2012 ITS Annual Report - Furman University

Furman University
Information Technology Services
Annual Report – June 4, 2012
Accomplishing the plan for excellent technology services.

The ITS Plan Communication Collaboration Innovation Service
Greetings,
We appreciate your interest in Furman information technology
services. This report looks at the progress we are making on
the goals of our 2011 information technology strategic plan. It
reviews accomplishments from the past year, and highlights
some of our future technology plans.
Perhaps our biggest change in the past year has been our
move to Microsoft’s Office365 service. We have begun to use
this “cloud” solution for email, calendars, and improved support
for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. We plan to
add more capabilities as Microsoft makes them available. We
appreciate your patience during the transition.
Furman’s Information Technology Services staff (ITS) continue
to be inspired by the University’s academic mission, and our
learning community of students, faculty and staff. We are here
to work with you, and welcome your questions and feedback.
Fred Miller
Chief Information Officer
Goals of the IT Strategic Plan
• Establish the IT Service Center as the
nexus of technology support
excellence.
• Champion scalable information
technology innovations and best
practices.
• Improve enterprise information
systems functionality and usability.
• Establish a state-of-the art system
and processes for digital media
distribution.
• Provide a robust, consistent, and
reliable campus network
infrastructure.

The ITS Plan Communication Collaboration Innovation Service
New Wireless
In October, ITS
completed the
campus wireless
upgrade and
expansion
project on-time
and on budget.
All campus
buildings now
have fast and
reliable wireless
networking.
• Office365 is Microsoft’s cloud computing service for email, calendar, and other
communication services.
• On March 14 th , email for Freshmen, Sophomore and Juniors began to be
delivered to their new Office365 accounts.
• Faculty and staff are moving to Office365 at the rate of about 50 accounts per
week.
• The entire campus community will be on Office365 for the start of the Fall
semester.
New Building Plans
• Herring Building – the new home for the Osher Lifelong Learning (OLLI) program
and Continuing Education, this building will include HD video and
videoconference capability.
• University Center – along with enhanced space for student organizations, the
new space will feature a “media wall” of digital signs and HD video.

The ITS Plan Communication Collaboration Innovation Service
Digital Media Projects
• Working with the Student Government
Association, and the division of
Student Life, we added OrgSync as a
replacement for FirstClass
conferences for student organizations.
• Includes Single Sign On from the
MyFurman portal using Furman’s
NetID and password.
• There are now over 170 student
organizations and interest groups
using OrgSync.
• ITS established campus digital signage standards. Initial signs
are located in the Duke Library, the University Center, and the
Townes Science Center. Additional signs are planned for 2012-
2013.
• ITS has selected the first HD videoconferencing solution. The first
HD videoconference location will be in the new Herring building.
Enterprise Systems Projects
• The MyFurman portal now has true Single Sign On access
(MyApps) for OrgSync, Moodle, and more. With Single Sign On,
you no longer need to re-enter your password to use these
services.
• ITS continues to work with Marketing and Public Relations to
improve the University’s web services.
• ITS continues to work with departments to investigate and deploy
appropriate Cloud Computing solutions.

The ITS Plan Communication Collaboration Innovation Service
Faculty iPad Initiative
• ITS, the Duke Library, and the Center for Teaching and Learning worked
together to propose an iPad initiative to encourage faculty innovation with
tablet computing.
• In April, 25 faculty proposals were selected to participate in the project.
• This year long experiment will help us assess how tablet computers can aid
teaching, learning, and research.
Virtual Desktop
• ITS staff continued investigating running desktop software from servers.
Such “Virtual Desktop” computing will enable faculty experimentation and
innovation, wider access to software for students, and more efficient and
effective use of technology support resources.
• We plan to roll out a pilot project to provide campus access to SPSS
statistical software, and other apps, for Spring 2013.
The Furman Alumni Network
• ITS worked with Admission to enhance our Engage social network to better
support alumni engagement with prospective students.
• ITS also worked with Admission to select a new cloud-based system to
enhance and improve our enrollment processes.
Furman News
• ITS worked with Marketing and Public
Relations to develop an innovative news
feed system for websites, digital signs,
and mobile apps.
Interactive Whiteboard
Evaluation
• Sharp Business Systems provided a 70”
Aquos Interactive Whiteboard for
evaluation. CTL and ITS explored
potential uses for this innovative
technology including possibilities of
combining with Apple TV to enable
presentations from mobile devices and
installing electronic whiteboard software
so the system would function as a
SMART® or Promethean® system.
Displays of this type would potentially be
projection replacements in some venues.

The ITS Plan Communication Collaboration Innovation Service
IT Service Center Staff:
Mike Gifford
Director, IT Service Center
Brandon Green
Service Center Specialist
Tracy Landrith
Service Center Specialist
Richard Lange
Technical Support Consultant
Barry Mullinax
Hardware Support Specialist
Derek Stanley
Hardware Support Specialist
The Furman University IT
Service Center:
The Nexus of Technology
Support Excellence.
IT Service Center
H o u r s E x t e n d e d !
Monday – Thursday
8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Friday
8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Saturday
12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Sunday
1:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
• Furman owns over
2400 computer
systems.
• Campus information
services run on over
100 servers.
• The campus
wireless network has
more than 800
wireless access
points.
• Furman has more
than 150 locations
with multimedia and
projection systems.
• Furman stores more
than 30 terabytes of
data in its
datacenter.
• The IT Service
Center handles over
10,000 support calls
per year.

Thank You…
IT Services
Academic
Enterprise Systems
Information Technology
Student Staff
Computing Committee
Advisory Group
Advisory Committee
2011 – 2012
2011 – 2012
2011 – 2012
2011 – 2012
Amy Boyter
Jordan Brown
Lillian Cleveland
Ken Kolb (chair)
Eiho Baba
Amy Blackwell
Randy Dill (chair)
Brett Barclay
Amy Barnhill
Fred Miller (chair)
Pam Barkett
John Beckford
Nathan Cox
Taylor Senseney Crouch
Sarah Hamilton
Jasmine Hwang
Harris Khan
Tom Lewis
Channing McLeod
Sarah Olive
John Stelling
Layla Tumler
Adam Underdown
Rhett Bryson
Susan Dunnavant
Sarah Frick
Jane Love
Maggie Milat
Fred Miller
Marianne Pierce
Jason Rawlings
Andrea Wright
Brad Barron
Julie Berillo
Joy Brown
Janie Burton
Jason Cassidy
Chris Goforth
Andrea McMillian
Emily Murphy
Don Pierce
Helen Reynolds
Linda Sarratt
Janis Bandelin
Amy Blackwell
Scott Derrick
Randy Dill
Susan Dunnavant
Mark Kelly
Ken Kolb
Mary Lou Merkt
Don Pierce
Brad Pochard
Linda Sarratt
Emmu Wakai
Jessie Wolfinger
Forrest Stuart

Furman
Information
Technology
Services
O u r Va l u e s :
Te a m S u p p o r t
G o o d C o m m u n i c a t i o n s /
L i s t e n F i r s t
E m p a t h y
“Furman Information Technology Services will provide the
campus community with a digital information environment
that reflects and advances the high quality of Furman’s
academic program and physical campus .”
E d u c a t e t h e U s e r
- 2011 IT Strategic Plan