its in bits

A Note from Bill

Over the past months, I have been attending staff meetings of workgroups throughout the organization, and it has been a tremendous experience! Naturally, I enjoy the opportunity to meet staff I have not yet had an occasion to build a relationship with, as well as to renew my connection with those of you I see less often since taking on my current role. It has also been a wonderful opportunity to answer a wide range of questions that staff have about everything from budgets to future strategic directions.

If I had to identify the most significant benefit I’ve experienced from these visits, it would most definitely be that they have provided me with an immeasurable increase in my understanding of the specific issues that different workgroups face. I have learned far more about IT Services from six months of attending workgroup meetings than I have from any other form of staff interaction. I am so impressed with all of the accomplishments of our teams, as well as the commitment to Stanford and the general goals of higher education. It’s clear how much we all value being a part of Stanford and even more clear what a bright, capable, and dedicated staff we have.

I will continue to visit your workgroup staff meetings twice each year. As we settle into this routine, I hope we will continue to have ever more frank and candid discussions as to how we can improve IT Services, both as a great place to work and as an exceptional client-focused organization.

- Bill Clebsch
IT Services

Now Online: 2006 IT Services Customer Satisfaction Survey

At the May Town Hall meeting we shared summary results from our annual Customer Satisfaction Survey. Since then, workgroups received additional survey details for their product and services, including comments. The detailed report (excluding comments) was also posted on the Web. The web site contains an executive overview, detailed survey findings, and a section on the survey methodology, as well as a pdf of the survey questions. To learn more about the survey and view the results, please visit our web page at:
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/its/communications/
surveys/customer2006/

Thank you for your continued attention to and support of this key initiative. You can direct questions or comments to any member of the 2006 Customer Satisfaction Survey Team.

- The 2006 IT Services Customer Satisfaction Survey Team:
Jan Cicero, Bill Clebsch, Jay Kohn, Jim Knox, TJ Janeway, Kathy Lucas, Nan McKenna, Chris Lundin, Lynne Myers, Nancy Ware

FY07 Initiative Planning Is Under Way

Even though summer just started and September looks far away on the calendar, IT Services is already in the midst of initiative planning for the next fiscal year. Why start now? One reason is that a subset of our expected initiatives requires external funding in order to begin. The process to receive these dollars begins with the Systems Governance Group (SGG) summer planning. The Systems Governance Group is comprised of administrative deans from five of the seven schools, some faculty members, key Business Affairs senior staff members, the Registrar's Office, and the Budget Office. Randy Livingston has asked that each major administrative and infrastructure area present project plans for review and prioritization to this group in early August. SGG members will provide feedback and advice to Randy, who in turn will determine which projects to fund as well as whether any projects need to request funds from the President and/or Provost.

Needless to say, before forwarding our proposals to Randy and the SGG, we have some internal planning and coordination to work out. More than likely, you are beginning to hear about proposals for potential FY07 initiatives (including the SGG subset). There will be several draft plans produced over the course of the next few months as we confirm the organization level initiatives for IT Services. You can refer questions about the status of our progress to me or your Director/Executive Director. We expect final plans to be available in time for our October Town Hall.

- Nancy Ware
Planning, Metrics, & Communications

IPP Phase 3

The final performance appraisal phase for this year is under way. This is the time of year for final discussions about accomplishments and performance ratings. You should be in the midst of completing the final portion of your IPP and beginning discussions with your manager. Deadlines vary by group, so please consult your manager for details. The forms can be found online at: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/its/group/allstaff/programs/
employeedevelopment/perfmgmt.html

We will begin goal setting in the September/October time period. If you have any questions about the process, contact your manager or HR.

- Nancy Ware
Planning, Metrics, & Communications

News from the Project Management Office

This is the time of year when we start closing out projects, so there's lots to tell. Over the past couple of months, the Project Managers have closed out the AMCOM Upgrade (Michelle Collette), 2005 External Audit Response (Caren Kammeyer), Inventory Database (Bernadette Drechsler), eCommerce Implementation for Continuing Studies (Caren Kammeyer), New WebLogin Screen (Jon Pilat) and phase 1 of the Desktop Backup Project (Caren Kammeyer). Just released this week, and to be closing shortly, were the NetDB conversion to Oracle (Jon Pilat), HostReg Phase2 (Steve Loving), and the outsourcing of Forsythe Printing (Michelle Collette). Congratulations to the Project Managers and everyone on the project teams for great work.

