As we reflect back upon FY11, we recognize that much has been accomplished in the midst of a continuing
economic downturn at the national, state and local level. This year our efforts have focused upon emphasizing
the role of the Office of Information Technology (OIT) as a service organization and continuing to enhance the
value of information technology within the College community.
The theme of the OIT Annual Report for FY11 is Building on a Culture of Service. Our focus has been on how to
provide excellent service and to assure a strong technology foundation for today and into the future in order
to meet the needs of the students and employees of Montgomery College. This year has been about service,
collaboration and innovation. In an environment of change and challenge, OIT recognized the need to focus
upon the important services provided by the dedicated staff within OIT and to align the unit as a service unit.
The OIT leadership and management teams worked together to realign the unit into service tiers and to focus
upon the key service areas within the unit.
As part of the transition, it was necessary to re-examine the vision of our unit to assure we are aligned with
the new vision and the core mission of Montgomery College. OIT’s new vision statement speaks to our service
focus and our alignment with the mission of Montgomery College.
“The Office of Information Technology is a nationally recognized service organization that inspires collabora-
tion and leverages every resource in support of the educational mission of Montgomery College.”
The greatest challenges continue to be the economic environment and providing a reliable, robust and secure
infrastructure and keeping pace with technology advancements. The staff continued exercising great diligence
in identifying cost savings and opportunities for greater efficiencies. These efforts included enhanced vendor
management practices, the realignment of services, streamlining responsibilities, as well as the implementa-
tion of technology to increase efficiencies in various work processes at the College. As a result of these signifi-
cant efforts, OIT netted an additional cost savings in FY11 of approximately $1 million dollars and has a pro-
jected cost savings for FY12 of over $2 million. These savings are in addition to the approximately $3 million in
savings in FY10.
This year has been about our focus on service, collaboration and innovation and how our efforts provide the
technology and technology services required to meet the needs of the College. Our look forward requires
that our focus and our efforts are aligned with the President’s Priorities. It is essential that we remain diligent
in our efforts to assure our students and employees have the technology resources and services to achieve
the College’s vision as a nationally recognized model of education excellence, opportunity and student success.
Mike Russell
Dr. Michael Russell Vice President of Instructional and
Information Technology/ Chief Information Officer (CIO)
OFFICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
FY11 ANNUAL REPORT
MONTGOMERY COLLEGE
IT Business Services
The transition of OIT to a service unit model en-
abled the business operations of OIT - planning,
budgeting, purchasing and project management -
to be grouped into the IT Business Services area.
Aligning planning and project management with
traditional business services such as budgeting and
purchasing provides a systematic way to accom-
plish the objectives of the unit, to develop budgets
and spending plans that are guided by the mission
and goals of the College, and to ensure that all pro-
jects approved are aligned with the strategic goals
of the College and OIT.
The IT Business Services team provides the follow-
ing service functions:
Strategic and tactical planning
Development and oversight of planning
processes definition and quality control
Project and program plan development
Quality improvement through assessment
activities including benchmarking and process
evaluation
Policy and standards development related to
planning and provisioning of IT business ser-
vices
Budget planning and account management of
OIT’s operational and capital budgets
Research and analyses to guide technology deci-
sion-making
Information technology acquisitions (hardware
and software)
IT contracts and vendor management
Participation and support of local government
partnership activities related to information tech-
nology
Coordinating reviews for technology requests from
the College community
OITB facility management
Top initiatives and Accomplishments FY11:
Initiation and development of a 2-year tactical
plan (FY12-FY14)
Identification of resource requirements in project
plans including budgets and staffing allocations
Structural reductions in the OIT budget and cost
savings
Enhanced diligence in contract and vendor
management
Elimination of staff positions from OIT for
reallocation to other units
Organizational alignment of IT planning and
project management
“There are fundamental business requirements for the Office of Information Technology. Among them is the necessity to assure that investments in IT projects and assets are aligned with the College’s vision, are directed towards achieving the goals of the College, and that we hold ourselves accountable for maximizing the busi-ness value of information technology in all of our efforts.”
