May 19, 2013

Posts Comments

New Campus Live Cam: Union Food Court Area

March 29, 2011 by

Snapshot of Live Cam lunchtime traffic in the Union Food Court

The Suggestion

A student’s recent suggestion resulted in the installation of a Campus Live Cam in the Union Food Court. “Gus” Maples, Freshman Public Policy Leadership major from Lucedale, MS, says, “I think that a Live Cam in front of the Student Union Food Court would be a handy tool for students who are in a rush.  You don’t want to show up only to realize that you don’t have time to eat before your next class or appointment.”  Jonathan Parker, Resident Manager of Ole Miss Dining Services, states, “On a typical day this past fall, we served up to 5,000 customers in the Union Food Court area.”  Parker adds, “We think the Live Cam is a great addition to allow students to view the Food Court during the day.”

On March 7, 2011, the new Union Food Court Live Cam began broadcasting on the University’s Web site.  “Within 2 hours, we had already received positive, unsolicited feedback from a viewer,” states Webmaster Robby Seitz.

The Installation

Before the decision was made to add the camera, Office of Information Technology (IT) staff researched, evaluated, and collaborated with parties in the responsible area to discuss the possibility, necessity, and feasibility of installing camera equipment.  “There are many factors to consider before initiating the installation of Campus Live Cams,” explains Johnny Price, Classroom Technology Specialist.  “Security, necessity, point of view, network connectivity, power, technician accessibility, interior/exterior placement, and responsible party approval are just to name a few.”

Live Cam Views

To see the Union Food Court Live Cam view as well as other targeted campus views via computer or mobile device, visit Campus Live Cams.  The views are refreshed once every second.

Contact Us

IT encourages the UM community to offer input and suggestions regarding the expansion of technology.  Visit the Comment/Suggestions/Assistance area to offer comments, share ideas, or request assistance.  Who knows?  Your idea may be chosen for a future project.

Filed Under: Mobile

Quality Testing Yields Smooth Upgrades

March 14, 2011 by

Imagine This…

A major upgrade is underway in the University’s SAP landscape and the dates of the production system upgrade are rapidly approaching.  As part of the upgrade process, functional users are asked to test their areas of responsibility in the Sandbox and QAS beforehand and report any issues that are discovered using the SAP Issues application in myOleMiss.  However, some users elect to test only a few areas.

Fast forward to the end of April.  The upgrade is now complete in the production SAP system and a functional user begins a process to change a student’s program of study.  Unfortunately, this particular area is not thoroughly tested.  As a result, it takes approximately one day for IT to research the issue, determine the underlying cause (missing authorizations as a result of the upgrade), add the necessary authorizations, and re-test the issue.   How could this scenario have been prevented?

Test Each Section Thoroughly (TEST)

Functional acceptance testing is an essential process of the application development lifecycle that needs to take place before rolling out any new application or updated components of an existing application.  This testing takes on a larger, more important role with SAP upgrades.  Thorough acceptance testing results in an overall smoother upgrade process.  The Office of Information Technology (IT) is already preparing for a major SAP upgrade that will take place on Easter weekend.  See the TECHNews article, Major Upgrade Easter Weekend: SAP Production & myOleMiss Unavailable, April 21-25, 2011.

“From the perspective of the support team, there are two aspects to testing,” stated Laurie Richlovsky, SAP Training Coordinator.  “First is making sure that all the applications are functioning properly. The second is making sure that end user authorizations have not been impacted by the changes – that people who need to use certain transactions still have all of the underlying authorizations to make the transactions work.  If either one of these has not been tested, the entire IT team, indeed, the entire campus, could be dealing with emergencies when the changes are promoted to production.”

Testing Experiences

Jack Garner, Bursar Emeritus, has been instrumental in the acceptance testing process for SAP upgrades as well as SAP support packages, which are typically applied quarterly:

“During one major upgrade,  I recall testing our Cash Desk process whereas our tellers post payments and print receipts for the payment.  In many test case scenarios, the system would not print a receipt.  In those cases where it did print one, the receipt was incorrect.  This was a show stopper for the Bursar’s Office.  With IT’s assistance, an OSS note was filed with SAP, and the problem was resolved before the go-live date.”

“Another area that we have to test when an enhancement pack is applied is our fee calculation process.  This area is ably tested by Deborah Smith, Senior Accountant.   If we are unable to calculate and post fees to student accounts, we cannot generate the tuition revenue that is vital to the University’s operation.”

Regina Johnson, Assistant Director of Human Resources, is responsible for coordinating all testing efforts within Human Resources, including Payroll:

“All HR authorizations and functions (i.e. records, benefits, compensation, payroll, reporting) are thoroughly tested before patches or major upgrades are applied in production,” stated Regina.  “This is a total team effort that involves the majority of the staff within the Department of Human Resources.”

“In regard to payroll processes, a time administrator’s role is to review, correct and approve an employee’s time sheet.  Time administrators across the entire campus routinely make adjustments to time entries for a number of reasons.  While testing in QAS, HR testers made corrections to a prior pay period.  Instead of the corrections overriding the previously entered time, the system added these hours to the time sheet.  If this was not caught during the testing process, this would have caused an overpayment.   With the assistance of IT, we were able to determine the problem, and after analyzing the problem and determining a solution, we underwent further testing prior to moving the correction to production.”

Testing Tips

Involve additional people from your area in your acceptance testing process.  Those who work with particular processes on a daily basis generally are the best testers.

Test all of your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly processes.  In prior upgrades, some issues that were overlooked during the testing phase of the upgrade surfaced in processes that were executed only once or twice a year.

