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Annual Report 2002-2003

PrincetonUniversity

2002-2003 Annual Report Page 1

Office of Information Technology

Annual Report 2002-2003PrincetonUniversity


Produced by the staff of the Office of Information Technology.Office of Information Technology, 315 Nassau Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544.Copyright © 2003, Office of Information Technology, Princeton University. All rights reserved.Printed by the Office of Printing and Mailing, Princeton University.


Table of Contents

Letter from the Vice President .................................................................................... 5

OIT Mission and Goals .............................................................................................. 7

FY03 OIT Timeline ..................................................................................................... 8

OIT, FY03 by the Numbers ....................................................................................... 12

OIT Organization ...................................................................................................... 13

Committee on Academic Technology ....................................................................... 14

Research Computing Advisory Group ..................................................................... 16

Administrative Systems Planning Group .................................................................. 17

Project Managers Team ............................................................................................ 19

Academic Services ................................................................................................... 21

Administrative Information Services ........................................................................ 26

Enterprise Infrastructure Services ............................................................................ 29

Finance, Administration and Planning ..................................................................... 33

Support Services ...................................................................................................... 35

OIT in the News ....................................................................................................... 43


Letter from the Vice President

This annual report for FY 2003, OIT’s second full year, reviews the organization’scontinuing efforts to support the University’s information technology needs. In July2002, we consolidated OIT from nine to five departments, eliminating redundancies andclarifying roles and responsibilities. OIT now has a more logical reporting structure thatbrings together groups performing similar functions and focuses the organization onmeeting the needs of the University community.

During the past year, we have taken many additional steps to improve ourorganizational effectiveness. An OIT-wide focus on project planning and managementis improving our ability to successfully deliver projects. Our new Ambassador programis enhancing customer service and communication between OIT and the Universitycommunity. OIT has also formed eight cross-functional teams to manage cross-organizational efforts in academic technology, communications, disaster recovery,facilities and office management, IT architecture, project management, softwaremanagement, and training. With a focus on improving customer service, the teams havemade significant progress towards documenting current OIT products and services andidentifying and implementing improvements. One successful event planned by thecommunications cross-functional team this past year was the two-day InformationVillage Fair held in the Frist Campus Center.

A year of significant accomplishments

Throughout the year, OIT has worked hard to improve existing, and offer new,information technology services. In the area of academic computing, the BlackboardCourse Management System again provided a course web site for all courses atPrinceton. These course web sites now provide easy access to digitized video materialsas well as the Library’s electronic reserve material. And an expanded slate of specializedcourseware serve alumni and complement and supplement undergraduate courses.

This past year, the Research Computing Advisory Group (RCAG) facilitatedcollaboration between faculty and OIT and provided centralized research support.One of the results of this collaboration was the spring opening of a high-performance“Beowulf” cluster comprised of 32 personal computers connected with a high-speednetwork. OIT also created a new Humanities Computing Research support group tohelp faculty acquire, develop, and implement humanities-related research applications.

In response to a growing number of requests from customers, OIT expanded the hoursof operation of the Help Desk. The Help Desk is now open continuously from Sundayevening through Friday evening. Students, faculty and staff have immediate access totelephone and e-mail help during these expanded hours. Having OIT Help Desk staffonsite also means that they are available to provide proactive monitoring andcorrective action when the network or other systems falter.

We are sustaining our commitment to a world-class communications infrastructure. TheUniversity is now past the midway point of a multi-year, campus-wide upgrade to its datanetwork infrastructure. Significant enhancements during the summer included upgradingthe wiring and core electronics in five dormitories and nine other academic andadministrative buildings. The upgraded network will permit the University to implementnew, and improve existing, services.

Priorities Committee support enabled the hiring of a University IT Security Officer.Already in the first half year, this office has had a tremendous impact in disseminatinginformation about security and in coordinating campus security efforts. A secondtechnical position will soon permit more proactive security measures, includingintrusion detection and prevention. In this area, to assist users in updating old


passwords that are vulnerable to attack and simplify the many userID and passwordcombinations that users need to remember, OIT introduced a passwordsynchronization tool, P-synch. OIT also introduced a new “spam” filtering servicethat has helped more than 1,200 campus users to reduce the growing amount ofunwanted e-mail.

In the area of administrative computing, the Administrative Systems Planning Group(ASPG) tracked the progress of projects on the FY03 project slate, especially thePeopleSoft upgrade projects, and reviewed and endorsed ten off-cycle projectrequests. A new Senior Advisory Group on IT (SAGIT) was formed to advise theProvost on issues of funding related to projects endorsed by the ASPG. The ASPGendorsed a project slate for FY04, as well as key projects for FY05 and FY06. Input tothe FY04 planning process included the results of a departmental shadow systemsanalysis, feedback from departmental focus group sessions, gaps identified duringthe Financials, Human Resources, and Student Administration standard businessmodel process, and proposals for new functionality submitted by departments.

Continuing to serve

We will continue to look for ways to promote further organizational flexibility, tofacilitate meaningful and continuing communication, to improve the delivery of ITservices, and to ease customer interactions with our staff. I am especially grateful tothe OIT staff, a group of hardworking, extremely knowledgeable individuals who arededicated to providing the best possible information technology support to ourstudents, faculty, and staff.

Betty LeydonVice President for Information Technologyand Chief Information Officer


OIT Mission and Goals

The mission of OIT is to enable the effective use of information technology insupport of the University. In pursuit of this mission, OIT’s goals are to

• Deliver information technology products and services that meet the needs ofthe University community and achieve the highest levels of customersatisfaction;

• Support the use and development of information technology to enableinnovation in teaching, learning, research, and scholarship;

• Provide leadership in planning for the effective use of technology;

• Provide a robust, reliable, and secure information technology infrastructure;

• Attract, develop, and retain quality information technology professionals;

• Enable communication and collaboration among information technologyprofessionals and users of information technology at the University.


FY03 OIT Timeline

July, 2002

Beginning in July, OIT upgrades thewiring and core electronics in fivedormitories and nine academic andadministrative buildings. OIT alsoextends the data network to theapartments in the Hibben-Magiecomplex and installs new videotransmitting equipment in twelvecampus areas to support muchhigher-quality video transmissions.

OIT and the Office of Communica-tions implement an online calendarthat consolidates information aboutall public events. It is now easier tosee the schedule of all Universitypublic lectures and events.

The new Departmental ChargesSystem is used for the first time. Thisnew system provides a better way fordepartments to view their monthlyinter-departmental charges throughthe DataMall. In addition, the newsystem provides an easy-to-useinterface that permits any Universitydepartment to initiate an inter-departmental charge.

OIT adds server capacity to the TSMbackup system. After extensivetuning, load balancing, andoptimization, the service regularlybacks-up 7,000 machines nightly.

The Administrative SystemsPlanning Group (ASPG), whichprioritizes administrative systemneeds, finalizes the administrativesystems project slate for FY03. TheASPG also initiates a new process forrequesting OIT support foradministrative systems.

August, 2002

University students gain access tothe new Student Course OnlineRegistration Engine web site,SCORE. All current students can nowuse SCORE to verify and updateaddress, phone, and e-mailinformation; graduate students areable to complete their annualregistration process entirely online.

Early decision and regular applicantsto the Class of 2007 can apply onlinefor admission and financial aid via theweb for the first time.

University course web sites nowprovide access to the Library’selectronic reserve material.Blackboard, the infrastructure thatsupports web sites for all Universitycourses, also now supports theexchange of voice messages betweenstudents and instructors.

ETC announces its first “@princetonCoursewareTM,” a single lecture withmultimedia support. The lecture isFaustus Anatomized: The Magus inEarly Modern Europe, by ProfessorAnthony Grafton of the HistoryDepartment.

OIT completes a six month migrationto the latest version of “ActiveDirectory.” The major upgrade bringsthe University’s server infrastructureto the latest version. Departments cannow manage users and servers bythemselves. The upgrade alsoimproves University security andauthentication.

September, 2002

A new CD-ROM course for alumni,The Western Way of War, is shippedin the September 11 issue of thePrinceton Alumni Weekly to all 80,000Princeton alumni.

DEMAND, the web desktop forPrinceton University managers, isupdated to include new and enhanced“channels” (integrating administrativesystem access and business content)for serving the University’smanagement community.

In response to requests fromadministrative departments, OITpilots Exchange, an integratede-mail and calendaring service.

Media Services begins to provide anew portable video conferencingservice that can be brought into anyclassroom or office connected to thecampus network.

To help staff update their skills, OIToffers a series of training workshopsfeaturing Microsoft Office, Black-board, and web development tools.

University students begin to use theirUniversity ID Card to pay for goodsand services at participating areamerchants. The program, Paw Points,is managed jointly by OIT and DiningServices.

Lunch ’n Learn sessions include:“Getting started with Blackboard” and“Password security.”

OIT forms cross-functional teams tomanage cross-organizational effortsand to improve the delivery ofservices.


October, 2002

Since “going live” in June, 330proposals and 75 subcontracts havebeen entered into Coeus, theUniversity’s Grants Managementsoftware system.

OIT launches an improved Webmailsystem with new features and fasterperformance.

95% of Financial Aid applications and50% of Undergraduate Admissionsapplications are received via the newonline web system.

Gifts to Princeton, a publicationhonoring donors contributing $2,500or more, is generated electronicallyfrom the Development Office’sSTRIPES system for the first time. Theautomation saved Development staffmany days of hand editing, byproducing a mail-ready copy.

The University Register, a printpublication delivered to all facultyand professional staff, is generatedelectronically from the University’sCampus Community software system.The publication becomes much easierto assemble and much more accurateand consistent.

The Lunch ’n Learn series features“How I use Blackboard in myteaching,” “Teaching with the DigitalWall,” New online Library services,”and “Building PDF forms.”

OIT offers Geographic InformationSystem (GIS) training sessionsincluding presentations and hands-onexercises.

December, 2002

The Association of Chinese Scholarsand Students hosts an Aids WeekPhotography Exhibit on the FristDisplay Wall.

ETC completes an Audio Lecture foralumni: The Idea of Europe, by LionelGossman.

The Lunch ’n Learn series includes“Managing your dissertation withWord and Endnote,” and “LanguageResource Center overview.”

The Language Resource Center addsHebrew and Chinese to the existingsix cable channels.

it matters highlights new onlinelearning modules that help facultylearn about new features for addingcontent to Blackboard course websites.

For the first time, the Graduate Schoolsuccessfully completes processingfor graduation using PeopleSoftStudent Records.

Diebold Housing software isupgraded to include room drawfunctionality. Leveraging thisfunctionality and new online forms,students can now submit housingapplications through the web.

Development Advance issuccessfully upgraded to release 6.1and PowerBuilder 7.0. Manyenhancements deliver efficiencies andnew functionality in time for the peakgift processing period.

November, 2002

Most major lecture series are nowbeing recorded and disseminatedon the web. To facilitate the“webcasting” of University eventsand public lectures, OIT deployshigh-speed video networkinghardware in ten major Universityauditoria.

The new IT Security Officer begins acampus-wide effort to address ITSecurity. Early efforts include campuspresentations and the disseminationof information about safe practices.

“Photography Exhibit” (by MiriamRomais) appears on the Frist displaywall for Latino Heritage Week.

The completion of the final phase ofSCORE permits all students for thefirst time to enroll in courses usingthe web.

OIT introduces a “spam” filteringservice that reaches 1,250 campususers by the end of the year.

The Lunch ’n Learn series features“Keeping track of events,” “Usingdigital images in the classroom,”and “Web page design.”

Institutions of higher education arerequired to track foreign studentstatus and regularly report changesto the INS. fsaAtlas software issuccessfully installed to achievecompliance.

ETC releases Tchaikovsky and theWest, an illustrated online lectureabout the Russian composer.The lecture can be viewed at theTigernet Education page: http://tigernet.princeton.edu/education


January, 2003

OIT completes two projects forthe Japanese language faculty:1) Chunking Exercises is a set ofinteractive programs that exploreJapanese sentence structures;2) The Nakama Video Project is acollection of cultural video segmentsphotographed on site last summer inJapan.

The Lunch ’n Learn series features“Geographical Information Systems”and “Basic course web site design.”

it matters publishes a special issueon passwords and passwordmanagement.

OIT launches the first phase of anAmbassador program to improvecommunications and customer servicebetween OIT and the Universitycommunity. Under the new program,an OIT representative is assigned to aspecific academic or administrativedepartment to provide updates onOIT services and to act as thatdepartment’s liaison with OIT.

