1. No category

ADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPPORT UNIT REVIEW
SELF-STUDY REPORT SUBMISSION COVER SHEET
Cycle Year 2005-2006
The attached report is a: ⌧ College Function Report
University Function Report
Department/Function Name:
Submission Date:
A&S Computer and Information
Technology Support
April 14, 2006
Dept./Function Head’s Name:
Bonny Nnakwe
Phone:
404-643-9405
Self-Study Report Primary Writer/Editor
Bonny Nnakwe
Greg George
Self-Study Report Team Members
Bonny Nnakwe, College
Greg George, English
Preston May, Biology
Duke Windsor, Physics & Astronomy
Shaochieh Ou, Computer Science
Division or College:
Arts and Sciences
Dept./Function Head’s Supervisor
Name: William H. Nelson
Title: Associate Dean
Number of Employees in Department/
Function: 19
Number of Subunits in Function
Peer Institutions Used for Comparisons
University of Georgia College of Arts
and Sciences
List of Appendices
Appendix A: Organization Chart
Appendix B: Workstation support
responsibilities
Appendix C: Server support
responsibilities
Appendix D: Functional support
responsibilities
Appendix E: Server and storage
consolidation
Appendix F: Employee survey report
Administrative and Support Unit Review Self-Study
A&S Computing and Information Technology Support Function
I. Structure, Mission and Functional Responsibilities
A. 1. What is the unit’s organizational structure? To whom does the unit report?
Support for computing and information technology within the college of Arts and
Sciences is highly distributed with a college-centered group (five staff) led by the
College Technology Manager. Fourteen additional staff are housed and supervised in
the departments. This arrangement is shown on the organization chart in Appendix A
The College Technology Manager, who supervises the college-centered group and
serves as liaison with IS&T, reports to the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate
Studies. The staff within the departments report locally, usually to the Chair or
Associate Chair.
This arrangement developed historically as some larger and more technologydependent departments chose to direct internal resources towards technology support
to meet needs which could not be fulfilled centrally. Later, the College chose to
establish the central group to support the administrative functions of the Dean’s Office
and to meet the combined needs for desktop workstation support from smaller
departments.
2. What is the mission of the unit (and its subunits, if applicable)?
The mission and responsibilities of this function are to provide reliable and responsive
IT support for administrative and instructional activities of the College.
3. Explain how the department’s mission supports the present missions and
strategic plans of the division and the university.
Desktop computers, and the broader information technology capabilities they permit,
are vital tools for successful management of the day-to-day activities of administration
and instruction within the College and university. The importance of these capabilities
to normal operations is virtually the same as that of electricity. Thus, this function plays
a key role in the capability of the college to meet its academic responsibilities.
4. How is the mission communicated to unit staff and constituents?
This is a fundamental support function and the responsibilities are directly included in
the job descriptions for the staff. As well, there are monthly meetings of the collegewide technology staff chaired by the College Technology Manager. Agendas for these
meetings include items such as delivery of service, matters of coordination with the
central IS&T organization, updates on new technology, etc.
Information for constituents describing objectives of the function, its policies, and
contact information is located on the College Technology website,
http://www2cas.gsu.edu/techsupport.
In addition, messages for both staff and constituents are sent as needed via email
distribution lists.
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B. List the functional responsibilities of the unit. Note which of these are core
functions. Is the structure of the unit appropriate to meeting the unit’s functional
responsibilities ?
Core functional responsibilities fall into three categories: (1) Workstation support, (2)
Network management and support, and (3) Web services. Workstation support
includes computer setup, installation of standard software packages, establishment of
e-mail accounts, printer support, troubleshooting, and ensuring compliance with campus
security policies. Network management includes maintenance and backing up of
network servers. The college-level group includes a person with primary responsibility
for managing and implementing web services; however, this key function is also
incorporated within the distributed units usually as a portion of the local staff member’s
responsibilities.
II. Services or Products Provided
A. What services/products does the unit provide? (Please list these by functional
responsibilities.)
Workstation support is the core functional area in which the IT staff members most
frequently interact with the customer / client base. To meet their support
responsibilities, the IT staff must be knowledgeable with a wide variety of operating
systems. Appendix B lists the number of workstations and the variety of operating
systems in use in the departments found during a recent survey.
Network management (i.e., server management, network storage management, file
back up, etc.) is a less visible core function that is no less important to the success of
the college in meeting its academic responsibilities. Appendix C shows the scope and
variety of servers and other network-related hardware the College IT staff must
administer, manage and support.
Appendix D provides an overview of the roles and responsibilities assumed by the
College IT staff as overseen by the College Technology Manager, and indicates the
spectrum of services the college-centered group provides.
B. 1 Who are the unit’s customers? Consider also secondary customers and
those supported by your products or services such as faculty, department heads,
and administrators.
In the college of Arts and Sciences, the IT support function serves faculty, other
instructional staff, administrative staff, graduate assistants providing instruction, and
other students via college-managed open laboratories.
