Annual Report 2023

New Student Technology Committee Provides Feedback

To more effectively engage with students about technology needs, a new student committee has been established. With a multi-department focus, the Student Technology Advisory Committee will meet twice a semester to gather student feedback about technology needs that support learning. This diverse group of 20+ students will weigh in on technology functionality and the use of technological fees.

This new committee replaces the former Committee on the Advancement of Student Technology for Learning Enhancement, otherwise known as CASTLE.

Migrating Student Email to Outlook

Beginning in summer 2022, Iowa State student email migrated from CyMail (Gmail) to Microsoft Outlook. The ITS Identity Services team moved more than 20,000 Net-IDs to the new platform in a 4-month time span. As a result, students have access to additional features such as inbox rules and message quick parts that allow for better email organization and efficiency.

In addition, Outlook offers easy integrations, or “add-ins,” with other enterprise tools such as Webex and Adobe Acrobat Sign. The effort unified students, faculty and staff under one email and calendaring system, which also simplifies issue management and resolution.  

Audiovisual Enhancements Across Campus

To provide more unified guidance on installing audiovisual equipment, the Audiovisual Experience team instituted new AV standards for campus. Reviewed and rewritten in 2022, the standards offer more instruction on installing audiovisual solutions. The team published the new standards with four primary areas of audiovisual focus: institutional standards, infrastructure standards, leveled room configuration, and contractor standards.

The guidelines help empower AV users to be confident using audiovisual equipment in various room on campus. In addition, the team supported 50 “Level 1” and 161 “Level 2” classrooms during the academic year for a high-quality learning experience.

Back to top

Increasing Print Credit Balances for Students

ITS facilitated a pilot for increased print credits to make printing on campus easier for students. During the pilot, students received double the allotment of base credits – from 500 to 1000 – for summer and fall sessions. Funded by student technology fees and supported by university Student Government, increased balances provided opportunities to print more materials for courses.

The effort contributes to an equitable student technology experience and promotes university sustainability goals as well. The pilot was successful and approved for future semester use.

Ensuring Course Content Accessibility in Canvas

The ITS Digital Accessibility team introduced a new accessibility tool for students to use alongside their courses in Canvas. Anthology Ally, the new tool, provides six alternative accessible formats to any added page or document in Canvas. With Ally, students have access to format options such as HTML, a tagged PDF, an MP3 audio file and electronic Braille.

These formats make course content more accessible to all students including those with learning differences or disabilities. Twenty courses were piloted with Anthology Ally in fall 2022. The feedback given from the pilot helped bring the new accessibility tool to all Canvas courses at the start of the 2023 semester. With this in place, the university is better able to meet the goals set by the Digital Accessibility Policy instituted in 2022.

Transferring Digital Accessibility Equipment for Student Access

In spring 2023, the Digital Accessibility team increased student accessibility resources by transferring accessibility equipment to Tech Lending in Parks Library. Students in need of accessibility resources such as C-Pens, braille displays, speech recognition software and more can check them out at no cost.

With the physical location of the Digital Accessibility Lab in Durham Center closed, members of the Digital Accessibility team are establishing a virtual lab for Cyclones. The new online presence will help students work through training using Workday Learning and explore a Digital Accessibility Toolkit currently in development, and check equipment out much more easily and use it anywhere.

Increasing Research Computing Support

In spring 2023, ITS assembled a short-term task group for enhancing research computing support across the university. Members represent various units and departments campuswide. The group will convene during the next fiscal year to advance and improve the research computing experience on campus.

The collaboration will produce a roadmap for future research computing development as well as recommendations that continue to ignite innovation.  

Merging Cluster Resources for Greater Computing Power

Students and faculty now possess access to enhanced high performance computing resources for high-speed computation. The HPC team, beginning with an approved funding initiative in early 2022, worked to combined and share computing infrastructure between different clusters. Since then, the merging process has been completed.

HPC clusters are composed of interconnected computers called “nodes.” Nodes are similar to a traditional desktop or laptop ­­­with CPU cores, memory and disk space ­­but possess much more computing power. With the merger, faculty and student researchers benefit from more effective and efficient data processing. New, advanced nodes were also installed during the merger. The nodes are ideal for innovative projects such as automated technology, crop simulations and cell biology.

Updating Data Center Fire Protection 

ITS installed a new fire suppression system in the Durham Data Center to ensure the safety of user data. The new system uses NOVEC 1230, a clean agent gas that does not consume oxygen. This update provides the highest level of safety to customers and their data as well as employees in the building. The three-year effort was support with department funds.

Back to top

Collaborating with Oklahoma University on OURRstore

Iowa State University collaborated with Oklahoma University to join the advisory board for the OU & Regional Research Store (OURRstore), a bulk data archive project for regional research developments. Through OURRstore, students, faculty and staff have access to over 100 petabytes of storage for building and sharing large datasets for research.

The opportunity for board membership came about, thanks to the state’s participation in the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR. The ITS High Performance Computing team has elected a team member for the board position.

Empowering Future ITS Professionals

In November 2022, High Performance Computing team member Dr. Marina Kraeva led the Early Career Program at the annual supercomputing conference in Dallas, Texas. To empower and inspire the next generation of IT leaders, the conference showcases the latest HPC advancements. The Early Career Program of the conference features many professional skill-building sessions such as interview training, mentorship insights, networking strategies and more.

