2002, May 22
University of Waterloo has made substantial investments in renewal of its information systems and technologies over the last several years. We have a modern, sustainable infrastructure supporting all aspects of our missions of research, teaching, and learning, and of our associated academic-support functions. The overall vision is to move responsively and pro-actively, finding a balance between taking risks where reasonable and avoiding unnecessary consequences of some "bleeding edge" technology.
Today's technology is diverse and complex. A single, all-encompassing and homogeneous technical strategy is neither feasible nor desirable. University of Waterloo's strength is in part built upon its diversity. Our ability to leverage our combined resources in a collaborative manner is in all our interests. It will be clear from the following that we share a consistent concern for and commitment to making the most appropriate and innovative uses we can of technology. It is important that we continue down this path despite the significant fiscal constraints we face.
Current status, ongoing projects, and future directions are described briefly below under a number of headings: teaching and learning; research infrastructure and support; major information systems; UWinfo, portals, middleware, and application infrastructure; operating systems and computers; and communication networks. There is also a brief section concerning the information systems and technology planning processes at University of Waterloo.
Teaching & Learning
Planning responsibility: faculties, Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology (LT3), Library, University Committee on Information Systems & Technology (UCIST))
The primary responsibilities for the provision and evolution of the electronic teaching and learning environment rests with the academic departments and faculties, with significant variations in current and planned use of technology in the classrooms and student labs. Centrally controlled classrooms are being renovated to include modern teaching equipment as resources are available. Each faculty plans for the renewal of electronic teaching resources as it deems appropriate. Some departments, such as Germanic and Slavic Studies, have appointed individual faculty members with special interests in evaluating and promoting the use of technology in teaching and learning.
In the faculties, the primary student environment is currently Polaris, a "Wintel"-based networking system that has provided us with tremendous economies of scale in provisioning and managing thousands of workstations on campus. The next version of this infrastructure, called Nexus, is moving through a field-trial stage to large-scale adoption with Windows 2000 over the next year or so.
The LT3 actively promotes the use of appropriate technology in support of teaching and learning, with a concern for effective, measurable improvements in student learning and faculty cost-effectiveness.
Current activities include developing the University of Waterloo Online Environment Project (UWonE) framework for electronic course modules, as well as significant enhancements to or development of many electronic learning resources. This activity will scale up as resources become available and as interest develops among the faculty members, department chairs, and deans. There is also an effort underway to solicit significant funds through Campaign Waterloo.
Research infrastructure and support
Planning responsibility: faculties, UCIST, IST management
There is significant variance in the management and richness of the technology supporting research in our six faculties. For example, Mathematics currently has a large computing facility with ongoing staff, Engineering has a smaller central staff but more technicians hired by each department, and Arts has a very modest central office with few technical-support staff in departments. There is some central management of a high-performance computing installation, with discussions underway to expand the facility to more machines. IST provides an increasing set of resources to researchers and graduate students under the rubric of Skills for the Academic electronic Workplace (SAW) courses.
As a result of significant recent investments, including a CFI project with matching money from OIT, the campus network infrastructure is well-positioned to support the high-speed networking requirements of researchers. The commitment of the provincial government to the ORANO/Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION) fibre-optic provincial backbone network should provide vastly improved communication among research institutions provincially, nationally, and internationally, beginning late 2002. Overall, we have a sustainable network infrastructure that should serve us well for the foreseeable future.
Major information systems
Planning responsibility: UCIST, project steering committees, IST and departmental management
Over the last six years, we have made very significant investments in modernising our enterprise information systems to adopt sustainable, well-supported systems with a significant base of other users. The major systems in production use include PeopleSoft HR/Payroll, Oracle Government Financials, PeopleSoft Student Administration ("Quest"), Residence Management (RMS), and Benefactor advancement/alumni. We also have a modern, digital library information system (TRELLIS, implemented with Endeavor's Voyager). Almost all of these systems run on top of Oracle databases, and Cognos reporting and decision-support tools use used with many of them. All are trending towards browser-based client access, as is becoming the norm in the industry.
