Reports

Division of Information Technology (DoIT)
2001 Profile

What is DoIT?
The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) provides a wide variety of technology services to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We also provide limited service to UW System and other State entities. Our services span desktop-to-server-to-mainframe computing, networks, telecommunications, Internet connectivity, administrative and academic systems, instructional technology, plus many support services. We work with colleges, departments and individuals to develop and implement new systems. At the same time, we provide quality service on current systems and work with our customers to migrate them from older technologies.

Our customers vary from students in need of a desktop computer to a researcher seeking the speed of Internet2, to administrative and academic directors and deans who need systems and support to carry out their missions.

DoIT is a challenging and enjoyable place to work. Our professional staff work hard in an informal atmosphere. We sharpen our skills with professional training and collaboration with other Big Ten schools and professional societies, as well as our colleagues on campus. We are able to work with the latest computing and networking technologies in support of our University community.

Mission and vision

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a world leader in the creation, transformation, transfer and application of knowledge. Success in this mission requires an integrated environment of information technologies that supports and enhances the academic activities of our students, faculty and staff, as well as the management and operation of the University.

Our Mission: Lead the development and delivery of information technology services that help students, faculty and staff work effectively as a community. Provide contemporary computing and networking service that support the University community to advance teaching, learning and research in the administration of the University.

Our Vision: to be successful in transforming the ways that our University shares ideas and information; helping build a University that is professionally strong, flexible and competitive in a changing marketplace; and helping faculty, staff and students realize their visions through the use of information technology.

Our Values

• outstanding customer service
• a learning organization
• collaborative
• world class
• a joyful place to work

Our History
DoIT delivers complex computing and networking products and services in collaboration with campus system and networking partners. As of May 2001, we employed 483 permanent, 70 limited-term, and 176 student staff in 13 departments. The annual budget is approximately $70 million. About 75 percent of our revenue comes from direct charges to customers.

Our production computing environment
Production Services:

DASD (Direct Access Storage Systems):
This year's inventory of installed storage capacity is a total of seven terabytes on servers including the Enterprise Storage System.

Customers
DoIT's primary customers are the larger community of campus faculty (2,100), staff (17,700) and students (more than 40,000). In addition, we provide major support to colleges, schools and departments, as well as to University of Wisconsin System Administration.

Our customers' computing environment
Fully Connected

• Every room (classroom, office, lab, etc.) served by one or more voice/data outlets having two jacks.
• Cable systems. In partnership with Charter Communications, we offer a cable modem service that provides high-speed data connectivity to the campus.
• Data networks.

The campus has a 14-node ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) network connected at OC-3 (155 Mbps) and OC-12 (622 Mbps). The ATM network is connected to the statewide BadgerNet network and WiscNet ATM network. About 200 campus departments are connected to the network. ResNet, a separate network, serves University Housing, providing approximately 6,000, 10-Mbps Ethernet connections in student rooms. These rooms will soon be upgraded to 10/100-Mbps Ethernet connections.

Multicast for streaming media available at departmental request.

The University is participating in direct peering relationships with other research networks such as ESNET and NASA. This allows faster, more direct communication with important research partners.

UW students, faculty and staff can now connect to the Internet with a new, portable, fast and convenient "wireless" link, called Wireless WiscWorld. In areas serviced by Wireless WiscWorld, all you need is a laptop, a wireless network card and a campus account to get on the campus network to check email, seek information on the Web or obtain academic course content.

The University is a WiscNet member. WiscNet is a membership organization that provides high-speed connectivity to institutions of higher education and governments statewide.

The University, in cooperation with WiscNet, UW-Milwaukee and the rest of the UW System, obtains its Internet access from Genuity, a nationwide service provider. The consortium has two ATM circuits to Genuity. One OC3 connects UW-Madison and Genuity's Chicago facilities. The other OC3 connects UW-Milwaukee and Genuity's facilities in Milwaukee.

The University participates in Internet2. I2 is a consortium of more than 100 universities, with the goal of creating a broadband network to facilitate research and communication. The University shares a third OC3 with UW-Milwaukee and WiscNet for its I2 access at the AADS in Chicago.

In the near future, we anticipate an upgrade of the Madison-to-Genuity circuit from an OC3 to an OC12. We can also look forward to accessing a second nationwide service provider through WiscNet. This will mean the addition of an OC3 from UW-Eau Claire to QWEST facilities in Eau Claire and an OC12 from UW-Milwaukee to QWEST facilities in Milwaukee. The upgrade and the additional circuits will provide increased diversity and redundancy for both Internet and I2 access.

