IT Solution Center portal is live

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I'm so pleased to share that as of 5:00PM today we have launched the new IT Solution Center self-service technology support portal, powered by TeamDynamix.

The new IT Solution Center portal enables students, faculty, staff to:

  • Find answers to common technology questions
  • Submit requests for IT support (including project requests!)
  • Browse the list of available technology services
  • View and update your open IT service requests, help tickets, project requests and active projects
A link to the IT Solution Center was added in our myCI, and we've provided links throughout the Information Technology Services (ITS) web site to the new Solution Center portal. All new support tickets submitted via the support portal have been verified to be properly routing to our technical support teams.

Visit the new IT Projects section of the Solution Center portal for quick and easy access to submit new project requests, and use the IT Projects Knowledgebase to learn more about the project process.

Special thanks to Melissa Bergem and the ITS planning and implementation teams for their dedication to making this launch a success. Thanks to their dedication, we are able to launch our portal with over 70 new services, and a knowledgebase with over 40 articles.

Please call the Solution Center at 805-437-8552 with any questions or issues about the new support portal, and thanks in advance for your patience and cooperation as we work through any remaining go-live glitches.

Fall 2017 submission cycle open; Spring 2017 major project cycle completed

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The Fall 2017 major project review cycle is now open.

During this cycle, Campus units and organizations may submit requests for major IT projects between June 1, 2017 and July 15, 2017.

As a reminder, the Division of Technology & Innovation (T&I) has a bi-annual cycle for major project review to help ensure that campus budget, project requests and IT resources are appropriately aligned. Projects approved during the fall cycle typically will begin on or after January 1, 2018.

For details on how to submit a major project request, please visit T&I New Project Requests page.

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We're also happy to report that the Spring 2017 major project review cycle was completed successfully and approved on Monday, June 5 by the President's Cabinet.

The list of approved and postponed major projects to begin (or continue) as of June 1, 2017 has been posted on the Spring 2017 Review Cycle page. 32 major projects will begin or continue, and 17 will proceed as time permits or will be postponed.

Please contact Peter Mosinskis at peter.mosinskis@csuci.edu with any questions.

Spring 2016 review cycle is closed; Fall 2016 review & submission cycle is open (6/1-7/15)

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In partnership with CSU Channel Islands IT Policy and Planning Committee (ITPPC) and CI's Division Project Coordinators (DPCs), we are pleased to announce that the spring 2016 major IT project & procurement review cycle successfully closed.


On Monday, June 6, CI's IT Policy & Planning Committee met to review the outcomes of the inaugural spring 2016 major project & procurement review cycle. Michael Berman presented the final approved project request list to the President's Cabinet on 6/6, and received positive feedback.

66 project requests were received and reviewed during the spring 2016 cycle. Of the 66 requests, 32 (48%) were approved to continue (or to begin). The remainder were postponed until additional IT resources become available. Postponed project requests may be re-submitted by each division for review during the next cycle. You may view the final spring 2016 approved project list here.

We are also pleased to announce that the fall 2016 project review cycle is now open, and the submission period runs from June 1 - July 15.  Major projects & procurements submitted for this cycle are expected to kick-off in early spring 2016. 

One significant change we've made for the fall cycle is that the project request will be submitted electronically (via TeamDynamix), in replacement of the MS Word form used previously. This update should help streamline electronic collaboration on new project requests and facilitate the submission process. Melissa Bergem, T&C Project Coordinator, has been meeting one-on-one with the DPCs to review the new submissions process.  

The deadline for DPCs to submit their draft project list to T&C for review during this cycle is 5:00PM on July 15. Requests received after July 15 shall not be evaluated by T&C during this cycle. More importantly, major projects or procurements which fail to be submitted during this cycle are not likely to be completed during the 2016-17 fiscal year. 

Please contact Peter Mosinskis at peter.mosinskis@csuci.edu with any questions. 

Changes to our IT project & procurement processes

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I'm excited to announce some significant changes that the Division of Technology & Communication is implementing for the processes surrounding IT project & procurement management.

Our division is initiating these changes because our current processes aren't sustainable, mostly because we don't have strategic alignment at the campus level for our largest, most complex project & procurement requests. This means that as an organization, T&C is getting bogged down by uncoordinated requests from campus organizations for same small, finite set of information technology resources. These resources are being affected by inefficiencies, waste, conflict and delays related to constantly shifting priorities, so we are taking steps to improve the way we manage these processes.