2. How does the unit learn about the customers’ needs and obtain ongoing
feedback regarding products and service delivery?
College IT staff learn of customers’ needs and obtain feedback in a variety of ways.
One is by meeting with committee chairs, project managers, department chairs, staff,
and faculty. During these meetings, the staff members provide information on what is
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available, what are current and future trends in technology, and what is possible given
the constraints of money, space, and overall network infrastructure. Also during such
meetings, any concerns regarding the delivery of services naturally come up for
discussion.
Other methods for obtaining customer feedback are by means of email, surveys and the
Remedy Helpdesk system.
3. From your customers’ perspective, how well does your unit understand and
meet their needs? In this section discuss pertinent results from your customer
feedback.
Through a miscommunication, the customer service feedback questionnaire was not
distributed.
4. How does the unit make potential customers aware of available services and
products (what the unit offers)?
This is managed in a number of ways: (1) all new employees go through an orientation
session in which they are made aware of the services offered; (2) when services or
capabilities change, clients are informed in various meetings; (3) e-mail announcements
are used to remind customers of the services and to update them on issues; (4) the
college-level unit maintains a website listing the services available, and the contact
information for the departments; (5) some departments also maintain their own local
websites for providing department-specific information to their client base.
5. Are there services or products that clients need or request which the unit
cannot provide? If so, please describe those services or products and discuss
the feasibility of providing them.
One common request is for support of specialized hardware and / or software. The
College policy is to provide support sufficient for meeting individual workstation needs
for faculty and staff as they attend to general and instruction-related administrative tasks
This is accomplished by guaranteeing support for a standard class of workstations with
a standard suite of office software. However, resource limitations prevent the guarantee
from extending beyond the base level of support. (Security issues also can play a role
in the limitations on the types of software and systems that can be supported.)
Usually, the request for specialized support is for research purposes. However, the
college policy is that research activities are sufficiently department-specific that the
appropriate method is for departments to invest its own resources in meeting these
needs (We note, however, that some departmental staff have developed specialized
expertise and can provide support beyond that established as the college-wide base
level. In those cases, the College cannot guarantee replacing that expertise if the
expert staff member should leave the university.)
C. 1. How are services prioritized and scheduled, and by whom?
The College-level staff and most of the distributed staff have organized methods for
receiving service requests such as e-mail, phone messages, the Remedy system, etc.
Requests are automatically prioritized according to the guidelines described in the
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College tech support policy (http://www2cas.gsu.edu/techsupport/) or according to
internal policies set by the departments.
2. Do any laws, regulations, or other requirements external to the university
impact the provision of services/products? If so, please identify.
All websites must comply with ADA, copyright, and trademark requirements. As well,
any servers or computers that contain classified information, such as social security
numbers, must be HIPPA compliant and must meet the requirements stated in the
university policy.
3. How does the unit make its customers aware of its priorities, policies, and
procedures (how the unit operates)?
This is integrated with the methods to inform clients and customers of services
available. See I.A.4 and II.B.4 above.
Required Appendix: Summary of results from customer feedback data (e.g., surveys
and/or focus groups). These data should cover both actual and potential customers and
should be designed to fit the specific needs of the unit under review.
Through a miscommunication, the customer service feedback questionnaire was not
distributed.
III.
Unit Outcomes and Accomplishments
A. 1. What are the unit’s current Intended Outcomes?
The intended outcomes are to provide reliable and responsive IT support for the
administrative and instructional activities of the College.
2. Explain how they relate to the defined mission and functional responsibilities
of the unit. Do current Intended Outcomes cover all of the unit’s core functional
responsibilities? If not, please explain.
The intended outcomes are identical with the mission and responsibilities of this
function.
3. How were these Intended Outcomes developed and how were they
communicated to staff and constituents?
This function provides a basic support service for the faculty and staff of the College.
Therefore, it is natural that the intended outcomes should be to meet its defined
responsibilities. This is communicated to clients and constituents using the
mechanisms described above in I.A.4, II.A, II.B.2, II.B.4, and II.V.3.
B. 1. What indicators does the unit use to measure its performance on intended
outcomes (Effectiveness or Key Performance Indicators)?
Key performance indicators for workstation support include (1) response time for
acknowledging service requests,(2) time to complete service, (3) success in resolving
the issue (callback frequency), and (4) customer service attitude. For network
management matters, key indicators are (1) adequate advance notice of service
disruption, (2) minimal unintended service disruption, and (3) rapid restoration of service
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on service disruption. For other activities, key indicators are (1) time to complete the
project and (2) level of success in completing the project.
2. Describe what actions the unit has taken to improve performance based upon
its analysis of the data collected on the effectiveness indicators. (Include any
current strategies, goals, and objectives developed to improve performance.)
Unfortunately, this data has not been collected systematically and college-wide.
