A year of resiliency and rising to new challenges
Resilient, rising, and reinspired was the theme for this year’s UC Tech conference which brought over 1,000 technologists from across the UC system together both on the Berkeley campus and virtually. I think the theme also describes how the last year has played out and how we have approached our campus IT priorities: remaining resilient and making good progress on key initiatives while rising to meet some unexpected challenges.
It is safe to say that FY23 has been a year of transition. We bid farewell to CIO Jenn Stringer at the end of June and are now preparing to welcome a new CIO in the months ahead. Several other leadership roles across Berkeley are in transition as well, which definitely will mean additional change ahead. Transitions bring opportunity, and I am confident the strength of the leadership and amazing teams across both Berkeley IT and the One IT community will provide us with the resiliency needed to continue to support Berkeley’s mission and to help our community do its best work. I thank all of the talented IT and IT-adjacent staff across campus for their dedication, hard work, and commitment to collaboration that continue to help advance our strategic campus priorities. This annual report reflects your work and effort.
~ Gabriel
Gabriel Gonzalez, Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for IT
and Chief Information Officer
FY23 Achievements
The following list is just a sampling of achievements from our teams across our One IT community in FY23. All of these initiatives and projects are great examples of the collaborative efforts that exist between different units on campus in support of the university mission and helping to power the campus experience. Many of these efforts are ongoing and will continue into FY24.
Strengthening Our Campus Information Security Posture
Made good progress on building a more secure campus posture which involves coordinating multiple in-flight projects. Lead: Berkeley IT - Information Security Office in collaboration with campus partner projects Berkeley Law: Security, Privacy, Compliance; Environment, Health & Safety IT: Cybersecurity and IS-3 Compliance; Goldman School of Public Policy: Cybersecurity and IS-3 Compliance; Haas IT: Implementation of the IS-3 Security Policy; School IT: Information Security Program; Letters & Sciences IT: IS3 Compliance and Recommendation Implementation; Research and Compliance IT: IS-3 Implementation; University Development and Alumni Relations IT: IS-3 Implementation.
IS-3
Continued to roll out the IS-3 Unit Project across campus, operationalize the onboarding process, initiate an annual review for pilot Units, and ongoing Unit Information Security Lead engagement.
Key Measures of Success
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Onboarding is complete for all units designated as high-risk.
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Review completed for early adopters of IS-3 implementation (26 units/sub-units).
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Onboarding process established for high and lower-risk units.
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Unit IS-3 self-assessment questionnaire and supporting resources updated in preparation for lower-risk unit onboarding.
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Ongoing annual review process developed.
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Initial dashboard for Leadership developed.
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Process for development of annual IS-3-related toolkit for Unit Information Security Leads (UISLs) initiated.
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A program of regular communication with UISLs is in place.
View stats showing the change in incidents over time 2020-2023
Policy Changes Occurring in Tandem with IS-3
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Updated Departmental Information Security Contact Policy - approved and posted.
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Minimum Standards for Electronic Information (MSSEI) update project - Draft under review by One IT and UISL communities.
Improving the Network User Experience
To support a broader and clearer range of connectivity options for campus users, in FY23 we modernized and improved the stability, usability, capability, and capacity of various network services, including Wi-Fi Infrastructure, Wi-Fi Device Connectivity Services, Campus Firewall, Campus VPN, and Connectivity for International Students. Lead: Berkeley IT Information Security Office and Campus IT Infrastructure in collaboration with Research, Teaching, and Learning; Student Affairs IT.
Key Measures of Success
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Improved the roaming performance of user-connected devices to allow for seamless connectivity while moving around on campus.
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90% reduction in user-reported incidents during the fall semester start.
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Delivered a new Wi-Fi service for Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
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85% reduction in Residence Hall data port activations for spring 2023.
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Developed a new Wi-Fi registration portal for devices, with improved accessibility. Improved security by providing an encrypted Wi-Fi option for devices that are not compatible with eduroam.
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Improved the performance of VPN and Firewall services by replacing/upgrading old hardware.
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Retired the AirBears2 network to simplify the user experience.
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Replaced all remaining Cisco wireless access points to improve connection reliability and stability.
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Completed in 4 years (Planned: 5), Including 1 Year Pause for Pandemic.
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Funding Received: $5.1M (Planned $8.3M).