OIT rolls out an improved versionof the Faculty Voting application. Anumber of successful elections areheld including a demonstrationelection in March at the InformationVillage Fair.

Princeton Project Office introduces anew “lite version” of the PrincetonProject Management Methodology tomore effectively manage small tomedium-size IT projects. Templatesfor a project “snapshot” describingkey project planning componentsand a color-coded status reporthighlighting the status of a projectwere developed.

February, 2003

The Dante database receives a majorupdate including new images andProfessor Robert Hollander’s recenttranslation of “The Purgatory.”

ETC collaborates with the PrincetonUniversity Art Museum for theexhibition, “The Art of StructuralDesign: A Swiss Legacy,” curated byProfessor David Billington. ETCprovides graphic design and thedesign and implementation of theexhibition web site. The exhibition isbased on forty-five years of ProfessorBillington’s research. The exhibitionalso pays tribute to ProfessorBillington’s popular undergraduatecourse, CEE262 “Structures and theUrban Environment,” which he hasoffered at Princeton since 1974. Theexhibition web site can be seen at:http://www.princetonartmuseum.org/Bridges/

OIT creates a new group, HumanitiesComputing Research Support, to helpfaculty acquire, develop, andimplement humanities softwareapplications.

The Administrative Systems PlanningGroup approves the new CentralizedTicketing system, using Tickets.com.Initial users will be Athletics, theConcert Office, Frist Campus Center,Richardson Auditorium, TheatreIntime, and Theater and Dance.

Following the successful completionof an Exchange pilot, OIT offersintegrated e-mail and calendaringservices to departments. By the endof the year, 350 users in sixdepartments are using the service.

The Lunch ’n Learn series features“So many databases, so little time,”and “Finding things on the web.”

March, 2003

ETC offers audio-only versions of itspopular computer-based CD-ROM“@princetonCoursewareTM” for userswho want to listen to lectures in theircar stereos or on portable audiodevices.

More than 1,000 staff, students, andfaculty attend an Information VillageFair at the Frist Campus Center. Thetwo-day fair contains more than fiftydisplays of information technologyfrom OIT, the Library, the Office ofthe Dean of Faculty, Purchasing,Facilities, and the UndergraduateStudent Government.

To identify continuous improvementefforts for administrative systems,OIT completes a series of focusgroups with departmental managersin three key administrative areas –managing the academic program,managing people, and managingbusiness and finance. In addition,a targeted effort to identifydepartmental shadow systems isperformed.

After consolidating input fromacademic departments, OIT developsa set of recommendations to eliminatemany of 165 departmental shadowsystems by integrating thosefunctions into existing centralsystems.

To support a new governmentreporting requirement, a Conflict ofInterest subsystem in the Coeusgrants management system isimplemented.

The Lunch ’n Learn series features“PDAs and other handy things,”“Classroom technologies,” and “OITsupport for research computing.”


April, 2003

ETC unveils A CollegelandCatechism, an online, interactive,celebratory study of a poem from“Moy Sand and Gravel” for whichProfessor Paul Muldoon won the 2003Pulitzer Prize. The software exploresthe poem’s meaning and structure.

OIT makes available a high-performance computer system forresearch computing. Built inpartnership with Dell ComputerCorporation, this “Beowulf cluster”contains 32 off-the-shelf personalcomputers connected by a high-speed network. The setup offersmany benefits of custom-designedscientific supercomputers at afraction of the cost.

A new, improved ordering process forfaculty computers is introduced.Faculty can now order directly fromvendors and record-keeping isautomated.

Development Advance WebCommunity for online giving isimplemented. Credit card gifts cannow be made through the web.

Phase One of EZ Communications isimplemented. EZ Communications isan easy-to-use web application toassist department managers with bothday-to-day and emergencycommunications.

The Lunch ’n Learn series features“The OIT Help DeskKnowledgeBase,” “The WirelessClassroom,” and “It’s not yourGrandma’s Blackboard.”

May, 2003

ETC completes Ethical Dimensionsof Scientific Progress, an onlinelecture by Professor Harold T.Shapiro. The lecture focuses on someof the most pressing ethical andsocial tensions that haveaccompanied recent scientificprogress.

OIT sponsors a lecture, “MakingOne’s Mark in the Post GutenbergWorld: How to Enhance ResearchImpact Through Self-Archiving” byStevan Harnad.

Lunch ’n Learn presents“DBToolBox,” “Securing yourpersonal computer,” and “Theanatomy of a data-driven webapplication.”

Development Advance is nowintegrated with Events Management.Front-line fundraisers can now accesscurrent prospect participationinformation for upcoming Princetonevents.

The new Intellectual Property system(Inteum) is implemented. The Inteumsystem, replacing DEALS, providesproactive management of intellectualproperty and technology licensing.

After months of evaluation andconsulation with key Universitygroups, the OIT Software Task Forcerecommends that Internet Explorerand Outlook XP replace Netscape asthe standard University web browserand e-mail client.

June, 2003

OIT runs “Web Studio,” a summerseminar devoted to teachingadvanced graduate studentsinnovative uses of technology inresearch and teaching. Each studentprepares an online portfolio,consisting of home page, resume,web site for an undergraduatecourse, and a set of digital resourcesin the area of research interest.

DEMAND, the web desktop forPrinceton University managers, isupgraded to the uPortal 2.1.2framework. This new frameworkprovides users the flexibility topersonalize the channels most oftenaccessed. In addition, the standardbusiness models for financial, humanresource and student administrationprocesses are now available throughDEMAND.

Time Collection reporting is nowavailable through the Data Mallincluding 17 new reports, 11 newqueries and helpful data definitions,to assist departmental managers inmonitoring their employees’ time.

OIT migrates department file servicesto a new Windows 2000 server. Theconsolidation of servers simplifiesdocument sharing among Universitydepartments. Departments experiencefaster file access and greatly improvedperformance, but no changes in howthey access their files.


OIT, FY03 by the Numbers

1,000,000,000,000 Bytes of disk storage maintained to serve University databases

70,000,000 Bits per second capacity over the University’s commodity Internet connection

32,266,247 “Hits” on the OIT Help Desk web site representing 2,924,317 visits

21,862,330 Total telephone calls, more than in many small cities

18,100,000 Copies on University photocopy machines

6,511,370 Pages printed on the printers in the public computer clusters

702,590 Log-ins to the computers in the University public computer clusters

310,000 Dollars in software sales to departments, faculty, students, and staff

256,609 People who used the OIT kiosks at the Frist Campus Center

200,000 E-mail messages delivered daily to individuals and organizations

167,000 Dollars saved by consolidating the University’s PeopleSoft contract

100,000 Spam e-mail messages filtered every day

72,000 Dollars spent through new Paw Points e-commerce program

70,000 E-mail messages sent from Princeton each day

66,222 Requests for assistance addressed by the OIT Help Desk

18,000 IMAP e-mail accounts

14,000 Voice mailboxes in service

9,579 Journal vouchers generated electronically through the new departmental charging system

7,748 Academic and administrative telephone lines

7,300 Requests for assistance from Hardware and Software support

7,000 Campus computers backed up nightly

5,769 Visits to the Language Resource Center

3,000 New electronic lists created

2,325 Videos in the University’s video collection

2,100 Fax jobs handled by the revised FAX Gateway service

1,983 Requests for support addressed by Residential Computing Consultants

1,991 Graduate students using SCORE to register online thereby avoiding long lines at Dillon

1,846 Administrative production jobs monitored by the Tivoli Workload Scheduler

1,250 People using the spam filter since its November introduction

1,235 Computers sold through the University’s Student Computer Initiative

1,200 Attendees at the two-day OIT Information Village Fair held in the Frist Campus Center

1,119 Subscribers to Dormnet video

906 Videos placed on reserve by faculty

500 Members of the University community attending OIT’s Lunch ’n Learn series

400 University courses with Blackboard web sites

350 Users in six departments using OIT’s integrated e-mail and calendaring service, Exchange and Outlook

330 Computers available to undergraduates and graduate students in the computer clusters

200 Unix servers supporting University business and academic applications

175 Hosts (and 30 web sites) proactively monitored by Tivoli system monitoring software

70 Faculty in-office visits from trained graduate students

32 High performance computers in the new Beowulf supercomputer cluster

14 Online surveys developed for University departments

7 Cents per minute for domestic long distance service, the Ivy League’s lowest rate

0.00004 Percent downtime on the University telephone system

0 The cost for attending OIT training courses


Office of Information Technology - August 2003

Betty LeydonVice President for

Information Technologyand CIO

Robin FiglerskiExecutive Assistant

Andy RosenauAssistant to the VPfor Special Projects

Dave HerringtonSenior Associate

Janet TemosEducational

Technologies Center

Marianne CrusiusLanguage

Resource Center

Don AlburyMedia Services

David HopkinsNew Media Center

Curt HillegasResearch & AcademicApplications Support

Raf AlvaradoHumanities Research

Computing

Serge GoldsteinDirector

Academic Services

Russell WellsPackaged

Software Solutions

Patty GertzCustom

Software Solutions

Ted BrossData Warehousing

and Integration

Kim HoeritzStudent Systems

Colin CurrieDirector

Administrative InformationServices

Andy RosenauAdministrative Services

Elisabeth Dahlen Budget & Finance

Jon EdwardsCommunications

Hetty BaizProject Office

Laura StricklerProject Office/Training

Janice GuarnieriTraining

Nancy CostaDirector

Finance, Administration& Planning

Donna TatroCollaboration

& Systems Services

Lee VarianIT Architecture

Chuck AugustineSystems & DataMgmt. Services

Lorene LavoraWeb Services

Daniel OberstDirector

Enterprise InfrastructureServices

Dave MorrealeDesktop Computing

Support

Evelyne RoachDistributed

Computing Support

Jen WhitingCustomer Service

Peter OlenickNetworking

Rita SaltzIT Policy

Rebecca GoodmanSoftware Services

Leila ShahbenderStudent Computing

Services

Frank FerraraTelecommunications

Steven SatherDirector

Support Services


Committee on Academic Technology

With the advent of the World Wide Web and the increasing use of digital materialsand other information technologies in research, teaching, and learning, there is agrowing need to ensure that appropriate technologies are available on campus.

The Committee on Academic Technology (CAT) facilitates the communication andcollaboration between IT providers and the offices at the University most directlyresponsible for the curriculum. The specific charge of the committee is to:

• Serve as an informational clearing house, so that those responsible fortechnology and those responsible for the curriculum are well-informed ofeach other’s initiatives;

• Develop new initiatives that may enhance the curriculum throughinformation technology;

• Help in evaluating IT initiatives from community members which affect thecurriculum, and prioritizing the distribution of resources;

• Take leadership in assuring that the use of academic technologies in thecurriculum receives appropriate assessment, both evaluative and formative.

FY03 was the first full year of CAT’s operation. The committee met four times, inSeptember, December, February, and April.

During FY03, members of the CAT were:

Serge Goldstein, OIT Academic ServicesJanet Temos, OIT Educational Technologies CenterHank Dobin, Dean of the CollegeLin Ferrand, Dean of the FacultyLorraine Sciarra, General CounselDavid Redman, Graduate SchoolJane Bryan, LibraryLinda Hodges, McGraw Center for Teaching and LearningJed Marsh, Provost’s Office


Highlights

Course Management SystemsCAT reviewed Princeton’s use of Blackboard, its currentcourse management system, and considered options forthe future. CAT approved the Blackboard 6 upgrade forthe Fall 2003 semester and recommended continuing withBlackboard through FY03 after which further reviews willbe undertaken.

Classroom VideotapingCAT reviewed and approved the videotaping of classroomsessions of MAT 103, and developed a policy governingfuture recordings.

Bandwidth Management ProposalCAT reviewed and approved OIT’s proposal to limitDormnet bandwidth and to manage that bandwidth in away that supports legitimate use of the campus network.

Bibliographic SoftwareCAT launched a pilot project to compare variousbibliographic software offerings.

Mellon Planning GrantCAT monitored progress on the Planning Grant from theAndrew W. Mellon Foundation to examine possible usesof video in University classrooms, and helped develop afinal report.

Academic IT Strategic PlanningCAT reviewed OIT’s proposal for Academic Technology’sStrategic Planning and made a number of recommendations.CAT agreed to serve as a focus group for the effort in thefall of 2003.


