A paper submitted to Professor Precopio by Aaron   Goldblatt, Donald Eaton, Julianna Chaves, and Corey   Lyon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for   Management Information Systems. (MGMT 210)     

MIS at Simmons College  This paper provides an in depth analysis of the technology department at Simmons College. This paper examines the software and hardware used by the college, as well as information regarding their network, 

printing, data managing, and technology distribution.            

Wentworth Institute of Technology Fall 2009 

 

 

 

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Introduction 

Simmons is going through huge changes in their technology departments.  

The executive director of technology position has not been filled for almost two 

years now.  This is the person that all of the four departments are lead by.  These 

four departments are the Help Desk, Media Services, Infrastructure and Online 

Services, and Administrative Solutions.  Due to this the assistant directors, 

managers, and directors have to fulfill more than their own position.  For this reason 

we spoke with one of the directors of one of these departments because that was the 

highest that we could go within the Simmons technology management information 

systems part of the college.  From our interview we gathered information regarding 

Simmon’s management, hardware, software, network, printing, updating, web, data, 

classroom technology, goals and strategies for the future.  

Management 

The Technology Governance Committee (Tech Gov) is in charge of 

advancement in the technology for Simmons College.  The need for this committee is 

because Simmons wants their students to be prepared for the work force, faculty to 

provide the best information they can, help manage efficiently, and allow 

communication between students, faculty, staff, administration, and alumni.  The 

committee reports to the Vice President of Finance and Administration, the Provost, 

and the President’s Council about the technology needs, strategies, and wants.  They 

are the link between the college as an institution and the technology departments. 

Tech Gov is who creates and establishes policy and procedures regarding 

technology at Simmons.  

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  Below the Tech Gov Committee there are the Academic Technology 

Committee (ATC) and the Technology Systems and Services Committee (TSS).  The 

Academic Technology Committee is concerned about the priorities of academia 

involving the use of technology.  This committee works with the Deans and faculty 

of the academic schools.  They handle matters involving but not limited to online 

curriculum, faculty development, student competencies involving technology, etc.   

The Technology Systems and Services Committee is concerned with the planning 

side of the school involving academics, student life, ad administration.  This includes 

but is not limited to enrollment, advising, registration online, financial affairs of 

college online.  

The average budget for replacement of equipment in a normal year is 

approximately 1.3 million dollars.  

For our interviewees department specifically, the Help Desk, the hierarchy 

work structure is as such: managing the helpdesk are senior full time staff, the 

frontline consists of two full time staff, followed by 12‐15 workers some of which 

are Wentworth Co‐ops and Simmons students.  All of which are paid positions.  

Student Involvement 

As students we were curious about students involvement in the MIS 

departments.  Students mostly work at the help desk, and Lees said, “We couldn’t 

function without the student workers.”  The help desk itself involving maintenance 

and support hires 12‐15 student workers some as stated above are from Wentworth 

or Simmons and are paid positions.  The tech desk located in the library hires over 

thirty students to help there because of the numerous hours it is open.  This can be a 

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work‐study position or a student employment position. These students do not 

physically work on other students’ computers but rather help the students with any 

of the applications that are available on any of the general access computers in the 

library.  

Involvement with Students Lives 

“They don’t have to talk to us in the ideal world,” says Lees.  Lee continued to 

say that students become involved with the help desk if they have complaints, 

something is not working right with their hardware, or they have been sited from an 

outside agency for doing something wrong.  Though they have started to implement 

a new program titled I <3 my computer, which is a guide to technology at Simmons 

College.  The program has training sessions and also helpful pamphlets to help a 

student to find out where is the appropriate place to get help involving technology.  

The technology departments have also become involved with students by setting 

ups information tables during orientations.  They have become involved with social 

student competitions like Simmons Rockstar, where in order to be eligible you 

needed to answer questions about how to keep your computer safe.  

Technology Liaisons 

  In some cases departments like Financial Aid, Health Services, Admissions, 

the Registrar, etc. handle their own data and technology within their departments.  

