Information Technology Services at UNC-Chapel Hill

2005 ITS Ice Cream Social

June 28, 2005 | In News , Newsflash
The ITS Employee Council provided a wonderful ice cream social for us on Friday June 24, 2005. The weather was warm and the treats were cool!

ibiblio Named Honors Finalist

June 21, 2005 | In News , Newsflash
Dateline: June 6, 2005, Washington, D.C. This month ibiblio was named an Honors Finalist at a ceremony in Washington by the Chairmen's Committee for the ComputerWorld Honors Program. This year over 300 nominations were submitted for the selection of 50 finalists from 10 categories. More about the award is included in the June 6th ComputerWorld article and in an article specifically about ibiblio.On behalf of The Hub staff and all of ITS, congrats to all ibiblio team members!--MRB

Lucky 13

June 21, 2005 | In News , Newsflash
Welcome! You are reading the thirteenth issue of "The Hub," the newsletter that is published by, for, and about ITS. This special late edition has the most up-to-date information about contracts on ITS Manning as well as lots of news about our projects and people. The goal of this publication is to provide each other with timely information about the services and activities of our department and to support the ITS community, and we appreciate your support for our efforts. Submit your stories and announcements to its_communications@unc.edu by 5 p.m. Friday, July 8th, to be included in the July 12th issue.

A Second Chance--or a Six Hundredth--to Win

June 21, 2005 | In News , Bulletin Board
Getting a kitten fix: offering one's home as temporary shelter for a pregnant stray cat, thereby both doing a good deed and watching adorable fuzzy little felines mature--without the burden of Ogden Nash's observation ("The trouble with a kitten is that/Eventually it becomes a cat."). ITS folks and others have the opportunity to do a good deed--with or without a kitten or puppy fix--by supporting a local shelter's fundraising auction and raffle. Jeanne Hiesel of Business Services (Enterprise Applications) agrees not with Nash but with one of her heroes, Leonardo da Vinci: "The smallest feline is a masterpiece." Jeanne, who moved to the Triangle in 1998, loves getting her kitten fix. Fortunately, the four cats she's permanently adopted from Second Chance Pet Adoptions don't seem to mind. Jeanne has served as a Second Chance executive board member, trains volunteers to work at the organization's shelter, fosters felines, works adoption events, cleans at the shelter, and helps out with other odds and ends. Second Chance is a no-kill animal rescue group based in Wake County and serving all of the Triangle. The no-kill policy was "the biggest reason I signed up," Jeanne says. "Not only do we not euthanize healthy animals, not only do we find them homes, we make a lifetime commitment to them. We try to minimize mismatches through our application and screening process, but if for some reason the new owner can no longer care for the animal, we'll find it another home." To support Second Chance, Jeanne, along with Paula Carey of Health Services (also Enterprise Applications), is selling tickets to the Fifth Annual Auction for the Animals, which will take place Saturday, August 6, from 7 until 10 p.m. at the Exploris Museum in downtown Raleigh. Auction tickets are $20 each ($25 at the door), which includes food and an open bar (beer, wine, soda, and water). Paula is a current board member, coordinates the wellness clinic, fosters felines, serves on the medical committee, trains volunteers to work at the organization's shelter, works adoption events, and cleans at the shelter. In conjunction with the auction, 600 raffle tickets are being offered for $20 each. The winner will select one of four trips: a week in Aspen at a ski in/ski out lodge, four nights in the heart of the Big Apple with Broadway shows, a week in beautiful Aruba, or a week in Maui, Hawaii. The raffle winner does not need to attend the auction in order to claim the prize. "Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole," observed Roger Caras of the ASPCA. Join in on the auction and raffle and help make some animal lives whole in return.--LJB

Many Hands Make Light Work?

June 21, 2005 | In News , Under Construction
The formal bids are finally complete for ITS Manning, and project managers are pleased with the building's status so far. Thirteen bids were awarded Tuesday, June 7, for the continuing work on ITS Manning. Fred Adams Paving was the apparent low bidder for hardscape and site assemblies; Old North State Masonry prevailed for masonry and architectural precast; and Watson Woodwork will do the millwork and finish carpentry. Roofing and accessories will be provided by Hamlin Roofing and fireproofing by Omni. Conmat is responsible for glass assemblies; Martin Architectural will handle passage door assemblies. Tilesetters of Raleigh will lay hard tile; floor covering and resilient carpet comes from Bonitz Flooring. Capitol City will do the painting and wall covering work. Miscellaneous specialties will be handled by Martin Architectural. The all-important HVAC systems and electrical work will be done by MCC Mechanical and LL Vann Electric, respectively. This afternoon it was announced that Acorn Industrial, Inc., had won the contract for the plumbing work. Acorn submitted the better of two proposals for the bid package, which was rebid from the 7th because there were not three bidders. This completes the formal bids for ITS Manning. Although landscaping and loading dock equipment suppliers haven't yet been determined, those items are anticipated to cost less than $10,000 each. The $32M building is slightly under budget so far.--LJB with Mike Harris

