Continuous Improvement of IT Applications and Services

Continuous Improvement of IT Services Providing sustained value to the campus community requires continuous upgrading and replacement of key enterprise systems and technology. From new student information and learning management systems, UC-wide HR and Payroll applications, to the expansion of our campus telecommunication services, our commitment is to modernize our technological solutions to make them more efficient, effective and responsive to our users.

Projects we are working on in support of this action item:

In Progress

Cal1Card/Clipper Card Integration
Cal Answers
Cal Groups
Citrix
Data Center Load Balancer

Inter-Building Campus Communication System (ICCS)
Osnium Case Management Implementation
SIS Integration
SIS Project
Student-Facing Computing Improvements
UC Path

Completed Projects

2014 | 2015

Project Name & Sponsor	Value To Campus	Milestones & Additional Info
Cal1Card/Clipper Card Integration Paul Robles, Acting Associate CIO, SAIT	This project will allow students to utilize their Cal1Card on transit providers that accept the Clipper Card replacing the existing process that requires students to stand in line to receive a transit sticker for their Cal1Card each semester.	Transition of the Class Pass Program to a newly designed Cal 1 Card containing an embedded Clipper Chip. AC Transit will pre-load an auto-renew Easy Pass purse on these cards each semester. Aug. 2016 - Estimated completion
Cal Answers Graduation, Retention and Time to Degree Dashboards Mark Chiang, Enterprise Data Warehouse Manager, IST-Enterprise Data	Three new dashboard reports in the Student Demographics and Outcomes subject area. These dashboards make it easier to compare student data, find answers to questions about student graduation and retention rates, and see trends. Undergraduate Graduation Rates by Multiple Fields Undergraduate Retention by Multiple Fields Undergraduate Time to Degree - Watch the video	Completed Jan. 2016 The new reports answer questions such as: What are the retention and graduation rates over time of students across various demographic characteristics? What percentage of new students in a given College (e.g., Letters & Science) persist at Berkeley beyond their first or second year? What percentage graduate within four years? How long did it take undergraduate degree recipients to graduate? What was their mean and median time-to-degree? How does undergraduate time to degree vary across academic units (e.g., colleges, departments) and/or by major type (e.g., single, double)? Access the new reports in Cal Answers Watch the new Cal Answers video, Determining Undergraduate Time to Degree Contact the Cal Answers team
Cal Groups Paul Rivers, Chief Information Security Officer	Improve campus messaging and improve communication by allowing multiple applications and collaboration tools to create and share one group that can be used to assign access or support other application features (email lists). Groups can be pre-defined (all students in a class) or developed ad hoc.	Spring 2016 - Rollout Cal Groups. Cal Groups will be available, including published documentation and support. At least two applications will be integrated with Cal Groups. See Release Schedule
Citrix Dave Browne, Director, IST-Infrastructure Services	Virtualization will improve security and usability of enterprise applications, improving the user experience of these applications, providing: Consistent and easy-to-use experience across Mac and PC platforms. A simplified user experience which will eliminate the need to have a range of browsers and plugins installed on desktops and knowing the browser requirements for each application. Reduced browser security risk exposure for campus. Streamlined and more controllable campus computing environment. Future “one-stop” for widely-used enterprise administrative apps. Substantial benefits for all users to access the campus application services. Replacement for the current RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) as the most robust and secure solution.	Deploy the Citrix technology to address the browser and plug-in issues on campus for enterprise application services such as BAIRS, CalPlanning, Cal Answers, CalTime, EyeCare, CHERCH, and SumTotal (LMS). Virtualization of enterprise applications. April 2014 - Deliver CalTime and BAIRS virtualized. June 2015 - 100% of enterprise applications virtualized. Project will continue into FY15/16 and have already completed virtualization of CalAnswers, BAIRS, CalPlanning, PI Portfolio, and CalTime virtualization is planned. Apps in progress are: Stata/SPSS, SIS, Altura Phone Client, CHOIR/CMS Data-Set, Point & Click More about Citrix Services
Data Center Load Balancer Michael Green, Director, Telecommunications - IST	Improved performance, flexibility and resiliency for central IT services.	A load balancer is a device that acts as a reverse proxy and distributes network or application traffic across a number of servers. Load balancers are used to increase capacity (concurrent users) and reliability of applications. Implement a new load balancer service to enhance capabilities over the existing one. June 2016 - Estimated completion
Inter-Building Campus Communication System (ICCS) Michael Green, Director, Telecommunications	Working to ensure that all areas of campus have consistent access to the campus network and the Internet, improving reliability and maintainability of network infrastructure.	Continuing this 15-year project of ICCS (Inter-Building Campus Communication System) buildout. June 2014 - Phase 1: Completed targeted for FY13-14 of Lower Sproul tie-in to Rec Sports zone and tie-in for Kroeber, Morrison, Hertz, Music Library and both faculty clubs to Wurster zone. FY 2016 - Phase 2: Implement new campus router zone in Barrows Hall, replacing sub-optimal infrastructure in Sproul Hall.
Osnium Case Management Implementation Paul Robles, Acting Associate CIO, SAIT	Allows the Sexual Assault Prevention and Advocacy Office to accurately track and manage sexual assault cases.	The Sexual Assault Prevention and Advocacy office that reports to the Dean of Students requires the implementation of case management software as required by UCOP. This software is one of two case management software applications that has been approved by UCOP for use to track sexual assault cases. This software will not require integration with the student information system. This will be a product hosted on campus. Sept. 2015 - Estimated completion
SIS Integration Bill Allison, University Chief Technology Officer	Provide best practices and modern service architecture and hosting services for SIS Integration.	Provide data and technical architectural support and hosting for the SIS Integration Team. Dec. 2015 - Launched SIS Integration for Go Live 3 of the SIS Project. Aug. 2016 - Estimated completion
SIS Project Phase 1: Larry Conrad, AVC-IT and CIO Liz Marsh, Director, Strategic Initiatives and Chief of Staff Phase 2: Angela Blackstone, Project Executive Patrick Furze, Executive Director	Improve the student experience by providing modern student information systems that help students have a complete view of their information.	Implement student information systems replacement program. Aug. 2013 - Aug. 2014 - Phase 1: Launch completed, vendors will be selected for the software solution, system integrater, and quality assurance partner. Sept. 2014 - Jan. 2017 - Phase 2: Implementation, the selected software is installed, tested, and moved into production. Thanks to the dedication and hard work of our procurement team, the University signed a contract with Sierra-Cedar, a consulting firm or "System Implementer," whose experienced team will partner with campus experts in building a new Student Information System (SIS) that meets UC Berkeley's needs using Oracle® (PeopleSoft Campus Solutions) as the technology platform. View deliverables and full timeline \| Visit SIS Project website
Student-Facing Computing Improvements Paul Robles, Acting Associate CIO, SAIT Jenn Stringer, Associate CIO, Academic Engagement Erik Mitchell, Associate University Librarian and Associate CIO, Digital Initiatives and Collaborative Services	Improve the consistency and quality of the student computing experience; to help students leverage technology in learning; to increase collaboration and efficiency in support of academic computing.	SAIT, the Library, and ETS are collaborating on a project to develop a unified student-facing computing experience. Jan. 2016 - Funding proposal abstract submitted to the Student Technology Fund Committee.
UC Path Mark Chiang, Enterprise Data Warehouse Manager, IST-Enterprise Data	Hosted DDODS database for UC Path here at UC Berkeley.	Building and hosting the UC Path DDODS (Operational Data Store) as well as a Collaborative Systemwide Data Warehouse here at UC Berkeley, mainly for the use of UCOP. These databases will house all UC UCPath data. Sept. 2015 - Estimated completion

