Dear Vanderbilt IT Team,

Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed spending time with friends and family over the holidays and are revitalized for the new calendar year. As we progress in our transition to distinct university and medical center IT teams, I encourage each of you to continue to serve our customers with the highest dedication and enthusiasm.

This edition of the All Hands newsletter includes a new section called “Customer Kudos.” This section showcases team members who have garnered unsolicited praise from customers. If you have positive customer feedback to share, please send to Leslie Buchanan.

Some of you may begin receiving more information about office moves in the coming months. Because of the many interconnected parts, it is crucial that you do not change offices without explicit permission from Mondrivia James. Thank you for your patience during this process as we better align our teams with our initiatives.

On a similar note, it is very important that you continue working on assigned projects until your current and future managers tell you otherwise.

If you have any suggestions or questions for me, please stop by my office hours on Wednesday, Jan. 27, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at 3401 West End, Ste. 600 Rm. 627.

I look forward to seeing all that we will accomplish this year!

Sincerely,
John

OUT AND ABOUT: CUSTOMER-FACING UPDATES

Second-annual faculty and staff satisfaction survey now available

During the month of January, Vanderbilt IT encourages you to make university faculty and staff aware of the 2016 satisfaction survey. Until Jan. 28, faculty and staff will be able to provide their feedback on IT service for the chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card.

The “Did You Know?” slide on the IT homepage will link to the MyVU article explaining the survey that includes the submission form.

Upon receiving feedback from the inaugural faculty and staff survey in 2015, VUIT created a customer service mentality training for all IT team members to enhance service levels, introduced the “Did You Know?” campaign to more effectively communicate key offerings to customers, and upgraded technologies in classrooms.

Contact: Kara Sundar, kara.sundar@vanderbilt.edu; Leslie Schichtel Buchanan, leslie.buchanan@vanderbilt.edu

Voice and Data team install, test phone bank for children’s hospital radiothon

The Voice and Data team oversaw the installation and testing of the phone bank prior to the River of Hope Radiothon, which is broadcasted live each year from the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. The radiothon raised more than $100,000 to help financially support children and families at the children’s hospital.

Contact: Phyllis Gray, phyllis.a.gray@vanderbilt.edu

Distributed Technology Services provides support for humanities final project

Multiple teams within Distributed Technology Services worked together on short notice to fulfill a request to set up and support 25 widescreen monitors and multiple laptops for the Humanities 161 final project. This type of final project was the first of its kind for this class and involved students producing multimedia presentations and displaying their work during a digital whiteboard session in which members of the Vanderbilt community were invited to participate.

Contact: BC Hatchett, bc.hatchett@vanderbilt.edu

New storage array leveraged to meet high-performance storage needs of VIDL

The Vanderbilt Institute for Digital Learning (VIDL) approached Vanderbilt IT with a request to help them select and purchase a new storage array. VIDL was seeking to purchase 20 TB of high-speed, networked storage that would deliver the performance necessary to support simultaneous HD video editors using Adobe Premiere and Apple Final Cut, while also protecting the data at a variety of levels. After consulting with VIDL, DTS worked with VUIT Storage to determine which existing, centralized solutions would meet or exceed the defined requirements.

The new EMC Isilon at the Hill Center meets the requirements of the customer and, as a division of Academic Affairs, VIDL was eligible to leverage this storage. Now that VIDL is online with the necessary storage and growth space, the organization is migrating all existing data from consumer-grade local storage devices.

Contact: Jason Bradley, jason.bradley@vanderbilt.edu

Voice and Data team create backup solution during Notify Medical Doctor system outage

During a four-hour outage to the new Notify Medical Doctor (Notify MD) system, the Voice and Data team created new non-direct inward dialing (DID) phone extensions to replace all the current Automatic Call Distributor pilot numbers for pediatrics. The team supplied the extensions to the customer within eight hours so that all would function correctly by the next business day.

Contact: Phyllis Gray, phyllis.a.gray@vanderbilt.edu

Wireless network improvements deployed to 3401 West End Ave. building

Network Services completed the lifecycle and made improvements to the wireless networks in 3401 West End. This project was a comprehensive redesign that upgraded more than 50 access points.

