The Office of Information Technology (OIT) is the university's centralized computing and telecommunications support organization. OIT consists of three campus-based divisions - one at each of the university's regional campuses in Newark, Camden and New Brunswick - and three university-wide organizations supporting administrative computing, telecommunications, and computing services. OIT staff members provide support for voice and data networking services, centralized batch and timesharing computing platforms, administrative applications software, and instructional computing resources, all of which support Rutgers' threefold mission of instruction, research, and public service.

Each campus-based computing services division maintains centralized data centers that provide general-purpose academic computing systems and software support on the Camden, Newark and New Brunswick campuses. These divisions also operate and maintain the student computer labs on their respective campuses. OIT Administrative Computing Services division maintains a centralized mainframe data center that supports primary administrative applications for the core business functions of the university. The Telecommunications Division supports university-wide voice and data networking connections throughout Rutgers and is the primary facilitator for the RUNet 2000 construction project. The office of the University Director for Campus Computing Services coordinates regional computing support services and provides technical vision and focus for the development of the university's future computing environment. OIT Information Protection and Security Division is responsible for the preservation of the continuity, integrity and confidentiality of academic and administrative information resources throughout the university.

The Executive Director for Computing and Information Technology reports to the Vice President for Institutional Research and Planning, who is a member of the Rutgers University President's Cabinet. OIT Executive Director provides oversight for all computing and information technology activities, including RUNet 2000 and Internet 2 participation, and serves as co-chair of Rutgers Integrated Administrative System implementation project. He is also a member of the Rutgers University Senate, the institution's senior Administrative Council, several university committees, and professional associations including EDUCAUSE and ACUTA.

An administrative staff provides support to the Executive Director and Division Directors in the areas of finance, human resources, internal operations and outreach, corporate and government relations, internal and external communications, and strategic planning.

Organizational Charts

Main organization chart

Administrative Services

Camden Computing Services

New Brunswick Computing Services

Newark Computing Services

Telecommunications Division

Executive Summary

The Office of Information Technology made significant strides during Fiscal Year 2000-2001 toward achieving its mission of . . .

providing university-wide leadership in information technology and quality information technology services in support of the university's mission of instruction, research, and service.

As part of its strategic planning process, the department identified four strategic growth areas and four operational growth areas in which to focus its efforts. These areas include:

Strategic Growth Areas

Creating and maintaining a state-of-the-art telecommunications network
Creating and maintaining sufficient and effective central computing and customer support services
Developing standards that promote optimal integration and efficiency of IT systems and services throughout the university
Improving IT security and information protection throughout the university

Operational Growth Areas

Creating and maintaining clear and effective business practices and identifying new revenue opportunities
Recruiting high quality IT professionals, enhancing the skill sets of employees, and creating and maintaining effective human resources operations
Improving intradivisional and interdivisional communication and cooperation
Improving awareness and understanding throughout the university about Computing Services

Highlights of fiscal year accomplishments in each area are described below. Additional details are included in the divisional reports, found in Section II of this report.

Strategic Growth Areas

Creating and maintaining a state-of-the-art telecommunications network

RUNet 2000 conduit construction was completed on the Newark, Camden, Cook/Douglass and College Avenue campuses by July 2001. In fact, all outside plant conduit construction was completed in just less than the 2 years that had been projected. By the start of the fall semester, RUNet 2000-class fiber optic cable will connect about 270 buildings on all campuses, providing video services to 21 academic buildings and 62 residence hall buildings. To accommodate these services, wiring was completed in 10 academic buildings and 12 residence halls on all campuses. By the start of the next academic year, wiring will be completed in an additional 12 academic and 38 residence halls.

After conduit installation was completed and fiber terminated on the Busch and Livingston campuses, the RU-TV distribution "head end" was completed in Davidson Hall and satellite dishes were installed at the Office of Print and Electronic Communications-Livingston Campus, thereby permitting RU-TV services to be deployed on the Busch and Livingston campuses. Four thousand (4,000) students on the Busch and Livingston campuses received the RU-TV Network during the fiscal year.

A formal process for transitioning departmental computing systems to the RUNet 2000 infrastructure was organized and implemented. Under the supervision of an interdivisional team, more than 50 buildings spread across the Camden, Newark and New Brunswick campuses are in some stage of the transition process at this time.

In January 2001, Governor Whitman announced the donation of two high-speed fibers from the state-owned, regional consortium's fiber-optic network. This acquisition allows Rutgers to create the Rutgers Regional Network, which will link the university's three campuses in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden, and research and educational outreach facilities in other parts of the state through connections to high-speed fibers along New Jersey's major highways in the EZPass system.

The use of wireless networking is in the planning or test stage on each of the university's regional campuses. During FY01, a wireless pilot was deployed in R-place, the Newark campus cyber-café; New Brunswick Computing Services (NBCS), Newark Computing Services (NCS) and Telecommunications (TD) tested various components and functions of wireless technology; and Computing Services on all three campuses planned for the installation of wireless pilots in libraries, student center lounges and other public spaces in fall 2001.

Creating and maintaining sufficient and effective central computing and customer support services

Administrative Computing Services (ACS) launched the following online administrative services during the fiscal year: web-based class rosters, New Brunswick web parking registration and ticket inquiry, financial aid award status and disbursements, and Calendar of Events. ACS also created a web-based system for managing the university's Pay for Performance process. In addition, ACS implemented links from the online schedule of classes to departmental web sites that contain course synopsis information, which can be updated easily by authorized department staff. Further, ACS completed all planning, analysis, architecture, design and specifications for the online payment application, which will be tested first on the undergraduate admissions application fee process.

The continued expansion of web services provides the university community with enhanced functionality in carrying-out university business. This translates into greater efficiencies for faculty, staff and students. It also provides more timely and organized information delivery for the RU community, and it ensures that Rutgers maintains a competitive edge with peer institutions. These benefits are further illustrated by the tremendous growth in the number of web transactions that occur online now (more than a 100% increase over the previous year - over 8 million for FY01 compared to 3.9 million in FY00), compared to other more labor-intensive methods.

In support of the university's outreach to New Jersey's higher education community, ACS continues to engage the state's community colleges in the ARTSYS initiative, a course selection and evaluation system for community college students who are transferring to Rutgers. This year, ACS partnered with Brookdale Community College to successfully process and articulate Brookdale transcripts. A framework for similar testing for all community colleges in New Jersey has been established.

A comprehensive analysis of ACS systems is underway to determine the potential impacts of the RIAS implementation. This analysis focuses on applications that use Chart of Account and/or employee information that will need to interface with RIAS. An analysis of all current legacy interfaces with the existing payroll, HR and financial systems is also underway, and strategies for interfaces and conversions have been drafted. ACS project teams have completed application impact documents, project plans to identify the changes required to the legacy applications, and changes to support RIAS conversions and interfaces. Project team members have been working with the RIAS development staff to reformat and supply them with files to test certain conversions/interfaces

ACS developed a Rutgers Portal, "MyRutgers," demonstration that leveraged existing content at Rutgers (student employment search, dining services menus, channel listing web search engines), as well as links to external content providers of news, sports and entertainment. ACS and NBCS will jointly develop a portal as a pilot for targeted students in Rutgers College in the fall semester, with a second release for a larger audience of students, faculty and staff in the spring semester.

Both faculty/staff and student email servers were installed, tested and put online by Camden Computing Services (CCS), providing "name@camden.rutgers.edu" for the entire user community. NCS implemented a Help Desk that went into full operation in September 2001, and installed a new network disk storage unit that provides increased space as well as improved backup and restore features for users. To enable timely corrective action, NCS also designed a failure notification routine that automatically pages a system administrator if problems occur outside of regular business hours.

In New Brunswick, NBCS worked to improve the current email system's reliability and performance and started a project to design a next-generation email system. Also during this year, NBCS assumed responsibility for network support in the smart classrooms, and installed network devices to simplify the use of laptops in these classrooms and enable the remote testing of equipment prior to the start of a class.

Developing standards that promote optimal integration and efficiency of IT systems and services throughout the university

ACS staff conducted critical and comprehensive analyses on behalf of the Rutgers Integrated Administrative System (RIAS) project. Among its contributions in FY01, ACS sized and configured the technology infrastructure required to support RIAS and negotiated the purchase of a new Sun Microsystem E10K for the project.

