ITS 2017 – A Year in Review
A look back at Information Technology Services' (ITS)
busy year supporting IT at Carleton University.
Throughout the year, Information Technology Services supported researchers on campus by providing both computing resources and expertise.
Research Computing Services helps researchers who need access to high powered computing resources for their projects. They provide software, training on Advanced Research Computing (ARC) resources, consult with faculty and help to develop research tools.
This year RCS started a series of workshops on topics such as parallel computing, linux shell and remote computing. Visit the RCS website to find out more about what we do.
Research Computing and Development Cloud (RCDC)
Now in its second year, the Research Computing and Development Cloud (RCDC) is going strong. Carleton researchers use the RCDC to access data science and analytics tools, and to create their own applications in the development environment. Response from RCDC users has been very positive.
One researcher noted that what once took her an entire year to execute, can now be done in one week!
ITS strives to provide the best possible service to all of our customers in the Carleton community.
ITS staffers, dubbed "Ransomware Warriors” won the 2016 Service Excellence Team award for their quick response and long-hours spent recovering ITS services following a cyberattack. This is awarded to a team for providing exceptional service in projects and daily operations.
ITS introduced new services and upgraded several existing ones. These include, a new mobile plan, Carleton e-Commerce upgrades and increased wireless coverage campus-wide. We are proud to report a 96% average on our Customer Satisfaction Survey.
ITS began implementation of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to cover the lifespan of a constituent at Carleton from prospect to alumnus. Since go-live of the first Recruitment module in September, over 2500 new prospective students have opened an accounts in the CRM.
All Carleton staff and faculty now get 5TB of cloud storage through OneDrive for Business. This provides access to documents across multiple devices, the ability to collaborate and share documents online and secure cloud storage for your files.
Security Operation Centre (SOC) Created
In order to continuously monitor and improve IT security at Carleton, this year saw the creation of a brand-new Security Operations Centre (SOC). Its main functions are: security incident and event management, campus network infrastructure monitoring, incident and work order management, and technical support for security and network operations.
Security Policy Program Updates
With the constant threat of hacking that exists today, ITS aims to have relevant and up-to-date polices that address cybersecurity issues. The security team has started the process of reviewing and updating a number of policies including: Acceptable Use of IT Resources, CUNET Connectivity, Email Use, Web Content and Password policies.
ITS supports our instructors and students by integrating the best up-to-date technology in both classrooms and administrative processes.
Carleton’s Electronic Portfolio System (cuPortfolio)
This year saw the go-live of cuPortfolio, an electronic portfolio system that provides a venue for students to collect and showcase academic and co-curricular “artifacts” (e.g. assignments, projects, videos, blogs, images, etc.) After an extensive pilot program, it is now fully supported campus wide.
Enhancing Wireless Access
ITS made significant enhancements to networks to support the ever-increasing demand for wireless services at Carleton University. This includes increasing wireless access points by 50% as well as a significant campus-wide internet bandwidth upgrade.
This year Carleton achieved the Excellence, Innovation and Wellness (EIW) Gold level certification. As part of the Finance and Administration division, ITS is committed to developing strong leadership, creating an amazing customer experience and implementing technology to improve the way we all work at Carleton.
ITS and Faculty Affairs were acknowledged by the Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO) for their excellent work on the new online Faculty Careers System. The new system has increased the efficiency, accuracy and timeliness of managing the faculty leaves process.
ITS mourns the death of our Chief Information Officer, Denis Levesque who passed away on Nov. 7th, 2017 after a brief illness.
Denis’s extensive experience in high-tech enabled him to lead his team in implementing IT in innovative ways across campus. He strove to provide exceptional information technology solutions and services to the entire learning, teaching, research, and administrative community of Carleton University.
During his 13-year career at Carleton, Denis held positions of increasing responsibility. He joined Computing and Communications Services as a consultant in 2004 in the role of Program Director of the Campus Network Upgrade project. In 2009, he was hired as the Assistant Director, Operations and Infrastructure. In 2011, he assumed the role of Deputy Chief Information Officer (CIO) and was appointed acting CIO in 2012. Denis was appointed as the university’s permanent CIO in January 2013.
Denis led numerous projects during his time at Carleton and achieved many university-wide milestones.
They include creating the Research Computing Support Department for faculty, a five-year upgrade to the wired and wireless network, new services promoting collaboration and communication including cuCollab and the Intranet, simple sign-on initiatives and increasing IT security.
Through the many projects he spearheaded, his leadership and integrity, the impact he had on IT university-wide, and the personal connections he shared with colleagues and friends, Denis’s impact on Carleton was great.
Our hearts go out to the entire Levesque family. You will be missed Denis.