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Replaced 5,170 Obsolete Cisco Access Points (APs) with 10,400 Aruba APs.
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46% of APs are next-gen 802.11AX (Wi-Fi 6) capable.
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Rolled out a new visitor network (Berkeley-Visitor) and retired CalVisitor to improve network security, connection reliability, and stability.
View metrics on Wi-Fi usage and overview of network improvements | Visit the project website
Empowering Instructional Resilience
In coordination with the Research, Teaching, and Learning (RTL) Executive Advisory Group and campus stakeholders (Berkeley Law, Engineering, Haas, and iSchool), we developed a design-based plan to identify the next iteration of instructional resilience for remote, in-class, and hybrid instruction. Lead: Research, Teaching, and Learning in collaboration with these projects Berkeley Law: Educational Resilience; Engineering IT: Instructional Services; Haas IT: Refresh of Curricular Planning Tools; I School IT: Instructional Resilience.
Key Measures of Success
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A standard definition for Instructional Resilience across Undergraduate Education, Law, Engineering, Haas, and iSchool.
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Documented trends, commonalities, and gaps of instructional resilience across all units based on surveys, focus groups, and 1:1 discussions with users.
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Initiated one design-based project tackling a component of Instructional Resilience based on findings from previous measures of success.
Achievements
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A common definition and understanding of instructional technology.
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A document with groupings of existing instructional resilience strategies and gaps across our five areas.
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Planned creation of a campus-wide classroom technology community of practice to create an ongoing coordinated effort for instructional resilience.
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Planned creation of a shared resource with a list of tools, systems, and vendors used at each school/department.
What does it mean to be instructionally resilient?
Ability to adapt to challenging circumstances and continue to meet instructional objectives using a dynamic process that addresses multiple teaching modes and course types. The process should account for short-term emergencies and long-term trends and be regularly enhanced using an iterative feedback process. Opportunities for training and idea-sharing across schools and departments are critical to its success.
What are some scenarios that can benefit from instructional resilience?
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Public health emergencies
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Natural disasters (earthquake, fire, flood)
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Strikes, labor disputes, and protests
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Short-term emergencies (active shooter, power outage, cyber attack)
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Campus space constraints
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Staffing shortage (instructors, GSIs, support staff)
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Changes in market trends for higher ed
Value to the Campus
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Stronger and more resilient as a community.
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Visibility and collaboration across campus units.
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Opportunity for more standardization where it makes sense.
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Overall better preparedness for both short-term emergencies and long-term trends.
Developing a Plan for IT Disaster Recovery
Over the past year, Berkeley IT has been working on the IS-12 IT Disaster Recovery Assessment and Implementation project. A fundamental principle of IT recovery at UC Berkeley is to guide campus departments and units to have appropriate resources in place to recover institutional information and IT resources in the event of an unavoidable or unforeseen disaster, whether natural or human-made. Lead: Berkeley IT Information Security Office and Campus IT Infrastructure in collaboration with Research, Teaching, and Learning; Student Affairs IT.
Measures of Success
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Onboarding of Berkeley IT units in phase 1 pilot.
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Onboarding of phase 2 pilot units (Haas and Facilities).
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Prioritization strategy for engaging with units formalized; Periodic review process defined and scheduled for pilot units.
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Processes for unit onboarding and status tracking have been operationalized.
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Program for ongoing engagement of recovery leads is in place.
How you can get involved
An IS-12 policy course is available in UC Learning Center, search for "IS-12" to find the course.
IS-12 Policy implementation will occur iteratively over time. During the initial implementation stage, units will assign a Unit IT Recovery Lead to complete an inventory, via a survey, of IT systems owned or managed by the unit. Characteristics of the systems will be collected and evaluated to determine next steps for each application. The kind of information being collected describes the system’s purpose and users, criticality to the unit and information about the application’s state of readiness in case of a disaster.
In the next phase of the project, users will begin using UC Ready to review existing Disaster Recovery plans migrated from Castellan/BC Catalyst. All DR plans and assets in Castellan are being migrated to UC Ready. UC Ready is a UCOP managed Business Continuity tool where users will maintain existing or create new Disaster Recovery plans. Castellan will be retired. You can find instructions on how to use UC Ready here: UC Ready ITDR End User guide for Unit IT Recovery Leads-UITRLs
There will be ongoing operational efforts, since the policy requires an annual inventory and annual testing and validation of Disaster Recovery plans. The survey information and DR plans will help campus stakeholders understand and manage compliance with the IT Recovery Policy, document IT Recovery and Communication Plans, and ensure that appropriate resources are available to recover critical IT systems and data in the event of a disaster.
