IT Professionals Forum Conference

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Fall 2022 Conference

Building IT Together - IT PRO FORUM Fall 2022 - NOVEMBER 2nd & 3rd

The IT Professionals Forum Fall 2022 conference was held Wednesday - Thursday, November 2nd - 3rd, 2022.

This was a virtual, no-cost conference for a wide-variety of sessions for all manner of people working in or adjacent to IT.

This fall's theme, "Building IT Together," focused on how all of us collaborate together to create and build IT solution inside and outside of the IT community with these conference tracks:

  •   Hardware, Infrastructure, and other Metal Gear
  •  Software, Development and DevOps
  •  Remote/Hybrid Work and Management: Tips and Practices
  •  Security/Accessibility and Other Risk Management
  •  Data: Management, Storage, or Analysis
  •  Collaboration and Process Management

Day 1: Wednesday, November 2

  • 8:45am-9:45am: Keynote Address
    • Fall 2022 Keynote, Welcome and Greg Gulick Service Excellence Award
      Aaron Walz, Senior Director and Department Head of Information Technology for the Colleges of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University
      The IT Pro Forum kicks off with remarks by this Forum's chair, Travis Ashmore, followed by the announcement of the Greg Gulick Service Excellence Award, then the Keynote address by Aaron Walz.
  • 10:00am-10:45am: Concurrent Sessions
    • IT Pro Orientation
      Dena Strong, Technology Services
      Confused by the University's generous helpings of acronym soup? Not sure who's responsible for what after all the reorganizations and transfers? Come to IT Pro Orientation, where we'll help each other parse the acronyms and reconnect the dots.
      Track: Collaboration and Process Management
    • Custom Dashboard and Report in Canvas
      James Witte, ATLAS; Mary Jo Licht, SAAO College of LAS
      Presenting a custom Canvas dashboard for managing the taking of attendance in a large course with a staff of nearly 100 TAs and interns, and a custom Canvas attendance report to identify at-risk students with excessive absences. Both the dashboard and report were built using the Canvas API.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps
    • Women in Technology
      Candice Solomon-Strutz, Chemistry; Cordelia Geiken, Technology Services; Leslie Sherman, IT Partners @ College of Education & Council on Teacher Education; Debbie Fligor, Technology Services
      The WIT Leadership team will facilitate an open discussion about the Women in Technology Group (WIT), which provides a forum for discussing issues facing women in IT in general and on campus, networking, coaching, and coordinating outreach efforts to girls considering IT as a career. We will cover the successful events, including the return of a fall mentoring/peer coaching program, as well as exciting new collaborations and opportunities.
      Track: Collaboration and Process Management
  • 11:00am-11:45am: Concurrent Sessions
    • Cybersecurity Year in Review
      Edward Delaporte, Cybersecurity; Prabha Manda, Technology Services; Taylor Judd, Technology Services; Mark Wenneborg, Technology Services
      Come join us for a peek inside the Cybersecurity team's activities over the last year. We will discuss some adventures we took, interesting cybersecurity incidents, updates to campus tools, and a bit on plans for the next year that cover the full gamut of our offerings. Join us while we reminisce about the past year, and look forward to future adventures together.
      Track: Security, Accessibility and Other Risk Management
    • What's New with Apple in Enterprise
      Paul Roberts, Technology Services; Kyle Bareis, Apple
      With the fall releases from Apple, come and learn about what has changed with iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. We will cover new end user functionality, management functionality, and planning your testing and upgrade process.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps
    • Skype to Teams Migration Q&A
      Eric Frahm, Technology Services; Mike Cervone, Technology Services
      We invite campus professionals to be part of our continuing conversation around the migration in progress to move our campus telephone services from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams online. This session will provide any update in our timelines and lessons learned so far and then invite attendees to bring questions and concerns to the community.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps
  • 12:00pm-1:15pm: Lunch
  • 1:30pm-2:15pm: Concurrent Sessions
    • Chat with Mairéad Martin
      Mairéad Martin, CIO
      Chat with Mairéad Martin, our new CIO, about what's top of mind.
      Track: Collaboration and Process Management
    • Course Building Made Easy: An Introduction to DesignPLUS
      Rachel Martiniak, Technology Services
      This presentation will provide an introduction to DesignPLUS, a new suite of tools that are available in the Canvas learning management system. With these new tools, you'll be able to quickly and efficiently build course content in your Canvas courses. This presentation will include a brief demo of the Design Tools Sidebar and the Multi Tool.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps
