ANNUAL REPORT 2023-2024 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND COMPUTING SERVICES

The ITCS Project Management Office (PMO) continues to streamline project delivery and initiatives at ECU. Working collaboratively with cross-campus departments and talented ITCS technical professionals, the PMO aims to provide project onboarding, guidance, support, coordination, monitoring, and reporting.

2023-2024 Projects Completed by Classification (Run, Grow, Transform)

Developed by Gartner, the Run-Grow-Transform model supports IT planning and investment in IT products and services. Projects classified as “Run” maintain essential day-to-day business functions and capabilities. “Grow” projects enhance or expand existing IT systems in support of business growth. “Transform” projects are often innovative and focus on expansion into new markets or audiences.

ITCS ACCOLADES

Customer Service Champions

The Customer Service Champions Award is given to the team that has gone above and beyond with superb customer service to meet the needs of our campus. This could include customer service ticket metrics, significant events that occurred where the team sprung to action, or stories of going above and beyond in significant ways to aid users on campus.

Pirate Techs was nominated for the Customer Service Champions Award by Eric Houston, Matt Powell, and Nate Saunders:

"The Pirate Techs Technology Support Centers (TSC) Team (Nate Saunders Supervisor, Chris Boone, Gustavo Zuniga, James Sventora, Verna Ghee and their student employees) went above and beyond to deliver service for our ECU campus. They maintained four locations (Austin 103, Laupus Library 1500, Joyner Library 1101, and MCSC 206) including night and weekend coverage and began walk-in support for Brody 1S10. They also volunteered to assist with SAT Proctoring Support, and they are very much the face of ITCS at New Student Orientation. They also supported Move-In, Fall Open House and Pirates Aboard which are so important in providing students with a positive first impression of ECU and ITCS. They also are constantly found with glowing survey results and kudos emails from across the University. This team is a reflection of their leader, and I cannot think of a better team to be the inaugural Customer Service Champions!" - Eric Houston

"This team has been willing and always ready to pitch in and represented ITCS both during work hours and also during weekends. They have been on campus a couple of weekends to help students with account issues and to answer IT questions. Two of the weekend events they participated in this year were Fall Open House and Pirate Aboard. They also help out with Project Kitty Hawk, New Student Orientation, Move-In Support, support for Manage Engine, and the Laupus Library Spring Fling." - Matt Powell

"Darius and the rest of the Pirate Techs - Service Desk team regularly get recognized in the CIO Weekly Updates for their interactions with clients and seem to consistently offer a high level of customer service as they work with campus users to resolve their technical issues. Even with that recognition, the Service Desk can easily be overlooked when it comes to the huge impact that their team has on supporting so many of the projects that pass through ITCS as a whole. Whether it's the latest security protocol that affects the network, the go-live of Manage Engine and the new Self Service Password Reset process, or a frantic student's urgent call for technical assistance during finals week - they hear it all, and do their best to find quick solutions or route support requests efficiently. Though it's easy for me to take for granted all the support that they provide our campus community, I want to take this opportunity to nominate them as the CUSTOMER SERVICE CHAMPIONS!" - Nate Saunders

Darius Smith, Supervisor, Pirate Techs – Service Desk | Client Engagement and Support

• Lamont Black
• Johnny Fleming
• Marilyn Linton
• Robbie Proseus

Nate Saunders, Supervisor, Pirate Techs Technology Support Centers

• Chris Boone
• Verna Ghee
• James Sventora
• Gustavo Zuniga

Innovation Award

The Innovation Award is given to the ITCS team that has incorporated new methods, technologies, tools, or processes to transform the way the team works, or has an innovative impact on ITCS or campus.

