Post on 08-May-2015
INFORMS
IT Department Report
Bjarni KristjanssonApril 2011 Board Meeting
Global Trends in IT
• Globalityo 1.8 Billion Internet users in 2009 (+13% Y/Y)o 670M 3G Subscribers (+37% Y/Y, 14% penetration)o Facebook 620M Visitors (+51% Y/Y)o Tenecent [China] 637M Visitors (+31% Y/Y)
• Mobileo Mobile Internet (Apple: 120M users, 330K Apps)o 2010: Nokia 37%, RIM 15%, Apple 17% Android 25%o Mixi Mobile [Japan] 84% page views vs. 16% Internet
(Source: Mary Meeker Web 2.0 conference presentation)
Global Trends in IT
• Social Ecosystemso Facebook: 620M Users, 550K Apps, 500M Downloadso Apple: 120M Users, 330K Apps, 6.5B Downloadso Google: 940M Users, paid clicks +16% Y/Y
• Mediao Web 23%, Netflix 21%, YouTube 10%, BitTorrent 8%o Streaming Video 37% of Internet Traffico Mobile video 41% of Peak Hour Traffico YouTube: 35 hours of content every minute (100% Y/Y)
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yL9yrttESI
IT Focus – Preparing for the Future
• Upgrades in Hardwareo Virtualization
• Integration of current IT Systems• Conference Abstract Submission
o Open Source?• Mobile Computing
o Conferenceso Journals
• Web 2.0 (IOL)o Social Network / Bloggingo Content Sharing
Web 2.0 Goals for INFORMS
• Bring O.R. into 21st Century • Create Active O.R. Communities Online • Enhance Communication Between O.R. People• Leverage the Societies / Working Groups• Promote O.R. to Young People
OR-Connect - Online Collaboration for O.R.
• OR-Connect - Social Network• OR-Blogs - Blogs• OR-Share - Online Material Sharing• OR-Photos - Pictures• OR-Tube – Videos/Online courses
Existing Main IT Systems
• Association Anywhere (AA)o Membership System / ERP for Associations
• INFORMS Online (IOL) o EZ-Publish (EZ)
• Pubs HighWire (HW)o Move from Impelsyso Managed by Publications
• Conference Abstract System (eMeetings)o Managed by Meetings
• Jobs Placement Service (JPS)o Created and Maintained by INFORMS IT
AA - Association Anywhere
• AMS – Association Management Software• Leased from and hosted by ACGI Software• Hosted on Windows Servers• Web-based interface • Membership management database (ERP)• Conferences / Revenues / Accounting / Finance• Standard reports and queries• Custom queries done through MS Access and Business Objects• Yearly costs $175K plus 2 staff• Expensive Customization & Consulting
Using XML Web services and well-defined APIs, the functionality of Association Anywhere can be integrated with back-office and Web applications, corporate and third-party Web sites, portals, content management systems and more.
IOL – Informs Online
• EZ Publish – Open source systemo Content Management System (CMS)
• Developed by Norwegian company eZ Systems• Hosted by PTG – Performance Technology Group
o Linux RedHat Enterprise servero LAMP – Linux / Apache / MySQL / PHP
• Maintained by Marketing and David Wirth (IT developer)o Formerly maintained by Beaconfire (consultant)
• Yearly costs $40-50K, including 22K for hosting with PTG
Relatively well managed system at reasonable operating costs, but needs to be focused more on Web 2.0, user generatedcontent, and personalized pages (MyInforms).
Kevin Geraghty – IOL Editor
• IOL: Who is our Audience• Operations Research as a Brand• Leveraging Energy from Students• Find-ability
o Search Termso Landing Pages
• Engagemento Bloggers / Social Networkso Content
• Reputation• Measurement
Publications Online
• Moving from older system Impelsys to HighWireo Individual subscriptionso Institutional subscriptions
• Web-based system hosted by HighWire• Managed by Pubs Department
o IT Department only marginally involved• Very expensive to integrate with other systems
o Estimated $10K/journalo Mobile computing
One possibility is to track and store meta-data about the journals, papers, authors, references in a database managed by INFORMS staff,so the information can be shared with other IT Systems and used forMobile Applications
Conference Abstract System
• eMeetings – hosted solution• Small company based in Denver• MS Access database running in Windows• Difficult to manage for users• Very Insecure
o Login and Passwords are just email addresses• Cannot easily be integrated with other systems
o IOL / AA o Registrationo Mobile Computing
Relatively cheap to operate, but does not work well with other systems. One solution we will be investigating is to create a new system using open-source, with the upcoming ICS conference in Santa Fe 2013.
