AVP – Information Technology

CIO brief: upgrades to Windows, ImageNow, and backup & recovery system

amcmahon — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 17:42:52 +0000

The Client Services team has begun upgrading all district-wide Windows computers to Windows 10 (Microsoft ends support of earlier versions in 2020). The Infrastructure Services team, in partnership with the Office of Planning and Construction, has selected the Dell EMC IDPA 5800 to replace our end-of-life data backup and recovery system. Last weekend, the Application Services team upgraded our imaged document management system, ImageNow, to the latest supported version. The Information Security team has completed the 2018 Information Security Report and the 2018 Penetration Test Report (all findings resolved).

CIO brief: strong encryption protects employees and students

amcmahon — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 23:26:24 +0000

We have identified and resolved a significant vulnerability relating to system credentials (login and password). This had particular impact on student credentials. Through strong collaboration between Student Services and IT’s enterprise applications and service desk teams, over the last few months we have implemented the latest strong encryption protocol on hundreds of thousands of records in our core identity management system. This involved complex technology changes as well as coordinated outreach to students. This is an important step forward in protecting PCC from cyber attacks and students from identity theft.

CIO brief: Cost savings, security gains, and productivity all get a helping hand

amcmahon — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 21:20:20 +0000

IT has implemented business automation for the Grants Office using AODocs. AODocs is a complimentary software to PCC’s Google environment that adds state-of the-art document management and business workflow capabilities. By developing this solution in-house we negated the need for the Grants Office to purchase a 3rd-party software solution. IT is currently working on several other similar requests across the district. We anticipate that AODocs will drive significant cost savings over the next couple of years, improve staff productivity, and advance our critical “data at rest” information security program.

CIO brief: Start of term Fall 2018

amcmahon — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 16:47:06 +0000

Troy Berreth has accepted the position of Director of Infrastructure Services – another key IT position filled. The 35 district digital classroom upgrades were completed by the Media Services team in time for start of Fall Term. The core network switch upgrades completed over the summer meant that Fall Term commenced without any network capacity issues. We are currently resolving some quality issues with voice services that are impacting Student Services. As is usual on the first couple of days of term, students oversubscribed to our Guest wireless – so we re-sent instructions for them to use the core PCC wireless network and the problem appears to be resolved. A “shout out” to the campus IT teams, who spend weeks prior to each term ensuring the classroom environments are configured to support faculty needs!

New Director of Infrastructure Services

amcmahon — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 22:43:28 +0000

I am pleased to announce that Troy Berreth has accepted the position of Director of Infrastructure Services, reporting to me.

Troy has been serving as interim in this role for seven months, while a rigorous search was conducted. Troy is a great addition to the PCC team, bringing extensive senior management experience overseeing enterprise scale national and international technology infrastructures.

The Infrastructure Services department at PCC supports all the core technology infrastructure that runs the college – including one of the largest networks in the Pacific Northwest. The following functions will report into Troy:

Server Administration
Data Center and Network Operations Center (NOC)
Network Information Services (NIS)
Infrastructure & Voice Services

35 classrooms upgraded this week

amcmahon — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 22:03:25 +0000

IT Media Services are currently upgrading 35 classrooms across the district. This includes podium upgrades, laser projector installations and related audio/visual work. The team is supervising three local contractors, including one MWESB vendor. Work will be completed prior to fall term. Each classroom will be reviewed to ensure quality and ADA compliance, using new classroom construction standards developed collaboratively by IT and the Office of Planning and Construction. The approximately $280,000 cost is being funded from the 2017 Bond

CIO brief: Fall Term 2018 prep

amcmahon — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 15:47:33 +0000

CIO brief: Multi-year Banner upgrade concludes

amcmahon — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 15:57:24 +0000

Last weekend we upgraded Banner9 to the current version, along with some additional functionality and bug fixes. We have now successfully completed all our Banner9 objectives in preparation for Fall Term and expect to complete the “self service” phase by year end. This weekend we will be updating switch capacity at Cascade Campus, which will complete our tactical network upgrades in preparation for Fall Term. The network team has completed the design for the district-wide network optimization project. This multi-year project is funded from the recent Bond and we are working with the Office of Planning and Construction to issue an RFP for 3rd party design review.

CIO brief: IT staff In-Service

amcmahon — Thu, 23 Aug 2018 16:08:35 +0000

On Tuesday this week, IT employees attended our annual day-long IT In-Service event at SE Campus Community Hall. The team heard a “State of IT” address from the CIO and updates from the leadership team on a broad range of topics. This year, we had a guest keynote speaker: Ryan Matteson from CalPoly, who talked about CalPoly’s “All In” Cloud strategy and his team’s experience moving their on-premises technology to Amazon Web Services.

˿��Ƶ nationally recognized for cyber defense institutional practices and academic programming

amcmahon — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 20:40:33 +0000

PCC was recently named a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, joining Mt. Hood Community College and the University of Oregon with this designation. The selection stems from PCC’s institutional practices to protect against cyber abuse and academic training – specifically, its cybersecurity fundamentals certificate program. Read more in by PCC’s director of community engagement Kate Chester