NBCS partnered with the university's Teaching Excellence Center in support of WebCT, a course management product that facilitates the use of technology in the classroom. NBCS and ACS are working together to provide automatic data feeds to WebCT tools including class membership rosters, grade books, chat rooms, discussion areas, and facilities to build quizzes. This will eliminate the manual entry of information by faculty. NBCS is also developing a facility that will maintain mailing lists for these courses. WebCT currently facilitates about 400 courses, with 20,750 users.

TD researched and adopted the reference model H.323 to facilitate video conferencing over Rutgers' data network. The implementation of this solution will provide a new level of service to the university community and serve as an internal and external networking standard.

Improving IT security and information protection throughout the university

The Information Protection and Security Division (IPS) researched and acquired the equipment for a forensics lab to analyze instances of hacking, and NBCS staff were trained to record and track student computing incident abuses. Such tracking allows the university to identify trends in abuse and prepare for future response needs. Using problem-tracking software, operations staff are now assigned to handle initial reports of security or abuse problems from any system at Rutgers.

In response to network congestion and as a mechanism to enforce overall bandwidth policy, TD installed the university's first firewall in FY01. This device performed only modest filtering and enforcement during preliminary deployment, but it has proved to be a very effective tool. This infrastructure was upgraded to carrier-class equipment with better performance characteristics and much greater development potential. The upgraded firewall consists of a pair of high capacity devices that function as a primary and a hot standby. In the event of a primary failure, the standby assumes full responsibility. The devices maintain synchronization of all state information (e.g. messages and acknowledgements) to ensure that connections are not broken during the transition.

Operational Growth Areas

Creating and maintaining clear and effective business practices and identifying new revenue opportunities

A third year of federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education for FY02 RUNet 2000 construction, including the extension of RUNet 2000 connections to K-12 facilities in New Brunswick, was awarded to the university in May 2001. During FY01, connections were completed to the Newark Library and Newark Museum; fiber was installed to the University Heights Science Park Office, Science High School and NJPAC in Newark; and also to Lincoln School in New Brunswick.

The Computer Store sold about $5 million of equipment this year, primarily to university departments. This represents an approximate doubling of sales from last year. Much of this occurred through the Computer Purchase Program, which leverages the buying power of the university to negotiate the best prices with vendors while also producing the added benefit of technology standardization.

The Network Installation Group completed more than 290 jobs for a total of $700,000 billed for the year.

Newark's CS-Net repair and installation unit completed 163 jobs and billed a total of $24,350 for labor and materials.

Recruiting high quality IT professionals, enhancing the skill sets of employees, and creating and maintaining effective human resources operations

A staff position was created to focus on recruitment issues, in response to the demands in this area. Seventy-three hires were made in FY01. When all positions are filled, OIT staff total is 317.5 full- and part-time employees.

Enhanced student employee training programs were implemented this year to improve customer services on all of Rutgers campuses, and NBCS initiated a program to improve customer service skills for staff.

More than 90 ACS employees participated in technical, managerial or general education training programs during the fiscal year. Additional ACS staff participated in self-study initiatives, presentations, and internally sponsored seminars that focused learning on particular applications or technologies.

All NCS employees had an opportunity to participate in at least one professional development workshop or training session. Internally, the division focused on cross-training to continue the expansion of technical skills, and employees took advantage of internal workshops and seminars in technical, human relations, and organizational subject areas. In Camden, more than 75 percent of the staff participated in external professional development programs, and almost all attended customer satisfaction and leadership seminars offered on campus.

Two networking protocol-troubleshooting/Internetworking routers and switches courses were offered through TD for Rutgers IT staff. A total of 48 unit-computing specialists from different departments across Newark, New Brunswick, and Camden attended the two sessions.

OIT contracted with the Rutgers Center for Management Development to develop and deliver an eight-session skills development program for 32 OIT managers.

Improving intradivisional and interdivisional communication and cooperation

NBCS implemented its reorganization into two parts, each with its own director. One handles central services and UNIX technology, and the other handles user and departmental support and PC technology.

Planning for a combined NBCS/TD Help Desk was initiated during the fiscal year. Implementation is scheduled for September 2001.

A joint NBCS/ACS project to improve the online telephone/email directory and the redesign of account creation software moved forward resulting in a much smoother process for student account creation at the start of the academic year.

As an early step in the strategic planning process, OIT directors identified a primary proponent division within the organization to lead special research and development projects and new technologies. In addition, cross-divisional teams are being established to work with the identified proponent divisions. The purpose of this initiative is to clarify roles within OIT, while also establishing a mechanism that supports organization-wide communication and collaboration. Success in these areas is noted on divisional leadership evaluations.

Improving awareness and understanding throughout the university about Computing Services

Computing Services staff and student employees participated in the New Brunswick, Camden and Newark Campus Open House activities this spring. Campus computing facilities tours were also provided. Information about services was disseminated through brochures and conversations with prospective students and their families. All three divisions also participated in freshman and/or transfer student orientation programs on their respective campuses during the summer.

Throughout the year, Computing Services on each campus provided departmental IT support staff, system administrators, campus administrators and other campus account holders with email messages regarding planned network and computing changes, security threats, good computing practices and other relevant information technology news. In addition, CCS and NCS instituted periodic newsletters that are distributed in print and online to their respective constituents in Camden and Newark.

Articles about Computing Services, the RUNet 2000 project, and the Rutgers Regional Network appeared in 10 publications. President Lawrence spoke of the progress of the RUNet 2000 project in his September 1 letter to faculty and administrators of the university, his welcoming letter to students, and in his State of the University address to the University Senate.

Computing Services directors delivered presentations on the future of networking, the integration of information technology, and the status of information protection and security activities at Rutgers to the President's Cabinet. An Information Technology Forum, providing information to the Administrative Council about these areas, was also held. Additional computing and networking topics were presented to members of the computing advisory committees on the university's regional campuses. ACS also offered presentations on newly developed web-based user applications to the deans, faculty and staff members on the three regional campuses.

In addition to the above strategic and operational growth area activities, The Office of Information Technology has continued to provide outstanding support for the daily operational computing needs of the university community. For example, the five divisions of OIT successfully maintained central systems, the computer labs, and microcomputer and desktop support; kept the university network fine-tuned and functional; delivered administrative systems and applications; and managed the security and operations of the central computing infrastructure. These efforts reflect some of OIT's day-in, day-out routines that keep the university running, yet they often go unnoticed in contrast to higher profiled initiatives. The divisional reports that follow outline OIT's numerous daily accomplishments, along with the highlights for FY 2001

I. Administration

A. Mission, Vision and Values

An organization's ability to keep its resources focused on meaningful objectives requires periodic reviews of its mission, vision and values, as well as frequent assessments of organizational strengths and weaknesses, internal practices, and external forces. During FY01, The Office of Information Technology (OIT) launched a strategic planning process based on the following mission, vision and values statements. This process, which will continue into the spring of 2002, is propelled by the desire to provide sound guidance and leadership for institution-wide information technology (IT) decision-making. The planning process will also identify the shape of OIT in its strategic future state -- an organization that will supply the talent, infrastructure and central services required to advance and sustain the computing and IT needs of a major public research university.

Mission Statement

OIT mission is to provide university-wide leadership in information technology and quality IT services in support of the university's mission of instruction, research, and service.

Vision Statement

OIT will be a role model within the higher education community for customer satisfaction and service excellence using innovative strategies and advanced technologies, through a unified multi-faceted approach.

Values Statement

OIT believes that the organization's greatest asset is its staff. We encourage and support professional development activities that meet the goals of the organization. We take personal responsibility, are accountable, and embrace a set of values that guide our daily actions.

Teamwork

We extend cooperation and support to colleagues and customers throughout the university community. We hold team goals paramount while encouraging and recognizing both individual and team achievements.

Innovation

We embrace creative solutions, different perspectives, and new opportunities. We provide leadership for the university in introducing and applying information technology.

Professionalism

We are knowledgeable in state-of-the-art IT and apply our knowledge in accordance with best professional practices. We empower each other and use good judgment in performing our duties and activities. We value the benefits of diversity and treat all individuals with respect.

Integrity

We are trustworthy and honest in all of our actions. We hold to a high standard of ethics in our professional relationships.

Initiative

We identify opportunities and promote appropriate uses of information technology. We proactively take steps to increase our customers' awareness of IT as a means to achieve their objectives.

