2021 IT Year in Review (2024)

Posted on December 16, 2021

Departments

Academic Media Services

710 mic arrays were placed in higher used mid sized classrooms for distance learning.
The Logitech Brios were installed in over 80 classrooms this year. this made it possible for any classroom to become a distance learning room.
Sony PTZ cameras were placed in our larger lecture halls. This camera has the ability to face track the lecturer and be manually controlled by the lecturer.
910 mic arrays are placed in the larger lecture hall spaces. These mics were a big help in making the audio much more audible for distance learners.

Enterprise Infrastructure & Operations

Implemented new data storage for primary (Accinno) data center and begun initializing new secondary data center storage
Installed over a hundred uninterruptable power supplies (UPS) in all communications rooms across campus
Installed brand new uninterruptable power supply (UPS) and power protection and refreshed all backup batteries in the primary (Accinno) data center
Completed communications re-wiring of Albertus-Magnus Hall Phase 3 construction
Extensive underlying support for the other sub-departments within IT

Enterprise Systems & Services

COVID-19 Surveillance Testing Application

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Providence College’s Information Technology (PCIT) department developed a robust application to track testing of the campus community. Early in the summer of 2020, the application was developed and implemented by a member of the PCIT’s Enterprise Systems team in collaboration with Student Health, Residence Life, the Continuity Task Force, and College Events. The application is built on Oracle’s powerful APEX database software. The application uses secure role-based authentication to provide key members of the campus community timely access to vital information.
The need for test tracking and surveillance became apparent as the school prepared for the Fall 2020 semester. Without vital testing and tracking information the college would not have been able to open the campus to the students. Development on the application continued as the College has navigated COVID-19 pandemic. During 2021, additional enhancements were added to the application in response to the fluid situation and stakeholder requests.
The application maintains and provides information in the following areas:

Stores testing results
Tracks vaccinations and exemptions
Maintains vaccination information as well as booster shots
Tracks quarantine and isolation status of members of the campus community
Provides supporting information for wellness calls for staff as they monitor those in quarantine and isolation
Provides robust reporting for College’s decision makers and key stakeholders.
Provides case reporting to the Rhode Island Department of Health
Provides athlete testing and health status for coaches
Bridges departments with Student Health.
Includes tracking for members of our Sodexo and UG2 partners

Information Security

Single Sign-On Migration – The ISO has, in conjunction with System Administration and various business units, continued to move various cloud-based applications to a true Single Sign-On (SSO) experience using Microsoft Azure. SSO creates a more user-friendly experience by reducing the number of authentications required when accessing applications and adds an extra layer of security by requiring Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
New Security Awareness Training Platform – Information Security collaborated with the SANS Institute to deploy the new SAP Litmos security awareness training platform. The new platform provides trainees with a modern user interface, enhances the course assignment and reporting processes for administrators, and allows for more granular customization of course content.
Policy Refresh – Providence College’s existing Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) was reviewed and updated by the ISO to more closely align institutional expectations with the modern technology landscape. Elements related to data privacy previously in the AUP were removed and incorporated into a new Privacy Policy, which specifically explains the protocols the College has enacted to ensure data privacy and describes the level of privacy that users can expect when leveraging College IT resources. Additionally, a new End User Policy was established to more establish the responsibilities that end users are expected to fulfill in support of Providence College’s information security objectives.
Vulnerability Management Standard – The ISO collaborated within the IT department to publish a formal vulnerability management standard that describes the College’s approach to identifying, assessing, and remediating vulnerabilities. This will help ensure that weaknesses in the College’s systems are addressed in a timely fashion and reduce the likelihood that IT resources could be compromised by malicious actors.
Vendor Reviews – As a member of the Third Party Risk Management Team, the ISO performed security reviews for more than 30 third party technologies requested by various business units. These reviews help minimize enterprise risk by ensuring that Providence College only contracts technology vendors with mature cybersecurity practices. Security reviews are especially critical for cloud-based technologies (e.g., Software-as-a-Service) that the College cannot directly monitor the security of.
Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) – The ISO aided User Support in procuring the new Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) anti-virus solution. ATP is a vast improvement over the College’s previous anti-virus solutions, as it leverages proprietary threat intelligence and data analytics to identify and mitigate even the most sophisticated malware.
Microsoft Security Optimization Assessment – The ISO engaged Microsoft to perform a holistic security review of the College’s Azure and Office 365 environments. Results of the assessment were documented and provided to the ISO, who then collaborated with Enterprise Infrastructure & Operations to prioritize findings for remediation based on risk and potential impact
Privileged Access Management (PAM) – Over 250 accounts have been onboarded to the CyberArk Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution, which provides enterprise-grade storage and management of accounts with elevated privileges.

