Information Technology is a transformative tool to propel UMKC’s mission and support our foundational pillars of providing exceptional student learning; a thriving discovery enterprise; dynamic engagement with our community and region; a diverse and inclusive workforce and community; and a strong and resilient staff, process, and physical infrastructure. IT core values include a commitment to innovation; cultivating a team environment within Information Services; a collaborative environment of respect, sharing, and participation; and an expectation of excellence with ambitious standards balanced with limited resources.

Information Services is a strategic asset for UMKC’s missions of teaching and learning, research, service, and economic development. We continued to make progress toward our defined goals and this document details the progress we have made during the 2023 year.

SUPPORT SERVICES

Technology Support Center Move

During this period the TSC completed the move from 4825 Troost to the Cherry Street Garage. A great deal of logistics and planning were required to fully move the TSC base of operations. This was done with very limited interruption of service due to the hard work and the flexibility of the team.

Multiple work benches were set up to facilitate the repair and imaging of workstations. New processes for receiving and handling deliveries were developed.

To better take advantage of the new location the TSC expanded our walk in support of students, faculty, and staff. This included reworking schedules and preparing for hiring student workers.

A new Club Car Carryall was purchased to better facilitate the transportation of equipment to on-campus locations.

Mongoose Research - Cadence

Cadence is the UMKC approved and recommended solution for texting. This gives any department texting capabilities to better communicate with students, faculty, or staff.

Candence continues to be a popular tool for campus and IS has worked with multiple groups to onboard and enable texting for their department. Currently, UMKC has over 20 different units taking advantage of Cadence to improve communication with students, faculty, and staff.

UM-AD Migration / Project

We continue to work towards migrating all workstations to the UM-AD domain by the end of 2023. During this period about 2200 objects have been migrated with around 350 remaining. In August, we moved from an ad-hoc technician-initiated migration process to a weekly automated migration process.

In November, the automated migration process was increased to run nightly to attempt to migrate the remaining workstations still in the UMKC-USERS domain that are inconsistently on-line.
We completed the migration of all Support Services managed servers to the UM-AD domain. This included 2 faculty/staff print servers, 6 lab print servers, 5 SQL servers, and 5 license servers.

Office 365

• Worked with other campuses to support and build upon our usage of
  O365
• Updated webpage as new applications and programs became available
• Assisted Faculty and Staff with how to take advantage of O365

Universal Image

Windows 11 to be our operating system supported for newly deployed and hardware-compatible redeployed faculty and staff PCs. Windows 10 will remain supported on older PCs that do not meet the hardware requirements of Windows 11. Functionality was added to the imaging service to ensure Windows 11 is deployed on all hardware-compatible systems. Added functionality to the imaging process to additional software required on School of Dentistry systems. Added new driver support for new Dell models.

 Mac OS

The Apple Enterprise Team deployed the Mac OS Ventura update to all managed UMKC Macs on campus, allowing for wide-scale adoption. They also tested and packaged the Mac OS Sonoma update and made it available for installation for early adopters.

The team has worked on a few departmental projects this year, including overhauling the iMacs in the Impact Lab in the Conservatory to run on new hardware and the latest version of Mac OS. Fine Arts added a program for students to obtain certifications in Adobe Premiere, and the Apple Enterprise Team configured and supports the testing stations.

More than 400 licenses for mobile device management have been utilized within Jamf Pro as devices continue to be migrated from AirWatch to Jamf. This streamlines our Apple hardware management to a single tool and will eventually allow for the decommissioning of AirWatch.

Workstation Replacement Program (WRP)

During this period the Tech Support Center started and deployed all the WRP that were ordered in the previous period. This was the largest WRP in over a decade and consisted of over 700 computers. To help facilitate the vast increased number of deployments special WRP deployment teams were created. This allowed us to get this equipment more efficiently into the hands of our faculty and staff.

In addition, IS launched the second WRP dedicated to Research workstations. This was partly funded ($750/workstation) by IS and the rest by individual departments. During this program, we were able to replace 100 out-of-date research workstations.

During this period the 2024 WRP program was launched, enabling faculty and staff to replace older workstations at a much reduced cost to the department. 

Shift to providing remote technology support for campus

Expanded Call Center operations to allow all TSC staff to assist with the phone queue and trained additional TSC staff on remote support procedures. This enabled us to provide expanded support to all UMKC departments working remotely. Further redundancy and cross training in TSC roles allowed us to be flexible and meet customer needs.

We also expanded our hours of operation from 8 hours to 12 hours daily and included weekend shifts during key back to school times to better support students, faculty, and staff during these unprecedented times.

Support Services – Cherry Street Garage

In 2023 the TSC relocated to the Cherry Street Parking Garage at 5009 Oak Street. At this new location, the TSC has experienced a significant increase in customer walk-in support requests. To accommodate this increased demand, Support Services hired two student workers to help with low-level support requests and first response triage for walk-in customers. Support Services is working to improve how these requests are logged to better track support for walk-in customers. The new location also has a loading dock, which allows for easier receiving of deliveries – particularly freight deliveries – making Cherry Street Garage a key logistics center for IS equipment deliveries.