Carolina Computing Initiative (CCI) 2005

June 21, 2005 | In News , Newsflash
As part of the University's coordinated technology plan, the Carolina Computing Initiative (CCI) aims to ensure that Carolina students, faculty, and staff have easy access to high-quality and affordable technology and can use it effectively. At the center of the initiative is the requirement that all undergraduates at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill own laptop computers that meet University specifications. This month CCI launched its seventh year of coordinated efforts with vendors and other campus organizations to distribute students’ technology supplies as part of their attendance at CTOPS (Carolina Testing & Orientation Program Sessions) and TSOP (Transfer Student Orientation Program).Students are guided through the process individually. In a matter of minutes, they leave the Student Union with a brand new laptop that is networked and customized to the Carolina information technology environment.CCI team members will be distributing student machines throughout the summer in conjunction with orientation programs. "CTOPs has gone fairly well so far," says David Eckert of Academic Computing, who manages the day-to-operations of the CCI. He adds that in just the last two weeks (four CTOPS sessions), his team has distributed over 1,000 laptops. "Right now we've distributed a few more of the T43 than the R52 ThinkPads. Over the past 3 years, by the end of the summer, it's near 50% of each type," he says.ITS is proud to welcome our new students. Go Heels!--MRB with LJB

IBM ThinkTank 2005 Conference Summary

June 21, 2005 | In News , Newsflash
The 8th Annual IBM ThinkTank Conference was held June 5th-7th at UNC-Chapel Hill. The goal of the Conference is to bring together higher education and K-12 groups to discuss the use of laptops, particularly IBM Think Pads, in education. Discussions include service, support, and vendor relationships. This year the IBM Executive Forum for senior-level executives ran concurrently with the larger ThinkTank conference. Both Executive Forum and regular conference participants attended the general session in the afternoon, which featured keynote speaker Clayton Christensen, Harvard professor and author of "The Innovator's Dilemma." Christen's presentation, made possible in part from the conference support by Microsoft that was arranged by Will Moore (IBM Education Sector), was entertaining and informative. The attendance for ThinkTank 2004 was 175; ThinkTank 2005 attendance increased by almost 64% to 274. Of the 274 attendees, higher education professionals numbered 163 people from across 45 institutions and K-12 professionals numbered 25 people from across 16 schools/districts. The other attendees were from IBM/Lenovo. The Conference also included:

• IBM/Lenovo Tablet announcement on the last day of conference
• K-12 client Jeff Ritter demonstrated VitalSource and Microsoft OneNote on the new Lenovo Tablet
• Record number of attendees that list teaching as a primary job responsibility (47)

Attendees of ThinkTank 2005 were provided tours of the first CCI distribution at CTOPS and a personalized tour of the ITS Response Center (Help Desk). The level of technical skills and high customer service demonstrated at the CCI distribution and ITS Response Center were noted and complimented by many Think Tank attendees. The biggest event of the Conference? The First Annual ThinkTank Best Ball Tournament won by a local team--Dennis Wilson, Rick Overman, and Linwood Futrelle with ITS and Steve Restivo of Lenovo! Congrats to all ITS staff who helped arrange the conference.--DBM and MRB

People in Financial Planning and Human Resources

June 21, 2005 | In News , Spotlight On
Greg Neville's had an exciting half decade, including joining the Carolina family and marrying someone he met on a blind date. Find out about more about this software specialist. Greg began his Carolina employment 5 years ago as a contractor in the ITS Response Center and now works for Software Acquisition. "I work with software vendors to either negotiate or maintain our campus-wide license agreements," he says. "We receive numerous requests for new software for campus, so we spend a lot of time communicating with the vendors to see what would [best meet our needs]. We [distribute] orders that we receive from faculty, staff, and students; and I also maintain the Software Acquisition and UNC's Shareware Distribution Web sites." Some of Greg's family members fixed him up with Cheryl; their second wedding anniversary will be a week from today. While Cheryl is finishing up rotations in the Dental Assisting program at Alamance Community College, with an eye to graduating at the end of second summer session, Greg works a second job at GNC. In rare spare moments he likes going to the gym; if there's a longer stretch of free time to fill, he'll be in the wood shop. "The last project that I worked on was a bench with lower shelving for shoes and storage underneath the seat for gloves and scarves," he says. But he's most proud of a cabinet system he made for the Software Acquistion office. The cabinet houses three DVD/CD duplicators and includes a shelf system for the fax machine as well as two large sliding drawers to hold all the blank media used. That was also the most difficult project so far, but Greg must be pleased and proud to have created something that he and his colleagues can use every day.--LJB

