Staff Profile

Relu Valiliu

Relu Vasiliu started working at Stanford in 1996.

 


How would you describe your current job responsibilities?

I currently supervise the CAD group for Shared Services. I am responsible for
creating and maintaining all physical and database layers in an AutoCAD environment for the structures and grounds that contain IT systems and services. There are several thousand drawings and database entries that are updated on a daily basis.

The University has over 500 buildings and 250,000 feet of communication conduits. The cabling systems at Stanford include telephone twisted-copper pairs, coax, broadband, and fiber optical cabling. I am also responsible for the implementation and maintenance of Telecommunication room security. This includes granting access, coordinating the installation of new lock systems, and database administration.
I created the database that feeds the CNSCAD web site. The site contains over 3,400 drawings including:

  • Bible sheet drawings
  • Twisted-Pair Cable Plant Drawings 
  • Fiber Optic Cable Plant Drawings
  • Conduit Utility Drawings 
  • Maintenance Hole Drawings 
  • CATV Drawings 
  • CATV System
  • Card Access System Drawings

Which aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?

I like the challenges that my job offers and the people who I work with everyday. I enjoy working with drawings, web sites, developing databases, and learning something new every day.

What did you do before you came to Stanford?

I was the network/CAD manager for Pacific Bell in San Ramon. I managed and created all of the necessary design documentation for the wireless towers and antennas around the Bay Area.

What do you like to do when you're not at work?

When I am not working, I like to travel, play tennis, go to the gym, and play with my nephews (eight-month-old twins).

What is your favorite movie, book, song?

Music was once part of my life; I still play once in a while. I like Romantic music. I like to read anything from a technical book to a nice adventure book. I also like movies a lot.

Tips From Your Admin

Did you know that there is an Admin Request link to help you submit Admin Support requests?

It contains complete information that enables us to serve you more efficiently.

Staff Happenings

Tracy Neil (from the Application Support Team) gave birth to a healthy 7 lb., 8 oz. baby girl named Stella Rose (And she already has her own web site).  

Jose Rocha's (from the Application Support Team) wife Maria gave birth to a healthy 8 lb., 14 oz. baby girl named Zoey Anne Rocha.  

Welcome!

- Anne Pinkowski
Application Support

Comings and Goings

The following people have left IT Services. Please see their manager if you have open issues.

Elizabeth Nuku (Carolyn Kane)

its in bits welcomes more detailed employee news submissions from all staff. Please submit to itsinbits-submissions@lists.stanford.edu

Client Interaction Skills Tips

Our ultimate goal in IT Services is to provide excellent customer service as we support Stanford's mission. To support your providing the best customer service with the intent of improving the customer experience on each and every customer interaction, this regular its in bits column will focus on client interaction skills and tips. 

This first column will discuss laying the groundwork and setting up for an excellent client interaction.

Be Prepared. Lay the groundwork for a successful client interaction:

  • Make sure that you have the needed background knowledge, context, materials, and tools.
  • Make sure that you have the right mindset to deliver exemplary service.
  • Make sure that you have technical expertise in the specified technology area and awareness of the campus support profile and/or specific Service Level Agreement.

If scheduling a meeting, call ahead to verify details (identify yourself, use client's name, reference the HelpSU case number).

- Dani Aivazian
Organizational Effectiveness

Tech Briefings

Tech Briefings

Fridays
2:00–3:30 p.m.

Turing Auditorium

April 18: Google Appliance Tool

Tom Mills of Google and Jon Pilat from IT Services discuss Google: Stanford University's official search engine. Google represents a significant enhancement to the University's web environment by providing better and quicker search results, advanced search features, searching for specific file types, easy and powerful search administration, and integration into web sites.

April 25: Folding at Home

Using the CPU power and communication abilities of unattended desktop computers throughout the world, the Folding@Home project studies protein folding and misfolding.

In this method of computer processing, known as distributed computing, different parts of a computer program run simultaneously on two or more computers that are communicating with each other over a network. Researchers are able to analyze far more data than they might have been able to do so otherwise. The Folding@Home project utilizes this novel technique.

Join Professor Vijay S. Pande (Chemistry and Structural Biology) as he details the general history and methodology behind the distributed computing model.