    • Automating AD Audits: Regular Review to Avoid Serious Scouring
      Kathleen Booth, Engineering IT Shared Services
      An overview of Engineering IT's automated Active Directory audit framework. We use narrowly focused scripts that automatically run on a regular schedule and create tickets pre-assigned to the correct staff of any clean-up needed. This keeps the workload in small timely chunks, the AD more accurate and secure, review actually happens regularly, and it requires less oversight than the former large manual process. I will discuss why we did this, the benefits, how it is set up, relevant policies and decisions, required pre-conditions, what the structure looks like, what checks we have deployed now, and our plans for adding new ones.
      Track: Security, Accessibility and Other Risk Management
  • 2:30pm-3:15pm: Concurrent Sessions
    • Everything Email - An Overview of Email Services
      Ron McGettrick, Technology Services - Internet Communications Team; Lee Alexander, Technology Services - Internet Communications Team; Eric Frahm, Tech Services - Internet Communications Team; Lance Campbell, Web Services
      So you just sent an email or you just received one, have you ever wondered how your email goes from point A to B and all the hops and checks it goes through before you have received the email or the person you sent the email receives your message? Have you ever wondered how many total amounts of emails that the University of Illinois Email processes on a daily basis? Or how emails are quarantined to protect you from receiving email threats from bad actors trying to send you phishing or malware? The answers to these questions will be discussed in the presentation of the University of Illinois Email System and its various services.
      Track: Hardware, Infrastructure, and other Metal Gear
    • "How Did They Do That?" Under the Hood with Illinois Themed Websites
      Melissa Waller, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences; Bryan Jonker, IT Partners, College of Education; Robert Slater, Technology Services
      Did you know Bevier Cafe's menu runs on publish.illinois.edu? Or that the College of Education's Study Abroad browser uses the Illinois Theme to present data pulled from GitHub? Join members of the Web Implementation Guidelines Group for a look under the hood of some of the coolest interfaces built with Illinois Theme components - and learn how the pieces work together so you can easily build similar interfaces for your sites.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps
    • Deploying IAM Services in the AWS Cloud
      Jon Roma, Technology Services; Erik Coleman, Technology Services
      The Technology Services Identity & Access Management team has chosen to deploy multiple InCommon-supported platform components using Docker images in Amazon Web Services (AWS). These deployments use the AWS Elastic Container Service (ECS) ad infrastructure as code using Terraform. We also created a GitHub Actions workflow to automate the partial deployment of the image as an ECS service. We'll give an overview of the technology, and will demonstrate how we deploy these services.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps
  • 3:30pm-4:15pm: Concurrent Sessions
    • The Future of the Cloud Emailer Service
      Eric Frahm, Technology Services; Ron McGettrick, Technology Services
      The Cloud Emailer Service is a service provided to campus units sending email from infrastructure, applications, or SaaS solutions no longer residing on campus. Ongoing issues with vendor contracting are requiring us to revisit the underlying vendor selection and we will be presenting possible alternatives for the future.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps
    • Mapping Library Web Success with Google Analytics 4 Reporting
      John Laskowski, University Library; Helen Zhou, University Library
      We plan to strategically address and avoid the potential traps when it comes to identifying actionable metrics at the proper level of granularity and informing participants on tactically utilizing Google Analytics 4's robust built-in reporting modules. We will then show how these reporting options can be enhanced through the creation of custom reports utilizing Google Tag Manager. Finally, we will bring the process full-circle by addressing the often ignored yet critical stage - informed action. Google Analytics 4's quantifiable reporting lays the groundwork for the Library to implement targeted user experience instruments, gathering qualifiable information that makes enhancements richer and user-driven.
      Track: Data: Management, Storage, or Analysis
    • AWS Automated Account Provisioning
      Ken Taylor, Campus Research IT; Stephen Butler, Technology Services
      This presentation will provide an overview of the AWS Automated Account Provisioning system that allows a user to create an AWS account in five minutes without the need for assistance from the Cloud Enablement team.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps

Day 2: Thursday, November 3

  • 9:00am-9:45am: Concurrent Sessions
    • Operational Excellence and IT - How Each Elevates the Other
      Mairead Martin, Technology Services; Chris Tidrick, IT Partners at Gies College of Business; Scott Genung, Technology Services
      The University is in the second year of driving outcomes from the campus Operational Excellence (Op Ex) initiative. But, what does Op Ex hope to deliver through IT? What does it really mean to the campus IT community? Are there opportunities to shape and leverage Op Ex that benefits our community as well? Please join us for an update on this initiative but also an opportunity for you to influence how IT can leverage Op Ex to strengthen our community.
      Track: Collaboration and Process Management
    • Next Generation Data Analytics Architecture at the University of Illinois
      Rick Getty, AITS; Mike Wonderlich, AITS
      What can a modern data analytics architecture do for you? During this presentation we will describe the technologies that make up the modern day analytics environment and how those technologies can be used for data integration, analysis, and reporting. We will also present the roadmap and high-level implementation plans.
      Track: Data: Management, Storage, or Analysis
    • macOS Security and Scripting Workshop part 1*
      Paul Roberts, Technology Services; Kyle Bareis, Apple
      Security is a top-of-mind topic for many folks within the Apple community. Come to a hands on session that will take you thru the open source macOS Security Compliance Project (MSCP). MSCP is a collection of benchmarks from NIST to CIS and will help inform you on how your fleet is doing regarding security. Half way into this session, we will flip over to our second topic around scripting and logging with a focus on leveling up everyone's scripting chops. We will cover useful tools, code examples, and end user interaction. With both parts of this session, it is best to watch and participate on a separate computer from where we will be running commands and scripting. A test machine is strongly recommended for this session.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps
  • 10:00am-10:45am: Concurrent Sessions
    • Best Practices for Inclusive IT Experiences part 1*
      Keith Hays, Office for Access and Equity
      We often make many assumptions when it comes to offering technical support to persons with disabilities, unintentionally othering and failing to be inclusive despite our best intent. This workshop will dispel some myths surrounding accessibility and invite participants to learn about and apply practical tips for fostering inclusive experiences with IT.
      Track: Security, Accessibility and Other Risk Management
    • Harnessing Innovation to Improve Business Operations - Finding and Using Data part 1*
      Gabe Gibson, Business IT Collaboration; Michelle Rome, College of LAS
      We will be using this workshop to provide feedback, analysis, and evaluation on the winning solution project "Finding and Using Data" from the Business IT Symposium held in October. The first part of this workshop will combine with the "Data Explorers- A Journey in Data Explorers." This discussion will be led by members of the Business IT Data Committee and discuss the importance of data literacy and what we can do to improve data literacy across the campus.
      Track: Collaboration and Process Management
    • Data Explorers - A Journey in Data Literacy
      Michelle Rome, College of LAS
      This discussion will be led by members of the Business IT Data Committee and discuss the importance of data literacy and what we can do to improve data literacy across the campus. This session will combine with the Business IT Collaboration workshop "Harnessing Innovation to Improve Business Operations-Find and Using Data." Participants are welcome to extend their data conversation by attending the "Harnessing Innovation to Improve Business Operations-Find and Using Data part 2*" at 11AM on a Smart Data Bank, a data mentor program, and building a data community.
      Track: Data: Management, Storage, or Analysis
    • macOS Security and Scripting Workshop part 2*
      Paul Roberts, Technology Services; Kyle Bareis, Apple
      Security is a top-of-mind topic for many folks within the Apple community. Come to a hands on session that will take you thru the open source macOS Security Compliance Project (MSCP). MSCP is a collection of benchmarks from NIST to CIS and will help inform you on how your fleet is doing regarding security. Half way into this session, we will flip over to our second topic around scripting and logging with a focus on leveling up everyone's scripting chops. We will cover useful tools, code examples, and end user interaction. With both parts of this session, it is best to watch and participate on a separate computer from where we will be running commands and scripting. A test machine is strongly recommended for this session.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps
  • 11:00am-11:45am: Concurrent Sessions
    • Best Practices for Inclusive IT Experiences part 2*
      Keith Hays, Office for Access and Equity
      We often make many assumptions when it comes to offering technical support to persons with disabilities, unintentionally othering and failing to be inclusive despite our best intent. This workshop will dispel some myths surrounding accessibility and invite participants to learn about and apply practical tips for fostering inclusive experiences with IT.
      Track: Security, Accessibility and Other Risk Management
    • Harnessing Innovation to Improve Business Operations - Finding and Using Data part 2*
      Gabe Gibson, Business IT Collaboration; Michelle Rome, College of LAS
      We will be using this workshop to provide feedback, analysis, and evaluation on the winning solution project "Finding and Using Data" from the Business IT Symposium held in October. The first part of this workshop will combine with the "Data Explorers- A Journey in Data Explorers." This discussion will be led by members of the Business IT Data Committee and discuss the importance of data literacy and what we can do to improve data literacy across the campus.
      Track: Collaboration and Process Management
    • Saying Goodbye is Never Easy: When to Say When to IT Artifacts
      Richard Gegg, RIMS -Records and Information Management Services; Joanne Kaczmarek, RIMS -Records and Information Management Services
      Review the Retention Guide for Information Technology Artifacts and discuss challenges and maturity model development.
      Track: Data: Management, Storage, or Analysis
    • macOS Security and Scripting Workshop part 3*
      Paul Roberts, Technology Services; Kyle Bareis, Apple
      Security is a top-of-mind topic for many folks within the Apple community. Come to a hands on session that will take you thru the open source macOS Security Compliance Project (MSCP). MSCP is a collection of benchmarks from NIST to CIS and will help inform you on how your fleet is doing regarding security. Half way into this session, we will flip over to our second topic around scripting and logging with a focus on leveling up everyone's scripting chops. We will cover useful tools, code examples, and end user interaction. With both parts of this session, it is best to watch and participate on a separate computer from where we will be running commands and scripting. A test machine is strongly recommended for this session.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps
  • 12:00pm-1:30pm: Lunch
  • 1:30pm-2:15pm: Concurrent Sessions
    • What Students Want
      James Quisenberry, Student Affairs Technology; Dan Steward, Sociology
      Our continuing panel returns with four undergraduate students sharing from their experience on the Urbana Campus. Come hear how technology on campus works for them and the challenges they face. This year's forum will include discussions about the return to campus and balancing in-person academic experience with hybrid and remote.
      Track: Collaboration and Process Management
    • Accessibility in the Procurement Process
      Leslie Sherman, IT Partners @ College of Education & Council on Teacher Education; Keith Hays, Office for Access and Equity; Teri Merrell, University of Illinois Purchasing and Contracts Management Office
      This panel will discuss the recent updates to the procurement process to ensure the products we purchase follow the campus Digital Accessibility Policy. Learn how you can help ensure the information and communication services, tools, and applications we implement are inclusive for all of our users.
      Track: Security, Accessibility and Other Risk Management
    • UIC's Red Migration to Pantheon
      Radhika Reddy, Technology Solutions; Kim Charles, Technology Solutions and Strategic Marketing and Communication
      Hello, and welcome to UIC's Red Migration to Pantheon. One of our responsibilities in our vast technical landscape in Technology Solutions is to ensure all public facing sites have reliable infrastructure and modular feature development workflow on UIC's Red (https://red.uic.edu). Currently, Red hosts 38,000 pages that composes 800+ sites on a WordPress Multisite running on Pantheon. In this presentation, we will focus on why we chose Pantheon, the migration from an on-prem CentOS server to Pantheon, the communication to the campus, what we learned, and our future work. After this presentation, our hope is you have a clear understanding of the advantages and drawbacks so you can make an educated decision if Pantheon is right for you.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps
    • AWS Game Day part 2*
      Amer Al Okeh, AWS
      GameDay is an interactive team-based learning exercise for all levels, from beginner to expert. Cloud Academy will be providing a License to their training platform for attendees of the University of Illinois IT ProForum. If you have registered to participate in the AWS GameDay, a Custom Cloud Path from Cloud Academy has been created to prepare participants for an optimal experience. See the AWS Game Day description for more information.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps
  • 2:30pm-3:15pm: Concurrent Sessions
    • Accessible Word Document? Yes, We Can!
      Leslie Sherman, IT Partners @ College of Education & Council on Teacher Education; Bryan Jonker, IT Partners @ College of Education
      Join this IT Accessibility Liaison led workshop for a hands on opportunity to learn how to make MS Word documents accessible to all users.
      Track: Security, Accessibility and Other Risk Management
    • Managing Human Risk with Cybersecurity Training and Awareness
      Cindy McKendall, Technology Services
      The 2022 Verizon Data Breach Incident Report shows that humans are involved in breaches more than 80% of the time. Whether that involves someone clicking on a phishing link, or an employee reusing the same password in multiple places, cybersecurity training and awareness can help manage this "human risk" by teaching people how to protect themselves and the university. In 2021, the Cybersecurity Training and Awareness team in Technology Services launched required cybersecurity training for Urbana-Champaign and Springfield employees. Learn how our team laid the groundwork for the successful launch of required cybersecurity training and how our training and awareness program continues to address human risk, now and in the future.
      Track: Security, Accessibility and Other Risk Management
    • What To Expect From NIH's New Data Management and Sharing Policy
      Sandi Caldrone, Library; Heidi Imker, Library; Hoa Luong, Library
      Are you getting more data management questions from researchers lately? If not, expect to see an increase because the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently released new data management and sharing requirements. Starting in January 2023, all NIH funding applications will need to include a 2-page plan detailing how data will be managed with the expectation that researchers will share their final data whenever it can be done so responsibly. This is very much in-line with the requirements from other federal funders, but may be completely new to researchers in the life and behavior sciences who are funded primarily by NIH. Don't worry though because the Research Data Service team has read through pages and pages of policy documents, so you don't have to. We'll walk you through the new requirements, the types of questions we're hearing from researchers, and the most helpful NIH resources to refer back to.
      Track: Data: Management, Storage, or Analysis
    • AWS Game Day part 3*
      Amer Al Okeh, AWS
      GameDay is an interactive team-based learning exercise for all levels, from beginner to expert. Cloud Academy will be providing a License to their training platform for attendees of the University of Illinois IT ProForum. If you have registered to participate in the AWS GameDay, a Custom Cloud Path from Cloud Academy has been created to prepare participants for an optimal experience. See the AWS Game Day description for more information.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps
  • 3:30pm-4:15pm: Concurrent Sessions
    • Why Privacy and Digital Trust Matter
      Sheena Bishop, Technology Services; Dalton Cline, Technology Services; Stephen Collette, Technology Services; Phil Reiter, Technology Services
      The Privacy Office will give an overview of how privacy has evolved as technology has advanced and discuss privacy concerns regarding social media, data breaches, digital marketing/ targeted advertising, health information, education and employment records, and more. Attend this presentation to find out what Privacy laws are doing to protect you and what you can do to further protect your digital footprint. We will also discuss the University's goals of being a leader of privacy in higher education, what the University is doing to protect your information, how the Privacy Office is maturing a culture of privacy at the University, and how the Privacy team can help you.
      Track: Security, Accessibility and Other Risk Management
    • AWS Game Day part 4*
      Amer Al Okeh, AWS
      GameDay is an interactive team-based learning exercise for all levels, from beginner to expert. Cloud Academy will be providing a License to their training platform for attendees of the University of Illinois IT ProForum. If you have registered to participate in the AWS GameDay, a Custom Cloud Path from Cloud Academy has been created to prepare participants for an optimal experience. See the AWS Game Day description for more information.
      Track: Software, Development and DevOps