Building an IT Investment 10-year Roadmap
As part of the new IT governance model, in 2021 the CIO was charged with developing an overall campus IT Spend report, as well as doing deeper dives on current and planned IT spend in the large administrative units on campus. In FY23, the next step of this work was the creation of the Berkeley IT Investment 10-Year Roadmap which is intended to help campus leadership plan for the significant campus investments in IT that will be needed over the next 10 years. The roadmap will be reviewed again in fall 2023 and updated according to any new IT project needs that have arisen since the original plan was established. Select the image below to view an enlarged version of the roadmap. Lead: Berkeley IT - Business Operations 
Progressing on Gender Recognition / Lived Name Projects
Engaged with project leadership and Berkeley IT to organize and engage resources supporting campus efforts to implement new policy for gender recognition and lived names that affect nearly all campus applications and data services. This project is ongoing but made important progress in FY23. Lead: Berkeley IT - Campus Applications and Data in collaboration with the office of the Vice Chancellor for Equity & Inclusion.
Key Measures of Success
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Established formal project management and engagement structures for the GRLN implementation, including assigning a project manager and setting up project work streams, review processes, status reporting, and recurring meetings.
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Established formal governance and advisory oversight, including securing co-sponsorship between the Office of the Chancellor, Berkeley IT, and the Division of Equity & Inclusion, as well as engaging leaders and teams from across Berkeley.
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Structured separate project workgroups to manage different areas simultaneously including Business Processes, Communications, Governance & Compliance, and Technology.
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Established formal engagement with UCOP and with other UC GRLN teams to facilitate idea-sharing, discuss common challenges, and optimize implementation and timing.
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Facilitated the completion of GRLN implementations in key source systems (UCPath and CalNet) in June 2023, including training, support, and documentation.
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Encouraged awareness and engagement by presenting about GRLN to multiple teams and groups across campus, including One IT, CIO Forum, DocuSign Community of Practice, Coordinated Community Review Team (CCRT) for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Misconduct & Clery Compliance Committee (CCC), IT Strategy Committee (ITSC), Information Technology Community Council (ITC), Berkeley IT Enterprise Operations (EO), Campus Community User Group (CCUG), Compliance and Enterprise Risk Committee (CERC), and UCPath.
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Established and expanded the GRLN website to include FAQs, project team members, name change instructions, video and training content, policy background and details, implementation status tracking, and additional resources.
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Set up a legal name request intake form and process for reviewing and approving use cases where legal name access will continue to be required for some systems.
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Identified technical implementation milestones for priority and source systems, working with UCPath, CalNet, Alumni Association, Student Affairs IT, and Student Information Systems teams on change management, communication, data hierarchies and flows, and post-implementation support.
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Contacted and met with each system team to discuss policy compliance, technical questions, business questions, legal name access use cases, and system readiness.
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Developing an accountability and reporting process in collaboration with OPHD, Legal Affairs, and Ombuds that clearly identifies the rights and process steps for individuals to take when experiencing or observing harassment or other non-compliance with the GRLN policy.
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Developed and are managing an inventory of 240+ affected systems across campus, capturing details on data flow, system contacts, legal name access needs, app identifiers, and organizational unit identifiers.
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Evaluated and approved a timeline extension for the Berkeley Financial System due to delayed release timing of supporting features from PeopleSoft.
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Confirmed all systems are now either in progress or complete, with all currently on track to meet upcoming deadlines.
Ensuring Digital Assets are Accessible for All
Worked with campus stakeholders to further evolve the institution’s posture in relation to accessibility of all digital tools, both existing and new tools, and content developed internally or acquired externally. Lead: Berkeley IT - Campus IT Experience in collaboration with the office of Disability Access and Compliance.
Key Measures of Success
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Program creation/build-out and Consent Decree Deadlines (Jan ‘23 - July ‘23).
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Hired Consent Decree Web Accessibility Coordinator / Digital Accessibility Program Manager.