Additionally, with over 350 exhibitors, more than 70 group discussions, and numerous workshops, attendees engaged with ever-growing opportunities in high performance computing careers.

Upgrading Wireless Infrastructure to Wi-Fi 6

To continue modernizing IT infrastructure, ITS replaced over 5,000 wireless access points across campus. Access points boost signal to the surrounding area that provides better connection to Wi-Fi. The new access points upgraded campus wireless networks to Wi-Fi 6, to improve network efficiency in high density areas.

The access points are three times more efficient in busier areas, benefiting classrooms and crowded public areas the most. Better network infrastructure allows Iowa State to handle greater network traffic and better serve the campus community.

Implementing Tool for Managing Non-credit Courses

During 2022, the ITS Distributed Systems Services team implemented Canvas Catalog, or “Canvas 2,” for administering non-credit courses offered by the university. In comparison, the primary Canvas application lets students manage and participate in for-credit classes.

With the tool rolling out in phases, Canvas Catalog successfully became a part of the ISU Extension Store in spring 2023. The Extension Store allows people across Iowa and beyond to enroll in fee-based non-credit courses like the Master Gardener Training.

Back to top

Migrating Atlassian Software Tools

University project and technical teams operate with Atlassian software tools such as Jira and Confluence for information and task management. In spring 2023, Jira and Confluence migrated to virtual cloud-based servers thanks to the combined efforts of ITS teams. By moving from on-premise servers to cloud platforms, campus users benefit from increased security and the latest feature updates.

This change adjusts responsibilities for server maintenance from university technicians to Atlassian. As a result, university IT employees can redistribute effort across other strategic initiatives.

MyFiles Data Synced to New “Files” Platform

In continuing efforts to manage enterprise file storage tools, ITS led file sync efforts from MyFiles to the new Files service. The Files service replaces MyFiles as an on-premises solution to store computer backups or archive data. The university also successfully stabilized storage costs, by reducing Google Drive use. After Google implemented a storage quota, ITS assisted campus in moving overflow data from Google Drive to an alternative solution.

IT professionals for campus units helped lead the effort to reduce data from 1700 TB to 140 TB within a year. Files stored on Google Drive became read-only in January 2023.

Designing New University Web Templates

ITS implemented a new website theme to align with the new Iowa State University site. The effort was a cross-functional project between the ITS Web Development and Digital Accessibility teams along with the University Strategic Relations and Communications unit. The new theme within the Drupal web management platform includes several web page templates available for all campus departments to use.

After the templates were released, ITS became one of the first departments on campus to launch a redesigned website that coordinates with updated university branding. Because the templates were designed with accessibility in mind, the department site successfully met the 2024 benchmark outlined in university Digital Accessibility Policy.

Collecting New Ideas for Call Center Technology

The ITS Collaboration Services team administered a survey to various campus call center supervisors to collect new ideas for updating ISU call center technology.

From the survey, the team identified that call center screen recording, live statistics and reporting, and digital engagement with email, chat and SMS are desired features. Together, the team is developing new solutions that allow Iowa State call centers to be even more successful.

Establishing New Committees

ITS formed three new internal committees to enhance culture and recognize work of employees. The professional development and awards committee develops a program for professional development and create awards to recognize outstanding employees. The innovations committee promotes a culture of innovative thinking within ITS and provides an outlet for employee input. The architecture committee ensures enterprise projects are properly vetted and provide input on other major projects and the design process.

To better connect employees, these committees provide an opportunity for staff to work together who don’t usually collaborate.

Helping to Develop the New Parking System

ITS teams collaborated with the ISU Parking Division to develop a new system that allows students, faculty, staff and guests to purchase parking permits with ease. Teams from three enterprise operational areas assisted with the parking portal’s development, which allows commuters to conveniently purchase virtual permits and pay fines. Virtual permits eliminate the need for physical hangtags and stickers.

This change increases efficiency of checking for permits across campus and decreases time appealing incorrectly displayed permit tickets.

Back to top

Providing On-campus Tech Support

The IT Solution Center is the go-to resource for providing unparalleled technology support to all students, faculty and staff of Iowa State University.

In the last year, solution center team members have worked through and resolved a total of 47,622 help tickets for campus customers. This means, team members resolved:

• 3,968 tickets per month
• 915 tickets per week
• 134 tickets per day...which ultimately equals...
• 1 ticket every 4.5 minutes

Developing Department Intranet

To better connect department employees, ITS has kicked off a project to create an intranet. The intranet will highlight resources, link to training, share timely messages and provide a collaboration space, all with ease of access.

The intranet creation team is leveraging SharePoint as the tool of choice, as it integrates well with other Microsoft products already in use. The endeavor will add to the community-building goals within the department.

Refining ServiceNow Knowledge Management

Several enhancements to the ISU Service Portal refined the self-service customer experience for students, faculty and staff. With the ISU Service Portal, users have access to how-to articles, service request forms, and IT support tickets. The ITS Systems Infrastructure team released new ServiceNow features that enhance the portal’s search and filter capabilities.

The collection of filter options gives a more customizable browsing experience. Users can narrow down the set parameters while searching for a specific article topics.

Dynamic and driven by the university community, the updated ISU Service Portal interface prioritizes popular search terms across campus to keep information relevant. Plus, knowledge and service requests are now categorized together, not separately.

The back-end interface of ServiceNow also received an update. Called the “Next Experience” interface, the platform view where ITS team members work is more user-friendly with intuitive menus.