NETWORK CORE & FIREWALL UPGRADE
The Network Core and Firewall upgrade began in the summer of 2018. The very large and complex project was completed in June 2022, when the final equipment was moved off the old network core. The project brought 100Gb speed capabilities to the university, migrated more than 10,000 firewall rules, and retired equipment that was approximately 12 years old. The new infrastructure supports research at greater speeds and protects the university’s systems and data. It also provides greater reliability.
MOVED BACKUP NETWORK CORE TO CAMPUS
Not long ago, the division moved the secondary network core, which serves as a backup, to a physical location off-campus. Unfortunately, the offsite location was costly, inconvenient, and had several flaws. To improve service, the division relocated the equipment to the Columbia campus, resulting in automatic redundancy and an annual savings of more than $180K in collocation and circuit fees.
STUDENT ARCHIVING IMPLEMENTED
The Enterprise Applications team implemented automatic archival of student accounts to reduce overhead and system storage. Accounts are disabled two years after a student takes their last class. The disabled accounts are then archived in the event a student returns to the university to take additional courses. This allows returning students to use their original student email address and Network Username.
IMPROVED SIMS AUTOMATION FOR ORDERING AND LICENSING RECOUPMENT
The Enterprise Applications team also worked with the Software Inventory Management System to identify license requirements and license recoupment after a subscription ends. This provides more accurate licensing records for Microsoft products, reducing costs.
SIZE OF CMBD SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED
The Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is a database within ServiceNow database that stores information about the hardware and software components used in an organization's IT services and the relationships between those components. It gives IT providers a way to identify and verify each component of their infrastructure, and to better manage and improve it. Within the CMDB, the support information for each service offering is stored in a Configuration Item (CI). This information includes the service name and description, assignment groups, change management approvers, service roles, and other information directly related to the service. As a business enters more CIs into the system, the CMDB becomes a stronger resource to predict changes within the organization. For example, if an outage occurs, IT can understand through the CI data who or which systems will be affected. Last fiscal year, a variety of devices were added to the USC CMDB, including computers, printers, projectors, Androids, Polycom equipment, servers, digital signs, and more. The record count increased from approximately 200,000 to 250,000 over a three-month period. As more departments and areas are added to the CMBD, we have a clearer picture of how technology products intersect and depend on each other, which can help resolve issues faster and more efficiently.
ANALYTICS RELATED TO STUDENT ACCOUNTS
The Data Analytics area worked with the Provost Office to roll out analytics related to student financials and annual students costs in the CarolinaAnalytics platform. The introduction of analytics related to student financial information will allow for comparison of fees, tuition, and other student debt and see up-to-date comparisons of previous data, trends, and payment compliance information. The roll out also allows for a through look at out-of-pocket costs students pay after financial aid, and averages of aid students receive.