The central IT organization supports University of Houston-System (UHS) and University of Houston (UH) goals.

Our value can be best achieved by focusing on enterprise services and supporting IT providers in the UH

colleges and divisions, and across the UH-System.

Across the UH-System, we provide a broad range of services from converged networking to hosted applications

and systems in our UHS Data Center, high performance computing networks and hosted research computing

services, cost sharing for site licenses such as for WebCT, and a collegial and supportive sharing of best

practices and methodologies.

On the UH campus, we maintain the university’s web presence and provide a wide range of services supporting

streaming media and video production, technology in general purpose classrooms, our 24x7 Technology

Commons student computing lab, deeper than educational discounted volume purchase agreements for

hardware and software, technology web-based and face-to-face training, collaborative tools and self-service

applications, among others.

Even in today’s most challenging times, we continue to mature in our effectiveness and efficiency in delivering

services to support our Tier 1 research and global university aspirations.

UH Information Technology

Leadership Team & Organization

Office of the CIO

Dennis Fouty, Ph.D.

Associate Vice Chancellor /

Associate Vice President &

Chief Information Officer

3 F

TE

Enterprise Systems

Arun Jain, Ph.D.

Associate Vice President

10

1 F

TE

Data CenterNetwork InfrastructureEnterprise Systems and Services

IT Business Services

Nicole Broyles, M.B.A.

Director

16

FT

EAdministration of IT OrganizationIT Policy

Technology Support Services

12

3

FT

E

Desktop / User SupportHelp DeskInstructional TechnologyTelephonyWeb Support Services

IT Security

Mary Dickerson, M.B.A.

Interim Executive Director

10

FT

E

IT Security

High Performance Computing

Keith Crabb, B.S.

Interim Manager

4 F

TE

Research Computing

Office of the CIO

Rita Barrantes, M.B.A

Associate to CIO

7 F

TE

College Technology ReviewsAdvanced Technology Support, technology R&D

Vacant

Executive Director

• Create a reliable, secure, robust, and cost-effective technology environment using industry

best practices and technology

• Maintain the campus network infrastructure and our wireless footprint.

• Aggressively enhance security at the enterprise level and in customer environments

• Actively pursue opportunities with UH business owners to leverage PeopleSoft services and

functionality.

We endeavor to achieve these objectives by:

• Engaging leadership in planning via our 10-Year IT Infrastructure Forecast

• Creating a federation of university IT providers

• Developing and deploying IT methodologies to the campus

• Establishing IT customer service assurance

• Partnering with academic and administrative groups

• Improving and streamlining our internal processes and structures

• Increasing the credibility of IT

Create value across to the UH-System by investing in infrastructure capacity and security, collaborative

tools and newer, more efficient and greener technologies to enable growth in services and protect

revenue.

IT strives to improve efficiency through decentralization, fungibility and reallocation of

resources, hard negotiating, near zero-based budgeting and value engineering.

IT is committed to UH shared governance. The UH Faculty Senate is evaluating a

recommendation of the Information Technology and Computing Committee (ITCC) to align IT efforts

more closely to institutional goals and enhance shared governance.

* Efficient and effective use of resources

* IT strategy aligned with UH strategic

planning

* Process, project, portfolio and

performance driven

* Robust, secure and reliable infrastructure

and systems

* IT Federation will establish campus

technology leadership teams

* Partnerships for innovative technology

strategies

* Sharing IT methodologies

* Support integration of student services

through technology

UHS Data Center hosted applications and hardware:

• Oracle/PeopleSoft Finance and Human Resources: all UHS universities

• Oracle/PeopleSoft Student Academic and Administration: UH, UH-CL and UH-V

• WebCT course management: UH and UH-V

Network Infrastructure:

• Internet Protocol and Video: all UHS universities

• Access to commodity internet: all UHS universities

• Connectivity to high performance networks: LEARN, Internet 2 and National Lambda Rail

• Video services between component universities supporting distance learning &

administration

• Expertise sharing and collaboration for emerging technologies, subject-matter-expert

support and technology trouble-shooting and escalation for problem resolution.

