IT Professionals Forum Conference

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Spring 2015 Conference

Spring 2015 Theme

AITS the Urbana campus IT Professionals Forum is June 11, 2015 at the iHotel and Conference Center. The theme for the 2015 Spring IT Professionals Forum event is: "IT Barbecue." This theme centers on the core objectives of the IT Professionals Forum and provides a venue to connect, learn, and share.

IT Barbecue

Join friends and colleagues at the IT Pro Forum for a neighborhood gathering of IT pros sharing their best recipes for success through one of these four tracks:

Fire Up The Grill

Ignite the grill's burner and bring it up to temperature…

Whether you're cooking over charcoal or gas, you need big iron to support your barbecue. The computing infrastructure makes the rest of IT possible.

Presentation topics can include:

  • Infrastructure
  • Hardware
  • Technical Topics
  • Endpoint Management
  • Data Sources
  • Software / Programming
  • Networking (Wired and Wireless)
  • Mobile

The Grill Master

The best barbecues have an experienced hand at the grill, planning the ingredients and determining the correct quantities and timing to feed the whole neighborhood.

Presentation topics can include:

  • Vision
  • Leadership
  • Governance
  • Project Management
  • Professional Development
  • Training

Higher Education Special Sauce

What makes the IT Pro Forum distinct from other IT conferences is its focus on higher education. The University environment brings special ingredients to the IT needs of its people.

Presentation topics can include:

  • Education
  • Teaching
  • Research
  • Data Curation
  • Outreach

Neighborhood Block Party

Invite all the people in the neighborhood to the IT party! This involves communicating the plans, organizing potluck collaboration, and telling the IT story: sharing everyone's latest projects and accomplishments.

Presentation topics can include:

  • Communication
  • Collaboration
  • Shared Services
  • People Networking
  • User Community Engagement
  • User-Centric Design
  • Help Desk
  • Customer Service