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Hired new Program staff (2 BSA3 and 1 TPMP4) and pivoted the work of existing staff (BSA4 and AP4)
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Created Web Accessibility Procedures and submitted to the US Dept of Justice for approval.
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Developed web access barrier reporting procedures and gained US Dept of Justice approval.
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Developed and published the program website with digital accessibility resources including training, testing, and how-to resources.
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Gained US Dept of Justice approval for the Web Accessibility Procedures, published on the website, and disseminated to the campus community.
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Developed, ran, and completed RFP for external Auditor.
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Proposed external Auditor to the US Dept of Justice, coordinated US Dept of Justice review and meetings with Auditor and received approval to retain.
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Completed procurement and contracting process with Auditor and set up PO.
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Completed procurement and contracting process with 3Play Media for legacy content in the Dec 2025 deadline.
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Coordinated with and provided guidance to the Digital Learning Services BerkeleyX team to meet the Sept 2, 2023 BerkeleyX accessible content deadline.
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Developed, produced, and provided mandatory training for all Covered Individuals delivered from campus training LMS.
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Culled the total data set of websites to those within the scope of the Consent Decree and identified new and missed websites (ongoing).
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Developed YouTube, Vimeo, and Podcast (Apple, Spotify, etc.) list of channels under the scope of the Consent Decree and their contacts and began direct outreach in addition to CalMessage communications and website information sharing.
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Completed a 6-month report and submitted it to the US Dept of Justice.
Learn more about this project on the Digital Accessibility website
Creating a Data Center & Cloud Services Roadmap
Developed concrete next steps for the evolution of on-premise server rooms across campus, including data center colocation and local/edge server rooms, and a detailed implementation plan for campus system utilization of the public cloud. Lead: Berkeley IT - Strategy and Partnerships
Key Measures of Success
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Delivered V1 of the campus (proposed) computational infrastructure roadmap.
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Identified a surge option for Warren Hall and actively onboard high-power dense research computing to a new location in the first half of FY23.
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Established target colocation facilities for future workloads, this work will continue.
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Developed an accepted financial and incentives model for covering campus off-site hosting costs.
- Developed and submitted a $3.9M funding request that was recommended for funding by the IT Strategy Committee.
Supporting Student Success
Two new programs that support student success are the Student Technology Equity Program (STEP) and the One IT Student Leadership Program. Both of these programs empower students in different ways and made great progress in FY23. Lead: Student Affairs IT
Key Measures of Success
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Revamp the Student Technology Equity Program (STEP) to develop a sustainable and long-term Student Technology Equity program.
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Hire a One IT Student Leadership Specialist to build out the new One IT Student Leadership Program. This program’s priority will be to uplift One IT’s student leadership and employment opportunities and affirm the value of providing strong leadership development experiences.
Student Technology Equity Program (STEP)
STEP provides students with the technology they need for their academic journey. Laptops, tablets, hotspots, webcams, headphones, and microphones are some examples of need-based loans of technology hardware available.
UC Berkeley is a very decentralized institution which means many different units need to collaborate on existing digital equity efforts. STEP is the only campuswide digital equity initiative. Partners and stakeholders involved have included, but are not limited to, the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office, the Basic Needs Program, and Supply Chain Management, plus lots of partners who collaborate to promote the program and make sure students are aware of this resource. In the earliest days of the pandemic, a portion of STEP funding went to the UVA Wi-Fi Enhancement Project, improving network connectivity at the campus-run family housing complex.
During its third year, STEP provided technology to nearly 3,000 students (2,200 continuing and 694 new recipients). About 25% of recipients were graduate students and 75% were undergraduates. The most highly requested item continued to be laptops. Additionally, STEP also resumed distributing Wi-Fi hotspots with a fully paid 12-month service plan; 218 students, all of whom lived off-campus, benefitted from STEP hotspots. For more information about years 1-2 of STEP, read the STEP Impact Report
Because of her leadership on STEP, Anne Marie Richard, Director of SAIT, was invited and has been participating in the State of California's Digital Equity Planning Process through the California Department of Technology's Office of Broadband and Digital Literacy (OBDL), which is working to engage communities across the state to understand what barriers exist that prevent all Californians from accessing the internet, devices, and digital skills.