There are technology liaisons who perform MIS for certain departments.   This is 

because the people within the department will listen to one of their own more so 

than an outside source.  The library specifically has systems personal who handle all 

of their information systems, but they are a partner with the MIS department.  As 

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departments find the need to implement management of information systems 

within their own departments positions are made.  Because the technology world is 

ever changing and so is the technology departments at Simmons, the creation of 

new jobs to fulfill a void is not uncommon.  

Implementation of Tech Departments 

  Simmons had people who handled technology internally.  Sun Guard staffed 

technology people for Simmons; they ran the help desk and the infrastructure.  They 

started with only 300 computers; in 2000 they decided they needed a computer for 

every desk.  Their technology “boom” happened along with the rest of the world in 

the start of the tech world in the 90s.  In 2003 Simmons’ contracts with Sun Guard 

ran out and they decided they would not be renewing it and would implement their 

own in house technology department.   

Learning About New Technology 

  Senior support is in charge of making sure that the staff is trained in new 

areas of technology.  If a member has an idea they can bring it to Lees telling her 

how much it would cost, they would discuss what this would take to configure, and 

then get funding and the permission.   

Hardware 

Simmons College recently implemented an array of new hardware to help them

further commit to providing an atmosphere of educational excellence. The technological

hardware varies from room to room throughout all of the Simmons Academic Buildings.

Some rooms have video and data projectors, Macintosh computers, DVD players, Wired

or Wireless Microphones, Document Camera, and Auxiliary video inputs.

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The Technology in Simmons College plays a significant role in the educational

experience. One way they have used hardware is through Smart Board Technology. A

Smart Board, as defined by Simmons College is “a whiteboard-like device that allows

presenters, using special markers, to create handwritten notes and save them to a

computer file.” There are a limited number of rooms that have this special technology.

The rooms that have Smart Board Technology, also has the auxiliary video inputs.

One piece of hardware and technology available for student use is computer

Express Web Stations. These stations are located all throughout campus and they offer

limited capabilities for students. Students can do things like browse the web or use email,

as well as use Microsoft Word.

Printers are hardware that are located from any general access station, with the

exception of Express Web Stations. Students are required, however, to bring their own

printing paper.

Providing hardware to students is costly, but is comparatively inexpensive when

compared to the retail value of the hardware. Academic institutions, such as Simmons

College, are afforded this technology at a hugely discounted price through E Academy.

Also, the students at Simmons College are not provided with any of their own

technology. All of the hardware is owned by the College, but is available for student use.

The Media Center at Simmons is responsible for ensuring that computer

technology is delivered to classrooms and that the technology is functioning. The Media

Center supports the different technology, including audio, computer, video, and

projection equipment.

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As far as audio equipment is concerned, some rooms are equipped with audio

cassette players, boom boxes, digital voice recorders, and microphones. Many of this

hardware are borrowed from the media center when needed. However, there is some

equipment that is built in. The Simmons College case rooms, for example have built in

touch panels, video telecommuting, microphones, and projectors that split the computer

screen. Some rooms are working toward providing pod casting, which come in IMAC,

MAC, PCs, and the Dell varieties. Some rooms even have polycoms, which is voice and

video teleconferencing equipment.

The computer technology offered in the Simmons classrooms includes external

hard drives (USB), Mac and PC laptops, smart boards, and PowerPoint remote controls.

The smart boards, as previously described in this section, are white boards that allow

professors to write notes and save them as computer file. Along with the Mac and PC

laptops, Simmons supplies the connection that each of them requires to hook up to a

projector. The PowerPoint remote controller enables professors and students to go to the

next slide of a PowerPoint presentation.

Projection equipment is the hardware required for classrooms to host

presentations and for professors to show their computer screen to students. This

equipment includes camera tripods, projection screens, video data projectors, and an

array of digital cameras. The camera tripod holds the camera in place to take pictures and

record video. The digital cameras used are A40, S45, SD110, SD150, SD630, SD1000,

and the K1000 model. The projection screens are the screens that the computer image is

projected onto via the video data projector.

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Video equipment is also used in Simmons classrooms to perform various

functions. Some rooms in Simmons College have a Video Conferencing Unit. This unit

allows professors to hold conferences, and do lectures without actually holding “class.”

