Division of Information Technologies - Record Group 48
Collection Description
Division of Information Technologies, 1964-1973. .4 cubic feet. The record group consists of project reports, annual reports, and library reports from the Division of Information Technologies (former name: Campus Computing Center).
Finding aid and processing by Elissa Daub, April 2005
Finding aid edited by F. Jason Torre, April 2005
Introduction
Organizational Note
Container Listing
This collection is comprised of a single accession that was transferred to Special Collections and University Archives in the mid-1970s. Contents consist of annual reports, correspondence, project reports and sample forms from the original campus computing center.
The original order has been recreated in others to assist researchers. Items housed in acidic or metal housings have been removed from these housings for preservation reasons and have been placed in acid free folders and containers. Folder titles have been maintained in most area and added to in others. All metal fasteners have been removed and replaced in accordance with accepted archival standards of preservation.
The collection is open to research without restrictions. The creators of the collection have transferred legal and physical custody of the materials to the University Archives.
In citing the collection, please credit it as follows: Division of
Information Technology, RG 48, University Archives, and Stony Brook
University Libraries. Materials within this collection may be located
with the use of the collection's finding aid, available in hardcopy
and online through the University's Libraries' web page.
Organizational Note
The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) includes over 75 computer,
telecommunications, and network professionals who support a wide range
of applications in research, instruction, and business systems. The
division has responsibility for centralized computing, telephony, network
infrastructure including over 8,000 network connections, and business
systems in the areas of finance, human resources, and student administration.
The division is broken down into six separate but integral departments
each responsible for a distinctive part of the overall operation and
running of the technical infrastructure of a major research university
and health center. The departments are:
Office of the CIO (Overview)
The Office of the Chief Information Office, CIO, oversees the technology
division, its planning and implementation on behalf of the University
President and the university community.
Information Systems (Overview)
The Information Systems Department is responsible for the development,
maintenance and deployment of administrative systems for the university
center. The functions supported by these systems include:
Human Resources
Student Registration
Student Records
Financial Aid
Student Receivables and Billing
Financial Control and Reporting
Budget Development
Housing and meal plan
Admissions
Client Support (Overview)
"Client Support is committed to improving end-user productivity by
providing a single point of contact to assist the University computing
community with the following services:
Resolution of computing problems.
Information concerning University computing resources and facilities.
Installation and configuration of software and hardware.
Software application training.
Setting up shared printers and server shares on individual computers
which enable users to access network resources and shared files
Assistance with back up and archiving of important files.
Technical assistance on equipment purchases.
Design and maintain departmental Web Sites.
Respond to resident trouble report calls concerning networking and other
computing issues
In areas that employ their own support staff, it is our mission to
make them aware of services offered by DoIT, to provide any assistance
needed, and to generally encourage the use of University wide solutions."
Instructional Computing (Overview)
Instructional Computing oversees the training and support the use of
technology by staff and student on campus, including but not limited
to:
SINC Sites
Library Computing
Blackboard system
Campus solar system
Networking & Telecommunications (Overview)
"Telecommunications Services at the University at Stony Brook are provided
by several linked, University-owned Siemens switches (PBX's), installed
in the Hospital, West Campus, Tech Park and Hampton Bays. Together
they support almost 14,000 telephones, 1,500 of which are equipped
with data communications modules or analog adapters for simultaneous
voice and data. Extensions on all systems can call each other by
dialing a 5-digit number.
Telephones may be found in a multitude of environments, including offices and campus residences, elevators and athletic fields, hospital operating rooms and emergency rooms. The department also supports the installation of courtesy telephones and security phones in many locations throughout the campus. The PBX is used with Periphonics IVR equipment to facilitate dial-in registration and access to grades by students.
An important additional service used on a widespread basis throughout the University is Phone Mail. There are more than 7,000 active "mailboxes", used to receive messages or provide information to the University community. Mailboxes are updated on a regular basis to provide information on many diverse topics, such as job opportunities, sporting and fine arts events, school closings, health topics and directions to campus.