Donna Schena, Director of IT Business Services
FY11 ANNUAL REPORT—2
IT Client Support Services supports College computing by promptly resolving problems and delivering value
added support services. The IT Client Support Services team is comprised of the IT Service Desk, Asset Man-
agement, and Production Support which includes Change Management and Problem Management.
“The transition of OIT to a service management structure is the enabler of information technology governance
and generally provides a way for College consumers to efficiently work with OIT to obtain technology products
and services. Through the IT Service Desk, Self-Service, and the upcoming Service Catalog, the Montgomery
College community has a single, well defined service entry point to OIT.”
Kathie La Martina, Manager, IT Client Support Services
IT Client Support Services
Top initiatives and Accomplishments FY11:
The IT Service Desk received 57,000 student, faculty
and staff calls. The IT Service Desk answered
55,000 of these calls with an average call abandon
rate of 4 % and first call resolution rate of 75%.
This is an important accomplishment because the IT
Service Desk provides technical support and first
point of contact for students, faculty and staff with
technology issues or requests.
The Asset Management team processed 1,886 work
orders in FY11 and completed over 20 projects.
The Production Support team processed 816
change requests and conducted 25 Problem Analy-
sis Reviews on incidents affecting college re-
sources and services. Of the 145,586 customer sat-
isfaction surveys distributed in FY11 by the IT Ser-
vice Desk, 1,772 satisfaction surveys were returned
and processed by the Production Support team.
Transitioned to a new Service Desk vendor and
contract, saving the College $1.7 million over the
life of the contract.
The implementation of a new web-based IT Service
Desk Self Service system provided employees with
an additional way to submit work order requests,
get answers to simple technology questions, obtain
status on work orders, and access OIT forms. The
IT Help Desk was renamed the IT Service Desk to
reflect the expanded service offerings. The IT Ser-
vice Desk resolution rate improved from 65% to
75% by providing additional training and feedback
on quality of tickets.
Customer Satisfaction Survey Results
Customer surveys measure the effectiveness of
OIT support services and provide the mechanism
for continuous service improvement. Randomly
selected work order tickets placed with the IT
Service Desk receive customer support surveys.
FY11 ANNUAL REPORT—3
“The campus teams strive to fully support the technology vision and needs of the College community. Our goal
is to assure our efforts are aligned with the College mission of teaching and learning.”
Doug Griffith, Instructional Technology Services Director
Instructional Technology Services (InTech) provides
technology based instructional support for class-
rooms, computer labs, learning centers, programs
and special events on the three academic campuses
and off site credit and non credit locations. InTech
collaborates with faculty, staff and administrators to
plan and implement technology based projects,
installations and initiatives. The Computer Support
Group (CSG) component of Instructional Support
Services provides technical support and desktop
management for administrative computers and
peripherals at the College. CSG provides timely,
effective end-user support to resolve problems and
provide assistance. This team ensures that all admin-
istrative technology in offices and other designated
areas is secure, reliable and performing as required.
The provisioning of classroom technology promotes
flexibility in the teaching environment and supports
alternative delivery methods for instruction. Re-
newal of technology assets assists academic pro-
grams in retaining currency and relevancy for stu-
dents as potential candidates in the job market.
Both new and existing classrooms received technol-
ogy installations or upgrades in FY11. The upgrades
and installations included academic classroom and
lab computers and Smart Instructor Work Stations
(SIWS).
Top Initiatives and Accomplishments FY11:
The Rockville InTech teams, with assistance from
central OIT staff, provided oversight for the instal-
lation of technology equipment in 46 classroom
and laboratory spaces in the Rockville Science
Center. The equipment included newly config-
ured SIWS which can effectively interface with
High Definition electronic microscopes and other
scientific equipment. Installations also included
informational LCD displays and conference room
equipment.
InTech participated in MC’s TechLEAP program by
providing internship opportunities to students in
the program. Two interns were assigned to work
with the InTech team at the WDCE Gaithersburg
offices. The goal of the internship is to provide
qualified students with the experience to prepare
them to complete in today’s job market.
