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P E P P E R D I N E I N F O R M A T I O N T E C H N O L O G Y

M O N T H L Y R E P O R T

Table of Contents

Leadership....................2

Updates........................3

Technology & Learning

.......................................4

Faculty Spotlight..........5

Upcoming Events........6

Information Security Tip

of the Month................7

Benchmarks &

Accountibility...............8

Information Technology

Pepperdine Help Desk

Available 24/7

(310) 506-HELP or

(866) 767-8623

IT Website

community.pepperdine.edu/it

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INSIGHT | JUNE | 2013

J U N E 2 0 1 3L E A D E R S H I P

Pepperdine Community Members Discuss TechQual Findings with IT LeadershipEarlier this June, IT’s Leadership Council and

Chief Information Officer Jonathan See teamed

up to conduct mini town hall presentations for

Pepperdine faculty and staff at the Malibu and

West Los Angeles campuses.

The presentations were part of a new commu-

nications initiative to become more open and

transparent with feedback gathered by IT’s an-

nual TechQual survey. Every year, IT leadership

uses the survey feedback to set technology pri-

orities and objectives.

“We wanted to illustrate to the Pepperdine com-

munity that we are listening to their feedback, which I think they appreciated,” said Landon Phillips mem-

ber of IT’s Leadership Council.

More TechQual mini town halls will be conducted after the summer season when more of the faculty, staff,

and students return to campus.

A recording of the presentation held at the Law School can be found at:

http://lawtech.pepperdine.edu/2013-techqual-results/

The 2013 survey questions can be found at:

http://community.pepperdine.edu/it/content/2013_techqual_survey_questions_approved.pdf

P E P P E R D I N E I N F O R M A T I O N T E C H N O L O G Y

M O N T H L Y R E P O R T

Landon Phillips of Technology and Learning presents TechQual results to the West Los Angeles campus.

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INSIGHT | JUNE | 2013

This past May, Pepperdine faculty and staff were

notified about the new Device Management ser-

vice, which is an extension of IT’s software patch-

ing service to ensure all university-owned comput-

ers are safe from malicious malware and viruses. Thus far, the device management team has

successfully enrolled most university-owned computers into the device management service

and the team is on schedule to begin patching Adobe Reader, Java, and Flash during the week

of June 17, 2013.

When the patching begins, individuals’ experience will depend on the degree to which the

software on their Pepperdine computer is up to date. Those computers with software that is

significantly out of date may need to be rebooted one or more times during the initial patching

session. Below are the pop-up windows you will encounter during patching.

To reduce the potential number of reboots, visit http://browsercheck.pepperdine.edu, click on

the big blue “Update Browser Plug-ins Now!” button, and then click any “fix-it” buttons that may

appear.

Please contact the device management team at devicemanagement@pepperdine.edu if you

have any questions. To learn more about Pepperdine’s Device Management service please visit:

http://community.pepperdine.edu/it/services/devicemanagement/

The Device Management blog will inform those in the Pepperdine community who want to know

details about device management. Stay up-to-date and subscribe today, by visiting the blog

and entering your email address at http://devicemanagement.pepperdine.edu/

Device Management Team Begins Patching Computers June 17

U P D A T E S

Windows Macintosh

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Alan Regan to Serve as a 2013 Apereo Sakai Fellow

On Tuesday, June 4, 2013, Alan Regan, director of Technology

and Learning was recognized as a 2013 Apereo Sakai Fellow

by the Apereo Foundation. Alan earned this recognition for his

passion and leadership work in technology and learning and

his continued involvement and contributions to the Sakai com-

munity. Last year, Alan served as the program chair for the joint

2012 Jasig-Sakai Conference and was the program chair of the

2013 Open Apereo Conference.

“At Pepperdine University, our motto is ‘Freely ye received, free-

ly give.’ Since open source solutions, like Sakai, are freely of-

fered to the world, contributing to the conference or sponsoring

bug fixes is our way to give back to the Apereo community,”

commented Alan Regan.

Only four fellows were chosen this year by the Apereo Sakai Fellows program. As a fellow, Alan

will have the opportunity to speak at various Sakai conferences on his work in helping advance

teaching and learning in academia. Information Technology would like to congratulate Alan on

this prestigious and well deserved award.

T E C H N O L O G Y & L E A R N I N G

In early June, Technology and Learning attended the

Open Apereo 2013 conference in San Diego, CA. The

Apereo Foundation is the new organization that com-

bines the Sakai and Jasig communities and produc-

es enterprise-ready, open-source solutions for higher

education. Pepperdine University uses both Sakai CLE

and the Central Authentication Service (CAS).

At the conference, the Technology and Learning

group led two pre-conference workshop on Sunday,

June 2, titled “Teaching with Sakai CLE from the Ground Up!”, joined by Dr. Stella Erbes of Seaver

College’s Humanities and Teacher Education program.

The presentation can be found at http://community.pepperdine.edu/techlearn/events/

sakai2013/

TechLearn Group Shows Apereo Conference Attendees How to Teach with Sakai

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F A C U L T Y S P O T L I G H T

Dr. David Smith Speaks About How Cloud Storage Encourages Collaboration in the Classroom

In the latest Pepperdine Univer-

sity faculty speaker series event,

Pepperdine Professor Dr. David

M. Smith, Associate Dean of Ac-

ademic Affairs and Associate

Professor of Economics of the

Graziadio School of Business and

Management, discussed how he

has fostered collaboration with

online storage solutions. In 2012, Dr. Smith won an Information Technology Grant for his proposal

centered on cloud storage.