S T

R

A

T

E

G

Y

The Environment

PLANNING AND BUDGETINGfocusing on

An efficient IT organization results from our current environment of decreased funding and

increased demand for service. Continued investment in the UHS infrastructure, enterprise

applications, and collaborative tools through newer, more efficient, greener technologies will

meet customer demand for services, better position the university for future enhancements, and

reduce costs long term.

In seeking Tier 1 university status, it is interesting to compare total UH information technology

funding to our peers. Focusing on 2008 data in the chart at right, UH allocated 55% of the

average of University of Texas Austin and Texas A&M University, and 73% of the average of all

doctoral extensive universities. Data is from participating universities in the Educause Core

Data Survey.

For the fourth year, IT is engaging campus leadership in a review of the 10-Year IT

Infrastructure Forecast. Doing so enables a broader view of institutional investment in

technology to optimize university resources in meeting customer demand for services. See

chart at right.

What We Are Doing

We continue to focus on and mature strategies to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of IT

planning and budgeting by:

• Tightly aligning IT planning and budgeting with the UH process

• Modifying IT’s timeline and methods to incorporate input throughout the year

• Supporting college and division partners in developing their IT plans

• Sharing IT methodologies to the campus

• Internally reallocating IT resources for emerging opportunities and needs

• Conducting near zero-based budget reviews

UH IT launched the IT Federation in FY 2009. Our value to the university is best

achieved supporting college- and division-based IT support providers, IT is refocusing

its service delivery. In concert with college/division leadership, IT seeks to partner

with campus leaders who are also managing and providing information technology

services. We are:

• Delivering projects that impact the larger University

• Collaborating with UH’s colleges and divisions to enhance service delivery (See

chart at right), and

• Part of a larger whole organization that through shared governance enables and

facilitates UH’s strategic goals

IT FEDERATION

BUDGET AND SPENDING

$-

$2,000,000

$4,000,000

$6,000,000

$8,000,000

$10,000,000

$12,000,000

FY01 FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11

Ten Year HEAF Infrastructure Budget Allocation

Allocation Forecasted

Network

Infrastructure

Data

Center

Enterprise

Application

IT

SecurityInstructional

Technology

Support

Centers Telephony

UH

Div

isio

ns

Te

ch

no

log

y

So

cia

l W

ork

Ph

arm

acy

NS

M

CL

AS

S

La

w C

en

ter

Ho

tel a

nd

Re

st M

gt

Ho

no

rs C

olle

ge

En

gin

ee

rin

g

Ed

uca

tio

n

Bu

sin

ess

Arc

hite

ctu

re

University Information Technology (UIT)

$1,651

$2,235

$2,984

$-

$500

$1,000

$1,500

$2,000

$2,500

$3,000

$3,500

FY08

Per Student IT Funding (Headcount)

UH

Doctoral Extensive

Texas 4

The Environment

fostering

Technology brings researchers and their work together across organizational and physical

boundaries. UH’s high performance computing network is well positioned to support our Tier 1

research university aspirations. UH invests in infrastructure to enable high speed access to

research networks and aggregation points including:

• Nationally, inclusive of Tier 1 and 2 US research institutions, via Internet2 and the National

Lambda Rail (NLR).

• Statewide, connecting most public and private universities in the state, via Lonestar

Education and Research Network (LEARN) .

• Locally, connecting Baylor College of Medicine, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Rice

University, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M, Texas Southern University, UT Health Science

Center - Houston, via Southeast Texas GigaPoP ton and others.

Active participation and leadership on boards and committees nationally, regionally and locally,

enabled IT to make significant contributions to each of these networks and add value to:

• Provide researchers with high quality of services not available from commercial entities

• Avoid custom configurations for most applications

• Lower costs by sharing expenses

At the UH Data Center, IT operates the Research Computing Center (RCC) to host servers in a

secure, environmentally controlled environment.

