Unifying Campuswide IT: UCSF Forms OAAIS
By unifying UCSF’s administrative and academic information technology functions, the Office of Academic and Administrative Information Systems, or OAAIS, is providing state-of-the-art, cost-effective services and quality support to the campus community. And new projects are underway to bring cutting-edge technology to UCSF.
OAAIS, pronounced “oasis,” focuses on the academic education, research and administrative systems on campus. It is unique in that it is led by two chief information technology officers (CIOs), Randy Lopez, associate vice chancellor, co-CIO, and Jonathan Showstack, PhD, assistant vice chancellor, co-CIO.
Lopez and Showstack came together from the administrative and academic sides of the University, respectfully. Lopez and Showstack report to Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Eugene Washington, MD, and Senior Vice Chancellor Steve Barclay.
“From email and networks to highly sophisticated research data repositories, information technology services are essential to creating and disseminating biomedical knowledge,” Showstack said. “While there are many school and departmental IT units, OAAIS’ role is to implement campuswide processes and operations, focusing on comprehensive academic, research and administrative systems that allow faculty to not only collaborate within the university environment, but in the global community, as well.”
The creation of OAAIS in 2006 exemplifies UCSF’s attention to improving its information technology. In fact, the UCSF Strategic Plan calls for the University to “optimally deploy information technology for administrative, academic and clinical purposes.”
“The University strategic plan validated what our goals are,” Lopez said. “The UCSF Strategic Plan is really what we live and breathe. What we do in OAAIS is very much aligned with that strategy.”
Key tactics used to put UCSF on the path to realizing this priority include:
- Supporting the current initiative for a broader, more integrated IT governance process that better represents the academic mission and priorities
- Providing facilities that accommodate planned growth
- Allocating funding for new technology, as well as offering support to operate that technology once in place
Making Life Better
The formation of OAAIS was a critical step in positioning the campus to act on themes emerging from the strategic planning initiative and leveraging investments in information technology architecture and infrastructure. “There are economies and synergies by not having two separate IT organizations,” Lopez said. “We’re not only saving money, but providing better quality, more integrated services.” Creating a more supportive work environment is one of the seven major priorities in the UCSF Strategic Plan. It is in that section that improving IT infrastructure and support is found. One way OAAIS is making life better for faculty is through the creation of a new data center. To be located at 654 Minnesota Street, with the Parnassus campus acting as a backup unit for emergencies, the new data center will relieve overcrowding problems and allow room for growth, including, over time, the addition of more servers. S. Claiborne Johnston, MD, PhD, UCSF Department of Neurology, is looking forward to the direct impact that the data center will have on his work. “One important need for researchers is the ability to store and share data in a secure environment,” said Johnston. “The tools OAAIS is building will meet this need in a way that is impossible today. “OAAIS is finally bringing us into the 21st century,” Johnston said. “There are lots of ways that technology can make the lives of academics better, but the investment really needs to be made at an institutional level. It’s nice to see real progress in this regard.” Both faculty and staff will soon be able to spend less of their time recalling passwords. With the new identity and access management services, spearheaded through OAAIS Customer Support Services, they’ll be able to use one username and password for multiple applications, as well as manage and recover their password on their own. “We’re collaborating with our colleagues throughout the campus to implement the identity and access management services system,” said Schmidt. “This reduces the number of usernames and passwords you’ll have to remember. You’ll be able to go to a website with your profile to manage your passwords, and you can do this regardless of where you are 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world, without needing to call the help desk.” As OAAIS rolls out these deployments, there will be more and more systems that faculty and staff can sign on to using their UCSF identification. The technical term for a move toward nearly single sign-on is “reduced sign-on.” While the impact might be felt by faculty first, the results will eventually filter throughout the campus community. “OAAIS focuses on information systems and services that serve broad constituencies such as students, faculty, staff and visitors. Email and network services, for example, are used by almost everyone on campus,” said Schmidt. “OAAIS Customer Support is available to help anyone in the campus community, and we work closely with our colleagues in the medical center to deliver the highest levels of service possible.” This spring, OAAIS will roll out a new, high-speed, very reliable network, the Next Generation Metropolitan Area Network (NGMAN). The network is what connects each of the campuses and the University to the outside. NGMAN is a complete upgrade of the network technology that’s been in use at UCSF for nearly 15 years. “It’s really exciting that we’re going to build this new, high-speed network that will allow us to update to new technologies more easily,” said Felicia Silva, associate director, OAAIS Network Operational Services. NGMAN allows for the capacity to do things that can’t be done with the campus’s current network, such as supporting voice on the network and advanced videoconferencing features. “Having been here for more than 20 years, I am happy to see the network grow in a way that will enable us to be able to offer services and support that people are looking for,” said Silva. Working to protect UCSF’s current and future network from viruses, worms and general security threats from the outside is Network Operations Control, which operates under OAAIS’ Enterprise Network Services (ENS) area. ENS works to monitor, support, maintain and upgrade the UCSF voice and data networks. The entire network is monitored around the clock through state-of-the-art tools at Network Operations Control, located on the Parnassus campus. Almost daily, one of the top bandwidth computers on campus could be open to an outside virus or worm. Network Operations Control’s proactive strategy effectively prevents a threat from being realized. “We can see when a computer can possibly infect others, and we can shut it down and remove it from the network,” said Steven Young, senior manager, Network Operations Control. “Being proactive is trying to stop the little problems from becoming bigger.”Achieving Synergy
By working collaboratively with many diverse campus units, OAAIS is creating synergy in part because UCSF systems are saving money and operating more efficiently. Each OAAIS subgroup is driven by the idea of synergy. Since its creation in July 2006, OAAIS has added two units: Academic Research Systems and Application Services. Academic Research Systems is launching a Secure Data Environment service for investigators. The unit is also developing an Integrated Data Repository to include clinical and life sciences data from UCSF and its affiliates. Application Services, directed by Jane Wong, is responsible for administrative applications development and support. “Applications Services supports, develops and integrates enterprise-wide administrative and financial systems that are used by UCSF academic departments and central offices,” said Wong. “By leveraging systems technology, we can support our core mission of patient care, research and teaching in a more efficient and cost-effective manner.” The UCSF Program Management Office (PMO) is responsible for the planning and implementation of selected academic, research, financial and student systems that support the mission of UCSF. The PMO improves administrative operations by leveraging technology and streamlining business processes to provide quality customer service, contain and reduce administrative costs, and improve compliance. PMO has developed an outstanding track record for implementing large-scale administrative systems on time and on budget. PMO’s Academic Information Systems unit is a new electronic system for the Committee on Human Research. In the past, many academic units would hire consultants to conduct system assessments. PMO has actually hired many of these expert consultants to manage project implementation for both academic and administrative units. Key to each stage of research, planning, development and implementation is the guidance of the strategic plan. This includes transparency in the process, performance-based resource management and — when everything is complete — measuring whether the IT investment has achieved its intended purpose. In short, all the technological advances will allow UCSF to fulfill its mission and impact science around the world. “OAAIS will develop a new UCSF research environment that will promote translational and collaborative research within UCSF,” said Showstack, “and with scientists at other institutions.”Photo by Susan Merrell