Research Computing Advisory Group

The Research Computing Advisory Group (RCAG) advises and collaborates withOIT on matters related to research computing at the University. The specific chargeof this group is to:

• Advise OIT on the research computing needs of academic departments;• Collaborate with OIT on various projects related to research computing;• Advise OIT on the software needs for research computing.

During FY03, members of the RCAG were:

Curt Hillegas, OIT Academic ServicesMary Lynn Baeck, Civil and Environmental Engineering staffPeter Bunge, Geosciences facultyRoberto Car, Chemistry facultyBruce Draine, Astrophysics facultyBjorn Enquist, Applied and Computational Mathematics facultyHank Farber, Economics facultySal Fattoross, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology staffSerge Goldstein, OIT, Director of Academic ServicesDaniel Marlow, Physics facultyPino Martin, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering facultyJosko Plazonic, Math staffJim Roberts, Computer Science staffDaniel Trueman, Music facultyChris Tully, Physics facultyDoug Welsh, Molecular Biology staffBill Wichser, Princeton Materials Institute staff

Highlights

High-performance computingOIT’s acquisition and deployment of a 32 node, 64 processor Beowulf cluster andthe deployment of a 50 processor Condor pool helps to address the need for high-performance computing.

Linux supportEfforts are underway to establish a Princeton Linux Users Group, to workcollaboratively to provide a Linux update service, and to coordinate OIT’s existingweb-based Linux documentation.

Princeton Software RepositoryA sub-group completed a charter for the Princeton Software Repository, and OIT hasnow completed a functional design. The core service is scheduled for deployment inSeptember 2003.


Administrative Systems Planning Group

The Administrative Systems Planning Group (ASPG) critically assessesadministrative systems efforts, determines existing needs, and identifies keyopportunities to build on our administrative systems investments. The specificcharge of this group is to:

• Evaluate current administrative systems, identify gaps and needs, anddetermine the steady-state costs of maintaining current administrativesystems;

• Assure that the University’s administrative systems meet the needs offaculty, staff, and students;

• Recommend the appropriate distribution of resources for new maintenance,upgrades, and development efforts that will enhance the University’ssystems;

• Create a strategic plan to guide administrative activities for the next fiveyears.

During FY03, members of the ASPG were:

Janet Dickerson, Vice President for Campus LifeKathleen DiMeglio for the Academic Managers GroupRobert Durkee, Vice President for Public AffairsJoseph Greenberg, RegistrarBen Hammond for Charles Kalmbach, Senior Vice President for AdministrationNancy Malkiel, Dean of the CollegeJed Marsh, Associate ProvostChristopher McCrudden, TreasurerJulie Shadle for Brian McDonald, Vice President for DevelopmentGreg Bressler for Mike McKay, Acting VP of FacilitiesSandra Mawhinney for William Russel, Dean of the Graduate SchoolKris Miller for Joseph Taylor, Dean of the FacultyDan Scheiner for Maureen Nash, VP Human ResourcesKarin Trainer, University Librarian

Ex-officio:Hetty Baiz, Project Office Manager, Planning CoordinatorNancy Costa, Director, OIT Finance, Administration and PlanningBetty Leydon, Vice President for Information Technology


Highlights

Project slateThe ASPG monitored the progress of the FY03 administrativesystems project slate, with particular focus on the PeopleSoft8.0 upgrades for Financials, Human Resources and StudentAdministration.

The ASPG reviewed 10 off-cycle projects during the year asdetailed below:

Request Sponsor Status

EZ Communication – Phase I Chris McCrudden Completed in FY03

Distributed Access of GS Student Records William Russel Completed in FY03

GS Readmission William Russel To be implemented in FY04

GS Web Admissions Application William Russel Postponed

Encumbrances Reporting on the Data Mall Chris McCrudden To be implemented in FY04

Undergraduate Student Registration Joe Greenberg To be implemented in FY04

NCAA Compliance Janet Dickerson To be implemented in FY04

e-Benefits Charles Kalmbach Planned for FY04

Centralized Ticketing System Janet Dickerson To be implemented in FY04

Content Management System Robert Durkee To be implemented in FY04

Planning processThe ASPG approved a project planning process foradministrative IT projects. Recognizing the importance ofidentifying gaps in functionality, opportunities for processimprovement, and requirements for new capabilities in alldepartments, the process included an analysis of academicdepartment shadow systems, an analysis of projectproposals, and feedback from department focus groupsessions.

Based on the project planning process, the ASPGendorsed an FY04 administrative systems project slate, aswell as future projects through FY06. In order to assessfunding required, the Provost created the Senior AdvisoryGroup for IT (SAGIT) comprised of the Provost, CIO, Deanof Faculty, Treasurer, and Senior VP for Administration.


Project Managers Team

The Project Managers Team (PMT) provides leadership and guidance on thedelivery of administrative products and services and continues to support theapplication and data management principles established under Partnership 2000.The PMT acts as the “working group” in support of the efforts of the AdministrativeSystems Planning Group (ASPG).

Specific objectives include:• To identify, assess, and prioritize mandatory maintenance (regulatory

updates, software upgrades, service packs) and enhancements (to fill gapsin current functionality and/or deliver new functionality) to administrativesystems;

• To coordinate administrative requirements across offices and departments;• To facilitate activities that foster the improved use of administrative

products and services at the University;• To achieve the highest level of customer satisfaction in meeting the needs

of the University community.

During FY03, PMT members were:

Nancy Costa, OIT Finance, Administration, and PlanningMarvin Bielawski, LibraryMaria Bizzarri, Campus ReceivablesGreg Bressler, FacilitiesTed Bross, OIT Data Integration ServicesMichelle Christy, Sponsored ResearchDavid Etherton, OIT Departmental SystemsChar Ewan, OIT Project CoordinationPatty Gertz, OIT Administrative Systems IntegrationKim Hoeritz, OIT Student AdministrationCraig Richmond, University FinancialsVikki Ridge, Human ResourcesJulie Shadle, Development and Alumni CouncilLee Varian, OIT IT ArchitectureRussell Wells, OIT Administrative Applications Support


Highlights

Throughout the year, the PMT coordinated thedeployment of new administrative system capabilities.

Shadow systemsPMT members consolidated input received from theacademic departments on their departmental shadowsystems and developed a set of preliminaryrecommendations that would eliminate many of thesesystems. The team identified 165 shadow systems with thefollowing distribution: 59 related to academic programs, 39related to finance and grants management, 24 related tofacilities and equipment, 22 related to employeeinformation, 15 related to alumni, 6 related to events andmeetings.

Focus groupsPMT members conducted a series of focus groups withdepartment managers in three key administrative areas:managing the academic program, managing people, andmanaging business and finance. All academic managersand key administrative managers were invited to attendthese sessions. Each group developed and prioritized, alist of projects: 23 related to managing people, 19 relatedto business and finance,13 related to managing theacademic program.

Project proposalsIn collaboration with all administrative offices andacademic departments, PMT members assembled acomprehensive list of project proposals that identifymandatory maintenance required, process improvement(from the shadow systems analysis, focus group sessionsand standard business models) and opportunities forenhancements and deploying new administrative systemscapabilities.


Academic Services

Academic Services supports the use of information technology in teaching andresearch at Princeton. Academic Services brings together within a single OITdepartment those units and staff members who are primarily involved with supportof academic computing.

Within Academic Services, the Education Technologies Center (ETC) supports theuse of instructional technology to create learning modules and other computer-based teaching resources, including course web pages and learning modules for usein Princeton courses and for Princeton alumni. Media Services supports the use ofinstructional technology (audio, video, overheads, slides, computer-basedpresentations) in the classroom. The Language Resource Center supports the use ofinstructional technology in language courses and manages the University’s videocollection and its digitized video server. The New Media Center runs a laboratorythat makes sophisticated instructional technology hardware and software availablefor student and faculty use. Research and Academic Applications Support assistsuse of information technology in science and engineering research, including theoperation of a Beowulf computing cluster. Humanities Computing Research Supportassists the use of information technology to further humanities and social scienceresearch.

Highlights

Enhanced Support for Research ComputingThe creation of the Research Computing Advisory Group (RCAG) has facilitatedcollaboration between faculty and OIT on research computing needs and has createda solid foundation on which OIT can build centralized research support. This groupheld monthly meetings during the academic year gaining active participation fromfaculty and IT staff in the science and engineering departments. OIT also created anew group, Humanities Computing Research Support, to help faculty acquire,develop, and implement humanities applications.

In support of teaching and research, OIT opened a high-performance computercluster in June, 2003. Built in partnership with Dell Computer Corporation, this“Beowulf cluster” contains 32 off-the-shelf personal computers connected with ahigh-speed network. The setup offers many benefits of custom-designed scientificsupercomputers at a fraction of the cost. The initiative, which grew out ofrecommendations of the Research Computing Advisory Group, serves those facultyand students who need to run computationally intensive programs, offering highperformance computing cycles that may not otherwise be available. The cluster isalso used as a teaching tool on which students can develop skills in parallelprogramming. Researchers considering the purchase of high-performance computingsystems can also use the cluster as a prototyping and development tool.

Courseware and programming supportIn addition to the use of Blackboard in more than 400 University courses, newspecialized ETC-developed courseware efforts include The Western Way of WarProfessor (Miguel A. Centeno), Tchaikovsky and the West (Caryl Emerson), TheIdea of Europe (Lionel Gossman), Faustus Anatomized (Anthony Grafton), EthicalDimensions of Scientific Progress (Harold Shapiro), Game Theory (Avinash Dixit),and A Collegelands Catechism (Paul Muldoon). Alumni are the main audience, butthese lectures are also used to complement and supplement undergraduate courses.


Enhancements to the Almagest slide/image softwareimproved the user interface and enhanced media andmulti-language font support. Staff implemented a FacultyVoting system. The Language Resource Center (LRC)added two new foreign language program channels(Hebrew and Chinese) to the seven existing foreignlanguage stations – Arabic, French, German, Italian,Japanese, Russian, and Spanish – already broadcast overTigerTV. For the third straight year, the Blackboard CourseManagement System provided a course web site for allcourses at Princeton. Blackboard now supports theexchange of voice messages between students andinstructors. The Blackboard course web sites provideaccess to all such digitized video materials as well as theLibrary’s electronic reserve material.

Planning Grant from the Andrew W. MellonFoundationIn February of 2002, the University received a planninggrant of $25,500 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundationto explore ways in which the University might usedigitized video and audio to enhance teaching andlearning, both at Princeton and beyond. This processculminated with the submission of a final report to theFoundation in April 2003. The planning process identifieda number of exciting initiatives, but none that Mellonappears willing to support.

Training ProgramsAcademic Services continues to train faculty and studentsin the use of course-related software and help the campuscommunity become more familiar and comfortable withtechnology. In the faculty office visit program, trainedgraduate students conduct one-on-one training sessionswith faculty. The program continued to be successful withmore than 70 office visits during the year. In addition, OIThas developed a set of streaming-video training modulesthat demonstrate basic, frequently performed tasks, lettingviewers learn at their own computer. Faculty can viewthese training videos in their offices or from home.

Academic Services updated its training workshops for thespring term, dividing them into beginner and advancedlevels to reflect better the increased complexity of newerversions of Blackboard, and to account for differences inuse: beginner sessions focused on building courses whileadvanced sessions taught co urse management features likethe gradebook, groups, assessments, and question pools.

OIT has also expanded the number of its other trainingprograms and sessions. The ETC offered new “Teachingwith Technology” sessions. Training in the use of theUniversity’s Almagest slide/image software was added tothis program. OIT offered new classes on using the FristDisplay Wall in teaching and assisted Civil Engineering inthe teaching of the first for-credit GIS (GeographicInformation System) course.

Lunch ’n Learn brownbag seminarsIn the “Lunch ’n Learn” series, more than 500 members ofthe University community attended 25 technology-relatedlectures on practical know-how and the basics of commonsoftware packages, password security, building PDF forms,managing dissertations with Word and Endnote, searchingthe web, securing personal computers. Sessions oninstructional technology using the web, like the GISsystems and WebStudio, were the most popular.

Feedback submitted to our online feedback form shows thatour attendees appreciated practical topics on everydaycomputer use presented in a straight-forward fashion.

Language Resource Center

The Language Resource Center (LRC) supports the useof audio, video, and multimedia materials for specificassignments and for self-directed foreign language study.LRC runs the central language support laboratory andmanages the University’s collection of video materials(DVD, CD, tape) and the University’s central digitizedvideo server.