Students can hear and see the professor from a remote location.

This hardware provides students at Simmons College the opportunity to learn

from and with technology. Students and professors can use computers, printers, and video

projectors. This equipment is fixed in some of the classrooms, while must be asked for to

use in some of the other classrooms.

Software 

Software plays an integral role in the technology used in Simmons College. 

This software is broken down into four categories. They are standard software, non‐

standard, academic software, and forbidden software.  

Standard Software includes the operating systems, email, web browsing, 

office suite, and antivirus. All of the PCs have the Windows XP Operating System. 

The Macintosh computers in Simmons College have the Mac OS X Operating System. 

These operating systems allow Simmons to run the necessary applications to reach 

their educational goals. Email, another piece of standard software, is an integral part 

of the communication between students and professors. Simmons uses applications 

such as Outlook Express on their PCs and Apple Mail on the Macintosh computers to 

make email easily accessible. As far as web browsing is concerned, Simmons uses 

Internet Explorer on PCs and Safari on the Macintosh computers.  

Antivirus, which is also classified as standard software, is important in 

keeping information within Simmons College safe. The antivirus software used by 

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Simmons College is called Sophos Anti‐Virus. This software protects the computers 

and data through data encryption and malware protection. For a college, antivirus is 

especially important, considering the importance of protecting data. 

Office suite includes Microsoft Word, Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. These 

programs are essential to the educational experience at Wentworth. Students are 

often asked to use Microsoft PowerPoint to create group presentations. The most 

common application within Office Suite is Microsoft Word. This program is used by 

students and staff at Simmons to create documents. Students use Word to type 

essays and other educational documents. Microsoft Excel is a data storage program 

that can be used to store and organize data, and assist in the data transformation 

process. 

The non‐standard software used by Simmons College is the operating 

systems that Simmons uses in rarely when other capabilities are needed.  These 

operating systems are Red Hat Linux and Solaris. In the rare cases that these may be 

used, permission must be acquired. It is possible that these operating systems 

support other applications that may be needed to fulfill educational goals. 

Academic software, which is also called accepted software, includes any 

application that the Technology department at Simmons has no reason to believe 

will cause undue harm to a Simmons computer. Many of these applications are 

referred to as Discipline‐Specific Technologies, and are used at Simmons for 

academic purposes or to support the business of the college.  Examples of 

applications that fall into this category include Adobe In Design, Write‐n‐Cite, and 

Microsoft FrontPage. Adobe In Design is a desktop publishing program that is used 

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by Simmons. Write‐n‐Cite enables students to easily create bibliography pages to 

use for research assignments. Microsoft FrontPage is an application that allows 

students to create and host web pages on the school’s server. These applications, 

because of their academic use and safety fall under the category of accepted 

software. 

The final category of software standard used by Simmons College is 

forbidden software. This software is defined by Simmons College as any software 

“that has no academic or administrative purpose or poses a danger to computers or 

the network.” This includes any file sharing software, adware, personally owned 

software. Students are prohibited from using there personally owned software on 

the Simmons network.   

  Another piece of software that is utilized by Simmons College is Kronos. 

Kronos is a program that creates payroll invoices, and other useful procedures for 

payroll purposes. This program saves Simmons money by efficiently allowing 

Simmons to take care of payroll in‐house. Kronos is a part of the Microsoft Office 

Suite Package. Kronos is configured by Simmons to handle the college’s specific 

information.  

  E Learning is another program in Microsoft Office Suite that is an integral 

part of the educational experience at Simmons. This unique tool helps the students 

at Simmons to access educational databases, submit assignments, access study tools, 

and other helpful functions. E Learning and other educational programs are 

provided to educational institutions such as Simmons through E Academy. E 

Academy sells these programs to schools at an educational discount. 

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  The future of Software at Simmons College is promising. The Operating 

Systems that will be used will most likely have larger and better capabilities. The 

general access computer stations at Simmons currently have Windows Vista and the 

Leopard Operating System. The Technology Department at Simmons is hopeful to 

move to Windows 7 and Snow Leopard in the future.   

