Objective: END 3.3 Title: Effectively Managing IT Resources Date of Report: March 12, 2015

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1 Objective: END 3.3 Title: Effectively Managing IT Resources Date of Report: March 12, 2015 END 3.3 Centralia College will plan, implement and utilize a technology system and infrastructure that supports the operational functions, academic programs, and support services resources necessary to effectively and efficiently meet the mission of the college. INDICATOR 1: The College provides instructional technology resources sufficient to deliver its educational mission. Benchmark 1 - The College provides instructional technology resources sufficient to deliver its educational mission. Noel Levitz results indicate that survey items #34, Computer labs are adequate and accessible and #42, The equipment in the lab facilities are kept up to date satisfaction scores are higher than the national norm. The Noel Levitz survey process studies satisfaction among students via the Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI) and among employees via the Institution Priorities Survey (IPS). SSI and IPS data indicates that respondent satisfaction in both areas is above that of the national cohort. Students consider these areas less important that the national cohort, while the employee response was equal to the national cohort. This has been an area of focus over the past 10 years, and the result has been high levels of satisfaction by our students. The last Noel Levitz SSI and IPS results indicate these items score higher than the norm, thereby rewarding our past efforts. The just completed 2014 Student survey shows a marked increase in student satisfaction. We have been able to reduce the performance gap between importance and satisfaction in both areas. The survey also shows that we not only outperform the national cohort we have actually extended the performance lead. These increases in student satisfaction are also reflected in the Noel Levitz team identifying item #34 as a campus strength. Page 1

2 2012 Student Survey Noel Levitz - Student Satisfaction Inventory #34 Computer labs are adequate and accessible #42 The equipment in the lab facilities are kept up to date CENTRALIA COLLEGE NATIONAL COMMUNITY COLLEGES ITEM NO. IMPORTANCE SATISFACTION PERFORMANCE GAP IMPORTANCE SATISFACTION PERFORMANCE GAP MEAN DIFFERENCE* Student Survey ITEM NO. IMPORTANCE SATISFACTION PERFORMANCE GAP IMPORTANCE SATISFACTION PERFORMANCE GAP MEAN DIFFERENCE* Faculty and Staff Survey Noel Levitz - Institutional Priorities Survey #22 Computer labs are adequate and accessible #29 The equipment in the lab facilities are kept up to date CENTRALIA COLLEGE NATIONAL COMMUNITY COLLEGES ITEM NO. IMPORTANCE SATISFACTION PERFORMANCE GAP IMPORTANCE SATISFACTION PERFORMANCE GAP MEAN DIFFERENCE* * A positive Mean Difference indicates that respondent satisfaction at Centralia College exceeds the respondent satisfaction set by the National Community Colleges cohort. This benchmark is scored as met. Benchmark 2-95 % of responses on the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) supplemental survey item 13h HOW SATISFIED you are with the computer lab AT THIS COLLEGE, is rated at equal to or greater than somewhat (past midpoint on four point scale). This benchmark was set as a stretch as 95% satisfaction is a difficult goal, particularly on a four point scale. For the last CCSSE, 93.9% of the students indicated satisfaction with the computer labs on campus. As the 95% mark was not reached, the college will continue with current efforts and re-assess after the next survey is completed. Page 2

3 CCSSE Question 13h. Computer lab Very Some-what Not at all How satisfied 56.4% 37.5% 6.1% This benchmark of 93.9% is scored as substantially meets. Action item: As the CCSSE does not provide for a comparison against national data, these questions will be dropped from the 2014 CCSSE supplemental questions. The Technology Committee has developed a satisfaction survey that duplicates this data. This new survey will be used for the 2015 board report. Benchmark 3 Results of internal faculty and staff surveys for institutional technology show respondent satisfaction of 95% or greater. In the 2013 Technology Survey conducted by the Technology Committee, faculty and staff were asked two questions about office and classroom technology. 1. My current office computer hardware and software is sufficient for my needs. Answer Options Response Percent Response Count Excluding Doesn t Apply Highly Agree 22.2% % Agree 62.2% % Disagree 11.9% % Highly Disagree 1.5% 2 1.5% Doesn t Apply 2.2% 3 Page 3

