Staff Happenings

Comings and Goings

It is my pleasure to introduce Dan Johnson to the IT Services Application Support Group. Dan has over 20 years' experience in IT, ranging from desktop/server support, computer operations, and batch processing, to application support and database development. Dan spent the last ten years with WaMu, the last two and a half supporting Business Objects and Hyperion Intelligence. Dan and his wife, Diane, have lived in the Bay Area all their lives and love it. They enjoy hiking, traveling, and water skiing, but Dan is happiest when he is either cruising the Delta or working on his boat. Dan has two sons: Nick, 25, who is an aspiring firefighter, and Matt, 22, who is an aspiring writer.

- Anne Pinkowski
Application Support

It is my pleasure to announce Nathan Brown has accepted the open Windows Systems Administrator position. Nathan is an internal IT Services candidate who has been working for the CRC since 2002. In his time with CRC he has supported may clients, most notably his time with the Office of Research Administration (ORA) where he helped get their desktops under control, reducing the amount of man time to support desktops and freeing him up to help with the support of backups and VMWare. We look forward to his contributions to Windows Systems and the department. He will officially start on 12/1/08.

- Sean Riordan
Windows Systems

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

Tech Briefings

Tech Briefings

Fridays
2:00–3:30 p.m.
Turing Auditorium

Friday, December 5

Drupal

Join Tim Torgenrud (IT Services), along with Zach Chandler (Academic Technology Specialist), Marco Wise (IT Services), John
Foliot (Stanford Online Accessibility Program), and James Jacobs (International Documents Librarian) for a discussion of how Drupal is being implemented on campus, and how it might be of benefit to Stanford groups and departments. Drupal is a free, open-source modular framework and content management system, written in PHP. Drupal is sometimes described as a "web application framework," as its capabilities extend from content management to enabling a wide range of services and transactions.

Friday, December 12

How a Computer Facility Can Also Be Green, And An Update on the SRCF Project

Phil Reese, IT Services leads a discussion on how a group can find ways to cut back on energy use in new facilities. Work can be done by minimizing additional energy needed to cool and maintain servers in an operational state. This talk will highlight general data center concepts and illustrate some of them via features planned for the proposed Scientific Research Computing Facility (SRCF). While a data center will always be a high user of electrical energy, specific issues can be addressed which will allow the space to operate as efficiently as possible, given the computer processing load it houses.

Tech Express

Once a month
12:00–1:00 p.m.
Turing Auditorium

Thursday, December 18

Stanford Email and Calendar

Ammy Hill, IT Services, will give a quick demo geared toward day-to-day use of the new Stanford Email and Calendar. There will be a quick tour of the system with plenty of
time for questions and answers.

Check the Tech Briefings home page for future sessions and to subscribe to the mailing list. Also see the Tech Express home page for information on upcoming presentations.

Technology Training Courses

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:

ReportMart1, Mon, Dec 8, 9:00–12:00, Free

Podcasts: Creating Audio Podcasts at Stanford, Mon, Dec 8, 1:30–4:30, $195

Excel 2007 for Finance Level 2, Wed, Dec 10, 9:00–4:00, $325

Wikis: Setting Up A Wiki At Stanford, Wed, Dec 10, 1:30–4:30, $195

Photoshop Level 1, Thurs, Dec 11, 9:00–4:00, $325

TechPort Open Lab, Thurs, Dec 11, 9:00–12:00, Free

Outlook 2007 Mail, Tues, Dec 9, 9:00–12:00
& Tues, Dec 9, 1:00–4:00

Email at Stanford (Webmail), Thurs, Dec 11, 1:00–4:00

Introduction to the New Stanford Email and Calendar, Wed, Dec 10, 9:00–10:30 & Mon, Dec 15, 9:00–10:30

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 was one new job posting for IT Services this week.

Req# 33184: Telecommunication Technician II, 100% FTE, Fixed Term, A37, Rocco Petrunti, hiring manager

In addition to the duties performed by the Telecommunications Technician I, the Telecommunications Technician II develops installation plans, instructions and procedures. These assignments require study and analysis of procedures, layouts, precedents and several possible courses of action. Assignments include providing direction, technical assistance, and guidance to both co-workers and those assigned to the Telecommunications Technician I level.

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

“One kind word can warm three winter months.”

- Japanese Proverb

News

A Note From Bill...

The recent global contraction of the financial markets is being felt in every sector of every economy around the world. Ours is no exception. The impact on Stanford and peer institutions is serious. On Tuesday, Provost Etchemendy asked schools and departments to submit budget reductions totaling 15 percent over the next two years (FY10 and FY11).

IT Services remains a strong and vibrant organization, and we will weather this storm as we have many others. To do so, we need to act quickly, and we have already begun that process.

