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CIS Annual Report

September 2011 – September 2012

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Contents

1. Overview

2. Center board

3. Staff

4. Units:

i. Helpdesk and Support Services

ii. Developments in Systems & Applications

iii. Network & Security Improvements

iv. Learning Technologies

5. Material resources.

6. Usage

7. Main development

8. Future plan

9. Challenges

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Overview:-

This year has been another busy year, and I am pleased that we have achieved so

much, especially on the automation of admission and registration process for the

foundation students. Online automated service provided to students have reached a

very good status where it currently covers admission, registration, financial status

and financial aid request, academic progress lookup, learning objects management to

upload, view and download learning materials, instant messaging and SMS

communication.

Smartcard activation has added another dimension to the online services provided to

students. This cover fees payments, printing and photocopying services, eCash point

of sales, Library services and automated card topping services using ATM machines.

Soon, we will also activate the smart attendance system and the access control at

variuos locations at the campus.

Another noticeable achievement to report this year was the establishment of the

disaster recovery site to improve the resilience and availability of services with a

better reliability of data integrity. We are extending free Wi-Fi across campus and in

residences so staff and students can stay connected in all areas. We have embrace the

social media, embed it into our website and encouraged the university community to

get the best out of it.

Success never comes for free (or No success goes without a challenge). We faced

various challenges before we achieved our goals. Financial support was a major

hurdle to kick off many projects in time as well delayed receiving the required

support from partners. Academic staff exchange and low digital literacy rate have

increased the pressure on the helpdesk team. Service interruptions due to power

outage were also a noticeable issue to report. These issues were due to a variety of

different factors. Some, like main power supply outage, is completely outside of our

control. We are always very sorry for the inconvenience these disruptions to service

may have caused, and it goes without saying that we do not welcome them either.

However, it is at times like these that our incident management and communication

procedures are put into place, and staff from all areas come together to solve

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problems. I am very grateful to all of the staff involved who had to stay back long

outside working hours to restore services.

The report includes details of other projects, Facts and figures, Challenges and future

plans.

Center board:-

VC for Academic Affair

Abdulaziz al-kindi

CIS Director

Abdumenum Al-kharusi

Learning

Technology

Azman Abduallah

Network and Security

Suleiman Al-Harrasi -

Acting

Systems

Amjad Al-kharusi

Help Desk

Saleh Al-Hatmi -

Acting

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Staff:

This year CIS witnessed a major reorganization and change of three department

heads. Mohammed Al Mawali, the head of Networking and Security department has

left the team temporarily to pursue his further studies in Spain. He is expected to

complete his master’s degree in information security within two years. Sulieman al

Harassi who recently re-joined after completing his master degree from Lund

University in Sweden took over as networking section acting head. The team is

suffering a serious shortage. Abdullah Al Rahbi, the helpdesk team head has also

resigned. Saleh Al Hatmi from the entrepreneur project took over on temporary

basis. A great challenge was faced in recruiting professionals due to high demand in

other competing recruiting firms.

Total

CIS

members

Recruited Resigned Have

Degree Male Female

Helpdesk

member

Study

leave

2010 23 1 0 5 21 2 12 0

2011 24 4 4 8 20 4 12 1

2012 27 2 0 11 22 5 13 1

Table (1): CIS staff statistics

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Units:- A. Helpdesk and Support Services

The Helpdesk at the University of Nizwa provides an on-campus ICT services to all

members of the University. We provide troubleshooting, consultation, printing,

learning technology support and various other services related to hardware and

software solutions. Currently we have 13 staff members distributed as follows:

- Six Helpdesk technicians who are responsible for supporting the users and fix

hardware and network problems, supply ICT equipment and install software

applications.

- Three printing press technicians who are responsible for printing exams papers

course notes, booklets, banners and other photocopy jobs.

- Two labs supervisors who are currently the custodians of Al Fiker labs.