Cloud storage has become a convenient way for consumers and organizations to access their

files anywhere, anytime via cloud-based file management services, such as Google Apps, Box.

com, Dropbox, SugarSync, and Evernote. As these online service technologies become more

common in education and in the workplace, it is becoming more important for faculty to know

how to effectively implement these tools into their teaching.

In his presentation, Dr. Smith demonstrated lessons learned in migrating to a cloud-based file

management system, and highlighted important considerations for faculty.

To watch Dr. Smith’s presentation and the whole Faculty Speaker Series, please visit: http://com-

munity.pepperdine.edu/techlearn/teaching/speaker-series/

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Pilot Group Tests Self-Service Password Reset Portal

IT is partnering with Fischer International Systems to implement a self-service password reset portal.

The new automated system will allow students, faculty, and staff to manage their own passwords

for Network IDs, Microsoft Exchange Email, and Pepperdine Gmail accounts.

To ensure the service is optimal for the community, IT has gathered a group of pilot testers made up

of IT staff and colleagues from across the University. The most notable benefits of the new system

include:

- Eliminates the need to call the Pepperdine Help Desk to reset a password

- Provides anytime, anywhere password reset service even for mobile users

- Lowers annual support costs for the University

Throughout the summer, the pilot group will be testing the service which should be ready for use in

the fall semester.

The June and July 2013 PeopleSoft and Simpler classes are now scheduled and available for sign-

up. These workshops are a great way to learn and sharpen your job skills with practical hands-on

training. In addition, to the Credit Card Reallocation class, Credit Card Substantiation training

is now included in the Finance suite of classes. Going forward these two classes will be offered

back-to-back; however, each class requires its own registration.

Class sizes are limited; so if you’ve registered for a class and you are not be able to attend, please

email the instructor (Leonard.Krukowski@pepperdine.edu) so he can open the seat to those on

the waitlist.

Navigate to Pepperdine’s Information Technology events calendar to sign up for a class:

http://community.pepperdine.edu/it/about/events/

PeopleSoft and Simpler Summer Classes Now Available!

U P C O M I N G E V E N T S

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INSIGHT | JUNE | 2013

Recently about 524 members of the Pepperdine community received

a convincing, targeted phishing scam message - a message which is

designed to trick the recipient into giving away financial information

or passwords. The phishing email looked as though it came from an

@pepperdine.edu email address which made some users think it was

ligitimate. The email was soon caught by Pepperdine’s spam filter,

which prevented it from being distributed to a larger audience.

Forging emails from Pepperdine or any email is as easy as someone

putting your information in the return address of a physical envelope and enclosing a letter that

looks like your stationery and signed by you. However, just like that physical letter, if you slow down

and look at it for a moment, the forgery is obvious.

How to Identify and Deal with Phishing Emails:

Slow down; think before you click.

Just delete obvious scams; do not forward them.

Contact the purported sender, if you’re truly not sure.

Never input your Pepperdine ID & Password on non-Pepperdine sites!

If you did input your ID and password, immediately go to https://networkid.pepperdine.edu and

change your password or call the Pepperdine Help Desk for assistance at (310) 506-4357.

What is Pepperdine IT doing about Phishing?Universities across the country get many of these types of messages every week. Pepperdine IT pro-

actively uses best practices to combat phishing, as follows:

Filtering: The spam filter blocks a high volume of spam and phishing messages (300,000-500,000

each week). Learn more at: https://community.pepperdine.edu/it/tools/email/spam/

Training: Pepperdine IT also offers training to help you easily spot phishing messages and develop

habits that will help you avoid phishing traps. You are the final defense against phishing. Learn more

by visiting the training section on the following page: https://community.pepperdine.edu/it/securi-

ty/

Resources: For in-depth information about phishing, please see: https://community.pepperdine.

edu/it/tools/email/spam/phishexped.htm

I N F O R M A T I O N S E C U R I T Y T I P O F T H E M O N T HHow to Protect Yourself From Phishing Scams

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INSIGHT | JUNE | 2013

S u b s c r i b e o r T e l l U s W h a t Y o u T h i n kDo you know someone who would benefit from reading IT’s InsighT Report? Or do you have a

question or comment about the report? Drop us a line at techcomm@pepperdine.edu.

This summer skip the help desk and submit your technology request using the Custom Service

Request Form (CSRF). This newly improved service was introduced in September 2012 to serve as

an alternative to calling the help desk for non-emergency issues.

Requests that are submitted online are automatically analyzed and sent directly to the appro-

priate IT support team. No need to talk to the help desk. Users are able to enter their technology

requests in their own words by filling out a tailored form based on their technology need.

Since September 2012, 1,952 requests have been made which is an average of 244 request per

month. The most common requests made are for telephone services and audio-visual requests.

However, the Custom Service Request Form is able to handle other technology requests, such

as Canon copier issues, email questions or problems, Lexis-Nexis issues, computer browser issues,

and much more.

Requests made with the CSRF are sent to the most appropriate support group including sup-

port staff at all Pepperdine schools and campuses. Most requests made using this form will be

processed between 8am and 5pm on Pepperdine workdays. To submit a request today, go to

http://ebony.pepperdine.edu/TechnologyRequestForm/CustomServiceRequest.aspx

Skip the Help Desk and Submit a Request via the Custom Service Request Form!

A C C O U N T I B I L I T Y & B E N C H M A R K I N G

Pepperdine Help Desk. During May 2013, there were 1,163 requests for support managed through

the Help Desk. Of these requests, 65 percent were resolved within two days and 94 percent were

resolved in fewer than five days. The average wait time for individuals calling the Help Desk was

58 seconds. Seventy-four percent of requests were resolved by the Help Desk on the first call.