Phone Mail also provides call processing capabilities for more than 70 departments, off-loading approximately 1/2 of all calls to information mailboxes or to an alternate telephone number. This application has proven invaluable to the Hospital console operators (1,100 calls per day) and Undergraduate Admissions (500 calls per day). The installation of call processing to these very busy departments has resulted in lower staff costs, improved staff retention, and fewer caller complaints.
The University has just completed upgrading its telephone system to provide for additional capacity and to make available new technologies such as videoconferencing, computer-to-telephony integration and ISDN to the desktop. This process began in the late Spring of 1996 with the campus resident telephones, and continued in phases over a two-year period, beginning with the upgrade of service to the West Campus faculty and staff during the Fall of 1997 and ending with service to University Hospital Medical Center and the Health Sciences during the Spring of 1999."
Operations (Overview)
The Operations Department consists of several functional areas.
"The Computer Operators monitor, run and backup the University's medium to large, centralized servers, with coverage 24 hours per day, five days per week, plus one shift on Sunday.
The Production Control (PC) staff does all of the batch and reporting applications for the University's Administrative area. PC also functions as the liaison between administrative departments, applications programmers, system programmers and computer operators. Available on a 24/7 basis for trouble-shooting and with the capability of working from home, the PC staff is responsible for the maintenance and security of all Administrative Production files.
Computing Accounts establishes computer accounts and passwords for Faculty and Staff on the following systems: IBM 9672, SUN Ultra Enterprise Servers, and the Lotus Notes server. Computer accounts and passwords are established for Students on the UNIX network and the Lotus Notes server.
The Optical Scanning Office scans student exams, course evaluations, interim grade reports, affirmative action information sheets, Polity election ballots, Psychology surveys, Math and English placement exams, special forms, surveys and questionnaires."
Systems (Overview)
"The Systems Support Department architects and maintains the
computing infrastructure for University-wide applications. We administer
and manage electronic mail systems and Web servers and provide the
environment for running Administrative Applications. The following
are among our major responsibilities:
Sun Solaris operating environment
IBM OS/390 and VM operating systems
Oracle relational databases
Instructional Computing system support
Application File servers
Support of Library Systems (NOTIS and new ExLibris Aleph)
Lotus Notes
PeopleSoft
The department is responsible for computer system hardware, operating systems, databases and other supporting software as well as system security, performance, and management of computer accounts. We research and evaluate new and emerging technologies, provide technical guidance, planning and recommendations on new hardware and software acquisitions to improve and expand on existing computing capabilities and services for the University."
Box 1
Correspondence
Memorandum Equipment Evaluation and Recommendations for Installation
of IBM 360 Systems, August 3, 1967
Memorandum Conversion of Programs to the 360 System, June 19, 1969
Memorandum IBM 360 Reference Manuals, June 1, 1971
Memorandum Computing Center Charges for Sponsored Research, November
21, 1966
Memorandum June 1st Rate Revisions, May 1, 1978
Memorandum Mailing Labels, February 6, 1969
Memorandum FORTRAN Course, September 18, 1970
Memorandum Informal Programming Courses September 9, 1971
Memorandum Symposium on Statistical Packages, October 6, 1971
Memorandum a Re-Organization at the Computing Center, December 29, 1971
Newsletters
SUNY Stony Brook Computing Center Newsletter, November 1966 (2 copies)
“The Comp Center… The Monthly newsletter of the Computing
Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook Blank." Letterhead,
n.d.
User Guides
Users Guide Second Edition, September 1971
Memorandum Changes to User Guide October 31, 1972
Memorandum Page Replacement in Users Guide April 26, 1973
Reports
Computing Center Annual Report 1964-1965
Computing Center Annual Report 1965-1966 (2 copies)
Annual Report of Computing Center Faculty Advisory Committee 1969-1970
Computing Center Three Year Projection September 1965-September 1968
Proposal to Expand the Computing Facilities, n.d.
Forms
Account Number Request blank forms, n.d. (2 copies)