Archive for the 'Campus Support' Category
February 23rd, 2009 by Bob Hudack
-
Saving Money
In the current budgetary climate, faculty and staff should be aware of the opportunities for saving money on academic software and computer equipment that NACS coordinates.
NACS works with representatives from the other UC campuses to leverage the buying power of the multi-campus system to negotiate a variety of discounted software licensing contracts. Among the research software for which UCI has licensing programs are the mathematics packages Matlab and Mathematica, the statistical packages SAS and SPSS, and GIS software from ESRI. You can explore UCI’s software licensing agreements online.
UCI also participates in UC’s Microsoft Consolidated Campus Agreement (MCCA) wherein units can purchase annual licenses for Microsoft software such as Windows and Office for all computers owned by the unit. NACS can help units determine whether this option fits their needs. Information on this and other options for purchasing Microsoft software is available online.
Finally, UCI has a strategic sourcing agreement with KST Data which provides discounts on the purchase of new desktop and laptop computers.
January 23rd, 2009 by Shohreh Bozorgmehri
In summer 2007, the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) and NACS agreed to partner in providing information technology (IT) support services to DUE departments and programs. Under the new partnership, DUE’s IT support team members joined NACS and became a part of the Web Technologies Group under the direction of Shohreh Bozorgmehri.
DUE has extensive IT needs in the areas of file and web server management, desktop support, database administration, and application development.
Its nearly one hundred staff members administer a wide range of support programs that serve the undergraduate population at UCI, including but not limited to tutorial services, academic advising, and study abroad programs. These needs are currently met by a DUE-IT team consisting of the Director, seven staff, and one student programmer.
The DUE-IT team members in turn have access to a range of technical knowledge and expertise within the NACS organization. Sharon Salinger, Dean of Undergraduate Education who proposed the partnership, praised the success of the venture. “By moving DUE-IT to NACS we capitalized on the depth and breadth of knowledge and support within NACS,” she said. “Our IT staff joined a more productive environment and the Division benefited from superb leadership and project management.”
In the past year, the NACS DUE-IT team provided a range of services to DUE and through DUE to the campus undergraduate community. Student tracking, previously managed on paper and in Microsoft Office products, is now handled through a web-based system for Student Academic Advancement Services and Transfer Student Services. DUE-IT staff worked with the Office of Admissions to consolidate numerous separate data exchanges into one central and secure feed. Internal code, database, and file permissions audits were conducted and extensive searches were conducted for unsecured sensitive information, greatly enhancing DUE’s IT security.
Currently, the DUE-IT team is working on a range of projects, including the overhaul of the Undecided/Undeclared Office’s workshop systems, the consolidation and streamlining of central DUE data systems, and implementation of a central student ID card reader system to allow DUE offices to more efficiently serve students. Additional information about the DUE-IT partnership can be found online.
January 23rd, 2009 by Diane Dunn
-
NACS Online Service Request Form
NACS clients are asked to use our online service request form for making network and telecommunications service requests. Orders for telephones and lines, wired and wireless network services, voice mail services, cellular services, calling cards, 800 Mhz radio services, conference unit rental, account fund changes and other telecommunications services are all possible through the use of the online order form. Requests for telephone and network services at the same location can be ordered together with a single form.
Orders are reviewed, dispatched to the appropriate team for processing, scheduled, and completed typically within five business days. Orders for 10 or more services require longer lead times. NACS will do our best to meet any client deadline.
Once an order is in the system, you will receive email confirmation, and you will be able to check on its status online. A set of administrative tools allows you to review or search through open orders.
If you need assistance with your order, need to make changes to it, or cancel it, or if you would like to check on the feasibility of a tight deadline, contact NACS Telecommunications Customer Support at x45123 or nacs-tcs@uci.edu.
July 12th, 2002 by Dana Roode
Did you ever wonder who monitors all those items of capital equipment for the campus? Equipment Management must inventory all 37,907 items in the campus inventory, representing almost $300 million in campus assets, at least once every two years.
Technology is available to facilitate the inventory process in the form of portable, hand-held, laser-barcode scanners. The handheld scanner selected for use at UCI is manufactured by Symbol Technologies (www.symbol.com) and runs the Palm operating system. The scanner displays the equipment item’s property number, description, serial number, and location of record. It is also possible to perform edits on the spot.
NACS staff programmed the application that runs on the Palm O/S and developed a custom interface which synchronizes scanner records and AdCom databases. Adcom made some parallel changes in their systems to accommodate the new application.
After the inventory process is completed, the data is uploaded to the AdCom server. The database is updated and documents campus compliance with State and Federal accounting requirements. Use of the handheld scanner in limited settings has already shown its potential to greatly cut down the time and manpower needed to inventory capital equipment. Departments who would like to use the new system should contact Helen Chang, hmchang@uci.edu, x46111
August 17th, 2001 by Dana Roode
FITI, the Faculty Instructional Technology Institute (formerly known as the Faculty Summer Institute) was held on June 25th-28th, 2001. The Institute is offered by the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) with instructional and funding assistance from NACS.
13 faculty and instructional staff representing 9 campus departments were given presentations on the use of instructional technology in the classroom. Skills developed included how to create and enhance course Web pages and Powerpoint presentations, and how to incorporate images and other electronic media into instructional materials.
FITI featured 3 days of training June 25th, 26th and 28th. June 27th was a practice day which gave faculty time to work on specific projects with consultants on hand. The new format was well received by this year’s participants.
Faculty from all academic disciplines are invited to apply for next year’s program. The Institute is designed for faculty and TAs who have little or no direct experience in developing and using instructional technology in their courses. More information is available at IRC’s Web site,http://www.irc.uci.edu/fiti.html
July 6th, 2001 by Dana Roode
NACS and Facilities Management are jointly creating a network for monitoring and controlling campus heating and cooling (HVAC) equipment. This is one of a number of campus projects where NACS has assisted a department in design, planning, procurement, and implementation of a special-purpose networking project.
Facilities Management HVAC systems now connect in numerous ways, limiting centralized monitoring and control, and lack the high-speed communications needed to allow real-time management. Facilities Management has long envisioned a more effective system, but has been unable to get satisfactory assistance from outside consultants.
With the new network, every system in every building can be monitored and controlled 24 hours a day. The system will also support metering, capacity planning, and crisis management.
The network will be based on a Cisco gigabit backbone similar to UCInet including 6 core nodes supporting 60 buildings at 10 or 100 megabit/s. The system will be scalable and flexible with spare capacity and performance. This system will be independent of UCInet (and thus the Internet) for reasons of security.
Planning began in the Fall. Most of the equipment has been received and work crews have been hired. Fiber optic cable will be installed over the rest of the year, and the HVAC equipment will be hooked up early in 2002.