Spring 2015 Schedule

  • 8:00 - 9:00 a.m.: Registration and Breakfast - Oustide of Chancellor Room
  • 9:00 - 9:45 a.m.
    • Keynote - IT Vision & Strategy
      Mark Henderson, CIO
      Mark Henderson will present his vision for supporting the campus research, educational, and public engagement missions.
      Location: Chancellor Ballroom
  • 10:00 - 10:45 a.m.
    • Data visualization for IT Pros: Grilling up the perfect charts and graphs.
      Jacob Vann, AITS; Dimuthu Tilakaratne, AITS
      Is your fridge full of raw data, but you don't know how to grill up the perfect meal with it? Learn the recipes and secret sauces to take your raw data and grill it to perfection, using tools like Tableau and Excel. Take what you learn and collaborate to take real data and make more meaningful charts.
      Location: Lincoln Room
      Track: Fire Up The Grill
    • From Backyard BBQ to Taste of Champaign
      Julia Hart, Graduate College; Tom Kunka, Technology Services at Illinois
      This session focuses on finding the right level of collaboration, knowing when to take your backyard conversation and turn it into something more. From understanding the roots of a collaborative community to sharing how to get involved, this session provides insight into successful collaborations. It is based on an article co-authored by the speakers,'Just Show Up: Creating Collaborative Communities.'
      Location: Humanities
      Track: Neighborhood Block Party
    • Identity and Access Management (IAM) - It's really coming!
      Mark Pollard, AITS; Brian Mertz,_Technology Services at Illinois
      The One ID and Password (OIDPW) phase of the Identity and Access Management (IAM) is now scheduled to go-live on the Urbana campus in October of 2015. Come learn what's going live, what you need to do to prepare and see a demo of the product.
      PDF link
      Location: Chancellor Ballroom
      Track: Fire Up The Grill
    • Service Desk Management Front-End - A Case Study in Project Management
      Noni Ledford, AITS; John Cowsert, AITS; Vince Wiley, AITS
      Service Desk Management application gets a face lift. We will show you an example of running a real project, the challenges we encountered along the way and how we've resolved the issues and came up with a 'great' product.
      PDF link
      Location: Technology Room
      Track: The Grill Master
    • So You Want To Be A Manager?
      Brad Mahaffey, Engineering IT Shared Services
      Focusing on IT professionals who want to advance their career track into management, this presentation will discuss the challenges new managers often face in this transition, and ways to overcome and be successful in their new role. This session is being sponsored by IT Manager Development Program.
      Location: Quad Room
      Track: The Grill Master
    • Web APIs as a Platform for Enabling Application and Service Development
      Andy Gherna, _Technology Services at Illinois; Jeff Dimpsey, Technology Services at Illinois
      CITES has been hard at work developing new Web-based APIs to enable developers across campus. We will discuss the principles behind web APIs, show some of what's available, and how to apply it to your own applications.
      Location: Alma Mater Room
      Track: Fire Up The Grill
  • 11:00 - 11:45 a.m.
    • 2-Step Authentication
      Chris Barton, AITS; Joe Barnes, Technology Services at Illinois; Jared Ross, AITS; Jeff Heckel, AITS
      2-Step Authentication provides identification of users with the combination of two different components. Something you know (password) with something you have (phone/portable device). It adds an extra layer of protection to the standard password method being used. 2-Step Authentication is currently installed at the University of Illinois and is being looked at to be installed in front of Banner Forms.
      Location: Alma Mater Room
      Track: Neighborhood Block Party
    • Grilling Up Governance: Bringing your Ingredients to the IT BBQ
      Sol Roberts-Lieb, College of Fine & Applied Arts; James Quisenberry, University Housing
      What is IT Governance? What does it mean to you? How Do you get involved? Learn about recent changes to IT Governance and how to participate. This session will be a brief presentation on Governance with the majority of time spent gathering of ideas from you on how to both improve the process and how to drive success.
      Location: Technology Room
      Track: The Grill Master
    • Mobile Computing on Campus
      Jim Caputo, AITS; Robert Baird, CITL; Amy Hovious, Technology Services at Illinois; RJ Kunde, CITL
      Last IT pro forum, our team presented its plan to improve mobile computing at the University of Illinois. This time around, we bring to you the results and progress in identifying those areas which will cause the greatest impact, obtained directly from students and staff. Some of the findings may surprise you!
      Location: Chancellor Ballroom
      Track: Fire Up The Grill
    • Yoking the Clients
      Liam Moran, CITL _ ATLAS Instructional Media Resources
      Modern web browsers are powerful pieces of software: websockets, webRTC, new HTML5 capabilities are largely going under-exploited. Combined with a client-side web application framework, there's potential for delivering highly interactive web experiences supported by minimalist backends. Let's demonstrate some new browser capabilities while exploring the advantages of moving work from server to client.
      Location: Humanities
      Track: Fire Up The Grill
  • 11:45 - 1:00 p.m.: Vendors, Poster Sessions, Networking & Lunch, Illinois Ballroom
  • 1:00 - 1:45 p.m.
    • Feedback 101: Understanding and Creating a Feedback Culture
      Dave Mussulman; Mike Bohlmann; Jim HurstIrene Sakellarakis
      Giving or receiving feedback can be an uncomfortable exchange, but the benefits to yourself and organization far outweigh the negatives. Join us to explore terms, mechanics and methods used to build a feedback culture.
      Location: Alma Mater Room
      Track: Neighborhood Block Party
    • How do I use these tongs? Getting the most out of IEM.
      Thomas Webb, Engineering IT Shared Services; Gavin Flure, Engineering IT Shared Services
      Do you manage Windows endpoints? Are you looking for ways to automate and simplify? Are you new to IEM and looking for ways to make it work for you? We'll talk about our experience using IEM in the College of Engineering, along with tips and tricks to get the most bang for your buck.
      PDF link
      Location: Technology Room
      Track: Fire Up The Grill
    • Marketing Yourself and Your Tools to Faculty: Insignts From A Year of Cyberinfrastructure
      Rob Watson, Technology Services at Illinois
      The Year of Cyberinfrastructure effort has spent months meeting with faculty and graduate students in an attempt to understand their problems, needs, and concerns. In this session we'll discuss those findings as they relate to what faculty and graduate students want from IT Pros, including local IT, CITES, and AITS.