3. What are the unit’s most notable accomplishments for the past three years?
Examples include:
• Consolidated server and network storage (Appendix E-1 and E-2 : Server Farm
Diagram before and after consolidation) (college-centered group)
•
Upgraded workstation operating systems Windows 2000 to XP
•
Migrated Linux server to Suse 9, migrate windows server to 2003;
•
Completed the efolios online portfolio system (English);
• Revamped the website and created an online catalogue of all the holdings in the
Troy Moore Library (English);
• Renovated 2 classrooms for technology and a usability lab and initiated a linux lab
for GTAs (English)
•
Revamped security on workstations (English)
•
Helped obtain over $500,000 in funds from Tech Fee Money (Biology)
• Setup and design of 13 virtual teaching labs spanning 3 buildings and 4 networks
(Biology)
•
Implemented 32 Camera DVR system and secure Network Doors (Biology)
In addition to their other responsibilities, most of the department-centered staff played a
major role in writing applications for Technology Fee funds. As well, they managed the
implementation of any new hardware or software systems resulting from awards.
Required Appendix: Unit’s Annual Reports for the past 3 years. N/A—This is not a
separately established unit.
IV. Organization and Climate
A. 1. For any services/products provided by the unit in conjunction with other
units within the university, please describe the relationship.
College IT staff must work in conjunction with IS&T and UETS to provide the full range
of technology services to its customers. IS&T provides the network infrastructure for the
network, and along with our unit, UETS provides the customers with labs and
classrooms for more access to technology. Also, the College provides Novell servers
and adequate floor space for those servers, while IS&T installs and upgrades the Novell
system on the servers. The College unit is in charge of allocating resources provided
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by those servers. IS&T also provides support to our customers on university level
applications, such as the university’s registration and financial software.
Licenses for the Novell Netware file server and the Groupwise e-mail systems reside at
the institutional level with IS&T. As a result, IS&T must be contacted for certain highlevel tasks requiring root access to these servers. In addition, the university chose to
adopt the Red Dot suite for website creation and content management purposes. That
system is also managed centrally and its use requires that college staff coordinate with
IS&T.
One critical partnership area is that of e-mail services. For the most of the College, email is provided by the GroupWise system: College staff establish the user accounts
and space quotas while IS&T provides and manages the actual servers. IS&T also
allocates user space on the servers. However, e-mail space needs have grown more
rapidly than the capability to increase server capacity. As a result, many senior college
administrative staff find themselves routinely taxing their mailbox storage capacity. This
is significant issue since e-mail storage has essentially replaced file cabinets for
keeping track of administrative transactions.
2. How is the work coordinated between or among units?
Coordination is managed as described above: IS&T provides the network and e-mail
infrastructure while college staff administer and manage the use of these systems. Two
organized venues currently exist to facilitate information flow and management of
coordination issues between IS&T and college IT units: NetSig, and ITSS (a
subcommittee of the Senate IS&T committee).
The common approach is that college staff submit Remedy tickets detailing the needs
when the services of IS&T or UETS are necessary. Based on the specific case, this
may be followed by a scheduled appointment between participating units to implement
the necessary action.
3. How can such relations be facilitated?
Regular communication and mutual respect are essential for the necessary coordination
to be successful. It is inevitable in a complex environment that conflicts will arise
between the needs one area and another. An example of this is the disagreement
between areas on the choice of iCommand vs. Zenworks for workstation desktop
management.
B. Are duplicate or parallel services offered within the unit or elsewhere in the
university? Describe any potential or apparent overlap and discuss what
changes might be indicated (e.g., centralization, coordination, elimination of
duplication).
A number of services offered by the College to its clients / customers are also offered by
other IT units within the university and by IS&T. However, it is unclear that any unit has
unused capacity for the support services. For that reason, these multiply-offered
services do not appear to be duplicates creating excess capacity. Since the services
are cost centers within the Colleges, it is in their internal interest to ensure maximum
efficiency of the operations.
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C. 1. What are the unit’s (1) planning, (2) decision-making, and (3) individual and
(4) unit performance evaluation processes?
College staff attend monthly NetSig and ITSS meetings to coordinate technology
projects with the rest of the campus technology units. From the information gathered at
these meetings, we hold a monthly unit meeting to discuss and plan our future needs
and goals within the framework of the entire university. Within the College, each
department is also charged with implementing projects for their customers. These
projects are very specific, meeting the needs of a small group of customers or one
specific research project. It is up to the department’s technology staff to ensure that
these projects meet university policies and standards. Centralizing such granular
support for our customers might be a detriment to the overall success of the unit.
Evaluation of individual performance is carried out by standard staff forms. Department
level planning, decision making, and performance evaluation procedures are controlled
locally.
2. Who is involved in each?
Because of the diverse needs of the customers, ranging from the hard sciences to the
humanities, the College must have a structure in place that can understand and best
attend to local needs. Hence, the distributed staff are evaluated by the individual chairs
of each department through an annual review. For the college-level staff, performance
evaluation is carried out by the College Technology Manager with input from customers.
