The Division of IT staff will be staggering their return to campus between August 1 and August 31. Preparations are underway for the start of the fall 2021 semester.
Read over the Technology Considerations for Employees’ Return to Campus page for helpful hints on a successful first day. Check out the Sunderland Foundation Innovation lab for the latest innovative technologies in Hale Library. Continue reading “IT Update: July 2021”
The Division of Information Technology continues to review and update IT policies in PPM Chapter 3400. The process is outlined in KB 14656, The Division of Information Technology (IT) Policy Review Process.
The following policies have been updated or retired.
Beginning August 1, the university will begin blocking Malware bytes on university-owned computers.
Last year, K-State was informed by Malwarebytes, a cybersecurity company, unlicensed Malwarebytes, anti-malware software, was installed on K-State-owned systems. Malwarebytes should not be registered on any computer using an @k-state.edu or @ksu.edu email address unless a license has been purchased. Failure to license the software cost the university in excess of $65,000.
The Office of Information Security recommends the use of Microsoft Defender for the protection of university-managed devices when compatible.
If you have questions or feedback, please contact the IT Help Desk at helpdesk@ksu.edu
Three individuals have accepted the Assistant Director positions within Application Services of the Business Intelligence, Analytics, Enterprise Applications, and Project Management unit in Information Technology.
Matt Fuller was selected as the Assistant Director of Application Services, ERP Systems. Fuller will serve as the senior lead developer, provide guidance and supervision, and define best practices for the ERP Systems staff. For over 25 years, Fuller has worked in the field of information technology. He began his career in USD 383 as a network administrator and technical staff support. Fuller joined the Division of Information Technology in 2002 as a Systems Specialist working with Parking Services and others. He left K-State for a year working as a software developer. Returning in 2006, Fuller served as a Systems Specialist for the Human Resources team and was promoted to Systems Coordinator on the Student Information Systems team. Fuller has a BS in Information Systems from K-State.
Sarah Mattocks will serve as Assistant Director of Application Services for Business Systems. Mattocks will be the hands-on senior developer and will lead the team supporting software as a service solution (SaaS) with the business systems applications portfolio primarily hosted in cloud environments. In 2014, Mattocks joined IT in Student Life as a System Analyst. She moved to the Division of IT as a System Analyst/CRM Administrator in 2019. Before coming to K-State, Mattocks worked in various information technology positions for Cargill. Mattocks earned a B.S. in Computer Science from K-State and is currently working on her Master’s degree.
Kurt Zoglmann accepted the position of Assistant Director of DevOps. Along with serving as senior developer, Zoglmann will provide guidance and supervision for the DevOps team. He also will be assisting the other Assistant Directors with the DevOps methodology. For over 20 years, Zoglmann has had increasing levels of responsibility in the Division of Information Technology. Past roles include software developer, senior software developer, and more recently, applications architect. He was part of the team that shifted Java-based applications to the cloud. During the last few years, he has expanded his knowledge and capabilities as a cloud economist. Zoglmann has a BS in Information Systems from K-State.
Fuller, Mattocks, and Zoglmann assume their positions on June 28. Please join the Division of Information Technology staff in congratulating these individuals on their new roles.
An initiative is underway to select a student organization management and student engagement software to improve the management of student organizations. The new system will be used to foster collaboration and enhance student success.
Interviews were conducted in Spring 2021 to gather feedback on the use of the current OrgCentral system and finalize the criteria when selecting a new solution. After careful consideration, the review team has identified three vendors who meet the needs of K-State. Vendor demonstrations are scheduled for June 22-24.
For the demonstrations, the vendors will use real-life K-State scenarios to include:
During the presentations, each vendor will demonstrate the functionality of a live system from a student and staff perspective.
For dates and zoom links to the vendor demos, view the software vendor demo page. You will need to sign in with your eID and password to view the information.
The Division of Information Technology staff are heating up with the summer and preparing for the upcoming academic year, including upgrading and maintaining buildings and rooms, updating systems, revising documentation, hiring staff, and even retiring some services.
Spring/summer cleaning might be in order. This is the time to follow university procedures regarding retention schedules and dispose of documentation, media, and equipment appropriately.
Reminders:
On August 31, K-State’s existing personal webpage service will be retired. K-Staters with personal webpages are being contacted by the Division of Information Technology (IT) regarding the retirement of this service. If you have a personal website the URL would be http://www-personal.k-state.edu/~eid.
Example url: http://www-personal.k-state.edu/~willie
IT recommends faculty and staff publish relevant content, including bios, curriculum vitae, and research information on their academic or administrative unit’s website within the Content Management System (CMS). Every department/unit on campus using the CMS has a workflow/approval process, based on unit-level decisions, to allow those in their unit to access and post content. Please contact your web manager for the best option on moving K-State-related content to the CMS. Training is required before being granted access to the CMS. For information on training, see the CMS training website. Continue reading “Personal webpage services to be retired August 31”
The Division of Information Technology embarked on a review of IT policies (PPM 3310 and those in PPM Chapter 3400) in June of 2020. The review process includes:
Suggestions were incorporated into the appropriate policies, reviewed by an extended leadership group with representation from across campus, approved by the CIO, and then edited and published in the PPM. The policy review process is outlined in KB 14656, The Division of Information Technology (IT) Policy Review Process. Continue reading “Division of Information Technology updated policies”
Geneva McCrory is retiring after 5 years in the Division of Information Technology. Geneva came to K-State in 2016 as an experienced Peoplesoft developer and has been part of the KSIS team and the many projects, enhancements, and upgrades and has conducted work across the modules in KSIS. She is the consummate collaborative team member including everyone on the team whether it was sharing her PeopleSoft skills or baked goods. Darci Pottroff, director of application services remarked “We are going to miss our great colleague who was always willing to help and was great to be around.” The Division of Information staff wishes Geneva a happy retirement. Her last day in the office is June 11.
Please join us in a card shower for Geneva. Cards can be sent to Geneva McCrory, c/o Brenda Miesner, Unger Complex, 2323 Anderson Avenue, Manhattan KS 66502
For those who work in information technology units across campus, there are two opportunities to collaborate with individuals in similar positions:
IT Collaboration meets at 9 a.m. on Wednesday mornings via Zoom. The group discusses upcoming changes occurring in IT systems and the impact those changes have on campus. Also discussed are ways to collaborate, security-related issues, planned outages, change freeze timelines, and more. If you are interested and would like to join the conversation, email rob@ksu.edu who will add your name to the listserv list.
Sys Admins meets at 11 a.m. on the third Wednesday of every month. The Sys Admins meeting provides a forum to share systems and services offered throughout campus, provide creative solutions to IT problems, collaborate on IT-related issues, serve as testers for unit and campuswide rollouts and provide an open forum to discuss all things IT. System Admins recently collaborated on the migration to One Drive from Catfiles. To join, email sgsax@ksu.edu who will add your name to the listserv list.
Both meetings provide opportunities to get to know IT staff from across campus and learn from each other. Please consider joining these groups.
