1. The Role of Information Technology at UMBC

Information technology (computing and communications) is one of the great enabling technologies ever created; however, it is only an enabling technology. It is most effective when applied to UMBC's strategic goals. Prior to the 1994 ITT strategic planning initiative, this campus (and most universities) did not apply information technology in a strategic fashion. Instead, technology use was concentrated among early adopters who required it for their research or who were interested in experimenting with multi-media instruction. This was a necessary first step to build competency but did not facilitate the achievement of strategic goals. Today, with the creation of the Web and the development of the Internet, organizational success is often dependent on aligning business strategy with information technology.

The 1994 ITT strategic plan was UMBC’s first attempt to couple information technology with campus goals. To a large degree, the strides in information technology we have made as a campus—EASI; our campus network enhancement; the computer replacement initiative; the faculty development strategy; the high-performance computing environment; the evolution of electronic information services through the Library; the creation of University Computing Services—are the result of that planning.

The IT Steering Committee is now fabricating an overall strategic plan for IT on campus. This document is designed to provide input from UCS to the Committee to aid in its work. During the last six months many UCS staff members have met to discuss issues toward that end. The plan reflects our collective judgment on those issues we must address within the next three years to meet the goals of the campus. This document promotes a very aggressive implementation schedule which is likely to change when the IT Steering committee releases its final report.

 

 

2. University Computing Services’ Vision and Mission

In formulating this plan, we cannot understate the importance of developing partnerships with other groups on campus and off-campus. Information technology use is so widespread that UCS cannot possibly provide everything needed; however, by joining with other groups we can leverage resources to achieve the desired results. Working within the USM with national organizations such as Internet2 and Educause will provide opportunities to implement solutions that scale beyond our own campus.

Below we have identified seven key areas of focus. These are:

1. Preparing Our Infrastructure for Universal Access to Technology;
2. Supporting a Technology-Enhanced Learning Environment;
3. Enhancing our Administrative Application Systems;
4. Supporting Research: Computation, Communication, and Collaboration;
5. Providing Security: Assuring Privacy and Secure Access to Information Resources;
6. Providing Technology Support Across the Institution; and
7. Laying a Solid Foundation: Planning and Budgeting for Technology.

Each of these areas is discussed in more detail below.

A. Preparing Our Infrastructure for Universal Access to Technology

Universal access to technology implies that technology access will become ubiquitous: students accessing the electronic resources from a classroom, lounge, or residence; faculty using technology for in class instruction and research; staff utilizing technology for all common work processes. This will place heavy demands on computer support services. In order to offer universal access to technology, UCS must develop its computing infrastructure to become as fault-tolerant as possible. We must implement mechanisms for proactive monitoring of critical components so as to anticipate problems, and create methods for scaling critical services to support much higher usage than we presently are experiencing. We must enlarge our central computing infrastructure to support peak loads of 3000 concurrent users (versus 1000 now). Round-the-clock access to services will be expected; it is becoming common to have dozens of people actively working at 4 a.m. As we move forward into online instruction and extend the network into the residential complex this type of off-hour usage will increase, and thus we must concurrently expand our support coverage to provide helpdesk and operations capability around the clock.

Student ownership of computers will approach 100% in the freshman class of 2001 and all 2800 students living on campus will have switched Ethernet access in their rooms. By 2001 we estimate that UMBC will support approximately 500 modem connections for off-campus access and our data network will encompass more than 7000 ports. We further expect that many commuting students will take advantage of high-speed ISP services such as Comcast@home or next generation ADSL technologies from Bell Atlantic to access UMBC resources. Our data network will become crucial to research and online instruction. All these facts point to a continuing need to strengthen our campus network with special emphasis on reliability, performance management, and proactive fault-diagnosis.

To meet the increased demand we expect that the Library will become the focal point for public access to computing and ECS will become primarily a teaching facility. General access workstations, such as those we propose for the Library, will continue to be essential for serving commuting students and providing specialized hardware and software for instruction. We expect the number of UCS-maintained machines to increase from the present 500 machines to 750, mostly via expansion in the Library and in areas outside of ECS.

