Another beautiful weekend across the state.
For the week of September 19, the following items of general interest are worth commenting on.
News
New
2022 Tech Summit
- We are one week away from the 2022 Tech Summit — are you ready for fantastic keynotes, breakout sessions, the CIO panel and sponsors? There is still time to join in!
- Check out the schedule!
- General Admission registration is open through September 28
IT Modernization Plan
- Each member is required to complete an IT Modernization Plan.
- Access the template at IT Modernization Template July.2022.docx (live.com)
- Notes
- Due October 1; given the lengthy negotiations with DIR, it is expected that some IHEs may be a little late
- Submit the completed and signed template to ITModernizationPlan@DIR.Texas.gov; digital signature may be acceptable
- It is our understanding that the report is not subject to Open Records requests as it may contain sensitive material
- ITCHE knows that IHEs do not create an IT Modernization Plan per se, but most cybersecurity initiatives and upgrades fall into that category; this includes refreshing laptops, desktops, servers, wireless, other networking, and classroom tech; this is true even if it is standard routine to upgrade laptops every three years (as an example)
- Below is a brief description of what to do in each section and a suggested maximum page length in parentheses (Note: this has been agreed by ITCHE)
- Section 1 – Executive Summary (not to exceed 2 pages)
- Section 2 – Cut and paste from your institution’s material; this section is not about IT per se (not exceed 3 pages)
- Section 3 – Enter IT modernization initiatives approved for FY 23 and if you have some for FY24/25 already approved (1-2 paragraphs each, up to ten initiatives)
- Section 4 – Consider a five year horizon and if something is not funded, just say undetermined for that column, include end of life applications, software, hardware; you may duplicate some of Sec 3 (1 page)
- Section 5 – Do a little research and document here (no limit)
- Section 6 – Mostly cut and paste from risk management assessments, audits, insurance directives, etc. (not to exceed 3 pages)
- Section 7 – Optional (zero pages)
- There is a phone call at Noon on Tuesday, September 20 to discuss this reporting requirement
- In the meantime, please start working on gathering a set of FY23 initiatives that will comprise the “guts” of your IT Modernization Plan
- You do not need to complete the Plan submission prior to next week
- Each member is required to complete an IT Modernization Plan.
Internal Audit distributed the following reminder last week
Major Information Resources Project
This is the annual reminder of your responsibility to notify our department when your institution initially begins a major information resources project. Based on the information you provide, we will determine what level of involvement our department will take, if any, in the process.This will allow us to fulfill our responsibilities under System Policy 10.01, Internal Auditing.
The definition for a “major information resources project” is any information resources technology project, whether developed in-house or bought externally, that meets at least one of the following criteria:
- Has development, implementation or procurement costs of $1 million or more
- Requires one year or longer to reach operations status
- Involves more than one system member
- Significantly alters work methods of core administrative and business processes and supports financial, personnel, or strategic decision-making
If you have questions regarding the above, please contact David Maggard
The following email was distributed last week
System Member Policy Compliance Officers,
Revised System Regulation 29.01.03, Information Security, was approved by the chancellor, effective September 12, 2022.
Below is a summary of the changes made. Attached is a Section by Section Analysis.
This regulation’s revisions:
- Implement measures to adopt statutory regulations and DIR rules promulgated by the 87th Legislature (Regular Session);
- Add or clarify language to support the system-wide information security program including the System Security Operations Center (SOC);
- Formalize the role of the member chief information security officer and outsourced information security governance, risk and compliance (GRC) programs;
- Eliminate language where appropriate by redirecting technical detail to the A&M System Security Control Standards Catalog.
Please distribute this system regulation among your staff as you deem appropriate. If you have any questions, please contact the appropriate contact office noted.