Yearly activityDuring FY02, the LRC recorded 5,769 visits, 2,641 in the falland 3,128 in the spring. Videos (including DVDs and laserdiscs) were checked out 1,000 times in the fall and 1,200times in the spring.

New locationA new location in East Pyne is being readied for the LRC forthe fall of 2003. LRC staff have been involved in planningthe new facility and met frequently with the architects andAV consultants. The new resource center will include twofilm-viewing rooms for small groups and an electronic smartclassroom.

Language EnrollmentFor the last three years, the overall enrollment inintroductory level language classes has remained fairlyconstant at approximately 2,000 students. The enrollmentsin French and German have decreased by 9% and 22%respectively, but the numbers for Arabic have increased by66%. The number of students studying Spanish, by far themost popular language for the last decade, rose 5% to 808.506 students were enrolled in upper-level languagecourses. The 33 non-language courses using the digitizedvideo server had an enrollment of 1,128 students.

AudioLRC staff digitized and placed online new audio materialsfor six textbooks. During FY03, the number of studentschecking out analog copies decreased by 25% to 45. Withthe move to the new location in East Pyne in fall 2003, theLRC will discontinue the take home service.


Video LibraryThe use of video continues to increase and theUniversity’s video collection is growing rapidly as moreand more faculty become aware of Firestone Library’svideo acquisition policy. During the year, the number ofvideos in the collection increased by 555 and DVDs by 127bringing the totals to 2,325 and 162 respectively. The laserdisc collection remains at 205.

During FY03, faculty increased the number of videos onreserve by 45% to 906. Owing in part to a more liberalcirculation policy in Firestone Library, the number ofvideos checked out rose by 60% to 1,608. During thesummer of 2001, the University merged LRC video listingswith the holdings in Firestone Library. As a result, patronsare now able to search the entire collection moreefficiently. The LRC now has the Voyager cataloging andcirculation software.

Distributed Media Centers (Digitized VideoServer)The Distributed Media Centers are specialized computingclusters that provide high speed access to CD-qualityaudio and video material stored on a central video server.The availability of such facilities in the ResidentialColleges have permitted faculty to accelerate theintegration of video materials into the curriculum. Thecenters will permit students to view very high qualityvideo (DVD) on demand, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week.

In the fall semester, in addition to 16 language classes, 15non-language courses (748 students enrolled) accessed 92videos (up from 45 last fall) on the server. During thespring, 8 language courses and 18 non-language courses(380 students enrolled) viewed 104 videos. The serversupported more than 3,200 accesses, 1,161 from stations inthe LRC and more than 2,000 from remote locations.

New Media Center (NMC)

The New Media Center offers walk-in support forstudents, faculty, and staff interested in integrating newmedia capabilities into their University work. Staffmembers assist customers who are interested in workingwith sophisticated computer and audio-visual equipmentand the associated software. Major activities include thecreation of multi-media web pages, the digitization of text,images and video, the production of short videosegments, the creation of media-rich printed graphics, andthe use of CD-based resources.

In part as a result of extending its hours of operationduring the school year until 7:00 pm, the NMC experienceda large increase in visitors from 1,047 last year to 1,819 thisyear. The following chart illustrates the range of activitiesat the center.

Media Conversion ProjectsNMC staff worked with the Alumni Council on transferringseveral hours of analog and digital audio tape to CD. NMCstaff assisted the Politics department to log 504 hours ofnetwork television. The study involved documentingevery political commercial and candidate interview. Staffused Virage software to log the time, date, candidate’sname and number of times each commercial appeared.

Video StreamingMedia Services videotaped every class in Math 101 andMath Alive. NMC staff assisted in shooting the reviewsessions and then encoding the files for streaming. Thefiles were uploaded to the server for students to accessvia Blackboard. NMC staff streamed a rescheduled classof Psychology Prof. Adam Elga to assist students whootherwise would not have been able to attend.

NMC was part of the first joint effort involving ETC,Media Services, and the NMC. Media Services shot thevideo of the bridges and interviews. The NMC staffdirected, edited, and streamed interviews with Prof.Billington and his students after they had built scaledmodels of world renowned bridges. The videos were partof a showing in the University Art Museum and theBridges web site created by ETC.

Staff also edited and streamed President Tilghman’s Classof 2006 and 2007 “Q&A with the President” video.

Video production and photo projectsThe NMC staff produced a DVD that will accompany abook written by Prof. Silbergeld on Chinese films. TheDVD includes text, video, and still images. Staff alsoassisted English Prof. Mark Hansen on a video project insupport of his teaching.

NMC Staff were involved in numerous administrativevideo production efforts, including a SHARE-sponsoreddocumentary on Alcohol abuse on the Princeton campusand an MAE promotional video for perspective graduatestudents. Staff also assisted the HR department in severalvideo projects including: University Picnic, History ofPrinceton, and Facilities Department Appreciation video.

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Total number of Vistiors 1819Total Number of Activities: 1856


NMC Staff also prepared photographs and collages for theOffice of Human Resources. The photo gallery featuresUniversity buildings and employees and is now hangingin the HR lobby in 1 New South.

Administrative application supportStaff assisted the Graduate College in setting up aDBToolbox application for fellowship application forms.Two related paper forms were also converted to the weband collected automatically in a database.

Staff also assisted the webmaster of the undergraduatesenior class in setting up a web form, DBToolboxconnections, and a database for Class of 2003 voting. Theclass completed two rounds of secured voting using thesystem.

Education Series WorkshopsNMC staff, and undergraduate, and graduate studentinstructors, taught workshops tailored to reflect clientneeds. Dreamweaver workshops were full-blown webdesign workshops. There were also classes on writingbasic HTML, using Flash and Photoshop, usingstylesheets, and creating rollovers using ImageReady.

NMC staff worked with Instructor Donna Liu to train herclass of 20 students on using Final Cut Pro. All of thestudents worked in the NMC throughout the semester toproduce their final projects. NMC staff also trained the 120students in Politics 230 to use Dreamweaver.

Research and AcademicApplications Support

Research and Academic Applications Support assists theuse of computational resources for research and teachingin the sciences and engineering as well as supporting anexisting array of applications for teaching and research.

BeowulfThe new Beowulf cluster, which is available for teaching,prototyping, and research, was put into full production inJune of 2003. The largest challenge with this project wasre-configuring the software on the system toaccommodate the needs of the research community.

Princeton Software Repository (PSR)In planning for more than two years, PSR is a robust,maintainable replacement for /usr/princeton. During FY03,a subcommittee of RCAG helped to develop a design forPSR. RCAG approved a high level design. Using thePrinceton Project Office project management methodology,the group now has a full project initiation plan andfunctional design for the software repository anddevelopment is underway.

Support for research applicationsStaff moved the Psychology Experiment Registrationapplication from a Windows NT office machine to aWindows 2000 server maintained by OIT. Staff are alsoworking with the Psychology Department to develop aweb-based application to create and perform ImplicitAssociation Testing experiments.

CONDORDeveloped by the University of Wisconsin, CONDORpermits use of spare machine cycles in support of researchactivities. Staff implemented a condor pool ofapproximately 25 Sun Solaris systems providing a total ofmore than 50 cpu’s. The continuous usage of this poolnow takes advantage of most of the spare cycles availableon the Arizona and Sun Unix cluster systems.

Faculty VotingIn November, staff rolled out an improved version of theFaculty Voting application. A number of successfulelections were held including a demonstration election atthe Information Village Fair.

Media Services

Media Services provides equipment, technical support,and information to members of the University communitywho wish to use audio, video, and computing technologies intheir teaching, learning, research, and public outreach.

Pilot Student Classroom Support ProjectFour students (each providing 20 hours a week) regularlycheck on media equipment in the increasing number ofUniversity media-equipped classrooms. 480 student hourswere logged in this non-cost recovery endeavor.

Event CoverageAlumni Services continued to provide media support fornumerous non-course related events such as Alumni Day,Freshman Parents Day, Reunions, Baccalaureate, GraduateHooding Ceremonies, and Commencement. MediaServices also provides such services for many publicevents, including the University public lecture series, thePresident’s Lecture series, the Louis Clark Vanuxem lectureseries, the Stafford Little lecture series, the Scribner series,and the James Madison Program in American Ideals.

VideotapingMedia Services provided video recording services for twocourses: MAT 103 in the fall term and MAT 199 in spring2003. Video recordings were also done for classes in EEB211, McGraw Center’s Master Teaching program, andguest lecturers in ORF 492. Media Services provided in-room operators for 643 course events, and 311 non-courseevents, and a total of 3,214 event setups, operations, andpickups.


Staff provided Digital DVCAM, BetacamSP, and SVHSmastering of various venues including speeches by JohnDilulio, Humanities Council’s Time Seminar Series, GeorgeSchultz, David Denby, John Horner, Ziba Mir Hosseini,Vincent Poor, Judge Bork, Steven Forbes, BernardWilliams, Jared Diamond, Charles Falco, OIT’s sponsoredCommon Solutions Group Workshop, the PrincetonColloquium on Morality and International Affairs, withKeynotes by Ambassador Dennis Ross and J. BryonHehir.

35mm ProjectionMedia Services staff provided on-going support forcourse related 35MM projection at the Jimmy StewartTheater and McCormick 101. Media Services providedboth 35MM and 16MM projection services for filmcourses such as REL 222, VIS 342 and 343, ITA 310,WOM 306, and festivals showing multiple films.

Consulting ServicesMedia Services provided consultation on the design andinstallation of data projection systems in 22 teaching areas.New multimedia systems were engineered and installed in theCarl Icahn Laboratory. New installations are scheduled forthe Humanities Center and Marquand Library.

Satellite TV ServicesSatellite television services continue to provide access toforeign language programming on two dedicated channelson the University’s cable television system. In addition,Media Services downlinked 4 special teleconferences and197 videoconferences in the new Wallace and Friendvideoconference seminar rooms.


Administrative Information Services

Administrative Information Systems (AIS) provides effective implementation andsupport of the University’s administrative systems. Services include projectplanning, design, development, integration, testing, and deployment ofadministrative applications. Core competencies include Java, PowerBuilder andPeopleSoft applications, using the Oracle relational database managementsystem.

Administrative Information Services contains three groups, AdministrativeApplications Support, Application Systems Integration, and Data IntegrationServices.

Highlights

Deploying new student self-service web-based systems for courseenrollment, undergraduate admissions application, andundergraduate financial aid applicationsWeb course enrollment (SCORE), undergraduate admissions, and undergraduatefinancial aid applications were implemented during FY03. Half of undergraduateadmission applications and 90% of undergraduate financial aid applications werereceived through the new web-based systems. The University received highlyfavorable feedback from students (and parents) on these applications. SCOREsignificantly increased the number of students in all four classes who selectedcourses by the deadline.

Implementing new web architecture for PeopleSoft Financials,Human Resources, and Student AdministrationDetailed project plans were developed to support the PeopleSoft Financials,Human Resources, and Student Administration upgrades to release 8.x,implementing a new web architecture. The upgrades are proceeding accordingto plan.

Ensuring government compliance with the new Student andExchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) regulationsIn accordance with “The Patriot Act,” the Immigration and Naturalization Service(INS) launched SEVIS, an automated student tracking system. Beginning inJanuary 2003, the University and other higher-education institutions wererequired to track foreign student status and regularly report changes to the INS.In collaboration with the University’s General Council, fsaATLAS software wasselected and implemented to support SEVIS compliance.

Developing an enterprise-wide reporting strategy to improve dataaccess and availability for departmental usersOver the course of the next several years, we will be transitioning our existingenterprise-wide reporting capabilities from a DataMall structure to a true datawarehouse. A DataMall leverages pockets of information to provide a narrowdata picture to users, while a data warehouse brings together data from multiplesystems and applications for enterprise information delivery. While thedistinction may seem subtle, the power of the reporting capabilities of a datawarehouse over a DataMall is tremendous.

The first steps of this transition are already underway. We have completed theconsolidation of a number of data instances to one physical location where alldata may be found. We have also prototyped a new DataMall “store” thatdisplays data from the Student System using existing DataMall viewing


capabilities. The result is an ever-growing number ofoptions for combining, parsing, computing, and reportingdisparate information across the University.