Financial Planning and Human Resources

June 21, 2005 | In News , Spotlight On
It has been an extremely busy few months since the last time that the Financial Planning & Human Resources (FR&HR) Office was highlighted in The Hub. The business offices in Abernethy and Carr Mill Mall have been successfully merged at Giles Horney, we have improved a number of our business processes in support of our customers, and of course there is the end-of-year closeout. The following is an update by the various groups within FP&HR and provides information that will be useful to everyone in ITS when they are working with FP&HR. ITS Software Acquisition Office The ITS Software Acquisition Office is pleased to announce new software titles available to campus. We have just added to our growing collection of software Adobe Acrobat Professional version 7.0, Adobe Photo Shop CS version 9.0, Adobe Creative Suites Premium version 2.0, and Mac OS X version 10.4 (Tiger). In addition, we have made some modifications to our Web design that we hope you find useful. Now when you go to our Web site you will find a "Software Quick Link" where you can easily choose what software you are looking for without having to go through too many Web pages to find one software title. Also, on our "Available Software" Web page, we have added some modifications that will make it easier to read. Lastly, the ITS Software Acquisition office is happy to introduce a new employee to the office, Kimberly Middleton. She comes to us from St. Augustine's College with a degree in Computer Information Systems. Kimberly will be starting at the end of June, so please come by and say hello. ITS Pinnacle Team The ITS Pinnacle project team is continuing efforts to implement the Pinnacle Communications Management System (TMIS), a software application which will replace our current legacy mainframe system, provide a common system for managing and billing all ITS services, improve efficiencies by automating internal work flows and integrating with the campus voice network, provide new tools to manage inventory, provide cost accounting for construction projects, and offer our customers new online capabilities for ordering and tracking services from ITS. Phase I of this project was completed in April as the services for cellular, pagers, calling cards, cable TV, and wireless access points were migrated from the more than 30-year-old mainframe system to Oracle-based Pinnacle. For ITS, Pinnacle will provide reporting capabilities to assist management in formulating the new business models for ITS services as well as ensure compliance with University requirements. For ITS customers, this conversion means a more comprehensive monthly statement of their ITS charges. Campus department business managers may access their ITS accounts on the Web at Finance Central. Phase II will migrate the remaining voice and circuit services, incorporating switch integration, authorization codes, inventory, technician scheduling, and cost accounting for construction projects and capital projects. The Phase II target of completion is October 2005. Phase III will provide ITS customers the means to request services and view monthly statements of charges via the Pinnacle Web Portal. Integration between selected Pinnacle and Remedy processes will also be accomplished as part of the Phase III implementation. Phase III work will begin in Fall 2005. Human Resources Career Banding has been an exciting yet frustrating topic across all of ITS for several months. In an effort to create consistency across the organization, several things have occurred. John Gallagher and Lisa Lipscomb from the ITS HR office worked closely with the University's Office of Human Resources to ensure that ITS management was re-trained in the rules of Career Banding. Mandatory manager sessions were held in April. These sessions were led by Linc Butler and Corrie Parker from OHR. In May, a Career Banding employee information session was held. Linc Butler led this session as well. For those that could not attend, information can be found at the ITS Human Resources page under "Items of Interest." Since the training sessions were held, management has been working with their staff to ensure that each position in ITS is "mapped" correctly. This requires input from the manager and employee. Three handy new additions to the ITS HR Web site:

• The IT Contact Database, which contains contact information for all ITS permanent employees, contractors, and temporary staff. The database was designed for the purpose of having a central location that provided employee contact information. The database also contains campus mailing addresses, fax numbers, campus box numbers, conference room locations, and division assignments.
• ITS Internal Job Search for SPA & EPA positions, which contains all information for positions that are currently being recruited for in ITS. It is similar to the OHR Web site, but specific to ITS. The site identifies the appropriate ITS HR Staff to contact with any questions, and offers easy access to UNC-Chapel Hill application procedures and forms needed to apply for a position and an applicant Web overview.
• The ITS Employee Recognition Program, which was designed to reward ITS employees for performing "above and beyond." Employees can be nominated for the UNC-Chapel Hill "Star Heel" award, the ITS "On the Spot" award, and the "Exemplar" award. Each award has a different level of performing "above and beyond." View the policy for more detailed information.

Procurement With help from our friends in Communications, the MS Word and MS Excel files for forms RF1, P1, P2, T1, and T2 have been streamlined into one file containing all of the forms, RF (Request Form). Use the MS Excel form to complete the information or print the PDF version. The procedure and the forms can be found on the Business Office page. In addition, there is a new, more streamlined way to procure supplies. The procedure can be found on the Business Office Supply Request Procedure page.--John Gallagher

Innovations in Instruction Conference

June 21, 2005 | In News , Bulletin Board
The second annual Innovations in Instruction conference will be held Monday, August 15, on the Elon University campus. This free, day-long event provides an opportunity for faculty and academic support staff from area institutions to showcase projects, exchange ideas, and network. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Peter Felten, director of Elon's new Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. For conference details and to pre-register, go to http://www.elon.edu/idd/aug05conf.htm.