B. Human Resources

Distribution of Staff

At the conclusion of Fiscal Year 2001, OIT had 247.9 full-time state lines1 and 68.6 auxiliary lines. Staff lines were distributed across divisions as follows:

	Occupied Lines		Vacant Lines
Division	State	Non- State	State	Non- State
ACS	92	6	5	0
Admin.	12	0	0	0
Camden	9.4	4.6	0	0
Newark	10	3	3	1
NBCS	63	30	3.5	1
TD	49	20	2	3
Total	235.4	63.6	13.5	5

In addition to staff listed above, OIT employed 142 type 4 (temporary) employees, and 582 type 5 (Rutgers student) employees.

1Includes all new positions as of June 30, 2001, and positions funded by other Rutgers units.

New Hires

During FY01, 66 full-time staff were hired into job families as follows:

Job Family	ACS	Admin.	Camden	Newark	NBCS	TD	Total
Applications Development/Maintenance	10				2	1	13
Management	1			1	3	2	7
Network Engineering						6	6
Network Technicians						7	7
Operations/Production							0
Systems Programming/ Administration	2		2	1	16	6	27
User Services & Support	1			2	6		9
Administration & Clerical	1	1			1	1	4
Division Totals	15	1	2	4	28	23	73

Vacancies

A total of 42 State and Auxiliary positions were vacated during the fiscal year. Of that number, 13 staff were selected for another OIT vacancy, 6 retired, and the remaining 23 resigned. At the conclusion of the fiscal year, 18.5 positions were unfilled.

Recruitment

A full-time Technical Recruiter was hired in the OIT HR Office this fiscal year. Active recruitment occurred through:

Rutgers UHR Internal Job Postings (distributed via mail and on the UHR web site)
Computing Services Human Resources Job Opportunity Web Site
Posting on Job Web Sites: Professional (5), Higher Education (1), Outplacement (1)
Posting on technical organization listservs
National and local newspaper advertising
Advertisement in computer and management publications
Attendance at 9 Technical Job Fairs
Student Training/Mentoring Program
Referrals
Search firms

Advancement

Reclassifications were granted for 19 employees, recognizing their increasing capabilities to serve the organization. As stated above, 13 staff were either promoted or accepted lateral transfers into vacant OIT positions.

Performance Development Program

In preparation for the FY02 Performance Development Program, ten supervisors were provided training on the appraisal process and setting standards for Administrative/Professional/Supervisory (APS) staff. OIT supervisors conducted appraisals for 235 (100%) APS staff members. As in past years, each division's Director presented their recommendations for employees designated as "Exceeding Performance" to the Director Team for consideration. The final breakdown of ratings included: 19% Exceeded Standards, 79% Met Standards, 2% Did Not Meet Standards.

IT Compensation

In August 1999, Computing Services retained the services of William M. Mercer, Inc. to conduct a comprehensive analysis of its IT positions compared to the market. Like many higher education institutions and corporations in central New Jersey, OIT was having difficulty finding and retaining IT employees in an extremely competitive market. Almost 100 jobs were analyzed and market priced by Mercer.

Working closely with University Human Resources, the market data provided a broad framework in which OIT positions and staff were mapped. In the course of the study new titles were developed for certain positions to better capture the actual skills and accountabilities of the position. In most cases title changes reflected a re-alignment with industry practices and not a change in job responsibility or value to the organization. In August 2000, UHR developed a new IT salary structure in which the OIT IT positions were placed into. The effective date of the salary adjustments was made retroactive to March 1, 2000.

Compensation is only one component in attracting and retaining valuable IT professionals. OIT continues to look at other factors, such as the type of environment that will motivate IT employees and the professional development and technical training needs that should be addressed.

OIT Internal Personnel Review Committee

An internal OIT committee made up of the University and Campus Directors, Executive Director and the Assistant Director, OIT, HR, was established to review all recommendations for hires, reclassifications and promotions. The Director of the division for which the recommendation is being made provides clarification and justification for each action. The committee provides their feedback to the Executive Director, who in turn makes the final decision. This new process has helped to insure equity and consistency in personnel classifications across OIT divisions.

New Staff Orientation Program

OIT conducts a New Employee Orientation Program each quarter of the fiscal year. The program is designed to instill a sense of community to the new employees, allow for interpersonal networking between the new employees and OIT management, and to give these employees the scope of their position within the University and OIT. The program consists of a welcome by OIT Executive Director Michael McKay and an overview presentation by the five OIT Directors of their respective divisions.

Multi-Perspective Feedback Program

During the fall, with the assistance of the University Center for Organizational Development and Leadership and Tony Doody, Associate Director, Recreational Services and PDI Trainer, Computing Services conducted a Multi-Perspective Feedback Program pilot program. The instrument used, named Profilor, is a product of Personnel Decisions International. It provides feedback and recommendations to individuals about their management skill strengths and development needs.

All Assistant, Associate and Director level personnel participated in this program. Each Manager completed a self-assessment survey, and distributed the remaining surveys to five direct reports, five peers and to their boss. Surveys were sent to and analyzed by PDI, who then provided feedback reports to each participant. These reports provided input on development needs and suggestions that may be the basis for individual Development Plans. OIT is planning follow-up sessions on Development Planning in the Fall 2001.

C. Public Awareness, Internal and External Relations

Information about the Office of Information Technology (OIT) is continually distributed to the university community in a variety of ways: the organization's web site, listservs and newsgroups, print materials and electronic notices. In addition, OIT provided detailed information on networking, instructional technology, standardized IT integration, information protection and security to the President's Cabinet to heighten their awareness of IT choices and opportunities that lie ahead. As a follow-up to these presentations and in response to the recommendations of the university's High Speed Network Applications Committee, OIT also assembled a day-long IT Forum for members of Rutgers' Administrative Council to share additional data networking, IT research and instruction, technology integration, and security activities with university deans and executive directors.

Similarly, information about RUNet 2000 was disseminated through the project website and in presentations made by the project director and senior university officers. A communication package including videotape, door tags, FAQ, and other documents continued to be provided to residence life personnel for use in introducing the project to students in affected residence halls.

Articles about Computing Services, the RUNet 2000 project, and the Rutgers Regional Network appeared in Rutgers Focus, Daily Targum, Star Ledger, Home News Tribune, Rutgers Magazine, Cabling Business Magazine, GROK, Verizon Enterprise Solutions Group Newsletter, ACUTA Journal, and Green Print . President Lawrence spoke of the progress of the RUNet 2000 project in his September 1 letter to faculty and administrators of the university, his welcoming letter to students, and in his State of the University address to the University Senate. In addition, the IT Forum, RUNet 2000 and the RU-TV Network were discussed at various Treasurers' Luncheons this year.

Computing Services staff and student employees participated in the New Brunswick, Camden and Newark Campus Open House activities this spring. Information about services was disseminated through brochures and conversations with prospective students and their families. Campus computing facilities tours were also provided.

A Rutgers faculty consultant who specializes in the mass media provided several hours of media and presentation training to new computing services directors and the Rutgers Integrated Administrative System (RIAS) project director and communications manager to better prepare them for addressing media questions.

A third year of federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education was awarded to the university in May 2001 for the extension of RUNet 2000 construction to selected educational facilities in Newark and New Brunswick.

Computing Services played an active role in university-wide IT development activities with both internal and external organizations. Staff members:

Served on and advanced the work of university committees, including campus-based computing advisory committees and the university-wide High Speed Network Applications Committee.
Notified other university units of external funding opportunities for IT projects related to research and/or instruction.
Teamed with other university offices to monitor and assess IT-related legislation.
Matched university technology resources and faculty outreach efforts with K-12 interests.
Participated in and helped to expand the university's relationships and joint activities with government organizations and industry partners.

II. Summary of Major Goals and Accomplishments

A. University Directorates

1) Administrative Computing Services

Fiscal Year 2001 Goals

Publicly Visible Goals

ARTSYS/ET

Implement the ARTSYS Electronic Transcript capabilities allowing New Jersey Community Colleges to send transcripts electronically and articulate through the ARTSYS database. Develop processes to automatically feed existing student systems to eliminate manual intensive re-keying of transfer course data.

Web Credit Card (Web On-line Payment)

Develop an architecture and framework for supporting web credit card processing at the university. Target the undergraduate admissions application fee for piloting the framework.

Financial Aid Reauthorization

Complete implementation of all federal financial aid reauthorization requirements for 2000/1 academic year.

Web Access to Financial Aid Award Status

Provide students with up-to-date information on financial aid award information via the web.

RIAS Interface Planning and Analysis

Initiate planning and analysis for the implementation of all necessary data conversions and interfaces in support of the RIAS project.