Technology Support Services

Windows 7 computers upgrades – All Windows computers were upgraded to Windows 7. In addition to the upgrade, we copied configuration settings and data files for all users, being careful to minimize down time and loss of productivity.
Ed Morin served as a representative from IT on the Academic support and advisory subcommittee to the Continuity planning committee – We met twice monthly during the Spring ’20 semester and later monthly. We were involved in a number of initiatives including the development of a “One Stop” web site designed specifically to assist the student population in dealing with the fact that many classes and offices were operating in a remote/hybrid environment. The group also served as an excellent sounding board for decisions being made by all groups involved in dealing with the Covid pandemic.
Deployment of the School Data Synchronization (SDS) tool – This tool is used to populate class roster and student data from Ellucian/Banner into Microsoft Teams. This provides faculty with an additional tool to use for remote learning and teaching courses in a blended format.
Deployment of the Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) application – This virtual laboratory environment allows faculty and students to run Providence College specific applications from any Internet connected computer. The tool was (and is) widely used by faculty and students and allows them to access software as if they were sitting in an actual computer lab on campus.
Collaboration and Productivity Platform team – We meet weekly and discuss issues related to software and applications that are supported by IT with a specific focus on tools such as Microsoft Office, the Adobe suite and other workplace collaboration products. The group acts as a sounding board for intradepartmental discussions of current issues.
Third Party Risk management team – We meet weekly and discuss requests for new software and applications. We ensure that third parties who need access to resources, networks, information and support are held to the appropriate guidelines and protocols as all other campus resources.
iHelp advisory team – The team is comprised by members of the Information Technology, Academic Media Services, Instructional Technology Development program and Library staff. We work collaboratively on issues related to the support of technology on campus. We have implemented numerous changes in support models which have resulted in better communication and streamlining support as well as reducing unneeded duplication of effort between the groups.
Classroom/lab space planning walk-through sessions – We were making plans on reducing the capacities of these spaces to meet the Covid-19 contigency plans. We then went into the lab spaces and did the actual reduction in capacities. The computers that were removed were labeled and stored in secure locations until they can be redeployed (this summer).
Electronic signature software evaluation – A subgroup evaluated several different software options to determine the feasibility of adding this to our supported offerings. This took place over the course of several months. Ultimately, it was decided that the costs outweighed the benefits at this time and we decided to table the issue until some point in the future.
Music editing lab upgrade – We worked with faculty from the Music department and Academic administration to outfit a new lab to allow for editing of audio. It is part of the plan to refresh some of the outdated technologies and equipment in the former Music library space.
Lightboard studio setup – This was a request from a couple of faculty members who were interested in adopting some new technology to be used on hybrid and remote learning. The system was researched and tested in conjunction with a vendor partner and implemented for the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester.
Cox Contour streaming project – This was a project to implement a streaming video service for the campus community. It is being used to supplement the existing Cable television offerings and is available to all faculty, staff and students from the campus network. It was live for the Fall 2020 semester after a pilot during the summer.
Covid-19 loaner laptop program – We implemented a loaner laptop program for faculty and staff. The primary goal was to provide these to members of the community who had older, often unreliable personal laptops so they could work from home during the pandemic.
Virtual private network (VPN) survey – The IT department decided it would be prudent to survey the users of our VPN to determine if it was meeting the needs of faculty and staff working at home during the pandemic. The results of the survey were very positive overall. We did personal outreach to some who indicated they were having issues to identify and fix the problems.
Covid-19 contract tracing center setup and support – We worked with the Continuity group to setup two campus locations for contact tracing to take place. Computers and phones were setup and configured for the contact tracers to record their interactions with the people identified as close contacts or positive cases.
Covid-19 Testing center setup and support – Laptops, printers and label printers were setup for the Covid-19 testing site. This location was made ready during the spring of 2020. We have moved the location twice since and it is still up running today.
Covid-19 vaccination center setup and support – There were two pop-up clinics that were setup in the Peterson recreation center during the last academic year. We provided assistance with wifi and general troubleshooting for the team from the RI department of health that was brought in to run the clinic.

Training & Technology Resources

From July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021,

Conducted 153 remote workshops
Held 227 remote consultations with staff and faculty. Many of our workshops were faculty focused such as OneDrive, Teams, Stream, Zoom, and WVD.
Other sessions offered to staff and faculty included Microsoft apps (Bookings, Sway, Stream, Planner, Lists and Excel) and Adobe Photoshop.
Created tutorial videos for ITDP’s remote 2021 Summer Institute for faculty.

Web Design, Architecture, & Services

We deployed code changes over 600 times to production – well more than once per work day.
By refining our codebase, we reduced our production javascript by 40%- resulting in a faster web experience.
Added 20 unit tests, code quality tests, and end-to-end tests to our deployment process.
Resolved 147 ServiceNow helpdesk tickets.
Created 223 new digital forms to help support the College’s all-remote efforts.
Assisted with the creation of 55 remote events using Eventbrite.
Created the vaccine & booster shot collection forms.
Adapted to an all-remote posture and back again throughout the year, setting up and running remote Open Labs on a daily basis throughout 2020-2021 to support the 300+ web editors across campus.
Added a variety of functional elements to the PC web pages including extensive revision of the main navigation on the mobile platforms and home page changes.