Contact: Steve Hansen, steven.k.hansen@vanderbilt.edu

THE INSIDE SCOOP

VUMC Finance IT transformation program complete

In August 2014, VUMC Finance sought an IT transformation on the heels of SAN drive failures. VUIT Network Security Operations investigated this incident and performed a security assessment that identified seven high-risk issues:

– Lack of desktop support
– Inconsistent life-cycle, patching, and backup processes of SQL databases, virtual machines, and SAN
– Non-standard configurations and third-party plug-ins on departmental SharePoint site caused the environment to be improperly patched and left without upgrades
– Inconsistent life-cycle, patching, and backup processes of servers
– Inconsistent desktop patching
– Insecure data transport for automation
– Unsupported Window XP Machines (Qty: 20)

Since this IT transformation, all high-risk issues were addressed and resolved over the past 16 months. This project was a collaborative effort on the parts of VUIT PMO, VUIT Security Operations, VUIT Hosting Services, VUIT Core Services, HealthIT Revenue Cycle Portfolio, HealthIT Core Medipac, VMG Physician Billing Services, Charge Integrity, IT Service Management, and VUMC Finance.

Contact: Cathy Crimi, catherine.a.crimi@vanderbilt.edu

Single sign-on consolidation to increase service efficiency

Enterprise IT Service Delivery has begun consolidating single sign-on across the university and medical center. This consolidation effort will reduce the number of methods organizations use for single sign-on, allowing the service to be more efficiently managed and to integrate applications faster.

In the first quarter of the 2016 calendar year, the team will migrate Shibboleth applications as part of the first phase.

Contact: Brad Imotichey, brad.imotichey@vanderbilt.edu

Network Services replaced crucial router with no downtime or impact to voice services

Network Services upgraded redundant and geo-diverse routers that support core enterprise voice over IP (VoIP) services to the latest hardware and software versions. These routers support major VoIP services, including all 21 telephone systems in the network, voicemail and caller’s menu service, call center hold messaging service, gateway service for Lync enterprise voice users, E911 gateways, and SIP Trunking service.

The team completed the work through a series of changes that did not cause downtime or impact to dependent services.

Contact: Marcus Newman, marcus.newman@vanderbilt.edu

Hosting Services team successfully executes disaster recovery plan

On Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015, the Unix and Storage teams partnered with Health IT to successfully execute the disaster recovery plan for the EPIC patient care system. During a planned maintenance window early Sunday morning, the IBM AIX server did not reboot successfully due to a hardware component failure.  The decision was made to immediately activate the disaster recovery plan, which entailed failing over the EPIC application to the vXchnge secondary data center so that the walk-in clinics could operate the next morning. The EPIC application was online all day Sunday, giving the vendor ample time to diagnose and repair the server. After the failed component was replaced late that afternoon, the teams failed back to the primary site Sunday evening at 11:40 p.m. The failover and failback process took less than 45 minutes to execute.

Because of the timing of the outage and the successful disaster recovery plan execution on both the failover and the failback, clinic business operations were not impacted during the maintenance window defined in the service level agreement.

Contact: Kyle England, kyle.england@vanderbilt.edu

Network Security migrates facilities equipment to secure environment

The Network Security team migrated the facilities network, which is comprised of several hundred infrastructure management and power distribution systems, to behind the Hill Data Center firewall cluster. This will provide enhanced infrastructure-level network security and visibility for immediate response to security issues.

Contact: VUIT Network Security, VUIT.Network.Security@vanderbilt.edu

Upgrade of enterprise SSL VPN environment complete

In November, the Network Security team completed the upgrade of the enterprise SSL virtual private network (VPN) environment. This project addressed multiple system-based issues that resulted in unplanned fail-overs and system process restarts. Additionally, the upgrade provides stability for back-end processes and improves the efficiency of the fail-over process.

Contact: VUIT Network Security, VUIT.Network.Security@vanderbilt.edu

Configuration of CS2.0 test network to support transition to updated health records system

A test network was deployed behind the Vanderbilt University Hospital firewall cluster for the setup of the CS2.0 environment. The CS2.0 environment will support development and pre-deployment efforts required to transition to the next generation of Electronic Health Records (EHR) System for VUMC.

Contact: VUIT Network Security, VUIT.Network.Security@vanderbilt.edu

CUSTOMER KUDOS

Kudos to Michael Danko, senior IT consultant, and Jeremie Smith, senior relationship manager

“Please know if there were an Academy Awards Ceremony… you would win for Best Production… I am simply tremendously grateful for all the work you have both done on this one.”

Kudos to Mike Krusbe, director of Network Services, and the Network Services team

“I wanted to mention some more outstanding service from the network team. It says a great deal about the professionalism and commitment of Mike Krusbe and the team to step in and help when the problem was not really theirs.”

Kudos to Todd Dodson, senior technical support specialist with Distributed Technology Services

“Knowing that Todd is knowledgeable and very responsive to email gives me certainty that any problem will be resolved efficiently and very soon… I have contacted IT in other institutions that I have visited for different periods of time and I have found NO ONE like Todd.”