- Two call centre operators who are responsible for receiving users’ calls, logging

ticket, dispatching jobs to respective helpdesk members and solve problems

remotely.

This team is also suffering an overload due to the increase in number of users from

faculty, staff and students.

Developments during this year:

● Improved the usage of the smartITSM service management system by activating

more advance feature and assigning dedicated members from the team to operate it.

● Activated new modules in smartITSM covering the change management,

configuration management and store management.

● Synchronized the CIS store with the smartITSM store system management.

● Attained required technical knowledge through attending an advanced Systems

administrative course (MCITP) by all Helpdesk staff members.

● Introduced the Thin client workstations for IC3 computer labs and nComputing

technology for offices.

● Installed high quality projectors at labs, lecture halls and meeting rooms.

The chart below shows incidence recorded during the year for each department.

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Figure 1: Incidents by department

Figure 2: Root Cause of Incidents

B. Systems & Applications

* Facts & Figures:

Over 2000 total computers (1:4 computer to students ratio)

With CPN over 2500 students received laptop computers

1:1 computer to faculty ratio

75% classroom equipped with LTE (Learning Technology Equipment). 100% for IT classrooms

100% access to printing/copying services

Over 70 bookable laptop in colleges

Over 20 software applications on common classroom computers.

24/7 Applications and Internet at campus & hostels.

Potential improvement

1:35 computer to students ratio at self access computers

No 24/7 computer access.

Low rate of knowledge transfer sessions on available ICT services.

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The Systems division is offering excellent enterprise systems and applications. It

supports and maintains the Core Infrastructure Systems, “EduWave” the Student

Information and Learning Management System, “WaveERP” the University Resource

Planning and Workflow, the Email System, the Library Management System,

Disaster Recover and Backup System, and the University Website. This is in addition

to a number of in-house built applications.

Developments in EduWave & WaveERP:

● The activation of the Admission module where the admission of the Fall semester was

done through this module.

● The activation of a new transportation module to manage all transport request fleet

management which will soon be enriched with smart system connected through the

satellite.

● The activation of the redesigned Inventory module to manage all

university stores.

● The integration EduWave with the newly add ePayment service for

restaurants point of sales. Soon, fees payment and eCash smart card top-up

machines will also be part of the integrated system.

● Integration of WaveERP and POS machine.

● The new updates on the registration module to cover new registration rules with the

English Skills Development Courses (ESDC).

● The enhancement of the foundation module to include new workflow processes, new

report, grade management mechanism and modified registration rules.

● The enhancement to the financial module that include new screens and reports,

advanced payment management, scholarship setting and configuration, and Maeen

fund management.

Development on Architecture and classroom solutions:-

● Improved the utilization of the VMware server consolidation solution.

● Upgraded the storage equipment to a higher performance module in response to the

deployment of the Thin client solution.

● Updated the SunRay Thin client deployment plan for better management of

computer labs. Equipped 7 computer labs for IC3 course and deployed remaining

thin client at classrooms and instructor offices

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● Deployed an advanced Disaster Recovery in Building 8 with capability of recovering

all services within half an hour in the event of a full disaster at the main data centre

in Building 26.

● Improved the backup system to prevent the loss of more than two hours old data. The

earlier system was capable of preserving a maximum of one day old data. Currently

we are working to improve this to reduce the gap of data loss to the last minute before

the disaster.

● Followed and announced the new enhancements on the email service and Google

apps application

● Upgraded the Library management system with a new version of Virtua.

Development in supportive applications:

● Designed and launched a new website for the training workshops: "Usage of Digital

Resources, Writing Peer Review Paper and Presenting Scientific Research at

International level" at http://www.unizwa.edu.om/workshop/. It will manage the

registration and provide description and the program of the workshop.

● Develop the Systems Portal that works as a single sign-in for all the existing

supportive applications.

● Develop Research system for the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies,

Research and International Relations to manage research and investigator

information and manage the finance budget plan.

