Functional Responsibilities Outline

for

LAMC Technology Organization

Introduction

The following is intended to provide a guide to the responsibilities and functions of the new technology organization recommended for implementation by Los Angeles Mission College. The structure of the organization, as well as the functions and responsibilities outlined below, are consistent with best practices guidelines for a general purpose, campus-wide, collegiate technology support enterprise.

While the specific duties and responsibilities that follow are consistent with general performance expectations for each functional area, it is understood that modification of certain duties and responsibilities may be necessary to accommodate local requirements and staff technology skill sets. Also, the functions and responsibilities outlined below are not intended to be an exhaustive list of every possible responsibility or requirement. It is expected that as the new organization begins to take shape under the leadership of the Dean for Technology, service and support needs, as well as college technology priorities, will ultimately determine the specific content and focus of each area within the organization.

Dean of Technology

General Responsibilities

• Provide leadership for campus-wide technology needs and services.
• Provide advice and counsel to college executive staff on technology plans, needs and financial resource requirements.
• Facilitate and develop campus-wide communication of technology plans, policies, procedures and services.

Specific Responsibilities

• Advise other senior officers of the institution on issues relating to the achievement of institutional goals and objectives for technology.
• Develop, recommend and shepherd short and long range planning for campus technology.
• Establish close relationships with all arms of the administrative and academic communities, in order to anticipate and expose needs for technology.
• Work closely with all College governance committees, particularly the Information Technology Committee, in establishing College technology priorities, policies and resource requirements.
• Lead the community in recognizing the value of its data and its potential for exploitation; work with faculty, staff and management to understand technology needs, requirements, and issues and develop a responsive information services

environment. Exploit compatibility’s between academic and administrative information requirements.

• Oversee the use of institutional applications systems, software tools, and a campus-wide telecommunications network to ensure conformity to data security and integrity standards, information usage guidelines, as well as proper dissemination and maintenance of data by the user community. Support management and users in defining and implementing appropriate processes to control the accurate capture, maintenance and dissemination of data and information.
• Aggressively propose solutions to identified problems, prioritize implementations, allocate resources appropriately, and manage to successful resolution.
• Advise institutional staff on the strategic impact of information processing.
• Maintain a “technology watch” in support of the institution’s planning for academic and administrative technologies and services.
• Liaison with vendors and negotiation of all vendor related issues, contracts, etc.
• Manage designated personnel necessary to carry out campus-wide information technology support and service requirements.
• Develop, maintain and monitor adherence to budgets for computing and information technology operations.
• Manage the Instructional Support Group, Non-Instructional Support Group and Network & Web Support Group.
• Recruit, train, and develop staff.
• Monitor and review staff performance in according to College and District guidlines.
• Maintain excellent communication and relations with District technology staff and participate on District technology committees.

Instructional Support Group

General Responsibilities

• Responsible for all LRC teaching labs and public student access PC technical support.
• Responsible for support to faculty who wish to avail themselves of teaching technologies within the LRC.
• Support for Library PC’s used in academic activities.
• Responsible for campus-wide Media and AV services.
• Investigate new and developing technologies and report on same to campus faculty.
• Develop and deliver training and orientation on College installed educational technologies for all interested faculty.

Specific Responsibilities

• Support faculty and student computing within the LRC.
• Assure operational efficiency and effectiveness of installed educational technologies within the LRC Commons, LRC teaching laboratories and the Library.
• Install, upgrade and maintain all LRC general purpose educational applications software on LRC Commons, Lab and Library PC’s and servers.
• Establish procedures in conjunction with Network & Web Support Group for LRC equipment repair and replacement.
• Coordinate with Network & Web Support Group on diagnosis of computer operating system, hardware, network and security issues and needs within the LRC.
• Report suspected LRC network outages, hardware failures and/or security breaches to Network & Web Support Group for diagnosis and remediation.
• Coordinate LRC teaching lab usage schedules, confirm availability and functionality of all Lab computers; repair and/or replace defective devices as needed.
• Communicate with faculty regarding instructional computing needs prior to each semester, coordinate acquisition and installation of requested educational applications software.
• Provide live diagnosis and remediation of computer technical difficulties encountered in the LRC Commons and teaching Labs.
• Recommend standards for all instructional technology applications and desktop configurations; coordinate standards recommendations with Non-Instructional Technology Support Group and Network & Web Support Group.
• Coordinate teaching Lab AV & Media equipment; assure operational efficiency and effectiveness of all AV and teaching Media campus-wide.
• Establish procedure for faculty to “order” AV & Media equipment for classroom and Lab teaching use.
• Communicate regularly with faculty to determine AV & Media teaching needs.