The evolution of the way we store and sort data createsnew opportunities for improving how this data is viewed.We are currently assessing a new generation of web front-end reporting tools that will permit us to write far morecomplex, yet, far more intuitive reports for our users. Wewill also be able to better gear reports to our various typesof users so we will no longer be limited to a one-size-fits-all approach to report creation. Finally, the new reportingtools will allow the power user much greater flexibility inaccessing and working with the data they need. We hopeto complete the selection of this tool by fall 2003.

Administrative ApplicationsSupport

Administrative Applications Support is responsible for themaintenance, enhancement, and operation support for allof the University’s production administrative systems andthe transition of systems from development to fullproduction.

University FinancialsTo aid the tracking of expenditures for new campusconstruction and major maintenance projects, the groupinstalled the programs, panels, and schedules to extractdata from PeopleSoft General Ledger for Capital Projectsreporting. A new budget system was implemented inPeopleSoft Financials. As a result, senior managementnow has summary budget reports that will aid themanagement and analysis of budget data.

BenefitsIn support of the Benefits Open Enrollment process, thegroup wrote two new interfaces to a Long Term Careprovider (CNA) and to a new Dental Plan (Aetna). Thegroup also modified reports and interfaces to reflect recentpolicy changes.

Grants ManagementDuring the year, staff upgraded the Coeus grantsmanagement system to version 7 of Powerbuilder. The newfunctionality will enable departments to enter proposalsmore accurately and efficiently. In particular, severalcalculations required for proposal budgets and severalnew sponsor forms were automated. The group alsoimplemented an online help system to assist customersupport. During the year, seven additional departmentswere trained to use the system for proposal development.

Alumni DevelopmentOn December 6, 2002, staff installed into production theDevelopment Advance system release 6.1 andPowerBuilder 7.0. The new vendor release is fullyintegrated in the University’s administrative computingenvironment. Benefits to the Alumni/Developmentcommunities include a range of needed new utilities.

HousingRoom Draw functionality was added to the Dieboldhousing software.

Graduate SchoolIn November, the Graduate School successfully completedprocessing for graduation for the first time usingPeopleSoft Student Records. A total of 122 Ph.D. studentsand 161 Master’s students were awarded degrees onNovember 9, 2002.

Application Systems Integration

Application Systems Integration is responsible for bringingtogether the multiple computing environments that supportthe University’s administrative applications into a singlecomprehensive computing environment. The group leadsthe Java development of new administrative systems.

Departmental ChargesDormnet charges were incorporated into the DepartmentalCharges system and are now processed all the way throughto the Campus Receivables system. Staff also added a webannouncement banner line to the system in order to passon important information to subscribers.

Campus ReceivablesStaff addressed several long-standing problems with theStudent Loan Prepayment Agreements and corrected thegeneration of coupons in the Student Loan system.

TicketingThe ASPG endorsed the centralized ticketing projectproposal and the Provost provided necessary funding.Initial user group meetings (Athletics, Concert Office, FristCampus Center, Richardson Auditorium, Theatre Intime,and Theater and Dance) were held. The transition to a newCentralized Ticketing system, Tickets.com, is underway.

Advance Web CommunityAdvance Web Community version 2.1 for online givingwas successfully implemented. Several new customreports were completed to support online credit carddonations and any associated address changes fromalumni.

Data Integration Services

Data Integration Services is responsible for all workrelated to administrative data, including CampusCommunity, Data Administration, and the DataMall.

Resource 25The Resource 25 event and course scheduling softwareapplication was upgraded to release 3.0. The latest releaseimproves the user interface and adds new features thatstreamline event scheduling for current users in the FristCampus Center, Woodrow Wilson School, and the Officeof the Registar.


DataMallStaff completed several new DataMall stores for the Officeof the Registrar, Visa Credit Ecommerce and Edward DonEcommerce. The project initiation plan for the TimeCollection data store was developed.

Several new reports are also available, including TimeCollection, Capital Projects by Area, and the Dining unit.The Housing Office reports that new dining reports savemore than two hours per month because Dining can nowrun the report themselves from the DataMall rather thanhaving to compile the monthly data manually.

Campus ReceivablesStaff completed the new Student Account federal IRS taxreporting system. New processes will enable us torespond more quickly to future program changes.

PayrollThe Payroll team wrote an interface from Payroll to theUniversity Financials system to create Journal Vouchersautomatically. Prior to the enhancement, reports wereprinted after every payroll and a Treasurer’s office staffmember manually typed the Journal Vouchers.

The group also completed the disaster recovery processphase II for Payroll. In the event of a disaster, payrollchecks will be created outside of the Payroll system.Phase II makes possible the restoration of the systemfollowing use of the outside Payroll system.

Accounts PayableModifications to the “hub interface environment” now tiethe Accounts Payables system with Campus Communityand with Health Services. Nightly processing now feedsADVANCE, LDAP, Loans and Receivables and legacyStudent Records.

STRIPESDuring FY03, Development Advance was integrated withEvents Management. The daily biographic feed fromSTRIPES to Events Management is undergoingacceptance testing. The interface should be production-ready by mid-spring.

DEMANDDEMAND, the web desktop for University managers, wasupdated to include new channels for serving theUniversity management community. For example, staffexpanded the EZ Communication application to permitdepartment managers to make department-wide emergencyannouncements and to manage contact information forpeople in their departments. A new Coeus system launcherfacilitates department proposal development and grantadministration.


Enterprise Infrastructure Services

Enterprise Infrastructure Services (EIS) provides support for University servers andmiddleware services such as databases, email and directory services, backup andrestoration, systems management, job scheduling, output management, architecture,security, and technical outreach services.

Systems and Data Management Services manages the University’s enterprisesystems and provides backup and restoration services. IT Architecture Services isresponsible for security, research and development, and outreach. Web Servicesworks to sustain the University’s World Wide Web infrastructure. Computing andSupport Services provides Unix services, Windows server services, andcollaboration services (email, authentication, and directories).

Highlights

Protecting the University’s information technology resources againstdeliberate or accidental damagePriorities Committee support enabled the hiring of an Information Security Officer.Already in the first half year, this office has had a tremendous impact indisseminating information about security and in coordinating the campus’ securityefforts. A second technical position will soon permit more proactive securitymeasures, including intrusion, detection, and prevention.

To help users update old passwords that are vulnerable to attack, and to reduce themany userID and password combinations that users need to remember, OITintroduced a password synchronization tool, P-synch. Using a single web form,users can change their passwords on all the major University systems.

Enhancing the reliability of electronic mail servicesThe entire campus understands the need for reliable electronic mail. On average,more than 200,000 messages are delivered daily to University individuals andorganizations, a doubling since last year.

More than 1,250 campus users have turned on a “spam” filtering service that OITintroduced in November. Early experience with the software shows that, at “average”settings, the filter identifies approximately 40% of incoming e-mail messages asspam, a number that is on par with findings in industry and at other universities. Asimple web page permits users to turn on, and select the sensitivity of, the filter.

In response to requests from several departments, OIT implemented an integrated e-mail and calendaring service and instituted a charging mechanism to cover the costof additional support staff (the service is approximately five times more costly toadminister than the current IMAP mail service). More than 350 users across sixdepartments are currently using the service.

Improving campus communications via the webOIT and the Office of Communications implemented an online, web-based calendar(see http://calendar.princeton.edu) that consolidates information about all publiccampus events. Launched on May 15, 2002, the Campus Events Calendar has grownin use. Departments and student organizations maintain the information. Users canview and search brief or detailed displays of events.


Systems and Data ManagementServices

Systems and Data Management Services (SDMS) hasa diverse set of responsibilities including backup andrestoration services, database administration, systemmonitoring, job scheduling, and Unix printing.

Backup and Restoration ServicesSDMS maintains the Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM)backup system for the University. By automaticallybacking up files, the popular TSM service provides animportant safety net, especially for desktop users. Anycomputer on the University network is eligible for theservice, and TSM currently backs up about 7,000 systemsnightly.

Last summer, growth in the use of the service anda bug in the system software resulted in degradedperformance and unreliable backups. During FY03, OITadded server capacity. After the installation of additionalhardware and software upgrades, and following extensivetuning, load balancing, and optimization, the service isagain operating on a regular basis.

FY04 goals include the establishment of an adequatefunding model for the service. Growth in the TSM service,as well as huge demands by a small number of users, willrequire a funding model that rationalizes system use. It isanticipated that the current service will continue to befunded through network charges, but it may be necessaryto recover additional marginal expenses from large volumeusers.

Database AdministrationThe Database Adminstration (DBA) group sustains arobust, secure, and reliable development and productiondatabase environment. The group supports more than 35different applications, more than 120 databases, 2 databasemanagement systems (Oracle, Sybase), and BEA Tuxedodatabase related software. These database systems run onmore than 20 Sun servers and encompass more than aterabyte of University disk space.

During FY03, the group supported several majorPeopleSoft 8 upgrades that required the design andimplementation of an entirely new and complexarchitecture. During FY03, the number of supporteddatabases increased 20%, owing in part to the need tomaintain extra databases during the PeopleSoft 8 upgrade.The DBAs worked with Unix and application groups todevise a secure and robust PeopleSoft Internetarchitecture for the PeopleSoft 8 upgrade. Thecollaboration helped satisfy security concerns andassured high availability for the new self-serviceapplications.

The group also undertook infrastructure improvementswhich included moving databases to allow for Solarisupgrades to 2.8 and Oracle standardization on 8.1.7.4,

monitoring improvements, and completing customerservice enhancements especially in the area of shorterrefresh times.

The group’s services are now available to projects outsideof AIS, such as Blackboard, OnBase, and FileNet. Non-AIS applications often require a higher level of initialanalysis and support owing to basic requirements thatdiffer from administrative applications.

Next year, the group expects to support the successfulimplementation of the PeopleSoft 8 upgrades, to completethe Application Database Specialist pilot, and to continueto improve DBA productivity in response to thecontinuing growth in demand for services.

System MonitoringThe IBM/Tivoli system monitoring software is the core ofthe University’s system monitoring strategy. Tivolicurrently monitors 175 hosts and 30 web sites. Included inthe web site monitoring are new monitors for SCORE,Undergraduate Admissions/Financial Aid, DepartmentalCharges, the Events Calendar, and Student Accounts/Parent Access.

During FY03, staff upgraded the monitoring infrastructureto a new version of the Solaris operating system. Tivolimonitoring uses its own Oracle database, so thatmonitoring no longer depends on external Oracle servers.The basic Tivoli framework and event handling softwarewere also upgraded, a pre-requisite for upgrading variousmonitoring components.

During FY04, two new Tivoli products will be installed:Tivoli Monitoring for Web Transactions and the TivoliData Warehouse. The Tivoli product will then replace thelocally developed web site monitoring software. The TivoliData Warehouse will be a central point for collection andreporting on monitoring data both from Tivoli and non-Tivoli sources.

Job SchedulingThe Tivoli Workload Scheduler software schedules alladministrative production jobs on both Windows and Unixservers. During FY03, staff upgraded the software toversion 8.1 and continued reorganization of the securitystructure to make it easier to grant users access to multipleapplication systems. Tivoli Workload Scheduler nowsupports 34 hosts and runs an average of 1,846 jobs perweek.

Output ManagementEIS operates output services that deliver print servers andFax Gateway services to the campus. In July, 2002, staffmoved the Fax Gateway service to a new print server anddecommissioned the old print server. During the year, theprint server system processed an average of 2,100 Fax jobsand 3,000 print jobs per month. The move of this servicefrom Solaris to Linux during FY04 will make it easier toadminister and will require less expensive hardware.


IT Architecture

The IT Architecture group develops, disseminates, andpromotes policies, standards, and procedural guidelines toensure that the University’s information technologysolutions are implemented and maintained in a consistent,practical, and secure manner.

During FY03, the group implemented several new systems,including a test Blackberry Enterprise Service, a localGartner web site, and a new, more secure method ofassigning initial passwords to students, faculty, and staff.To help eliminate insecure passwords, the group initiateda project to eliminate the transmission of clear textpasswords across our networks.

During FY03, IT Architecture was involved in an ongoingevaluation of a metadirectory and single sign-on product.The group is also evaluating products that will be able todetect and react to attempts by external entities tocompromise University computers.

In the area of technology outreach, the group providedconsulting services in information security, programminglanguages, web publishing, and other technology-relatedtopics.

