Microsoft has recently released the latest update to the Office suite. Office 2019 offers a few new features including new motion graphics, editing tools, formulas, and more. Continue reading Office 2019 is On The Way
Author: Rachel Mulry
Director of Customer Service-
Office of Information Technology
Classrooms Receive Technology Upgrades and Inventory Over Summer
During the summer, OIT was busy making changes to more than 40 rooms, compiling a full classroom AV inventory, building a webpage that allows faculty and staff to locate rooms that match their technology requirements and installing two new lecture capture solutions in 7 rooms. We also added the upgraded rooms to our automated control system to notify us in advance of major issues. This brings our total to 145 rooms now configured in the monitoring tool. Continue reading Classrooms Receive Technology Upgrades and Inventory Over Summer
CrashPlan Pro Deployment Expanding in 2018
CrashPlan Pro, 
SMU’s enterprise desktop backup solution, has been available for faculty/staff computers for several years on an opt-in basis. Employees who wished to enable the backup system were required to install the software from the LANDesk/Ivanti software portal and sign in to trigger the backup process. The Opt-in process will be moving to an automated solution. Continue reading CrashPlan Pro Deployment Expanding in 2018
New Ordering Site for Tech Purchases Coming Soon
Each year, several hundred computer orders are processed across campus. This process involves coordination between the Purchasing department and OIT. In reviewing the ordering experience as well as the time delays for some orders, we decided to make some major improvements.
Early next month, we will launch a new technology ordering site. This site will allow you to order computers, tablets, monitors and a few accessories for departmental purchases. Below are some of the key improvements to the ordering/installation process: Continue reading New Ordering Site for Tech Purchases Coming Soon
Windows 10 Deployed to Classrooms This Summer
Windows 10 is already the standard OS for faculty and staff computer deployments. However, we have maintained Windows 7 as the standard throughout all labs and classrooms this past year to provide a consistent experience for faculty and students in these spaces. We are no longer able to purchase computer hardware that will run Windows 7. As a result, all managed computer labs and classroom instructor stations will be upgraded to the latest OS this summer. Continue reading Windows 10 Deployed to Classrooms This Summer
CrashPlan Pro backup solution becomes standard for Windows 7
CrashPlan Pro, 
SMU’s enterprise desktop backup solution, has been available for faculty/staff computers for several years on an opt-in basis. Employees who wished to enable the backup system were required to install the software from the LANDesk software portal and sign in to trigger the backup process. The Opt-in process will be moving to an automated solution. Continue reading CrashPlan Pro backup solution becomes standard for Windows 7
2018 Classroom Technology Project List
Over the past few months, the Academic Technology Council and the Academic Service Directors in each school have gathered project requests to address AV needs in the various classrooms. The final classroom project list has been selected and the planning phase has officially begun. The intent is to upgrade 45 rooms this summer–either replacing all the AV gear or simply adding a component to the room.
The following is the list of rooms for this summer: Continue reading 2018 Classroom Technology Project List
OIT Updates Technology in SMU Classrooms Over the Summer
During the summer, the AV team tackled a large number of projects to refresh technology in over 116 classrooms. The list of items was presented to the Academic Technology Council last spring after gathering input from the Schools on wish list items. Towards the end of the semester, six rooms were added and funding authorized to prototype new technology in conjunction with various pedagogical styles. Continue reading OIT Updates Technology in SMU Classrooms Over the Summer
New Account Request Forms Launched to Improve Onboarding
Email, Box, Sharepoint, my.SMU, Network drives… these are just a sampling of the IT services provided to SMU community.
Although many of these services are automatically provisioned for faculty, staff, and students, several are assigned by request only. These requests are generated by forms on help.smu.edu which are then processed by a number of teams within OIT as well as departments outside of OIT. The complexity of the process along with the length of time to complete these requests has been a source of frustration for many on campus. Therefore, an Operational Excellence initiative was launched to streamline and shorten the process to assign employee permissions to the various services required to do their job. Continue reading New Account Request Forms Launched to Improve Onboarding
A Farewell to Our CIO Joe Gargiulo
As you may know, the University’s CIO Joe Gargiulo has announced his retirement. Joe has served SMU since 1998 in various capacities. He joined the team 19 years ago managing the Y2K efforts and then overseeing the PeopleSoft conversion. He was promoted to the Executive Director of Administrative Computing in 2005 and then later named CIO in 2008. He has lead the Office of Information Technology (OIT) team through a number of organizational changes (most recently the transition to shared services), as well as shepherded many significant projects Continue reading A Farewell to Our CIO Joe Gargiulo