      Location: Quad Room
      Track: Neighborhood Block Party
    • State of Web Accessibility at University of Illinois
      Jon Gunderson, Disability Resources and Education Services
      Data will be presented on the current state of web accessibility at the University of Illinois using the Functional Accessibility Evaluator 2.0 technology. The session will engage the audience in a discussion of what IT professionals need to learn about and improve the implementation of the Level A and AA requirements of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0.
      Location: Humanities
      Track: The Grill Master
    • Using Tableau to Tell the Story
      Kathryn Courtney, University Housing Technology Services; Nate Britton,University Housing Technology Services
      Want to make your data sizzle? Need to ignite interest your reports? Tableau is here! University Housing has adopted Tableau for interactive data visualization. We'll share what we have done so far and what we have learned in the process.
      Location: Chancellor Ballroom
      Track: Fire Up The Grill
  • 2:00 - 2:45 p.m.
    • How to maintain one of the largest supercomputers in the world!
      Sharif Islam, NCSA
      In this talk I will provide a technical overview of Blue Waters _ one of the most powerful and largest supercomputers in the world. In addition to the common issues involved in administering any *NIX systems, I will highlight additional challenges related to large-scale system management and usage.
      Location: Technology Room
      Track: Fire Up The Grill
    • Personality Types: Who are you?
      Jay Guelfi, Engineering IT Shared Services; Thomas Webb, Engineering IT Shared Services
      Are you an INFP? ESTJ? How about Blue? Yellow? What do these even mean? They're personality types! Come learn how aspects of your personality affect how you relate to those around you, and how they relate to you! Learn to use this knowledge to be more effective at your job and happier in your life!
      Location: Lincoln Room
      Track: Neighborhood Block Party
    • State/Future of Technology Services Virtual Hosting
      Brent Tuggle, Technology Services at Illinois
      An overview of updates to the CITES Virtual Hosting service. Looking at costs, business models, updated service offerings and infrastructure.
      Location: Alma Mater Room
      Track: Fire Up The Grill
    • Toward an Information and Data Governance Program at the University
      Charles Gibson, AITS; Julia Hart, Graduate College; Dimuthu Tilakaratne, AITS; Rich Gegg, AITS
      The presentation will be a panel discussion by members of the Data Solutions Group committee of the Data Council and others who are working toward an information and data governance strategy across the University. The discussion will cover basic concepts, organizational value, best practices, current efforts and a vision for what could be accomplished at the University.
      Location: Chancellor Ballroom
      Track: The Grill Master
    • Well Done Operating Systems Deployment (OSD)
      Carl Stephens, UIF; Keith Sumlar, Illini Union; Scott Clemens, Library
      Intro to SCCM Replacing BIOS With a UEFI Operating Systems Deployment-SCCM Secure Boot Windows to Go
      Location: Humanities
      Track: Fire Up The Grill
  • 2:45 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.: Vendors, Poster Sessions, Networking & Break
  • 3:15 - 4:0 p.m.
    • Classy Data Management
      Larry Dunham, Office of Privacy and Information Assurance
      The University is charged with storing all sorts of data, some of which has special handling requirements based on legal, regulatory and/or policy requirements. This session is designed to be a primer on understanding the basic types, and how the requirements could affect projects.
      Location: Lincoln Room
      Track: The Grill Master
    • New Business Intelligence Technologies for the University of Illinois
      Mike Wonderlich, AITS; Amanda Bodine, AITS; Jennifer Selk, AITS; Jim Clennon, AITS
      The recent upgrade of Business Intelligence has provided new functionality in reports and data visualization. Also, the recent announcement of Tableau Server provides even more data visualization options. This poster session is an opportunity for people to learn more about these technologies available to everyone.
      Location: Technology Room
      Track: Fire Up The Grill
    • Observations from 'A Year of Cyberinfrastructure at Illinois'
      Chuck Thompson; David Gerstenecker; Heidi Imker
      Since the Fall 2014 IT Pro Forum, the Year of Cyberinfrastructure initiative ('Year of CI', http://cyberinfrastructure.illinois.edu/) conducted over 30 focus group sessions with faculty from around campus and also broadly surveyed faculty, postdocs, and graduate students. This session will provide an overview of what has been learned plus give an update on the development of the Campus CI Master Plan.
      Location: Alma Mater Room
      Track: Higher Education Special Sauce
    • Online Training Available Through Illinois Compass 2g
      Rick Hazelwood, Technology Services at Illinois
      Need to train people and want to do it online with records kept for you? You can join the departments that have moved their training using Illinois Compass 2g as its platform. Come learn how you can get your training started using third party training materials, videos, tests, etc.
      Location: Humanities
      Track: The Grill Master
    • Philosophy of Information Technology, the Remix
      Dave Mussulman, Engineering IT Shared Services
      Inspired by scholarly rambling faculty (and George Carlin), Dave will speak frankly about how we perceive IT. Dropping more knowledge than a Texas school board, he will encourage you to challenge your assumptions about our field. Revisited from a spring 2014 talk, this time we throw managers and your stalled career path on the barbie.
      Location: Chancellor Ballroom
      Track: The Grill Master
    • Streaming Applications with Citrix
      Chris Hendricksen, Technology Services at Illinois; Manu Pulikkan, Engineering IT; Thomas Webb, Engineering IT
      With Citrix XenDesktop, we can provide Windows applications to OSX, Linux, and Windows devices as well as iOS and Android mobile devices. Technology Services @ Illinois is partnering with Engineering to provide access to ICS lab applications on a pilot basis to courses across campus. Engineering is hosting a pilot on their current Citrix instance across several Engineering research groups. We'll be sharing what we've learned about application virtualization and where we are headed in the future.
      Location: Quad Room
      Track: Fire Up The Grill
  • 4:00 - 4:30 p.m.: Closing & Prize Giveaways (must be present to win)
  • 4:30 p.m.: ITPF Connect Event - Illinois Ballroom