Kudos to Victoria Zhislin, senior database administrator with Hosting Services

“Thank you for the outstanding work you have done with the ORMIS OR Billing Project… We are now reaching an all-time record high for the amount of Technical Charges ORMIS is producing on a daily basis.”

UPDATE FROM HUMAN RESOURCES

VUIT Referral Eligible Positions

Application Developer, 1509254
Application Developer, 1512388

VUIT New Hires

Phani Kumar Adi
Mark Hammock
Bharat Komatireddy
Mark Bloss
Todd Newsome
Richard Hawk
Jeannette Wolff
Donte Taylor
Ciara Henderson
Jorge Lopez
Pramoda Donkena
Christina Allison

VUIT Transfers

Sean Hansbrough

VUIT Departures

None

VUIT Job Postings

Sr Network Security Analyst, 1510182
Sr Security Analyst, 1510183
Sr Storage Administrator, 1510187
Sr IT Consultant, 1510190
Sr IT Consultant, 1510829
Sr IT Consultant, 1510830
Sr Application Developer, 1512581
Database Administrator, 1505779
Sr Technical Support Spec, 1512199
Application Developer, 1512388
Sr Technical Support Spec, 1512459

VUMC IT New Hires

Howard Moloy
Wilbur Longwisch
William Schwandt
Stephen Hodges
Pradeep Tragirisa
Robin Sykes Wallace
Kevin King

VUMC IT Transfers

Charlene Komers
Sapna Misra (Internal Transfer)
Greg Marlin (Internal Transfer)
Kelvin Parker (Internal Transfer)
William Bridges (Internal Transfer)

VUMC IT Departures

None

VUMC IT Job Postings

Sr Collaboration Administrator, 1512099
Network Specialist,1513582
Supervisor Computer Operations, 1513581
Assoc Relationship Manager, 1513030
Mgr Computer Operations, 1510145
Mgr Purchasing Contracts, 1510193
Prin IT Consultant, 1513072
Prin IT Consultant, 1512572
Mgr. Application Server Admin, 1510147
Application Server Admin, 1510659
Storage Admin, 1510837
Sr. Collaboration Administrator, 1510838
Computer Facilities Analyst, 1510842
Quality Assurance Analyst, 1510843
Network Security Analyst, 1510844
System Analyst, 1510845
Accounting Assistance IV, 1510848
Admin Asst/Purchasing, 1510849
IT Consultant, 1511106
Software Sourcing Specialist, 1511230

Contact: Laraine Caldwell, laraine.caldwell@vanderbilt.edu; Marcell Troupe, marcell.troupe@vanderbilt.edu

LEARN SOMETHING NEW

Complimentary Gartner Webinars: January

Each month, Gartner offers free webinars that are open to everyone.  Below are the options scheduled for January.  Please feel free to attend as many as your time allows.  If you have any questions or have trouble accessing the training session, please email gartnerwebinars@gartner.com.

January 6, 2015
Internet of Things: The Foundation of the Digital Business

January 12, 2015

CES 2016 Delights Consumers With New Forms of Personal Technologies

January 13, 2015

The Top 10 Strategic Technologies for the Customer Experience

January 14, 2015

Smarter Teams: Where People and Smart Machines Collaborate
Legacy and Modern Web and Browser Strategies

January 18, 2015
Should Midmarket ERP Leaders Switch to Third-Party Support?

January 19, 2015

How Cloud Is Revolutionizing Modern Application Development
IT Spending Forecast, 4Q15 Update: What Will Make Headlines in 2016?

January 20, 2015
Mobile Maturity: Assess Your Current State and Plan Investments

January 21, 2015
CIOs 2016 New Year’s Resolutions
Building Successful Business Metrics for Technology Risk
Windows 10 – Opportunities and Risks for Midsize Enterprises

January 25, 2015
Connecting to Digital Business Through Trust, Security and Ethics

January 26, 2015
Is “Nationalism” Impacting IT Vendor Selection in Emerging Markets?

January 27, 2015
Track-and-Trace and Serialization Trends for Life Sciences Companies
Getting Ahead of Customer Demand With Bimodal IT

January 28, 2015
Developing Security Monitoring Use Cases: How to Do It Right

On-Demand Video—Watch Anytime, Anywhere
The Journey to a Best-in-Class, Enterprise-Defined Data Center Starts Now
Implementing Bimodal IT to Deliver Successful Digital Business Outcomes
Endpoint Scenario: Ready or Not, You Must Deal With the Evolving Endpoint World
Securing the Next-Generation Data Center With Software-Defined Security
The Five-Year Storage Scenario: Storage 2020 – A Bimodal Vision