As we reflect back upon FY11, we recognize that much has been accomplished in the midst of a continuing

economic downturn at the national, state and local level. This year our efforts have focused upon emphasizing

the role of the Office of Information Technology (OIT) as a service organization and continuing to enhance the

value of information technology within the College community.

The theme of the OIT Annual Report for FY11 is Building on a Culture of Service. Our focus has been on how to

provide excellent service and to assure a strong technology foundation for today and into the future in order

to meet the needs of the students and employees of Montgomery College. This year has been about service,

collaboration and innovation. In an environment of change and challenge, OIT recognized the need to focus

upon the important services provided by the dedicated staff within OIT and to align the unit as a service unit.

The OIT leadership and management teams worked together to realign the unit into service tiers and to focus

upon the key service areas within the unit.

As part of the transition, it was necessary to re-examine the vision of our unit to assure we are aligned with

the new vision and the core mission of Montgomery College. OIT’s new vision statement speaks to our service

focus and our alignment with the mission of Montgomery College.

“The Office of Information Technology is a nationally recognized service organization that inspires collabora-

tion and leverages every resource in support of the educational mission of Montgomery College.”

The greatest challenges continue to be the economic environment and providing a reliable, robust and secure

infrastructure and keeping pace with technology advancements. The staff continued exercising great diligence

in identifying cost savings and opportunities for greater efficiencies. These efforts included enhanced vendor

management practices, the realignment of services, streamlining responsibilities, as well as the implementa-

tion of technology to increase efficiencies in various work processes at the College. As a result of these signifi-

cant efforts, OIT netted an additional cost savings in FY11 of approximately $1 million dollars and has a pro-

jected cost savings for FY12 of over $2 million. These savings are in addition to the approximately $3 million in

savings in FY10.

This year has been about our focus on service, collaboration and innovation and how our efforts provide the

technology and technology services required to meet the needs of the College. Our look forward requires

that our focus and our efforts are aligned with the President’s Priorities. It is essential that we remain diligent

in our efforts to assure our students and employees have the technology resources and services to achieve

the College’s vision as a nationally recognized model of education excellence, opportunity and student success.

Mike Russell

Dr. Michael Russell Vice President of Instructional and

Information Technology/ Chief Information Officer (CIO)

OFFICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

FY11 ANNUAL REPORT

MONTGOMERY COLLEGE

IT Business Services

The transition of OIT to a service unit model en-

abled the business operations of OIT - planning,

budgeting, purchasing and project management -

to be grouped into the IT Business Services area.

Aligning planning and project management with

traditional business services such as budgeting and

purchasing provides a systematic way to accom-

plish the objectives of the unit, to develop budgets

and spending plans that are guided by the mission

and goals of the College, and to ensure that all pro-

jects approved are aligned with the strategic goals

of the College and OIT.

The IT Business Services team provides the follow-

ing service functions:

Strategic and tactical planning

Development and oversight of planning

processes definition and quality control

Project and program plan development

Quality improvement through assessment

activities including benchmarking and process

evaluation

Policy and standards development related to

planning and provisioning of IT business ser-

vices

Budget planning and account management of

OIT’s operational and capital budgets

Research and analyses to guide technology deci-

sion-making

Information technology acquisitions (hardware

and software)

IT contracts and vendor management

Participation and support of local government

partnership activities related to information tech-

nology

Coordinating reviews for technology requests from

the College community

OITB facility management

Top initiatives and Accomplishments FY11:

Initiation and development of a 2-year tactical

plan (FY12-FY14)

Identification of resource requirements in project

plans including budgets and staffing allocations

Structural reductions in the OIT budget and cost

savings

Enhanced diligence in contract and vendor

management

Elimination of staff positions from OIT for

reallocation to other units

Organizational alignment of IT planning and

project management

“There are fundamental business requirements for the Office of Information Technology. Among them is the necessity to assure that investments in IT projects and assets are aligned with the College’s vision, are directed towards achieving the goals of the College, and that we hold ourselves accountable for maximizing the busi-ness value of information technology in all of our efforts.”