Undergraduate and Graduate Admissions Web Application Enhancements

Implement ability for partial application processing in the undergraduate web application. Implement administrative (back office) functionality in the graduate admissions web application. Also implement functionality to process graduate application personal statements and references. Provide enhancements to graduate and undergraduate web status page. Provide enhancements to generate "facsimile" of paper graduate application.

Student Information Management Systems (SIMS) Co-requisite Processing

Implement co-requisite checking to eliminate the need for departments to register students for co-requisites after registration period.

Student Data Warehouse (SDW) Expansion

Provide enhancements to SDW to satisfy requirements of clients including selection criteria (multiple semesters), historical data, new data elements and more frequent updating. Roll out Oracle's Web Discoverer query tool to support improved access and delivery of administrative information.

Student Records Database (SRDB) Expansion

Expand the SRDB to accommodate additional space for data element needs of administrative clients.

Rutgers Portal

Build a portal that encapsulates all the types of information and services students need in a single, easy-to-navigate web site. The portal may include on-line registration, schedule of classes, transcript requests, statements of accounts, address update, financial aid documents and grades - all in an integrated site customizable to the end-user with single sign-on capability.

Graduate & Professional School Reporting

Implement a web interface for Graduate & Professional School reporting that provides clients with convenient browser access and menu selection of reports.

Re-engineer Client Server Applications for Delivery over the Web

Improve the ease of access, support, and roll out of the current client server (C/S) applications by delivering them over the web. Reengineer existing C/S applications to the web including HRinfo, FASIP, First-year Sectioning and Pay-for-Performance.

Internal Infrastructure Goals

Upgrade Mainframe Operating System to OS/390 v2.8

Upgrade the IBM mainframe operating system to OS/390 v2.8.

IMS Maintenance

Apply maintenance patches to the Information Management System (IMS).

Upgrade Oracle to version 8i

Install Oracle upgrade on the mainframe in order to improve reliability and availability of the university's centrally supported administrative Oracle applications and Web pages on the administrative mainframe. Oracle 8i will also provide new functionality and improve security.

ACS Network Enhancements

Upgrade the current infrastructure from 10BaseT to 100Mbps Networks

Upgrade UNIX Production Infrastructure

Upgrade the legacy UNIX infrastructure providing enhanced performance and reliability.

Upgrade NT Production Infrastructure

The upgrade of this infrastructure will improve performance, reliability, and security for the applications, and replace systems at the end of life cycle/warranty.

Internal Audit: Administering Windows NT Server

Work to complete outstanding audit recommendations for the Windows NT infrastructure.

Data Entry

Continue the process of reducing centralized data entry through the implementation of electronic feeds and re-engineering on-line applications.

Data Entry Falcon 32 Upgrade

Upgrade the existing DOS based Falcon Data Entry System.

Desktop Support Virus Protection

Standardize our Anti-Virus software implementation procedures to safeguard workstations.

ACS Desktops Asset Management

Begin tracking and compiling an accurate hardware list of serial numbers and licensed software.

Automated Tape Libraries and Backup Software

Implement a backup methodology for the heterogeneous environment (NT and UNIX), taking advantage of the current tape technology and storage management.

Output Management

Improve the timely delivery of client reports while reducing the user's dependency on centralized printing.

Disaster Recovery Testing of Oracle/UNIX and NT Web Server Production Platforms

Include as part of the overall Disaster Recovery Plan the successful recovery of the UNIX and Windows NT Production Web Servers.

Disaster Recovery Internal Audit

Respond to Internal Audit recommendation for Disaster Recovery.

Organizational Goals

Professional Development and Performance Management

Provide continual professional development for the ACS staff through formal and informal training and cross training in concert with business needs. Provide ongoing performance feedback and annual formal appraisal to manage individual performance and development.

Customer Satisfaction

Provide mechanisms for customer input and feedback in order to effectively respond to customer needs.

Quality: System Development Methods and Procedures

Establish additional methods and procedures to govern software implementation in order to ensure quality and efficiency of operation.

Quality: Operational Methods and Procedures

Establish additional methods and procedures to govern operations and production control in order to ensure quality and efficiency of operation. Evaluate the existing change management process to ensure adequate controls are in place across all platforms and data center operations. Implement new changes and provide training and documentation for support staff.

Quality: Project Management Methods and Procedures

Establish additional project management methods and procedures to govern project implementation in order to ensure quality and efficiency of operation.

Communication

Establish additional mechanisms to enhance organizational communication

Fiscal Year 2001 Accomplishments

ARTSYS/ET

Goal: Implement the ARTSYS Electronic Transcript capabilities allowing New Jersey Community Colleges to send transcripts electronically and articulate through the ARTSYS database. Develop processes to automatically feed existing student systems to eliminate manual intensive re-keying of transfer course data.

Status: Good progress was made this past year in the implementation of ARTSYS e-transcript functionality. ACS is currently partnering with Brookdale Community College as the pilot for e-transcript processing and has successfully processed and articulated Brookdale transcripts. A planning framework for similar testing for all community colleges has also been developed and will be refined as other school file transmissions are scheduled.

ACS has also completed planning and analysis with Enrollment Management and the University Registrar regarding downstream processing of articulated transcripts. Design and specification for processing to the SRDB, NJAS database and Undergraduate Imaging System was completed.

ACS and the Office of Enrollment Management, have met with Technical and Academic representatives from the New Jersey Community Colleges to continue to proactively engage the community colleges in order to further integrate these schools into the statewide ARTSYS initiative.

Web Credit Card (Web On-line Payment)

Goal: Develop an architecture and framework for supporting web credit card processing at the university. Target the undergraduate admissions application fee for piloting the framework in the future.

Status: ACS completed all planning, analysis, architecture, design and specification for the web on-line payment application. ACS led discussions with University Accounting, Treasury and Internal Audit personnel to discuss the business process flow associated with online payment processing and to ensure that the solution meets university financial accounting and control requirements. After investigating vendor offerings for online payment solutions, and performing an evaluation of select e-payment services, a choice was made to contract with Verisign for their Payflow Pro service.

A roll-out plan has been developed targeting the undergraduate admissions application fee as the initial implementation. Subsequent planned implementations include parking fee and term bill payment.

The application has been designed as a "common module" that can be invoked from a variety of web applications. This generic "plug and play" design provides a flexible solution that can be deployed fairly quickly as new business needs arise. Design and specification have been reviewed with Office of Enrollment Management, Parking & Transportation, Student Financial Services, Controller's Office, Internal Audit and the OIT Information Protection Team. Coding and testing is underway with targeted completion by June 2001 when a User Acceptance Test (UAT) will get underway.

A new E420R Web Server was purchased in January for the Online Credit Card Application. The server was purchased to reduce web access hits against our main production server and to provide better throughput and balancing. In addition, a 128-bit Verisign certificate was purchased for Secure Socket Layer (SSL) support. ACS is reviewing firewall options for external network security. The Online Credit Card application is installed on the new server and support's the Oracle `Internet Application Server' (IAS). IAS is Oracle's replacement product for the Oracle Application Server; it is Oracle's flavor of an Apache Http Server. ACS expects to have the server running in test mode by June 2001.

Rutgers Portal

Goal: Build a portal on the web, encapsulating all the types of information and services students need, in a single, easily navigable web site. Examples include on-line registration, schedule of classes, transcript requests, statements of accounts, address update, financial aid documents and grades - all in an integrated site customizable to the end-user with single sign-on capability.

Status: ACS developed a Rutgers Portal demonstration that leveraged existing content here at Rutgers (student employment search, dining services menus, channel listing web search engines), as well as links to external content providers of news, sports and entertainment. ACS and NBCS will jointly develop a portal as a pilot for targeted students in Rutgers College in the fall semester, with a second release for a larger audience of students, faculty and staff in the spring semester. The "My Rutgers" portal will be built with "uPortal", which is an open source university portal framework, developed by the Java in Administration Special Interest Group (JA-SIG).

Financial Aid Reauthorization for the 2000/1 academic year

Goal: Complete implementation of all federal financial aid reauthorization requirements for the 2000/1 academic year.

Status: ACS completed all enhancements to the FAMS system supporting federal financial aid regulation changes for the 2000/1 "reauthorization" year. This effort, which spanned the course of approximately one year, included the following highlights:

System changes to Direct Loan
Major changes to Pell Grant processing to comply with the Department of Education's new Recipient Financial Management System (RFMS)
Enhancements to the Outside Application Resource (OAR) secondary confirmation to provide identification of any problems with matches between the Institutional Student Information Records (ISIR) and national databases
Enhancements to PARS in order to package two new merit scholarships

Web Access to Financial Aid Award Status

Goal: Provide students with up-to-date information on financial aid award information via the web.