So where do we keep track of all this? The newly formed Portfolio Management Team (PMT), which includes Bill Clebsch, Jan Cicero, Jay Kohn, John Freshwaters, Bruce Vincent, Sam Steinhardt, Nancy Ware, and Joyce Dickerson, was set up to identify, prioritize, authorize, manage, and control projects. The overall goal is to help IT Services achieve specific strategic business objectives. Read more about the PMT at the PMT web site:

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/its/projects/PMO/files/pmt.html

One of the tools the PMT is successfully piloting for project resource management is Portfolio Decisionware (PDW). PDW provides a forward-looking view into staff time needed on projects, which gives project- and functional-managers visibility on resource-clashes and overcommitments. This can help minimize the risk of completing projects by anticipating and resolving staffing issues long before they happen. Based on our learnings so far, the PMT has reassigned project tasks, delayed projects, and re-prioritized projects. There are 75 projects and initiatives (31 of which are managed by the PMO, 44 by Embedded Project Managers) scheduled to close by August 31, so you can imagine how important it is to make sure we've got the right staff working on the right projects.

Finally, the PMO has released the Project Manager Checklist, a tool for both PMO and Embedded Project Managers to help provide consistency and clarity to the project process at IT Services. Templates, tools, and additional references are linked from the Project Manager Checklist, giving you the resources you need to successfully deliver your project on time, scope, budget and quality.

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/its/projects/PMO/
files/pm_checklist.html

- Joyce Dickerson
Client Support

OpenAFS for Windows and Mac

Stanford OpenAFS is an easy way to use your AFS file space from your Windows or Mac desktop. As the name suggests, it's an open source program. It's the replacement for PC-AFS and an earlier version of OpenAFS for Mac 10.3, and is designed to look very similar on both platforms. You launch the "AFS Controller" and mount your AFS home directory or any other that you have access to. You then work with the files and folders the way you would work with other folders. You may create, name, move, copy, select, delete, rename, print, and search for AFS files and directories in your Windows Explorer or OS X Finder.

There are some differences between the Windows and Mac versions. In particular, the Mac AFS Controller is accessed from the MacLeland menu, so MacLeland must be installed. On the Windows side, PC-Leland is not necessary for Open AFS to work; the AFS Controller appears as an icon in the System Tray. Both are available from Essential Stanford Software (http://ess.stanford.edu) under the "File Transfer" sections for each platform.

For more information see:
Stanford OpenAFS for Windows Learn More: http://www.stanford.edu/services/ess/pc/openafs.html
Stanford OpenAFS for Mac Learn More: http://www.stanford.edu/services/ess/mac/macafs.html

- Tom Goodrich
Client Support

NetDB 4.0 Released

The NetDB team is pleased to announce the successful release of NetDB 4.0.0 on June 27, 2006. The new version of NetDB features an entirely rewritten and streamlined database layer that works with an Oracle 10g database, a re-written full search module, and a number of other small enhancements. The new database layer serves as the back-end to the NetDB web interface, the command-line tool, whois for machines, and client modules distributed to NetDB clients such as ResComp and Stanford Network Self-Registration. The new NetDB is faster (DNS generation and distribution now takes less than a minute), easier to maintain, and easier to extend to support new network technologies.

The NetDB 4.0 team is: Rob Riepel, architect (and self-proclaimed "Victim of NetDB"), Joel Lidtke and Dmitri Priimak, programmers, Tim Torgenrud, Gaby Rodriguez and Sunia Yang, testers, Tim Torgenrud, documentation, Russ Allbery, systems, and Jon Pilat, project manager.

For folks interested in the true inspiration behind the NetDB team for the 4.0.0 release, the official project theme song (does your project have a theme song? it should!) is available here or by clicking on the "Cheesecake Llama" link at the bottom of the NetDB front page.

- Jon Pilat
Client Support

C-ACIS Update

The Academic Computing and Information Systems (C-ACIS) faculty senate committee met seven times this year, similar to last year. In addition, members of the main C-ACIS group and some faculty from the Research Computing committee formed a Research Computing subcommittee. The subcommittee has held two meetings, and its report will be a part of the C-ACIS committee's final report.

The C-ACIS committee covered some oft-visited topics, including presentations on the budget requests from IT Services, Administrative Systems, and Stanford University Libraries. Randy Livingston, VP of Business Affairs, visited and presented a summary of the results from the summer of 2005's System Governance Groups work.

The committee also asked for a review of the state of Classroom Technology, to be provided by Roger Printup, Registrar. Roger made his presentation late in the year and the committee was set to put forward a recommendation suggesting additional funding to support more technology in the classrooms. However, after Roger's presentation to C-ACIS, he made a similar presentation to the Provost, who has approved additional Classroom Technology support.

The committee discussed two new topics, with recommendations.

The first was the newly proposed Stanford Electronic Research Administration (SeRA) project. The committee felt strongly that this new project, of similar scope to the PeopleSoft or Oracle project, needs to deploy and operate better than the other recent ERP software efforts. The group recommended supporting the SeRA project using the InfoEd software, primarily due to the high level of established integration of the many modules making up the software offering. This recommendation, made to the faculty senate, spurred significant discussion. The Provost funded some additional research time to confirm whether or not the identified software was the best solution, and it is expected that the funding for the whole project will follow.