3. How does the reward structure within the unit (including recognition,
promotion, and merit salary increases) support unit performance?
These process is fairly standard---performance evaluation, a conference with the
supervisor, and a recommended raise based on departmental salary allocations. In
cases where the position’s responsibilities and the incumbent staff member’s level of
performance have risen sufficiently, a position review is carried out for possible upgrade
of the position.
D. 1. How are individual and unit work responsibilities and expectations
determined?
For college level staff, this is determined by the overall goal to meet the technology
needs of our customers. Within that framework, each department in the college creates
a job description to meet their diverse technology needs. Through that job description,
each member of the unit understands his/her responsibilities to the department he/she
supports. Through time, each department adjusts those needs as the department
evolves to meet the technological needs of their research and instruction.
2. How are they communicated to the employees of the department?
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Initial responsibilities are communicated by the staff member’s immediate supervisor or
the hiring official. Any changes in job descriptions are communicated by the
supervisors. Normally, modifications to responsibilities are developed jointly between
the staff member and their supervisor. In all cases, the goal is to meet the needs of the
client / customer base.
E. 1. Please describe the general morale, attitude, and culture of the Unit. (Note:
If detailed explanations of employee survey data are required, please include this
discussion in the appendix.)
Just under 50%of the employees (8 of 19) responded to the questionnaire. Of these,
many expressed the opinion that they were serving the university well and that their role
was important. However, there appears to be a sense of frustration that they receive
too little feedback on their job performance, too little training, and they are unclear as to
the daily expectations of them. (See Appendices F1-F4.)
2. What measures are taken to ensure that the unit is appropriately sensitive to
the cultural backgrounds of staff and customers?
In the workstation support function, IT staff meet frequently with customers / clients. In
this capacity, they follow the guidelines for respecting cultural diversity as provided in
university employee handbook.
Required Appendix: Summary results of employee survey. (See Appendices F1-F4.)
V. Resources
A. 1. Provide a budget allocation and expenditure summary for the past three
fiscal years, using the template provided below.
Since this function is not carried out by an integrated unit, it is not possible to give a
complete report on budgetary allocations and expenditures. However, the combined
salaries of the 19 staff included in this review is approximately $1M for FY06.
2. Indicate how resources are spent on each of the core functional activities
identified in Section I.B.
Most workstation and web support is an issue of staff time. On that basis, therefore, the
largest part of the college IT funding is used in support of those core functions. Costs of
hardware and software upgrades for faculty and staff workstations are borne by the
individual departments and are carried out as systematically as possible when funds are
available. Hardware upgrades for college-managed instructional labs are mainly
supported by Technology Fee awards.
Network support requires a combination of time and equipment. The College maintains
a storage area network for providing network file storage and backup. This particular
installation required the investment in the necessary hardware and was accomplished
with a two-year phased plan using year-end funds. This facility is available to all college
users of the Novell system.
3. To what extent does the budget allocation and its utilization allow unit
outcomes to be realized?
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In the absence of formal budgets, it is difficult to answer the allocation question from a
systematic analysis. However, we are unaware of serious unresolved deficiencies in
meeting the core functional responsibilities.
For the college-centered group, any non-routine decisions for using the funds are made
by the College Technology Manager. For department-centered activities, the decisions
are made by the Chair on the recommendation of the IT staff.
4. What is the decision-making process for the distribution of budget allocations
within the unit?
There is no systematic college-wide budgeting process for IT support. Rather, the
process is primarily department-centered with the expenditure decisions made within
the departments.
B. 1. Describe the staff complement for the unit (and subunits, if appropriate).
See I.A above and Appendix A
2. To what extent does the staff allocation and deployment allow the unit’s
outcomes to be realized?
With the caveat the clients in general seem to want more technology capabilities and
support than is available, we are unaware of any serious unmet areas within the
intended outcomes
3. How does the unit backup critical staff functions?
Within the College group, this is accomplished by a formal arrangement between staff
for coverage when a member is away for any purpose. However, this is a much greater
challenge for the department-centered staff since few (only three) departments have
more than one IT staff member. As well, the more specialized character of
departmental functions significantly reduces the probability that another person within
the College has a sufficient level of expertise for coverage. (In some cases, graduate
students in the departments can serve in the backup role for short periods of time.)
4. Do employee skills match the unit’s foreseeable needs? (How is the need for
skills determined? How is training and cross-training provided? How is the
acquisition of new skills and knowledge encouraged? )
At the present time, employee skill sets generally match the units’ needs. When the
subunits request technology that does not match the skill set of employees, they can
train existing employees on the new technology. The departments offer training to the
staff, and the college provides training for the staff on an ongoing basis. IS&T also
provides information on new systems as they are introduced to the campus. The
primary weakness is in skill sets necessary for complex systems requiring special
knowledge.
Cross training is provided via group assignment and/or apprenticeship. However, the
departmentalization of IT support is a hindrance to college-wide cross-training.
C. 1. What is the space, facilities, and technology allocation (describe the
quantity and quality)?
