Archive for the 'Departmental Support' Category
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.
July 11th, 2003 by Dana Roode
Computing Support Coordinator (CSC) is the label often used at UCI for anyone employed by a school or department to provide local computer and network expertise. What do local supporters do?
Local computing and network support staff provide a variety of standard technical services as school and department needs dictate. They may maintain local labs, support administrative, academic, and other applications, maintain local network and e-mail servers, and provide end-user assistance, often including discipline-specific expertise, to faculty, staff and some students.
CSCs are your best first resource when you have a technical problem. NACS supports the CSCs, providing information, managing a mailing list, conducting discussion forums, distributing software, supplying specialized technical information, and fostering communication among CSCs from different departments.
For more information, and a list of CSCs, visit: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/support/csc/csc.html
June 12th, 1998 by Dana Roode
NACS sponsors two important coordination groups on campus, the Computer Support Coordinator (CSC) and Computer Lab Coordinator (CLC) groups. Both groups are aimed at helping support the departmental computer staff who support end-users. The groups try to build consensus about UCI computing environment directions, facilitate discussions of computer related matters, share information, and establish peer support. Topics of past CSC meetings include Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 networking and security, and a discussion of NT E-mail and Directory Services protocols. Topics of past CLC meetings include establishing minimum configuration guidelines for the purchase of desktop computers, and a presentation of NACS’ Uniprint Print job cost-recovery system.
The CSC and CLC groups meet on the last Wednesday of each month, alternating every other month. Meeting times and agendas are announced by e-mail using the UCICSCG@UCI.EDU and COMPUTER-LABS@UCI.EDU LISTSERV mailing lists, which campus computing supporters are welcome to join.
If you support computing and/or networking at UCI, you are invited to attend future CSC and/or CLC meetings. If you do not support computing yourself, please pass this invitation along to those in your department who do.
April 17th, 1997 by Dana Roode
An important issue confronting UCI is the provision of adequate computing and electronic communication support to faculty, staff, and students. Below I summarize NACS’ view concerning the relative roles of central and departmental computing support.
NACS provides electronic communication infrastructure (the campus network, as one example) and basic computing and communications services to all faculty, staff and students. Two examples of the latter are the student Educational Access (EA) computing cluster and the E4E electronic mail service for faculty and staff.
NACS also provides expertise and services best provided by a campus-wide computing organization, such as contract UNIX support, and network management consultation. NACS provides a help desk for NACS services, common campus-wide questions, and to make referrals to other support resources where appropriate. NACS staff are also available to assist departmental computing personnel, and coordinate campus-wide discussions on technical issues.
However, with the rapid expansion in network and computing utilization over the past decade, it is neither possible nor appropriate for a central organization to provide the majority of direct user support. As is the case at most major Universities, UCI now relies on departmental and school support personnel to maintain local computing services and administrative systems and to provide direct assistance to faculty and staff. The common wisdom is that the optimal support strategy involves a combination of local and central staff, working in harmony, and following campus-wide computing standards.
Even with the combined staff of departments and central support organizations, UCI does not currently have sufficient staff to meet all UCI technology demands. The current support situation is under review, as it creates a fair amount of frustration on campus and slows UCI’s efficient use of technology.
The document referenced below contains NACS’ draft recommendations on local support. We invite your feedback on support issues, via e-mail to NACS@UCI.EDU, or directly to myself, to Dana Roode (NACS Associate Director), or to Jan Vescera (NACS Departmental Support Coordinator).
William H. Parker
Director, Network & Academic Computing Services
Draft Local Support Recommendations:
http:// www.nacs.uci.edu/support/local-support-recommendations.html
February 27th, 1997 by Dana Roode
Every 2 months the staff who support computing and networking in UCI departments (Computing Support Coordinatorsor CSCs) meet to discuss issues and share ideas and information. At this month’s meeting, 16 CSCs heard from Garrett Hildebrand of NACS on the current status of UCI’s network. The CSC meetings are announced in the UCICSCG listserv, which anyone who supports computing is invited to join. The meetings are coordinated by Jan Vescera of NACS’Departmental and Distributed Computing Support group.