Job Placement Service, Other Systems
• Developed by INFORMS Staff (mainly David Wirth)• LAMP – standard platform
o Linuxo Apacheo MySQLo PHP
• Also using JavaScript / Ajax / CS / XML• Full control to do anything we want with the data• Other systems with similar setup
o Continuing Educationo EBB
Very cheap to develop, operate, and easy to integrate with other systems. Limited capacity with only one developer to build more systems.
INFORMS Hardware – Maryland
INFORMS Servers – PTG Hosting
DataCenter Virtualization Plan
New IT Committee
• Bjarni Kristjansson, Chair
• James J. Cochran• Thomas Dong • Owen P. Hall • William E. Hart • Warren Lieberman • Donna Llewellyn • John Lucas • Laura A. McLay • Anna Nagurney
• Paul Rubin • Matt J. Saltzman • Michael Trick • Wayne Winston
Ex-officio members• Kevin Geraghty (IOL)• Terry Cryan• Ann Fishkin• Patricia Shaffer• Gary Bennett• Mary Magrogan
IT Committee – Tasks & Issues
1. AA (Association Anywhere) / Membership ERP / INFORMS adoption2. IOL Collaboration / Kevin Geraghty's vision / MyInforms page /
Personalized experience3. Software - New conference system? / Open source /
Mobile computing4. Integration of existing systems (AA / IOL / Pubs / Conf / JPS) /
Single sign-on / Mirroring Data5. Web 2.0 technologies / Online collaboration / Testing new tools6. Content - Sharing online (docs / videos / podcasts / pictures) /
Hosting vs. linking / Collaboration agreements7. Marketing – SEO / Engaging students and other members /
Chapters / Subdivisions / Societies8. Hardware - IT Infrastructure / Hosting / Bandwidth9. Future IT plan for INFORMS / Analytics / Budget issues / Staff
Informs IT Staff
• Terry Cryan – Interim IT Director
• Ann Fishkin – Database Administrator• Lee Mooring – IT Administrator• Herman Strom – Linux Administrator• David Wirth – Developer / Programmer
• Mary Weldy – Consultant AA (2 days/week)• Ray Weglin – Consultant Access/Servers/Oracle
• Shirley Mohr – IOL Design (Marketing)
Suggestions for New IT Staff
• Database Administrator/Programmero Bring knowledge in-house regarding AAo Reduce the need for expensive consultantso Assist with integration of AA to other IT Systems
• Additional Software Developer o LAMP Platform (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP)o Mobile computing for Meetings & Publicationso Implement Social Networking/Web 2.0o Implement strategy for Content Sharingo Integration between existing systems
Current IT 2011 Budget
DifferenceOriginal 2011New Budget
-73.0833.6760.6TOTAL IT COSTS
45.045Overhead
335.6335.6• IT Staff
-33133100• Director
468.6435.6IT Labor
1010• Travel & Training
+151025• Software
-304010• IT Supplies & Miscellaneous
1010• Hardware
70.055.0IT Expenses
1010• Unallocated
1818• Other IOL Costs
2222• Hosting PTG
50.050.0INFORMS Online
6• Other
59• INFORMS Consulting
45• ACGI Consulting
65• Leasing/Hosting
-25200.0175.0Consulting & ACGI
IT 2012 Budget with Alternative
558
10
25
10
20
18
22
5
20
15
65
2012 Alternative2011 Budget2012 Budget
813761813TOTAL IT COSTS
454545Overhead
336372• IT Staff
100126• Director
510436498IT Labor
1010• Travel & Training
2525• Software
1010• IT Supplies & Miscellaneous
1010• Hardware
655555IT Expenses
10• Unallocated
1818• Other IOL Costs
2222• Hosting PTG
405040INFORMS Online
66• Other
5959• INFORMS Consulting
4545• ACGI Consulting
6565• Leasing/Hosting
105175175Consulting & ACGI
Potential IT Budget Savings
• Reduce Consultingo ACGI special requests ($45K)o INFORMS Consultants ($59K)
• Reduce Hostingo ACGI Leasing & Hosting ($65K)o PTG Hosting ($22K)
• Do we need an IT Director? ($126K)• Other Potential Reductions
o IOL ($10K)o Email Archiving ($12K)
For each item, we need to answer the following question:Are we getting good value for the money spent?
IT Strategy to support INFORMS
• Existing software (AA, Conference, JPS, Pubs)• Integration (Members, Pubs, Conferences, Web)• Mobile Computing (Conferences, Pubs)• Social Networks, Web 2.0, Blogging• Online Content Sharing (Documents, Videos, etc.)• IOL: Design, SEO, MyInforms, Live Platform• Wikipedia, TedXAnalytics, Online marketing
• In-house staff vs. External consultants• Hardware, upgrades, redundancy• Staff Training, utilization, deployment• IT Director? (PM, staff, budget, strategy)