The Learning Technologies Implementation and Support team was nominated for the Innovation Award by Matthew Long for the Power Bi ITCS LTIS training Data Dashboard:

"The LTIS dashboard provides on-demand access to critical information related to our team’s activities including training modes, topics, times, and training subjects along with ticket management, LTI requests and TD ticket submissions.. . The dashboard is still expanding with the goal of surfacing trends and giving us data to make decisions regarding training and Canvas / LTI usage. Key Features: On-Demand Insights: The LTIS Data Dashboard provides instant access to critical information, allowing you to make informed decisions swiftly in terms of training topics, times, modes, and subjects. Holistic View: From training metrics to ticket trends, our dashboard paints a comprehensive picture of LTIS operations. Expansion Ahead: The LTIS Data Dashboard isn’t stopping here. We’re committed to continuous improvement, expanding its capabilities to supercharge our support for ECU and its esteemed faculty." - Matthew Long

• Matthew Long
• John Southworth
• Ginny Sconiers
• David Daniels
• Kendell Wooden
• Sarah Manley
• Josh Caroon
• Ruben Villasmil

Project Impact Award

The Project Impact Award is given to project team members that worked on a project with the most significant impact to ECU’s mission, or ITCS goals and objectives.

The ITCS Project Kitty Hawk Integration Team was nominated by Eric Houston. This team was also recognized by ECU for the Centennial Award - Spirit:

"Because through their work and the opportunities provided through the academic program that will provide the course content, hundreds of adult learners will realize personal and professional goals. This population had been largely unserved by ECU, and indeed the entire UNC system, until now. The technologies that the ECUxPKH Integration Team helped bring to bear will help learners access curriculum and navigate the academic experience. Because of the behind the scenes work of our integration team related to processes that students will never see, adult learners, for whom time is remarkably valuable, will be able to apply, enter, engage in high quality online learning, and complete coursework and degrees that will transform their lives and that of their families. They will maneuver more smoothly through processes and face less frustrations because of the work of our integration team in partnership with parallel PKH personnel. This work embodies the spirit of Servire, the spirit of the ECU Creed, and the spirit of our strategic direction Future Focused. Innovation Driven." - Dr. Allen Guidry, Assistant Dean for Planning and Global Engagement - College of Education

• Chris Holcomb
• Dale Owens
• David Moore
• Doug Stanley
• Bert Newman
• Huma Yeduri
• Jonathan Rose
• Scott Tisdale
• Scotty Stroup
• Josh Wagoner
• Kelly Wicks
• Kim Thorburn
• Mary Francis Stalls
• Matt Powell
• Paul Raby
• Petra Rouse
• Ronda Stroup

Garrett Killian was awarded the Thomas W. Ross Visionary Leader Award. This award celebrates a member of the UNC Staff Assembly who has proven to be an exemplary leader and one who inspires a shared vision on their campus and throughout the entire UNC System.

Enterprise Systems and Operations

Enterprise Backup Solution Replacement

Effective and secure backups are an essential part of ITCS’s data protection strategy. In 2023, ITCS replaced the core backup infrastructure servicing enterprise workloads. New backup appliances were deployed in lieu of numerous backup servers and dedicated storage. This was significant as it generated a maintenance cost savings of $58k annually or $290k over 5 years. The solution also consolidated the backup hardware footprint in the data centers and delivered enhanced backup security functionality and ransomware protections to safeguard our backups.

Network Engineering Team

Maintaining Up-to-Date Network Equipment

Each year, ITCS replaces network equipment to maintain the network infrastructure and increase network performance. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were significant hardware shipment delays across most IT industries. As a result, in FY24, Network Services received 181 network switches which was a culmination of 2 ½ years of orders. The Network Engineering and Network Infrastructure teams worked vigilantly over the past year to improve network services within the Data Center and across campus.

Completed this past year:

• Replaced 98 network switches in 56 buildings.
• Improved wireless network capacity by replacing 30 older models with new access points that support up to 5gb bandwidth for increase in wireless network performance.
• Replaced 54 network switches across 3 Data Centers.

Network Services also completed 17 campus construction projects and currently has 45 open.