What We Are Doing

• Replacing Research Computing cluster

• Extending dark fiber to Galveston

• Creating network links to collaborating local universities to reduce costs of

research

The Information Technology High Performance Computing (HPC) group offers hosted system

management services and technical systems support to customers of the Research

Computing Center.

The group provides technical advice to customers on questions relating to server platforms,

software implementation and general RCC infrastructure.

Future plans include a program to offer grid computing and to harness the computing power

of obsolete desktop computing into a cascade of servers.

RESEARCH COMPUTING

RESEARCH

UH RESEARCH NETWORKS

Local

State

National

S C O P E

Internet 2 National

Lambda Rail

SE Texas

GigaPop

UH

10 ge

LEARN

RCC

The Environment

enabling

Technology facilitates teaching and learning. Investments in collaborative tools, smart

classrooms, website content management and other applications and services enable UH to

meet increasing demand, in both numbers and sophistication.

IT works through partnerships with student service providers such as Educational Technology

and University Outreach to deliver classroom technologies including the WebCT on-line course

management, podcasts, hybrid courses, classroom clickers, educational delivery software,

multimedia, and manages a 24x7 student computer lab.

What We Are Doing

• Enabling WebCT course management infrastructure

• Managing 24x7 Technology Commons student lab

• Maintaining 66 Smart Classrooms

• Connecting classrooms to Internet via campus network

• Supported the implementation of PeopleSoft Student and Academic Administration Module

• Providing academic software with discounts on SAS, SPSS, Matlab, Mathematica and others

• Providing and upgrading classroom equipment

• Student computer lab

• Open 24 hours/day; 7 days/week

• Over 150 Windows and Mac computers

• Open to all UH students

• Scanners and printers available

• Many software packages available

• Located in the Library basement

TECHNOLOGY COMMONS

In FY2010 We Served Over…

Students in WebCT web-enhanced courses

Students at the Technology Commons

WebCT training courses

SkillPort books

SkillPort courses

1 8 5 ,0 0 0

148,791

3,655

26,394

5 3 3 0

TEACHING

CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGIES

Fall (%Increase) 18.8% 12.40%

Spring (% Increase) 19.8% 21.41% 13.88%

Summer (% Increase) 2.9% 14% 21.62%

5626

41713993

4282

5871

41084150

2937

5316

3966

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

Oct-08 Nov-08 Dec-08 Jan-09 Feb-09 Mar-09 Apr-09 May-09 Jun-09 Jul-09

iTunes DownloadsDownloads

984

11691314

8421009

1225

1395

347357

407 495

0

1000

2000

2006 2007 2008 2009

WebCT /Blackboard Courses

Fall Spring Summer

The Environment

THE COMMUNITYsupporting

Providing enabling technology has long been our focus. Today, we are repositioning IT to

emphasize support other university technology providers. At the same time, we are delivering

services closer to our customers, via self-service at their desktop or laptop, service kiosks

throughout the campus and a greater number of IT Service Desks, each equipped to support

the full range of IT walk-up services from CougarNet accounts, to software sales, to

telecommunications services.

We recognize we can best align with and serve the University by:

• Partnering with academic and administrative groups to better serve them

• Recognizing program owners and establishing governance processes

• Improving internal processes and structure to better serve our customers and help close the

gap between demand and resources

• Implementing a single customer service contact point

• Delivering on our commitments

What We Are Doing

• Created a unified UH Contact Center

• Redesigned the UH website as user centered

• Consolidated service-delivery in multiple storefronts

• Empowering our college partners to use our network diagnostic tools

• Empowering customers with new web-based self-help account management tools

• Supporting integration of student services through technology

• Continuing to install self-help computer kiosks throughout campus

• Offering new collaborative tools, such as Microsoft Office SharePoint Services

• Providing IT Reviews to UH departments to give recommendations on how UIT can best

