OSU IT

Year in Review 2024

Any great journey’s success depends upon having the right people, resources, leadership and shared vision in place. Oregon State University’s IT Strategic Plan has been about ensuring the OSU community is ready for their next steps as architects of our future. This past year, we ended one strategic plan and began another. We identified and began making progress along five strategic areas integral to the vision set forth in Prosperity Widely Shared. This will guide the next six years of OSU IT advancement. This annual report reflects this transition.  

 Download Annual Report

a look at 2024

Major milestones and accomplishments over the last year.

   

July 2023

  • Released a dashboard for Ally data with filters for 
term and college

  • Successfully migrated UIT-owned systems to Intune instead of MECM for updates delivery

  • Lincoln and Tillamook County Extension Offices were upgraded with a faster bandwidth (500Mbps) and onboarded as part of the main OSU network

  • The Data Team collaborated with the Office of Institutional Diversity to deliver Climate Survey Dashboards intended to increase data-informed decision making in several strategic areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion

  

Video: AMP

AMP will update Oregon State University’s key administrative tools and processes to improve the institution’s ability to adapt and provide user-friendly design for everyone at OSU — bringing together the best of a “brick-and-pixel" university experience.

AMP Website

  

August 2023

  • The Office of the CIO announced a reorganization to support closer alignment with the vision and mission of UIT

  • Advanced Research Computing Services (formerly Digital Research Infrastructure) was announced as a new unit within the Office of the CIO and Mark Keever was hired as the Executive Director

  • Sam Williams was hired as the Executive Director for Business Architecture

  • In collaboration with EOA, DAS, CTL, and Ecampus, the Digital Accessibility Community was formed to help establish a set of guidelines and university policy for digital accessibility

  • AMP Open Forum took place, with more than 100 participants

  

September 2023

  • OSU leadership and the AMP team announced OSU’s partnership with Workday as its new enterprise resource planning solution for HR, Finance and post-award Grant administration
  • The AMP Steering Committee charter and membership was finalized, establishing a clear governance path for the AMP initiative
  • The CISO and Deputy CISO participated in LinkOregon’s statewide CISA Cybersecurity Tabletop, representing OSU amid other representatives from higher education, education service districts, and state and local government
  • The Data Team released OID Equity Data Dashboards Portal
  • The Infrastructure Team finished migrating all OSU student email accounts from Google to the O365 platform
  • The first day of school (September 26) marked over 32,000 devices on the OSU Wi-Fi network, establishing a new record for the most devices on the network at once

  

By the Numbers: Campus Wi-Fi

On September 26, 2024, the first day of the new academic year, 32,000 devices connected to the OSU Wi-Fi network, establishing a new record for most devices connected at once.

 

  

By the Numbers: Kaltura

In October, Kaltura reached one million video and audio hosting entries, a new milestone for OSU.

  

October 2023

  • The Office of Information Security celebrated Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
  • The Administrative Technologies Team released a new, consolidated workflow that allowed faculty to efficiently submit their Position and Tenure applications
  • The Digital Extension & Outreach team facilitated an OSU engagement and tour of the Confederated Tribe of Siletz Indians (CTSI)
  • Linn County Extension expanded connectivity from 10 to 100mb and onboarded into the OSU network
  • Launched pilot project to build a dual delivery Teams classroom setup for equitable teaching and learning experiences across classrooms in two campuses – Cascades and Corvallis. 
  • The Data Team launched the Analyst Access Program, enabling the use of data as a strategic asset by granting analysts in the program access to institutional data products at the data model layer, allowing them to better support decision making within their units
  • The Administrative Technologies Team worked with the Division of Finance & Administration to streamline and simplify how the university views and interacts with student debt to the university, i.e. restricting class sign ups to align with debt accrued
  • The Academic Technologies Team installed and integrated web collaboration technology in Cordley Hall’s Botany & Plant Pathology labs for the College of Science
  • The Network Team worked with Capital Planning to install a network switch and upgrade in the Greenhouse

  