4 2. The computer hardware, software and audio/visual equipment in my classroom is sufficient for my needs. Answer Options Response Percent Response Count Excluding Doesn t Apply Highly Agree 8.2% % Agree 35.1% % Disagree 9.7% % Highly Disagree 0.7% 1 1.4% Doesn t Apply 46.3% 62 These survey results show an overall respondent satisfaction with office technology at 86.3% and an overall respondent satisfaction with classroom technology at 80.6%. This benchmark is scored as substantially meets. INDICATOR 2: The college has technology supported learning spaces (labs, virtual, dispersed/ wireless access) that meets the institution s educational objectives. Benchmark 1 - Noel Levitz results indicate that survey items #34, Computer labs are adequate and accessible. and #42, The equipment in the lab facilities are kept up to date. are considered institutional strengths. This benchmark utilizes the same Noel Levitz information as listed in Indicator 1 above, but is focused on specific learning spaces. Utilizing the same input allows the institution to consider several outcomes for the same focus. The combination of student, faculty, and staff satisfaction scores provides the best overall gauge of college efforts. The 2012, 2014 Noel Levitz, Student Satisfaction Inventories and 2013 Noel Levitz, Institutional Priorities Survey results show that Centralia College scores better than the National Community Colleges cohort. Detail results are listed in Indicator 1. Reviewing back to 2008 these areas have always scored better than the national average. In the 2010 and 2014 student surveys item #34 was listed as an Institutional Strength. Item #42 has yet to be listed as an Institutional Strength. However, and possibly just Page 4

5 as important, none of these areas have shown up as Institutional Challenges in the 2008, 2010, 2012 or 2014 Student Surveys or the 2013 Employee Survey. While the goal is for these areas to be considered Institutional Strengths, survey results show that Centralia College students and employees feel that these instructional spaces meet their needs. The awarding of an Institutional Strength or Institutional Challenge is based upon how the item compares to the other items in the entire survey, not just a particular satisfaction score. This benchmark is scored as substantially meets. Action item: Continue to monitor Noel Levitz results for trending and re-evaluate the means to reach this Institutional Strength goal. Benchmark 2-95 % of responses on the CCSSE survey item 13h, HOW SATISFIED you are with the computer lab AT THIS COLLEGE, is rated at equal to or greater than some-what (past midpoint on four point scale). Similar to benchmark 1 for this indicator, the college uses the CCSSE data to gauge whether the actual physical spaces meet expectations for students. For the last CCSSE, 93.9% of the students indicated satisfaction with the computer labs on campus. As the 95% mark was not reached, the college will continue with current efforts and re-assess after the next survey is completed CCSSE Question 13h. Computer lab Very Some-what Not at all How satisfied 56.4% 37.5% 6.1% This bench is scored as substantially meets. Action item: The Technology Committee will resurvey students with a new mix of technology related questions. Page 5

6 Benchmark 3 - Average internet bandwidth utilization shall be less than 80% of the current available bandwidth. This benchmark ensures that on the whole, the college data infrastructure is sufficient to allow faculty and students to access and utilize web-based resources in the delivery of instruction. Having a low utilization rate means the college has too much bandwidth for the amount of access needed, and too high of a rate means the college needs more to deliver instruction. The greater risk is not having enough, which was considered in setting the benchmark. Bandwidth utilization fluctuates depending on current on-campus student population. Some of the recent major changes to the network infrastructure that affects bandwidth utilization are: (1) The expansion and placement of the wireless network on the K-20 internet connection. (2) Significant increase in Online and Hybrid courses. (3) Placement of wireless internet access in all of the student residential housing. That being said, our current bandwidth utilization is far below the current cap of 100 megabits per second. Additionally the campus now has the ability to increase the bandwidth cap to 1000 megabits per second as need dictates. K-20 Bandwidth Utilization (calendar quarters, in Mbps) Budget Year Quarter Bandwidth Bandwidth Capacity Used Utilization (mbps) Capacity (mbps) rd % 4 th % st % 2 nd % 3 rd % 4 th % In academic year 2013, K20 utilization charges and tracking changed. K20 no longer bills according to quarterly bandwidth usage. Agencies are charged a fixed amount based on their current maximum capacity. If the agency has a 100 mbps capacity, they will be charged for 100 mbps regardless of the actual bandwidth used. This change in billing motivates the agencies to keep a bandwidth cap close to their actual usage. Annualized Maximum Average Utilization Utilization mbps 11 mbps mbps 11 mbps This benchmark is scored as exceeds. Page 6

