The Office of Technology Administration Newsletter OCTOBER 2022

The Office of Technology Administration Xavier University of Louisiana Issue: 1 / Volume 6 / October 2022 Covid-19 and IT Supply/Chain Issues Big Tech Mergers and Deals for 2022 Inside this issue: National and Local Technology Staffing Issues are Reshaping  A Message from the Technology Projects and Vice-President 2 Deliverables for the Technology Industry  New Employee 2 1  XULA Migration to the Cloud 3  Banner Upgrade 3  Cyber Security Awareness 4  Update: Secure Door Access 5  Student Freedom Initiative 5  Microsoft 365 6  Classroom Automation 6  Outdoor Wireless Upgrade 7  Helpdesk / Technical Support Updates 7  Web Development Services 8  The Helpdesk 9  WEPA Student Printing 10

From the Office of the Vice President / CIO The economic uncertainty of 2022 doesn’t appear to have slowed merger and acquisition activity within the IT industry. Through the first eight months of the year, IT vendors, solution providers and private equity firms have continued to negotiate acquisition and merger deals with price tags in the hundreds of millions, billions, and even tens of billions of dollars. An acquisition can also give an IT vendor additional manufacturing capacity or help a solution provider establish a foothold in new geographies. Several recently published articles and reports suggest that while the demand for technology will remain high in 2022, skilled IT workers will be hard to find and even more difficult to keep. With the impact of Covid 19, and a local and national shortage of skilled technology workers, at least 73 percent of technology workers reported in a recent survey that they may be looking for a change. However, at XULA, the Office of Technology Administration has continued to fortunately persist and persevere. Mable J. Moore, PhD NEW TECHNOLOGY EMPLOYEE Litus Marshall Director and Banner Projects Manager It is a wonderful opportunity to join such a great institution as Xavier University of Louisiana, with such a rich history in education. I began my journey at Xavier on August 1st, 2022. I have been in the field of Technology for more than 20 years; specializing in application development, database administration, server administration and web management. I truly enjoy solving problems and creating happy customers. On the lighter side, if I were not in IT, I delight in the hobby of photography. I love capturing early morning sunrises. We wouldn’t know…. 1. On Sunday mornings, you can usually find me….In the garden (food forest). I love nature and the ability to guide plants and trees to their full potential. 2. My favorite word in the English language is: Ameliorate - It's a rhythmic and positive word which means making or becoming better. 2

XULA Migration to the Cloud for on Premise Data Center and Critical Applications XULA’s Migration to the Cloud Project began in March 2022 and has made significant progress; however there have been several delays in acquiring Direct Connect faster internet services in the cloud for this project from local Internet providers (3-4 month delay). XULA has changed professional services partners in June 2022 due to a lack of resources from the initial partner (loss of staffing from the external partner). Once we acquired new partnerships, the Cloud project continues to move forward. We finally acquired Direct Connect Services in July 2022 and the anticipated date for completion and implementation of the migration to the cloud project including testing and full implementation will be October 30, 2022. BANNER Upgrade to Migration to the Cloud in Native Mode XULA’S BANNER Cloud Project migration to the cloud has been delayed to November 1, 2022 due to earlier delays in Migration to the Cloud for the data and internet services for the project. The primary goal of the Banner project will be to run all critical applications directly in the cloud to reduce latency, improve efficiencies and reduce the costs of licensing by merging applications and cloud licensing, reducing overall cost of operations and ownership for XULA’s infrastructure costs. 3

Training for Cybersecurity Awareness Month The OTA will again use our Cyber Training System ‘KnowBe4’ to begin Cyber security “Awareness” training for all students, faculty, and staff at XULA. We are hopeful that we will have 100% participation in training this year. Yard signage and posters will be placed throughout the campus to remind our stakeholders of the campaign and training. XULA’s Information Security Officer has created a weekly training planner with topics each week for this year’s campaign in October. 4

Secure Door Access Update and XULA One Card Update The goal of the project was to provide secure external door locks using the new secure XULA ID cards with chips by installing Transact Campus readers to the external door locks for the following buildings; St. Mike’s, St. Katherine Drexel, Living Learning Center, St. Martin dePorres Residence Halls and external door locks for the XULA Library, Convocation Center, Convocation Center Annex, and the Music Building due to the historic nature of this building, the Drexel entrance lock was placed on the vestibule door rather than the street-facing door. Persona provided the door access software for the project. Unfortunately, the equipment for the project was delayed the entire Spring semester and did not arrive until late May. The locks and software were updated during the July 4th weekend and have been installed at the designated buildings. A Policy committee has been established by Executive leadership led by AVP Adicia Waddell of Human Resources. Once administrative policies are approved, the system will be enabled. Student Freedom Initiative Update and Update NIST 171-800 Cyber Security Status XULA/OTA began its partnership with Student Freedom Initiative (SFI) and AVT Technologies / Computex in July of last year to assist OTA in creating a cybersecurity findings report to improve infrastructure, hardware, software, and overall cybersecurity support at Xavier to become Cybersecurity certified according to the NIST-800-171 Cybersecurity standards. OTA worked about six months with Computex, a subsidiary of AVT Technologies until AVT Technologies was purchased by a global Canadian company who opted to NOT renew the HBCU/SFI partnership to assist HBCUs in becoming Cybersecurity certified. XULA received its analysis report from AVT in February 2022, however XULA has been working independently to complete the Cybersecurity certification since March 2022. SFI is starting to introduce new partnerships this fall to HBCUs to assist with cybersecurity certification and completion. Accenture is one company that SFI is working towards a contractual agreement to replace AVT Technologies / Computex. 5