Donna Schena, Director of IT Business Services

FY11 ANNUAL REPORT—2

IT Client Support Services supports College computing by promptly resolving problems and delivering value

added support services. The IT Client Support Services team is comprised of the IT Service Desk, Asset Man-

agement, and Production Support which includes Change Management and Problem Management.

“The transition of OIT to a service management structure is the enabler of information technology governance

and generally provides a way for College consumers to efficiently work with OIT to obtain technology products

and services. Through the IT Service Desk, Self-Service, and the upcoming Service Catalog, the Montgomery

College community has a single, well defined service entry point to OIT.”

Kathie La Martina, Manager, IT Client Support Services

IT Client Support Services

Top initiatives and Accomplishments FY11:

The IT Service Desk received 57,000 student, faculty

and staff calls. The IT Service Desk answered

55,000 of these calls with an average call abandon

rate of 4 % and first call resolution rate of 75%.

This is an important accomplishment because the IT

Service Desk provides technical support and first

point of contact for students, faculty and staff with

technology issues or requests.

The Asset Management team processed 1,886 work

orders in FY11 and completed over 20 projects.

The Production Support team processed 816

change requests and conducted 25 Problem Analy-

sis Reviews on incidents affecting college re-

sources and services. Of the 145,586 customer sat-

isfaction surveys distributed in FY11 by the IT Ser-

vice Desk, 1,772 satisfaction surveys were returned

and processed by the Production Support team.

Transitioned to a new Service Desk vendor and

contract, saving the College $1.7 million over the

life of the contract.

The implementation of a new web-based IT Service

Desk Self Service system provided employees with

an additional way to submit work order requests,

get answers to simple technology questions, obtain

status on work orders, and access OIT forms. The

IT Help Desk was renamed the IT Service Desk to

reflect the expanded service offerings. The IT Ser-

vice Desk resolution rate improved from 65% to

75% by providing additional training and feedback

on quality of tickets.

Customer Satisfaction Survey Results

Customer surveys measure the effectiveness of

OIT support services and provide the mechanism

for continuous service improvement. Randomly

selected work order tickets placed with the IT

Service Desk receive customer support surveys.

FY11 ANNUAL REPORT—3

“The campus teams strive to fully support the technology vision and needs of the College community. Our goal

is to assure our efforts are aligned with the College mission of teaching and learning.”

Doug Griffith, Instructional Technology Services Director

Instructional Technology Services (InTech) provides

technology based instructional support for class-

rooms, computer labs, learning centers, programs

and special events on the three academic campuses

and off site credit and non credit locations. InTech

collaborates with faculty, staff and administrators to

plan and implement technology based projects,

installations and initiatives. The Computer Support

Group (CSG) component of Instructional Support

Services provides technical support and desktop

management for administrative computers and

peripherals at the College. CSG provides timely,

effective end-user support to resolve problems and

provide assistance. This team ensures that all admin-

istrative technology in offices and other designated

areas is secure, reliable and performing as required.

The provisioning of classroom technology promotes

flexibility in the teaching environment and supports

alternative delivery methods for instruction. Re-

newal of technology assets assists academic pro-

grams in retaining currency and relevancy for stu-

dents as potential candidates in the job market.

Both new and existing classrooms received technol-

ogy installations or upgrades in FY11. The upgrades

and installations included academic classroom and

lab computers and Smart Instructor Work Stations

(SIWS).

Top Initiatives and Accomplishments FY11:

The Rockville InTech teams, with assistance from

central OIT staff, provided oversight for the instal-

lation of technology equipment in 46 classroom

and laboratory spaces in the Rockville Science

Center. The equipment included newly config-

ured SIWS which can effectively interface with

High Definition electronic microscopes and other

scientific equipment. Installations also included

informational LCD displays and conference room

equipment.

InTech participated in MC’s TechLEAP program by

providing internship opportunities to students in

the program. Two interns were assigned to work

with the InTech team at the WDCE Gaithersburg

offices. The goal of the internship is to provide

qualified students with the experience to prepare

them to complete in today’s job market.