7 Action item: Continue to monitor bandwidth usage. Survey students to determine overall satisfaction with wireless network bandwidth performance. Use that data to modify existing bandwidth shaping protocols. Establish new benchmark for acceptability. Using the average utilization may under represent performance. Benchmark 4 - Smart classroom utilization shall be equal to or greater than 80%. Similar to benchmark 3, the college investment in smart classrooms (fully equipped to provide faculty with computer assisted instruction delivery, including web access and display) needs to coincide with demand. These classrooms are expensive to establish, maintain, and upgrade. However, the college expectation that technology assisted instruction is a key component to quality education requires it to continually monitor and assess the adequacy and number of smart classrooms. Academic Year Period % Overall Utilization 2012 Weekdays 8am 2pm 41.7% 2013 Weekdays 8am 1pm 62.6% This benchmark continues to be considered as not met. Action Item: During 2014 SBCTC purchased 25Live room scheduling software for utilization of Washington colleges. As of this writing, Centralia College is in the middle of the deployment phase of 25Live. This robust new software will greatly increase the campus ability to give accurate utilization reporting. The term Smart Classroom has been used to differentiate classrooms that have a computer, projector and other audio/visual features. Smart Classroom configurations have over the last years become the standard for the vast majority of classrooms on campus. Thus differentiating Smart Classrooms is no longer significant. We suggest dropping the Smart Classroom description from all classrooms that have our standard configuration. Current and future classrooms that do indeed have new technologies such as electronic white boards, specialized lecture capture or are Active Learning Centers should be termed Enhanced Classrooms. INDICATOR 3 Page 7

8 The college has appropriate technological resources to meet institutional mission and strategic objectives. Benchmark 1-100% of faculty and staff computers are capable of running the latest operating system platforms. This benchmark assesses whether or not on the whole, faculty and staff have the computers necessary to serve students. It does not evaluate specific faculty requirements for particular program needs. That is measured in Indicator 1 above. What this benchmark does provide the college is where the base computer level is compared to industry expectations, which is primarily running the general software utilized by the public, and specific software employed by the college for instructional and operating purposes. The current standard operating system on campus is Microsoft Windows 7 Professional. We currently use Microsoft Office 2010 as our standard office application suite. The hardware system requirements for Windows 7 Professional are 1GHz or faster CPU, 1GB or more of RAM, 16GB of hard disk space and a graphics adapter capable of running Microsoft DirectX9 with WDDM driver. Office 2010 essentially doubles the system requirements to run efficiently. Therefore, we would increase the overall minimum system requirements at: Dual Core CPU, 2GB of RAM and 60GB of hard disk space. Inventory Year Total Windows Desktop Computers Computers that meet the system standard Computers that don t meet the system standard % 19.8% % 9.6% % 5.7% (Excludes laptops, tablets and Apple desktop computers) While we have set the benchmark for this standard at 100%, the campus has been able to leverage the purchase of refurbished computers to replace dated equipment while remaining fiscally frugal. As we continue the prudent replacement of equipment we will certainly approach the target goal in the near term. This benchmark is scored as substantially meets. Page 8