Web Services

ECU Website Migration to Cloud

This past year, ECU's WordPress websites, which include all official department websites, were moved to a cloud-hosted platform. Moving our websites to the cloud increases resiliency and ability to communicate alerts if our network is impacted by local events. Over 600 sites and 35,000 pages in 6 WordPress multisite containers were moved. One challenge was developing methods to securely send data from our on-prem servers to the cloud and vice versa. Several ITCS teams collaborated to make this successful. Data migration spanned several weeks and was completed with minimal interruption to our site content editors or website visitors.

Project Kitty Hawk

ECU partnered with Project Kitty Hawk (PKH) to attract, enroll, and support adult learners through graduation. The partnership involved ITCS integrating our campus ERP system with PKH, making ECU the first campus to complete this IT integration. The scope of the request expanded to require several data integrations between ECU Banner and PKH information systems, a task that involved close collaboration between ITCS, the PKH implementation team, and various departments across the campus. This successful integration led to the welcoming of our first PKH-affiliated class in the spring 2024 semester, catering to adult learners seeking an online degree.

Online Transfer Student Checklist

In the summer of 2023, the New Technologies Development Group worked with undergraduate admissions to create a new Admitted Student Checklist that was focused on the specific needs of Online Transfer students. This Online Transfer Admitted Student Checklist was created to reduce student confusion for requirements and processes that differed from traditional, on-campus students. For example, on-site Orientation and Housing requirements are removed and online specific instructions for completing common student tasks like paying tuition and purchasing textbooks are provided. The checklist also provides an access point to Canvas as well as a link to the service for printing their Distance Education Student ID Card which grants them access to libraries and computer labs here at ECU and at the other University of North Carolina System campuses. This effort improves the student experience by providing a single point of reference for tracking important next steps for admitted transfer students.

Goal #1: Cultivate an intentional culture of IT security

University Responsibility: We will reward innovation and continuous improvement in processes, technology, business intelligence and infrastructure.

ITCS shall cultivate an intentional culture of IT security within its workforce and its campus partners. This will involve adopting appropriate security requirements as essential elements of IT product and service selection criteria, IT system and application designs, IT service implementations, technology support activities and incident management processes. Appropriate safeguards shall be selected through a combination of risk-based decisions and university compliance obligations.

Goal #2: Enable innovative teaching and learning

University Commitment: Maximize student success

ITCS shall create an academic technology environment that promotes innovation and collaboration with stakeholders that encourages the exploration and adoption of new teaching tools and provides learning technologies that maximize student success by enhancing the learning experience of our students.

Goal #3: Governance

University Responsibility: We will reward innovation and continuous improvement in processes, technology, business intelligence and infrastructure.

Governance within ITCS is our method to ensure active and resourceful use of institutional resources and capabilities to meet the goals of the university. The ITCS governance structure focuses on strategic alignment and prioritization of investments, to assist with ensuring ITCS is working on the most important initiatives for the university and that appropriate resources are allocated.

Goal #4: Operational excellence

University Responsibility: We will reward innovation and continuous improvement in processes, technology, business intelligence and infrastructure.

Continuously improving and ensuring efficient/effective performance of core business functions and enterprise services by providing quality customer service and exceptional service delivery is crucial to accomplishing the ITCS mission. ITCS will implement customer-centric and service-management approaches to continuously improve IT delivery. This will result in cost-effective enterprise solutions that reduce costs, streamline development and provide staff, faculty and students access to excellent information technology and information services.

Goal #5: Staff development

University Responsibility: We will embrace an inclusive university community and are committed to recruiting and retaining faculty and staff with diverse backgrounds.

Facing constant challenges to recruit and retain high-caliber IT professionals whose skills reflect our current technology requirements, ITCS will continue to seek the best-qualified candidates, to promote career goals across the IT workforce and to provide appropriate training to nurture the talent required to deliver tomorrow’s technology in a changing workplace environment.