Collegewide InTech staff were instrumental in the

implementation of the Math Re-design project, a

project to create Math emporium environments

for use by developmental students to develop

the skills to effectively move into college level

math course work. A total of 198 new computers

were purchased through OIT for this project and

an additional 72 computers were re-purposed in

reconfigured classrooms.

Instructional Technology Services

In FY11, the Computer Support Group team (CSG)

responded to a total of 7,427 support tickets. Only

75 of those support tickets lapsed into Service

Level Violations. Typical requests included

changes in email accounts or distribution lists,

connecting and configuring printers, assisting with

file transfers, and managing incidents such as mal-

ware and software problems, enterprise system

interface issues and equipment failures.

FY11 ANNUAL REPORT—4

“Instructional Television and Media Production Services has successfully aligned and concentrated resources to

provide increased support to fulfill the growing number of requests from faculty for multi-media learning

objects that supplement in class, distance and blended courses. Examples include video and audio podcasting,

class participation videos, guest presentations, demonstrations and lectures.”

Melissa Pace, Manager, Instructional Television and Media Production Services

Instructional Television & Media Production Services

(ITV) is the educational video and digital media com-

ponent of the Office of Information Technology. ITV

provides award-winning video production services

and high quality instructional and informational

programming. These services extend the reach of the

College’s training and enrichment activities beyond

the campuses and into the homes and businesses of

the Montgomery County community.

Top Initiatives and Accomplishments FY11:

Increased the quantity and breadth of learning

objects and instructional videos in direct support

of the curriculum, giving students greater access

to learning materials 24/7, and the ability to

review at their own pace.

Developed the ITV Student Production Assistant

Handbook to help students learn the skills and

techniques to make them job-ready, and on the

path to developing career goals.

Devoted thousands of staff hours to provide

hands-on professional mentoring of students

enrolled in Television, Radio, Graphic Design,

Communications, Engineering, Computer Science

and Journalism classes. This effort has led to the

students’ successful acceptance at institutions

such as Towson, Temple, and the University of

Maryland, as well as to career opportunities at

Univision, Lockheed Martin, NIH, The Newseum,

and Brazil’s Globo Network.

Expanded promotion of the College to the

County Executive, County Council, and commu-

nity residents through the production of 100+

news packages on MC topics. These news pack-

ages are aired on 6 County cable channels and

online.

Instructional Television & Media Production Services

Positioning MC as a World-Class Institution

ITV supported an unprecedented number of requests to produce video materials to support the College’s

effort to position itself as a world-class institution of higher learning. Programs included ...

live Department of Education interactive Symposium on Community Colleges with Dr. Jill Biden, and ...

the “Majestic Movie Trailer” marketing campaign.

In FY11, ITV received numerous awards for the quality

of its originally produced programs:

the Alliance for Community Media’s Overall Excel-

lence in Educational Access award

seven TELLY Awards for excellence, and

five national COMMUNICATOR Awards for crea-

tive excellence by communication professionals.

FY11 ANNUAL REPORT—5

IT Engineering Services

“We are responsible for the core services that form the foundations on which technology programs operate.

Engineering Services provides the foundational technologies and services to enable the success of all academic

and administrative programs and initiatives at the College. We also assure that these services are safe, secure

and available on a 24x7 basis for the College community. “

John Savage, Chief Technology Officer

IT Engineering Services is focused on the core tech-

nology that supports other programs throughout

Montgomery College. This technology includes net-

work engineering, systems administration, desktop

management, database management, and facilities

planning services.

Top Initiatives and Accomplishments FY11:

Design of Virtual Computing Labs (VCL) to pro-

vide faculty, staff, and students with access to

both computer and software resources at any

time of day and from any location. In the past,

classroom software provisioning was primarily

a manual process, with software licensing being

based on physical workstations. This limited

the number of physical spaces that could sup-

port certain classes, when and where instruc-

tion could be delivered, and how quickly class-

room software could be updated. By establish-

ing a virtual software workspace that can be

accessed anywhere and at any time, the College

will be able to provide students with access to a

large array of software resources using any kind

of computer or mobile device that may be

available. That is the purpose of VCL - to virtu-

alize classrooms and lab areas thereby making

more effective use of valuable technologies,

reducing costs, creating instructional opportu-

nities for our students, and providing greater

flexibility in classroom scheduling and manage-

ment.