Collegewide InTech staff were instrumental in the
implementation of the Math Re-design project, a
project to create Math emporium environments
for use by developmental students to develop
the skills to effectively move into college level
math course work. A total of 198 new computers
were purchased through OIT for this project and
an additional 72 computers were re-purposed in
reconfigured classrooms.
Instructional Technology Services
In FY11, the Computer Support Group team (CSG)
responded to a total of 7,427 support tickets. Only
75 of those support tickets lapsed into Service
Level Violations. Typical requests included
changes in email accounts or distribution lists,
connecting and configuring printers, assisting with
file transfers, and managing incidents such as mal-
ware and software problems, enterprise system
interface issues and equipment failures.
FY11 ANNUAL REPORT—4
“Instructional Television and Media Production Services has successfully aligned and concentrated resources to
provide increased support to fulfill the growing number of requests from faculty for multi-media learning
objects that supplement in class, distance and blended courses. Examples include video and audio podcasting,
class participation videos, guest presentations, demonstrations and lectures.”
Melissa Pace, Manager, Instructional Television and Media Production Services
Instructional Television & Media Production Services
(ITV) is the educational video and digital media com-
ponent of the Office of Information Technology. ITV
provides award-winning video production services
and high quality instructional and informational
programming. These services extend the reach of the
College’s training and enrichment activities beyond
the campuses and into the homes and businesses of
the Montgomery County community.
Top Initiatives and Accomplishments FY11:
Increased the quantity and breadth of learning
objects and instructional videos in direct support
of the curriculum, giving students greater access
to learning materials 24/7, and the ability to
review at their own pace.
Developed the ITV Student Production Assistant
Handbook to help students learn the skills and
techniques to make them job-ready, and on the
path to developing career goals.
Devoted thousands of staff hours to provide
hands-on professional mentoring of students
enrolled in Television, Radio, Graphic Design,
Communications, Engineering, Computer Science
and Journalism classes. This effort has led to the
students’ successful acceptance at institutions
such as Towson, Temple, and the University of
Maryland, as well as to career opportunities at
Univision, Lockheed Martin, NIH, The Newseum,
and Brazil’s Globo Network.
Expanded promotion of the College to the
County Executive, County Council, and commu-
nity residents through the production of 100+
news packages on MC topics. These news pack-
ages are aired on 6 County cable channels and
online.
Instructional Television & Media Production Services
Positioning MC as a World-Class Institution
ITV supported an unprecedented number of requests to produce video materials to support the College’s
effort to position itself as a world-class institution of higher learning. Programs included ...
live Department of Education interactive Symposium on Community Colleges with Dr. Jill Biden, and ...
the “Majestic Movie Trailer” marketing campaign.
In FY11, ITV received numerous awards for the quality
of its originally produced programs:
the Alliance for Community Media’s Overall Excel-
lence in Educational Access award
seven TELLY Awards for excellence, and
five national COMMUNICATOR Awards for crea-
tive excellence by communication professionals.
FY11 ANNUAL REPORT—5
IT Engineering Services
“We are responsible for the core services that form the foundations on which technology programs operate.
Engineering Services provides the foundational technologies and services to enable the success of all academic
and administrative programs and initiatives at the College. We also assure that these services are safe, secure
and available on a 24x7 basis for the College community. “
John Savage, Chief Technology Officer
IT Engineering Services is focused on the core tech-
nology that supports other programs throughout
Montgomery College. This technology includes net-
work engineering, systems administration, desktop
management, database management, and facilities
planning services.
Top Initiatives and Accomplishments FY11:
Design of Virtual Computing Labs (VCL) to pro-
vide faculty, staff, and students with access to
both computer and software resources at any
time of day and from any location. In the past,
classroom software provisioning was primarily
a manual process, with software licensing being
based on physical workstations. This limited
the number of physical spaces that could sup-
port certain classes, when and where instruc-
tion could be delivered, and how quickly class-
room software could be updated. By establish-
ing a virtual software workspace that can be
accessed anywhere and at any time, the College
will be able to provide students with access to a
large array of software resources using any kind
of computer or mobile device that may be
available. That is the purpose of VCL - to virtu-
alize classrooms and lab areas thereby making
more effective use of valuable technologies,
reducing costs, creating instructional opportu-
nities for our students, and providing greater
flexibility in classroom scheduling and manage-
ment.
