So, to date Eric has requested three unique reports/sets of data from our FIS data-warehouse.
Mind you, the WOU EDW is NOT be confused with ODS EDW (an expensive Banner product) or the EDW provided by OUS 5th-site during the reign of Connie Atchley.
This is WOU's home-grown EDW.
At present, we have completed the answer to the first of Eric's questions - and will be presenting that tomorrow.
We'll also give a status on the 3rd request (which will be delivered next) and asking clarifying questions for the 2nd request.
I hope that tomorrow's meeting will be very productive and make us feel like we're well on-the-way to having a real milestone completed on our jouney to the WOU EDW.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Departments
Well today we had a very rousing meeting regarding Departments, and the Campus Directory.
In the past we maintained and printed a paper directory for all of campus.
It was expensive.
It was time consuming.
It was inaccurate even before it was printed.
So we built an online directory so that information could be pulled from Banner each night, and displayed for all the world to see.
Anyway, there was a great deal of communication about letting folks update their information, or request it be updated, or ....
This ended up being short-lived as that information has to sync with Banner, hence come from Banner, hence it cannot be maintained/updated/displayed separately.
So, on to departments. You see, Banner doesn't hold the phone # you call for a specific department. This is something we did manually on paper.
But the digital age (as you all know) comes with it's own challenges and idiosyncrasies. In the end (after much discussion) we decided that we would come back to this question next week after we all gave it additional thought.
In the past we maintained and printed a paper directory for all of campus.
It was expensive.
It was time consuming.
It was inaccurate even before it was printed.
So we built an online directory so that information could be pulled from Banner each night, and displayed for all the world to see.
Anyway, there was a great deal of communication about letting folks update their information, or request it be updated, or ....
This ended up being short-lived as that information has to sync with Banner, hence come from Banner, hence it cannot be maintained/updated/displayed separately.
So, on to departments. You see, Banner doesn't hold the phone # you call for a specific department. This is something we did manually on paper.
But the digital age (as you all know) comes with it's own challenges and idiosyncrasies. In the end (after much discussion) we decided that we would come back to this question next week after we all gave it additional thought.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Welcome, New School Year
Welcome :)
We hope that the service our department provides continuously improves.
We hope that all of your technology works together.
We hope that you remember to save often.
We hope that we all succeed in learning.
We hope that the economy improves.
We hope that your dreams and wishes come true.
We hope that you come to appreciate WOU the way that we have.
Thank you for coming. We hope that you enjoy your stay :)
A new school year is an exciting time, filled with energy, and eager new students.
May we all take advantage of the time we have.
To learn, love and live.
Carpe diem.
We hope that the service our department provides continuously improves.
We hope that all of your technology works together.
We hope that you remember to save often.
We hope that we all succeed in learning.
We hope that the economy improves.
We hope that your dreams and wishes come true.
We hope that you come to appreciate WOU the way that we have.
Thank you for coming. We hope that you enjoy your stay :)
A new school year is an exciting time, filled with energy, and eager new students.
May we all take advantage of the time we have.
To learn, love and live.
Carpe diem.
Migration to Upgrade
We had hoped to make some serious progress on the Banner upgrade (2+ weeks of "mods" to be done to code/forms), but have mostly still been doing Migration cleanup, Data Warehousing and routine tasks ...
The mods will need to be in place soon, as campus will need 2-6 weeks (depending on the department) to test the upgraded code/forms. I will be meeting with Darin weekly to ensure that our communication is up-to-date and we are appropriately addressing campus issues and the Upgrade Schedule.
The mods will need to be in place soon, as campus will need 2-6 weeks (depending on the department) to test the upgraded code/forms. I will be meeting with Darin weekly to ensure that our communication is up-to-date and we are appropriately addressing campus issues and the Upgrade Schedule.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Post-Banner Migration
I am PLEASED to announce that the Banner migration (to Linux) went pretty well :)
This is not to say that a report was missed here-or-there, or that everything was flawless.
However, we had no large surprises, crashes or mishaps. The Banner functional team (Faye, Michelle, Dorothy) and the programmer team (Mike, Nathan, Christina) both did a great job of preparing and testing Banner and it's myriad features.
We begin anew, preparing for the across-the-board point release updates to various Banner modules. We can begin implementing our mods next week. Upon completion, both the Banner functional team and campus can begin (or conclude) the much-needed testing before November.
This is not to say that a report was missed here-or-there, or that everything was flawless.
However, we had no large surprises, crashes or mishaps. The Banner functional team (Faye, Michelle, Dorothy) and the programmer team (Mike, Nathan, Christina) both did a great job of preparing and testing Banner and it's myriad features.
We begin anew, preparing for the across-the-board point release updates to various Banner modules. We can begin implementing our mods next week. Upon completion, both the Banner functional team and campus can begin (or conclude) the much-needed testing before November.
Cisco ISE
In an ongoing effort to maintain a secure campus infrastructure, WOU had planned to upgrade our Cisco NAC (network access control) to ISE (Identity Services Engine).
I am sad to report that this upgrade will not be in place for Fall Term.
During the implementation (in a test environment), we ran into numerous large bugs that prevented us from properly configuring ISE to required end-points (laptops, etc...) to authenticate (login) and posture (client scan for updates, AV, etc...).
In reality, ISE is not a direct cut-over from NAC. Authentication is handled much differently, and I believe that ISE is tuned for a 802.1x environment. Though our experience with 802.1x was limited, we tried to implement it after our 3rd ISE design change. It was not a pleasant experience. Again, in another environment (VPN, corporate, ...) it surely works well and cleanly - but not here.
We will continue to run NAC. We have tidy-ed it up a bit and will continue to monitor the much-needed improvements to ISE 1.2.x, expected in late January.
I am sad to report that this upgrade will not be in place for Fall Term.
During the implementation (in a test environment), we ran into numerous large bugs that prevented us from properly configuring ISE to required end-points (laptops, etc...) to authenticate (login) and posture (client scan for updates, AV, etc...).
In reality, ISE is not a direct cut-over from NAC. Authentication is handled much differently, and I believe that ISE is tuned for a 802.1x environment. Though our experience with 802.1x was limited, we tried to implement it after our 3rd ISE design change. It was not a pleasant experience. Again, in another environment (VPN, corporate, ...) it surely works well and cleanly - but not here.
We will continue to run NAC. We have tidy-ed it up a bit and will continue to monitor the much-needed improvements to ISE 1.2.x, expected in late January.
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