Stephen Covey provided a great analogy about prioritization called "The Big Rocks of Life" which is illustrated here. This principle underlies the goal of our changes: to focus on the high-value, high-impact activities that must be done first.

We met this Thursday with project requestors, sponsors and stakeholders to discuss these changes. You can watch a video presentation about the forthcoming changes, or plan to attend an upcoming information sessions (dates TBD).

At the meeting, we shared a one-pager (in PDF format) summarizing these changes with the attendees.

We also launched an updated T&C procurement web site, which describes a 7-step process to successfully complete procurement of IT-related products and services. 

Finally, today we published an updated business practice on IT project and procurement governance, which goes into a lot of detail about how our new project & procurement request process is supposed to work. 

This is a big change, and we don't expect the first iteration to work perfectly. In fact, we expect there to be some problems that we have to work around. If you have any questions, or can think of any ways in which we can improve the speed, quality or efficiency of our process, please contact me at peter.mosinskis@csuci.edu.  

On behalf of Michael Berman and all of the staff in the Division of Technology & Communication, I  appreciate your patience, feedback and ongoing support as we transition to this new process, and thank you for being our valued partners in creating an exceptional University. 


TeamDynamix is live at CI

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We are pleased to announce that the TeamDynamix project and portfolio system is now live at CSU Channel Islands.

This system enables the Division of Technology & Communication to more efficiently communicate with customers about their project requests and projects, and provides T&C and campus leadership with insight into the value of IT projects for the University.

Customers can use TeamDynamix to submit requests for new IT projects, as well as view the status of both their requests and active approved projects. TeamDynamix can be accessed using the "T&C Projects" link within myCI, or by visiting the T&C Projects page. 

T&C's Project Management group has produced a set of video tutorials which demonstrate the system's functionality for our customers as well as T&C staff. These videos are available at http://go.csuci.edu/tdhelp

Effective March 2, 2015, TeamDynamix replaces Freshbooks as the Division's official repository for tracking time spent on all project and cost recovery activities, in accordance with the T&C Business Practice for Tracking Time on Task (BP-00-009).

Please contact Melissa Bergem at melissa.bergem@csuci.edu with any questions or issues related to TeamDynamix.

New project management tools are coming!

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We're really pleased to announce that we will be updating our project management tools (and process) for CI organizations and employees that request minor and major projects from the Division of Technology & Communication (T&C).

In spring 2014, we entered into a partnership with TeamDynamix, a leader in project management and IT service management solutions for higher education, to begin implementation of a new project and portfolio management information system for T&C.

This new system will provide simpler, more streamlined approach for tracking, reporting, analyzing, editing, communicating, and archiving technology projects. The tool has some great features for project communication and collaboration: routing workflows for request approval, built-in chat and discussion forums, a knowledgebase, document repositories, and reporting dashboards, to name a few. In addition, users will be able to access TeamDynamix through single-sign-on via MyCI, or even add comments to project communications automatically via email. 


This week, TeamDynamix is on-site visiting with T&C managers and staff to provide initial system configuration and training. The implementation team is making great progress and learning the in's and outs of the system flow. 

Within the next several days we should have a draft of the start-to-finish project flow completed, from request to charter to planning/execution to closure, which is really exciting! There's so much to learn, and so many capabilities and options; in some ways it's been like drinking from a firehose. There’s still a lot of other detail to be finished, but it’s all coming together. We still need to tackle creation of our remaining user base (all CI employees), and migrating our open projects and requests to the system. 

We will begin to roll-out the system in August to T&C employees, followed by a wider roll-out for campus organizations and employees in fall 2014. 

Please contact Peter Mosinskis at peter.mosinskis@csuci.edu with any further questions. 



Fall 2012 update

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Now that fall classes have begun, the campus is once again buzzing with activity. As the Division begins to tackle new project requests for the academic year, it's the perfect opportunity to review some of the accomplishments and recent changes to our project management program.

We're pleased to share a narrated video presentation (running time approx. 7 minutes) with some important updates about our program.

Project Management Update September 2012

Please contact Peter Mosinskis at peter.mosinskis@csuci.edu with any questions.