The Office of Technology and Information Services (OTIS) mission is to support the business operations of the many units which make up the University of Texas System Administration. We work to provide technology which enhances or simplifies these services.
Recent Accomplishments
Over the past quarter OTIS has focused on improvements in communication, completing the network upgrade to remote offices and completing 2007 goals. Some recent highlights:
Voice over IP Coming to UT System!!!!!
Beginning next month departments will be moving to a Voice over IP phone system which will offer substantial benefits using this new technology. For up-to-date announcements, training information, and the most current deployment timeline, please visit our Sharepoint telephone site: https://moss.utsystem.edu/commons/telephones; click on Calendar for the VoIP projectfor the department schedule.
We are excited about this new upgrade and are working towards a smooth migration.
Service Enhancements
- New WebTrends server deployed
- New desktop notification slips used whenever a machine is touched.
- Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted with a follow up facilitated training day on the topic.
- Extended Help Desk hours 7:30 a.m.- 6:00 p.m.
- Office 2007 rollout completed with 36 hours of training in Austin (not including online training) and 3 full day training for remote locations.
- Computer Refresh 2008
- Improved password complexity to comply with Federation requirements
- RightAnswers, OTIS Support site – A new Knowledge Management tool with a link to Support Desk tickets is being implemented and will be launched over the next few months.
- TMDSAS RFP for new school application software is in bid phase.
- Worked with OES on new Performance Management purchased software integration to use our logo.
- Purchase and deployment of new mainframe client software, Passport Web to Host. The maintenance and purchase of legacy mainframe licenses became cost prohibitive and necessitated the selection and purchase of a new mainframe client software. The Passport Web to Host (Passport) software was selected after much testing by many of our mainframe users and is now available for use at System Administration.
Security Enhancements
- New antivirus rolled out to desktops
- New quality assurance tool implemented
- New monitoring software purchased
- Automated AUP – The Annual signing of the Acceptable Use Policy has been successful. Everyone will have signed by August.
Projects in Progress
- Voice over IP (VoIP) - A replacement phone service is in the final contract negotiation phase. Implementation Aug-Sept.
- Annual Information Resources Security Training – UTS165 policy is complete and will be offered in July.
- Storage system redesign - Storing of documents and email continue to grow astronomically and the amount of storage devices needed have to be reconsidered and rearchitected. This work is progressing.
- Implementation of Exchange 2007 (See Schedule) – Outlook is being updated with more and better features and will follow the new procedures that can be found in the Electronic Content Management Operations Manual.
- Implementation of SharePoint 2007 – The new SharePoint service will be up this fall and sites will be gradually transfered to this new environment. It has much better features and more opportunities to improve our environment.
- Roll out of SimplyFile will be pushed out to departments once licenses are in place with an "opt out" option.
Projects in the Near Future
- Improved Onboarding processes for new employees
- Electronic Content Management Department Consultations.