1. Continue to expand the number of public-access computers in the Library to meet walkup demand.
2. Work with Residential Life to finish deploying the high-speed network in the residential apartment complexes.
3. Continue to add modems where needed to eliminate busy signals.
4. Implement tools for proactively managing the network and systems to assure the highest level of up-time possible.
5. Develop support for mobile computing usage by expanding the number of walk-up Ethernet jacks and by experimenting with wireless technology.
6. Expand our computer operations and helpdesk coverage to provide round-the-clock assistance seven days a week.
7. Provide online directory services through LDAP that provide easy access to phone and email information on campus.
8. Acquire high-volume email servers and Web servers capable of supporting thousands of concurrent users while providing 99.99% up-time.
9. Institute new distributed print services to support the campus’ one-card system and work to make printing resources available from off-campus.
10. Using AFS, develop a robust and scalable campus file system that links research and instructional activity. Extend AFS support to Macintosh and Windows 2000 desktops.
11. Create a robust and scalable LAN environment that leverages departmental and UCS LAN services.
12. Use low-cost Linux servers to augment our existing central SGI servers as a means of scaling computing capacity to meet the increasing demand.
13. Initiate improved computer account management systems linked directly to administrative databases and online directory services.

 

 

B. Supporting a Technology-Enhanced Learning Environment

UCS must work with other on-campus and off-campus groups to develop the networking and computing infrastructure necessary to facilitate asynchronous learning by students and for departments to construct online courses. This infrastructure must include features such as off-campus modem connectivity; servers to support course delivery; desktop software standards; training for faculty to incorporate technology into the curriculum; streaming video to the desktop; and robust computing facilities for student instructional use.

Faculty and staff training will be a high priority. UCS will work with Instructional Technology and the Library to provide training on incorporating technology into the curriculum. UCS will focus our training on integrating services to leverage the benefits of participating in the Microsoft site license contract. Our goal is to assure that it will be as easy to create and maintain Web pages as it is to use a word processor.

As part of our Internet2 initiative, UCS will upgrade the campus network so that we can support MPEG-2 high-quality video to any desktop on campus. We see an important instructional need for providing such services for on-campus usage and supporting lower quality video-on-demand for off-campus needs. As part of this initiative UCS will develop the ability to deliver video-on-demand to all of our PC, Macintosh, and SGI desktop systems. UCS will work closely with the Office of Instructional Technology to insure that the campus can quickly load video content to the video server and make this immediately available. One of the first uses of video-on-demand services will be to provide training sessions for faculty, staff, and students.

We will work with Enrollment Services to extend our Student Information System (SIS) to be compliant with EduCause IMS specifications. This would allow a faculty member using an IMS-compliant authoring tool such as WebCT to share course content with other campuses and to link administrative activities such as provision of course lists and grades with the course-delivery software.

Proposed Actions

14. Leverage the Microsoft site license contract to take maximum advantage of software provided to faculty, staff, and students.
15. Become a member of the EduCause IMS project, which focuses on software standards for instructional content material.
16. Continue to advance our lab workstation environment to meet the instructional needs of faculty members. Enhance the UCS instructional labs to support high-resolution video and collaborative learning tools such as Microsoft NetMeeting.
17. Upgrade all campus network connections to the Internet2 standard so that the network will support video to the desktop.
18. Expand and improve off-campus communications links, especially dial-in modem capacity and Internet access. In particular, we should work closely with UMATS on instituting redundant Internet links to facilitate asynchronous learning and limit the possibility of network outages.
19. Offer video-on-demand services providing TV-quality video for on-campus instructional delivery as well as low-bandwidth video-on-demand services, basic video and audio streaming capability for off-campus courses.
20. Provide better tools to integrate WebCT with administrative databases.

Our present applications systems have been developed as standalone systems during the past 15 years. Many of the systems used in conjunction with these application systems use proprietary tools that require specialized training in order to access data from within these systems. Our focus must be on integrating these systems and improving access to administrative data.

During the 1999-2001 time period the campus will replace or supplement many of our existing administrative applications systems. Our focus is to use technology for the following goals:

1. Reduce clerical work and provide enhanced services (advising, facilities scheduling, permission checking, procurement, and payroll);
2. Provide better access to databases, such that information can be retrieved in a more timely manner and that more effective decision-making can take place (financial systems, human resource systems, shadow SIS, and data warehousing); and
3. Convert existing services to facilitate anytime, anywhere access.

The level of technology utilization in administrative departments has improved recently but is still lacking because of inadequate computer hardware, software, and training. The Microsoft site license plan provides an opportunity to solve many of the software issues provided the campus purchases the necessary desktop hardware needed to run the software. UCS must expand and enhance our training so that all staff can make full use of the software provided.

