Mission

The mission of the Enterprise Systems Group is to securely, efficiently, and reliably provide the services required to meet the University’s enterprise-wide (Springfield campus or multiple campus) computing needs.  In pursuit of this mission, the Enterprise Systems Group provides nine different areas of service to the University:

1.    Enterprise Provisioning and Authorization
2.    Enterprise Infrastructure and Authentication
3.    Enterprise Messaging and Collaboration
4.    Enterprise Application Hosting
5.    Enterprise Web Hosting
6.    Enterprise File Storage
7.    Enterprise Printing
8.    Departmental Server Support
9.    Platform and Application Consulting

 

Enterprise Provisioning and Authorization

Provisioning ensures that the right resources are created and deleted.  Authorization ensures that the right people have access to those resources.  If not for this, the other duties that Enterprise Systems provides are unusable.

Some of the resource-provisioning services provided by the Enterprise Systems Group include

• the Computer Account Management System (CAMS), which provides services such as account, mailbox, disk space, and group membership provisioning;
• the Web-based, group-management application;
• scheduled processes that maintain the membership of security groups and e-mail distribution lists.

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Enterprise Infrastructure and Authentication

The enterprise infrastructure is a core set of services that other services require in order to function.  Authentication is the process of verifying the identity of a person trying to access a computer resource, a process which is directly tied to the following infrastructure services:

• Enterprise directory service (Microsoft Active Directory)
• Public key infrastructure
• Public directory server
• Data backup and recovery
• System status monitoring

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Enterprise Messaging and Collaboration

Messaging and collaboration aids communication among students, faculty, staff, and guests of the University.  For example, the Microsoft Exchange system provides e-mail and calendaring services to Missouri State.  Additional messaging and collaboration services under consideration for the future include list servers, forums, and Microsoft Sharepoint services.

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Enterprise Application Hosting

The Enterprise Systems Group maintains the servers which host many mission-critical applications.  The primary responsibilities of the Enterprise Systems Group in this area are to assist in determining the server requirements when new applications are planned, and to maintain the server operating systems and hardware.  Support for certain applications is also provided in some cases.

Some of the application hosting services provided by the Enterprise Systems Group include

• iSeries systems support
• Support for third-party applications maintained by the MIS (Management Information Systems) group such as DARwin (degree audit), PowerFAIDs (financial aid), and R25 (facilities scheduling)
• Bookstore point-of-sale and inventory systems
• Blackboard course management system
• Physical plant work management system
• Financial services imaging and document management system

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Enterprise Web Hosting

The Enterprise Systems Group maintains the central Web servers that host the main University Websites and web-based applications; numerous departmental and organizational web sites; course web sites; and personal Websites of students, faculty, and staff .

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Enterprise File Storage

The Enterprise Systems Group provides personal file storage for faculty, staff, and students, as well as file storage for academic and administrative departments.  Services related to file storage include maintaining disk space usage quotas on servers and the recovery of files from backup in case of accidental deletion.

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Enterprise Printing

The Enterprise Systems Group provides central print servers for networked printers in computer labs as well as administrative and academic offices.

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Departmental Server Support

On a limited basis, the Enterprise Systems Group supports departmental servers that do not necessarily provide a university-wide or campus-wide service.  Examples of departmental servers that are supported include the Design and Construction file server, the History Department’s web server, and the web servers that support the MS CIS program.  Since, by definition, this is not an enterprise-wide service, departmental server support should be moved over time.

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Platform and Application Consulting

The Enterprise Systems Group consults with users to assist them in choosing the appropriate hardware and software to meet their needs.

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