The Simmons Network 

  Simmons owned desktop computers and the Express Web Stations are hard 

wired connected to the Internet, providing them with a more reliable Internet 

connection than that of wireless. Also, the hard wire connections allow students to 

access the school servers and share files with each other. 

  The wireless Internet provided by Simmons covers the entire main campus 

and residences areas; however, it has significantly less access to the network than 

hard‐wired desktops. When connected wirelessly students don’t have access to the 

Simmons server or have the ability to print. Technology services hold the right to 

suspend Internet access to those who cause network or server problems. These 

problems include everything from using excessive bandwidth to attacking other 

computers on the network and notification of illegal file sharing in violation of 

copyright laws. 

Printing 

  Printers are located in the library, labs and residence hall labs. The school 

provided desktops have access to printing capabilities, printers are unavailable 

through the wireless network and printing can’t be performed through the Express 

Web Stations. Printing on the Simmons public printers in the library is very 

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advanced. First, students log into the printing computers and select which 

documents they would like printed. The students are then prompted to swipe their 

Simmons I.D. card. After the card has been swiped, the students will see a prompt 

stating if the print job has been approved and the page balance remaining on their 

accounts. 

The amount of printed documents at Simmons College is continually rising 

dramatically every year. In an effort to save money and paper students, faculty, and 

staff are allotted a print quota of 350 free pages at the start of each semester, with a 

bonus of 50 pages to allow for possible misprints. Left over pages will not roll over 

to the following semester. 

  The printers in the residence hall labs do not count towards students’ page 

balance for the semester; however, the students are required to provide their own 

paper for use in these printers. Technology services do provide the ink and toner 

that is used in these printers. 

Keeping Up to Date 

  In the past, Simmons College has run on a three‐year replacement cycle for 

all of the desktop and laptop computers owned by the college. Now, the policy is a 

five‐year replacement cycle. This bump has caused frustration amongst faculty and 

staff; Help Desk has hit a breaking point with the cycle and are hard pressed to push 

it back anymore. Technology is replaced because it tends to have a short useful 

lifespan and repair becomes more costly as the equipment ages, so it is more cost 

effective to replace rather than repair. Shared network printers will be replaced 

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based on a number of factors, such as wear and new technologies. The lifespan on 

printers is normally more than 4 years. 

  Once replaced, the “obsolete” computers are prohibited by College and 

Technology policy to be further used on campus or to be distributed to employees 

by sale or gift. The outdated computers are currently donated to local schools or 

non‐profit organizations. 

Web 

Another large entity that the MIS department is involved in is the Web. There are

many services offered on the web trough Simmons College. The web offers things such

as the home website, student access website, Elearnings, online classes and blended

classes, and e-mail. Web design is done by the marketing department. All of these things

help the college, faculty and students in some form. MIS deals with the servers they run

off of as well as the websites themselves.

The home website is used for several different things. One thing is marketing; it

helps market the school to get students to apply to their school. It helps prospecting

students find out information about the school such as majors, services, campus life etc…

All of the information prospected students need is found navigating from the home

website through the links provided. The home website is also where students go to log

into their student access page.

The student access page is where enrolled students go to access things such as

events, grades, Elearnings and online classes. The online classes are accessed through

what’s called BlackBoard, which can be accessed, through the student access site.

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BlackBoard is a third party organization which is not set up by the Simmons MIS

department itself but they help in how the site is used and implemented.

The Relearning system that Simmons offers is very similar to BlackBoard.

Through the Elearning system professors can administer quizzes and assignments.

Elearning actually offers online trainings that any student can use regardless of their

major. For example, if a student wanted to learn about a certain subject that is not

involved in their major they can access Elearnings to expand their knowledge outside of

their major.

Another large part of their technology department is setting up the email list and

passwords for students and professors, as well as the student network storage space. E-

mail addresses are provided for each student and faculty and the passwords are created by

the students and compiled into the Simmons system. Simmons provides students with e-

mail and network support for help and maintenance.

