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June 2005 Update

In This Update


Three-year UW Wireless Initiative Begins

A three-year initiative to extend wireless throughout the UW Seattle campus was announced by Acting Provost David Thorud in an April letter to the deans. Funds for the $7.5 million initiative will come from the Provost's office and the Student Technology Fee. Ongoing maintenance and upgrades for wireless on all three campuses will be funded by a communications/telephone rate increase.

The initiative is being overseen by the Academic Technology Advisory Committee (A-TAC), and involves C&C, Facility Services, Capital Projects, and Classroom Support Services.

A new Web page provides details on why and how the initiative was developed, priorities for the order of deployment, and information for current locally managed wireless networks.

For more information, see http://www.washington.edu/computing/wireless/initiative.html


New UW Chief Information Security Officer Hired

Kirk Bailey has been hired as the new Chief Information Security Officer for the UW. Bailey most recently served as the Chief Information Security Officer for the City of Seattle and has worked as an information technology professional in healthcare, banking, financial services, and academia for 30 years.

In his new position, Bailey will be responsible for UW information security policy, coordinating efforts across the university, and for creating a culture of information security at the UW. His responsibilities include:

  • Overseeing the creation and maintenance of UW information security policy
  • Leading security risk assessment efforts
  • Serving as chair of the Privacy Assurance and Systems Security (PASS) Council (see http://www.washington.edu/computing/security/pass/)
  • Leading a university security awareness and training program

This new position was created in response to a recommendation last year by the University Technology Advisory Committee (U-TAC). The position is necessary to raise awareness of computing security risks and allow the UW to plan strategically and respond at an institutional level to the increasing number of attacks on UW computing resources. Bailey will report to the Provost and to the Vice President and Vice Provost for Computing and Communications.


MyFinancial.desktop: Budget Expense, Reporting, and Query Application Released

UW researchers and fiscal staff now can track expenses for grants, contracts, and state budgets online with MyFinancial.desktop. This new software tool is the first of three to be developed under the Financial Desktop Initiative, a part of the USER project, created in partnership with C&C and the Executive Vice President, Financial Management, and Planning and Budgeting offices.

MyFinancial.desktop enables authorized users to:

  • Get comprehensive information on a particular budget or transaction
  • Download data on specific budgets into Excel, text, or HTML programs
  • Allow co-investigators to access grant budget information

Training and help are both available. The final two projects will be an Online Internal Transactions Application, which will allow online transactions between different UW accounts, and Project Cost Accounting Tools, which will generate department-specific reports.

To find out how to access MyFinancial.desktop, use the tutorials, or read the frequently asked questions, see http://ucs.admin.washington.edu/myfd/Home.aspx#

For more information, see the May 19, 2005 story in University Week at http://admin.urel.washington.edu/uweek/archives/issue/uweek_story_small.asp?id=2766


New Adviser's Notebook for Improved Student Academic Advising

A new, Web-based service aimed at improving academic advising of students and enhancing their satisfaction with advising will be available prior to Autumn Quarter. The new service, Adviser's Notebook, provides advisers with easy access to a holistic snapshot of online student data.

The new service will allow advisers to:

  • Add and view notes about interactions with students
  • Display transfer credit evaluation, degree audits, and unofficial transcripts
  • See student demographic information
  • Use a student locator

Future enhancements may include expanded search capabilities, email list support, and the ability to declare and change majors, file applications to graduate, and view transcripts based on a variety of course and student attributes. Adviser's Notebook is sponsored by the Dean of Undergraduate Education, managed by the Gateway Center, and designed by C&C.


Changes to Email Configuration Required This Summer

Two new anti-spam measures for email take effect at the UW on June 27 and August 8. Those who dial-in to UW modem pools need to check whether they are required to reconfigure their email program to be able to send email after June 27. By August 8, all email programs must be configured to send messages using authentication and secure connections, if they don't already.

A new Web page has detailed information and instructions to help users determine if they need to take action and how to configure specific desktop email programs. Information for system managers and application developers is included. C&C will be working hard to notify the community and affected individuals as the deadlines approach.

For more information, see http://www.washington.edu/computing/email/manage/summeremail.html


Data Center Task Force Makes Recommendations

The UW should explore the feasibility of developing a new data center to meet the growing demand for data center space, according to the recommendations of a Data Center Task Force. Given the critical role of computing infrastructure in supporting the UW's mission, the task force was charged in August 2004 with assessing campus-wide data server needs. The UW's primary data center is running out of capacity while the growth in the number of servers required to support the university's operations is expected to continue into the foreseeable future.

The task force finished presenting its preliminary report to each of the UW Technology Advisory Committees this spring. Toward the long-term solution of a new data center, the task force now is drafting the scope of work to be addressed by a pre-design study. It also is finalizing a Request for Proposal as a first step in identifying an interim solution.

For more information, see the preliminary report.


New Advisory Structure for Data Warehousing Program

A new advisory structure has been established for the UW's Data Warehousing Program (DWP) to provide more university-wide input into the program's products and services and to ensure that it is meeting the critical information needs of central and academic units. The DWP provides a central resource of integrated historical and current human resources, student, financial, and other data that university community users can access to meet their informational needs.

The new structure is modeled after the USER project approach and establishes three levels of advising:

  • Institutional Advisory Structure: The Information Technology Advisory Committee (I-TAC) will establish strategic priorities and provide overall oversight of the DWP.
  • Data Warehousing Information Improvement Team (IIT): IIT will focus on data warehousing information, products, and resources. It will be composed of representatives of colleges and schools, departments, and central office users, and function in a manner similar to a USER project Process Improvement Team. The goal of the IIT is to create involvement and ownership by university-wide users of the DWP.
  • Data Management Group: A group of central office data management representatives will focus on meeting near-term tactical central office needs. This group also will serve as a resource for the IIT to ensure their efforts integrate with institutional approaches.

These three advisory committees are in the process of being established, and their roles will evolve to meet the need for guidance and input into the DWP.