Status: Web access to student financial aid award information was implemented in August 2000. This secured web page displays an individual student's financial aid award offers and disbursed aid. Links are provided to the financial aid application and document status page and the student statement of accounts web page.

RIAS Interface Planning and Analysis

Goal: Initiate planning and analysis for the implementation of all necessary data conversions and interfaces in support of the IAS project.

Status: A comprehensive analysis of ACS systems for potential impacts due to RIAS implementation is underway. The focus of this analysis is on those applications that utilize COA (Chart of Account) information and/or employee information that will need to interface with RIAS. Good progress was made on data gathering and analysis for the RIAS interfaces and data conversions. An analysis of all current legacy interfaces from/to the existing payroll, HR and financial systems is underway. Data file layouts and other relevant information has been collected. Oracle AIM documents outlining strategy for interfaces and conversions have been drafted. ACS project teams have completed application impact documents and project plans to identify the changes required to the legacy applications and changes to support RIAS conversions and interfaces. The project teams have been working with the RIAS development staff by reformatting and supplying them with various files to test certain conversions/interfaces.

Undergraduate and Graduate Admissions Web Application Enhancements

Goal: Implement ability for partial application processing in the undergraduate web application. Implement administrative (back office) functionality in the graduate admissions web application. Also implement functionality to process graduate application personal statements and references. Provide enhancements to graduate and undergraduate web status page. Provide enhancements to generate "facsimile" of paper graduate application.

Status: ACS completed enhancements for partial undergraduate application processing that provides prospective students with the ability to enter a partial application, save the application, and complete it at a later time. Prior to this enhancement, it was necessary for applicants to complete the entire application in one logon session.

Due to shifting priorities, the other items were deferred while more pressing needs were addressed (see next section: Additional Publicly Visible Accomplishments).

SIMS Co-requisite Processing

Goal: Implement co-requisite checking to eliminate the need for departments to register students for co-requisites after registration period.

Status: This project was completed in June 2001. Co-requisite checking eliminates the need for departments to register students for co-requisites after the registration period (currently many students will register for a course that requires a co-requisite and fail to register for that co-requisite). This new process will automatically identify any course that requires a co-requisite and add it to a student's schedule.

Student Data Warehouse (SDW) Expansion

Goal: Provide enhancements to SDW to satisfy requirements of clients including selection criteria (multiple semesters), historical data, new data elements and more frequent updating. Rollout Oracle's Web Discoverer query tool to support improved access and delivery of administrative information.

Status: ACS has expanded the selection criteria for the SDW to include not only currently registered students but also students pre-registered for two future semesters, students registered in the prior semester and students who have graduated in the current graduating cycle. The SDW was also expanded to include additional data elements and the frequency for updating was changed from bi-weekly to daily. A historical SDW that has student data dating back to 1990 was also implemented. (See next section: on Additional Publicly Visible Accomplishments for progress on Oracle Discoverer rollout.)

Student Records Database (SRDB) Expansion

Goal: Expand the SRDB to accommodate additional space for data element needs of administrative clients.

Status: ACS implemented a major expansion of the Student Records Data Base in December 2000. The driving force of this project was the increasing demand for additional elements on the Student Records Database. Requests have been received from the Graduate Admissions Office and the Registrar, among other clients, to add additional elements for a variety of SRDB segments. In addition to adding new elements, certain SRDB segments were expanded to allow for future growth.

This expansion called for enhancements to software across all ACS systems that interface with the SRDB including, but not limited to, NJAS, Graduate Admissions, Registration/Scheduling, Student Financial Services, Financial Aid and University Services. This effort also called for extensive testing to ensure all SRDB program interfaces were accounted for.

Graduate & Professional School Reporting

Goal: Implement a web interface for Graduate & Professional School reporting that provides clients with convenient browser access and menu selection of reports.

Status: ACS initially produced reports for the Graduate School - New Brunswick Dean's office. Reports included Student Enrollments for all and first time students, GRE/GPA for all and first time students, Payroll Support, Degrees Awarded and Program Data. It was decided to utilize the Institutional Research Data Mart for this type of reporting going forward. Since that decision was made, ACS has been working with Institutional Research personnel to help populate the datamart.

Re-engineer Client Server Applications for Delivery over the Web

Goal: Improve the ease of access, support, and rollout of the current client server (C/S) applications by delivering them over the web. Reengineer existing C/S applications to the web including HRInfo, FASIP, First-year Sectioning and Pay-for-Performance (P4P).

Status: The HRInfo client/server forms application was converted to run via the web using Oracle Developer Server. The web version of HRInfo merged the 3 basic forms showing Employee Address, Benefits, and Personal Data into one tabbed form. The HR Report now runs on Oracle Reports Server and is also viewable through the web. P4P was also deployed to the web (see next section for P4P). Due to shifting priorities and the small end-user base for FASIP and First-year Sectioning, conversions for these applications were deferred.

Publicly Visible Accomplishments

Pay for Performance (P4P)

ACS staff led discussions with University HR regarding application enhancements necessary to support university-wide administration of salary and bonus awards. ACS finalized all functional and technical requirements and completed all necessary implementation activities. Major enhancements from last year include conversion from a dual year to a single year process, addition of departmental level drop down screens, enhancements to prior year award display and conversion from a client/server architecture to web deployment (upgrading from Oracle Forms/Reports 5.0 to Oracle Developer Server 2.3). ACS also created a detailed and comprehensive end-user guide and assisted Human Resources in end-user training sessions. The ACTS/PSF staff devised a temporary help desk to respond to user issues during the P4P period. The staff was trained and tested in proper help desk protocol. Operations staff were trained in how to triage in-coming calls, re-direct them as required, and follow through for proper closure.

Financial Aid Management System (FAMS) Regulatory Maintenance for FY02 academic year

ACS staff have modified the FAMS system in accordance with federal and state requirements for processing of 2001/2 academic year financial aid applications. The revised Free Federal Application for Student Aid (FFASA) and data record required mapping and incorporating the new aid record fields to the database. Online programs and batch processes were modified for federal, state and department requirements. The 2001/2 Institutional Needs Analysis System (INAS) was installed to provide the ability to compute federal and state estimated family contribution. Enhancements were made to the Verification and Secondary Confirmation processes, Resource Audit, Packaging Aid Resource System (PARS), Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) print, and Electronic Data Exchange (EDE) Correction processing. In March 2001, over 24,000 financial aid applications were loaded enabling the Financial Aid Office to begin processing the new academic year. Some of the highlights of this year's maintenance included:

New federal compress software was installed for all the transmissions jobs in January. This was needed to prepare for migration from the Title IV WAN to Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) in the fall of 2001.
Captured the state calculated New Jersey Estimated Index (NJEI) to enable the Financial Aid Office the ability to compare the INAS calculated NJEI with the state's NJEI. This will improve awarding and reconciling the Tuition Aid Grant (TAG).
Provided the Financial Aid Office with the ability to print ISIR's by transaction. In the past only the most current ISIR could be printed.
Refined existing selection criteria and added several new selections to the verification process.
Modified the secondary confirmation process for new and revised comment codes and installed two additional selection criteria.
Modified the housing logic and messages printed on the Award Letter program.
Several enhancements were made to PARS for this processing cycle. Increased scholarship award amounts, installed TAG and Pell tables, provided edits to prevent packaging students who have not completed and returned required documents. Modified the program to use reported housing and reported NJEI, when present.
The Award Status Web page was enhanced to enable students to select and view current or prior year award data.

Web Schedule of Classes and Course Synopsis

For the spring 2001 registration period ACS implemented links from the online schedule of classes web application to various departmental web sites which house course synopsis information. These links allow students to "click" on specific course/sections presented on the course schedule screen and link directly to a departmental page that displays synopsis information for that course/section. ACS has also implemented an administrative screen that allows authorized departmental staff to input URL's where synopsis information resides for specific course/sections. This functionality empowers the academic departments with an automated method to maintain synopsis links. ACS led a pilot of this functionality with select personnel from Cook College, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Information, Communication and Library Studies. Going forward this application will be rolled out to additional departments in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden. For fall 2001 registration, student access to online synopsis information continued to grow. During this registration cycle, there were approximately 5000 hits by students to various departmental web pages for synopsis access. Currently, approximately 20 percent of undergraduate course sections have a synopsis link, which is up from 10 percent for the spring 2001 registration period.