Web Services

Web Services provides consulting, technical support, andleadership in the creation of web-based materials and inthe implementation of web-based technologies. The groupsupports the software infrastructure that underlies theUniversity’s main web site, as well as many administrativeand academic web sites. The group continues to offerbroad web design and implementation assistance todepartments, programs, and special events, as well asspecial purpose web and database programmingassistance.

New Web SitesStaff worked with the Office of Communications on thedesign of a new Princeton University home page. WebServices designed new web sites for French and ItalianStudies, the Ombuds Office, and the Women’s Center.Staff also developed a web site for Support Services’successful bid to host next year’s ResNET conference.Staff worked with Facilities to design the templates fortheir new site. Staff also developed new screens for theInformation Kiosks in Frist.

Web Services worked with the Office of Communicationsand the OIT Help Desk to improve customer communi-cation on the University web site. A new Web FeedbackForm was developed and implemented and procedures forhandling comments were established. Staff revised mainUniversity pages to include links to the new WebFeedback Form.

Web Services remains active in web applicationsdevelopment. Staff were involved in the substantialupgrades to the Faculty Computing Program and StudentComputer Initiative web sites. Staff developed a newDormTV billing tool. Staff used the Princeton tool,DBToolbox, to create numerous applications for thePrinceton Writing Center, OIT Training OnlineRegistration, Graduate College Commencement andHooding Ceremony Registration System, PACE Center forCommunity Service, Athletics Physical Education OnlineClass Registration, and School of Architecture OnlineLaser Cutter Scheduling System. Staff also developed 14surveys for organizations such as the AAMG, DiningServices, the Woodrow Wilson School, Athletics, andChemical Engineering.

Maintenance and upgrades to servers represents thebalance of the group’s work. During FY03, Web Servicesupgraded OIT’s secure web server, Sweb (on whichLeaves and My Academic Record reside), web (the NTserver being used by most departments), Campus CGI (thescripting environment), and the statistics serverNetGenesis. Web Services also upgraded four servers thatsupport various formats of streaming media. Otherenhancements to existing media technologies helped tofurther automate and improve the quality of streaming oncampus. Staff also installed a Google appliance forcustomized indexing of Princeton’s web sites.

Computing and Support Services

Unix Systems Group

The Unix Systems group provides systems administrationfor the more than 200 Unix-based servers. Universitybusiness and academic applications operate on theseOIT-managed servers.

During FY03, the group improved the monitoring andperformance measures that are used to monitor systemstability and help make informed decisions about capacityplanning.

The group reduced the response time for standardrequests. The group also launched new Unix serverhosting services.

Windows Systems Group

The Windows Systems group provides systemsadministration for more than 100 Windows-based servers.Many University business and academic applications runon these OIT-managed servers.

Microsoft Windows 2000 ServerThe Windows 2000 Active Directory is part of theWindows 2000 architecture that establishes repositoriescontaining information about network resources, such asfiles, applications, printers, and users. Directory servicesprovide a standard way to manage information aboutinformation technology users and resources.


The six-month migration to Active Directory wascompleted in July, 2002. Staff established and administereda test lab for Active Directory and Exchange testing anddevelopment. Staff also deployed a suite of tools todepartmental SCAD/DCS personnel that have enableddepartmental administrators to access Active Directory.

Other highlightsDuring FY03, the group improved the monitoring ofsystems using Dell Open Manage tools. Staff providedSMS support for the DeSC program. The groupreorganized and improved security for server rooms atboth 87 Prospect and New South. And, in June 2003, thegroup migrated Novell file services to Windows 2000 fileservices.

Collaboration Services Group

The Collaboration Services Group (CSG) is responsible forcampus e-mail, directory, and authentication services. CSGoperates the University’s e-mail services for receiving andsending mail, and maintains the servers that provideelectronic lists and directories.

The volume of e-mail delivered to individuals and campusorganizations doubled from FY02. The average number ofmessages delivered daily is 200,000. The average numberof messages sent out daily from Princeton is 70,000. Theaverage time for the delivery of a message from one on-campus computer to another is two seconds. More than99% of outgoing messages are delivered to external mailsystems in under two minutes.

Figures 1 and 2 depict the FY03 patterns of e-mailconnections on the IMAP servers. In the graphs, thegreen area shows the number of simultaneous connec-tions to the server. Note the different usage patterns forundergraduate students (Figure 1) compared with that offaculty, staff, and graduate students (Figure 2).

Figure 1: Number of Connections to the Student MailServer, July 2002–June 2003 (daily average)

Figure 2: Number of Connections to the Faculty/Staff/Graduate Student Mail Server, July 2002–June 2003(daily average)

E-mail Servers for Increased ReliabilityStaff worked to enhance the reliability of the e-mailinfrastructure by adding backup or redundant servers for“IMAP e-mail,” “WebMail,” and the servers that handlethe University’s incoming mail. If one server now becomesunavailable, campus customers are automaticallyredirected to a second server. The new architecturepermits technical staff to perform system maintenance andproactive tuning without causing system downtime.

The use of electronic lists has grown significantly overthe past year. During 2002-2003, more than 3,000 new listswere created. Many of the lists are based on data feedsfrom the University’s new Campus Community datasource. Others are built automatically from data feeds fromthe Blackboard system.

Spam filtering serviceMore than 1,250 campus users have turned on a “spam”filtering service that OIT introduced in November. Earlyexperience with the software shows that, at “average”settings, the filter identifies approximately 40% ofincoming e-mail messages as spam, a number that is onpar with findings in industry and at other universities. Asimple web page permits users to turn on, and select thesensitivity of, the filter.

The blue line in Figure 3 represents the amount of spamfiltered during a four-week period in June, 2002. The greenline represents the amount of regular, non-spam e-mail.The graph illustrates that the University’s e-mail system isinundated with an almost constant flow of such messages.The messages constitute 45% of incoming mail during atypical month.

Figure 3: Incoming Messages in Late June 2002 (blueline represents messages marked as “possible spam”)

Exchange 2000 ServicesIn response to requests from several departments, OIToffered an integrated e-mail and calendaring service,Exchange 2000. OIT instituted a charging mechanism tosupport the extra support staff (the service isapproximately five times more costly to administer thanthe current IMAP mail service). In July 2002, OITundertook a pilot study to evaluate, test, and plan theExchange 2000 service. A production quality service waslaunched in March 2003. In the first few months ofoperation, more than 500 customers have switched toExchange 2000 services.


Finance, Administration and Planning

Finance, Administration and Planning provides leadership in planning for theeffective use of technology through meaningful and continual communication, staffassessment, development and recognition, project planning and project managementpractices, and financial analysis and budgeting.

The Finance, Administration and Planning group includes OIT Budget and Finance,the Office of Printing and Mailing, OIT Building Management, OIT Communications,OIT Human Resources, OIT Inventory, and the Princeton Project Office.

Highlights

Improving the Princeton Project Management Methodology (PPMM)and its application to University projects

The Princeton Project Office coordinated numerous project management trainingsessions for OIT staff and their customers. They provided a special briefing,“Project Management and Organization Success,” to the Administrative SystemsPlanning Group (ASPG). OIT formed a team to identify improvements to the PPMM.As a result, there is a “lite” version of the methodology for small to medium-sizedprojects, and a Blackboard collaboration web site to share PPMM templates andproject management best practices.

Progressing towards a comprehensive OIT performance enhancementprogramUsing a phased approach, and in collaboration with the Office of Human Resources,OIT is deploying a comprehensive performance enhancement program. Through theuse of OIT focus groups, OIT developed a new performance appraisal form – theOIT Annual Staff Progress Report. OIT management and staff attended goal settingsessions and prepared FY04 goals using a goal-setting worksheet to identify qualitystandards, metrics, and resources, and to link all departmental goals to the OITorganizational goals. Finally, a staff development plan and an employee reward andrecognition plan have been drafted and will be piloted in FY04.

Developing e-Commerce guidelines for the UniversityIn collaboration with the Treasurer’s Office, and employing best practices fromother institutions, e-Commerce guidelines were developed. As part of this effort,guidelines governing the privacy of personal information were developed withinput from the University’s Legal Counsel and the University IT Security Officer. Anew e-Commerce initiative, Paw Points and Student Advantage, was implemented,extending the Princeton University ID card as a cashless method of paying for localgoods and services. To date, more than $72,000 has been spent using Paw Points.

Improving communication with our administrative customers throughproject planning and status meetings, review sessions, and regularproject reportsBy applying the Princeton Project Management Methodology (PPMM) to all keyadministrative computing projects this past year, OIT ensured the involvement ofproject sponsors and stakeholders throughout the project planning andimplementation process. The Administrative Systems Planning Group (ASPG)tracked the progress of projects on the FY03 project slate, especially the PeopleSoftupgrade projects and reviewed/endorsed ten off-cycle project requests. Regularproject status meetings were conducted and monthly project status reports werealso prepared. And, to keep the ASPG and all of our customers current on the status


of the FY03 project slate, OIT published quarterly reportsthat highlighted project accomplishments and statistics onresource utilization. The ASPG endorsed a project slate forFY04, as well as key projects for FY05 and FY06. Input tothe FY04 planning process included the results of thedepartmental shadow systems analysis, feedback fromdepartmental focus group sessions, gaps identified duringthe Financials, Human Resources, Student Administrationstandard business model (SBM) process, and collectingproject proposals to implement new functionality. At therequest of the ASPG, a Senior Advisory Group on IT,chaired by the Provost, was formed to address issues offunding for projects endorsed by the ASPG.

Initiating OIT cross-functional teams to managecross-organizational efforts and improve deliveryof serviceDuring FY03, OIT formed eight cross-functional teamsto manage cross-organizational efforts in academictechnology, communications, disaster recovery, facilitiesand office management, IT architecture, projectmanagement, software management, and training. Eachteam is sponsored by an OIT Director. This past year,members attended team-building sessions and createdteam charters. With a focus on improving customerservice, the teams have made significant progress towardsdocumenting current OIT products and services andidentifying and implementing improvements. Onesuccessful event planned by the communicationscross-functional team this past year was the two-dayInformation Village Fair held in the Frist Campus Center.The Building and Facilities Management Teamcoordinated the physical re-location/co-location of OITstaff to support the new OIT organization.

Budget and Finance

Budget and Finance assists OIT operating units with allfinancial issues. The group provides accounting expertise,controls the capital assets, recommends rates for OITservices, and ensures compliance with University rulesand procedures.

During FY03, Budget and Finance improved OIT billingsby transitioning to the Departmental Charging systemand encouraging customers to use the DataMall for allbilling. An OIT billing survey of the academic departmentswas conducted and suggestions for improvement wereimplemented. An OIT Billing “quick reference” wasdeveloped and published. As a result of moving billing offthe mainframe, the Budget and Finance group also beganprocessing student billings (previously administered bythe Platform Services Group) and assumed oversight ofmuch of the departmental billing process.

In FY03, the Treasurer’s Office made available “Works,” anew method of accounting for credit cards. The Budgetand Finance group adopted this time-saving procedureand led the OIT staff through the change.

Apple’s Global Access web site is now used to more easilyresearch parts, warranty status and invoices. Newinventory shelving increased physical storage capacity by5%. During FY03, shipments of 17,112 parts wereprocessed, costing more than $2.5 million.

A new OIT monthly financial report assists the OITCabinet to track the financial performance of eachdepartment. The new report, in Excel format, uses a CrystalReport that downloads the information from the DataMall.

Printing and Mailing Services

The Printing and Mailing office provides a broad base ofcost-effective, cost-recovery services to the Universitycommunity with special consideration given to thesupport of Annual Giving, Development, Alumni Counciland the Office of Communications. The office is structuredto provide four services to departments of the University:

• Graphics: Design and layout, film output to2590 dpi resolution, Toshiba color proofingand copying, Epson large format printing upto 44 inches in width by 20 feet in length.

• Offset Printing Production: The manufacturingof a wide variety of printed work, from singlecolor to process color, envelope and stationery,brochures and flyers, with bindery capabilityfor perfect bound and saddle stitched books.

• Digital Networked Printing Center: Both blackand white and color networked printing. Thecenter’s equipment includes the Xerox 6180and the Xerox 6060.

• Mailing Production: Addressing, inserting andsorting for first class, third class mail, andinternational mail. Mailing also coordinates andsends data files for variable data printing to theXerox 6180 and Xerox 6060 for on-demandprinting and addressing. Mailing is alsoresponsible for mass e-mail notices to thecampus.