First Voice Over IP telephone deployment in

Rockville Science Center, setting the stage for

future telephone system designs which will im-

prove service and reduce costs. This is just one

way in which the ability of IT Engineering Services

to better leverage internal technologies that will

allow for the improved productivity of everyone

here at the College even while working through

difficult budgetary times.

Upgrades to Montgomery College’s Banner appli-

cation and database systems which allow MC to

stay current in its functionality with its Enterprise

Resource Planning (ERP) systems. This is also a

necessary step in establishing disaster recovery

protocols to ensure business continuity for the

College under adverse conditions.

Planning for the network architecture redesign

because much of the existing equipment has

reached end-of-life, is no longer supported by the

original manufacturers, and lacks the redundancy

needed to ensure consistent services. This redes-

ign will result in the replacement of the old net-

work with state-of-the-art technology, capable of

supporting all current and future initiatives within

the College. The vision is to:

Consolidate all individual college campus

networks into a single system to improve

support and reduce operational costs

through the creation of a “one College”

support model.

Provide wireless network access for the

entire College community on all the cam-

puses.

Establish a Disaster Recovery and Test

Environment that will allow seamless

failover for critical operations while a

production system is updated or re-

paired.

FY11 ANNUAL REPORT—6

Implemented a Security Incident Reporting

System to increase student and employee safety.

The system ensures that the College is able to

meet Federal and State reporting requirements

(CLERY Act) for security incidents.

Deployed Hi-Def Digital IP Camera monitoring

system to provide a more robust security moni-

toring system and improve safety for students

and constituents visiting the Takoma Park/Silver

Spring Campus.

Assisted the Office of Human Resources to deploy

the Taleo Recruiting system to improve MC’s

process for faculty and staff recruiting.

Assisted the Office of Business Services to deploy

TouchNet Cashiering to improve services to MC’s

students during payment process.

Deployed the first phase of EDU mobile web, a

mobile technology to allow students and other

College constituents to access MyMC services via

mobile devices.

Worked with the Office of Facilities to complete

the opening of the Rockville Science Center and

to provide the College with the ability to deliver

state of the art science educational services to

students and the College community.

IT Application Services supports a wide variety of

computer system applications that are internally

managed and remotely hosted. These applications

support services delivered directly to students and

assist staff to manage daily College operations. IT

Application Services continues to seek to identify

“best of breed” applications along with deployment

best practices to minimize operational and support

cost while maximizing services to the College. The IT

Application Services team provides liaison support

to the Office of Facilities to ensure that computer

applications and infrastructure in renovated and

newly constructed facilities are deployed in the most

efficient and effective manner.

Top Initiatives and Accomplishments FY11:

Assisted the Office of Distance Education and

Learning Technologies to deploy improved

learning management system capabilities

through Blackboard 9.1 Learning Management

System migration. This migration involved mov-

ing WebCT users and course content to the

Blackboard Management System application.

Implemented a Book Store Link in Banner to

provide students with the ability to see their

course sections’ book cost and the location of

the campus bookstore.

IT Applications Services

“IT Application Services is responsible for deploying computer applications and services to assure the efficient

delivery of these services to meet the current needs of the College community with a vision to the future and in

a cost effective manner.“

James Luallen, Manager, Information Services

A number of Montgomery College students must take at least one developmental math course to build their basic academic skills. IT Applications assisted the Math department with deployment of MathLabPlus, a new learning approach to assist students in the develop-mental math program. John Hamman, Chair of the Germantown Mathematics Department, credits this application with advancing the basic mathematics skills of at least 2,700 students since the application was deployed.

FY11 ANNUAL REPORT—7

The IT Privacy & Cybersecurity Compliance team

works to assure continued security of the College’s

critical information technology resources, assets,

processes, and networks by proactively increasing

awareness of and compliance with legal, computer

and network standards, contracts, best practices,

professional ethics, and individual and collective

responsibilities.

