Auckland University of Technology(MIS100 2009)

By CIO staff | Friday, July 24 2009

2008 ranking: 11

Senior IS executive: Liz Gosling, director IT services
Reports to: General manager, service and operations
Size of IS shop: 70

PCs: 6066
Mobile PCs: 1269
Terminals: 441
Hand-held devices: 602
Total screens: 8378

Industry: Educational services
PC environment: Cyclone Computers, Apple, Lenovo, Windows XP, Linux
Server environment: Cyclone Computers; IBM; Novell; Windows 2003, 2008; Apple
DBMS: Oracle, MySQL, SQL
Address: 55 Wellesley Street East, Auckland
Website: www.aut.ac.nz
Key IS projects this year: Server virtualisation; student management system; research management; student placements; website development; email archiving; data backup; wireless infrastructure; business continuity.


Both ICT budget and staff numbers are up in 2009 for AUT, reflecting a busy year of planned IT projects and goals, and a growth in student numbers. The projects include implementation of a new Student Management System and a new Service Desk tool, which is planned to improve productivity and allow staff to focus on the continual improvement of the support service. CIO Liz Gosling says outcomes are expected to include better utilisation of staff time, improved user experience and increased customer satisfaction. Other projects include a focus on accessibility for mobile staff, visitors and students including extending the wireless network, along with increased Storage Area Network capacity.

Gosling says AUT will also implement an improved disaster recovery and business continuity environment at the Manukau campus, and will use that campus for pilot innovations in technology for teaching and learning in a small environment. Continued investment in CRM systems and software and server virtualisation is also planned. Organisation goals for 2009 are to ensure curricula and programmes are best in practice and ensuring strong linkages with the professions, industries and communities the university serves. Additionally, AUT seeks to enhance curriculum flexibility and student choice by collaborating with other tertiary institutions to increase cross-crediting and expand programme delivery arrangements. AUT keeps, most IT functions areas in-house. An exception is PC maintenance, which is outsourced to Cyclone Computers.