Effective immediately, we will:

  • eliminate the chair massage program;
  • reduce the budgets for food, meals, and events by half (we will not eliminate these completely because it is essential that we continue to build strong inter-organizational communication and relationships);
  • restrict all events, retreats, and celebrations to on-campus locations;
  • reduce budgets for training, conferences, and travel by one quarter; and
  • ask Stuart Davis, Director of Procurement to review all key contracts to ensure that we receive the greatest value from our vendors.

In addition, while Stanford does not have a hiring freeze, all current and future job postings will be subject to my review and approval.

Such changes, while important, only move us a small way toward our overall reduction goals. We are trying to focus on eliminating services or gaining efficiencies to meet most of our budget targets. While we will do everything possible to minimize any layoffs, we cannot accomplish reductions of 10–15 percent over the next two years without some impact on staffing.

We have already had meetings with the Executive Directors and Directors on these matters. These meetings will continue until we submit our budget packet in mid-January. We have had, and will continue to have, meetings with our clients and key stakeholders, including the University Budget Office and the CFO’s office. Our meeting with the Provost’s Budget Group is scheduled for early February and we expect decisions on our proposals by mid-March.

I commit to communicating with you as openly and as quickly as possible. You can expect this to be a topic during your workgroup meetings, at Directors and Managers meetings, and at Town Halls. Additionally, I will continue to keep you informed through my its in bits columns.

As always, you are welcome to send me email or stop by my office. If you have ideas, questions, or concerns, please let me, your ED, or your Director know. Several of the best ideas have come via workgroup meetings.

Finally, I want to thank each of you for helping to build such a strong and open organization. Because these are daunting and difficult times, I ask that each of us remain mindful of the pressures on our friends and colleagues at work, and make that extra effort to support each other. As the Provost states in his recent email, your contributions to maintaining our standards of excellence each and every day are significant.

While John Etchemendy commented in the Stanford Report that there is no place he would rather be right now than Stanford, I can assure you that within Stanford, there is no place I'd rather be than IT Services. As we work through our challenges, I hope you feel the same.

- Bill Clebsch
IT Services

Holiday Party

The Holiday Party planning committee has been formed and we've met several times to talk about our ideas for hosting a get-together that is fun and also sensitive to the challenging budget climate. We have changed from the original plan to have the party at the Faculty Club and would like to invite you and your significant others to the IT Services Holiday Party in the Oak Room in Tresidder from 3:30–6:00 pm on Wednesday, December 17. We understand that this timeframe may make it difficult for significant others to attend, but if they can join us during this time, they are welcome. We hope you'll join your colleagues in celebrating the holiday season together.

This year's gathering will feature:

  • hors d'oeurves and dessert and much socializing
  • beer, wine, and soft drinks

Make sure the date is on your social calendar, and we look forward to taking a break from work with you! RSVP by email to Prescilla Young by this Monday, December 8, to let her know if you plan to attend and whether you will be bringing a guest.

- Your 2008 Holiday Party Planning Committee
Suzanne Schiessler, Kim Seidler, Robin Cohen, Crystal Ayala, Mellani Miller, Nancy Gutgsell, Heather Flanagan, and Lucrecia Kim-Boswell

Measuring IT Operations Center Activities

Most staff know that the lights are on in our IT Operations Center (ITOC) just about 86,400 seconds each day. But there's a lot more that goes on there than just the lights.

Around the clock the staff use several tools, including the SMARTS monitoring framework, to detect and respond to alerts received from the phone switch, data and VoIP networks, UPS and Net-to-Switch/Jack switches, Diebold and Lenel door security systems, as well as all the environmental systems (chilled water, fans, batteries, etc.) supporting the Forsythe data center and our ECHs. Several times a week our clients ask us to act as their "remote hands" and reboot a server or swap cables on their behalf. Each day (and night) tapes are continually off-loaded and boxed for Iron Mountain secure storage, while new tapes are loaded to take their place. ITOC is also the primary contact for repair issues involving the phone system, CATV, campus card, campus network, remote DSL, etc., creating Pinnacle trouble tickets for Installation and Maintenance Technician dispatch.

ITOC has been collecting operational metrics since January 2006, focused on ACD calls and HelpSU tickets received, Pinnacle tickets created, calls to SME's for incident escalation, remote hands activities for clients, and physical tape transactions. The staff are automating and improving those efforts to:

  1. More easily measure work involved with tape handling for the Backup and Storage team. ITOC recently worked with Rosa Leung and Cliff Yee to change from email-based tape requests to a new process using Remedy tickets.
  2. Better understand the issues raised on phone calls to 5-HELP Option 3 (the ITOC). Staff now create Remedy Incidents for each phone call, just as IT Service Desk employees do.
  3. Further enhance our Incident and Problem Management activities. A new version of the Service Alerts application was installed Thursday, November 20 which will automatically create Remedy Incident tickets for each Service Alert.

Anna Pettinati, ITOC Technical Lead, maintains a complete web site that holds both summary information in chart format as well as monthly text reports recapping our activities.