Printing and Mailing continued its transition into anall-digital, on-demand, color networked operation. Newequipment and processes, notably the installation of aXerox igen3 digital production press, were implementedthroughout the year in support of this ongoingtransformation. Short run color printing continues to growand presently reflects a strong, growing trend. The newXerox 6060, which replaced the Xerox 2060 in December,averaged 125,000 impressions per month and accountedfor a large share of the printing office income. Thedepartment continues to operate in a cost effectivemanner, exemplified by achieving a net margin of $279,825for FY03.


Support Services

Support Services provides direct customer support for the University’sinformation technology infrastructure. Support Services is comprised of fivemain groups.

Networking supports the data telecommunications infrastructure. The HelpDesk provides telephone, appointment, e-mail, and web-based computingsupport for the University. Student Computing Services sustains access toworkstations and shared printers in public University spaces. Desktop Support,which includes both the Hardware and Software Support groups, sustains thecampus’s desktop computing infrastructure. Telecommunications Servicesmaintains the University’s telephone and voice mail systems.

Support Services also includes a range of smaller support programs andservices, including the SCAD and DCS Programs, OIT’s Ambassador Program,End User Training, Policy Office, Software Sales, Software Licenses, Softwareand Service Contracts, Software Deployment, Software Database, FacultyComputer Program, ID Cards, and Copiers.

Highlights

Continuing to build a higher-speed, more robust data andtelecommunications infrastructureThe University is past the mid-way point in a multi-year, campus-wide upgradeto its data network infrastructure. Significant enhancements during the summerincluded upgrading the wiring (and core electronics) in five dormitories and nineother academic and administrative buildings. OIT extended the data network tothe apartments in the Hibben-Magie complex. The upgraded network makespossible much faster network speeds. Unimproved areas are limited to a 10Mbspeed. The new 100Mb network standard will permit the University toimplement new services, including simultaneous broadcasts from multiple areasand other services requiring higher-speed connections.

Extending Help Desk and Support servicesDuring FY03, the OIT Help Desk expanded the hours of operation of telephoneand e-mail consulting from Sunday evening through Friday evening. Studentsand researchers have immediate access to help during these hours. Asimportant, OIT staff are on-site to provide proactive monitoring and correctiveaction when the network or other systems falter.

Working with our University partners to improve communicationsand supportThe Support for Computing in Academic Departments (SCAD) / DistributedComputing Support (DCS) programs provide a link between departmentalcomputing support and OIT. During FY03, OIT conducted a review of theprogram. The review concluded that SCAD/DCS is a tremendous success andthat the University has developed a “community” of computing support staffrather than a customary centralized IT group and independent local supportpersonnel groups.

OIT has begun an “Ambassador” program that aims to improve customerservice and communication between OIT and the University community. TheOIT Ambassadors represent OIT to its customers and represent customer needsand issues to OIT.


Maintaining a high standard for administrativedesktop computer systemsEstablished in 1996, the DeSC [Desktop Systems Council]program defines, maintains, and enhances the desktopcomputer environment for administrative users. TheUniversity continues to benefit from the standardizationof computers, operating systems, and application softwarefor administrative users (DeSC) and for students (throughSCI, the Student Computer Initiative). In particular, it iseasier to develop applications for a standard desktop, andthe absence of many platforms and software versions haseased training and support.

Networking Group

The Networking Group works to sustain a cost effectivedata network in support of the University’s academic andadministrative needs. Towards this goal, the group insuresthe correct and efficient operation of the campus network,maintains the University’s access to the Internet and otherexternal networks, manages the various remote accessfacilities, and evaluates new network technologies fordeployment on the campus.

In addition, the Networking Group works closely withother OIT groups as well as academic and administrativedepartments to assess network-related needs and to applynetwork technologies to address those needs.

Networking InfrastructureTwo commodity Internet service providers, AT&T (at45Mbs) and Fastnet (at 25Mbs) continue to share thecampus Internet load and provide automatic fall-over incase of failure.

The University expanded the campus’s wireless networkinfrastructure to include the Engineering Quadrangle,Nassau Hall, and Robertson Hall.

A new campus-wide video network now permits MediaServices to transmit programming over the CATV networkand to the web-casting servers.

A significant amount of planning and preparationculminated in the conversion of a private network inElectrical Engineering to the standard University wiringand services.

While there are many legitimate uses of Peer-to-Peer (P2P)for research and teaching collaboration, most current usesinvolve illegal sharing of music and video files. SeveralOIT groups worked together to develop the needed“traffic shaping” policies and technical solutions tocontrol P2P traffic. OIT also made efforts to educate thestudent community about the impact of P2P programs onthe University’s network infrastructure.

During FY03, OIT expanded Visitornet, which provides theability for non-registered machines to access the Internetand public campus resources, to Palmer House. And, for

the second year, OIT permitted unregistered personalcomputers to access the University network access duringreunions.

Security and Disaster recoveryOIT initiated a cross-functional team, Disaster Recovery,to expand upon the work needed to create an affordabledisaster recovery plan to serve the administrative andacademic communities. During FY03, as a step towardsimplementation of a disaster recovery plan, the Universitycreated an alternate machine room location at New South.Redundant services, such as DSN (Domain Name Service),were moved to the New South machine room.

The Network Group was involved in the detection ofcompromised campus hosts. Hackers often attempt tocompromise hosts at institutions with high speed Internetconnectivity in order to redistribute large amounts ofunauthorized data to other Internet clients. The NetworkGroup continues to develop tools and procedures toimpede such efforts.

Telecommunications Services

Telecommunications Services provides the University withreliable and cost-effective telephone and voice processingmessaging services. With 2003 revenues of slightly morethan $3,500,000, Telecommunications Services is thelargest cost recovery unit within the Office of InformationTechnology.

Infrastructure2,955 student telephone lines, 7,748 academic andadministrative telephone lines, and more than 14,000 voicemailboxes are in service. Every telephone line on campushas Caller ID enabled and Caller Originated Trace (forthreatening or harassment calls). Console attendantsrespond on average to more than 400 inquiries a day. Thecall volume for FY03 was 21,862,330 total telephone calls(7.25 million inbound calls; 6.2 million outbound calls; 8.2million intra university calls). System reliability reachednew highs in FY03 with a rated level by Nortel of99.99996% uptime.

Work ordersDuring FY03, more than 800 work orders were issued fortelephone work that involved some 5,026 changes totelephone service or equipment. In addition, 1,317 workorders for voice mailboxes were processed. The groupachieved a 98% success rate in meeting requests for newor changed services.

RatesThere were no increases in the monthly service rate duringFY03. The domestic long distance rate of $0.07/minuteand the international rates of $0.10/minute to Canada andthe United Kingdom keep the University competitive inthe marketplace. A drop in long distance usage (andrevenue) during FY03 is attributable to increased cellphone usage.


Telephone Conference BridgeDuring FY03, use of the Conference Bridge increasedfrom 15 to 21 departments. The largest user-realizedsavings of more than $60,000 during FY03. Overall, theconference bridge has saved the University more than$150,000.

New servicesThe department implemented an international cell phoneloaner service for faculty and researchers going abroadfor short trips. A second remote PBX supports users whomove off campus.

For the first time, the department offered full featuredservice to University departments that are located offcampus. The direct connections save the universityapproximately 50% on each line.

More than 30 units are installed in a VoIP (voice over IP)trial. Technical issues remain, but TelecommunicationsServices hopes to offer such service, including a wirelessversion, within two to three years.

Student Computing Services

Student Computing Services (SCS) sustains accessto public workstations and printers, manages theResidential Computing Consulting program that providesin-room IT assistance for students, and coordinates theStudent Computer Initiative (SCI) that sells computers tostudents.

Support for Computer ClustersSCS maintains computing and printing facilities in 27buildings. At the end of FY03, the University’s computerclusters contained a total of 266 Windows machines, 45Macintoshes, 18 UNIX workstations, 35 printers, and 7scanners. During FY03, there were 702,590 logins to OITcluster machines.

Cluster upgradesIn preparation for the start of the 2002-2003 school year,SCS upgraded 73 PCs, 22 iMacs and 11 new printers inmany cluster locations. Five printers were installed innew dormitory locations; three in upper-class dorms, onein a graduate student dorm, and one in a ResidentialCollege dormitory. SCS reopened the Jadwin Hall Unixcluster with eight workstations. Ten iMacs replaced theSun workstations in the Friend Center cluster.

SCS updated the cluster image (the software suiteinstalled on cluster machines) twice during the year, oncefor the start of school and again for the beginning ofsecond semester. Dreamweaver and Flash were added tothe image. The X client Exceed replaced MI/X. In additionto the OIT cluster facilities, 164 departmental studentcluster machines in ten departments rely upon the clusterimage.

Print AccountingIn FY01, SCS implemented UnipriNT, a print accountingsystem. The system continues to require that studentsselect their print jobs at the printer. During FY03, paperuse increased 9.6% to a total of 6,511,370 pages printed oncluster printers.

Frist Information KiosksDuring FY03, 256,609 people used the OIT kiosks at theFrist Campus Center. The number of logons includes196,099 undergraduates, 33,046 graduate students, 13,046visitors, 7,104 staff, 3,861 faculty, and 3,453 alumni.

Residential Computing ConsultantsDuring FY03, 32 students worked as ResidentialComputing Consultants (RCCs). The RCCs providednetwork and computing support for their peers in thedormitories, including the Graduate College, LawrenceApartments, and the Graduate Annexes. At the beginningof the academic year, the RCCs assisted OIT’s activities atthe Frist Campus Center and they provided help sessionsat every Residential College during the first week ofclasses. In addition to their outreach efforts, the RCCsresponded to 1,983 tickets in OIT’s job tracking system.

Student Computer InitiativeOpen to all University students, the Student ComputerInitiative offers for sale aggressively priced, highlycapable computers in support of academic work. DuringFY03, the SCI program sold a total of 1,235 machines:1067 Dell (86%) and 168 Apple (14%).

During FY03, two special hardware replacement programswere offered to past SCI purchasers. Owing to chronichardware failures with the IBM ThinkPad i1400 sold tostudents through the SCI program during FY01, IBMoffered an opportunity to upgrade to a current high-endmodel at extremely aggressive pricing. 181 students tookadvantage of the opportunity. During an upgradeweekend, students exchanged their old machines for a newone and received help transferring their data. In a secondprogram, 238 students with the IBM ThinkPad T22spurchased during FY02 were able to exchange new harddrives for units that had experienced a high failure rate.

Request for Proposals were submitted to Dell and IBM forthe FY04 SCI year. Following negotiations in the spring,Dell was selected.

Help Desk and Documentation

The OIT Help Desk provides quality and timely telephone,hands-on, e-mail and web-based computing support forthe University and serves as the single point of contactfor all campus computing inquiries.

Customer ContactsDuring FY03, Help Desk staff responded to 66,222individual customer requests. By shifting existingresources, the Help Desk enhanced in-person


consultation, permitting more customers to be servicedwith a minimal wait time.

KnowledgeBaseThe Help Desk also provides assistance by maintaining asearchable KnowledgeBase of answers at kb.Princeton.edu.During the year, the OIT Help Desk web site received32,266,247 hits from more than 400,000 unique IP addresses,representing 2,924,317 visits. Visits are quantified as aseries of hits separated by no more than five minutes fromnon-Help Desk machines.

Support for ServicesHelp Desk staff continue to provide support and trainingfor all new SCAD/DCDS members. Staff also continue tomaintain and support the University’s LISTSERV e-mail listservice and OnTime Calendar accounts. Finally, the HelpDesk implemented a new web-based facility that permitsmembers of the University community to request servicessuch as e-mail lists, OnTime calendars, and additionalspace for their web and e-mail accounts.

DocumentationThe group improved training materials by rewriting alltraining materials for student consultants andincorporating all training materials into a web site(www.princeton.edu/tli).

The group completed the conversion of all user guidesfrom Word to FrameMaker. In addition the group created,modified, updated, and/or facilitated the creation of morethan forty documents.

Training

OIT continues to provide free courses on a wide rangeof IT topics for members of the University community.During FY03, Support Services conducted more than 100training sessions covering 30 different topic areas. Titlesincluded Introductory, Intermediate, and Advanced levelinstruction in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access,as well as Photoshop, Dreamweaver, FrontPage, andOutlook. Support Services provided special customclasses on the e-mail conversion to Microsoft Exchange.

Support Services also continues to provide trainingclasses on administrative applications. Sixteen differentcourses were scheduled on a rotating basis throughoutthe year.