Report found issues immediately using the SAP Upgrade Issues application in myOleMiss.  To do this, login to myOleMiss.  => Choose the Employee tab. => Then, the SAP tab => Click SAP Upgrade Issues from the left “Detailed Navigation” menu.  => Click Submit New Issue located in the top right corner of the screen.  => Fill in required and optional fields, attach documents, and click the submit button.  Your form will be quickly routed to a member of the IT technical team to begin analysis and resolution of the issue.

Testing – Essential

Testing is important when  introducing new functionality or performing a major upgrade. By making a personal commitment to testing your areas of responsibility, you can help the University achieve a smooth and successful upgrade.  For questions or further assistance, please contact sap@olemiss.edu or the IT Helpdesk at (662)915-5222.

Filed Under: Systems Maintenance

Wireless Printing for Students – New!

March 3, 2011 by

Students -   Do you need to print your documents from your personal computer or laptop to a centralized location on campus?  If yes, you now have the convenience of wireless printing.  The Office of Information Technology (IT) is making this new service available in response to specific requests from students.

Taylor McGraw, newly elected ASB President

The Idea

Taylor McGraw, newly elected Associated Student Body (ASB) President, along with ASB committee member, Christa Creasy, met with IT staff members earlier this year to discuss possibilities of making wireless printing available to students.   This discussion took place while Taylor was chairman of the Student Affairs Committee in the ASB Senate.  “Most students currently have to print from the desktop computers in the library or Weir Hall,   which means they have to (a) get to one of those locations (b) find an open computer and (c) transfer their document to the desktop before it can be printed,” explained Taylor.   “It is a hassle around exam time.  The ability to print wirelessly will allow students to print straight from their laptops anywhere on campus and pick up papers at their convenience.”

Printer Location & Costs

For now, there will be three participating printers all of which are located in the main student lab of the Galtney Center for Academic Computing (Weir 114).  As with all lab printing, there’s a cost of $.10 per page for black and white and $1 per page for color.  You must have funds in your   Ole Miss Express account to pick up your printouts.   To get your documents, you will swipe your Ole Miss ID card, which is the the same method currently being used to pay for print jobs within the IT Labs.

Ron Savell,  Manager of Technology Services (IT), has been instrumental in setting up the wireless printing service. “I feel that once everyone becomes familiar with the availability of this service, it could definitely be an advantage for the students,” noted Savell.   “My goal is to get it working well in Weir Hall first and work out any bugs before deploying it in other locations on campus.”

Making a Difference

McGraw believes that any student can make a difference, but you just have to ask for what you want.   “This will be a huge benefit to students,” stated McGraw.  ”This is an example of a group of students who noticed a problem and talked to the right administrators about a solution.  As ASB President, that’s what I seek to do in areas around campus, but I want to make sure students know that they don’t need to be in the ASB to make a difference. If a regular student had gone to IT with the same suggestion, I think we would have seen the same result.  I am really looking forward to seeing the system get going on a broad scale. ”

Getting Started

To get started with wireless printing, visit the IT Labs home page and find the Remote Printing block located near the center of the page. => Select ”Download” to install the software and printers onto your computer. => Follow the directions listed on the page.

Keeping it Going/ Welcoming Input

If the Weir Hall pilot goes well, IT will explore expanding the wireless printing service to additional locations around campus.  For assistance, please contact the IT Labs at (662) 915-7004 or itlabs@olemiss.edu, 114 Weir Hall.

Filed Under: IT Labs, Printing Tagged With:

Heads Up on Midterm Grading Changes

March 2, 2011 by

The window to submit midterm grades begins Monday, March 7, at 8 am and continues through Monday, March 14, at 6 pm. Instructors, advisors, and academic administrators will notice several changes to this year’s midterm grading process.

New Grade Form Layout

New Grade Form Layout ~ Grading Symbols

The Web form to submit grades has been redesigned to prepare for Plus / Minus grading. Most noticeable at first glance is that the form includes the ability to show or hide student photographs. The grade options have been reorganized with the grade symbol over the radio button to reduce horizontal space required when plus/minus grade options are added. The new layout should provide a clearer association between the grading symbol and the radio button.

New Optional Note on Midterm Grades

When instructors enter midterm grades using either the grade form or the Excel upload, they now have the capability of including an optional note to give the student additional feedback. The note will be shown to the student alongside the midterm grade and absences and will also be available to advisors. This is a small step toward more communication between instructors, advisors, and support units to help with retention.

Text, Email and Ole Miss Today Alerts

New students may not realize that we have a midterm grading process or how to view their midterm grades. To help with this issue, students will now receive a text message (if they have opted in), an email message, and a message in Ole Miss Today when their first midterm grade is submitted as complete. The message includes instructions for how to view midterm grades in myOleMiss. Similarly, students with two or more D or F midterm grades will receive an “acknowledgment required” message in Ole Miss Today telling them to contact their advisors.

Mobile View of Midterm Grades

Ole Miss Mobile

Previous TECHNews articles have described efforts to offer mobile versions of certain myOleMiss services. This work is ongoing with a major new addition being the ability to view midterm grades from a smartphone.

Enhancements to Midterm Grading Advisor Alerts

Midterm Grading Advisor Alerts were added in Fall 2010. This is a customized report delivered in Ole Miss Today that shows students with two or more D or F midterm grades. The aim is to identify students who are struggling academically and connect them with resources to get help. Based on feedback from advisors, two new features have been added: (1) student photographs and (2) a way to contact students directly from the report. Also, the new optional note described above will be included. Academic administrators will receive a summary report that includes key figures related to midterm grading such as the percentage of students in the Freshman Cohort with two or more D or F midterm grades.

Need Your Ideas!

Please contact the Faculty Technology Development Center (ftdc@olemiss.edu; 662-915-7918) with any questions or suggestions. We very much want to hear from you in order to know whether to continue these new features in future semesters.

Filed Under: Grading Tagged With: