IST Service Catalogue
- Include knowledge base links in error codes.
- Have questions? Check the knowledge base.
- Posters around campus and residence buildings regarding the knowledge base
- Utilize social media, perhaps IST could do a highlight reel with affiliated UWaterloo accounts that have a larger audience.
What are some things that would be nice to have?
- 'Dark mode' option for systems and applications
- Guaranteed connections in the Careers building so folks know they could reliably book these spaces for co-op interviews
What are some things that the IT Advisory Board would like to discuss in a future meeting?
- Networks and connectivity
- Quest
- Would like to know how long the university stores network activity and how it is stored for?