Desktop Computing Support

Desktop Computing Support provides quality and timelywalk-in and in-office hardware and software computingsupport as well as cable television services to the campuscommunity. Related services include in-depth computingneeds analysis and guidance on strategic planning. Inaddition, the group provides analysis and advice on new

technologies and determines the best methods forproviding ongoing support.

During FY03, Desktop Computing Support responded tomore than 7,300 total work “tickets” that track progressand resource commitments. Most requests for servicecalled for assistance setting up, upgrading, and repairingmicrocomputers and printers, installing and debuggingsoftware, and activating network and cable televisionservices in offices, classrooms, and dormitories.

In addition to these core services, the group madeimportant contributions towards various special projects:

• The continuing upgrade of the campus-widenetwork infrastructure;

• The expansion of network services to theHibben-Magie graduate student/faculty housing;

• Further deployment of the wireless networkinfrastructure.

Software Support

Customer contactsDuring the year, Software Support (SWS) responded to atotal of 2,262 support issues and projects that involvedcontact by staff members 11,780 times.

DeSC supportDuring the year, the group updated and streamlined theprocedure to replace or upgrade DeSC machines. A newweb site improves proactive monitoring of DeSCmachines. The group also assisted the testing of DeSCimages and related support issues. SWS worked with TSMbackup service to migrate 527 DeSC machines to TSM4backup system software. 357 additional DeSC machineswere moved to TSM5 for the purposes of load balancing.

Support for network applicationsStaff assembled new procedures for converting Netscapee-mail users to Outlook mail. Extensive documentationnow explains how to migrate Netscape email/browser/Ontime users to Microsoft Exchange environment.

Staff developed and tested the Symantec AntivirusCorporate Edition 8.0 Windows client installer for campusdistribution.

Support for departmentsSWS continued to assist Public Safety in upgrading theirFire Alarm system. The group assisted the testing ofDiebold “room-draw” software. SWS helped Public Safety,the Alarm Shop, and OIT with the support andconfiguration of the new card access system.

Hardware Support

Building renovation supportDuring the year, the group helped the FacilitiesDepartment in the planning of University renovations.The effort usually involved removing and later replacing


or upgrading data wiring, network equipment, andcomputer clusters.The list of renovated areas includedNew South, Robertson Hall, Green Hall, McCormick Hall,350 Alexander, Hibben-Magie, East Pyne, 1915 Hall,Spelman Hall, Brown Hall, Genomics, Witherspoon Hall,Butler Graduate Apartments, Wyman House, 1937 Hall,1938 Hall, 1939 Hall, Gauss Hall, Dodge-Osbourne, andFoulke Hall.

Network upgradesWork also continued during FY03 to upgrade and rewirethe network infrastructure in buildings that are notcurrently or imminently scheduled for renovation. In thoseareas, parallel cabling systems are installed next to the oldwiring systems. Once the new infrastructure is in place,technicians go room-by-room, switching to the new wiringwhile eliminating the old wiring, all without causingdisruption to customers. Buildings with upgraded wiringinclude the Engineering Quad, 1879/Marx, McCormickHall, 1942 Hall, Lourie-Love Hall, 1901/Laughlin Hall,Forbes Annex, Stanhope Hall, 262 Alexander, VonNeumann, and all University eating clubs.

Hardware Support continued to add data connections toall Registrar-controlled classrooms.

Preventive maintenanceAs part of its proactive approach to sustaining theUniversity’s infrastructure, the group performs regularpreventive maintenance on key systems. Staff regularlychecked the performance of the telecommunicationsinfrastructure. The group tested and cleaned all computercluster machines during the summer of 2002 and tested thealarm systems on all OIT clusters during both the fall andspring semesters. Staff tested all broadband powersupplies once a month. Twice a year staff proactivelychecked and repaired the cable television system.

Dormnet and Dorm videoDuring FY03, the group installed 322 Limited Basic, 630Basic and 167 Total video television connections. Morethan 300 video repairs were completed during the year.

The group also replaced missing hub components indormitory rooms in August 2002 and completed more than150 repairs during the year.

Wireless ComputingDuring FY03, the group established wireless computingzones in Corwin Hall, Cloister Club, the Engineering Quad,Fisher/Bendheim, and Nassau Hall. Outdoor coverage wasextended to include Scudder Plaza. Coverage was alsoextended to all Robertson Hall except the basement and allbut the second floor of Wallace Hall.

Policy Officer

The OIT Policy Officer strives to enforce Universitypolicies related to copyright and technology use. ThePolicy Officer serves as corresponding secretary to

OIT’s computer and network emergency response team,acknowledging reports of network probes and abusesapparently originating at Princeton, and forwardingreports to appropriate personnel in other departments forinvestigation and resolution. The Policy Officer alsoparticipates as a member of the University InstitutionalReview Panel for Human Subjects

During FY03, the OIT Policy Officer resolved more than200 copyright infringement complaints filed with theUniversity. The office collaborated with Office of GeneralCounsel to increase awareness of Princeton’s policiesregarding copyright and the technology. The officercooperated with Department of Public Safety regardingincidents involving criminal use of technology, theft ofcomputers, and locating missing students. In addition,the officer participated in multiple University SexualHarassment Review panels and provided assistance tovictims of threatening or harassing e-mail, and to thosewho perceived spam as originating within theprinceton.edu domain.

Software Services

Software Services consolidates efforts to license, deploy,and distribute software products to the Universitycommunity.

Software SalesDuring FY03, OIT Software Sales sold nearly $310,000 ofsoftware: $223K to departments, $74K to students, and$13K to staff. The total represents a 24% increase in salesover FY02.

Software LicensesA new Microsoft Campus Agreement requires that theUniversity account for every machine running SQL, asignificant change from the existing agreement thatpermitted users to run SQL on multiple machines.

The Microsoft Student Select agreement permits studentsto purchase licenses and media for SCI machines. Theagreement includes Office X for the Macintosh. However,the original agreement would have prohibited theinclusion of Microsoft software on the University’sdistribution CD to students because Microsoft requireseach student to have a unique software identity.Following discussions, Microsoft agreed to the use of asingle key on the distribution image.

Other software licensing agreements included theacquisition of CAChe, molecular modeling software,Deploy Center, which dramatically reduces the time andeffort required to introduce or upgrade software, and WiseSolutions, a tool that assists the installation of software.The University has planned a phase out of Quick ViewPlus that will result in its removal from all Universitycomputers.


Software Service ContractsNew software service contracts signed during FY03included Filenet web content management software,Psynch from M-Tech Information Technology, Matlabfrom MathWorks, and fsaATLAS Enterprise EditionSoftware from Newfront Software. The Universityrestructured its software maintenance programs with SunMicrosystems and with Silicon Graphics. And, byconsolidating its Peoplesoft contract, the Universitysaved $167K over 3 years.

Software databaseOIT’s Software Cross-Functional Team created a SoftwareRequest Form that will be used as the “front door” for allOIT involvement in end-user software. The form channelsrequests consistently and will permit OIT to track allsoftware service requests.

Faculty Computer Program

A new, improved ordering process for faculty computerswas rolled out in April. The new program offers far moreflexibility and orders are easier to track. Faculty are nowable to order additional items not in the standard kit andorders are forwarded directly to vendors. The response tothe revised program has been very favorable.

ID Cards

During FY03, the ID Card Office assisted in the planningto replace all prox readers on campus and to issue a newID card with a prox chip to all cardholders by June 2004.The new ID card includes a different encoding scheme onthe magnetic stripe based on the University ID rather thansocial security number.

During the year, special ID cards were created anddistributed to the members of the Emergency ManagementResponse Team. The special cards provide campus accessto these individuals in emergency situations.

Copiers

During FY03, University central copiers made 18.1 millioncopies, down slightly from 18.3 million last year. The copyrate will remain at 6 cents in FY04. Four networked digitalprinter copiers were installed near the end of the fiscalyear. Usage will be tracked in order to adjust charging.

Support for Computing inAcademic Departments (SCAD)/Distributed Computing Support(DCS) Programs

SCAD and DCS continued to be very successful andboth programs had modest growth. A major review wascompleted for the SCAD/DCS programs. The programs,with a 97% satisfaction rate, continue to do an excellentjob building and fostering the campus-wide IT supportcommunity.

This year Genomics, Slavic Languages and Literatures,and Study of Women and Gender joined the SCADprogram, bringing the total number of departments to 49with 39 participating members. This year Nassau Hall,Princeton-Blairstown Center, Princeton University Press,Registrar’s Office, and Religious Life joined the DCSprogram bringing the total number of departments to 27with 38 participating members.

Training continues to be a cornerstone of the SCAD andDCS programs. During FY03, 16 different topics involvedmore than 5,000 person-hours of instructor lead trainingfor SCAD, DCS, and OIT IT staff. Topics included: Introto Mac OS X, Advanced Mac OS X, Advance Linux,DBToolBox, Perl, Windows 2000 Networking, AdvanceAccess, Dreamweaver, Implementing and AdministeringMicrosoft, Windows 2000 Directory, and Windows 2000Server. The highlight of the training was the successfulcompletion of MCSA certification for 30 staff.

Departments participating in the SCAD ProgramAmerican Studies ProgramApplied & Computational MathematicsArchitectureArt & ArchaeologyAstrophysicsAtmospheric and Oceanic StudiesBendheim Center of FinanceCenter for the Study of ReligionChemical EngineeringChemistryCivil EngineeringClassicsComparative LiteratureComputer ScienceCouncil of HumanitiesCreative WritingEast Asian StudiesEcology and Evolutionary BiologyEconomicsElectrical EngineeringEnglish


French and Italian LanguagesGenomicsGeosciencesHellenic StudiesHistoryJewish StudiesLatin American StudiesMathematicsMolecular BiologyMusicNear Eastern StudiesOffice of Population ResearchOperation Research Financial EngineeringPhilosophyPhysicsPoliticsPsychologyPrinceton Environmental InstitutePrinceton Materials InstituteReligionSlavicSpanish & Portuguese LanguagesStudy of Woman and GenderSociologyTheater & DanceVisual ArtsWoodrow Wilson School

Departments in the DCS ProgramAlumni CouncilAthleticsArt MuseumDining ServicesEnvironmental Health and SafetyFinancial Systems SupportFriend CenterFirestone LibraryFrist Campus CenterFacilitiesHealth ServicesIndex of Christian ArtsJSTORHuman ResourcesNassau HallPRINCOPrinceton-Blairstown CenterPrinceton University PressRegistrars OfficeReligious LifeSchool of Engineering & Applied SciencesProgram in Science and Global SecurityTelephone OfficeUndergrad AdmissionUniversity Financial Systems

The OIT Ambassador Program

The OIT Ambassador Program began this year. Theprogram currently has 31 ambassadors serving 47academic and 18 administrative departments. Mostambassadors are ambassadors to more than onedepartment, but no ambassador has more than fourdepartments. The Ambassador program is a volunteer-based program.

Ambassadors meet with their departments on a monthlybasis unless the departments chooses to meet more or lessoften. In a typical meeting, Ambassadors review thecontents of the most recent issues of it matters and otherrelevant concerns within the departments. Ambassadorsmeet with the chairs, department managers, and SCAD/DCS staff. Ambassadors gather information on issues,experiences with OIT, current needs, future needs, andconcerns.

All ambassadors attend a monthly meeting. Issues andconcerns raised by the departments are discussed. Themeetings also serve to keep the ambassadors up-to-dateon new services and enhancements in order to relay thisinformation to their departments.

An OIT Ambassador Executive Committee compiles,discusses and prioritizes issues that arise fromAmbassador Team meetings and individual ambassador/department meetings. The Executive Committee thenescalates issues when needed to the OIT Cabinet.



OIT in the News 2002-2003PrincetonUniversity


September 18, 2002, The Daily Princetonian


Occtober 9, 2002, The Daily Princetonian


October 14, 2002, Princeton Weekly Bulletin


October 24, 2002, The Daily Princetonian


November 26, 2002, The Daily Princetonian


December 17, 2002, Princeton University Website


March 6, 2003, The Daily Princetonian


March 24, 2003, Princeton Weekly Bulletin

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March 24, 2003, Princeton Weekly Bulletin


April 3, 2003, The Daily Princetonian


April 7, 2003, Princeton Weekly Bulletin


June 16, 2003, Princeton Weekly Bulletin

annual report 2002-2003 - princeton university · 2002-2003 annual report page 5 letter from the...

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