Microsoft 365 Email /Office Updates XULA’s Microsoft 365 Email Updates for Students, Faculty, and Staff were completed in May 2022 after the Spring Commencement. The final platform to migrate were student accounts from the Google Workspace platform to Microsoft 365 Email. The Migration was well publicized online, offline, and in communication meetings with SGA and students. Multi-factor authentication has been enabled system-wide for all Microsoft 365 Accounts to decrease the possibility of compromised accounts. Our existing new account onboarding processes were updated to accommodate the new platform. XULA Classroom Automation and Multi-Media Updates Currently, Xavier has audio-video capability in about 65% of the classrooms on campus. Since November of last year, this project’s goal has been to upgrade aging audio-visual equipment and add new AV technology in rooms with NO teaching technology. Due to C19 delays in equipment and supply chain issues, there have been a few delays. Once this project is complete, every classroom, lab, and teaching space will be equipped with the latest teaching technology. Larger classrooms will be equipped with advanced web conferencing capability allowing faculty to utilize these rooms to teach in-person and remote students simultaneously. The expected date of completion for this project was the summer of 2022. However, severe problems with the supply chain made it impossible to get critical components on time. Out of 41 classrooms initially schedule to be upgraded, only 7 were completed in August and are now in use. Work is now scheduled for December 2022, funded by HEERF. 6

Network Outdoor Wireless Upgrade South Side Campus This wireless project using Cisco’s Wireless Mesh Technology for the South side of the campus was initiated in November of last year. Cisco Ultra-Cisco’s reliable Wireless Mesh Technology is the latest secure way to expand wireless networks. The upgrade allows part of the network backbone to reach the edge quicker with faster deployment. This proven technology enables low latency with monitoring, security, and automation of wireless services for wireless infrastructure for data, video, and audio streaming. Unfortunately, XULA has spent the last 10 months stuck in a supply-chain network backlog. We recently received the wireless network equipment and have started the installation and testing. We anticipate full wireless implementation on the south side of the campus by December 2022. Helpdesk and Technical Support Services Updates Technical Support Update of Windows desktops / laptops from Windows 7 and Windows 8 to more secure Version OTA’s Helpdesk and Technical Support services have spent the last few months swapping out all older versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8 desktops and Laptops for faculty and staff and updated them to the most recent secure version of Windows. This includes both labs in NCF, Labs 270 and 570. AutoCAD for 570 has also been updated. 7

OTA Web Development Services Last year XULA’s OTA and Web Developers redesigned and migrated it’s external website and internal secure portal website to the cloud. Since that time Web development services has added customizations inside both new platforms including; user file updates, (EAB) Education Advisory Board System Widget Integration, Financial-Aid Widget Integration, Calendar Widget Integration, and OTA Web designers have conducted several user trainings for Group and Web page administrators on campus. 8

The IT Helpdesk Create a Helpdesk Ticket! Contact support to make a request, or report a problem… Help OTA Help you, please provide a location for the problem to expedite resolution. Ticket us at the Portal Email us at [email protected] 9

THE OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION’S TOUCHLESS WEPA (Wireless Everywhere, Print Anywhere) STUDENT PRINTING TOUCHLESS SCAN *GET THE Mobile APP KIOSK HERE *Send Your Document to the PRINTING WEPA printer. *Scan your Phone at one of 10 WEPA Kiosk Locations. *Your Document is auto Released for retrieval. On Campus Residential Facilities St. Michaels Hall 1st. Floor 24/7 24/7 St. Martin De Porres Hall 1st. Floor 24/7 24/7 St. Katharine Drexel Hall 1st. Floor The Living Learning Center 1st. Floor University Open Labs RMC Computer Lab - Library Resource Center 1st. Floor Daily 205 - NCF Academic Science Complex 2nd. Floor - 8am-5pm M-F Lobby Floor - Xavier South 1st. Floor - 8am-5pm M-F MAC LAB 103 - St. Joseph Hall 1st. Floor - 8am-5pm M-F LAB 203 - College of Pharmacy 2nd. Floor - 8am-5pm M-F UNIVERSITY CENTER (UC) 1st. Floor - During operational hours WEPA is Xavier’s student printing solution. There are 10 Wepa 10 print stations located throughout campus, including All on-campus Residential Facilities! The Office of Technology Administration is assisting to ensure the safety and health of our students, while also meeting your printing needs. WEPA’s added Touchless feature on the mobile app, manages and directs prints from your phone. The WEPA app is available in the App Store and Google Play. Wepa Instructions STUDENTS! HAVE YOU UTILIZED YOUR $10.00 PRINTING CREDIT?

Support the next generation of eXcellence Click Here XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA About Xavier University of Louisiana Xavier University of Louisiana, founded in 1925 by Saint Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, is the only Catholic and historically Black higher education institution in North America. The ultimate purpose of the University is to contribute to the promotion of a more just and humane society by preparing its students to assume roles of leadership and service in a global society. Xavier ranks first nationally in the number of African-American undergraduates continuing to complete medical school and is leading the nation in bachelor’s degrees granted to African Americans in the biological and biomedical sciences, the physical sciences, and physics, and in graduation of African-Americans who go on to earn doctorates in the sciences and engineering. OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION (OTA) Xavier University of Louisiana 1 Drexel Drive New Orleans, Louisiana 70125 11