● Develop Al-Mashariq Hall reservation system for the Public Relation department. It

will manage the reservation of the hall for the events.

● Setup the mail archiving system for the Community Service Center, Deanship of

Record and Registrations,Trusteeship of Student Affairs and Public Relations

department which manages the incoming and outgoing mail.

*Facts & Figures ● Over 38 supported applications

● Over 8000 supported domain users

● 15000 EduWave registered students,6526 Active and

enrolled,3627 graduated and 335 postponed.

● 981leave requests processed by WaveERP

● Over 18.5 million received emails. 19% are spam

*Improvement Required:

● Descriptions field on EduWave and WaveERP

requires appropriate translation.

● Lack of use of complete system workflow in financial

and procurement modules

● Lack of use of student advising and LMS modules

● Shortage of knowledgeable business users at

inventory and transportation modules

● Inconsistency in data entry

● Shortage of CIS technical/business support.

http://www.unizwa.edu.om/workshop/

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● Develop a system for the Volunteer Program to manage student participation in the

volunteer program and help issue transcript in addition to the academic transcript.

● Develop a system for CIS to follow up the online request of the user accounts, emails

and ICT. It is also used by the CIS staff to plan their annual leave and as a reference

by CIS staff for network IPs that is used for servers and printers.

● Develop a passwords system for CIS to store all passwords of the systems with a

special encryption method. It helps keeping these password as a backup in

emergency cases.

● Develop a system for the Networks department of CIS to manage IP telephones

distribution.

● Continuous enhancements and updates for the existing supportive applications.

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C. Network & Security

The responsibility of Network and Security team is to manage and maintain the

Network Infrastructure, besides monitoring the Communication and Security services

for the University. These services include CCTV, proxies, IDS, IPS, AV, firewalls, VPN,

voice communication, and wired and wireless networks. Noticeable development this

year includes:

● Upgraded IP Telephony system of new CISCO call manager with more servers for

redundancy and added features. Presently we have over 600 extensions.

● Replaced connection between the current campus and GANA Medical Centre to

ensure reliable connection.

● Maintain all the 247 CCTV camera and 9 road barriers and added two more cameras

in Building 13.

● Added 7 more LCD screens to monitor the systems in Building 12, 23, 5B, 26, and 5D

to increase the total to 25 screens.

● Acquired new version of anti-virus Kaspersky version 8 for Win7 and version 6 for

WinXp.

● Installed an additional 38 wireless access points Building 2, 26, and 32 to improve

wireless coverage. Increase the wireless coverage by 17.5% to cover 86.5% of whole

university area. The Wireless for Smart-Phone users “UoN-Mobile” covers 75% of

university area.

● Installed a total of 734 new network points at various locations (Building 2: +350

points, Building 5: 50 points, Building 26: 100 points, CIS new wing: 24 points, small

libraries: 24 * 2 points , Building 29: 24 points, Building 4: 100 points, male and

female restaurants: 14 points, hostels supervisor: 24 points).

● Distributed first patch of desk-phone for staffs (phone for everyone).

● Upgraded Internet access with the new Nawras lease line (34Mbps) to ensure

redundancy Internet services and increase the bandwidth capability.

● Provided redundant line and devices for Voice services.

● Enhance the information security.

● Establish a new auditorium in Building 2 ( Al-Mashariq )

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● Over 200 network points added

● Reach total of 102 wirelesses AP to cover 86.5% of

the whole area.

● 350 wireless devices connected at peaks.

● 34Mbps University connection to the internet

from OmanTel and 32Mbps from Nawras.

● 222 cameras are up.

● 2 Internet service interruptions from ISP.

● 2 Telephone lines interruptions from ISP

● Over 10 incidents of power outage.

● 25 cameras and 2 DVR are down.

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D. Learning Technology

Learning Technology provides members of the University of Nizwa with access to

course materials and learning methods in an on-demand fashion. Amongst the tools

and applications used in the Learning Technology branches are: EduWave, Moodle,

workshops, and seminars.