Broadband systems
The Academic Television Network (formerly called the broadband cable system) is a traditional, two-way, single-cable coaxial TV system used for origination and distribution of television programming.

Phone services

• We provide a full range of telecommunications services including:
• Centrex system with 21,000 administrative lines and 3,870 student lines.
• Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) services which routes calls based on customer-defined parameters.
• Wireless system with 1,000 cellular lines; analog and digital services are available.
• Voice mail system (premise-based) with 6,000 mailboxes.
• ISDN Network access in scalable service for a fee. Five levels of access available from on-demand to dedicated access.
• DSL and cable modem services that provide high-speed data connectivity to the campus via partnerships with local vendors.

Internet Services
Our staff are developing a Web portal for students, faculty and staff called "My UW-Madison." The portal is a large undertaking, taking authentication, authorization and access to a new level. Beginning in the fall of 2001, students will be able to access an email account, personal calendar and many other personalized views to course information and other campus resources.

WiscWorld
This collection of online computing and networking services is offered exclusively to students, faculty and staff at UW-Madison and includes electronic mail and World Wide Web access. The Electronic Library connects to MadCat (the campus library catalog) and selected databases. Internet tools are also included that allow connectivity to servers around the world. A new version, 4.0 for Windows, will be released the end of August 2001.

Electronic mail
Choices of centrally provided email services are available through DoIT. Campus customer use statistics are:

• 36,459 active student WiscWorld (Popmail) email accounts and 14,933 active faculty and staff accounts, as of April 1, 2001.
• 1,604 faculty, staff and student UW-MadMail (IMAP) email accounts as of April 1, 2001.
• Web-based email will be available for students in fall 2001, and will eventually replace WiscWorld accounts.

Dial-in access and accounts

• More than 2,500 modems are available for authenticated dial-in by nearly 60,000 users.
• Last year we handled 1.43 million dial-in sessions; average 22.2 hours per customer; average 23.4 minutes per connection.

World Wide Web Server
DoIT Web site: our home page at www.doit.wisc.edu averages 50,000 hits/requests per month.

DoITNet (Intranet): This is an internal information forum to aid in the exchange of information within DoIT. DoITNet contains information such as the current events calendar, an online version of DoIT's weekly newsletter, and an internal referral list. Staff have access to project progress and post- project review minutes, operating plans, and division policies and guidelines. DoITNet is linked to group Web sites and other key University and state Web sites. DoITNet has added a Web-based interface to access the DoIT Resource Center catalog.

UW-Madison Web site (WiscINFO): We host the WiscINFO/UW-Madison Web resource. This Web site contains a collection of online resources both on and off campus. It consists of a browsable structure as well as a number of searchable indexes. The University of Wisconsin-Madison home page is at www.wisc.edu

InfoLabs
Fifteen open-access computer labs offer direct network connections and a variety of hardware, software and peripherals. InfoLabs are heavily used by students and are also available for faculty and staff. Eleven are general access InfoLabs; four additional labs are for use by University Housing residents only. A new system of communication kiosks was installed during summer 2001 at popular campus locations such as the student unions.

Our Major Service Areas

Help Desk
We offer a 24-hour help desk with phone-in, walk-in, email and Web services. For the six-month period from July 1, 2000 through Dec. 31, 2000, the Help Desk logged 55,665 cases. The Help Desk uses a state-of-the-art call tracking system.

Technology Consultation
Our expert technology consultants work with clients to find multiple solutions to a given problem for a range of costs with one or more producers. Internal and external customers seeking technology solutions need assistance in the following areas: needs assessment, identification of alternatives, cost analysis and identification of appropriate providers. Our consultants are trained in all these areas. Our Tech Solutions service group can consult on instruction, research, administration, the web, telecommunications and networks and systems.

Training (non-credit)
DoIT's Professional Technical Education staff provides training to UW-Madison students, faculty and staff. When available and requested, we also provide training to UW staff on other campuses.

• Staff and faculty. A variety of technical classes are available on a fee basis. These workshops include, but are not limited to: MS Office applications, Web design, information technology project management, information technology consulting, Macromedia applications, Adobe applications, XML, Cold Fusion, ASP, Java, Oracle-certified training, PeopleSoft certified training, HTML, calendars and email.

We offer custom courses and training resources upon demand for campus customers. Examples are: online resources for PeopleSoft inquiry users; training on Web accessibility, Dreamweaver, HTML and Fireworks for UWSA and development of the online Help Desk site for these topics.