Data 

Simmons College has several different types of databases and different ways 

and individuals that can access them. On large way students can access databases is 

through the library. Although the library is not highly related to their MIS division it 

is a great resource and database for the students as well as faculty of Simmons 

College. There is ways faculty and students can access to the network off campus as 

well. Other than books, file sharing and records Simmons does not have any other 

type of database. Mainly the largest database is through the library of Simmons. 

  The Library is a great resource for all individuals involved at Simmons 

College. The library is not linked with MIS; most of the databases created at the 

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library are actually done by the library faculty and staff. Although the MIS 

department oversees and helps the library put together and format the computer 

databases for the library. Many of the books, articles, magazines and other reading 

and studying material is put together and provided by the library staff. 

  There are also records and files that are put together by the MIS division that 

can be accessed in different ways. Records and files can be accessed from an on 

campus computer though the Simmons network. These records can also be accessed 

off campus via website. This allows people to do things such as file share and view 

and update records. 

  Simmons also has a type of hierarchy, which allows or prohibits different 

levels of faculty and management to access certain files and records. The access is 

depended on the individuals level and position at Simmons College. In order to 

access certain information higher‐level management must determine whether the 

access is necessary and if they have come to a conclusion they will either approve it 

and sign off on it or reject access to certain things. 

Classroom 

The MIS division has implemented many different and effective utilities into each

classroom to enhance the learning capabilities for the students as well as the teaching

capabilities of the professors. These classrooms are equipped with the latest and greatest

technologies to help everyone involved with Simmons to succeed. They also provide

online classrooms, Elearning, and blended classes.

The classrooms have speakers, projectors and microphones to assists the

professors in teaching their students to provide the best learning as possible. These

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utilities are all controlled by a built in touch panel that makes it easy to control, switch

sources and communicate with students. The projectors used by Simmons allow

individuals to split the screen to create almost two monitors on one screen, this helps

individuals do things such as compare or show two similar things on one screen at the

same time which would not normally be possible on a projector that does not allow you

to split the screens. There is also built in telecommunications within the classroom, this

allows professor to contact other rooms for help if there is an emergency, if they need an

item or if they need help in conducting a certain lesson.

As for computers the school is supplied with Macs as well as PCs. These

computers have the Leopard OS for the Macs and Vista OS for the PCs. They also

provide dual boot Macs. These Macs allow the user to load two different operating

systems both Leopard OS and Windows Vista OS, but not at the same time. This makes it

easier for users to use different programs that are specific to a certain operating system.

Simmons is looking to hopefully update all the computers so that the Macs will be loaded

with the Snow Leopard OS and that the PCs will be loaded with the Windows 7 OS. This

is something that will have to be implemented in a well thought out and planned manner

to not hinder any teaching and learning. Switching operating systems can sometimes

cause problems that would affect the entire the entire school, faculty and students

There are also online classrooms provided to the students of Simmons College

another way of learning. Online classes give students the opportunity to learn in the

comfort of their dorm rooms or homes. They also help students that have a restricted

schedule and can learn at their own convenience.

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Another thing they also utilize is blended classes. A blended class is a type of

hybrid class, online as well as in the classroom. This allows students to attend class for

lectures where the professors utilize the technology in the classrooms to lecture and help

and it also allows them to complete and hand in work outside of the class with the

knowledge from the lectures through the online class sites.

All of these online classes are worked on and created by the MIS department in

conjunction with the Simmons provost. The provost oversees and approves how the MIS

department implements and puts together these online and blended classes. Once the

online class is created and approves it is then provided to the professors and students

where the professors can use and edit information as they please and if they have any

questions on how to use the system they contact the MIS department.

Goals & Strategies for Implementation 

For this section I will separate the goals into categories that Simmons has 

placed them in describe what the goal is and how they plan to implement it.  

Communication 

Goals— 

• Ensure that faculty, staff, and students understand what the technology 

departments doing, provide various ways to give feedback, making sure that 

everyone feels they are involved in planning and decision making for the 

technology at Simmons.  

• Tech Gov and its subcommittees are constantly keeping each other informed 

effectively. 

Implementation— 

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• “Tech Gov, ATC and TSS members will develop and implement strategies to 

ensure that they routinely communicate with their constituents regarding 

technology initiatives, plans, priorities, and services, which will include 

gathering regular feedback.” 