serve their needs

Just in FY2010 We Provided Over…

AskShasta self-service help requests

IT Support Center service requests

IT Communications service requests

1 5 2 ,3 0 4

2 5 1 ,7 8 1

1 1 ,7 4 7

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

FY2005 FY2006 FY2007 FY2008 FY2009

# p

eo

ple

Instructor Led Training

Attendance

4000

6500

9000

11500

14000

16500

FY2005 FY2006 FY2007 FY2008 FY2009

# c

ou

rses

SkillPort eLearning

Accesses Completions

Accesses % Increase 31.8% 10.2% 11.13% -1.28%

Completions % Increase 39.7% 16.7% 11.67% -32.70%

% Increase 34.85% 101.38% 13.89% 15.91%

SERVICES Jun 09

Target Mon YTD

Service Requests Resolved

(Initial Contact)

75% 90% 91%

Service Requests Resolved

(Within 2 days)

100% 99% 95%

Work Order Repairs 24 hrs 49 hrs 15 days

Work Orders 72 hrs 80 hrs 15 days

SERVICE DELIVERY

The Environment

UH TO THE WORLDconnecting

Maintaining the campus network infrastructure and increasing our wireless footprint remain

part of our strategic focus. We also seek to deploy newer, more efficient, secure, reliable and

greener technologies to mitigate risk, position UH for future services, and protect revenue.

Delivering state-of-the-art network services requires long-range infrastructure planning. IT’s

planning includes a 10-year infrastructure forecast. The university’s network is robust, secure,

and reliable. Ideally, we desire to quicken the pace of building network refreshes to better

serve customers, funding permitting.

What We Are Doing

• Increasing our high-speed wireless networking footprint

• Building fiber-optic connections to UHS campuses and Texas Southern University

• Providing Internet Protocol (IP) telephony

• Outsourcing residential student network support

• Enabling Video Over IP

• Enhancing the campus network infrastructure

• Managing the network with new software

• Expanding the wireless footprint to include indoor as well as outdoor access

• Deploying 1gigabit wired networking to the desktop

• Improving network speed within the campus and faster access to the Internet

While in Houston, a UH composer “attended” a rehearsal in Miami of one of

his compositions for New World Symphony (NWS) via UH’s connection to the

Internet2 network. “NWS pioneered the use of Internet2 for musical learning

and performance,” according to Newsweek, including giving lessons to gifted

students miles away. Such applications were only imagination a few years

ago.

NETWORK HARMONY

UH Infrastructure in 2010 has…

Miles of fiber

Data ports installed

Wireless coverage

3 8 5

1 5 ,9 2 8

9 8 %

UHS NETWORK CONNECTIONS

ATT•UHCR (5 Mbps)

•UHCL (1 Gbps)

•UHD (1 Gbps)

SETxGP•UHD (10 Gbps)

•UHSL (1 Gbps)

LEARN•UHV (1 Gbps)

•UHS Secondary Data Center (1 Gbps)

ATT = Commercial Network Services

SETxGP = Houston Area Research. Educational Network

LEARN = Texas Research. Educational Network

The Environment

ROBUST SYSTEMSbuilding

Technology innovations enable many opportunities for UH to invest in infrastructure capacity

and security enhancements that will provide better service, reduce energy, and over a

several year horizon provide a solid return on investment. We retain our core technology

focus to:

• Refresh network, expand wireless footprint, and enable single sign-on to systems and

campus resources

• Use server virtualization technology to reduce costs, reduce power consumption, and

improve redundancy and uptime

• Assure the provision of adequate power to UHS Data Center and environmentally

appropriate, controlled, and monitored services inside.