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Currently, English and Communications use the college server room to house one
server each and most departments use the college i-SCSI SAN and backup services.
All other server resources are housed in GCB 840. However, space suitable for servers
is critically short since the existing climate controlled server room is running out space
and gradually getting hotter due to heat from equipment additions.
2. To what extent does the allocation and its utilization allow unit outcomes to be
realized?
The college provides adequate space for most subunit needs; however, as these
resources increase in number, the need to expand existing facilities will increase. In
general, the space distribution is not optimal: there is no space to manage equipment
inventory and IT staff are not located under the same roof.
D. 1. What changes could be made to produce greater efficiencies or economies
of scale (e.g., reduction, modification, or elimination of paperwork; structural
reorganization)?
It would drastically improve efficiency if the college were allowed to manage fully the
existing and future unit servers. Currently, the wait time for network upgrades can be
calculated in years.
However, the feasibility is unclear for any significant structural reorganization such as
consolidation to bring all IT staff under a college-based unit. The basis of the
departmentalization model is that the nature of IT support needs are not uniform across
the college so that a uniform approach will not be effective. Weighing against this,
however, is that the departmental staff are generally supervised by the chair (or
associate chair) who might not be very knowledgeable about IT matters.
2. What constraints (e.g., resources, personnel, technology) must the unit
address to achieve these?
It is necessary to establish an agreement with IS&T to achieve the goal of local server
management. For example, it would be helpful to implement more extensive role-based
services in Netware.
VI. Peer Comparisons
A. If appropriate and available, please provide data to indicate how the unit
compares with similar units at peer institutions (e.g., Urban 13+, BOR peer
institutions) in terms of structure, responsibilities, # of employees, and budget?
Information from the unit’s professional organization can be used in lieu of
selected peer institutions. If comparisons are not appropriate or if data are not
available, please explain why not.
The website for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia indicates
717 faculty. For IT support, their departmental listings indicate a group of 5 under the
Dean’s Office and 31 additional IT staff distributed among the departments and
programs.
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In comparison, The College of Arts and Sciences at Georgia State includes
approximately 460 faculty. The IT support staffing is 5 under the Dean’s Office with an
additional 14 distributed among the various departments.
B. Analyze the differences and similarities between your operations and those of
your peer institutions (if applicable).
The data indicates 19.9 faculty per IT staff member at UGA vs. 24.2 faculty per IT staff
member at GSU. Administrative staff are not included in these figures; however,
administrative staff complement is roughly proportional to the faculty numbers. Also, it
is not clear if the UGA number includes non tenure-track instructional staff of which
there are approximately 100 in A&S.
In summary, it appears that our College is understaffed to some degree in the IT
support area in comparison with UGA.
VII. Summary of Report and Strategic Directions
A. 1. Overall, what are the unit’s greatest strengths?
The unit’s greatest strength is its ability to meet the needs of such a diverse customer
base as well as its ability to meet those needs with a limited number of staff positions
and budget. This is the result of knowledgeable and reliable staff.
2. How can the unit leverage the strengths that already exist?
Balancing workload and expertise with demand is a continuing challenge. To do this,
the units can explore the increased use of system tools for solving technology problems.
As well, it is important to urge the staff to regularly enhance their training to remain
current with their knowledge of hardware and software systems. This strength can be
leveraged by the unit to keep customer satisfaction high as the needs and requirements
of technology increase in the college.
3. Can the strengths be improved upon?
Regular professional training is the key to individual improvement. However, it is
unclear the extent to which there is a sense of community among the IT support staff.
With the department-centered model, it is natural that the allegiance of the departmentbased staff is primarily with their home unit. Meetings of the College IT Support Group
can be a vehicle to establish greater allegiance to the College as a whole and to
increase the sense of camaraderie among the IT workers. To do so, it is necessary to
find some method allowing / requiring the staff to contribute to the agenda of the
meetings.
B. Describe any changes or modifications that would improve your unit’s
effectiveness. (Please include corrective activities as well as quality or service
improvements).
A&S is the only college whose IT staff are not under the same roof thus finding the
space to do so will promote teamwork, cross-training, and the capability for a systematic
plan for backing up staff while they are away.
The function needs to implement a systematic method for obtaining customer / client
feedback in all the core functional areas.
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1. What, if any, changes are indicated in the unit’s current mission and functional
responsibilities (Section I)
This function plays a key service role in the college so that its mission and functional
responsibilities will remain the same.
2. What, if any, changes are indicated in the services/products provided to
clients by the unit? (Section II)
The general services / products provided to customers / clients will remain the same.
However, the specifics may change in order to introduce efficiencies of scale or to make
use of new technologies.
3. What, if any, changes are indicated in the unit’s intended outcomes and key
performance indicators? (Section III)
There will be continued effort to identify suitable key performance indicators. The
intended outcomes will remain aligned with the mission and functional responsibilities.