•  “Students have opportunities to provide feedback and suggestions on ways 

to improve the Simmons technology environment through formal 

communication with Tech Gov and its subcommittees as well as through an 

informal electronic "suggestion box".” 

Shared Academic Vision 

Goals— 

•  “Faculty will make informed decisions regarding when and how to apply 

technologies to the teaching process to enhance student performance and 

learning.” 

• “Students achieve strong information technology fluency and discipline 

specific technology competencies that prepare them for their career or 

advanced studies.” 

Implementation— 

• “Reach consensus among the Academic Technology Committee (ATC), the 

Deans, and faculty regarding the degree to which each element of the shared 

academic vision for technology should be adopted as a standards. 

• “Formally assess technology use within courses and curricula and report the 

findings to each Dean on a regular predetermined schedule; so that we can 

build upon strengths and/or address identified weaknesses.” 

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Student Experience 

Goals— 

• “Student learning is enriched by a technology environment that facilitates 

student access to information, research and independent study, and mastery 

of course and program content.” 

•  “Exposure to, and mastery of, discipline‐specific technologies strengthens 

students' competitiveness for internships, graduate school, and placement in 

fields of their choice.” 

Implementation— 

• “Work with the ATC and the Deans to ensure that information fluency 

requirements are present within the curricula at all undergraduate and 

graduate levels.” 

• “Achieve Department buy‐in for the integration of discipline specific 

technology within individual courses and programs of study as appropriate.” 

Enterprise Services 

Goals— 

•  “Online access to the College is improved for prospective students, alumni, 

parents and friends.” 

•  “Simmons will maintain a viable, stable, robust technology infrastructure.” 

Implementation— 

•  “Develop and implement a multi‐year plan for migration to an online 

services environment consistent with the needs of the institution.” 

• “Provide students with efficient, comprehensive, accessible, one‐stop student 

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services and self‐service options.” 

Specialized Needs 

Goals— 

• “Technology anticipates and delivers multi‐tiered user support services for 

students, faculty, administration and staff.” 

•  “Students, faculty and staff with learning or physical challenges have the 

technical resources necessary to excel at their teaching, learning and daily 

work and activities.” 

Implementation— 

•  “Technology, and the TSS and ATC Committees will identify, prioritize, and 

develop a plan to address departmental systems requirements and support.” 

• “Technology will work with the Coordinator for Disability Services to ensure 

ADA compliance and to anticipate and prepare for the emerging needs of 

new students and employees.” 

New/ Creative Technologies 

Goals— 

• “Simmons's environment fosters and rewards creative and innovative use of 

technology.” 

• “Simmons is nimble in its ability to react to, evaluate, and where appropriate, 

implement new technologies.” 

Implementation— 

• “Implement a "technology briefing program" for the President's and Deans' 

Councils to assist College executives in keeping abreast of technology 

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innovations that may have future value for the institution.” 

• “Develop and implement a program to provide College departments with 

information on workplace technology innovations.” 

Help Desk’s Future—What Susan Lees, Assistant Director, Help Desk Manager, 

would like for the future 

The most important thing right now for all of the technology departments is 

to have the executive director position filled.  With this person in place it would 

enable people to do a lot more, and give faculty and staff with this question a place 

to go.  She would like to see the classrooms’ technology be take better advantage of, 

because not everyone knows about all the capabilities yet.  Implementing the 

turnover to the new operating systems by the summer time.  She would like to have 

the school take advantage of the vitalizing that they have begun, which would help 

with updating information and help the client to become “thinner.”   

Conclusion 

  The MIS department of Simmons College is a difficult department to 

understand.  It is divided into four separate departments the Help Desk, Media 

Services, Infrastructure and Online Services, and Administrative Solutions.  These 

departments are struggling without the lead of an executive director.  Once 

Simmons has hired one, they will be able to implement their ideas for the future in 

regards to their hardware, software, network, printing system, updating, web, data, 

and classroom technology.  Susan Lees was able to explain to us only a small portion 

of the complex system at Simmons College.