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Jeff Howlett
Chief Information Officer |
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| Angela Gouge - Info Systems |
Karen West - Technical Resources |
| Bill Legge - IT Business |
Melonie Ivey - Campus Computing |
| Doug Alm - Network Services |
Tim Bartlett - User Services |
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Laptop Program Ending |
The decision has been made to discontinue the student laptop program. The last laptop distribution for new students will be the spring 2013 semester. Students coming to Meredith College for the fall 2012 and spring 2013 semesters will receive one new Lenovo T420 laptop. There will be no upgrades for these distributions. |
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| Upgrades for previous distribution: Eligible continuing students will receive new laptops in the fall 2012 and fall 2013 semesters. |
| Rules that govern the laptop program have changed slightly. Please review the Laptop Policy or contact Bill Legge if you have any questions concerning eligibility, disqualification, or ownership transfer. |
Desktop Printing |
Remember that we are using Caliber Technologies to purchase toner for all desktop printing and to provide maintenance. Price for toner is very reasonable and maintenance is included with the exception of parts. Contact the help desk (2323) for maintenance. |
| If you are not setup to purchase from Caliber contact Bill Legge. |
Purchase Software at discounted prices. |
All employees and students can purchase Microsoft and Adobe software at discounted prices. See " Purchasing Software for Meredith College Students and Employees" on the Campus Software page for details. |
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Google News!! |
Google Drive (replacing Google Docs) is the newest addition to the Google suite of products available to Meredith students and employees. It provides additional space for document storage and collaboration. Training materials and workshops will be available soon. Read a quick explanation of all the Google Products available to Meredith students and employees. |
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Blackboard News!!
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Blackboard server clean-up will be performed on August 2nd and 3rd to remove courses created in 2008. Typically, courses with S08, F08, or 2008 in the course ID will be removed. This maintenance is performed to free up space on the server for newer courses, and to prevent older courses from causing any system issues. If you have a course which will be affected by the clean-up and you need a back-up of the student activity in the course, please archive it. The archive is a record of the student activity in the course and, if properly saved, typically can be restored to the server. |
Archiving Blackboard Courses!! |
| Please visit our Blackboard web page for the latest information on archiving a course. |
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Updates! Updates! Updates! |
At times users will be requested to complete system updates. Standard valid updates that can be performed by the end user include Windows, Java, Adobe, and Apple. Please note any update that requires you to make a purchase is not valid and only update systems on campus or your home network. See Government Warning.
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| An icon for these updates will usually appear in the notification area, at the bottom right corner of the screen. Simply follow the wizard for each update to complete. See Diagram |
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Vacation Responder via Gmail |
Are you going on vacation, or will you be out of the office for an extended period? Set up your Out of Office message via the Gmail account under Vacation responder: Click on the Gear icon located in the top right corner next to the name of your email account and choose Mail settings (it might look different in IE7 or IE8). See Diagram |
External Backup Hard Drive Information |
Many Meredith employees have encrypted external hard drives that are set up to periodically back up data on their systems. If a hard drive is not properly connected to the computer, the scheduled backup will not be successful. By not having the drive 'mounted' the data is never backing up and if the computer crashes users will be at risk of losing all data. |
| See Backup for information on mounting the backup unit and verifying the backup job. |
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The Network Services group this year is focusing on improving performance and reliability of existing services rather than adding new services. For the most part, this work is invisible to the typical campus network user. |
On-going maintenance including security updates, patches, and server-based application management will continue during scheduled times to minimize disruptions to the user community. |
Evaluations will be made for new backup methods and procedures, new data storage options, and new anti-virus/malware programs. |
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Email Mailing list conversion! Migration of all old mailing lists to Google groups will need to be completed by September 2012, when the old system goes away. If you have a mailing list on the old system, email tschoppm@meredith.edu to arrange the move. The Google group interface is easier to manage and provides better archiving!
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If you are not sure what is considered an old list, please note that any email mailing list address that has @lists.meredith.edu in the last part needs to be converted to Google groups. |
Federated Authentication - In preparation for upcoming collaborative projects with NCSU and other schools, Meredith will soon be joining the InCommon Federation. We will be modifying our existing authentication system so that Meredith students and employees will be able to use their Meredith NetID and password to access services provided by other schools. In the future, we will also allow other schools' students access to some Meredith systems using their NCSU, UNC, Duke, and many other universities username and password. |
Server Room Updates - New hardware will be added this summer to increase redundancy for critical services. Also, a redundant network switch to allow for better maintenance without user downtime, will be added. |
| DNS and DHCP - Upgraded DNS and DHCP servers with new hardware and software, capable of supporting the new IP6 will be installed. |
Wireless Access - Additional access points will be added in the dorms to improve coverage and to support the growing numbers of non-laptop devices including iPads, iPhones, Android phones and tablets, and whatever other new products appear in the market. |
| Server Virtualization - The ongoing project of server virtualization continues with new hardware updates on 2 of the 4 systems. |
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| Name Change !! - Datatel has been renamed to Ellucian. In time Tech Services will be changing everything with the name Datatel, to Ellucian. |
The Information Systems team will be working this summer and into the fall on a series of projects that should improve business processes that take place everyday on our campus. Summer is the time to upgrade server versions, software loads, and evaluate potential new software packages. Listed below are the different projects IS will be working on. |
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| Student Demographic Information - a new process is being developed so students can use WebAdvisor to verify and submit changes to their demographic information. |
Printing - With the rollout of the Pharos System now in place IS will be developing a new interface and reports so departments can keep track of their printing and copying charges. These reports will show both who is printing and how much they are printing. IS is also implementing new software for printing payroll and accounts payable checks.
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Student Insurance - Since the insurance for students has changed this year, a new process is being developed to import student health insurance waiver information into Colleague. |
| Financial Aid Loans - A new process is being developed that will change the way Financial aid loans are imported into Colleague. |
Enrollment Manager - A new process is being developed to create an interface between the new Admissions software, Enrollment Manager, and Colleague. |
| Ad Astra - A new version of Ad Astra will be installed, tested, and implemented. |
| Informer - A new dashboard for Informer users has been released and is being evaluated. |
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| Copiers! Copiers! Copiers! |
The new fleet has arrived, been installed, and most of the kinks worked out. There will be cost savings and enhanced reporting capabilities. Pharos print and copy charges will show on department budget reports in summary form. There will also be a Pharos Transactions report in Informer showing detailed information to help departments monitor costs. |
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| New pricing, driver downloads, and other information can be found on the employee print page. Contact Kevin Walker (8677) for paper, toner, staples, and any questions relating to the copy fleet. |
| Postal Center - Please remember that the Postal Center will not receive or send personal packages. Visit the Postal Center page for details and information. |
| Print and Copy Center - The copy center's name is now the Print and Copy Center. Please consider sending your larger B&W print jobs and color print jobs here. Costs will be less expensive than the printing to the copy fleet. Visit the Center's site to see pricing. |
| Coming Soon! The print and copy center will have a new on-line ordering system in place in the very near future. This should simplify ordering and pick up. There will be a demonstration at the Open house on July 11th. |
| Open House !! There will be an Open House for the Copy and Print Shop in lower Belk from 2 to 4pm on July 11th. Vendors include CEI to answer questions about the copiers, Accent Imaging will display banner stands, Mac Papers will showcase the new wide format printer, Neopost will demonstrate envelope and invitation printing, and Coverbind will exhibit binding techniques. Lots of Door Prizes!!! |
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