Our Quest student administration system is in the final phases of initial implementation, and is live on all modules except academic advisement, slated for the end of the Winter 2002 term. As a "bolt-on" addition to Quest, we are developing modules required to support CECS administrative processes, using the PeopleSoft 8 toolset, and expect to have these in production use by Winter 2003. There are various upgrade projects underway for these systems, consistent with our commitment to their long-term support and evolution on campus. No new major systems implementation projects are contemplated at this time.
UWinfo, portals, middleware, and application infrastructure
Planning responsibility: UWinfo steering and technical advisory committees, UCIST, library
As tools and applications based on web browsers become increasingly viable and functional, we expect UWinfo to function more and more as an anchor and "on-ramp" to these richer electronic resources. In particular, all our major information systems are evolving towards web-based client and self-service access. Current projects include revisions to the UWinfo look and feel, including development of standards and guidelines; web-based delivery of reports using Cognos tools; and the UWonE course-management toolset for teachers and students. We also expect to evaluate one or more portal infrastructures for possible adoption.
Operating systems and computers
Planning responsibility: Computing Systems Advisory Group (CSAG), IST and departmental management, faculties
Due to the variety of needs across campus, University of Waterloo supports current versions of Unix (Sun, IBM, SGI, Linux), Windows (95, 98, 2000, ME), and Apple. Current projects include the evolution of Waterloo Polaris to Nexus, a Microsoft Active Directory infrastructure for the management of the Windows 2000 environment (including corporate directory, identification, and authentication), and a Microsoft workstation management project to understand how to deploy and support Windows 2000 users and resources with Active Directory. We expect this to evolve towards increased reliance on an institutional directory, based on standards (LDAP), supporting many applications and users, implemented with Active Directory.
Desktop systems operate at 10/100 Mbps for the most part, with critical servers having 100/1000 Mbps interfaces. Each department is responsible for renewal of these systems, as resources permit.
Communication networks
Planning responsibility: Campus Networks Advisory Group (CNAG), IST management, faculties
Our voice and data networks are likely to continue to serve University of Waterloo well for a few more years, and maybe more in some areas. Our telephone switch was replaced in 1997, the campus network core was completely replaced with current technology beginning in 1997, and many switches outside the core have also been replaced in the last 3 years (with CFI/OIT funds). The campus network core is evolving from 100 Mbps links to 1 Gbps links and beyond as necessary. We also have some laptop docking stations for secure, high-bandwidth access to the campus network, and have just installed our first major wireless Local Area Network (LAN). Almost all residence rooms have switched connections to the campus network, currently at 10 Mbps.
Moving forward, we are developing policies and practice for wireless LANs, moving towards a campus-wide wireless infrastructure for pervasive and secure low-bandwidth access. Our intent is to encourage pervasive portable Internet access without dictating that University of Waterloo become "Laptop U". While we expect to move eventually to a combined voice and data network, there are no immediate changes anticipated, based on our current situation and market conditions. While the forthcoming ORANO/ORION network will provide gigabit external connectivity between colleges and universities assisted by government funding, general-Internet connectivity will continue to be comparatively more expensive because there is no government funding available for it.
Planning process
Overall responsibility for IS/IT planning rests with the Associate Provost, Information Systems and Technology (APIST), and with UCIST. Other relevant bodies include CSAG, CNAG, faculty computing offices, IST management, and other cross-campus working groups commissioned as necessary.
Executive Council (EC) is conducting an overall risk assessment project that has identified "IT Goal Congruence" as one of the seven major risk categories. A subcommittee of EC will monitor and report on this risk category on an ongoing basis. In addition, UCIST is currently engaged in a periodic update of the high-level directions statements like that of 1998. This will likely result in a number of smaller documents for various audiences.