Information Technology

The ARC team has been expanded to provide better support to faculty and staff through the addition of a Research Computing Specialist and a student employee.

A re-architecture of Clipper, the High-Performance Computing cluster, was completed with the support of the Enterprise Architecture team and faculty input and testing. The platform has been adopted by 10 faculty researchers and 18 student researchers since then.

Apporto was implemented for GenCyber Camp, followed by implementation for CIS Cybersecurity-related courses.

Digital media developers within our three Digital Studio locations worked in collaboration with faculty on a variety of faculty projects [FIX LINK]. In 2023, Digital Studios saw a 336% increase in the number of projects and consultations completed compared to the prior year. More information is available on the Digital Studio website [FIX LINK].

Improved Customer Satisfaction and Service Efficiency: Improved IT service processes significantly increased customer satisfaction, with 89% of survey respondents indicating satisfaction. This improvement has been accompanied by a substantial increase in productivity. This is evidenced by the handling of 59,879 tickets and the maintenance of only 319 tickets in the backlog. Moreover, 91% of tickets were resolved within service level agreements, demonstrating quality assurance.

Expansion and Integration of IT Services: The integration of various university departments, including Public Safety Dispatch, Admissions, and University Development, to the TeamDynamix system has enhanced the autonomy of departments in managing tickets and knowledge. This expansion, along with the standardization of touch panels in classrooms starting in SCB and the upgrade of lab computers in GIS (115) in three locations and 500 across campuses, indicates a broadening scope and improvement of IT infrastructure.

Enhanced Performance Metrics and Call Handling: Significant improvements in performance metrics were observed, including a reduction in the average time for ticket resolution and initial response. Call handling efficiency improved remarkably, with a fourfold increase in calls answered, reduced average queue wait time, and a decrease in the abandoned call rate. This demonstrates an overall enhancement in responsiveness and service quality.

New Employees: Assisted with adding 6 NEW positions to the division. Onboarded and welcomed 26 employees.

Technology Acquisitions: Processed and ordered over 1758 technology requests of Dell/Apple desktops & laptops, monitors, printers, software, cables/adapters, iPads, technology peripherals, and servers.

Campus and Community Outreach: Increased communications and connections with students, faculty, and staff to foster awareness of IT resources. Tactics included monthly newsletters, events, and social media.

Mass Communications: Created and delivered 174 mass emails to the university community.

Budgets: Maintained and renewed over 100 contracts for the division and added 13 new contracts.

GVSU Information Technology and the Data Advisory Committee partnered with technology consulting firm, World Wide Technologies (WWT) to build a data warehouse using the Microsoft Azure platform.

The data platform supports a variety of student use cases and analytics. It allows the university to develop valuable insights into students more efficiently by streamlining data systems, integrating multiple data sources, and identifying initial and future reporting requirements. This project lays the foundation for further scalability, development, and support of data and analytics.

A primary objective of Information Technology was to implement Blackboard Ultra Learning. By doing so, the university's Learning Management System would be modernized and designed to be a user-friendly, feature-rich, and efficient platform for all users.

Project initiatives began in 2022, including training, educating, and engaging early adopters. During the winter semester of 2023, team members dedicated themselves to cultivating relationships with departments and faculty across the university through build-a-thons, office hours, departmental webinars, training, and consultations in preparation for going live. Go-live was completed in May 2023.

By the fall semester of 2023, over 87% of Blackboard Ultra Courses had been activated and accessible to students. This achievement represents the highest availability percentage ever recorded since the pandemic began.

Collaboration between IT and University Development was crucial for the successful implementation and launch of Blackbaud's Raiser's Edge NXT. RE NXT streamlines fundraising efforts with efficient donor management, enabling targeted campaigns, and optimizing operations for each college and unit.

IT played a pivotal role in this collaborative venture, contributing to the data conversion, system configuration, integration creation, report generation, and project management. The collaboration between IT and Development has been instrumental in shaping the Raiser's Edge NXT system. Moving forward, IT remains committed to ongoing collaboration with University Development to provide continuous support for the Raiser's Edge NXT system.

Establish and manage a strategic analysis and approval framework built on an adaptable, sustainable process and structure dedicated to safeguarding and preserving organization-wide data unification, definition, security, and compliance. This is being accomplished with the implementation of the Azure Data platform.

Modernizing data center systems and environments remains a priority for the IT department. As of 2023, 150 servers that had been running aging, end-of-life operating systems have been upgraded. In this project, emphasis was placed on enhancing and re-architecting Academic systems, such as HPC Clipper, RStudio, RedCap, Winlab, and specialized learning environments for Academic departments. As an additional focus, work is being carried out to improve the designs of Enterprise Systems, including Banner, Campus Printing, ERP systems, www.gvsu.edu, access controls, and security environments.

DocuSign was implemented across the university as the electronic signature solution. DocuSign streamlines the customer experience, strengthens compliance, increases efficiency, and eliminates paper-based costs. It automates workflows with electronic signatures for signing documents and provides safety and security.

