Tech Pros

Our business partners at Penn State have a number of problems that they look for IT to solve. Often, they come to us with an IT solution in hand, and just want us to implement. Or we have a standard IT solution that we implement with little thought to if it's the best solution for the problem or what the long-term cost may be. However, as budgets get tighter and IT teams become smaller, IT units need to be more thoughtful about the solutions we put in place.

You have determined a business need for your organization.  How do you determine the right solution to meet that need?  After selecting a solution, how do you ensure that your deployment plans meet the needs of your stakeholders?  Pilots help project teams incorporate outside perspectives to improve the quality of their deliverables.

Procurement has gone through a transformation effort and one of the outcomes is dedicated teams to focus on IT hardware and software including related implementation professional services. These teams, along with the EP&I group, are working to develop procurement related processes and procedures to help create better partnerships between Procurement and IT. The goal is that the procurement process is smoother, easier to navigate, and results in better outcomes for both groups.

Discover the value and structure of an effective IT analysis.

Presenters will walk through:

1. The value of an analysis
2. The analysis process
3. The analysis products
4. Benefits and impact on an enterprise project

The commonwealth campuses partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to create a cloud based virtual lab environment. We were able to provide linkage to AWS from other cloud services like Google and OneDrive to provide a superb collaborative environment for our students without breaking the bank.

IT projects deliver technical solutions that then become operationalized as services. But in some units, the project ends as soon as the technology goes live, leading to little or no documentation, no hand off to the support team, and lack of closure for the customer, who still sees the project manager or lead developer as their contact for any future questions. This can become unsustainable over time for both the project teams and the service management team.  

The Project Management Working Group is a 10+ year grassroots community of practice at Penn State. We hold monthly meetings on topics about project management. Whether you are a project manager or have PM duties as part of your role, we are here to help! This session will focus on scenarios where there is no dedicated project manager and what project management skills are important in those situations with a round table discussion.

Let’s unwrap the Audit process and understand the details involved!  In this session, we’ll give a behind-the-scenes look at Internal Audit.  Specifically, we will review the overall audit planning and scoping process, the IT audit program and topics covered (including application audits), and the most common findings to equip you with the knowledge to reduce your overall threat posture.

Description:

• Review the process to determine if electronic signature is needed.  
• Review reasons why electronic signature is important.
• Review options for approvals where electronic signature is not needed.

Outcomes:

• Clarification to attendees as to the need of electronic signature and what the process is and the capabilities.
• Other Penn State IT options for electronic forms.

Review our new Prisma Access (GlobalProtect) service. Review the next steps to better secure our remote workforce.