4. What, if any, changes are indicated in the unit’s organizational structure,
processes, and climate? (Section IV)
In the interest of promoting teamwork, good employee morale, recognition, and a
consistent reward system, it seems appropriate to investigate a change in the reporting
structure as indicates above in VII.B.
Reliable coordination with IS&T is essential in those cases where central control exists
and / or is necessary: Novell Netware administration, e-mail server administration, Red
Dot deployment, etc. For that reason, it is critical that the IS&T administrative staff and
college staff have regular channels for forthright and clear communication on matters of
managing currently-installed systems. As well, it is critical that all stakeholders are
involved with and engaged in making choices of any new university-wide software
systems (such as e-mail, web administration, server administration, desktop
management, etc.). For this purpose, the roles of NetSig and ITSS should be
vigorously promoted and strengthened.
5. What, if any changes are indicated in the unit’s resources (budget, space,
staffing, technology, etc.)? (Section V)
To manage and encourage regular professional training, there needs to be a clear
budget for this purpose.
The critical space problem needs to be addressed as does the need to house all IT staff
in contiguous office space in the same building.
C. Using the format given below, please recommend 1-, 3-, and 5-year goals for
your unit based on the information discussed in Section B above. (Consider
appropriate time frames, priorities, and how progress will be quantifiably
measured.)
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One-year goals
Prioritized recommendation(s)
1. Develop and implement an organized
and systematic customer feedback system
2. Promote regular professional training for
IT support staff
3. Improve staff backup and coverage
capabilities by increased coordination of
college and distributed staff functions
through the college IT committee
4. Continue seeking more effective and
efficient methods for workstation support
Three-year goals
Prioritized recommendation(s)
1. Develop and implement an organized
and systematic customer feedback system
2. Promote regular professional training for
IT support staff
3. Improve staff backup and coverage
capabilities by increased coordination of
college and distributed staff functions
through the college IT committee
4. Continue seeking more effective and
efficient methods for workstation support
Five-year goals
Prioritized recommendation(s)
1. Develop and implement an organized
and systematic customer feedback system.
2. Promote regular professional training for
IT support staff.
3. Improve staff backup and coverage
capabilities by increased coordination of
college and distributed staff functions
through the college IT committee.
4. Continue seeking more effective and
efficient methods for workstation support
A&S ASUR-IT support
4/25/2006
Measures of progress
Development of system
Number and relevance of training courses
taken
Begin discussions to identify common
areas of responsibility.
Identification and implementation of
management and service tools
Measures of progress
Implementation of system
Number and relevance of training courses
taken
Enlist departmental chair support for their
staff providing backup support of other
subunits. Broaden capabilities through
training courses.
Identification and implementation of
management and service tools
Measures of progress
Data gathered and feedback system
updated as appropriate
Number and relevance of training courses
taken; assessment of their effectiveness.
Assessment of success in providing staff
backup.
Identification and implementation of
management and service tools.
Page 13
APPENDIX A: Arts and Sciences Computer and Information
Technology Support organizational chart
A&S ASUR-IT support
Page A-1
Social & Behavioral
Sciences Grad Lab
Humanities Graduate
Lab
Office of Academic
Assistant
Art / Design
(GRA)
GER
COMM
Roland Stewart
AAS
ROTC
Joseph Clanton
Music/Grad
Philosophy
(GRA)
Dean’s Office
Michael Page/GRA
Geosciences
LRC
Shaochieh Ou
Computer Science
GRA
Anthropology
GRA
AL/ESL
Greg George
English
Preston May
Biology
MCL
Tina Collins
Terence Collis
Don Harden
Chemistry
PSY
Charles Windson
Physics/Astronomy
WSI
Sociology
Political Science
LARC Lab
RCLD
Sharon Collins
Math/Stat
Department Chair/ Director
Navin Maharaj
Website Coordinator
History
(GRA)
Richard Gordon
Bonny Nnakwe
Technology Manager
APPENDIX B: Workstation inventory in areas covered by IT support staff
A&S ASUR-IT support
Page B-1
Name
Tina Collins
*
*
*
Bonny Nnakwe
*
*
*
*
*
Don Harden
Charles "Duke" Windsor
Greg George
GRA
*
*
*
Phillip Webb
Preston May
Joseph Clanton
Roland Stewart
*
*
*
Shaochieh Ou
Sharon Collins
Terence Collis
*
GRA
Department
Political Science
Sociology
Modern & Classical Language
Women Studies Institute
Dean's Office
Honors Program
Academic Assistance
Geology
GCB-418/618 Computer Labs
Graduate Office
Chemistry
Physics & Astronomy
English
Philosophy
Art & Design
Geography/Anthropology
Geography/Anthropology
Arts & Design -Digital MACMedia Lab
Biology
Music
African-American studies
Journalism/Communication
Rotc/Military Science
Geronotology
Computer Science
Math
Psychology
Regents Certer for learning Disorders
Applied linguistics & ESL
A&S
Operating Systems
78 MAC, Windows
424 Windows, Solaris, Linux, MAC
115 Solaris, Linux, Windows
141 Solaris, Linux, SGI Irix, Windows
278 Windows, MAC
124 Windows, Linux, MAC
627 Unix, Linux, MAC, Windows
MAC
61 MAC, Windows
92
164 Windows, Linux, MAC
294 RH Linux, MAC, OS2, Windows,SGI Ultrix 6.4
196 IRIX, Linux, MAC, OS2, Windows
210 Solaris, Windows, NetWare, MAC
163 Wiindows, MAC
# WKS
College Technology Support
APPENDIX C: Server inventory in areas covered by A&S support staff.
