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Division of Information Technology (DoIT)
Radford University
RU Internet Connections
The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) continues to provide Internet bandwidth sufficient to meet the growing needs of the Radford University community.
Towards that goal, a Multimedia Services Access Point (MSAP), jointly operated by RU, Virginia Tech and New River Community College, was established in the New River Valley Mall in 2008 to serve the three campuses. RU obtained a dark fiber lease allowing it to establish a 1 Gigabit per second link with the MSAP and Virginia Tech who maintains a 10 Gigabit per second connection to Northern Virginia where bandwidth is much less expensive. The MSAP enabled RU’s DoIT to purchase 150 additional megabits of bandwidth from Virginia Tech that provides additional Internet connectivity for the campus wireless system and residence halls. This partnership will allow RU to acquire additional bandwidth as demand warrants in a cost-effective manner.
In addition, RU maintains a 155 megabit per second connection through CovaNET that is used for academic and administrative traffic. In the event of failure of either the MSAP or CovaNet links due to a problem between Radford and northern Virginia, all RU traffic is automatically rerouted to the other functional link.
RU DoIT also maintains a third 50 megabit per second connection in partnership with Radford City and nTelos as an alternate path to the Internet for Radford University. Current utilization trends are being analyzed by DoIT engineers to determine bandwidth requirements for the upcoming academic year.
Banner System Implementation Update
In January 2007, the University launched a major multi-year project designed to review, replace and enhance the university's administrative information systems, including undergraduate and graduate admissions, financial aid, registration and records, student housing, advancement and fundraising, financials, budget, human resources and the portal. Together, the administrative systems provide the university community of faculty, staff, students, prospective students and alumni with critical business processing, data retrieval, reporting and self-service functions.
RU chose SunGard Higher Education’s Banner Administrative Systems Suite to replace the legacy IFAS, IRIS, and Student Information Systems (SIS). Implementation of the Banner Financial Aid module, the first step in the implementation project, began in June 2007.
DoIT project teams have improved integration between the business areas, streamlined business processes, strengthened data standards, and provided enhanced reporting, documentation, training and security.
To date, the following modules have been successfully launched:
- Banner Financial Aid Phase I – February 2008
- Banner Finance Phase I and related self service components – July 2008
- e-Procurement (integration to the Commonwealth’s eProcurement system, eVa) – July 2008
- Banner Advancement Phase I – July 2008
- Operational Data Store (reporting) for Financial Aid, Finance and Advancement – July 2008
- Banner Financial Aid Phase II and related self service components – August 2008
- Banner Xtender (Document Imaging) for Financial Aid – January 2009
- Luminis Portal (MyRU portal) – February 2009
The following components will go into production as scheduled:
- Banner Advancement Phase II with self service components – April 2009
- Banner Student for Admissions and Graduate Admissions – August 2009
- Banner Xtender (Document Imaging) Solutions for Admissions/Registrar – August 2009
- Banner Student for Registration – November 2009
- e-Learning (WebCT/Blackboard integration) – January 2010
- Banner Student academic history and related self service components – January 2010
- Banner Human Resources and related self service components – January 2010
- Banner Xtender (Document Imaging) for remaining areas – January 2010
- Operational Data Store (reporting) for Student and Human Resources – January 2010
- Workflow – June 2010
- Enterprise Data Warehouse - TBD
Training sessions for the university community will be conducted as the Banner modules go into production and those sessions will be announced in the upcoming editions of the DoIT newsletters. They can also be found on the DoIT website.
For additional information about the Banner implementation project, contact Randa McDonald at rmcdonal@radford.edu or 540-831-5173.
MyRU Portal Update
 The new MyRU portal was launched on February 9, 2009. MyRU replaces the previous “Highlander Connection” portal and offers the campus community enhanced news, navigation, and customization opportunites. As the implementation of the new Banner system continues, this new web portal will allow users to easily access features and functionality.
User feedback is important to the MyRU portal implementation team as it makes additional improvements and enhancements and plans for the decommissioning of the old “Highlander Connection” portal in May. DoIT encourages the campus community of students, faculty, staff and alumni to give MyRU a test drive.
Please visit https://myru.radford.edu and after exploring MyRU, use the “feedback” icon to offer suggestions for improvement.
Meet the Division of Information Technology Staff
 Jeff Brewster -- Manager, Systems Integration and Web Services
How long have you worked with the Radford University Division of Information Technology? About 15 months.
Family: married to Tracie with two daughters Ashley, 7, and Natalie, 1.
College: Radford University ’04--BS in Computer Science and Technology.
Hometown: Tazewell, Virginia
Interests/hobbies: Reading, exercising, fishing, camping, doing anything outdoors.
Favorite vacation destination: Douthat State Park, a Virginia State Park which straddles Bath and Alleghany counties in the Allegheny Mountains.
Favorite parts of my job: I like the fact that I get to develop web applications in Java, this is really what I enjoy doing the most. I am also excited about participating in the new Banner deployment project that provides me a great opportunity to learn and grow professionally. The Banner system will provide the RU community a new level of service and convenience. In this process, I have also enjoyed meeting and working with folks from many departments and offices. My office is one mile from home, which is another very nice aspect of working at RU with the Division of Information Technology.
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