Project Name &
Sponsor

Value To Campus

Milestones & Additional Info

Cal1Card/Clipper Card Integration

Paul Robles, Acting Associate CIO, SAIT

This project will allow students to utilize their Cal1Card on transit providers that accept the Clipper Card replacing the existing process that requires students to stand in line to receive a transit sticker for their Cal1Card each semester.

Transition of the Class Pass Program to a newly designed Cal 1 Card containing an embedded Clipper Chip. AC Transit will pre-load an auto-renew Easy Pass purse on these cards each semester.

Aug. 2016 - Estimated completion

Cal Answers Graduation, Retention and Time to Degree Dashboards

Mark Chiang, Enterprise Data Warehouse Manager, IST-Enterprise Data

Three new dashboard reports in the Student Demographics and Outcomes subject area. These dashboards make it easier to compare student data, find answers to questions about student graduation and retention rates, and see trends.

Undergraduate Graduation Rates by Multiple Fields
Undergraduate Retention by Multiple Fields
Undergraduate Time to Degree - Watch the video

Completed Jan. 2016

The new reports answer questions such as:

What are the retention and graduation rates over time of students across various demographic characteristics?
What percentage of new students in a given College (e.g., Letters & Science) persist at Berkeley beyond their first or second year? What percentage graduate within four years?
How long did it take undergraduate degree recipients to graduate? What was their mean and median time-to-degree?
How does undergraduate time to degree vary across academic units (e.g., colleges, departments) and/or by major type (e.g., single, double)?

Access the new reports in Cal Answers

Watch the new Cal Answers video, Determining Undergraduate Time to Degree
Contact the Cal Answers team

Cal Groups

Paul Rivers, Chief Information Security Officer

Improve campus messaging and improve communication by allowing multiple applications and collaboration tools to create and share one group that can be used to assign access or support other application features (email lists). Groups can be pre-defined (all students in a class) or developed ad hoc.

Spring 2016 - Rollout Cal Groups.

Cal Groups will be available, including published documentation and support. At least two applications will be integrated with Cal Groups.

See Release Schedule

Citrix

Dave Browne, Director, IST-Infrastructure Services

Virtualization will improve security and usability of enterprise applications, improving the user experience of these applications, providing:

Consistent and easy-to-use experience across Mac and PC platforms.
A simplified user experience which will eliminate the need to have a range of browsers and plugins installed on desktops and knowing the browser requirements for each application.
Reduced browser security risk exposure for campus.
Streamlined and more controllable campus computing environment.
Future “one-stop” for widely-used enterprise administrative apps.
Substantial benefits for all users to access the campus application services.
Replacement for the current RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) as the most robust and secure solution.

Deploy the Citrix technology to address the browser and plug-in issues on campus for enterprise application services such as BAIRS, CalPlanning, Cal Answers, CalTime, EyeCare, CHERCH, and SumTotal (LMS).

Virtualization of enterprise applications.

April 2014 - Deliver CalTime and BAIRS virtualized.
June 2015 - 100% of enterprise applications virtualized.

Project will continue into FY15/16 and have already completed virtualization of CalAnswers, BAIRS, CalPlanning, PI Portfolio, and CalTime virtualization is planned.

Apps in progress are: Stata/SPSS, SIS, Altura Phone Client, CHOIR/CMS Data-Set, Point & Click

More about Citrix Services

Data Center Load Balancer

Michael Green, Director, Telecommunications - IST

Improved performance, flexibility and resiliency for central IT services.

A load balancer is a device that acts as a reverse proxy and distributes network or application traffic across a number of servers. Load balancers are used to increase capacity (concurrent users) and reliability of applications.

Implement a new load balancer service to enhance capabilities over the existing one.

June 2016 - Estimated completion

Inter-Building Campus Communication System (ICCS)

Michael Green, Director, Telecommunications

Working to ensure that all areas of campus have consistent access to the campus network and the Internet, improving reliability and maintainability of network infrastructure.

Continuing this 15-year project of ICCS (Inter-Building Campus Communication System) buildout.

June 2014 - Phase 1: Completed targeted for FY13-14 of Lower Sproul tie-in to Rec Sports zone and tie-in for Kroeber, Morrison, Hertz, Music Library and both faculty clubs to Wurster zone.
FY 2016 - Phase 2: Implement new campus router zone in Barrows Hall, replacing sub-optimal infrastructure in Sproul Hall.

Osnium Case Management Implementation

Paul Robles, Acting Associate CIO, SAIT

Allows the Sexual Assault Prevention and Advocacy Office to accurately track and manage sexual assault cases.

The Sexual Assault Prevention and Advocacy office that reports to the Dean of Students requires the implementation of case management software as required by UCOP. This software is one of two case management software applications that has been approved by UCOP for use to track sexual assault cases. This software will not require integration with the student information system. This will be a product hosted on campus.

Sept. 2015 - Estimated completion

SIS Integration

Bill Allison, University Chief Technology Officer

Provide best practices and modern service architecture and hosting services for SIS Integration.

Provide data and technical architectural support and hosting for the SIS Integration Team.

Dec. 2015 - Launched SIS Integration for Go Live 3 of the SIS Project.

Aug. 2016 - Estimated completion

SIS Project

Phase 1:
Larry Conrad, AVC-IT and CIO

Liz Marsh, Director, Strategic Initiatives and Chief of Staff

Phase 2:
Angela Blackstone, Project Executive

Patrick Furze, Executive Director

Improve the student experience by providing modern student information systems that help students have a complete view of their information.

Implement student information systems replacement program.

Aug. 2013 - Aug. 2014 - Phase 1: Launch completed, vendors will be selected for the software solution, system integrater, and quality assurance partner.
Sept. 2014 - Jan. 2017 - Phase 2: Implementation, the selected software is installed, tested, and moved into production.

Thanks to the dedication and hard work of our procurement team, the University signed a contract with Sierra-Cedar, a consulting firm or "System Implementer," whose experienced team will partner with campus experts in building a new Student Information System (SIS) that meets UC Berkeley's needs using Oracle® (PeopleSoft Campus Solutions) as the technology platform.

View deliverables and full timeline | Visit SIS Project website

Student-Facing Computing Improvements

Paul Robles, Acting Associate CIO, SAIT

Jenn Stringer, Associate CIO, Academic Engagement

Erik Mitchell, Associate University Librarian and Associate CIO, Digital Initiatives and Collaborative Services

Improve the consistency and quality of the student computing experience; to help students leverage technology in learning; to increase collaboration and efficiency in support of academic computing.

SAIT, the Library, and ETS are collaborating on a project to develop a unified student-facing computing experience.

Jan. 2016 - Funding proposal abstract submitted to the Student Technology Fund Committee.

UC Path

Mark Chiang, Enterprise Data Warehouse Manager, IST-Enterprise Data

Hosted DDODS database for UC Path here at UC Berkeley.

Building and hosting the UC Path DDODS (Operational Data Store) as well as a Collaborative Systemwide Data Warehouse here at UC Berkeley, mainly for the use of UCOP. These databases will house all UC UCPath data.

Sept. 2015 - Estimated completion