Eastern Institute of Technology(MIS100 2010)

By Jess Meyer | Thursday, May 27 2010

2009 ranking: 53

Senior IS executive: Paul Thompson, manager, information technology services
Reports to: Director of corporate services
Size of IS shop: 13

PCs: 1286
Mobile PCs: 100
Terminals: 60
Hand-held devices: 10
Total screens: 1456

Industry: Educational services
PC environment: Windows XP, 7; Cyclone; Lenovo
Server environment: Windows 2003, 2009; IBM
DBMS: SQL
Address: 501 Gloucester Street, Taradale, Napier
Website: www.eit.ac.nz
Key IS projects this year: Document Management; Windows 7; Business Intelligence; Mobile Website; Single sign on; Network access improvements; Service Desk Moodle upgrade.

For Hawkes Bay tertiary provider Eastern Institute of Technology, IT is used as a key component of “moving forward, given the limits that are affecting us”, says Paul Thompson, manager, information technology services. Technology will be a key business enabler in 2010 and beyond, with IT Services maintaining an active involvement in key projects.

Budgets and projects will increase over the next 12 months, by more than 10 percent in some areas, allowing for significant investments to be made in business intelligence technologies, network access improvements and document management. Additionally, the institute’s desktop operating system will be upgraded to Windows 7, enhancing compatibility and performance. Focus will also be placed on unified communications and mobility.
Open-source course management system (CMS) Moodle is utilised by the Institute to create virtual learning environments and effective online learning programmes. The web application will be upgraded this year, in an effort to keep current with increasing demand for web 2.0 and flexible learning technologies, according to Thompson.

The first focus for 2010 is to implement single sign-off for EIT Online (Moodle). The completion of this project will ensure that, where technically possible, staff and students have a single password for accessing core systems.
Additionally, a mobile website development will create a strategy for mobile web-based systems, which support the smaller device displays such as the displays on an iPhone, iTouch or Blackberry. The second phase of this project will be to implement services that provide educational or administrative benefits.