Check the Tech Briefings home page for future sessions and to subscribe to the mailing list.

Technology Training Courses

IT Professional Development Courses

VMware ACE Management Overview, Tue, Apr 22, 1:00-4:00, $75

VMware Fusion Introduction, Wed, Apr 23, 1:00-4:00, $75

Note: The VMware courses are available at the low price of $75. See our News and Events page for a complete description.

Tech Training Courses

The full listing of Current Courses is available on the Tech Training web site.

Upcoming Tech Training classes of interest to IT Services staff:

Access 2007 Level 1, Mon, Apr 21, 9:00–4:00, $325

Excel Transition from 2003 to 2007, Tue, Apr 22, 8:30–12:00, $195

Excel 2007 Pivot Tables, Thu, Apr 24, 9:00–4:00, $325

Excel 2007 Tips and Tricks, Fri, Apr 25, 9:00–4:00, $325

Web Design Level 2: Making Your Website Work, Mon, Apr 28, 1:00–4:30, $195

Photoshop Level 1, Mon, Apr 28, 9:00–4:00, $325

Sign up at http://axess.stanford.edu.

Classes with low enrollment may be cancelled one week in advance. More information on courses, registration, and training is available at the Technology Training Services site.

- Nancy Baumann
Technology Training Services

IT Employment Opportunities

There were two new job postings for IT Services this week.

Req #29883: Technical Manager, 100% FTE, Range 4P5, Heather Flanagan, hiring manager.

The manager of Windows Systems and Applications is a key technical manager in the Shared Applications Services organization and is responsible for the strategic direction and day-to-day management for the Windows Systems group; a team of computer professionals responsible for providing Windows infrastructure, security, server and application support to the IT Services client community and to the Stanford campus.

Req #29922: Executive Director Computing Services, 100% FTE, Range 1M5, Bill Clebsch, hiring manager.

The successful candidate will have primary responsibility for the vision, planning, and operations of Computing Services. This includes managing director-level staff in this technically-focused unit who are responsible for operating multiple data centers, provisioning hardware, implementing and administering server environments (UNIX, Windows), developing and maintaining middleware and applications, and monitoring system-wide performance.

Candidates must have experience in the requirements of complex data center environments, including building and/or consolidating these facilities, as well as extensive experience in managing system administration, storage, applications, and middleware.

To view the complete listings or to apply for a position, visit the StanfordJobs web site at: jobs.stanford.edu.

There are other open Information Technology positions at Stanford. To see what other opportunities exist on campus, link to the full list of all open IT positions at Stanford.

Quote of the Week

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

News

Integrated Email and Calendar

With the arrival and installation of the server and storage hardware, the Integrated Email and Calendar project is gaining momentum. The UNIX team is settling into the task of setting up the configuration, while the Integration team is working out the migration details from Sundial to the new Stanford calendar. In fact, teams across IT Services are mobilizing to deliver the first roll-out of the integrated email and calendar system on July 21.

Key campus stakeholders met April 16 for the inaugural meeting of the Campus Partners group. This group will meet as needed, but at least monthly throughout the project. The group receives regular status updates, provides feedback or information about the needs of the campus community, and communicates changes in process or policy back to local constituents.

IT Services staff will have the opportunity to become familiar with the new system before the roll-out to clients. Look for more details in the next issue of its in bits.

- Ammy Hill
Campus Readiness

Pinnacle Upgrade

The much anticipated, frequently delayed upgrade to the Pinnacle application is underway. Competing priorities from the Order Management Redesign project, as well as the extremely full project slate for all of IT Services last year, prevented the Application Support team from staying in front of the release schedule for Pinnacle. We are currently seven minor releases behind, but not for long.

In May, we will be going live on version 5.4.8, the current patch release. This upgrade will provide several improvements, most notably:

  • The processing of swaps (moving phone service to different locations) has been improved tremendously. Previously, a swap required three orders. In the new version, it can be accomplished in a single order.
  • Improvements in contact management accommodate enhanced controls allowing contacts to charge only on PTAs for which they have authority. This enhancement will clear an audit item.
  • Trigger enhancements, such as scheduling a date, will reduce the steps Order Processors perform on some orders.