FY2010 Accomplishments Included…

• Initiated data warehousing and business intelligence systems

• Piloted Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services

• Refocused the UH and IT websites to deliver more services online

• Planned for a single sign-on environment

• PS Student Academic & Administration now fully operational

• Enhancing services, especially integrated, self services

• Deploying next-generation tools

• Evaluating and deploying additional modules for future use including the Advising

module

• Enabled electronic workflow for Finance, Human Resources, and Employee self-

service

PEOPLESOFT Enterprise Resource Planning

Just in FY2010 We Handled Over…

Email accounts

Email incoming messages processed

Finance transactions

CougarNet accounts

3 9 ,6 2 1

2 2 6 ,3 2 4 ,0 0 0

4 ,0 2 3 ,0 0 0

8 1 ,0 0 0

ROBUST ENVIRONMENT

SECURITY INCIDENTS Jun 09

Target M/Y Mon No. YTD No.

Actual Infections 4/44 4 364

Unauthorized

Information

Access

0/1 0 1

Unauthorized

Use/Misuse

27/324 47 562

Total 31/370 51 927

98.40%

98.60%

98.80%

99.00%

99.20%

99.40%

99.60%

99.80%

100.00%

Infrastructure and Critical SystemsFY09 Availability

Infrastructure Systems Target

The Environment

OUR ENVIRONMENTsecuring

With a heightened awareness of mandates for the protection of data, we have a

need to increase the safeguards in place to mitigate the risks of data

compromise. Threats include those to our systems, networks, data, safety, and

privacy, as well as our academic and business operations. Aggressively

enhancing security at the enterprise and in customer environments remains a

strategic focus for IT.

What We Are Doing

• Implementing industry standard security practices and procedures for protection of credit

card data

• Creating a backup online meeting place for every UH course in case of a disaster

• Using proactive problem avoidance such as regular aggressive network and systems scans

• Assessing department systems that contain sensitive data and providing assistance in

securing it

• Conducting security awareness training to create a more educated community

• Deploying best and essential security practices to technology providers throughout the

campus

• Assisting in obtaining e-commerce application certification

• Working throughout campus on security matters

The UHS Secondary Data Center in Dallas provides “Critical Core Services” to

the community in the event facilities in Houston are damaged or compromised.

Active services for UH include emergency web presence, emergency e-mail,

and other critical technology services.

Fail-over functionality for the WebCT course management application is in the

final phases.

UHS SECONDARY DATA CENTER

Just in FY2010 We Handled Over…

Security Incidents

Compliance with PCI standards

1 5 2 5

1 0 0 %

SECURITY Feb 09

Target M/Y Mon No. YTD No.

Incidents 28/339 24 357

Systems

Affected

2/27 26 86

IT SECURITY

0306090

120150180210240270

Security Incidents

Incidents Target

0

20

40

60

80

100

DMCA Incidents

Systems Target

The Environment

TECHNOLOGYbeyond

In order to better serve our users , we are embracing non-technical projects as part of our

IT initiatives. One of these initiatives is allowing us to explore better ways to identify service

efficiencies focused on cost optimization and benchmarking; Gartner, a leading IT Research

firm, provides us guidance on industry best practices and a top-of-the-line knowledge base.

In September 2009, we sponsored the launch of the first Project Management Institute

(PMI) Student Chapter in Houston; the PMI UH venue will allow students to interact with

professionals in the industry and get advantage of speakers in the project management

field.

UIT has identified as a key initiative the improvement of business processes for UIT

customer-facing services. We are partnering with College of Business, in building a cross-

functional team of undergraduate and graduate students, and IT employees. Through these

efforts, we intend to optimize service costs and productivity, improve customer satisfaction,

and enhance organizational agility.

What We Are Doing

• Creating an IT framework to identify service efficiencies

• Implementing Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)

• Kicked off the first PMI Student Chapter in Houston . Monthly meetings connect students

with professionals in the industry and promote project management practices

• Partnering with College of Technology to create a cross-functional team to identify business

process improvements

• Working with the UH Writing Center to leverage IT employees writing skills for positions

related with communications

• Facilitating IT Reviews for campus departments to identify synergies and areas where UIT

can better serve their needs

• Creating business models to offer IT Services to campus community, affiliates and

externals

JOINING EFFORTS

UH-PMI Student Chapter

UIT

UH Colleges

(BAUER and Technology)

Project Management

Institute

UITBAUER

College of Business