Web Class Rosters

On-line web based class rosters were implemented university wide for fall 2000 after a successful pilot for faculty in Newark and NB Math department. Functionality includes online roster generation, creation of class email lists and administrative functions for granting user privileges. The application allows hierarchical management and administration from the University Registrar through college deans, department heads and faculty.

A follow up release of the class roster application was implemented for the spring 2001 semester. Added functionality included granting 10-month faculty the ability to view rosters during the summer months, granting access to "guests", display of special permission numbers and academic warnings and usability enhancements for easier viewing and navigation.

ACS has been working with the RUconnections Office to potentially integrate online photos into the Rosters Application. A prototype was completed to retrieve photos from the RUconnection FoxPro database, transmit them to an ACS server, load them to an Oracle database and integrate them with the Rosters application. ACS presented a demo of this prototype to the University Registrar, Associate Dean of FAS-NB, and the Director of Compliance and Student Policy Concerns. Additional discussions will be held in the upcoming year regarding use of potential photos in the rosters application.

Web Online Statement of Accounts (for administrators)

Web access to student financial information for university administrators was implemented this past year. This service compliments last year's delivery of online financial account information to students. The original implementation gave the student the ability to view a current snapshot of their financial statement of account including tuition, fees, payments, refunds and remission information through a secure web based process. Prior to this students could get this information only in person at the cashier's office or through periodic mailings. The follow up release of this application for administrators was implemented to provide less cumbersome access to student account information.

Calendar of Events

A new web-based Calendar of Events System was implemented this past year. This application was designed to collect information about events of interest to the Rutgers community in one central location. The application allows posting of events by registered users and public viewing of event information. Any registered Rutgers organization, department, affiliate or alumni group can post events. Public searching of events can be done by specific date, date range, event category, key word or location. A link to online campus maps is in place to provide exact building location and directions. An email link to event organizer is also provided. This application provides up-to-date event information combined with a user-friendly search capability.

Web Parking Registration and Ticket Inquiry

ACS implemented Phase 1 of the New Brunswick Web Parking Registration and Ticket Inquiry System. This application provides New Brunswick students with a Web based parking registration form that displays parking permit fees, outstanding ticket fines and parking lot assignment information. Students can print the form and mail it with their payment to the Parking Office. This application provides enhanced service to students with more accurate and up-to-date parking registration and ticket information. It also obviates the need for students to travel to the Parking Office and wait in line to get an application. The system provides financial savings for the Parking and Transportation Department since they will no longer have to purchase and mail pre-printed forms. Future releases include integration of online payment and online submission of registration form. (See ACS' Goals for Fiscal Year 2002 on page 83.)

Web Housing & Parking Lot Assignment

In support of Housing Administration and the rollout of the Web Parking Registration and Ticket Inquiry Application, ACS needed to create a new application that would provide online maintenance of resident student building and room information and corresponding lot assignments, as well as commuter student lot assignments. A new web application was built that allows the Housing Administration Office to input dormitory information and the Parking Office to update parking lot assignment data. This process is not only more timely and efficient, it is more accurate since it eliminates the transcribing of handwritten data into a COBOL program.

Web Camden Post Office

The new web based Camden Post Office application, which was implemented in August 2000, replaces the Camden Post Office Assignment and Maintenance System. Students are now able to view their post office box combination, post office mailing address and the names of students who share their box. The application provides facilities personnel with the ability to display, add, modify or delete student post office box assignments and to update box combinations and reserve codes. This application will allow the elimination of keypunching and data entry and will provide a more accurate means for post office box assignment.

NB Parking and Transportation Automated Diploma Holds

A process to automate the generation of letters for graduating students with outstanding New Brunswick parking tickets was implemented in April 2001. The new service, which eliminates weeks of manual processing, satisfies a request by the New Brunswick Parking and Transportation Office. This application also creates a number of reports, which will enable the Parking and Transportation Office to analyze the data in order to determine a cut-off dollar amount for the holds.

Reengineered IMS Telephone Screens

In an attempt to make the online process more efficient, ACS took on the effort of merging four telephone screens and programs into one new screen. This application enables the staff at the Telephone Office to display and update telephone data faster and more efficiently. It also makes it easier and quicker for the Administrative Computing Services team to modify the screens and programs, as well as get the authorization for user access.

Faculty Arts and Sciences Increment Program (FASIP)

ACS staff completed an upgrade of the FASIP application for the fall 2000 FASIP cycle. Enhancements included a technical upgrade from Oracle Forms/Reports 4.5 to 5.0 and a functional enhancement to allow award initiation at the University President level. Test installations of FASIP software were performed and recommendations for hardware requirements were made based on these tests. Desktop Support staff began contacting end-users late in September to schedule the rollout, which took place the last two weeks of October. Desktop staff installed the software on twenty-eight desktop PCs across three campuses.

Trustee Survey

ACS created a web-based assessment survey for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Board of Trustees, at the request of the Executive Director of University Relations. The survey assessed their knowledge of the responsibilities as a Trustee, the evaluation of the Board and specific governance policies and practices, and their knowledge of CASE. This survey was available for Trustees to complete online for approximately two weeks. Summary data was compiled and made available at the CASE Board leadership workshop on November 12, 2000.

College Assessment Research System (CARS)

The College Assessment Research System (CARS) has been upgraded to support the in-house testing instruments that are being developed by the Math and English departments at FAS. These testing instruments are replacing the New Jersey Basic Skills Tests previously used by Rutgers. This is a five-year process. In this fourth year of the process modifications were made to ensure that the tests are valid predictors of performance in Math and English courses. In addition, enhancements were made to the foreign languages testing to assist various language departments in testing and placing students in correct language level courses.

Facilities Interfaces to New System

ACS developed automated interfaces to have data from Facilities transmitted electronically to the ACS mainframe via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) in order to eliminate keypunch redundancy. In the past, the department needed to send a list of charges to keypunch to be manually entered.

Cellular One Invoice Processing

In order to facilitate monthly bill processing, ACS designed and implemented an automatic, one-invoice billing system much like the telephone system that is currently used at the university. Previously, Cellular One had multiple invoice processing and manual entries generated to the ledger. Now, Cellular One provides us with a monthly tape, which is processed to generate a single invoice, and also provide detailed data to the mobile phone user department. Entries to the general ledger are generated from the system and are posted directly to the ledger rather than being keypunched. By participating in the single invoice plan with Cellular One, the university is receiving substantial discounting on their phone service plans.

Course Analysis System (CAS)

The new web based Course Analysis System was rolled out to academic departments, Office of Institutional Research and other university administrative offices for the fall, 2000 cycle. The enhanced system provides state-of-the-art technology, enhanced data collection and data validation. Processes were put in place to verify collected data against official university HR data. This has significantly decreased the need for error correction and data entry. Institutional Research and other university academic and administrative offices use data collected through CAS for the production of faculty workload reports.

Off-Campus Reporting System

Office of Budget and Resource Studies requested additional statistical analysis for students who took both on and off campus courses. As the university increases its use of off campus facilities and course offerings the reports and statistical analysis provided by this system will become more valuable to university offices.

Student Health Online Tracking System (SHOTS)

Enhancements were made to the immunization letters sent to students each semester to increase the compliance and return rate.

Student Unit Record Enrollment (SURE)

Requests from the Commission on Higher Education to increase the data supplied for the Enrollment and Degree files sent each semester was completed. The timeliness and accuracy of these files is crucial due to Commission on Higher Education's (CHE) reporting of this data to other agencies which determine funding for Rutgers.

People Database Data Integrity and Processing Improvements

After a review of the current interface process from the SRDB and Payroll to the People Database System, it was decided to update this process to improve the reliability and integrity processing of data to PDB. Additionally, new matching processes and error checking processes were incorporated. Additional enhancements include:

Review of assignment of IDs at ACS and NBCS and change to algorithm to eliminate conflicts
Creation of unique Database Access Descriptor (DAD) for Privilege View and Guest processing to eliminate application down time
Refresh of PDB for spring semester 2001
Conversion of all email accounts on Camden campus to @camden.rutgers.edu

People Database "Guest" Processing

The People Database Online Directory was enhanced with the "Add a Person" application, a web-based vehicle that allows authorized individuals to add a person to the people database in order to be able to create a computer account for that person. This application is used mainly to enter new faculty and staff that have yet to be processed through payroll. It will also be used to enter guests of the university who need computer accounts.

