Information
Technology Activity
Contact Information
Technology
Anytime Support Desk
Available 24 hours a day,
7 days a week
(310) 506-HELP (4357)
or (866) 767-8623
Tech Central
for Students
Payson Library, 2nd Floor
Mon. - Thur. 10:00 am- 8:00 pm
Fridays 10:00 am- 6:00 pm
(310) 506-4811
Office of the Vice
Provost and Chief
Information Officer
(310) 506-4501
Request IT Services
http://services.pepperdine.edu/it
/forms
and Status Report
January 2010
Announcements for Faculty and Staff Meetings
New Online Training Library Available in February. Pep-
perdine IT and the Center for Human Resources are working together to
introduce the Lynda.com Online Training Library to Pepperdine faculty and
staff. Lynda.com offers over 700 online software courses such as Microsoft
Office and Photoshop. Initially, ten licenses will be purchased with a license
being assigned to each school and a few administrative groups. Implementa-
tion details will be available in February. For more information about this
program, please email Jonathan See at Jonathan.See@pepperdine.edu.
Web Deposits for Campus ID Cards Coming Soon. Pep-
perdine IT will soon implement a system that allows members of the cam-
pus community to add points to their campus identification (ID) card any-
time, anywhere via the Internet. Transactions are currently handled through
the Cashiers Office, One Stop, or by using the wall-mounted machines in
the libraries or the Howard A. White Center. Using the One Card Web
Deposits system, faculty, staff and students will access a secured website and
use a credit card to add value to their ID card. The One Card system is set
to launch in February. For more information about this system, please email
Jonathan See at Jonathan.See@pepperdine.edu.
Register Now for Spring Faculty Development Workshops
and Seminars. The Technology and Learning group is offering three new
seminars and workshops in January and February: Beyond Bullet Points;
Cheater, Cheater: Technological Tactics of the Dishonest Student; and Using
Technology to Enhance Learning. Workshops on Sakai and Elluminate will
also be offered this term. Seminar descriptions and registration (by campus)
is available on the Technology and Learning website. Read event descrip-
tions and register now.
Spring Course Information Added to Blackboard and
Sakai. Courses for the 2010 spring term have been added to Blackboard
and Sakai. Both learning management systems contain the full set of courses
1 Information Technology Activity and Status Report, January 2010
offered through the Registrar's office. Faculty are welcome to use either Blackboard or Sakai for the
upcoming academic term.

Administrative Support for Schools

Sakai Pilot Continues to Gain Momentum. Pepperdine IT's Technology and Learning group
is investigating faculty and student use and satisfaction of learning management systems. As part of this
study, IT has implemented a pilot test of Sakai, a collaboration and course management system that pro-
vides users with a suite of learning, portfolio, library, and project tools.

Since the inception of the pilot in August 2009, 66 faculty members have published one or more sites in
Sakai. During the fall 2009 term, 140 course sites and 110 project sites were published. Course sites are
intended for class materials, whereas project sites are intended for collaboration and sharing of project
resources. Sakai is freely available to any Pepperdine faculty or staff member. To log in visit
http://sakai.pepperdine.edu/. Sakai workshops and documentation are available on the IT website.

Faculty members are encouraged to contact Gerard Flynn, director of Technology and Learning at (310)
506-7264, to set up individual consultations about Sakai or other technology and learning tools offered
at Pepperdine.

Learning Management System Student Survey Results Available. Pepperdine IT's

Technology and Learning group administered a survey in December 2009 to obtain feedback from stu-
dents about the learning management systems used at Pepperdine University. Over 900 students re-
sponded to the survey, which will be used to help inform the larger learning management system study.
The raw data from the survey can be downloaded in PDF format.

Seaver Classroom Technology Refreshed. As part of fiscal year 2009-2010 Seaver major
equipment purchases, a total of seven classrooms received upgrades. Four of the updated classrooms
were for humanities and teacher education, one for fine arts, and two for business. All classrooms re-
ceived new projectors and when necessary, new sound systems. Two classrooms with existing Blu-ray
players were upgraded to digital signal transmission for increased quality of projection and three class-
rooms were upgraded with technology control systems.

Appleby Center Classroom Technology Stays Current. Existing technology in the Ap-
pleby American Studies Center classrooms and labs received the latest SMART and program updates
earlier this month. These critical updates are conducted biannually by Pepperdine IT staff and are neces-
sary to keep the technology current. Other general classroom maintenance and cleaning was also done.