Goal #6: Strategic sourcing

University Responsibility: We will control costs and diversify revenue streams.

ITCS shall build a foundation for strategic sourcing that will aid in development of a plan to enable IT sourcing processes for choosing or procuring information technology resources from a party outside ITCS. With our fast-changing business environment and evolving business objectives, it has become essential for ITCS to generate a strategic sourcing plan where vendor relationships are collaborative and guarantee the capability to respond to ECU’s changing business needs with the assurance that goods and services are obtained at the lowest cost consistent with university requirements for quality, performance, service and resource availability.

Goal #7: Support for world class research

University Commitment: Lead Regional Transformation.

ITCS shall deliver services and technologies that support the university’s research community initiatives through the creation and implementation of resources for research computing.

Redeveloped Security Awareness Training

ECU policy requires all employees to complete information security awareness training. The university's designated course to meet this biennial requirement, Best Practices in Information Security for Employees, was substantially revised, and published in Cornerstone in Summer 2023. Course content was revised throughout, including new learning content related to spear phishing, remote work best practices, and clean desk policy. The overall design was revamped, with emphasis on meeting ADA compliance.

October Cyber Security Speaker Series: Tradition Restored for 2023

October is traditionally designated as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and as in years past, ECU was an official Cybersecurity Awareness Month Partner. October activities included restoring our tradition of the October Speaker Series, along with highlighting security awareness and education. The Speaker Series included both on-campus sessions held in the Main Campus Student Center, and virtual sessions held through Teams.

Security Awareness and Education for Students

In December, work was completed to develop the self-enroll course Cybersecurity Awareness Fundamentals. Course content includes five modules covering Phishing, Social Engineering, Malware, Password Security, and Clean Desk Policy, and quizzes were developed for each of the modules. The course leverages video content from InfoSec IQ, our phishing simulation platform, and the learning content includes both serious and humorous videos. The mini course, which can be completed in about an hour, debuted this Spring semester as a self-enroll Canvas course, available to faculty, staff, or students. The majority of enrollments have been associated with MIS students in sections of the Intro to Computers course.

Annual Enterprise Information Security Risk Assessment

Each year, the Information Security Office facilitates an annual risk assessment, to identify information-related threats to ECU’s critical business processes, which if realized might impair the University’s capability to fulfill its mission and key​ objectives. Among various sources of evidence, the annual risk assessment for this year focused on risk items highlighted by Presidio in their PEN testing and security assessment. Such third-party security assessments help to identify weaknesses and opportunities for improving the university's cyber defense capabilities.

New Security Policies

Password Standards Policy. A new Password Standards Policy was approved and published in the ITCS Policies and Procedures Manual. The purpose of the policy is to define practices and requirements for the use of strong passwords or passphrases. The new policy requires a minimum of 15 characters for standard user accounts for staff and students, and includes language that a unique, secure password is required for each separate account.

Encryption Standards Policy. A new Encryption Standards Policy was also approved and published in the ITCS Policies and Procedures Manual. The purpose of the new policy is to ensure the appropriate cryptographic controls are applied to protect the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive information across the University. Encryption is used to make data unreadable to unauthorized individuals, and cryptographic controls must meet or exceed regulatory requirements for sensitive information types.

Rapid7 InsightVM – Active Risk Score Implementation

Cyber Security Operations Center (CSOC) facilitated the implementation of Active Risk Score, which helps to prioritize vulnerability remediation by highlighting the risk of vulnerabilities being actively exploited in the wild, and also those most likely to be exploited. Active Risk Score leverages real-time and predictive threat intelligence. CSOC worked in collaboration with Enterprise Data Services/Software Development and Infrastructure to update the mechanism for how weekly vulnerability reports are generated and to reflect CVSS version 3.