Institutional Research Data Mart

Course and term files extracted from the Student Records Database (SRDB) for the period fall 1992 through fall 2000 were prepared for upload to the Institutional Research data mart. Institutional Research uses this data mart in the production of reports and statistical analysis for internal and external reporting.

Undergraduate Admissions (NJAS) Cycle Start-up for Spring/Fall 2001

ACS completed the implementation for the undergraduate admissions cycle startup for spring/fall 2001. This effort, which spanned over eight months, included enhancements to NJAS (mainframe undergraduate admissions system) and the online Undergraduate Web Application. Highlights include:

Extensive enhancements to student notification letters and associated forms and documents to provide greater personalization in our communication to prospective and admitted students.
New Financial Aid and Student Notification Letter text entry screens added to allow data entry of award information and free form "customized" text input into notification letters
Back-end processing enhancements to automatically convert the electronic web application into an imaged version and transmit it to Enrollment Management's ImageNow system (eliminating the need to manually scan these applications).
Updates to NJAS IMS Admission screens to provide more user-friendly screen navigation.
Enhancements to the Undergraduate Web On-line Application to provide greater flexibility for students and additional efficiencies for application processing. The online application now gives the applicant the ability to fill out a partial application, save it and complete it at a later date.

Undergraduate Admissions (NJAS) Startup for Spring/Fall 2002

NJAS system upgrade requirements for the undergraduate admissions cycle (spring 2002 through fall 2002) are being gathered. Items currently being discussed that may call for system changes include upgrades to the undergraduate admissions online web application and online status page and enhancements to allow prospective students to acknowledge their acceptance to a specific Rutgers College over the web. Additionally, optical scanning of paper applications is being looked at in an effort to reduce data entry of paper student applications. Also being discussed is implementation of an algorithm to convert a student's high school grade point average to a scaled value based on the high school's GPA scale. Upgrades to the letter notification process are also expected.

Undergraduate Admissions Application Imaging

Using Crystal Reports, ACS implemented a process to image the web undergraduate student application from ACS Oracle database to the Enrollment Management ImageNow system. This implementation helped to streamline the undergraduate admissions decision-making process.

Undergraduate Admissions Datamax

ACS has implemented modifications to NJAS in order to interface with the new Datamax application run out of the office of Enrollment Management. Datamax is a new application that allows data entry of undergraduate admission applications. Datamax replaces the Summit Bank lockbox transmission of undergraduate applications. ACS provided subject matter expertise and documentation to assist Enrollment Management personnel in the Datamax implementation.

NJAS Summit Bank Transmissions

ACS worked with Summit Bank in the upgrade of the lockbox file transmission of undergraduate application and tuition deposit fees. This project was a technical upgrade from the Remote Job Entry (RJE) file transmission mechanism to the File Transmission Protocol (FTP). In addition, PGP encryption software was implemented to provide secure data transmission.

Graduate Admissions Test Score Reporting

ACS completed enhancements to the Graduate Admissions system to capture student self-reported GMAT, TOEFL and LSAT test scores. Enhancements also provided for the capture of information regarding minority eligibility for special programs and foreign address information.

Graduate Admissions Standard and Ad-hoc Reporting

ACS initiated work to deliver various Graduate Admissions reports over the web. Program Status and Student Statistical reports have been designed and made available over the web. ACS also upgraded the delivery method and usability of the "Graduate Request" data file that is used by the Graduate Admissions Office to query current admissions cycle student and program data. Discussions regarding the use of Oracle Discoverer for additional ad hoc reporting needs are also underway.

Winter Session Registration

The Student Information Management Systems (SIMS) winter session process for winter 2000/1 was completed. ACS created a registration process to allow students to register for a new winter term. This began with the rollover of winter "transfer" courses to legitimate winter terms and courses on a new Winter Session Database. ACS successfully retrieved and processed a registration file from eCollege (external vendor of student administration and course management software) and updated registration data for approximately 1000 students on the new Winter Session Database. In order to fully integrate winter term courses, this project required enhancements in the calculation of student cumulative degree credits, grade point averages and transcripts. Modifications were also made to the transcripts/grades web application to include winter session courses. Modifications were also made to reports and online screens to enable the Registrar to request transcripts and reports and to view winter session information for a given student.

Course Scheduling Construction Sheets

ACS modified the Schedule of Classes printer's copy and construction sheets to display cross-listed courses. This permits the Scheduling Office to review the cross-listed courses and to publish to the students the identity of cross-listed courses. These are usually courses that have interdisciplinary content and so are listed with different course identifiers under several different academic disciplines.

Web Registration Personal Access Code (PAC) change

Fall 2000 featured a new enhancement for web registration - the ability for a student to change their Personal Access Code (PAC) online. This feature was implemented in response to student concerns over the security of PAC number as authentication for online web registration. The concern centered on the fact that the PAC assigned by the university defaulted to the students' birth month/day. Previously, students could change their PAC numbers only by visiting the Registrar's office. In the past, the rate of PAC change requests through the Registrar's office has been on the order of five per month. During the fall 2000 demand registration period, students changed PAC numbers at a rate of twenty-five per day.

Commencement Processing

The Student Information Management Systems (SIMS) commencement process was modified to automatically import degree posting information (for a given student) from the registration process to the commencement process. These enhancements to the degree posting process were a great benefit to the students. This is the first time that degrees were posted as early as one week after graduation. Prior to this, the posting of degrees was not completed for over a month after graduation. Students now do not have to wait to request a copy of their transcript that includes degree information. This enhancement also eliminates the need for dual data entry by the registrar's office.

National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) Process Conversion to Clearinghouse

After contracting with the National Student Clearinghouse to provide student status confirmation reporting to the Federal Student Loans Program on behalf of Rutgers, ACS converted the in-house reporting process to create a data extract of all registered students and to transmit a file to the Clearinghouse.

New Grade Values

In support of a University Senate resolution, ACS implemented grade value changes for fall 2000 grade processing. The request, from the Senate Educational Policy and Planning Committee, called for a redefinition of the existing "TZ" grade and a new "NG" grade. The TZ grade is now only to be assigned when a student is unable to finish course work due to a verifiable emergency. The NG grade is assigned by the Registrar in the case where no grade is assigned on the final grade roster. ACS implemented and tested all necessary changes to the grading, student term update and GPA recalculation modules of SIMS in order to support this request.

Add/Drop Schedule Change

In support of a University Senate resolution, ACS implemented necessary changes to the online web registration system and online touch-tone registration system to allow for a change in the spring 2001 add/drop schedule. The new schedule allowed for a 9-day add period and a 7-day drop period. This schedule change provided a window of opportunity for students to add classes where space may free up due to another student's drop.

Support for Online Course Management

ACS continues to partner with the Office of Continuing Education in support of the implementation of the eCompanion course management product offered by eCollege. Discussions are in progress regarding data feeds necessary from ACS systems that need to be loaded to eCompanion.

ACS and NBCS continue to partner with the Rutgers Teaching Excellence Center in support of the use of the WebCT course management product. Initial discussions regarding data extracts from ACS systems have taken place. Technical specifications are being developed. The WebCT product facilitates the use of technology in the classroom by providing a pre-populated course framework.

Purchasing Card (Pcard)

ACS, partnering with the Rutgers University Purchasing Department, continues to support implementation of the Rutgers Pcard program. ACS has developed a departmental reconciliation process to be run prior to posting transactions to the general ledger. ACS has also developed a mechanism to track purchase details for historical reporting purposes. Paymentech (the Pcard vendor) has completed a custom-mapping program for Rutgers.

Payroll Mass Transit Benefit

ACS has completed enhancements to the Payroll System to support the new Mass Transit Commutation Reimbursement Program (MTCRP). This program is meant to assist employees with commuting expense. Employees can set aside money from their paycheck on a pre-tax basis to pay for eligible mass transit expenses. The amount set aside is placed in their MTCRP account. An employee can then request reimbursement for commuting expenses incurred during the calendar year, up to monthly limits specified by law. University Human Resources will administer the program.

Student Account Receivable (SAR) Tuition Remission Rewrite

The tuition remission process was upgraded to accommodate updated TA/GA salary structures and to provide the Student Financial Services office with update capability over the web. The new process eliminates manual updates and has resulted in a more efficient, maintainable process.

SAR Real-time Tuition Calculation

In anticipation of providing students with the ability to pay tuition and fees over the web, ACS implemented a process to perform real time calculation of tuition and fees. Tuition and fees for fall, spring, summer and third term are now calculated in real time and displayed online when students request their Web Statement of Accounts.