Security Awareness Training:

• KnowBe4 Training: Over 75% of GVSU faculty and Staff completed the training.

• USB Drop: A variety of USB drives were dropped around all university campuses to monitor who might pick them up and use them. The purpose of this exercise was to raise awareness on campus that USB drives not your own might contain malware and should be returned to IT Services.

• Test Phishing Emails: To determine how familiar the community is with phishing red flags, test phishing emails were sent randomly to various university accounts. Participants who engaged with the phishing email were directed to participate in or review security training. This exercise is conducted annually in accordance with GLBA and to ensure that the university is aware of phishing dangers. It also teaches them how to spot and report phishing messages.
  

Okta Implementation: Okta was introduced as a new, enhanced login interface. The purpose is to improve security and the user experience at GVSU.

• Entitlement portal: A new entitlement portal (my.gvsu.edu) was established to provide a single point of entry for all applications a user has access to.

• MFA for Faculty and Staff: GVSU faculty and staff are now required to use MFA for most major applications.

• MFA for Students: An optional MFA has been provided for students in preparation for the mandatory MFA deadline in 2024.
  

ThreatBlockr: To protect campus assets from incoming and outgoing threats, a network edge threat aggregator has been installed near the campus' internet border.

Safe Compute: This program was created for faculty and staff to take machines with no GVSU information on them to countries at elevated risk for travel.

Process Improvement Tools: VirusTotal and HaveIBeenPwned were purchased to improve processes. In addition to improving operational efficiency, these tools improve the accuracy of account compromise detections.

Initiated the development of MuleSoft as our enterprise integration platform. Initially, integrations were created between Banner/Slate and Banner/Workday/Raiser's Edge. In addition, APIs are currently being developed that we can use for standard integrations in the future.

The implementation of GVSU's next-generation networks continues to progress. A five-year plan and budget are currently being developed to enhance and improve the network services provided to the GVSU community, both on campus and remotely. Modernizing wireless authentication services and upgrading the core and edge network infrastructure were among the projects completed.

The quotation and procurement process for all technology requests has been moved to the ticketing software system. Implemented a software approval process within the ticketing system.

Replaced the UltraTime system with Workday for time tracking, affecting hourly staff and students, and revamping procurement and sourcing activities to be more efficient through Workday Strategic Sourcing.

Pathify was selected as the vendor of choice following a thorough review of several products for a university portal solution. The university portal will serve as a central hub for students, faculty, and staff to access enterprise applications at GVSU, receive communications from campus departments, access campus resources, and serve as a hub for communities. Currently, the implementation of the solution is in progress. A soft launch of the portal is expected during the winter 2024 semester, with a full release to campus scheduled for the fall of 2024.

It was the goal of the Workday Project Team to transition key operational systems (finance, human resources, payroll) over from legacy platforms to Workday's more integrated and efficient ERP system, with major progress completed in 2023 and more to come in 2024. This project involved Information Technology team members in many areas, such as change management, communication, data conversion, integration, project management, reporting, and testing.

Advanced AV in Athletic and Academic Facilities: The Harris Family Athletic Complex, home to the Lakers' wrestling programs, and the VMA & COM renovations, which include a full theater experience with Dolby Atmos technology, showcase GVSU's commitment to providing top-tier facilities with integrated AV solutions.

Innovative Learning Environments: Upgrades to the Center of Health Sciences and Traverse City Campus involve transforming traditional classrooms into Active Learning spaces, equipped with flexible furniture and technologies supporting remote learning, reflecting GVSU's dedication to modernizing educational spaces.

Zoom Room Integration for Enhanced Collaboration: GVSU has upgraded and is developing several Zoom Room conference rooms, event spaces, and classrooms. These spaces are equipped with software and hardware for efficient audio and video conferencing, demonstrating GVSU's focus on fostering seamless communication and collaboration across its campuses.

The IT Innovation and Research (I+R) team was established in February of 2021 with a mission to lead, coordinate, and facilitate the discovery and exploration of emerging technologies and innovative solutions that catalyze digital transformation (DX) at Grand Valley State University.

A complete overview of 2023 highlights can be found on the GVSU Innovate Blog.

In 2023, the IT Innovation and Research Atomic Object Technology Showcase celebrated 10 years of education, technology and innovation. Throughout the year, the Showcase attracted over 13,500 visitors and introduced more than 7 new emerging technologies. 

The Showcase more than doubled in size, expanding into the Exhibition Space of the Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons. This expansion allows for immersive learning experiences such as extended reality (XR), while increasing FabLab/Makerspace capabilities.

The IT Innovation and Research X>STUDIO hosted and facilitated several initiatives in partnership with the Office of the President, Applied Computing Institute, and Visual and Media Arts including Laker Learning Futures and Faculty Futures Team, Grand Path Project, and I+R's Student Technology and Innovation Guilds (STING).