9 Benchmark 2 - Faculty and staff computers are replaced in accordance with the established computer replacement policy. In 2008, the campus established a computer replacement policy that set the replacement cycle at four years which was an industry norm at the time. In reviewing this benchmark, we must consider that while a significant number of computers are not being replaced as directed by the replacement policy, as of 2014 only 5.7% of computers did not meet the standard set in benchmark 1. In 2014, the current computer replacement policy was reviewed and a recommendation put forward that the policy be changed. Equipment replacement should be based on usability rather than age. When considering the combination of benchmark 1 and 2, this benchmark is considered substantially met. This benchmark is scored as substantially meets. Action Item: Upon acceptance of policy change recommendation, this benchmark will be rewritten. Benchmark 3-100% of the campus technology infrastructure are within current standards. The college infrastructure has seen significant upgrades over the past years in order to effectively meet the changing demands of teaching in higher education. This included upgrading the campus wide cabling, installing faster and more reliable routers and switches, and ensuring the server environment is robust and dependable. The following schedule lists the major components of the college technology infrastructure: Page 9

10 Infrastructure Class Subdivision Does not meet industry standards Meets industry standards Network Communications K20 Internet connection Intra-campus fiber optic network ring Main campus to cloud Edge switching Edge Firewall Facility switches Windows Server Environment Network application and management servers Microsoft Active Directory environment Current equipment capable of Gigabit routing, exceeds local telecom capabilities. Multi and single mode cabling capable of Gigabit data speeds. Category 6 and Fiber Optic capable. Ability to function at Gigabit network speeds. Current Cisco technology meets SBCTC Firewall standard. All current technology capable of fiber optic trunking and Gigabit network speeds. Hardware consistent with current technology and capable of efficiently running current server software. Utilizing latest server operating systems, upgraded and patched with latest security measures. This benchmark is scored as met. Page 10

11 INDICATOR 4: Utilize technology to enhance/improve processes, efficiency, and sustainability. Benchmark 1-100% of the primary technology equipment purchased will meet Energy Star rating. Per the Energy Star Equipment Purchases document put in place by the Purchasing Office, Centralia College is committed to the use and purchase of environmentally and socially responsible materials and products. Our decisions will be made in accordance with state regulations and take into consideration our strong commitment towards environmental protection. To that end, the Information Technology Office only selects technology vendors that list their equipment as meeting Energy Star requirements. This standard is scored as met. Action Item: Discuss and decide whether to continue this benchmark or replace with a new measurement. Benchmark 2 - The college utilizes 100% of the technology resources provided by SBCTC or a superior alternative. The college is currently utilizing most of the key programs that the SBCTC provides, including: Student and employee management systems (SMS, PPMS, FMS) Canvas, learning management system Panopto, lecture capture system Megamation, facilities management system FAM, Financial Aid Module Operation Data Store (ODS) Advisor Data Portal, Walla Walla FARM, Financial Aid and Reporting Module, Olympic College There are two other software applications in use throughout the SBCTC system that the college has considered using: a purchasing management system and 25Live Room Scheduling software. Page 11

12 The purchasing system is not utilized due to costs and the amount of modification required to make it compatible with our current system. It is also a top priority for the ERP project and will most likely be scrapped as a stand-alone product. College staff feels it is best to wait until the ERP project is completed and then utilize the SBCTC selected purchasing solution. College staff has reviewed the 25Live Room Scheduling software. The decision has been made to move forward with 25Live. SBCTC has purchased 25Live for college use. Centralia College is currently in the middle of a multi-phase deployment of 25Live. This benchmark is scored as met. Action Item: Continue to monitor SBCTC progress on the replacement project. Deploy the SBCTC selected package and include in the next report. Benchmark 3 - Successful transition to Enterprise Resource Platform (ERP) also known as project ctclink. The SBCTC as a whole evaluated the basic platform that encompasses the instructional, student services, business, and facility needs of the colleges. It has embarked on a path to completely transition from the current (some consider prehistoric) system to a modern one that fully meets campus needs. This also provides an opportunity for standardizing practices among colleges that will eliminate huge differences in coding, reporting, and processing. This will not be without pain and the transition will require focus, dedication, and resources. SBCTC has selected the PeopleSoft enterprise platform to replace our aging management systems. As of this writing pilot colleges should have completed their transition to the new PeopleSoft solution. The remaining colleges will transition in three waves. Centralia College is positioned in Wave 3 with an anticipated transition period of mid-year 2016 to mid-year SBCTC anticipates the entire project completing mid-year Page 12

13 This benchmark is not scored. Page 13