SAR Tuition Payment Plan

ACS has completed enhancements to the Student Account Receivables (SAR) system in order to migrate from AMS to ECSI as the vendor for partial payment processing. This effort, initiated by the Office of Student Financial Services, will be more cost effective for the university, as well as provide a simpler and more efficient payment program for the students.

SAR Summer Session Billing Revisions

Additional summer session processing codes were implemented in order to make the summer session processing more accurate and have less manual intervention for reconciliation. Also, a process was implemented to allow for journal entries to be divided into pending entries and actual entries. This allows for more flexibility and efficiency in the system. The process was also modified to create supplemental bills and unpaid balance notices, in addition to term bills. This eliminated redundant processing where summer session students were receiving multiple term bills, including those with zero balances.

SAR 1098 Processing Revisions

The changes to the Tax Relief Act (TRA) processing were needed in order to make the 1098-T processing more efficient and more accurate. One of the major changes was to modify the winter session file from eCollege to include refunds, financial aid, third party payments, remission, journal entries, and external scholarships. Other changes to TRA processing included the processing of zero-tuition students, re-printing prior year 1098-T on the original form, journal entry descriptors and processing, and creating a 1098-T pull file.

Updateable Course Fee Table

ACS created a simplified course fee table that could reference all of the course sections with their corresponding fees. This made the table easier to manage by providing end-user update capability. This eliminated the need for the user to look up the course number and index when applying fees to the student's bill.

CORE Cash Register

ACS continued work with the Student Financial Services personnel for the implementation of the CORE Cash Register project. Implementation will allow direct transmittals to the General Ledger and Subsidiary Ledger, eliminate keypunching, allow for quicker reconciliation and provide more timely updating of the student's bill payment indicator.

Real SSN

Modifications were made to the ACS core administrative systems in order to capture a student's "real SSN" which is required for financial aid award recipients and for those individuals who desire to take advantage of the IRS 1098 tax credit. Previously, a student could specify a pseudo SSN for his/her student ID. While that option continues to exist, any student who wants to be considered for financial aid and/or the tax credit must provide a real SSN, which will be carried as a separate data element in the core administrative systems and the SRDB.

Support for Student Government Elections

In response to a request from the Camden Campus Student Organization, ACS extracted and transmitted a file of student data to an external vendor (iballot.com) in support of the student government elections held from April 16 to April 20. Prior to providing this feed, discussions were held with the University Registrar and University Council regarding necessary compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) disclosure requirements.

Decision Support using Oracle Discoverer

ACS is currently working with various client offices (Human Resources, University Registrar, Institutional Research, Graduate Admissions, College Deans) in the rollout of the Oracle Discoverer reporting tool. This project was initiated as a result of the ongoing need for administrative and academic offices to have flexible and timely access to university data currently housed in ACS systems and databases. The near term goal of this endeavor is to put the Oracle Discoverer tool in the hands of those clients who need access to information about students, courses, programs, employees and other related information. A longer-term goal is to expand data warehouse capabilities to meet the information needs of the university community.

ACS has held discussions with clients regarding their general information needs and specific data requirements. ACS has provided overview and demonstration of Discoverer to clients and facilitated discussions as to how the tool can best suit client needs.

ACS personnel have been trained in the administrative and end-user capabilities of the tool. An in-house pilot project using the ACS Task Management system was completed to assess practical use of the tool. ACS is currently working with Human Resource personnel in an informal "sandbox" assessment of the tool. Initial discussions with the Director of Graduate Admissions regarding the potential use of Discoverer for graduate admissions reporting have been held. Planning is underway to bring together a small team of users of student data (e.g. registrars and deans) to discuss potential use of Discoverer. ACS will also be discussing Oracle Discoverer with the Office of Institutional Research. ACS will utilize knowledge gained in these pilot initiatives for future reporting needs for the RIAS initiative.

Report to University Senate: Replacement of SSN as Student Identification Number

At its regular meeting on October 27, 2000, the Rutgers University Senate approved recommendations presented by the Senate Student Affairs Committee regarding the use of social security numbers as student identification numbers. One specific recommendation resulted in a "charge" to OIT to perform an assessment of the impact to administrative computer systems to accommodate the replacement of student social security number with a new unique student identifier. In response, ACS personnel conducted a detailed analysis and prepared a formal report. The key findings in the report were presented to the University Senate Executive Committee.

The report showed that the replacement of social security number as the student identification number in OIT administrative computer systems would be a large and costly undertaking. The report suggested an alternative, potentially more cost effective option that could resolve some "public" use of social security number.

A decision was made to forego this type of work since a student systems reengineering effort is being planned for the future. In the interim, the Senate decided to form a committee of select university personnel to review the "public" use of SSN.

Student Internal Transfer Process

ACS and the Office of Enrollment Management have met with various college deans to discuss the implementation of an online system to support internal transfers for intracampus (dean to dean) and intrauniversity transfers. It is viewed that a web-based system comprising an online application for internal transfer students and administrative features for the various Dean's offices will streamline the internal transfer process by eliminating paper, expediting application review and promoting electronic communication. A prototype application has been built and demonstrated.

Degree Audit Analysis

ACS is presently initiating discussions with the University Registrar for the potential implementation of a university wide degree audit application. Degree audit capability is a long-standing desire of students, deans and the University Registrar. The implementation of a degree audit system would streamline and automate the current manual process potentially leading to time and cost savings. Automated degree audit could also potentially be used as a conduit for an enhanced student advising function at the university.

Preliminary discussions will center on business need, method and criteria for product evaluation and determination of which university constituents need to be involved in the analysis and decision making process. If it is decided to move forward beyond these preliminary discussions, it is anticipated that a team comprised of ACS, the Registrar's Office and select college deans would be formed for a more detailed feasibility assessment. The feasibility assessment would need to include a detailed requirements analysis and determination of source of funding for this project.

Table of Contents

The Office of Information Technology

Organizational Charts

Executive Summary

Strategic Growth Areas

Operational Growth Areas

Strategic Growth Areas

Creating and maintaining a state-of-the-art telecommunications network

Creating and maintaining sufficient and effective central computing and customer support services

Developing standards that promote optimal integration and efficiency of IT systems and services throughout the university

Improving IT security and information protection throughout the university

Operational Growth Areas

Creating and maintaining clear and effective business practices and identifying new revenue opportunities

Recruiting high quality IT professionals, enhancing the skill sets of employees, and creating and maintaining effective human resources operations

Improving intradivisional and interdivisional communication and cooperation

Improving awareness and understanding throughout the university about Computing Services

I. Administration

A. Mission, Vision and Values

Mission Statement

Vision Statement

Values Statement

Teamwork

Innovation

Professionalism

Integrity

Initiative

B. Human Resources

Distribution of Staff

New Hires

Vacancies

Recruitment

Advancement

Performance Development Program

IT Compensation

OIT Internal Personnel Review Committee

New Staff Orientation Program

Multi-Perspective Feedback Program

C. Public Awareness, Internal and External Relations

II. Summary of Major Goals and Accomplishments

A. University Directorates

1) Administrative Computing Services

Fiscal Year 2001 Goals

Publicly Visible Goals

ARTSYS/ET

Web Credit Card (Web On-line Payment)

Financial Aid Reauthorization

Web Access to Financial Aid Award Status

RIAS Interface Planning and Analysis

Undergraduate and Graduate Admissions Web Application Enhancements

Student Information Management Systems (SIMS) Co-requisite Processing

Student Data Warehouse (SDW) Expansion

Student Records Database (SRDB) Expansion

Rutgers Portal

Graduate & Professional School Reporting

Re-engineer Client Server Applications for Delivery over the Web

Internal Infrastructure Goals

Upgrade Mainframe Operating System to OS/390 v2.8

IMS Maintenance

Upgrade Oracle to version 8i

ACS Network Enhancements

Upgrade UNIX Production Infrastructure

Upgrade NT Production Infrastructure

Internal Audit: Administering Windows NT Server

Data Entry

Data Entry Falcon 32 Upgrade

Desktop Support Virus Protection

ACS Desktops Asset Management

Automated Tape Libraries and Backup Software

Output Management

Disaster Recovery Testing of Oracle/UNIX and NT Web Server Production Platforms

Disaster Recovery Internal Audit

Organizational Goals

Professional Development and Performance Management

Customer Satisfaction

Quality: System Development Methods and Procedures

Quality: Operational Methods and Procedures

Quality: Project Management Methods and Procedures

Communication

Fiscal Year 2001 Accomplishments

ARTSYS/ET