The Analytics, Business Intelligence, and Student Success Technologies Group is part of the Provost;s Office and the Division of Information Technology.  Our component parts include the Business Intelligence/Data Warehouse Team, the Analytics/Data Science Team, the PeopleSoft SA/Salesforce Team, and since late 2021, the myUMBC/Campus Information Portal Team.  

We're very pleased to provide you with our "annual" report (delayed by the pandemic, like so many other things).  The report details selected projects and initiatives from 2019 through mid-year 2021, our goals, and our projects going forward.  As the report is part of our assessment activities, we welcome your comments.

We are grateful to our many collaborators and partners across the campus.  Success is never final, but it is also surely a joint effort.

First-year retention is UMBC’s single biggest point of loss during the lifetime of a freshman cohort and a key focus area of the university’s student success efforts. To support this work the Data Science Team (from DoIT and the Provost's Office) and its campus partners have worked with our HelioCampus to produce the first of a series of predictive analytics reports or “playbooks.” 

The first playbook, just deployed on analytics.umbc.edu, predicts the likelihood of a first-time full-time freshman returning for their second year.  It is being used by the Academic Advocates in Undergraduate Academic Affairs to help identify students who may be at risk of not returning next fall. (Access to the playbook is role-based.)

On February 25th, at noon, the REX Analytics Group will meet to explore the factors that make these predictions change the most, how to read the dashboards, and how to interpret and use the playbook.  Please join us! Contact lmancini@umbc.edu or kjoseph@umbc.edu for meeting details.

Len Mancini

Data Scientist and Statistical Specialist

DoIT is excited to announce that during January we will be replacing more than 1,000 wireless access points throughout academic, administrative and support buildings on campus. We are taking measures to minimize disruptions however, some areas may see momentary impacts to wireless service. 

We expect that each building will require approximately 3 days of work to complete and we will complete each building before moving on to the next. During the work for your building please be patient as we try to complete your area as quickly as possible while also making our best efforts to maintain stable service.

Replacing wireless access points will modernize the wireless infrastructure and provide faster connections, better wireless coverage and an overall improved experience to the UMBC community. 

If you have any questions or concerns about this project, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

Ray Soellner

Assoc. Director - DoIT

rays1@umbc.edu

Tonight, Tuesday December 21st, beginning at 6pm we will be performing emergency software upgrades on the new campus phone system. This work is to address a recent security vulnerability that exists in the software of the servers running the campus phone system. We expect the work to require less than 2 hours to complete. 

We don’t anticipate any service disruptions during the maintenance window, however we appreciate your patience and understanding should you experience any abnormalities. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this work please feel free to contact me directly. 

Ray Soellner

Assoc. Director - DoIT

rays1@umbc.edu

The DoIT Technology Support Center is looking to hire additional consultants to work during the spring semester and beyond. Please see our job description below and visit our job posting on UMBCWorks to apply. (Search for TSC Student Consultant.) The application will be open until January 7, 2022.

We're specifically looking for students available to work during the following hours:

• Mondays 11 A.M. - 4:30 P.M.
• Tuesdays 8 A.M. - 4 P.M.
• Wednesdays 11 A.M. - 2 P.M.
• Thursdays 8 A.M. - 2 P.M.
• Fridays 8 A.M. - 12 noon

TSC Student Consultant Job Description

Technology Support Center (TSC) student consultants are the first points of technical contact for the UMBC community and those who do well often go on to work in other areas of the Division of Information Technology (DoIT). Minimally, consultants are expected to provide initial triage and support for a wide range of information technologies including accounts, hardware, instructional technologies, networking, software, telecommunications, and basic web development.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

• Provide technical assistance to users by phone, online and in person;
• Answer TSC phones in a professional and courteous manner;
• Create, update and resolve tickets in the Request Tracker (RT) ticketing system;
• Create, update, suggest and recommend relevant FAQ articles to users (www.umbc.edu/faq);
• Provide direct assistance to users on technical issues they cannot easily resolve on their own;
• Respond to all work-related communications in a timely manner;
• Escalate urgent problems to the Full-Time staff, as appropriate.

Required Skills and Experience

• Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate by phone or in person.
• Demonstrated writing ability.
• Demonstrated ability to achieve successful outcomes in handling difficult situations and customers.
• Demonstrated analytical and troubleshooting skills.
• Ability & willingness to learn coupled with a clear understanding of one’s technical abilities, so as to triage and escalate an issue that leads to an effective solution for the user.