Top Initiatives and Accomplishments FY11:

Outreach to 28 College departments regarding

their records retention practices. This effort, in

addition to determining updates to the legally

required retention schedule, also opened the

door to determine the status of electronic

records as well as the scanning efforts; both

important cogs in records management.

Deployment of a logging server to provide real

time threat monitoring. This is a substantial

increase in MC’s information security posture.

Following up on FY10’s Payment Card Industry

Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) initiatives, the

IT Privacy & Cybersecurity Compliance team

worked with Admissions & Enrollment Manage-

ment to create employee training materials and

with the Office of Business Services to develop

an E-Commerce Standard to use as an educa-

tional tool. Credit card outreach was completed

to the PAC, English Department, WDCE, and

Auxiliary Services on the proper ways to accept

credit cards. Failure in this area could result in

heavy fines or in the possibility that the College

would not be able to accept credit cards.

Began data surveys with the Office of Human

Resources and the Office of Procurement to

determine which personnel deal with confidential

data and in which form. This will allow the data

owner to be more aware of usage within its area

and further allows IT to help secure data in the

forms necessary to complete necessary College

operations.

IT Privacy & Cybersecurity Compliance Services

“IT Privacy and Cybersecurity Compliance provides services which help the College community secure and pro-tect the Privacy and Security of College data each day. The Technical services, however, can only protect the data so far, so IT Privacy and Cybersecurity Compliance is constantly implementing new ways each day to fos-ter compliance, engage and inform the staff and students, and to make data security a priority.

Patrick Feehan, IT Privacy & Cybersecurity Compliance Director

MC students were invited to

play a computing safety

game, take a survey, and en-

ter to win a netbook. Over

2,000 individuals responded.

Jailynne, a Nursing student at

the Takoma Park/Silver

Spring Campus, was the 2011

lucky winner !

Education and Awareness Activities

for Montgomery College Students

The IT Privacy & Cybersecurity Compliance team also

craft activities to encourage student interest in the

protection of data at Montgomery College..

The team promoted the

2011 Educause Information

Security Awareness Poster

Contest to MC’s students.

Rockville Campus student

Michael Lado’s entry, Take It

From Red, won the Silver

Prize! His entry is now being

used in the College’s campus

awareness campaigns. $1,000 Silver Prize

Safety Quiz Winner

FY11 ANNUAL REPORT—8

During FY11 the Office of Information Technology focused its efforts on service and building upon a culture of

service. Of particular attention, was reorganizing the Office of Information Technology into service tiers,

streamlining responsibilities in order to enhance technology services as well as continuing to enhance the tech-

nology infrastructure of the College to ensure a robust, reliable and secure infrastructure. OIT’s role in achiev-

ing the vision of being a nationally recognized model of education excellence will be realized through the dedi-

cation of the OIT employees to service, collaboration and innovation.

As we plan for the future, we will remain diligent in our efforts in these key areas. The unit will continue to fo-

cus on fiscal accountability through the identification of cost savings, enhanced planning and project manage-

ment processes and the alignment of OIT resources based upon institutional priorities. We will also continue

the important work associated with the core mission of the College. Examples of important initiatives planned

include the creation of virtual computing environments, design of a new network infrastructure to improve

performance and our response capability associated with disasters, upgrades to key systems and technology

platforms, initiate limited, live, real-time streaming of locally produced and eligible acquired, licensed pro-

gramming and enhancement to the IT Service Desk, Self-Service to include a Service Catalog. The future will

provide further opportunities to continue to build on the culture of service initiated in FY11.

OIT Leadership Team

(front row, from left to right)

Mike Russell, VP/CIO

Kathie La Martina, IT Client Support Services

Donna Schena, IT Business Services

Patrick Feehan, Privacy & Cybersecurity Compliance

(back row, from left to right)

Melissa Pace, ITV and Media Production Services

John Savage, Chief Technology Officer

Doug Griffith, Instructional Technology Services

James Luallen, IT Applications Services

Planning for the Future

FY11 ANNUAL REPORT— 9