Development in Learning Technologies

1. Online ESDC and placement test carried out in January 2012. Online IELP resit exam

carried on 8th - 9th of July 2012.

2. Online TOFEL Project (In progress).

3. Instructional design services:

a. Upgrade from Moodle 1.9 to Moodle 2.2. (Installed in summer 2012).

b. Development of online materials for Nursing course (NURS 460

Community Health Promotion (Summer 2012).

c. Development of teaching and learning materials for Foundation Active

Learning Center and Foreign Languages courses.

4. Training

a. A series of training on online applications was conducted early this year to the

faculty and staff members. The applications include; Moodle version 2, and

Basics of Microsoft office 2010.

b. New training plan is currently being drafted to enhance the training program

for the faculty members.

5. Others

a. Developing CIS site to provide information to UoN community members

regarding the various systems and applications supported by CIS.

b. Establishing a social network (Facebook page) for the university. The unizwa

Facebook site contains two pages (university of Nizwa) where we

communicate with others and (LLI) where we add all courses advertisements.

The Facebook page also contains 6 groups; pharmacy, nursing, FI, Special

education, media group, and health life style.

● Placement test prepared for over 140 new students.

● ESDC for about 1900 students was successfully carried

out with minimal problems.

● IELP resit exam for about 550 students.

● Training on the latest technology was carried out

including the Moodle 2.0 and basics of Microsoft

office2010.

● CIS site

● Unizwa Facebook site

IELP was hastily done and processes not

thoroughly thought through.

Number of faculty members who attended the

training remained low.

https://sites.google.com/a/unizwa.edu.om/cis/

http://www.facebook.com/unizwaoman

http://moodle.unizwa.edu.om/course/view.php?id=313http://moodle.unizwa.edu.om/course/view.php?id=313http://moodle.unizwa.edu.om/course/category.php?id=57https://sites.google.com/a/unizwa.edu.om/cis/

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5) Material Resources and usage:

Materials and usage details for each department of the CIS were included in each respective

section with indication of facts & figures as well as improvement requirements.

Below we cover the materials resources and usage for the printing and photocopying

services.

Printing Press:

The print press at the campus provides special printing services including printing

business card, letter head, Student plastic card, broachers and leaflets.

● 7,760 print/photocopy jobs processed

● Around 13 million papers used

● 120,000 Omani Rials spent on photocopying

● Over 30% of heavy duty photocopying is done by FI.

● Departmental printer misused is frequently reported

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Photocopy Center:

1. Photocopy centre is undertaking major photocopy jobs at the university. Most of

the jobs here can be replaced by the online content management tools including

EduWave, Moodle and Google Apps. In addition, E-Learning strategy is

encouraging the use of online materials delivery method instead but this requires

more support from faculty heads. The following points are the main development

in that section according to the need

Signing some cost effective agreements with multifunction printer's suppliers,

which in turn spared a lot of money and effort on the university and adds

more modern and advanced multifunction prints features.

Activate and extend the printers centralized service through the department

multifunction prints which it has more features and avoid to use of the

personal printers.

Inauguration of MY FAIR CARD service to easily, fastest access and releasing

printing jobs from the multifunction printing machine, this is one of the

smartest , latest and high class technologies in access control technique.

Add follow me feature to the multifunction print to easily get the prints from

anywhere all over the university

Summary of photocopy jobs undertaken during this year is given below:

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Main development:

In this section a summary of main development during this year is provided.

1. Enriched the main data centre with a more powerful storage and a new power

supply stabilizer. This adds better business continuity assurance.

2. Extended the IC3 classroom to Building 7 and one lab at Building 8 and equipped

them with new thin client computers.

3. Added new high quality departmental printers at various buildings with the

activation of the follow me print and smart card operation.

4. Upgraded the wireless coverage to cover over 86% of the university campus

including indoor and outdoor.

