SHSU Information Resources Update

Getting a Back-Up Due to Backhoes! (10.05.2009)

SHSU's Internet connection has been cut by construction workers in the Spring and Conroe areas a number of times in the past year. Efforts to develop a back-up route have been underway for some time.

Huntsville is completing a major clean-out of the city's pipes and then AT&T will begin the fiber install in those pipes. This fiber will permit an alternate route in addition to our south-bound route down I-45. The anticipated date from AT&T for the completion of this route and for SHSU to have a redundant GigaMAN connection is October 5, 2009.

Switching a Switch (07.24.2009)

Friday night, July 24th, the UCS-Systems department will be replacing a switch. This will cause computer and telephone outages for the following locations: Bank of America, Farrington, Estill, Evans, Thomason, AB2, Sam Houston Museum, Walker Education Center, Marks Administration, Dan Rather, CHSS, and Sam South.

This switchover will also impact all analog gateways which means fax machines, credit card machines, fire alarms and any analog phones will be down. The outage will last from approximately 6 p.m. till 7 p.m.

Proper Prior Preparation of (Tech) Purchases (08.14.2009)

Fiscal year 2009 is coming to an end and naturally that means the new academic year will be here soon. So instead of lazy days of summer, things get hectic in a hurry.

New computers are being purchased this week to upgrade faculty computers. We appreciate each of you working with the UCS-Client Support maintenance team as appointments are scheduled for those installs.

For your end-of-year purchases with FY09 funds, please prepare your Purchase/Quote request through the SamWeb Computer Services Work Order system as soon as possible. All purchases with this year's funds must be quoted and your Payment Authorization Form signed by August 14th. If you are using grant money, please remember to have all signatures on the form before faxing to UCS.

Experts from Within and Without (July 2009)

This month Stamats, the campus consultant designing the new campus web site, is presenting a Web Content Writing Seminar. It will be presented twice by Dr. Brenda Harms, Project Manager. She is offering it on Thursday, July 23 and on Friday, July 24 from 8:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. in Smith-Hutson, Room 303. You may register online.

Are you tasked with keeping up with your department's work orders in SamWeb for technology repairs and purchases? Register online for the SamWeb Work Order Seminar and attend this session on July 21st to learn how you can communicate what you need and when you need it. The first 20 people to sign up and attend will be given free 4 GB memory sticks for their departmental use.

As always, we welcome your requests for departmental or one-on-one training.

Helpdesk Help

We have added new student staff (please be patient with them) and are working to drop the number of times you don't get a live voice when you call 41950. Last week, the Helpdesk had 987 calls. 21 went to voice mail and 97 were missed. Our students and supervisors are taking it as a personal challenge each week to reduce the "missed call" statistic.

Please do leave us a voice mail though if you do happen to time it when every Helpdesk member is already helping someone else. Someone will call you back!

Banner on Board (Now)

Banner is on board the SHSU campus! Three town hall meetings were held in June to cover the basics of Banner to those on campus who may not be familiar with the project. The presentations provided an overview of:

what Banner is:

Banner is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, a fancy term for a software system that links several business components through a single shared data source. SHSU purchased several modules (software packages) including Finance, Student, Human Resources & Payroll, Enrollment Management and others, that will work together through one main database;

why SHSU needs an upgrade to our current administrative system:

Our current administrative system, comprised of highly customized programs on NELL and SamWeb (for example), has been seriously outgrown thanks to the growth at SHSU, and we need a system that can grow with us into the future as well as help link our departments for more efficient work flows;

who some of the teams are and what they’re working on:

Teams are working on each of the different components, from the main modules (Finance Team, HR/Payroll Team, Student Team, etc.), to defining data (Data Standards Committee), to the hardware and software needs (Technical Implementation Team). The teams are laying out the groundwork – working through the “how we do things” and the “how we want to do them in the future” – some processes will change, and some will not;

and where to go for more information: The Banner web site!

If you feel as if you have missed out, don’t worry. More Town Hall meetings will be scheduled in the late summer/early fall, after the fall 2009 semester settles down. We will repeat the Intro to Banner Town Hall meeting at some sessions for those who were unable to attend the June meetings, and also schedule new presentations to update the campus on the project status as of that time. We hope to update the campus quarterly through these town hall meetings.
Want to know more about Banner and what’s going on before the next town hall? The Banner web site currently hosts information on Banner training and meetings already held, minutes of the various team meetings, a complete list of the various team members, and future events. A newsletter, similar to this IR Update, is also in the works. And, if you find you have specific questions, suggestions, or requests for additional information, please e-mail BannerPM@shsu.edu.

Housekeeping of Software (09.01.2009)

Software which has been identified as out-of-date will be removed on the first day of our new fiscal year . Possible alternatives are listed where available. Please write the Helpdesk if you need assistance with determining an alternative.

What's Good, What's Not, & What's Happening When

All SHSU technological purchases should be processed through the Computer Services SamWeb Work Order system. The Helpdesk provides support for SHSU equipment and software on the local area network. Each month's update will include the versions of software and minimum requirements for hardware with the new or changed information highlighted and bolded.

Memory Sticks: Purchase (and encourage your students to buy) flash drives that are USB Mass Storage Compliant.

Floppy disks (3 1/2" or 5 1/4") should not be used as a storage device for University information.

Wireless peripherals such as mice and keyboards have proven problematic in the campus environment and should not be purchased and/or installed.

Operating Systems: The supported version of Macintosh machines is OS X, version 5. The supported version of Microsoft's operating system is Windows XP.

Software Packages: The supported versions of office suites are Microsoft's Office 2007. The new version of an office suite for Macintoshes is Microsoft Office 2008 and is being packaged for installation on campus machines.

Hardware Configurations:

The minimum requirements for the SHSU local area network support for a PC are a 2.5 GHz processor, 1.5 GB RAM, and an 80 GB disk, with 15 GB free. Our recommended configuration is a 3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB memory, and a 250 GB hard drive.

The minimum configuration for a Macintosh on the LAN is a 1.6GHz PowerPC single processor, 1GB RAM, and a 40GB hard drive.

Computer Services may schedule significant periods of downtime for major system upgrades and maintenance. For your planning purposes, the weekend following each graduation will be set aside for scheduled outages. Additionally, certain systems may be unavailable on Friday nights after 6 p.m. and on holidays. To permit patches and routine updates, managed Macintosh nodes may be automatically rebooted between Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday morning at 8 a.m. An outage is detailed above for Friday, July 24th, from 6 p.m. till 7 p.m. for select locations.

All offers, training, and software above pertain to faculty and staff at SHSU only. If you have any questions, compliments, comments, or concerns, please let us know.