Tabletop Exercise

In May 2024, the Information Security Office facilitated the hosting of a Tabletop Exercise presented by Robert Main, Cybersecurity State Coordinator with the Department of Homeland Security/Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The purpose of the exercise was to increase awareness of cyber risks facing ECU, with a focus on incident response and business continuity. Participants in the exercise examined roles, responsibilities, authorities, and capabilities to enhance the university’s readiness posture in response to a potentially significant cyber incident impacting the university.

ECU Cybersecurity Strategic Plan

The Information Security Office facilitated the development of a new cybersecurity strategic plan that helps to set a framework for decision making and risk management to achieve key security objectives under conditions of uncertainty. The plan includes goals & objectives for what we seek to achieve, and strategies & tactics cover how. The strategic plan version 1 document includes input from the ITCS proactive initiatives that developed through the CIO’s IT governance sessions.

Internal Audit SIEM Review

Internal Audit completed the audit engagement, SIEM and IT Incident Detection, part of their FY24 audit plan, to review the university's current SIEM tool(s) and our monitoring, alerting, and detecting of security incidents. The review examined what incident detection practices and alerting are in place, what personnel are responsible for monitoring alerts and responding, and what documented policies and procedures are defined. Internal Audit presented their observations/recommendations in June 2024 and ITCS responded with planned actions for FY25.

FY24 IT Security Assessment and Remediation Engagement

ITCS joined forces with Presidio in a strategic partnership aimed at identifying and enhancing cybersecurity measures for our critical IT systems. Over the course of the year, our dedicated teams have been tirelessly working to address security concerns promptly and effectively. This has ensured that our systems remain robust and resilient against any potential threats that may arise. This initiative is a testament to our unwavering commitment to uphold the highest standards of cybersecurity. It is a reflection of our dedication to safeguarding the integrity of our systems and the data they hold. Looking ahead to FY25, we will continue to proactively monitor our systems and enhance our defenses. Our goal is to ensure the utmost protection of ECU’s valuable assets and sensitive data. We understand the importance of this mission and are committed to its success.

Data Literacy and Education Program

The Data Stewardship Committee's Data Governance Awareness and Education Sub-Committee has created a four-level competency program designed to empower employees to make informed decisions, foster a data-driven culture, effectively interpret and utilize data, enhance data quality and governance, and improve data security. This program includes specific videos and materials that form the core of the training. University faculty and staff (including student employees and affiliates) can participate in this training to master the various competency levels. Learners can choose which levels they need and how far they want to progress in each. The four competency levels are 1) Institutional Data Foundations, 2) Institutional Data Regulations, 3) Institutional Data Discovery & Evaluation, and 4) Institutional Data Storytelling.

The first competency level is set to launch this Fall.

Institutional Data and AI Guidelines

A working group was established to review the use of institutional data with generative AI systems and develop University guidelines. These guidelines were subsequently approved by the Data Governance Steering Committee, Data Stewardship Committee, and the Chief Information Officer. The use of generative AI systems is permitted with institutional data classified as Level 1 – Public. For the use of generative AI systems with institutional data not classified as Level 1 – Public, refer to the current guidelines on the University’s Data Governance website.

ITCS staff consistently enhance their skills and expertise through various professional development activities annually. Over the past year, several team members have achieved or renewed certifications and completed degree programs:

Client Engagement and Support

Darius Smith, Graduated with a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Management Information Systems (MIS), Emerging Leaders Certification for East Carolina University

Gustavo Zuniga, CCNA - Cisco Certified Network Associate, Pirates Aboard Volunteer, Technical Lead Volunteer - Eastern North Carolina Digital Equity Grant, SAT Proctor Volunteer

James Sventora, Completing Associate of Applied Science: Web Developer degree, Microsoft PL100 and PL400 - Power Platform App Maker Associate and Power Platform Developer Associate, Pirates Aboard Volunteer, SAT Proctor Volunteer

Nate Saunders, Pirate Aboard Leader, Student Employee Supervisor of the Year Nominee