We serve UW staff by providing online training access for a fee to PeopleSoft Knowledge Center and other online training vendors. We also provide three labs with the latest equipment and software for training purposes that can be rented for a fee.

• Student Technical Training. This program is completing its third year and has successfully trained more than 200 students with the necessary skills in information technology support and Web site development. Eighty-nine percent of these students are still actively employed in part-time IT support roles on campus. Working for more than 40 UW-Madison departments, students completing the program have found their DoIT certification to be useful and relevant to future employers.
  
• Student Training Program. We offer a wide variety of free student workshops taught by students. In 2000, more than 5,000 students attended 400 workshops, and more than 2,000 students accessed online, computer-based training with 400 different training titles. The program also accommodated requests by faculty and staff for training in degree-credit courses.

Tech Store
The Tech Store provides advice, sales, installation and repair service for the campus. The store is also accessible by Web at techstore.doit.wisc.edu. The online catalog receives more than 20,000 hits per month.

Software licensing
DoIT coordinates more than 70 academic software licenses, as well as hundreds more shrink-wrap licenses, for UW-Madison. License information is available from the Tech Store and at the Wisconsin Integrated Software Catalog (WISC) site at www.wisc.edu/wisc.

Access to institutional data (InfoAccess)
We manage a large "data warehouse" for the UW. Decision makers access the data with a locally developed service called InfoAccess. More than 900 department customers have active InfoAccess accounts; 30.3 gigabytes of data can be displayed in more than 200 different data views; subject areas include human resources, accounting, benefits, payroll, budget, student records, timetable and admissions.

Applications services
Applications Technology has a professional staff of analysts, designers, programmers and project managers to develop, implement and support a wide array of applications, including:

• Integrated Student Information System (ISIS), based on the PeopleSoft Student Administration package, for admissions, registration, fees, curriculum, student access to their records (EASI) and alumni records
• Personnel System, providing personnel information for recruitment and appointments held by employees (IADS)
• Payroll System, providing payroll checks to more than 92,000 employees in the University of Wisconsin System
• Shared Financial System (SFS), based on the PeopleSoft Financial package, for financial transactions and accounting functions for campuses in the University of Wisconsin System
• E-commerce, providing credit card transactions, catalogs, ordering, inventory management, customer service, workflow automation and other business functions

Instructional Technology
Learning Technology and Distance Education helps UW-Madison faculty and departments improve teaching and learning through the effective use of appropriate instructional technologies. Our services include instructional systems consultation and design, instructional technology events and workshops, courseware development and evaluation, Web-based learning, and the design of technology-enhanced teaching spaces. A growing number of faculty and staff are using WebCT, a product that facilitates the creation of Web-based educational environments. We work in close collaboration with the University administration and other campus IT groups to build the UW-Madison learning technologies climate and infrastructure. Each month, 100 to 200 customers are served through our hosted events; 20 to 30 are served through Center for Biology Education events; and 100 to 200 are served through New Media Center events.

Faculty and staff can also use the New Media Centers' classrooms free of charge for instruction and research purposes. These classrooms are high-end, multimedia facilities where faculty can use projection technology for multimedia-enriched presentations and lectures and students can take advantage of computer workstations for hands-on learning. Multimedia design labs provide faculty and instructional staff with ready access to modern multimedia authoring hardware and software, along with assistance from expert staff. The Biology New Media Center was the first in the nation to focus on a discipline and its specific information technology needs. Our program is part of the New Media Centers Consortium, an international organization designed to foster multimedia in higher education.

Base technology support (IT infrastructure)
Network Services in DoIT coordinates the design, long-range planning and procurement of a broad range of high-quality feature-rich voice services. It is responsible for the management, operation and support of the campus network, including wireless and dial-in. It provides backbone network management and support to WiscNet and the UW for Internet, Internet2 and other wide-area network access.

Our Systems Engineering group supports multiple operating platforms and systems, database management systems, middleware and security tools, as well as personal communications and multimedia tools to meet the needs of customers.

Policies
Information on various policies and guidelines regarding the use of campus computing resources can be found at: www.wisc.edu/badgirt/policies, which includes:

• UW-Madison electronic resources appropriate use policy
• DoIT USENET news guidelines
• UW-Housing ResNet policy
• ARMS (Archives and Records Management Services) email policy and best practices
• UW-Madison policies governing access to facstaff electronic files
• DoIT computer logging statement
• Security links