Remember, we're here 24x7. So whenever you need a system rebooted or have a scheduled scripted maintenance routine, we'll work through the night so you don't have to.

- Chris Lundin
Client Support

Stanford Medical Outpatient Clinic at Redwood City

Information Technology Services is proud to be part of the development of Stanford Medical Outpatient Clinic at Redwood City. This facility is the future home of Orthopedic Surgery, the Sleep Center, Dermatology, the Pain Center, a new Ambulatory Surgery Center, and other clinic support.

Sponsored by Mark Miyasaki, the project is a collaborative effort with Stanford Hospital and Clinics Information Technology (SH&C IT) and Perot Systems, and various groups within IT Services:

  • Cabling design and installation managed by Erich Snow and Dave Delia.
  • Patient TV service administered by Bob Drewes and Joerg Pope.
  • Installation and Maintenance delivered by Rocco Petrunti and his team.
  • VoIP network designed and architected by Lea Roberts and Johan van Reijendam.
  • VoIP monitoring architected and delivered by Sunia Yang.
  • Cisco VoIP designed and delivered by Jimmy Hale, Ron Otero, Rod Wilson, and Nelson Fong.
  • Cisco VoIP service consulting and deployment provided by Susan Arsenault and Nancy Ansaldo.

IT Services designed and implemented a state-of-the-art cable plant at the Outpatient Center. This new cable plant has the capability to meet SH&C's technology requirements today and in the future.

In addition, we are participating in the installation of two wireless networks at the Outpatient Center; an InnerWireless network that supports applications such as paging, wireless data, and wireless VoIP, and a Radio Frequency Identification wireless network that provides real-time tracking of hospital assets.

Jimmy Hale and his group are partnering with SH&C IT and the Clinic Administration Office to deploy a Cisco Voice over IP (VoIP) telephony solution at the Outpatient Center. We have architected a solution with high availability and redundancy to ensure minimum impact to our clients in this critical environment. In addition, the facility will also have a traditional telephone switch as back-up.

We will be installing over 500 Cisco VoIP desk phones, 100 Cisco VoIP wireless phones, approximately 100 traditional phones and 14 VoIP conference phones.

The installation started on November 18th. The deployment will be based on a rolling schedule as each floor and building become available with a target completion date of early February 2009.

SH&C may move a small group of Clinic Administration Office personnel to the Outpatient Clinic in December 2008. The rest of the tenants are scheduled to move in a few days before the facility opens for business in mid-February 2009.

If you have any questions and/or comments, please contact Chai Ho, the project manager, at (650) 736-9696.

- Chai Ho
Project Management

Family Giving Tree

The elves have started holiday preparations and are excited to announce that IT Services will be hosting Giving Trees again this year. Our holiday toy drive will begin this week and end with our holiday party on December 17th. Holiday trees with gift requests will be decking the halls of Acacia, Forsythe, Pine, Polya, Puichon, Redwood and Spruce.

The Family Giving Trees holiday program works with local social service agencies that help families and homeless persons in need. Agency partners interview individuals to evaluate their current needs, and send requests to the Family Giving Tree elves who then print the wishes on cards and distribute them to host companies such as Stanford University. IT Services is one of several schools and departments participating this year.

There are three ways to participate:

  • choose a card from a tree and fulfill a child's gift wish;
  • make a monetary donation by using one of the wish cards on the tree; or
  • donate an item needed to help run the organization.

If you choose the first option, bring your unwrapped gift to Polya Hall, room 106 or 161. Please make sure the wish card is firmly affixed to the gift.

To find out more about the Family Giving Tree, visit their web site, particularly the FAQ page. You can get a tax receipt from their donation page. Last year's toy drive was very successful—IT Services staff members donated 100 gifts and almost $2,000! Can we do even better this year?

- FGT Elves Caren Kammeyer and Robin Cohen

Winter Closure

The Winter Close break is rapidly approaching. Please take some time to review the information on the Info for Staff web page. It contains detailed information about the following topics:

  • deadlines and tips for completing Kronos records;
  • what to do if you don't have enough leave;
  • pay day changes; and
  • other things to keep in mind.

Any questions can be directed to your manager or to Cheryl Miller.

- Cheryl Miller
Human Resources

OrderIT Newsletter—Fall Issue Out!

We continue our quarterly tradition of keeping in touch with our Department Contacts—you know, the users responsible for placing an average of 150 orders per day for our services through OrderIT. The newsletter provides the latest news about our services as well as tips and tricks for ordering and billing. We also feature a write-up about a person from one of the support services groups. Please read our latest edition of the OrderIT Newsletter. If you ever need to re-read the information, or pass the information to a colleague, you can just type orderitnews.stanford.edu in your browser address bar.

- Suzanne Schiessler
Order Management

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, December 17, 2008.