Support Services – Customer Requests

During 2023, IS Support Services saw a slight decrease in the number of service requests compared to recent years. The total number of requests for this period was 16,851. The most requested areas for support were related to Office 365 and new hardware installations. There was also a sharp increase in customers self-reporting incidents via the IS Service Catalog Portal, coinciding with the launch of the new IS website.

TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT SERVICES - COMPLETED PROJECTS

P416 – KIVA Upgrade

This project is to upgrade the A/V in the KIVA auditorium space. The equipment install, programming, and client training were completed during this review period. The project was closed out.

P431 – Scofield 109

AV Upgrades The client in Scofield would like to use the unoccupied space in 109 as a meeting and event space. To do this, IS will be installing lights in the main space, installing AV equipment in the main space, and installing data jacks and an AV card in the conference room. IS completed this installation and closed out the project during this review period.

P438 – Troost rm. 201 A/V Add

This project is to convert room 201 at 4747 Troost to a usable classroom by installing a projector and computer equipment. IS completed this installation and closed out the project during this review period.

P442 – TMM/Upgrade

The Toy and Miniature Museum (TMM) would like to upgrade its current payment and donor tracking systems so they are more secure and integrated across services. Working with IS staff, they have identified a potential solution involving QuickBooks Cloud, a P2P system through Commerce Bank, and Neon CRM. This project will help facilitate the purchase and implementation of the identified solution. During this period, software and hardware options were installed and the project was closed.

TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT SERVICES - CURRENT PROJECTS

P374 – Starfish Analytics

The University of Missouri-System purchased Starfish Analytics for use by all system campuses. As described on the Starfish website: "Starfish Analytics is a cohesive suite of tools and services designed to transform campus-wide Student Success using data, analytics and intervention management. Starfish Analytics is fully integrated into the Starfish application, driving tactical action, and enabling strategic planning views of student success." This project will work with cross-functional teams to implement Starfish Analytics at the UMKC campus. During this review period, the project team worked on implementing strategic dashboards and identified goals for future phases. During the next review period, strategic dashboards will launch and work will begin on phase 2.

P423 – Student Union AV Upgrades

This project is to upgrade both the theatre space and conference room/classroom spaces in the Student Union. The project is broken into two sections as a result. The theatre space was completed during this review period. The classroom spaces call for a redesign of screen placements, microphones, monitors, and the addition of cameras in one of the spaces. IS AV has ordered the equipment for these spaces and is waiting for the equipment to arrive.

P437 – School of Education Networking Upgrade

The campus has signed a contract with NILE to upgrade the wireless and wired network in the School of Education building. During this review period, IS cutover the wired equipment in all classrooms except 3 (240,260 and 261). IS also coordinated and completed the network upgrade in Haag, Manheim, and Royal Halls. During the next review period, IS will complete the wired cutover in the remaining 3 classrooms in SoE and also prepare the wireless and wired cutovers in Haag, Manheim, and Royal.

NETWORK ARCHITECTURE AND SECURITY

Security

Network Architecture is responsible for the installation and maintenance of departmental-level firewalls. These firewalls protect specialized hardware or data (HIPPA, PCI, etc.) in specific locations across the UMKC network. Activities include maintaining appliance firmware and security rules.

• Cisco physical firewalls = 7
• Cisco virtual firewalls = 16
• FortiGate physical firewalls = 22

• Replaced Data Center firewalls with Cisco
• Firepower 3110 cluster
• Upgraded all firewalls to the latest software release
• Designed Identity Service Engine node expansion to add resiliency

Wired Network

Network Architecture is responsible for the installation and maintenance of UMKC’s wired network switches & routers and their physical connections to our remote offices, Internet Service Providers & research networks.

• Configured Cisco DNA to automate building network configurations
• Installed a new building network for the Dental School
• Installed new building network for the School of Medicine
• Upgraded Dental School network to dual 25Gb uplinks
• Google Fiber 25Gb test network at Flarsheim Hall
• Upgraded 15+ classroom switches
• Installed fire suppression system for Plaster Data Center
• Worked with CFM on the Newcomb Hall data center HVAC replacement project
• Replaced distribution layer network at Cherry Street Parking Structure
• Added environmental monitoring to Plaster data center and School of Medicine M1-315A
• Upgraded Internet edge routers to the latest software
• Replaced 27 campus time clocks with new contactless models
• Installed NILE network switches in Hagg, Royall & Manheim Halls

Wireless Networks

Network Architecture is responsible for the installation and maintenance of UMKC’s wireless networks. These networks include the UMKCWPA, EDUroam, UMKC Media in the residence halls, and a few other specialized networks for Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

Highlights and key initiatives

• Upgraded wireless controller software and access point firmware to the latest releases
• Added additional Wireless Engineer to the Network Architecture team
• Replaced existing and expanded outdoor wireless coverage
• Installed 150 WiFi 6E, 802.11ax, access points
• Implemented Guest Wireless access at Hagg, Royall & Manheim Halls
• Installed NILE wireless access points in Hagg, Royall & Manheim Halls

INFORMATION ACCESS

Information Access is responsible for building, managing, and maintaining custom web applications for UMKC and as part of UM System IT. We also manage over 30 database servers for all of UMKC.