System-Wide Contracting News
In Process
A&M System-wide Contracts Under Development:
- eSignature (NextGen)
- Cohesity
Repeats
Current A&M System-wide Contracts:
- 3 Play Media provides closed captioning services (discretionary)
- Acadeum provides access to an online education marketplace that offers courses across a network of colleges and universities to help students stay on track and graduate faster (discretionary)
- Accelevents supports virtual and hybrid conferences (discretionary)
- AdmitHub fosters student success with artificial intelligence-powered mobile messaging and chatbots (discretionary)
- Adobe provides full Creative Cloud suite and Adobe Pro software tools (discretionary)
- Adobe Sign provides electronic signature and related workflow capabilities (discretionary)
- airSlate / SignNow provides electronic signature and related workflow capabilities (discretionary)
- AT&T provides network as a service and related services (discretionary)
- Automatic Sync provides closed captioning services (discretionary)
- Aventri supports virtual and hybrid conferences (discretionary)
- Banner COE (CAG) provides Banner-related services (discretionary)
- Blackboard provides a cloud-based learning management system (discretionary)
- Campus Sonar provides specialized social listening services for higher education (discretionary)
- campusM (Ex Libris) supports mobile application development (discretionary)
- Canvas (Instructure) provides a cloud-based learning management system (discretionary)
- Cisco Strategic Relationship supports the AT&T NaaS RELLIS services and includes discounted Cisco products and services (discretionary)
- Class Climate (Scantron) allows students to evaluate academic courses and instructors (discretionary)
- D2L provides a cloud-based learning management system (discretionary)
- Diligent provides board portal functionality (discretionary)
- DocuSign provides electronic signature and related workflow capabilities (discretionary)
- Duo (Cisco) provides two-factor authentication (discretionary)
- Examity provides on-line proctoring services (discretionary)
- eXplorance allows students to evaluate academic courses and instructors (discretionary)
- Exterro unifies e-discovery, privacy and digital forensics activities to help organizations manage and mitigate regulatory, compliance and litigation risks
- Fetii provides contactless scanning technology through QR codes (discretionary)
- GoReact provides a platform for feedback, grading and critiquing of video assignments (discretionary)
- GovQA (WebQA) is the TAMUS approved Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) solution (assessed)
- Guardian I-9 (LawLogix) provides electronic I-9 compliance verification (discretionary)
- Hootsuite enables members to manage social networks, schedule messages and measure social media from a dashboard (discretionary)
- Interfolio provides academic faculty management software (discretionary)
- IOTA Solutions allows students to evaluate academic courses and instructors (discretionary)
- Laserfiche provides document digitization and automated records processing, storage retrieval, security and archiving (discretionary)
- LinkedIn Learning provides video courses taught by industry experts in software, creative and business skills (discretionary)
- Microsoft provides business software and services (direct bill)
- Modo Labs supports mobile application development (discretionary)
- Navex provides on-line proctoring services (discretionary)
- Oracle provides a shared hardware/software platform to host Oracle-based applications (discretionary)
- Palo Alto provides firewalls and associated security subscription services (discretionary)
- PlatformQ enables universities to connect with students at every stage of the recruitment process (discretionary)
- Pluralsight offers a variety of video-based training for software developers, IT administrators and creative professionals (discretionary)
- Portfolium (Instructure) provides students and recent graduates with the ability to connect with businesses and employers using previous academic work and projects to supplement their communication (discretionary)
- Proctorio provides on-line proctoring services (discretionary)
- Qualtrics provides an online survey tool that supports building and distributing surveys and analyzing the responses (discretionary)
- Siteimprove checks web pages, every five days, for spelling, grammar, broken links, and accessibility (assessed)
- Smart Net (Cisco) provides Cisco equipment maintenance (discretionary)
- SmartEvals (Gap Technologies) allows students to evaluate academic courses and instructors (discretionary)
- Sprout Social provides a social media management platform (discretionary)
- Sterling provides background check services for employment, employment screening, drug testing, I-9 employment and education verification (discretionary)
- TeamDynamix provides cloud-based IT service and project management software (discretionary)
- Verbit provides closed captioning services (discretionary)
- VMware provides various VMware software, services and training/consulting credits (discretionary)
- WebEx (Cisco) provides online collaboration and meeting software (discretionary)
Travel
- No trips scheduled this week