Many university officials recognize the need to upgrade their older analog video surveillance systems. In a 2010 survey by "Campus Safety" magazine, half of university respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the quality and coverage of their current video surveillance systems. Among the limitations of analog closed-circuit television…

Ever since the first customer relationship management (CRM) tools found their way onto North American campuses around 2002, higher education administrators have cringed at the mention of the word "customer," preferring to substitute "constituent" for the more sales-driven term. Yet, with competition for qualified candidates…

As influenza activity throughout the United States continues its gradual rise, H1N1 in particular has been the risk-management topic of the season for most colleges and universities. Among the questions being asked: Can one continue operations in the event of a campus closure? What if a faculty member is too sick to teach? What if students refuse…

Learning analytics offers higher education valuable insights that can inform strategic decision-making regarding resource allocation for educational excellence. Research demonstrates that learning management systems (LMSs) can increase student sense of community, support learning communities and enhance student engagement and success, and LMSs…

In past years, higher education's financial management side has been riddled with manual processes and aging mainframe applications. This article discusses schools which had taken advantage of an array of technologies that automate billing, payment processing, and refund processing in the case of overpayment. The investments are well worth it:…

Many of the information security appliances, devices, and techniques currently in use are designed to keep unwanted users and Internet traffic away from important information assets by denying unauthorized access to servers, databases, networks, storage media, and other underlying technology resources. These approaches employ firewalls, intrusion…

Universities are quickly moving from brick and mortar toward online classroom settings. The online setting provides students with increased accessibility and flexibility to attend classes they would normally be unable to attend. Unfortunately, for those students who never attend classes on campus, many campus resources are not accessible. Students…

The College of DuPage's 5-year plan for meeting its academic, administrative, and central computing needs is presented. An executive summary reviews the planning process and highlights recommendations and financial considerations. As the first section of the report, the introduction presents the college's demographics, mission and vision…