First Voice Over IP telephone deployment in
Rockville Science Center, setting the stage for
future telephone system designs which will im-
prove service and reduce costs. This is just one
way in which the ability of IT Engineering Services
to better leverage internal technologies that will
allow for the improved productivity of everyone
here at the College even while working through
difficult budgetary times.
Upgrades to Montgomery College’s Banner appli-
cation and database systems which allow MC to
stay current in its functionality with its Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) systems. This is also a
necessary step in establishing disaster recovery
protocols to ensure business continuity for the
College under adverse conditions.
Planning for the network architecture redesign
because much of the existing equipment has
reached end-of-life, is no longer supported by the
original manufacturers, and lacks the redundancy
needed to ensure consistent services. This redes-
ign will result in the replacement of the old net-
work with state-of-the-art technology, capable of
supporting all current and future initiatives within
the College. The vision is to:
Consolidate all individual college campus
networks into a single system to improve
support and reduce operational costs
through the creation of a “one College”
support model.
Provide wireless network access for the
entire College community on all the cam-
puses.
Establish a Disaster Recovery and Test
Environment that will allow seamless
failover for critical operations while a
production system is updated or re-
paired.
FY11 ANNUAL REPORT—6
Implemented a Security Incident Reporting
System to increase student and employee safety.
The system ensures that the College is able to
meet Federal and State reporting requirements
(CLERY Act) for security incidents.
Deployed Hi-Def Digital IP Camera monitoring
system to provide a more robust security moni-
toring system and improve safety for students
and constituents visiting the Takoma Park/Silver
Spring Campus.
Assisted the Office of Human Resources to deploy
the Taleo Recruiting system to improve MC’s
process for faculty and staff recruiting.
Assisted the Office of Business Services to deploy
TouchNet Cashiering to improve services to MC’s
students during payment process.
Deployed the first phase of EDU mobile web, a
mobile technology to allow students and other
College constituents to access MyMC services via
mobile devices.
Worked with the Office of Facilities to complete
the opening of the Rockville Science Center and
to provide the College with the ability to deliver
state of the art science educational services to
students and the College community.
IT Application Services supports a wide variety of
computer system applications that are internally
managed and remotely hosted. These applications
support services delivered directly to students and
assist staff to manage daily College operations. IT
Application Services continues to seek to identify
“best of breed” applications along with deployment
best practices to minimize operational and support
cost while maximizing services to the College. The IT
Application Services team provides liaison support
to the Office of Facilities to ensure that computer
applications and infrastructure in renovated and
newly constructed facilities are deployed in the most
efficient and effective manner.
Top Initiatives and Accomplishments FY11:
Assisted the Office of Distance Education and
Learning Technologies to deploy improved
learning management system capabilities
through Blackboard 9.1 Learning Management
System migration. This migration involved mov-
ing WebCT users and course content to the
Blackboard Management System application.
Implemented a Book Store Link in Banner to
provide students with the ability to see their
course sections’ book cost and the location of
the campus bookstore.
IT Applications Services
“IT Application Services is responsible for deploying computer applications and services to assure the efficient
delivery of these services to meet the current needs of the College community with a vision to the future and in
a cost effective manner.“
James Luallen, Manager, Information Services
A number of Montgomery College students must take at least one developmental math course to build their basic academic skills. IT Applications assisted the Math department with deployment of MathLabPlus, a new learning approach to assist students in the develop-mental math program. John Hamman, Chair of the Germantown Mathematics Department, credits this application with advancing the basic mathematics skills of at least 2,700 students since the application was deployed.
FY11 ANNUAL REPORT—7
The IT Privacy & Cybersecurity Compliance team
works to assure continued security of the College’s
critical information technology resources, assets,
processes, and networks by proactively increasing
awareness of and compliance with legal, computer
and network standards, contracts, best practices,
professional ethics, and individual and collective
responsibilities.
