Business Process

Huge Adobe software package available to U of L employees

U of L faculty and staff can benefit from a new software package made possible by an agreement between the University of Lethbridge and Adobe Systems Inc.Adobe Creative Cloud

The enhanced Adobe Creative Cloud for education agreement provides a full suite of software, free of charge, for use at work. The agreement also offers a work-at-home package for only $11.25 per year for personal Windows and Apple computers.

The Creative Cloud suite includes, but is not limited to Photoshop, InDesign, Adobe Edge Animate, Acrobat XI Pro, Illustrator, and a variety of other Adobe products. “The retail value of these products is enormous,” says Chris Robinson, Client Services Manager.  “Photoshop alone is around $700 and up, depending on the version.”

IMPORTANT: For University-owned computers, faculty and staff should contact the Solutions Centre to request installation.

To purchase Creative Cloud for home computers, there are some important details interested buyers should know ahead of time.

  • The work-at-home software is for personal and professional supplement purchases only.
  • To download, go to https://www.uleth.ca/information-technology/store
  • Click on Take Me to the IT Store button. You will be required to log in using your U of L username and password.
  • Click on the Kivuto button.
  • Click on Start Shopping. The Adobe Creative Cloud icon can be found under the Adobe tab.

Both the download and installation steps can take up to one hour each. It is recommended that the download take place on campus if home internet bandwidth is not high-speed.

“The best options are to either bring their laptop onto campus to download the software, and then proceed with the installation at home or, if they have a desktop computer at home, download it onto their work computer and copy the installation file onto a 32GB USB key that has a minimum of 16GBs of free space,” says Robinson.

Any questions or concerns should be directed to the Solutions Centre at (403) 329-2490 or help@uleth.ca.

Online application for Grad programs launched

On July 2nd, the online application form for graduate programs was successfully launched!  Applicants can now fill out the application details online, as well as upload all their supporting documents, pay for their application with a credit card, and have letters of reference filled out online.  The project team is now working through the final implementation details for the online review system, which will allow faculty members, programs specialists, supervisors, and anyone else involved in the review process to perform these functions online rather than on paper.

This module will be launched in time to review applications going forward, beginning with those submitted for the October 1st application deadline.

Check it out here: http://www.uleth.ca/graduatestudies/

Database Team

IT Services has created a Database team by moving three database administrators from its Systems team into a new unit. This creates two separate management roles and provides greater focus and back-up capabilities. Our database competency is becoming increasingly critical with our recent investments in database-backed systems, such as the Luminis and business intelligence tools.

Systems Management

What was once a highly manual process done in the middle of the night by a “team of zombies” will soon be automated. Each month during the night, systems support staff are tasked to install patches, or bug fixes, on as many as 300 University servers which can take up to 15 minutes per server including rebooting.

The University of Lethbridge recently tendered an RFP on systems operations management, which will vastly reduce this labor-intensive work. It also will assist in the development of a strategy of systems management that will allow IT to have greater visibility into the increasing complexity of the U of L’s computing systems.

The successful respondent, LongView Systems, will assist IT Services in the implementation of an enterprise patch management platform, which will fulfill outstanding requirements outlined by the Auditor General.  In addition, ITS and its partner will implement tools that provide reporting and dash-boarding of U of L critical systems. The result will produce increased reliability and efficiency across the computing systems portfolio.