5. Upgraded the smartITSM helpdesk application to activate and “Change

management” and “Store management” modules.

6. Reorganized the centre structure by changing the Helpdesk and Networking

sections’ head and recruiting new members to provide you with better services.

7. Activated the point of sales (POS) systems at staff restaurant as part of the

eCampus solution.

8. Activated the disaster recovery (DR) site to improve business continuity

assurance and reduce data loss impact.

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Future plan

We contentiously review and align our direction in accordance to the strategic plan. The plan emphasis on four main areas: Increase & Stabilize Infrastructure, Innovative use of Educational Technology, Competence and Professionalism and Research and Maximize Resources. This section details the achievements in each of the four areas and provides futuristic vision

1- Increase and Stabilize Infrastructure

Through innovative expansion of the

Intranet and Internet based systems, CIS will

provide consistent and robust end user

experiences.

1.a) Constantly assess and upgrade

the UON systems and network in

order to provide excellent end-user

experiences.

1.a.1 - Expand the already present wireless

coverage allowing further and greater access

for all members of the University

community.

2011 - Completed all meeting rooms,

hostels, most of open areas and new

classrooms.

2012 – Covered about 86% of the campus

area.

1.a.2- Accommodate emerging technologies,

with a particular focus on mobile

technologies.

2011- Configured University network for

Mobile users, introduced iPad for helpdesk

and key users.

2012- Introduced Thin Client Technology at

classrooms and office.

Improved mobile connection coverage and

security.

1.a.3- Utilize emerging technologies that

will increase the speed, coverage,

accessibility and manageability via thin and

smart access points and supporting

applications.

2011- Thin access point implemented with

advanced security features.

2012- Thin client Technology for Desktop

user was implemented.

1.a.4- Build strong enough Internet and

Intranet services to meet the increasing needs

for instruction and research using multi-

media elements; particularly video

collaboration. Internet speed should be

2011- Intranet applications are being served

sufficiently with required bandwidth.

Internet services bandwidth from OmanTel

was upgrade to 34 Mbps.

2012- A new agreement was signed with Al

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improved through close contact with the

main ISP provider (OmanTel) to replace the

16 mbps copper line to a fibre line. This will

allow us increase the bandwidth up to

multiple of STM1 lines. On the other side

should get an alternative line from another

ISP (Al Nawras) provider for redundancy

and increased bandwidth. New technological

options such as LTE from OmanTel and

WiMax from Al Nawras should also be

considered on their arrival

Nawras as an extension to the current

OmanTel line with additional 32Mbps leased

line speed. Activation is expected soon.

1.b) Provide proactive effective and

evolving risk management solutions.

1.b.1- Move the current data centre to

Building 26 for more security and enhanced

operation continuity

This was successfully accomplished

1.b.2- Upgrade the University Business

Continuity Plan to cover current trends. This

can be done through implementing a new

disaster recovery site with practical

strategies to ensure operation continuity for

core applications such as EduWave,

WaveERP and email service

2011- This is in the pipeline along with the

Data centre project and should be completed

soon. In future we need to improve solutions

to cover power outage, all systems

applications and communications zero

downtime.

2012- A disaster recovery site was

established with improved backup plan

1.b.3- Implement data backup services for

database servers, application servers as well

as enterprise operating systems, and

departmental servers.

This is accomplished as part of the Data

centre project. More improvement is

required to reduce the gap of data loss.

1.c) Deliver easy to use technology to

all members of the community along

with prompt, amicable responses.

1.c.1- Develop usability surveys to target

and improve the use of IT at UON.

This is an on-going task

1.c.2- Provide more assessment materials to

the University community to ensure that all

needs are being met. Analyse results and

2012- Established online assessment for

IELP program including IC3, ESDC course,

and TOEFL and placement test. Other course

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create initiatives for improvement based on

the assessments

using the online assessments ate Comp 101

and Pharmacology

1.c.3- Improve attendance taking

mechanism through integrating mobile RFID

readers with the EduWave.

