Mission Statement for EAS-SS
Background: As microcomputer technology has advanced, many departments
on campus have invested heavily in computer hardware, software
applications, local area networks (LAN), and technical support
staff. Frequently, these same departments have come to realize
that this investment has produced limited return and instead
become a source of significant ongoing costs. In particular,
investment in LAN technology has been singled out as a major
area of frustration due to many factors including poor reliability,
lack of quality support, high costs of operation, and frequent
staff turnover. While the benefits of LANs are clear, these problems
have become roadblocks for many departments as they attempt to
find a balance between budgets and current technology. Through
observation of these facts and through direct interaction with
University departments, it has been determined that there is
significant campus need for a set of LAN-based services that
deliver today's technology with controlled costs, high reliability,
and quality support.
Purpose: Enterprise Application Systems - System Support (EAS-SS)
will deliver microcomputer applications, file storage, printing,
and related services to major types of client desktops from a
centrally managed server platform. Services will be delivered
utilizing existing wide area network (WAN) connections and billed
to customers accounts based on usage and a basic connection fee.
By controlling costs through centrally managed support functions
and highly reliable, highly leveraged server platforms, EAS-SS
delivers a product that increases return on existing technology
investments and leverages other activities such as application
development, end-user support, and process improvement. The overall
objective of this unit is to implement new services, which satisfies
the requirements of the subscribing departments within approved
scope, growth and financial constraints. An important goal of
the project is to design systems and processes which can continue
to be effective as technology and needs change. This is accomplished
through a modular and scalable approach to all aspects of the
system. Wherever possible, specific functions should be designed
so that they can be easily moved from one platform to another,
allowing us to change servers, software, and end user interfaces,
as tools become available. This approach creates a virtual desktop
that can run effectively on a traditional server platform or
a large-scale mainframe. The same approach must be used with
administrative processes, whereby the myriad functions and procedures
initially borne by a limited staff can be easily identified and
distributed to a larger support organization as the scope of
the EAS-SS unit widens. This concept is critical to the continued
success of EAS-SS in the face on rapidly changing technology. |
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