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Administrative Support

Kuali Financial System Offers Stability and Efficiency

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UCI’s mission focuses on education and research, but there is a business enterprise which makes that possible.  Accounting and Fiscal Services, in partnership with OIT and other units, are working to implement the Kuali Financial System (KFS) at UCI.  KFS is a product of the Kuali Foundation which aims to provide community sourced software to higher education.

UCI’s current financial system is almost thirty years old and is increasingly difficult to maintain.  Moreover, the campus has grown in size and complexity beyond what the current financial system can readily serve.

KFS is an integrated suite of financial software which will replace a range of financial sub-systems, enhancing ease-of-use, software consolidation, work transparency, and administrative efficiency.  Departments will enjoy a number of benefits including better quality financial data from a single authoritative source.

Community sourced software draws on the knowledge of coalitions of experts and can be used without paying licensing fees.  In the case of Kuali, that coalition comprises higher education institutions.  UCI has been a member of the Kuali Foundation for several years and ramped up KFS implementation efforts in 2011.  The current plan is to deploy KFS in July 2013.

New OIT Desktop Support Assistant Manager

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Sarkis Daglian has joined Desktop Support as Assistant Manager, reporting to manager Jeremy Paje.  Sarkis supervises desktop support staff and manages operations, resource allocation and scheduling to ensure requests are promptly and consistently addressed.

Sarkis graduated from UCI in 2005 with a focus in neurobiology, and spent six years with the Help Desk most recently as a senior consultant.  He led several initiatives with the Help Desk including the establishment of campus Smart Phone support standards.

When not at work, Sarkis enjoys movies and a wide range of professional sports.

Sarkis’s immediate goals are to analyze staff responsibilities and workload, and to enhance communication and operational efficiency to improve the quality and effectiveness of the services provided to OIT clients.

The addition of Sarkis to the team will allow Jeremy Paje to increase his focus on planning and project management.  Current projects include the rollout of Windows 7, Office 2010, and Acrobat X.

 

Airwatch Improves Smart Phone Security

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As more UCI faculty and staff rely on mobile computing, the campus faces new risks.  Mobile devices (phones, tablets) are easier to lose and provide targets for theft.  The device then may grant unauthorized access to university systems and information.

Airwatch is a software package that allows centralized management of iPhone and iPad devices without the need to have physical access.  With Airwatch, OIT staff can set policies, configure devices (including email setup), enforce strong passwords, and in the event of theft, force the device to erase itself.

Airwatch is in pilot use by the department of Athletics, which is obliged by NCAA regulations to implement strong protections for their information on student athletes.  In the future, OIT plans to offer Airwatch protection to additional university owned iPhones and iPads, and is exploring options for similar protections for the Android and Blackberry platforms.

UCI Receives Broadcom Donation

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disk array

For several years, the Broadcom corporation has been supporting computing at UC with  substantial donations of computing hardware.  Previous donations of computers and disk arrays have benefited other UCs, as well as OIT, ICS, and researchers at UCI.

Broadcom recently donated disk arrays totaling almost 100 terabytes, comprising 24 shelves of high-performance disks compatible with OIT’s existing campus disk storage, used for campus email and departmental shared space.  This donation will allow OIT to expand our available space and improve disk performance.

OIT is currently exploring making network-accessible disk space available to departments on a cost-sharing basis.  Interested departments should contact Andrew Laurence (x43966) to discuss options.

Acrobat Term Site License

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Adobe Acrobat

There’s a new low-cost licensing option for campus users of Adobe’s Acrobat software, the Term Site License (TSL).

Via TSL, faculty and staff in a unit are licensed based on the number of employees they have, not the number of computers. There is simplified compliance and administration, as there is no need to track installations per computer.  The next year’s renewal is just as easy. The payment is based on a new FTE count.

TSL features:

  • Annual licenses
  • Updates and upgrades available at no additional cost
  • Pricing based upon number of faculty and administrative staff FTE instead of the quantity of computers
  • Simplified compliance and administration No need to track installations per computer.  Install on new computers mid-year at no additional cost.
  • Lab computer installations included at no additional cost
  • Work at home rights for eligible faculty and staff to use on one additional computer for work-related purposes.
  • No support is included
  • If you do not renew, you must remove the software from your computers

Under TSL, everyone in your department can gain access to Acrobat X Pro for only $3.96 /FTE / year. Orders are due by March 31st.

For more information, contact Bob Hudack rjhudack@uci.edu 949-824-6759, or the University’s contract software reseller, SHI.