During 2023, Information Access maintained over 50 web applications and worked with EHS, UMKC Law, Student Affairs, and UMKC Library to deploy new departmental applications, and data integrations, and/or create enhancements to all of the above. We continued our focus on our Cloud First Initiative in IS and deployed a new mobile web application for UMKC Law, Attendance App in MS Azure Cloud.

Early in 2023, we assumed leadership of the DSAS team and worked to integrate and improve DSAS requests, support, and maintenance workload. This includes Peoplesoft Operations, Data Warehouse maintenance, ad-hoc report generation, and creation and management of Cognos and Power BI reports.

Database Server Design, Implementation and Administration

• Administration and support of the central campus secured external facing Oracle server for third-party vendor data collaboration
• Administration and support of all central campus MS SQL server
  • Migrated several applications from Oracle to SQL Server
  • Migrated several SQL Server databases from version 2017 to 2022
• Administration and support of CHI/HealthFacts Oracle and RedCap MySQL database servers
• Continual performance tweaks and SQL query tuning tasks for the HealthFacts research database
• Support for UMKC OneCard Office’s CBORD Gold Application Oracle server instance.
• Administration and support of all UMKC Police Department database server instances
  
  

Software Design and Development

Maintenance and support was provided for the following software applications and websites during this period:

• UMKC Pearson MyMath Course integration with OneCanvas
• Garmin Device Data for the School of Nursing and Health Sciences
• Starfish Analytics
• Missouri Online Event Scheduler
• UMKC Automated Box Account Provisioning
• Commencement RSVP
• Writing Studio Appointment Request Form
• IS Change Management & Outages
• UR-Links
• DB Tracker
• Exit Exams
• HLC Directory
• IA Schedule
• Retiree Exchange Mailbox & Box Access Request
• LMS Access Checker (LACH)
• UMKC PD Property Registration
• QR Scanner Kiosk
• Scantron Orders
• SEARCH & SUROP
• Business Travel Request
• OneCanvas Data Feed
• Starfish (UMKC Connect) Data Feed

New implementations, features, and/or enhancements for the following software applications, integrations & websites implemented during this period:

• UMKC Law Attendance App
• EHS Safety Training Application
• EHS Data Feeds to HSI EHSA Application
• Garmin Device Data for the School of Nursing and Health Sciences
• UMKC Library RadioGoldin Radio History Database Application

DSAS Web Applications

These are web applications created and supported by the DSAS team which we recently integrated into our support and maintenance process:

• Departmental Scholarships System for Student Financial Aid
• Final Exam Scheduler
• Term Withdrawal Survey – AKA, Exit Survey
• Student Complaints
• MO Reverse Transfer
• MO Core42
• SGA Card Manager
• WS Jobs
• WS Waitlist
• WS Manager
• ISAO E-Services

Scantron Exam Scanning Services

Generated detailed reports for departments based on their evaluation scan data. Distribute forms to departments, and process documentation.

Exams Scanned

• School of Humanities and Social Sciences - 4
• Henry W. Bloch School of Management – 12
• School of Law – 20
• School of Science and Engineering – 154
• School of Education, Social Work and Psychological Sciences - 114

Total Exams Scanned: 304 

FOUNDATION SERVICES

IS Foundation Services (ISFS) provides secure, professionally managed data centers to meet the growing information technology (IT) needs of academic and administrative units at UMKC. ISFS serves as the primary system administrator for 400+ servers, provides assistance and technical support for campus IT Liaisons, supports the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for the UM System, and provides research computing training and support.

Data Center/Server Virtualization

• Consolidated all Center for Health Insights (CHI) virtual machines onto a single host, allowing ESX 7 upgrade to align with primary clusters and began migrating environment to AWS

Storage/SAN/Backup

• Performed security patches of CommVault environment
• Upgraded Commvault to version 11.28
• Added expansion to Commvault backend storage

Research/HPC/Cloud

• Research Managed Backup Service (RMBS) version 2 went into production backed by Google Cloud Platform (GCP) allowing virtually unlimited archive storage to researchers at a very affordable price
• Provided ongoing NEXTGen/dSAIC projects consultation and support, including:
  • Completed 2022 Security Assessment Report Review and Remediation
  • Performed comprehensive security audit of the entire environment.
• Contributed to design, implementation, and testing of automated email notifications to NextGenBMI AWS workspace users who have workspaces left unused for 30 days or more.
• Completed cost optimization analysis and implemented cloud storage archival tiering for Dental School Dr. Cox Lab genomics analysis hybrid cloud project