In addition to bringing Pinnacle to a current and supported release and providing additional functionality, this upgrade is a prerequisite for Pinnacle v6, should IT Services make the decision to migrate to the next major release. The entire project team is working hard to complete the upgrade before the Commencement freeze and the very busy summer season. User acceptance testing will begin this week.

If you have any questions about the schedule or the project, feel free to stop by or send me an email.  

- Bryan Wear
Director Application Support

Services Portfolio Update

An article in the February 20 edition of its in bits outlined work underway to evaluate our existing portfolio of services. Initial findings were discussed with directors in early March and presented to the managers in mid-March. The work to evaluate the service portfolio is continuing with in-depth looks at highlighted services to better understand plans for the future.

Selected services will require a one to three year outline of plans. The plans will include the expected evolution of the service, plans to move the service from its current offering to its planned offering, and to propose annual milestones. We expect to complete this round of in-depth reviews this fiscal year.

The first services under discussion include: Integrated Email and Calendar, Converged Network (includes VoIP, ACD, Phones, Voice Mail, and Spectralink Pocket Phones), Storage, Citrix, TechPort, Course Support, Desktop Backup and Recovery, DSL Service, Web Services, and Secure Email.

The next set of services will be identified in May. These inputs will inform planning for FY09 priorities, as well as decision making for investments in services. We will hold open forums in May to present the initial findings. Stay tuned for date and time information. You can direct questions to any member of the Services Portfolio team: Sam Steinhardt (chair), Heather Flanagan, Fred Hansson, Shirley Hodges, Nan McKenna, Mark Miyasaki, Molly Reynick, Bruce Vincent, and Nancy Ware.

- Nancy Ware
Planning & Communication

Stanford To Receive $49,080 in PG&E Rebates

Stanford has submitted the application for our first round of rebates from PG&E based on the adoption of power management through Big Fix. PG&E offers a $15 rebate for each computer with power management enabled. On March 16,  the date the application was submitted, Stanford had 3,272 machines with some form of power management enabled through Big Fix.

On April 11, the number had grown to 5,893 computers. This represents 23% of the 25,128 computers on campus that currently run Big Fix. The Sustainable-IT team is making a focused effort to invite other departments into the program. The team has plans to apply for additional rebates by the end of the year. In addition, as Big Fix becomes available for the Mac, we are working with the Big Fix team to ensure that Power Management will be available on the Mac platform as well.

IT Services adopted computer power management in January of 2008. On April 11, IT Services had 573 computers enabled, or 80% of our total computers with Big Fix.

A complete list of Big Fix Power Management adoption, by department, can be found in the Big Fix Power Management Report, which is updated every two weeks.

- Joyce Dickerson
Project Management Office

Forsythe Open House

"A great experience!"

"It was fun to see our Facility staff all dressed up."

"Where is your single point of failure?"

"You guys sizzled in your presentations!"

"The tours were well balanced."

"How do you keep it so cold down here?'

"Which cabinet racks will ours be?"

These are some of the comments that the Technical Facilities (TFAC) team received during, and after, the Forsythe Data Center Open House held on Friday, April 4.

Fifty-two guests from across campus joined us to see the improvements brought about by the recent Forsythe Renovation Project. As many of you are aware, significant enhancements were recently completed to the data center, including installation of an additional redundant utility feed, additional emergency power generation, and substantial electrical and cooling enhancements.

Bob Moya offered a slide presentation detailing the infrastructure improvements and new server rack configurations for expansion of campus computing, and answered questions regarding our new server environment. A special thanks to Bob and his entire team who, in close partnership with the campus Department of Project Management (DPM) and a variety of contractors, managed the successful delivery of this project.

Tom Prussing led three tours throughout Forsythe. The tours offered our client/guests an "up close and personal" data center experience. We hoped that they would leave with a real feel for, and an understanding of, what IT Services can offer the Stanford community.

Lucrecia Kim-Boswell provided tables of delicious appetizers and luncheon snacks for the tour gathering. Elma Buni and Virginia Tang assisted in sign preparation, room setup, and food presentation.

Thanks, also, to the building occupants in Forsythe Hall who have patiently tolerated the construction activity over the past year.