Nik Fishel, Innovation Early College High School – Back to School Tech Session Volunteer

Curtis Powell III, Elected to Staff Senate

Keith Bogner, Automating Administration with Powershell, Microsoft 365 Endpoint Administration, Microsoft Endpoint Manager Advanced Concepts and Cloud Services, Microsoft Azure Administrator: Entra ID Groups and Conditional Access, Microsoft Azure Administrator: Azure ad user and group management, Microsoft implement endpoint security in Microsoft Intune, Microsoft understanding app management using Microsoft Intune, Managing Modern Desktop: Intune Devices Enrollment.

Robert Alves, Completed 527 hours of College/Professional Development, Pursuing BA in Applied Psychology with target date of Spring of ’26, Azure Understanding the Big Picture, Becoming an Impactful and Influential Leader, Leading When You’re Not in Charge, Customer Service in the Field, Customer Experience (CX) Foundations, Apple Courses on Customer Relations and Safety, and Lithium Battery Handling

Shelton Davis, New Managers Institute, CompTIA Security +

Dexter Ray, Nominated for ECU Outstanding Staff Award

Dearl Roughton, Extron Control Professional Medialink, Extron Control Specialist, Extron Control Professional

Steven Daughtry, CTS Certification

Chris Motteler, Axis Networking Video Recertification, 2024 Outstanding Staff Award Nomination

Gary Wallace, Ocularis Recertification

David Creech, Administering SCCM, Configuring and Operating Azure Virtual Desktop, Microsoft 365 Endpoint Administrator, Automating Administration with PowerShell, Windows PowerShell Scripting and Toolmaking

Kim Stevenson, Hypothes.is Academy: Social Annotation 101

Allen Dennis, ITCS PMO Project Management Certification

Jeremy Smith, QSC, Q-Sys Level 1

Ryan Kerry, Microsoft 365 Endpoint Administrator, MS Azure Administrator: Entra ID Groups and Conditional Access, Discovering CoPilot for Windows 11, Managing Modern Desktops Conditional Access, Managing Identity and Access Control, Managing Identity Using MS Entra ID

Brian Russell, Automating Administration with PowerShell

Julie Evans, Nominated for ECU Outstanding Staff Award

Kristen Byrum, Served on the ECU Strategic Planning Committee as special assistance to Dr. Sharon Paynter

Petra Rouse, Completed Supervisor Institute

Stacy Muse, Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (APPQMR) Certification, Quality Matters Peer Reviewer Certification, ITCS PMO Project Management Certification, Scrum: The Basics

David Daniel, ITCS PMO Project Management Certification

Enterprise Data Services

Huma Yeduri, awarded ASQ Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) certification

Madison Rose completed her Masters of Science in Data Science degree from East Carolina University

Enterprise Information Systems

Doug Stanley, successfully defended his dissertation on, Does Deviating from Agile Principles Have an Impact on Project Success In North Carolina Higher Education Institutions?, and earned a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in Information Systems degree from Liberty University.

Enterprise Systems and Operations

Evan Phelps earned his Bachelor of Science in Information & Cybersecurity Technology, with a concentration in Networking in May 2024.

Abe Singletary, Josh Armstrong, Phillip Raynor , Richie Proctor, Mark Martin, Rick Lupton, Al Boswell, Greg Daniels, Nic Pantelidis, Jonathan Rose, completed the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals course

Banner/ODS Cloud Migration

Migrating enterprise resource planning systems to the cloud offers significant advantages in scalability, cost efficiency, security, disaster recovery, integration, and access to modern technologies. These benefits will help ECU improve operational efficiency, enhance security, and better serve our students and staff.

This year, ITCS initiated a multi-year project to migrate our current Banner and ODS infrastructure to the cloud. This migration also includes DegreeWorks and the associated application servers for Banner and Banner-dependent systems such as PiratePort, ecuBIC, and Evisions.