Spring 2015 Poster Sessions

  • Business Process Improvement Shared Service - Spring 2015
    Marc Carlton, University Administration; Amy Glenn, University Administration
    Track: The Grill Master
  • Campus Digital Signage
    Andrew Wadsworth
    Explore the latest digital signage service offerings.
    Track: Neighborhood Block Party
  • Data Solutions Group
    Julia Hart
    The Data Solutions Group poster session will provide an overview of the vision of this group, efforts that are currently underway, as well as explain how you can get involved in this collaborative effort.
    Track: Neighborhood Block Party
  • Finding the Right Spices and Ingredients
    Richard Gegg; Brent West
    Information Governance, like a good BBQ dry-rub or sauce, depends on finding the right ingredients in the right mix. This recipe can help system management and development efforts by encouraging collaboration and identifying future resource needs. Use your culinary skills to help us get a taste for what data, information, and system ingredients you utilize in your 'Recipe for success'.
    Track: The Grill Master
  • iFLEX: Illinois Flexible Learning Experience
    Ava Wolf
    The University of Illinois recently branded their collaborative learning classrooms iFLEX which stands for the Illinois Flexible Learning Experience. The naming process involved the efforts of faculty and staff from five campus units, and has energized a vibrant and growing campus community around the common goal of student-centered teaching and learning. This poster highlights different facets of the campus community.
    Track: Neighborhood Block Party
  • Launching Transformative Technology in Advancement
    Bruce Adams; Heather Hafner; Mike Davis
    The Advance Illinois Project Team is approaching Go-Live in October for a suite of service lines that will transform philanthropy at the University of Illinois. This poster session is devised to inform tech professionals across campus lines about how the work of their colleagues in advancement and development will change with the new set of tools AI is implementing.
    Track: Neighborhood Block Party
  • Mac Backups on the Cheap
    James Lane; Allison Payne
    With homemade charcoal and a second-hand grill, you, too, can set up a fully-functional Mac Backup system.
    Track: Fire Up The Grill
  • Office 365 Pro Plus
    Andrew Nichols; Devin Gengelbach
    A preview of Office 365 Pro Plus, a cloud-based click-to-run version of Office available for desktops and mobile devices and can be accessed by students and faculty/staff using your UOFI Active Directory account.
    Track: Fire Up The Grill
  • Shared Services Block Party
    Candice Solomon-Strutz; Larry Gibson
    Come learn about several shared services which include cloud data storage, online collaboration workspaces, website hosting, remote desktop support and discounted software distribution.
    Track: Neighborhood Block Party
  • SharePoint Shared Service - Spring 2015
    Tom Kunka; Noni Ledford
    This poster will provide an overview of the SharePoint Shared Service. SharePoint Users Group and Operations Team will discuss the service offering, features and benefits.
    Track: Neighborhood Block Party
  • Start MyResearch - Spring 2015
    Chris Bland; AJ Lavender
    Poster about Start MyResearch initiatives
    Track: Higher Education Special Sauce
  • What's new with Unified Communications
    Kevin Bird; Josh Mickle
    Poster session concerning upcoming information on Unified Communications
    Track: Fire Up The Grill

Acknowledgements

Fall 2015 IT Pro Forum Planning Committee

Chair: Matt McNeilly
Vice Chair: Noni Ledford

Lori Beeson
Amanda Bland
Lindy Carlisle
Michael Cervone
Judi Geistlinger
David Gerstenecker
Shane Greenarch
Jay Guelfi
Maranda Harden
Ashley Hetrick
Tony Hillen
Alice Jones
Candice Solomon-Strutz
Dena Strong
Rob Watson