- Tom Prussing
Technical Facilities

Application Support Changes

A May 2007 its in bits article announced that Application Support would be consolidating seven Remedy queues into one queue. The article noted that, “The days of associating the support of an application with the name of a single support individual is slowly becoming a thing of the past—but not without significant training, studying, after-hours reference manual reading, and mentoring....”

It has been almost 18 months since the Application Support team began the cross-training efforts. Unless you think that running metrics is fun to do in your “free time,” our cross-training efforts would likely not be noticed. However, this topic came up at lunch with Christine Soldahl the other day and during that conversation, she encouraged me to write this article.

Then: September through December 2006. We had eight Remedy Support queues—five of the queues being fielded by single individuals. Now: We have one Remedy Support queue supporting nine applications (soon to be ten) and there isn't one application with tickets that are being fielded by a single individual. In fact, we have six applications being fielded by four or more individuals. What makes cross-training particularly challenging for the Application Support team is that we are a group that supports production and contributes 50% of our time to IT Services projects. 

Did you know that the IT Services Application Support team has fielded 1800+ tickets in FY08, ranking fifth in ticket volume for IT Services? While fielding a large volume of tickets and cross-training, our recent projects include: the Remedy 7 Re-Implementation, Unanet Time Tracking, the Pinnacle 5.4.8 upgrade, e911, the Building Security project, H&S web site support, and CMDB.

Additionally, as of January 1, Abe Cereno and the support of CSGold now live in the Application Support team. We welcome Abe and the additional challenge of cross-training on this new application. Application Support has had some comings and goings in the past couple of years (myself included!). This often creates the perception that the team is growing. However, this is not the case.

In August 2006, the Application Support team supported Pinnacle, Journyx, DocuShare, Remedy, SunDial, Pathworks, eCommerce, and Infra with a headcount of eight plus an open requisition for a manager. Today, our team supports those same applications, plus the CS Gold application. Soon, we will also support the H&S websites. This will be accomplished without an addition to the headcount: eight team members and a manager. So while it may seem like we are growing, we are doing more today with the same number of people.

Getting where we are today (graphs) with regards to cross-training didn’t happen easily or overnight. But we got here— each of us all in one piece—and together recognizing the fruits of our labors. With Tracy Neil and Jose Rocha both on maternity/paternity leave, our team is not scrambling to do cross-training. We will be pressured to field the extra volume of tickets and can’t wait for Tracy and Jose’s return...but all we’ll be scrambling is eggs.

- Anne Pinkowski
Application Support

AlertSU Put To The Test

On March 21, IT Services performed the first test of Stanford's new emergency mass notification system: AlertSU at Stanford. Using the Connect-ED system, AlertSU can deliver time-sensitive emergency notifications to students, faculty, and staff via email, phone (or voice mail), and text message. Stanford is planning to send such notifications during major emergencies such as a large-scale or quickly moving fire, a bomb threat, a campus shooting, or a hostage situation. AlertSU allows Stanford to send notifications within minutes of such events.

Later this year, Stanford will enhance the new notification system by adding a siren alert capability at strategic points across campus. The seven siren/voice loudspeaker towers can emit either a siren/blare or a verbal notification message.

During the first system test, the phone and email notifications were sent to approximately 450 people in IT Services, Environmental Health and Safety, and the Department of Public Safety. The test resulted in a 91% successful delivery rate of phone messages, live or placed in voice mailboxes. Email notifications were successfully sent but in some cases, local spam rules interfered with some messages reaching email in-boxes. IT Services is working to address this, and a few other issues, before the next test.

To ensure that messages are delivered correctly, faculty and staff should verify their contact information in StanfordYou. Students should verify their information in Axess. All contact information loaded into AlertSU will remain confidential.

The first campus-wide test of AlertSU is scheduled for May. Regular biannual tests will take place in October and March.

The Environmental Health and Safety AlertSU web site was released last week. You can also get more information by visiting the IT Services Emergency Mass Notification project page.

- Jo-Ann Cuevas
Campus Readiness

Unanet Update

Thanks to the help of Greg Janicki, we updated Unanet last week. This should make using Unanet even more effective for TimeTracking and Resource Planning. First, we moved reporting structures so that they align with the March 31 organization changes as set out in the March Communications Briefing.