College Technology Support
Name
Tina Collins
*
*
*
Bonny Nnakwe
*
*
*
*
*
Don Harden
Department
Political Science
Sociology
Modern Classical Language
Women Studies Institute
Dean's Office
Honors Program
Graduate Office(eDirectory Objects)
Academic Assistance
Geology
GCB-418/618 Computer Labs
Chemistry
Charles "Duke" Windsor
Physics & Astronomy
Greg George
GRA
*
*
English
Philosophy
Art & Design
Geography/Anthropology
Michael Page
Phillip Webb
Geography/Anthropology
Art & Design
Preston May
Joseph Clanton
Biology
Music
*
Roland Stewart
*
*
*
Music
African-American studies
Journalism/Communication
Rotc/Military Science
Geronotology
Shaochieh Ou
Sharon Collins
Terence Collis
Computer Science
Math
Psychology
*
GRA
A&S ASUR-IT support
Regents Certer for Learning Disorders
Applied linguistics & ESL
A&S
Server Operating Systems
1 W2K - Multimedia
1 Solaris-Backup, 1 W2K - Web,
6 NetWare - File/Print,
1 W2K3 beta - WinSUS
7 servers - Linux - Web, FTP,
Telnet, YP, Mail Services, 1 Unix,
1 W2K , MAC OS file/print
3 Linux - WWW, SSH, FTP,
apache-php-mysgl, 1 W2K3.
6 Snap servers - proprietary
software, 2 W2K - Web
2 NT -Exchange, Web, FTP,
1 W2K3 - Web, 1 MAC file/print,
ftp 1 NetWare -file/print,
3 W2K -Oracle, App Server
2 W2K - SQL, Web, FTP, SSH,
Streaming Media, 1 NT 4 - Web,
DB testing, DC, 1 Linux - Web
1 W2K - Web, 1- NetWare
1 W2K - Web, Backup,
1 NetWare - file/print, 8 Linux -SSh,
Web, SMTP, 14 Solaris - SSH,
SMTP, NFS, Telnet, FTP,
1 SGI IRIS Telnet, FTP, SSH,
SMTP, NFS.
1 Solaris, 1 NetWare
3 W2K - Web, file/print,
1 W2k3 file/print,
3 NetWare - file/print,
2 Linux - webdav, ssh
Page C-1
APPENDIX D: Overview of roles and responsibilities assigned to
A&S IT support staff
A&S ASUR-IT support
Page D-1
Liaison Role: Network Infrastructure/Communication, Security, Novell Operations, System Update,
GroupWise Email
IS&T
LRC
Grad Office
CSC
Chemistry
Honors
Biology
Music
LARC
OAA
DEANS
Human. Lab
Soc/Beha Lab
COMM
Math/Sat
ROTC
AL/ESL
GER
History
AAD
English
Philosophy
MCL
Geosciences
Sociology
Anthropology
Political
Science
Arts / Design
WSI
(UNIX, WINDOWS, NETWARE)
GroupWise e-mail Administration, File System, Novell eDirectory, Data Storage Management (Backup/Restore/Disaster Recovery), Education Center Training, First
Level Support
Psychology
Limited Novell eDirectory Admin, Data Storage Management (Backup/Restore)
Physics
Liaison Role: Limited Novell, GroupWise e-mail, eDirectory Support
Website
User Accounts, GroupWise e-mail, Network File System Admin, Desktop Support, Data Structure Management (Backup/Restore), Automatic Application Deployment
(Labs), Data Storage Management
Technology Manager
APPENDIX E: Diagram of server farm consolidation and iSCSI SAN
implementation
A&S ASUR-IT support
Page E-1
as-srv1
as-fac9
as-fac10
as-fac11
as-srv2
as-fac12
as-fac14
as-fac2
as-fac15
as-fac3
as-fac16
as-fac4
Netware
More Servers to Administer
as-fac13
as-fac1
ETHERNET
as-fac6
as-fac17 as-fac18
as-fac5
as-fac19
as-fac7
as-fac20
as-fac8
Page E-2
Storage Area Network
iSCSI SAN
SAN Switch
Tape Backup
Unix
cassun
www2cas
as-srv3-ndps
as-larc
Linux - Eng
as-srv5
Less Servers to Administer
as-srv4
Windows
as-sbslab
Netware
Netware
as-dbsrv
as-humlab
ETHERNET
as-suse
as-srv1-test
A&S ASUR-IT support
as-srv2-test
as-joulab
wwwcas
APPENDIX F: Employee Survey Results
A&S ASUR-IT support
Page F-1
.0
.0
.0
0
.0
.0
.0
.0
%
.0
.0
.0
.0
.0
2 25.0
1 14.3
0
2 25.0
0
0
1 12.5
0
2 25.0
1 12.5
0
1 12.5
0
N
2
%
.0
0
.0
1 14.3
3 37.5
1 12.5
1 12.5
0
2 25.0
1 12.5
1 12.5
2 25.0
3 37.5
1 12.5
3 37.5
N
3
%
.0
3 37.5
2 28.6
3 37.5
3 37.5
2 25.0
1 12.5
3 37.5
2 25.0
0
2 25.0
1 12.5
1 12.5
1 12.5
N
4
2 25.0
3 42.9
1 12.5
2 25.0
5 62.5
7 87.5
1 12.5
3 37.5
3 37.5
3 37.5
4 50.0
3 37.5
4 50.0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
2
0
0
0
1
0
12.5
.0
.0
.0
.0
.0
12.5
25.0