2011- This is planned as part of the eCampus

solution.

2012- Project postponed due to financial

issues.

1.d) Introduce new models and

developments for IT support that are

cost effective

1.d.1- Implement ITIL compliant IT

services management that cover, incident

management, Service Request Management,

problem management SLA management and

other ITIL practices

2011- Implemented with major modules.

2012- Added a change management and

store management modules.

1.d.2- Train helpdesk members in ITSM

guidelines and practices.

2011- Training plan generated, approvals

requested.

2012- Training conducted

1.d.3- Deploy effective methods for users

training and awareness spread.

2011- Several knowledge transfer session

were conducted.

2012- Several knowledge transfer and

mentoring sessions were conducted.

1.d.4- Use of thin client workstations at

general computing labs then spread across

the campus for better ROI and total cost of

ownership

2011- Plan and research

2012- Deployed at IC3 labs, some non IT

classrooms for presentation and at Novice

instructors offices. 2nd phase will be to place

them at Al Fiker labs.

1.d.5- Improve email services through usage

of cloud computing solutions

2011- This is successfully accomplished

with great benefits on management, spam

filtering and cost saving.

2012- Improved the use of Google

collaborative tools, Google storage of 5GB

to each user plus 25 GB email space.

2- Innovative use of Educational Technology

Use instructional design elements and

models that will directly address the

uniqueness of the University of Nizwa

community.

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2.a) Collaborate with faculty, staff,

and students to choose the most

effective software and hardware

solutions for their needs. Improve the

learning environments for students,

research efforts, and the

administrative tasks of all members of

the University community

Gather feedback regarding the solutions to

further improve the delivery systems to

support teaching and learning. This is done

through discussions with various members of

the faculty.

2.a.1- Work with various committees to

recognize and develop areas where

technologies would best be used to enhance

learning, research, and administrative

procedures.

Provided support throughout the academic

year to various faculty members and centers

on the use of tools for teaching and learning

including:

1. Foundation Institute 2. College of Pharmacy and Nursing 3. College of Economics, Management

& Information Systems

4. College of Arts and Science

Shared the articles and news about the

online/blended learning with the UNIZWA

community via e-mail

2.a.2- Create procedures aimed at assessing

and distributing current developments in

educational technology that would aid all

members of the University community

Made available the content development

process and schedule to the development

team members.

2.b) Create a governing body to

evaluate and innovate the uses of

educational technology

Activate the function of the e-learning

committee

2.b.1- The E-Learning Board will decide on

which courses or projects will be turned into

e-materials and presented online.

E-Learning Strategy deployment need

further enhancement

2.b.2- Design and deploy a testing stage

(i.e., a laboratory) for students, faculty, and

staff, to use new software and hardware

solutions

Work with the ITG to improve the Eduwave

LMS to improve the system and to pilot to

selected teachers and students

2.c) Enlarge and enrich resources at

the disposal of staff, faculty, and

students. Promote champions in all of

these groups to better help the

deployment of educational

CIS (E-Learning) is working with some

faculty members in Foundation Institute,

College of Arts and Science, College of

Pharmacy and Nursing, College of

Economics, Management & Information

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technology Systems who be the catalyst for the expansion of technology use among the

faculty members.

2.d) Deliver quality consultation for

researching, projects, and solutions.

Faculty members can freely seek advice

from CIS regarding blended learning and its

delivery system

2.d.1- Produce rubrics to better evaluate the

efficacy of any given solution

Annual survey will be carried out to

evaluate the efficacy of the systems, starting

Summer 2013.

2.e) Sign agreements with various

public and private sector clients to

run experimental projects.

Work with the service provider such as

Blackboard and ITG to pilot projects relate

to blended learning.

3- Competence and Professionalism

Recruit, Train, and Retain staff who are

experts in their respective fields.

3.a) Develop transparent and

comprehensive human resource

plans for University staff.

