Daily Bulletin

Thursday, July 25, 1996

Changes in computing at UW

I have begun the process of reorganizing DCS, DP, and Telephone Services into one Department of Information Systems and Technology. To date, a series of meetings with all the managers resulted in a high-level description of eight functional units. A working group of IST staff was commissioned for each unit, with a mandate to flesh out the descriptions through a series of open meetings, resulting in working group reports that were on my desk when I returned from holidays on July 8. Those reports have been circulated within IST and to members of UCIST (University Committee for Information Systems and Technology) for comment.

Discussions have begun on the design and implementation of a new career structure for the department, extending technical jobs into higher USG ratings, on the one hand, and setting up a framework for more flexible and frequent changes in job responsibilities, including movement between managerial and technical positions. A working group will be set up shortly to pursue this. Subsequent steps will involve putting senior managerial and technical staff in place, followed by assignment of other staff. This will clearly take some time.

As suggested by the 1996 Computing Directions Statement, UCC has been replaced by UCIST, with membership expanded to include broader representation from the academic-support areas. I chair the committee, which serves as a forum for discussion of university-wide issues related to IST, and is advisory to the Provost and myself on such issues. The other members are the six Associate Deans of Computing, someone from the Library, and the other Associate Provosts and the Director of Business Services.

I have become more intimately acquainted and involved with the four major institutional initiatives: the Financial Systems Project, the Student Information Systems Project, the Human Resources Management Systems Project, and the Tri-University Library System Project. I am becoming concerned at our ability as an institution to meet all of our IS responsibilities in a timely manner, and expect to have a concrete business plan within two months. My objective here will be to plan how UW will conduct all of its business processes in Spring 1999, and the resource demands required to meet that deadline. That plan will necessitate hard compromises between functionality, cost, and timeliness on a scale not previously encountered at UW.

I will be consulting widely with the UW community and senior management over the next several months, in an effort to develop and agree on this business plan and its implications.

I have also begun the process of evaluating our telephone system with a view to replacement in a cost-effective manner. The current telephone switch is so old that it cannot run software that Bell supports, our inventory of telephone handsets is so old that replacements and repairs are increasingly problematic, and there are a number of constituencies around campus that could take advantage of new telephony features that the current switch cannot support. While this is not as difficult a problem to solve as those described above, it is not obvious how to proceed towards a responsible and financially sound solution.

I have enjoyed meeting many new colleagues within IST and around campus, and would like to encourage members of the UW community to contact me with any comments they might have about my responsibilities, or about IST priorities and directions as they see them.

Happening today, briefly

The teaching resource office sponsors a seminar on "Intelligent Learning Environments in Engineering and Science Higher Education", at 2 p.m. in Davis Centre room 1304. The speaker is James H. Kane of Clarkson University, where several companies (including Waterloo Maple) have provided software for "a completely immersive system".

Eggs and bananas in the Village

Each House in Village 1 was asked to sponsor an event that emphasised participation and team work, rather than skill. Ten such events were created: an egg toss, Wet 'n' Wild (water carrying), Slip 'n' Slide Basketball, Nerd Olympics (trivia quiz), banana eating, tug-of-war, musical chairs, Killer obstacle course, earthball soccer, and Waterball (moving an overhead ball with fire hoses).

An extensive advertising campaign was developed and Graphic Services donated all printing and copying that was needed. As well, Village Council wanted to offer a large number of prizes to Villagers as rewards for participation. With the help of Bud Walker, Village Council approached all of the ancillary operations. Housing, Computer Store, Food Services, Bookstore, Gift Shop, and Graphics Express were all very generous. In addition, several of the student societies on campus provided prizes.

The opening ceremonies were held at Fed Hall on July 12, beginning with a barbecue followed by a volleyball/pool tournament. The Olympics started at 10:30 Saturday morning after the Waterloo fire department drove a fire truck along the Village Green with the sirens blaring calling people from the All You Can Eat pancake breakfast, provided by Food Services. The weather was not very co-operative and early attendance was low with about 100 people competing. The events were well planned and participation grew over the day. By the time the sun came out from behind the clouds there were about 250 people competing. Village Council could not have hoped for a better turnout. Waterball turned out to be the best event of the day, as apparently everyone like to play with fire hoses at full pressure. The day ended with a disco party where a highlight video of the day's events was shown. Prizes were awarded for participation, first and second place.

The Olympic planners would like to thank all the participants in the Olympics as well as all those who donated the many prizes. It was this combination of people and prizes which made the day worthwhile. Bud Walker and the Village 1 Dons deserve special acknowledgement for their outstanding contribution.

And a couple of final notes

Tomorrow is the last day of classes for the spring term. I see that Fed Hall is planning an end-of-term blowout -- but students in the Economics Society will be partying 24 hours early, with a pub night this evening at the Fox and Pheasant.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond -- credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004 Comments to the editor | About the Bulletin Yesterday's Bulletin