.0
.0
.0
12.5
.0
3.71 1.25
4.00 1.15
3.38 1.18
3.63 1.18
4.50 .756
4.88 .354
3.57 .976
4.33 .816
3.00 1.77
3.88 1.12
4.13 .991
3.57 1.61
4.13 .991
Don't
Strongly
know/not
applicable
Unit
agree
N
%
N
%
Mean* SD
*Mean range: 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree. Don’t know/not applicable excluded from analysis.
**Percentile rank includes 31 units.
Overall, I would recommend my
unit/department as a good place
to work.
0
1 12.5
I have access to all the
data/information I need to do
my job right.
My job makes good use of my
skills and abilities.
0
People let me know when I do a
good job.
.0
0
I am held accountable for the
quality and quantity of my
work.
.0
.0
.0
0
0
0
2 25.0
0
0
1 12.5
0
Strongly
disagree
N
%
It is important to Georgia
State that I do my job well.
I receive feedback on my
progress at work.
I am confident that my
unit/department is meeting our
customer's needs.
I get the training I need to do
my job well.
I clearly understand what is
expected of me in a typical
work day.
At work, my opinions matter.
Someone at work encourages me
to increase my skills.
I have the materials and
equipment necessary to do my
job well.
Table 1
Unit N = 8 (response rate = 42.1 percent)
University (32 units) N = 829 (response rate = 87.4 percent)
EMPLOYEE SURVEY FINDINGS
March 2006
3.81
3.73
3.60
3.55
4.34
4.43
3.53
3.81
3.51
4.21
3.49
3.53
3.84
1.22
1.24
1.20
1.27
.948
.951
1.21
1.10
1.26
1.00
1.32
1.30
1.15
Univ.
Mean*
SD
36.8
67.7
26.5
41.2
63.2
91.2
32.4
86.8
20.6
11.8
75.0
47.1
58.8
Percentile
Rank
0.0
20.0
40.0
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
Graph 7
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
4
Strongly agree
3
4
Strongly
agree
3
4
Strongly
agree
I receive feedback on my progress at
work.
2
I clearly understand what is expected
of me in a typical work day.
2
I have the materials and equipment
necessary to do my job well.
3
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
3
4
Strongly
agree
2
3
Strongly
agree
Strongly agree
It is important to Georgia State that
I do my job well.
4
I get the training I need to do my job
well.
Strongly
disagree
Graph 8
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
2
Someone at work encourages me to
increase my skills.
Strongly
disagree
Graph 5
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
80.0
60.0
100.0
100.0
Graph 4
Percent
Percent
Percent
Percent
Percent
Percent
Percent
Percent
Percent
A&S ASUR-IT support
Page F-2
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
3
4
Strongly agree
3
4
Strongly agree
At work, my opinions matter.
4
Strongly agree
I am held accountable for the quality
and quantity of my work.
3
I am confident that my unit/department
is meeting our customer's needs.
Graph 9
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
Graph 6
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
3
4
Strongly
agree
4
Strongly agree
Overall, I would recommend my
unit/department as a good place to
work.
2
People let me know when I do a good
job.
2
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
3
4
Strongly
agree
I have access to all the
data/information I need to do my job
right.
Strongly
disagree
Percent
Percent
100.0
Graph 13
Percent
Percent
A&S ASUR-IT support
Page F-3
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
3
4
Strongly
agree
My job makes good use of my skills and
abilities.
2
Arts and Sciences Technology Support
Employee Comments
I think there is a need for an environment that enables team-work, cross-training and backup of
critical functions.
The two largest impediments to an efficient and effective IT staff in the College of Arts and
Sciences are 1) compensation is not tied to productivity and work ethic; and 2) the administration
seems to have an apathetic approach to staff development.
A&S ASUR-IT support
Page F-4