New NComputing Units for Athletics Computer Lab. The athletics computer lab, lo-
cated under the bleachers in Firestone Fieldhouse, will be upgraded this month with 14 NComputing
units. NComputing is a virtual computing technology that allows one personal computer to support up
to 30 personal computers. This technology reduces the cost of a personal computer by nearly 75 per-
cent and requires only 20 percent of the energy of a typical personal computer. Approximately 8,000
was saved by purchasing NComputing units over standard personal computers.

The athletics lab is used by students for study hall and homework, making it an excellent choice for
NComputing technology. The Sandbar Cafe and the International Studies and Languages computer labs
also use NComputing technology. In addition to refreshing the computer lab, the Athletics Department
is purchasing additional units to test for staff use in limited areas.

2 Information Technology Activity and Status Report, January 2010

Administrative Support for the University
Institutional Research and Effectiveness Teams Up with IT. The Information Technol-
ogy data warehouse group recently teamed up with Institutional Research and Effectiveness to provide
University decision-makers with more data and data analysis from PeopleSoft systems. Together, the
team is evaluating data surrounding the application process including a comparison of how many stu-
dents begin the application process and how many complete it. They are also reviewing data on how
many students are admitted, accepted, and pre-matriculate. The team will build dashboards allowing this
data to be easily retrieved and presented visually.

WaveNet Photo Class Roster Update. Student photos are now available on class rosters in-
side the WaveNet portal. The photographs are pulled from the student ID card system, therefore if a
student has not registered for a course or taken a photograph for a student ID card that student's pho-
tograph will not appear on the photo roster. New photographs require one business day for processing
before they will automatically appear in a class roster.

Discounted Personal Purchase of Windows 7. Pepperdine employees and students may

purchase Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade for their home computers for a discounted price of $49.99 at
the Computer Store at Tech Central. (Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade retails for $219.99.) New home
computers purchased through the Computer Store can request the Windows 7 operating system.

Information Security Managers Training Coming this March. The 3rd annual Informa-
tion Security for Managers training will be presented in March of this year. This year's presentation will
focus on new information and resources that departments need to know to set procedures to find,
classify, and protect RESTRICTED and CONFIDENTIAL information. Email invitations will be sent in
early February to all PeopleSoft approvers. For more information, please contact Kim Cary, chief infor-
mation security officer, at Kim.Cary@pepperdine.edu.

Infrastructure, Systems, and Networking Updates

Information Security Implements Whole Disk Encryption. Pepperdine IT Information
Security is implementing whole disk encryption technology for departments that responded to last
year's RESTRICTED information cleanup inventory. This technology protects information on University-
owned computers from being disclosed if the computer is stolen or accessed with recovery tools and
helps avoid the consequences for unauthorized disclosure of this information. View the IT website for
more information on the University's policy on classifying and protecting information (PDF). Also, a 40-
minute training on information security is available in an Elluminate online presentation, as well as in a
quick reference guide (PDF). Questions about information classification and protection or whole disk
encryption may be directed to Kim Cary, chief information security officer, at
Kim.Cary@pepperdine.edu.

New Phone System Comes with Instant Messenger and Video Conference Inte-
gration. The Systems and Networking staff has begun a multi-year project to replace the University’s
existing telephone system with a new platform from Cisco that merges voice, video, and web confer-
encing. The new phones will allow users to easily communicate and collaborate with instant messaging,

3 Information Technology Activity and Status Report, January 2010

quick audio and video conferences, desktop sharing, and phone calls from computer to computer or
computer to land line.

Phases one and two of this project involve the installation and testing of phones with the instant mes-
saging features inside the IT division, and with select cohorts of students from GSEP and Graziado
School of Business and Management. Using the mobility services, commuting students can meet with
fellow classmates and professors through the Internet from any location. The time line for phase two,
which began earlier this month, is as follows:
• January - March 2010: Implementation for a select GSEP course to pilot the use of the technol-
ogy for elearning.
• March - June 2010: Implementation for faculty and staff on the Encino and Irvine campuses.
• June - August 2010: Implementation for faculty and staff on the West Los Angeles campus.