Top Initiatives and Accomplishments FY11:
Outreach to 28 College departments regarding
their records retention practices. This effort, in
addition to determining updates to the legally
required retention schedule, also opened the
door to determine the status of electronic
records as well as the scanning efforts; both
important cogs in records management.
Deployment of a logging server to provide real
time threat monitoring. This is a substantial
increase in MC’s information security posture.
Following up on FY10’s Payment Card Industry
Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) initiatives, the
IT Privacy & Cybersecurity Compliance team
worked with Admissions & Enrollment Manage-
ment to create employee training materials and
with the Office of Business Services to develop
an E-Commerce Standard to use as an educa-
tional tool. Credit card outreach was completed
to the PAC, English Department, WDCE, and
Auxiliary Services on the proper ways to accept
credit cards. Failure in this area could result in
heavy fines or in the possibility that the College
would not be able to accept credit cards.
Began data surveys with the Office of Human
Resources and the Office of Procurement to
determine which personnel deal with confidential
data and in which form. This will allow the data
owner to be more aware of usage within its area
and further allows IT to help secure data in the
forms necessary to complete necessary College
operations.
IT Privacy & Cybersecurity Compliance Services
“IT Privacy and Cybersecurity Compliance provides services which help the College community secure and pro-tect the Privacy and Security of College data each day. The Technical services, however, can only protect the data so far, so IT Privacy and Cybersecurity Compliance is constantly implementing new ways each day to fos-ter compliance, engage and inform the staff and students, and to make data security a priority.
Patrick Feehan, IT Privacy & Cybersecurity Compliance Director
MC students were invited to
play a computing safety
game, take a survey, and en-
ter to win a netbook. Over
2,000 individuals responded.
Jailynne, a Nursing student at
the Takoma Park/Silver
Spring Campus, was the 2011
lucky winner !
Education and Awareness Activities
for Montgomery College Students
The IT Privacy & Cybersecurity Compliance team also
craft activities to encourage student interest in the
protection of data at Montgomery College..
The team promoted the
2011 Educause Information
Security Awareness Poster
Contest to MC’s students.
Rockville Campus student
Michael Lado’s entry, Take It
From Red, won the Silver
Prize! His entry is now being
used in the College’s campus
awareness campaigns. $1,000 Silver Prize
Safety Quiz Winner
FY11 ANNUAL REPORT—8
During FY11 the Office of Information Technology focused its efforts on service and building upon a culture of
service. Of particular attention, was reorganizing the Office of Information Technology into service tiers,
streamlining responsibilities in order to enhance technology services as well as continuing to enhance the tech-
nology infrastructure of the College to ensure a robust, reliable and secure infrastructure. OIT’s role in achiev-
ing the vision of being a nationally recognized model of education excellence will be realized through the dedi-
cation of the OIT employees to service, collaboration and innovation.
As we plan for the future, we will remain diligent in our efforts in these key areas. The unit will continue to fo-
cus on fiscal accountability through the identification of cost savings, enhanced planning and project manage-
ment processes and the alignment of OIT resources based upon institutional priorities. We will also continue
the important work associated with the core mission of the College. Examples of important initiatives planned
include the creation of virtual computing environments, design of a new network infrastructure to improve
performance and our response capability associated with disasters, upgrades to key systems and technology
platforms, initiate limited, live, real-time streaming of locally produced and eligible acquired, licensed pro-
gramming and enhancement to the IT Service Desk, Self-Service to include a Service Catalog. The future will
provide further opportunities to continue to build on the culture of service initiated in FY11.
OIT Leadership Team
(front row, from left to right)
Mike Russell, VP/CIO
Kathie La Martina, IT Client Support Services
Donna Schena, IT Business Services
Patrick Feehan, Privacy & Cybersecurity Compliance
(back row, from left to right)
Melissa Pace, ITV and Media Production Services
John Savage, Chief Technology Officer
Doug Griffith, Instructional Technology Services
James Luallen, IT Applications Services
Planning for the Future
FY11 ANNUAL REPORT— 9
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