At this same senate meeting, Eric Roberts, Senate Chair, asked Abbas El Gamal, chair of C-ACIS, if his committee could provide some recommendations on the general process for the acquisition of campus-wide software. Eric's question prompted extended discussions at a few C-ACIS meetings, which led to a second C-ACIS recommendation to develop a long-term IT strategic plan for the University and to follow a set of provided general steps in the evaluation of any large campus-wide software procurement. Vetted with John Etchemendy, Provost; Randy Livingston, VP of Business Affairs; and Eric Roberts, Senate Chair in the committee's last meeting of the year on June 8, this second recommendation was greeted with mixed reviews from the group and is currently under review and revision. It will be finalized via email discussion with the committee over the summer and will be a part of the final C-ACIS report submitted to the Senate in early September.

- Phil Reese
Client Support

Gifted with a Giftpass?

BeyondWork Giftpasses are "spot" awards distributed by managers to recognize employee contributions that are "above and beyond the call of duty." Recently, the upper limits for these awards was increased from $25 to $50 per award.

Once you receive a GiftPass, you have an array of options for spending it. You can redeem your Giftpass to buy books, software, movie tickets, or store and restaurant gift cards. Simply visit the BeyondWork web site (http://beyondwork.com)—it works best on IE or Firefox—to see all the options available. In addition to using the BeyondWork site to redeem GiftPasses, you can also use it take advantage of employee discount shopping, which is an ancillary benefit of the GiftPass program.

If you've received GiftPasses in the past but are having trouble accessing your GiftPass balance, please contact me. This is a known issue that we're working with the BeyondWork vendor to address, and we can get your account fixed very quickly.

If you're a manager and need to request funds or need general help with using BeyondWork, again please contact me.

- Dani Aivazian
Planning, Metrics, & Communications

Are Your Valuables Safe?

On Wednesday, June 28, an IT Services laptop was stolen. Yes, it was locked and cabled to the desk. Since our buildings are very open with lots of people walking through them, please make sure to protect your personal belongings and your computing resources. When you leave your work space, make sure your valuables have been stowed out of sight and locked up. During early morning and evening hours, check to be sure the building has been secured (windows closed, exterior doors locked).

Thanks,

- The IT Services DPAs

Workshop on Breeze Presenter

Want to make online training from PowerPoint presentations? Been hearing about others using Breeze Presenter on campus to do just that? Not sure what you would use it for and when you would use Captivate*, another tool for creating online instruction?

Presenter is an easy-to-use, inexpensive tool available from Adobe. (It had been a Macromedia product.) To read more about Presenter, go to http://www.adobe.com/products/
breeze/productinfo/features/presenter/

In response to requests for training on Presenter, IT Services Technology Training is offering a 7-hour workshop over two days:
Breeze Presenter Workshop (ITS-2661)
Tuesday, Aug 22, 1–4:30 and Thursday, Aug 24, 1–4:30
at 427 Arguello Way, Rm 105
taught by Mark Branom
The fee is $275, which can be paid with STAP, Hospital Tuition Assistance, or Department funds or personal check.

We welcome people with all levels of expertise to this workshop. Come learn and share with your colleagues.

ACTION ITEM:
- If you plan to attend this workshop, please go to http://axess.stanford.edu and, in Training, register for Breeze Presenter Workshop (ITS-2661).
- We need at least eight people to make this workshop happen, so please register ASAP.
- If there are any additional topics (see below) that you'd like us to consider adding, please email Mark Branom.

Topics will include:

Using Breeze Presenter to produce online presentations
Editing what you create—for usability and interest
Adding voice-over, sound, or video
Presenter and simulation tools (like Captivate)
Creating quizzes
Publishing to the Web
User testing
Sharing with colleagues at the workshop:

Best practices
Critiquing each other's work
Resources for producing robust presentations

* For training on Captivate, sign up for the July 13th half-day class Captivate Lite (ITS-2641).

- Leni Silberman
Client Support

SEQ2 Library Vision Web Page

The SEQ2 Library—currently envisioned to be a major program element within the proposed School of Engineering Center building—will be a forward-looking facility that reflects the preeminent reputation of the Stanford School of Engineering. The purpose of this facility, its services and its collections will be to provide an environment for information discovery, use, creation, and management. It will be a library, but in the most advanced definition of that term. The space and the services provided in it will foster collaboration among students and faculty, support discovery and retrieval of information resources resident (temporarily) in the new facility, as well as digital ones. The full SEQ2 Library program statement is now available on the SULAIR web site at: http://library.stanford.edu/about_sulair/
SEQ2_library_vision.html

Please encourage interested Stanford community members to visit the SEQ2 Vision web page, so that they can read the full program statement, and send their feedback and comments to the email listed on the page.

- Chris Bourg
SULAIR