November 2023

  • ​​​​​​​The Administrative Technologies Team supported Ecampus with establishing incremental improvements to Guild’s data integrations and processes
  • The Administrative Technologies Team deployed Concourse, a new JP Morgan service for international banking, to help OSU conduct international banking services (such as currency exchange)
  • The Administrative Technologies Team collaborated with the Division of Finance & Administration to modify expense reports in Concur in response to an audit finding
  • The Enterprise Architecture Team established Group Architecture for the Smart Access initiative, standardizing event management to increase efficiency and security and reduce complexity
  • To help increase the speed of IT and business processes and technology change, while reducing the cost of adding new systems, the  Enterprise Architecture Team delivered an artifact detailing OSU’s core enterprise platforms and technologies, what they are to be used for and what other technologies support them
  • The Enterprise Architecture Team delivered an artifact to the university that details the technical architecture of the new Data Platform, enabling data-informed decision making and increasing the speed of IT and business process changes
  • The Administrative Technologies Team helped make data integration enhancements to Starrez, allowing Cascades Housing Services on the OSU-Cascades campus to continue collecting and processing financial transactions for student residents
  • The Academic Technologies Team installed and integrated web collaboration technology in Burt Hall’s Learning Space for the College of Earth, Ocean, & Atmospheric Sciences, and in Kidder Hall’s Conference Room for the College of Liberal Arts
  • The Data Team and the Office of Information Security collaborated to establish standards and taxonomy around access and roles to determine which roles should be granted which access; this was a major milestone in “freeing the data”

  

December 2023

  • ​​​​​​​The Enterprise Architecture Team delivered an enterprise deprecation list, detailing all the current enterprise applications that have been marked for deprecation and retirement
  • The Administrative Technologies Team made critical upgrades to Hyland OnBase, OSU’s document content management system, ensuring continued stability, reliability, and access to the millions of stored documents
  • The AMP Steering Committee voted to prioritize the budget development tool in Workday, known as Adaptive Planning
  • The Infrastructure Team finished migrating all faculty and staff email accounts from Google to the O365 platform
  • The Administrative Technologies Team migrated all UIT developers from physical equipment to virtual desktops to free up space to be used for AMPThe Academic Technologies Team
  • installed state-of-the-art web and collaboration technology in five collaboration spaces on the JSB second floor

  

January 2024

  • ​​​​​​15 leaders and research representatives from OSU visited the University of Florida to discuss “AI Across the Curriculum” and learn about the startup of the university’s NVIDIA Supercomputer in preparation for OSU’s own incoming Supercomputer
  • AMP partnered with consulting firm Deloitte to launch its Organizational Change Management program; AMP’s OCM framework will be used as a starting point for the OSU OCM framework
  • The AMP guiding and design principles were approved by university leadership
  • To help increase business agility and the speed of IT and business process change, the Enterprise Architecture Team delivered an artifact detailing the high level Azure cloud architecture and its relationship to existing UIT infrastructure
  • The Enterprise Architecture Team established the Enterprise Review Board to help standardize lifecycle change events (such as procurement) for enterprise applications, increasing efficiency and security

  

Video: Technology & the Limits of Possibility

Oregon State University IT continually pushes the limits of what's possible, exploring technology to simplify the user experience across the OSU community, launch digital transformation across the university, and push the bounds of what's possible in research across the state.

  

February 2024

  • ​​​​​​​Conducted Faculty Artificial Intelligence Testify (FAIT), a short-term pilot which achieved a testable AI solution using private data
  • The Digital Extension & Outreach team officially launched the Oregon Broadband Equity Coalition (OBEC)
  • The Enterprise Architecture Team established the Enterprise Application Lifecycle, defining what are enterprise applications and describing the lifecycle of such applications

  

By the Numbers: Beaver Hub

Beaver Hub is OSU's student dashboard for tools and resources that support the OSU experience. Through Beaver Hub, students can connect with advisors, access their class schedule and assignments, track tasks to complete, and easily locate resources across the university

~ 37k

appointments booked

~ 47k

cases resolved

  

March 2024

  • The Data Team implemented Power BI to help stand up the incoming Data Hub 2.0
  • The Technical & Solutions Architecture Team installed network for PRaX, OSU’s new creative arts center
  • The AMP team published a SharePoint communications site for OCM engagement with the OSU community
  • Updated IT Governance framework based on current workflows and decision-making processes, ensuring alignment with PWS and facilitating timely and effective governance across the university

  

By the Numbers: Drupal 10 + Web Accessibility

Over the course of the last year, the university's websites were migrated to Drupal 10, improving OSU's overall web accessibility and compliance with federal standards. 

average ADA compliance before migration:

77%

average ADA compliance after migration:

81%

number of ADA error issues before migration:

~152k

number of ADA error issues after migration:

~37k

  

April 2024

  • Shayne Huddleston, Executive Director for Enterprise Architecture, was appointed interim Chief Data Officer
  • OSU hosted its inaugural AI Week, featuring five days of keynotes from AI and industry leaders such as Microsoft’s Dr. Michael Jabbour and demonstrations of AI in research, and culminating in a talk between OSU leadership and NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang
  • UIT delivered more than 150 Microsoft CoPilot licenses across the university, granting faculty and employees access to CoPilot across all applications in the o365 suite
  • OSU partnered with Microsoft to help pilot Microsoft’s Security CoPilot, using AI to provide key insights, support security operations, and allow for quick automation to better address security issues
  • OSU and UIT hosted the NW/Met Conference for 2024
  • UIT established a strategic partnership with the Carson College of Veterinary Medicine to enhance the college’s IT services
  • Advanced Computing Resources was awarded a National Science Foundation grant of nearly $1 million for two years to provide a regional GPU cluster

  

May 2024

  • The Office of Information Security responded to a severe spate of phishing attacks targeting students by activating phishing resistant multi-factor authentication through Duo
  • AMP launched its Change Champions network
  • The Oregon Agricultural Research Center was integrated into the OSU network and its connectivity was upgraded from 20mb to 1Gb
  • The Data Team delivered the AAU Dashboard which provides views of each of the AAU metrics and allows the President and Provost to identify areas for strategic focus around graduation rates

  

By the Numbers: Service Desk

The Service Desk is the central hub for technology assistance, ensuring seamless access to the tools and resources essential for learning, teaching, and working at Oregon State University. Mainly staffed by students, the Service Desk is focused on delivering exceptional service that keeps the OSU community connected and productive.

tickets processed:

49,314

support calls taken:

31,215

computers configured:

1,411

community members helped:

20,014

  

June 2024

  • The Academic Technologies Team produced pre-recorded videos and live recording for Commencement
  • The Administrative Technologies Team restructured data integrations between INTO-USA and INTO-OSU to more effectively integrate international applications into OSU’s application system
  • In collaboration with the College of Forestry, the Business Architecture Team kicked off phase 1 of the IT Service Management project, which focuses on simplifying and streamlining the OSU IT customer experience
  • The Data Team delivered two key data dashboards: the Institutional Reporting Dashboard Public Layer, secure, public-facing dashboards that offer flexibility for data expansion while protecting the overall data environment; and the Every Student Graduates Dashboard, which helps equip colleges, departments, and programs with actionable data to make informed choices that support student success.
  • The Data Team rolled out Data Hub 2.0, successfully ingesting one year of Banner data into the integration hub and establishing a baseline for integration with Workday
  • In collaboration with the Division of Research & Innovation, the Office of the CIO delivered a hardware inventory and RACI chart of research computing personnel to establish and build on an IT Research Ecosystem Team
  • UIT collaborated with DFA IT to complete the second phase of the Volunteer Management System, standardizing volunteer tracking and monitoring, and enhancing operational efficiency
  • The AMP Steering Committee approved the staff augmentation framework
  • The Enterprise Architecture Team delivered the Enterprise Application Inventory, listing all currently supported enterprise applications
  • The Technical & Solutions Architecture Team installed network for PRaX, OSU’s new creative arts center, and expanded fiber and connectivity to Research Way
  • The Administrative Technologies Team made several extensive upgrades to Banner, including shifting Banner’s application layer to Oracle Kubernetes, allowing technical staff to make upgrades to Banner without taking Banner’s applications out of service

  

Looking forward

Prosperity Widely Shared: The Oregon State Plan (PWS) has established ambitious and focused goals that will guide OSU from 2024 to 2030. The dedication and commitment of the full OSU IT community is the cornerstone of our efforts to align OSU IT’s strategic intent and advance the strategic objectives, mission, and values of the university. The Data and Technology Implementation Action Plan for PWS will reflect the full alignment of enterprise, college, research, and administrative IT unit targets with PWS high level targets and include documented and published metrics to track progress. We stand at a pivotal moment where our past efforts have set the stage for an exciting future, and we are confident that together, we will continue to drive OSU toward new heights of innovation and excellence as the digital architects of OSU’s brick and pixel future.