Colleagues,
As we prepare for the new semester, we want to update you on the top IT Priority Initiatives for this fiscal year (FY20), share with you the results of last fiscal year’s (FY19) IT Priority Initiatives, and report on positive feedback on our work from campus leaders.
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Top Priority IT Initiatives and Feedback from Campus Leaders On July 25, approximately 55 campus IT leaders from across One IT met in a half-day workshop to recommend which IT priorities are the most important for the campus for this fiscal year. Please see the Workshop Goals and Agenda and Workshop Slidedeck for more information. From the workshop came recommendations which have led to the following list of proposed 16 Top Priority IT Initiatives for FY20. Priority Initiatives were chosen that support all four of the ReIT Plan strategic goals and the Berkeley campus’s three key strategies. A wide range of campus IT departments are leading and partnering in these critical initiatives. Thank you to all of the participants in the workshop. The collective discussion and feedback was extremely helpful and inspiring. Last week, members of the ReIT Program Planning Committee (Larry Conrad, Jenn Stringer, Liz Marsh, and David Greenbaum) met with Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Paul Alivisatos and Vice Chancellor for Administration Marc Fisher to present the new 16 top priority IT initiatives for FY20, and also to review the outcomes of our ReIT work for FY19 (see the ReIT and Campus Plan Mapping Narrative for FY 19 for a summary of the ways in which each of last year’s IT priority initiatives supported many elements of the campus strategic plan). They both commended the One IT community highly on our work: our active efforts to support the campus strategic plan; our template for reporting back on high priority IT initiatives and their relationship to the campus plan; our growing focus on strategic management; and our leadership in prioritizing IT initiatives for FY20. Our work was described as a potential “model" for other administrative units on campus to follow, and they would like us to bring this to a Cabinet meeting in the fall for discussion. We are very encouraged by this recognition of the collective strategic efforts of IT staff across the campus! |
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Student Computing @ Cal Spring 2019 was very eventful for the Student Computing at Cal project. Highlights included laptop focus groups and piloting print services made available in new/different spaces on campus. Focus groups and pilot participants included students from various majors and academic class levels at Berkeley. Based on research and surveys to the focus group, the project is addressing equitable access concerns for students regarding devices, printing, Wi-Fi access and other services. In partnership with ASUC student government, this print map was created to show available printer locations for students on campus. Together, we also sent out a survey to undergraduates asking for feedback regarding student technical resource needs. Stay tuned for the results of the survey coming this fall. Learn more about SC@Cal. |
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Action Required: Upgrade from Windows 7 Since early May, the Information Security Office (ISO) has been getting the word out about the Jan. 14, 2020 deadline for the campus community to upgrade their operating system from Windows 7. After Windows 7 support ends, security updates or fixes, software updates, and/or technical support will no longer be available. Without security patches, these systems will be easy targets for hackers, malware, and viruses. Campus policy requires that devices connected to the network run software for which security patches are made available in a timely fashion. After support ends, Windows 7 will no longer be in compliance and those machines will be blocked from accessing campus networks beginning March 1, 2020. An email has been sent to all faculty and staff with the following steps:
If staff and faculty have questions about this process, they need to fill out this short form by Oct. 1 and someone in IT support will follow up. Students may contact Student Technology Services for assistance. |
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ReIT: Diversity Beyond Race and Gender Over the past several months, IST has implemented a number of diversity programs. As part of this initiative, Lucy Greco held a workshop at the June 6 One IT Summit about people's reactions and their ideas of disabilities. Many people are afraid to confront the idea of being disabled, which leads to misunderstanding and avoidance. Lucy’s workshop helped participants examine their own feelings about having a disability and explore ideas and thoughts they may never have considered. They learned that their reaction to disabilities may be based on fear rather than truth, and there is much more to individuals with disabilities than just their disability! Organizations may have a stated intention to become more diverse, but diversity programs regularly leave out the important inclusion of people with disabilities. If you would like to start thinking about people with disabilities as part of your diversity program, Lucy is available to come and talk to your team or offer a similar workshop to your staff. Let's start to learn about people with disabilities and make them a part of our rich IT diverse community, so that One IT is truly inclusive for everyone! Learn more about Lucy Greco and the Web Access team. |
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ICYMI: UCTech Replay Several of our One IT community members attended and/or presented at the UCTech conference (formerly known as UCCSC) July 15-17 hosted at UC Santa Barbara. If you were unable to attend, you can still browse the sessions and watch Zoom recordings of the presentations on the conference website. Sautter awards are also presented at this annual event, recognizing collaborative innovations in IT that advance the university’s missions of teaching, research, public service and patient care, or that improve the effectiveness of university processes. Read about Sautter winners and get the full event recap |
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UCTech Feature: A “Marvel-ous” Presentation by Anna Gazdowicz The theme at this year’s UC Tech was IT Uncorked: Unleashing the potential of our IT ingenuity. In the spirit of this theme, along with the goals of the conference itself (to learn from and collaborate with other UC colleagues), Anna Gazdowicz from the Open Berkeley/Web Platform Services team gave a presentation called “Providing Marvel-ous Customer Support with Limited Resources.” This presentation was about how customer experience matters if a product or service is going to succeed -- and even with limited resources, customer success and empowerment is entirely achievable. As a bonus, the presentation included a simple, yet effective case study: What if some of the superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe were Site Builders on the Open Berkeley platform, and how would they leverage our customer support tools in order to achieve success? Learn more about Anna’s presentation at UC Tech | View slide deck | Watch the video |
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Wi-Fi Updates Expand to Libraries, Business, and Law The improvement and expansion of Campus Wi-Fi network service is progressing, with approximately 25% of campus Wi-Fi access points having been upgraded. The project is currently focusing on the libraries along with Haas School of Business and the School of Law. Our project team is working with the campus community to obtain stable funding for the remainder of the project and ongoing support of the new system. For more information including a map displaying the latest progress visit the Wi-Fi Upgrade website. |
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Upcoming Events | View Full Calendar
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Here’s to a great start of another fall semester!
Warm Regards,
David Greenbaum, ReIT Director