Mar, 2013

IT Services Weekly Update

Critical Services (Banner, Moodle, Wireless, Internet, Telephony)

Phone service was unavailable at the Calgary campus from Monday afternoon until Thursday at noon due to a poorly executed change made by our network service provider.  The protracted delay in getting these services back online was caused, in part, by slow support response from our technology provider, which made it difficult to identify the source of the problem.  We have enumerated four corrective measures that we will implement to bolster our monitoring and ensure timely communication with our service and technology providers.

Service Improvements

The Enterprise Services team within ITS recently worked with Sport & Recreation Services to implement an improvement to the SRS check-in process.  Students, employees, and community members will continue to scan their ID cards upon entry to the SRS facility, but the system has been improved to display the user’s photo on screen to the SRS attendant.  This allows easy verification that the card scanned does, in fact, belong to the person entering, preventing a relatively common form of petty fraud.

srs_id_photos_pts

IT Services Weekly Update

Critical Services (Banner, Moodle, Wireless, Internet)

All services functioning normally.

Service Improvements

We have installed arms to allow monitors on classroom lecterns to be easily re-positioned.  This was due to student and faculty feedback that these monitors were causing partially obscured views of the whiteboard from many of the seats near the front of each classroom.  This improvement has already been implemented in Anderson Hall, and will soon be completed in all other classrooms exhibiting this issue.

20130315_160802

 

20130315_160651

Community Shredding Event

In an effort to promote the secure destruction of personal information and the prevention of identity theft, the AMA is sponsoring a free event where community members can bring their sensitive documents and electronic storage items (not including hard drives) to be destroyed by a professional shredding service.  The event will be held on Saturday March 23, 2013 from 10am – 2pm at the AMA Lethbridge Centre
located at 120 Scenic Dr. South.  For more information on how to participate, please visit the event website.

IT Services Weekly Update

Critical Services (Banner, Moodle, Wireless, Internet)

All services functioning normally.

KPI Spotlight

The Testing Centre has been seeing higher volume with midterm exams in full swing.  Some relevant statistics are provided below.

Last week (Feb 23 – Mar 1):

Number of students processed:              98-150 per day avg
Peak time of day:                                         1pm,  3pm, and 7pm peaks
Average exam duration:                            20-50 minutes
Total exams approx:                                   750

This week (Mar 2 – Mar 8):

Number of students processed:              140-220 per day avg
Peak time of day:                                         1pm to 3pm
Average exam duration:                            60-90 minutes
Total exams approx:                                   1100

Service Improvements

We have recently purchased and installed quiet keyboards in the Testing Centre and level nine of the Library.  This significantly reduces the noise in these facilities, making it easier for students to concentrate on their examinations and studies.

quiet_keyboard

Canada Wide Science Fair

The University is hosting the Canada Wide Science Fair on May 11, 2013, which will bring students and judges from across Canada to our campus.  All of the judging will be conducted using Blackberry Playbook tablets, so having adequate wifi capacity is critical to the success of the event.  IT Services has constructed seven “wifi trees” (see below) which allow us to position wifi access points to provide optimal coverage and capacity within the 1st Choice Savings Centre.

wifi_tree

IT Services Weekly Update

Critical Services (Banner, Moodle, Wireless, Internet)

All services functioning normally.

KPI Spotlight

Our wireless network infrastructure provides us with detailed monitoring of all access points on campus, including any “dead spots” where coverage isn’t adequate as well as access points that are under heavy load (>25 connections).  An example of the latter is shown below.

This allows us to identify trouble spots and pro-actively address them.

CCBN_wifi

Service Improvements

We have been working to improve the routing of computer cables in our student computer labs in order to create a more orderly environment, and to ensure that cables are routed safely in all cases.  This process in complete in the E6 labs and Learning Commons (Study Centre), and we are currently completing this work in the B5 and B7 labs.

cablemgt