Network and Web Support Group

General Responsibilities

• Responsible for campus-wide network infrastructure to include all on and off campus network servers, network wiring and electronics, all high speed connections, interoperability with the District network, and coordination of repair and replacement of College owned computers.
• Responsible for the College Email system.
• Responsible for supporting the design, development and maintenance of College approved web site (s).
• Protect the College from malicious attacks from both internal and external sources.

Specific Responsibilities

• Recommend standards for all instructional and non-instructional technology applications, desktop configurations and network and web requirements; coordinate standards recommendations with Instructional Technology Support Group and Non-Instructional Technology Support Group.
• Establish operating procedures for campus wide network services including:
• E-mail
• Network usage
• Local servers.
• Protect network and local resources by establishing procedures for:
• System wide backups. Procedure should include recovery testing of all backups. Procedure should also identify how local user’s data will be backed up and allow for local file recovery.
• Disaster recovery.
• Including both local and off site.
• Virus identification and protection as well remediation if viruses are found.
• Identify and protect the network from both internal and external unauthorized access and hackers.
• Maintain effective network communications with outside resources:
• Provide effective bandwidth to meet College needs and resources.
• Monitor network traffic and provide the College and the District with options to control network usage.
• Provide first level help desk support responding to hardware failures.
• Maintain the College’s computer fleet and network components including:
• Develop and implement plan for maintaining technical currency of the fleet.
• Provide timely upgrades and replacements.
• Develop and implement plan for preventative maintenance plan for all College computer resources including desktop computers, printers, peripheral devices, network components and servers.
• Maintain College’s operating and desktop software.
• Develop and implement plan for maintaining College wide software currency including upgrades as well as vendor supplied updates and patches within the resources of the institution.
• Special attention should be paid to those updates which impact security.
• Investigate new and emerging technologies. Provide the College with periodic updates on new and emerging technologies, and identify how these technologies may impact the College.

Non-Instructional Support Group

General Responsibilities

• Responsible for the operation of a college-wide desktop and communications helpdesk excluding dedicated academic PC’s housed within the LRC.
• Responsible for providing rapid campus-wide response to emergency technical difficulties and providing campus-wide communication regarding the extent of any technical difficulties and anticipated time for correction.
• Responsible for providing first level support for District installed administrative systems in Administrative Services, Student Services and Academic Affairs.
• Liaison with District technical staff supporting administrative applications.
• Provide training for faculty and administrative users on appropriate College installed technologies specific to their administrative needs.
• Investigate new and developing technologies and report on same to campus community.
• Maintain technical currency on all College computing devices including desktops as well as servers and network equipment.

Specific Responsibilities

• Establish operating procedures for a campus-wide non-instructional computer helpdesk.
• Determine appropriate use of the Web Star problem reporting system and the acknowledgement, and response, to reported problems to affected campus personnel.
• Establish appropriate procedures for responding to campus technology emergencies; ensure effective communication to affected personnel and user offices and coordinate response between and among non-instructional support personnel and Network and Web Support Group.
• Provide first level on campus diagnosis and support for District provided administrative software systems.
• Coordinate among District IT resources and on campus administrative and technology personnel to resolve technical difficulties with installed District administrative applications.
• Provide support for all non-instructional use of the Microsoft Office Suite and other general purpose non-instructional desktop applications.
• Recommend standards for all non-instructional technology applications and desktop configurations; coordinate standards recommendations with Instructional Technology Support Group and Network & Web Support Group.