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Year-end Status Update

In 2006 ITS created an E-Communication Implementation Team to address the recommendations put forth in the final report produced by E-Communication Review Team.  The Implementation Team convened in January 2006 and created a set of activities necessary to support the recommendations.  In some cases, recommendations were identified as future projects based on the current technological environment.

Activities centered around three primary initiatives.  The first initiative was to automate provisioning activities where possible.  Second, education and training for the campus.  Third, increasing email quotas on Blue and Exchange.  A major sub project resulting from the quota increase was the re-architecture or replacement of the Blue Cluster to support the larger quotas. 

Detailed activities, categorized by recommendation, follow:

  1. Continue to support the Blue Cluster and the Exchange services.  Support any unit that requests moving their entire population from the Blue Cluster to Exchange with appropriate notice.
    • Met with collegiate partners to discuss the differences between Blue Cluster email and Exchange email and provided the option to move student groups to Exchange.  Student exchange accounts were created by college request using DNA batch conversion process
      • College of Dentistry migrated 400 students to Exchange
      • College of Law moved 750 students to Exchange
      • College of Business moved 220 fulltime MBA and PhD students to Exchange
      • College of Business is in the process of moving 3900 undergraduate students (Business and Pre-Business) to Exchange

  1. Improve webmail performance on the Blue Cluster.
    • Completed additional testing to establish Webmail responsiveness and determined that the current webmail performance has improved with upgrade to GB speed across the blue cluster machines.

     

  2. Enhance the Exchange Service as needed to accommodate any unit request that, with appropriate notice, their entire population be moved to Exchange.
    • Completed infrastructure upgrades
      • Installed and configured CX700 (SAN Controller Upgrade)
      • Added disk in support of new quota levels
      Implemented internal pilot for Exchange 2007
  1. Raise disk quotas significantly. The underlying hardware should be configured to easily handle additional increases in the future.
    • Established new quota levels
      • Faculty/Staff 250/300/350
      • Graduate Students100/150/200
      • Undergraduate students increased to 50/75/100
    • Identified the Cyrus architecture as a replacement for the Blue Cluster
    • Enhanced the existing Blue Cluster
      • Webmail Interface Upgrade (IMP) was completed in August 2006
      • Message size increased from 20 megabytes to 30 megabytes completed in March 2006
      • Recommendation on strategy to replace the Blue Cluster email service will be complete in December, 2006
  2. Improve the quota processing on the Blue Cluster to warn users at the soft and hard quota limits, and make it easier to recover once the disk quota has been exceeded.
    • This requirement will be included in the replacement system for the Blue Cluster

     

  3. Reduce the amount of spam.
    • Proposal has been created to increase the spam rejection from 99% probability to 90% probability.  This will be implemented in Jan 2007.

     

  1. Continue to support the standard University email address (firstname-lastname@uiowa.edu) and off-campus routing.  Adjust policies and educate students about the risks of routing email off-campus.
    • Provided DNA tool to new Exchange Collegiate units to monitor and educate users about off-campus routing.  Off-campus routing of mail that was sent by an on-campus Exchange user does not route to the off- campus target

     

  1. Provide the infrastructure to allow faculty, staff, and students to easily send email from off campus using the same desktop email client (Eudora, Netscape, Outlook, etc.) used on campus.
    • This recommendation will be addressed when the replacement for the Blue Cluster is identified and implemented
  1. Better publicize desktop client availability for both on and off campus use.
    • Education campaign took place in spring/summer 2006 educating users on clients, anti spam, and other electronic etiquette issues

     

  2. Coordinate with other email providers on campus and at other Regents institutions to align message size policies and filter/reject policies.
    • Message sizes were increased from 20 mb to 30 mb and new quotas were set based on benchmarking and data gathering

     

  1. Consult with other email providers both on and off campus/on campus to propose and support methods of moving and sharing large files now sent via email.
    • Electronic etiquette education and training in spring/summer 2006

     

  1. Accommodate sending encrypted documents and using digital signatures.
    • Identified as a future project

     

  1. Study creating both student and faculty/staff portals to present information such as University calendars and academic deadlines that is now sent via email.
    • Identified as a future project

     

  1. Provide more education about the proper and effective use of electronic communications.
    • Electronic Etiquette and education and training provided in spring/summer 2006.