One IT Student Leadership Program
One IT employs 300-350 student staff that deliver 140,000 hours of work annually! Selection, training, supervision, and professional development are managed locally, which can result in disparate programs, practices, and employee experiences. Providing shared resources to support new and existing workforces will enable greater consistency and alignment across the student-employee experience. This is why in FY23, SAIT created a dedicated role to lead this effort and Amanda Bent joined their team as their One IT Student Leadership Specialist to build out this program.
Developing an intentional student leadership strategy positions One IT to invest in the professional growth of our future leaders with more deliberate outcomes. Students also significantly impact our work and how we deliver it to the campus community during their employment. Moreover, we create strong pathways to future employment on our campus, particularly for underrepresented IT communities.
Priorities
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Align recruitment, selection, compensation, supervision, performance evaluation, and professional development practices for student teams across One IT.
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Develop communal resources for supervisors to build their student leadership strategy.
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Ensure equity in opportunity and experience for all prospective and existing student employees.
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Build One IT student jobs into leadership roles that can become Discovery experiences for undergraduates.
View Student Leadership Program website | Q1 Impact Report | Q2 Impact Report
Collaborating on a Comprehensive Curriculum Management System
The current homegrown Curriculum Management System (CMS) cannot meet the evolving needs of the University, which were amplified by the pandemic, with an impact on students, parents, and faculty. The replacement of the old CMS system’s first effort consisted of developing a budget estimate and submitting it to IT Governance for approval. This project is not completed but made important progress in FY23. Lead: Berkeley IT - Campus Applications and Data
Key Measures of Success
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Procurement of a transparent, integrated system to effectively manage the full suite of curriculum development processes for undergraduate and graduate curricula.
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RFP in progress/final stages with plans to award the contract in early FY23. . This was truly a very large cross campus effort to get to this stage with many hours spent on this evaluation phase of the project.
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Initial change management work/sign-off across campus partnerships.
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Initial requirements created and signed-off via the procurement process.
Maturing the IT Governance Model
Continued to mature and grow the new campus IT Governance model. Stood up additional committees as the need was identified. Leveraged the model to move high-impact IT projects through the campus review and funding approval processes. Lead: Berkeley IT - Strategy & Partnerships
Key Measures of Success
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Hired a governance Program Manager.
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Stood up the Data Governance Committee in Fall 2022, with the Charter approved in February 2023 and initial working groups inaugurated in April 2023 (Data Access WG and Demographic Data WG).
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Continued to develop and formalize IT governance processes and policies:
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Led an inaugural Committee Co-Chairs Retreat, including initial AY24 goal-setting;
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IT Governance Program Baseline Assessment conducted in Winter and Spring 2023;
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High-level IT Governance Program Recommendations for modifications to the model presented to and approved by IT Strategy Committee Co-Chairs, including annual goal setting and self-assessment.
Implementing Epic as the Campus EHR System
Berkeley IT has been working with the UC-wide implementation team to implement Epic (as the primary EHR system for Berkeley) to replace PnC, Systoc, and EyeCare. This initiative will be a significant multi-year migration project impacting nearly every department and business unit at UHS and the Optometry Clinic. It will require a close partnership with a UC Medical Center. While this project is not scheduled to be completed until 2025, significant progress was made in FY23. Lead: University Health Services IT & School of Optometry
Key Measures of Success
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Identify a UC Medical Center hosting partner (Aug 2022) - DONE
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UHS is partnering with UC Davis Health to host Epic.
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School of Optometry is partnering with UCSF to host Epic.
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Identify the one-time implementation and five-year operating costs and identity/secure the necessary funding (Sept. 2022) - in progress.
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UHS is finalizing the cost proposal and securing the remaining funds - expected completion is August 2023.
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Optometry is finalizing the scope of work and costs with UCSF.
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Appoint an experienced Epic Implementation Lead, and create a project implementation plan “Playbook” (Oct. 2022) - in progress.
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UHS is waiting for a PM to be assigned by UC Davis Health.
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School of Optometry has secured project management resources and had a project kick off.
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Working closely with our Medical Center partner, kick off the Epic Implementation project to “go live” in Summer 2025 (earlier for Optometry).
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Go Live for UHS is now scheduled for Summer 2025.
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Go Live for Optometry is scheduled for February 2024.