UMBC will partner with the USM consortium to implement the Oracle SIS initiative. We look for this system to be operational in the by fall 2002 and we will work to integrate this SIS with our existing systems.

1. Work through the Applications Panel to prioritize projects and develop plans for administrative applications.
2. Standardize on the Oracle DBMS for administrative databases wherever possible and work with campus departments to establish and document our data dictionary standards.
3. Proactively monitor system performance and eliminate current performance bottlenecks to insure that there is acceptable performance for all administrative applications.
4. Shadow our HP databases under an Oracle environment. Develop enhanced online reporting access to replace printed reports and provide greater reporting flexibility.
5. Implement SCT’s FRS 2000 for financial applications in accounting, procurement, and accounts payable. Provide end-users access to data through the FASWeb software developed at UM,CP and the ProCardWeb software developed at UM,B.
6. Install new Admissions/Recruit, Degree Audit, and Scheduling systems to augment current applications.
7. Develop or deploy new HR/Payroll methodologies to provide online time and attendance reporting.
8. Enhance applications to facilitate advising and eliminate paper advising records. . Develop electronic filing and document retrieval systems to minimize paper record keeping.
9. Update our SAR system to provide enhanced functionality (E-commerce, 3^rd party billing).
10. Extend EASI to become the MyUMBC portal and provide greater functionality and personalization. Make this tool a proactive information resource for students.
11. Assist in the development of a data warehouse and decision support initiative sponsored by OIR.

D. Support for Research: Computation, Communication, and Collaboration

Research is fundamental to the mission of UMBC. UCS must continue to plan and develop a computing infrastructure capable of supporting faculty research. Until now our primary role has been to provide high-performance compute servers that faculty can use for research. Although this will continue to be part of our mission, other aspects will become more important.

The first priority will be developing and assuring access to the campus network infrastructure. Our work with Internet2 and the NSF vBNS network has demonstrated the critical importance that high-performance networking will have on research. Research collaboration through the network will increasingly become an essential use of the Internet connectivity we implement.

The second priority is to develop a mass-storage architecture to support extremely large amounts of data (terabytes) in a manner that allows flexibility regarding where the data is accessed. AFS is likely to become the dominant method for such data access.

High-performance compute servers will be the third leg of our research triad. We envision a movement away from a large multi-processor machine (e.g., Titan) and towards a more distributed computing approach using many smaller multi-processor machines. We expect that a significant part of our high-performance computing will move to the high-speed Intel-based machines using the Linux OS.

Finally, UCS must work much more closely with researchers to develop partnerships with academic departments for improved support. Only by leveraging departmental resources with UCS core services can the campus provide the level of support that researchers need to be successful.

Proposed actions

12. Work closely with research faculty and the Graduate School to build the type of research infrastructure needed by UMBC faculty. In particular, we must develop partnerships that leverage resources to make them more broadly available on campus.
13. UMBC must continue to participate in state, national and regional high-speed network initiatives that provide enhanced Internet connectivity to key research partners such as NASA, NSA, and NIH.
14. The development of support for emerging standards to provide network quality of service (QoS) from the desktop through our Internet links to key partners is imperative. This will insure that the faculty have the network access needed to complete their research.
15. Extend our AFS file services to departmental research machines and expand our central AFS servers to create a campus-wide research file system making it easy for faculty to utilize varying computing resources.
16. Form partnerships with academic departments in the development of a high-performance compute clusters to support faculty computation needs.
17. Develop partnerships with other Internet2 universities in projects focused on collaborative technologies, specifically audio- and video-based collaboration tools enabling researchers to collaborate through the Internet.

 

E. Security: Assuring Privacy and Secure Access to Information Resources

Computing and network technologies have the ability both to make local information available worldwide and to permit access to local information from almost anywhere in the world. It is essential in this environment to promote access to information and freedom of discourse while ensuring personal privacy and protecting the intellectual property rights of individuals and other rights-holders.

UCS must take a leadership role on campus in the area of computer and network security. Security and privacy must be built into the very foundation of the computing, network, and application systems we develop. Nevertheless, the security of information and information technology is a university-wide concern requiring a university-wide response—institutional vision and commitment, clear and forceful policies, appropriate plans and procedures, and ongoing programs of education and awareness are needed.