3.a.1- Establish competitive compensation

and benefits packages that will draw new,

and retain old, professionals.

2011- Special packages were established to

CIS team.

2012- Compensation and benefits package

requires improvement.

3.a.2- Create succession plans for all IT

positions.

2011- Recruited couple of highly

professional members with good

compensation scheme. Thanks to

management and HR.

2012- Sent two members to higher study,

lost an important member. Great shortage in

professionals recruits due to high demand in

Muscat area.

3.b) Encourage professional

development and motivation of IT

staff.

3.b.1- Oblige each member of the IT staff to

have training based on their basic job duties

and responsibilities.

2011- Several meetings conducted in this

regard. A plan was established

2012- the plan was implemented partially.

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3.b.2- Outline possible career tracks for all

IT staff. Develop training programs to

enhance staff experience and skill sets.

2011- Training plan was developed by

deployment was postponed.

2012- Several centre members attended

training course abroad as well as locally.

New training plan was submitted to career

development department.

4- Research and Maximize Resources

Visiting conferences, tradeshows, and

seminars, members of the CIS team will

research current trends allowing them to

provide optimal experiences for the

University of Nizwa community.

4.a) Produce awareness campaigns

toting the various tools available

through the library.

4.b)Conduct workshops in current

information technology and trends.

4.c)Find new means and methods to

generate interest in electronic

research.

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Challenges

No success goes without challenges, we went through quite interesting challenges during this year but all have contributed in strengthening the CIS team to deliver high standard quality services without a compromise. Major challenges are listed below:

1. Power outage and unstable current supply. This has been a continuous disturbance to the team especially the non-planned ones which were quite often this summer. The root cause of this problem was the main power supply from the government line. Voltage fluctuates to a dangerous degree that causes serious damages to a many sensitive ICT equipment. Luckily the impact had been reduced this year due to the power stabilizer added to the data centre. As for the power outage, we equipped both the data centres with uninterrupted power supply (UPS) units and power generators. Communication switches and critical desktop computers as well as IC3 classroom computers were equipped with individual UPS units to reduce power outage and insure business continuity.

2. Thin Clients project was intended to replace eight computer labs with a better

technological solution for the advantages described in the last year report. The plan was modified to exclude advanced computer labs and include non-IT as well as instructors who have less practical knowledge in IT. This plan has had started successfully but then the instructors backed off due to unrealistic storage demand and the non-availability of an appropriate furniture to place the devices at classrooms. A managerial and financial support is required to reinstate the plan.

3. eCampus solution was planned to complete this year. It facilitates a single

card to be used for identification, access, attendance and purchase services such as print/copy or buy food. Unfortunately, although a great part of the solution is deployed, it is not fully operational due to administrative issue. This is in regards to the point of sales as part of the eCash solution. As far as the access control and attendance systems the project was put on hold due to financial budgeting issues that we expect will get sorted soon.

4. High Internet connection cost. This remains an obstacle in achieving optimized learning objectives due to its dependency to high bandwidth internet service. Currently OmanTel has the technology to provide us with the required bandwidth but too costly. Although recently signed a contract with another provider (Al Nawras), it still needs to build the infrastructure which take some time.

5. Professional recruitment and Training needs for CIS members. The centre had

lost important members from the networking section as well as from the helpdesk. Covering this loss was not easy to high competition for professionals in the region and the low package at the university to compensate the location and facilities provided in other regions such as Muscat. On the training side,

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majority of CIS members are having basic academic certifications. Hence, a wide gap in professional skills is needed to be filled. Self-study and in-house team knowledge transfer sessions were not sufficient to reduce this gap due the work overload among skilled members. We have submitted a complete training plan and expecting the management kind approval.

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Center for Information

Systems

University of Nizwa

P.O.Box: 33, pc 616, Birkat

Al-Mouz Sultanate of Oman

Tel: +968 25446210

Fax: +968 25446372

Email: cis@unizwa.edu.om

www.unizwa.edu.om