Second, we moved managers out of their own workgroups and into the workgroups of their managers. For example, Nan McKenna is now assigned the "Org Code" for Business Services (BIZS), rather then Client Relations (CR), which is the team that reports to her.

This means that when managers run reports on their teams, they themselves are not included in these reports by default. So, for example, when Nan runs a report that filters on the CR Org Code, it includes everyone in Client Relations who reports to her, and not herself.

Another benefit is that managers who lead multiple teams can now easily view their direct reports. For example, Sam Steinhardt, the head of Business Services, can run a report for Business Services (BIZS) that includes all his direct reports, and not just himself (as it would have done in the prior model).

A third change we have made is to the "other" tab for Project Profile. We have included fields that allow us to map projects to our Strategic Plan and Service Portfolio. Now, we can run reports that show how the work our organization is doing aligns with our Strategic Roadmap and Service Lines.

We have also added a couple of useful tools to the Unanet Service Page (in the left column). The Org Abbreviations file maps the Unanet Org Codes to the IT Services Organization names. The Unanet Sample Report shows printouts from 24 standard reports and charts that you can run in Unanet from the Reports tab.

Please let me know if you have any questions about any of these updates. If you have suggestions on how people or projects are categorized, or recommendations on what we could do with Unanet to make it more useful for you, please submit them via a HelpSU ticket.

- Joyce Dickerson
Project Management Office

A HERD of Remedy Users

During the past several months, the Stanford Remedy 7 Project Team has been corresponding with other colleges and universities regarding testing and challenges with their Remedy 7 Sandbox environments. These initial discussions have been extremely cooperative. We believe that if these relationships are developed and nurtured, we can create a network that will collaboratively leverage code and development methodologies across multiple academic entities.

As a result, Anne Pinkowski (Application Support) has been working to setup a Higher Education Remedy Developers (HERD) consortium to increase our effectiveness in using Remedy tools for IT Service Management (ITSM). We are hoping for input from our peer institutions that presently use the Remedy products for the support of their IT organizations. We see our audience as Remedy developers/administrators as well as Help Desk/Service Desk managers and directors.

HERD is dedicated to communication and the sharing of Remedy development information with the collective goal of using a Remedy ARS (Action Request System) and a ITSM (IT Service Management) application to their fullest potential.

The dates we have set for the consortium are Tuesday, July 29 through Thursday, July 31. We are lining up presenters from a variety of institutions.

Ideas for presentations include:

  • Enterprise Authentication and Remedy
  • Anticipating Obstacles to Adoption: Can You Say Fiefdom?
  • Using Metrics in your Organization to Drive Results
  • Remedy Integration Challenges: Moving Data In and Out of Remedy
  • Best Practices Around Service Level Management
  • Operating Level Agreements in a University Environment

Doug Mueller, the co-founder of Remedy and currently the parent company's Chief Architect, will be attending HERD to provide a breakfast Q&A. We are very interested in using the HERD conference as a forum by which BMC can recognize some of the challenges that are specific to the academic community.

We have created a subscription list for Higher Education Remedy Development communication: herd-dispatch@lists.stanford.edu which now boasts 40 members from across the United States and abroad. Current subscribers represent UCSF, UC Berkeley, Ohio State, Wake Forest, Duke, Purdue, Harvard, King's College (London), James Madison, and others.

- Chris Lundin
Help Desk Services

Spring Speaking of Computers

The Spring edition of Speaking of Computers is out. Speaking of Computers is SULAIR's publication that highlights the latest news in technology-related and computing activities, services, and resources on the Stanford campus.

- Eleanor Brown
SULAIR

About its in bits

A regular summary of IT business, news about personnel, and pointers to other information of interest to IT Services staff. Coordinated, compiled, and published by the Communication Strategy and Standards Team. its in bits is published on the first and third Wednesday of the month.

Submissions are due by Noon on the Friday before the scheduled issue, to itsinbits-submissions@lists.stanford.edu for consideration. its in bits is distributed via email to its-all-staff@lists.stanford.edu and the subscription list itsinbits-subscribers@lists.stanford.edu People outside of IT Services can self-subscribe via mailman.

The next its in bits will be published on Wednesday, May 7, 2008.