Proposed Actions

18. The IT steering committee should establish a security task force charged with developing a security plan for the campus. This task force will identify potential areas of risk and methods for reducing that risk. This task force should include stakeholders from both administrative and academic departments.
19. The IT steering committee must develop policies and procedures to protect the privacy of information. In particular we should find ways to reduce the use of Social Security numbers and to protect this critical piece of personal information.
20. UCS should work with other higher education partners on development of an X.509 certificate management system. It is important to participate in the CREN X.509 certificate authority program for higher education. We will also participate in the Internet2 initiative on middleware development.
21. UCS will work with departmental units to adopt secure authentication systems for access to departmental resources.
22. UCS will work closely with academic departments and Continuing Education to develop training courses on security that train our students and staff to support our campus security initiatives.
23. UCS will form a partnership with the Institute on Global Electronic Commerce (IGEC) to develop secure electronic commerce applications for UMBC.

 

F. Support: Providing Technology Support Across the Institution

UCS must work closely with the campus to define technology standards spanning students, faculty, and staff. Where standards are defined, UCS is responsible for providing exemplary support services and a robust technical infrastructure. Departments should be encouraged to adopt campus standards by acceptance of the fact that UCS can provide better and more cost-effective services.

Access to training is a critical necessity for expanding the use of technology. UCS should work closely with departments to determine their training needs and then deliver high-quality and timely training courses. In addition to classroom training, UCS will work to develop asynchronous online technology training courses as well as provide better documentation and information resources.

As information technology usage becomes both pervasive and mission-critical within departments, UCS should rethink the delivery of technical support. Increasingly departments will be hiring technology specialists of their own. UCS must work closely with these departmental specialists to coordinate and assure support services. Departments should direct technology specialists to functions providing "value-added" services beyond what UCS can offer. Partnerships and well-defined expectations are critical to success.

Most importantly, UCS must invest in technologies and standards that are easy to use and reduce the need for staff intervention. Required support should be facilitated through the network. We envision the WWW as being the primary means of support and will focus on providing clients with easy-to-use services available through the Web. This strongly implies that UCS work closely with the campus as a whole to develop and define standards.

Proposed actions

24. UCS will work closely with the campus IT oversight committees to develop desktop technology standards.
25. UCS will work with departments to develop written service level agreements that provide a clear delineation of responsibilities.
26. The UCS helpdesk will deploy a Web-based system for technical support. This system will offer a searchable knowledge base of frequently asked questions along with problem submission mechanisms and a problem tracking capability. This system will be made available to departmental IT support staff.
27. UCS will create a highly scalable and robust technical architecture that minimizes service outages. The goal will be to provide better than a 99.99% up-time standard for essential services.
28. UCS will move to extend support coverage to a 7 x 24 model by utilizing student employees. These employees must be trained and have access to software technical resources that allow them to provide a high level of service.
29. UCS will work closely with Continuing Education and other partners to develop training courses to keep staff and faculty up to date on campus software standards.

 

G. Laying a Solid Foundation: Planning and Budgeting for Technology

Information technology is now a fundamental element of higher education. Given the mission of UMBC and the role of information technology in research, instruction and administrative support, there is no longer any justification for budgeting for technology in an ad hoc manner and funding it on a crisis basis. Planning for the full cost of technology, including ongoing replacement and support, must be built into the budgeting and planning cycles of the campus. This applies to each aspect of computing technology from desktop computers to classroom technology, administrative applications, and to central and distributed systems.

A related issue that also has fiscal implications is the University's ability to recruit and retain the technical staff needed to support information technology. It is imperative to recognize that the delivery of necessary information technology functions depends upon the skills of technical staff, and that those skills are in high demand. UCS and the campus must also leverage abilities within academic departments, particularly IFSM and CSEE, to train students in the skills required. Therefore, we should create campus technology standards compatible with academic programs so that we can utilize our students to provide support.

UCS will take a proactive role in planning information technology initiatives on campus, given that UMBC can no longer afford to allow critical technology systems to fall behind. We will work closely with campus oversight committees to establish priorities for technology investments. These must be tied to campus strategic goals. UCS must therefore also identify implementation risks and replacement costs before decisions are made.

Proposed actions

30. Technology funding must be linked to enrollment plans and hardware replacement costs built into base budget funding.
31. Where possible, campus technology standards should be consistent with technology used by academic programs to make use of the student labor pool.
32. UCS must form partnerships in developing strategic plans and these must consider the technology implications of our goals.
33. Computer replacements for faculty and staff should be scheduled on a four-year cycle by 2001 as lower-cost machines make it viable to increase the number we replace each year.
34. UCS should find ways of leveraging economies of scale in software licensing and deployment to reduce such costs on campus.