PeopleSoft Disaster Recovery Plan Evaluation. Information Technology has begun the
evaluation of necessary steps to recover from a long-term disaster with the following PeopleSoft appli-
cations: finance, human resources, student services, and the Wavenet portal. This plan has a tremendous
effect across the University. Pepperdine IT's Systems and Networking and Enterprise Information Sys-
tems teams have designed a near real time technical solution that will mitigate data lost and recovery
time. The teams are currently validating the design and solution with key stakeholders across the Univer-
sity. Initial testing will begin in January 2010. The goal of the evaluation is to identify opportunities to im-
prove the current procedure.

Administrative Support - Software Tools

Faculty Database to be Redesigned. The University's faculty database is used by the deans
and administrators to track faculty contract creation, approval, and acceptance. Currently, this system is
independent from human resources data in PeopleSoft. To eliminate the transfer of data files from the
database to PeopleSoft, Pepperdine IT is working to enclose the entire system inside PeopleSoft. The
new system is scheduled to be available in summer 2010.

Seaver Admissions Moves to the Common App Online. IT's Enterprise Information Sys-
tems staff recently supported Seaver Admissions in moving the student application process to the
Common Application. Common App Online is a universal online application that allows students to
submit their application to multiple undergraduate universities at one time. To make the transition to the
Common App Online possible, IT staff added additional fields to the PeopleSoft database and wrote
technical code to transfer documents and information from the Common App Online into the People-
Soft and Nolij systems.

By working with IT staff during the transition, Admissions staff was able to continue using the application
checklist and processing procedures already in place. They have also maintained their current level of
communication with applicants by auto-emailing pertinent information within 0-2 days based on data
gathered from their application files. Without technical support, this functionality would have been lost in
the transition.

The new application system also saves admissions staff valuable time. Application files and PDF docu-
ments are systematically downloaded early each morning, eliminating the need for an admissions staff
member to manually oversee this process. Overall, the new system and procedures allow admissions
staff to systematically process and load applications into PeopleSoft nearly twice as fast as last year.

4 Information Technology Activity and Status Report, January 2010

Benchmarks and Accountability
Anytime Support Desk Statistics for December. During December 2009, there were
1,313 requests for support managed through the Anytime Support Desk. Of these requests, 87 percent
were resolved within one day and 93 percent were resolved in fewer than five days. The average wait
time for individuals calling the Anytime Support Desk was 86 seconds. Eighty-six percent of the requests
were resolved by the Anytime Support Desk on the first call.

Online Requests. In December 2009, there were 109 additional requests for support managed
through online web request forms. The top two types of online requests were audio-visual service (28)
and departmental telephone service (18).

Anytime Support Desk User Survey Results for December. Through an automated
feedback process, all Anytime Support Desk callers have the opportunity to complete a web-based sat-
isfaction survey. In December 2009, 128 (10%) of 1,310 survey requests sent to customers were com-
pleted. The five-question survey uses a “1 to 9” sliding scale with “7.00-9.00” equal to excellent.

Response Overall Response Skill Communi- Resolution

Month
Rate Satisfaction Timeliness Set cation Timeliness
October 9% 7.54 7.61 7.77 7.50 7.53
November 8% 7.97 7.86 8.27 8.13 8.05
December 10% 8.21 7.94 8.38 8.02 8.16

Staff Support by Major Area. All Pepperdine IT staff allocate their day-to-day efforts using cli-
ent, project, and task codes; using this data, total division-wide staff effort for December 2009 was dis-
tributed as follows:

University Administration Support 1,057 hours 7.12% $55,009.31

Colleges, Academic Affairs 2052 hours 13.83% $56,631.04

University-Wide, Common Services 3,656 hours 25.00% $162,366.62

IT Administration and Management 2,041 hours 13.75% $84,198.02

General Overhead (Leave, Holiday) 6,036 hours 40.67% $244,869.70

Total: 14,842 hours 100% $603,074.69

Support for Schools. Pepperdine IT staff effort provided to Pepperdine Schools, is as follows:

Month Seaver GSBM GSEP SOL SPP

October 56.48% 23.14% 17.18% 0.83% 2.37%

November 56.31% 23.41% 16.69% 1.24% 2.35%
December 59.64% 17.52% 21.03% 0.35% 1.46%

How to Subscribe to this Report. If you would like to be added to the distribution list for this
report, please contact Ross Canning, executive assistant to the vice provost and chief information
officer, at extension x4501. Monthly IT Status Report archives are available online at http://
services.pepperdine.edu/it/about/status-reports.htm.

5 Information Technology Activity and Status Report, January 2010