Thanks to our Fall 2022 Sponsors

Engineering IT Shared Services
Gies College of Business
PIER Group
Prairie Research Institute
Tech Services at Illinois
Webstore

Committee Members

  • Prijo Andrews
    Technology Services
  • Travis Ashmore, Chair
    Engineering IT Shared Services
  • Rob Bennett
    Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning
  • Christy Blew
    Disability Resources and Educational Services
  • Michael Cervone
    Technology Services
  • Gina Duello
    Engineering IT Shared Services
  • Debbie Fligor
    Technology Services
  • Ann Fredricksen
    Disability Resources and Educational Services
  • Laura Galvan
    Technology Services
  • Justin Hedrick
    Engineering IT Shared Services
  • Ginger Hundgen, Co-Chair
    Technology Services
  • Matt Macomber
    Administrative Information Technology Services
  • Kala Maturi
    Technology Services
  • Mark McCarthy
    Administrative Information Technology Services
  • Luke Mesenbring
    Administrative Information Technology Services
  • Liam Moran
    Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning
  • Todd Nelson
    Administrative Information Technology Services
  • Aaron O'Banion
    Information Technology Partners at Gies Business
  • Tyler Owens
    Engineering IT Shared Services
  • Priya Ravi
    Technology Services
  • Trent Sanford
    Technology Services
  • Jyotika Sirohi
    Technology Services
  • Dena Strong
    Technology Services
  • Ashley Valentijn
    Technology Services
  • Andy Wilke
    Student Affairs Technology