Survey Glossary (CDS 2011-2020)

You can view definitions by hovering over underlined key terms within the online survey, or you can view all terms at once in the list below.

• Academic department

  Beyond the traditional notion of an academic department as a distinct disciplinary academic entity, the term as used in the CDS is intended to include a fuller scope of academic units, from schools and colleges on one end to research groups at the other. The distinguishing attribute is that the entity includes teaching and research faculty, associated staff, and academic administrators (for example, deans).

• Academic early alert system

  System to identify students at academic risk within a course based on defined risk factors. May also involve communication of risk status to students and other appropriate parties and intervention tracking and management.

• Academic technology and support (IT Service; 2020 CDS survey)

  Ensuring that physical classrooms, specialized learning environments, and virtual learning environments (e.g., immersive learning, augmented reality) are suitably equipped and functional to meet the needs of the education experience.

• Access Control List (ACL)

  An internal computerized table of access rules regarding the levels of computer access permitted to logon IDs and computer terminals (from https://www.isaca.org/resources/glossary).

• Active learning classrooms

  Active learning classrooms (ALCs) are student-centered, technology-rich classrooms. They are easily identified with their large student tables and moveable seating designed to facilitate and promote active learning.

• Administration and Management of IT (IT domain)

  Functions and resources typically centralized within the IT organization that usually have scope spanning the IT organization. In the majority of cases, these functions and resources are part of or are closely tied to the Office of the CIO (or equivalent senior most IT officer). Please include the following in this area if applicable:

  • Administration of central IT organization
  • CIO or CTO position
  • Institutional IT planning
  • Financial planning and management for IT
  • Human resource management for the IT organization
  • Professional development for all IT staff
  • Space and facilities service requests for the IT organization; work orders for IT space on campus.
  • Central resources dedicated to vendor contract management. Resources dedicated to vendor contract management within a particular IT domain area should be accounted for in the respective IT domain area.
  • IT policy development, dissemination, and application (including information security policy and other policies specific to IT domain areas).
  • IT communications and publications including user documentation and general informational publications and related staff.
  • Central resources dedicated to program, project and/or service management (a set of services often found in central IT organizations that supports design, development, and management of programs, projects, and services.).
  • Central resources dedicated to business process/systems analysis. Resources dedicated to business process/systems analysis within a particular IT domain area should be accounted for in the respective IT domain area.
  • Staff affiliated with these functions (including administrative, clerical, and support functions that support the IT organization broadly).
  • Hardware, software, and supplies affiliated with these functions.
  • Do not include:
    • Emergency notification (see Communications Infrastructure Services)
    • IT policy education (see IT Support Services)
    • Coordinating response to incidents of inappropriate use of information or information technology (see Information Security)
    • Technology research and development specific to specific IT domain areas
    • Management of specific IT functions not already mentioned as a part of Administration and Management of IT. Management roles should be accounted for in respective IT domain areas.
    • Software site licenses. Software costs should be accounted for in respective IT domain areas.

• Administrative and business service category

  Enterprise and local services that support the administrative and business functions of an institution; includes analytics, business intelligence, reporting, finance, human resources, student information systems, advancement, research administration, and conference and event management.

• Administrative office

  Units in the central administration of a college or university, such as the offices of the president, vice presidents, provost, vice provosts, and general counsel. Does not include academic units, such as offices of the deans in universities with multiple colleges or schools, or offices of academic departments or research groups.

• Administrative/enterprise information systems

  Administrative systems or enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems such as student administration (admissions, financial aid, registration, etc.), financial information systems, procurement systems, human resource systems, payroll, research administration (grants and contracts), and library systems (if supported by the IT organization).

• Admissions CRM (Institutional profile)

  A technology that allows for higher education institutions to manage their interactions with all applicants through the lifecycle of applying to one of the institution’s programs.

• Advanced applications service

  Services for applications that could include plotting, scientific visualization, modeling, rendering, animation, graphics programming, and image manipulation.

• Advancement and development CRM (Institutional profile)

  A technology that allows for higher education institutions to manage their interactions with all donors as fundraising and advancement activities are carried out.

• Advancement/fundraising system

  An information system used to target, analyze, record, and report on the status of institutional fundraising from such sources as alumni, parents, friends, foundations, and corporations.

• Advising case management system for student interaction tracking

  System for capturing advising information and advice received by a student over time and across different interactions and advising sources, such as course recommendations or comments/notes.

• Advising center management

  Provides appointment scheduling, check in/out, advisor workload reporting, and other administrative functions to support advising center.

• Alumni and advancement service

  Alumni portals and services that support university advancement and development.

• Application development service

  Tools, services, and products that support the ERP, the mainframe, mobile application development, and custom application development, including tools built into ERP and mainframe systems, as well as integration with third-party systems.

• Application virtualization

  Software technology that encapsulates application software from the underlying operating system on which it is executed. A fully virtualized application is not installed in the traditional sense, although it is still executed as if it were (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_virtualization).

• Assessment systems service

  Services in support of assessing learning outcomes.

• Athletics service

  Athletics administration, recruiting, procurement, and ticketing systems.

• Automated lecture capture

  Systems that automate the end-to-end process of capturing, broadcasting, viewing, archiving, and searching presentations, etc. (e.g., Panopto, Sonic Foundry, Echo360).

• Auxiliary systems service

  Services outside the core administrative systems that support auxiliary or ancillary campus systems, activities, and operations.

• Business Analyst

  Staff member responsible for creating, enhancing, and documenting maintainable analytical solutions in solving strategic problems for a business unit, department, or school. May lead or assist in gathering stakeholder requirements, translating those requirements to technical solutions, and providing support for application enhancements and products. May work with outside vendors in developing solutions. Collaborates with stakeholders in communicating solutions and iterating on project efficacy. (This professional job description courtesy of CUPA-HR).

• Business continuity and disaster recovery service

  Business continuity consulting and planning and disaster recovery planning, including disaster recovery exercises.

• Business intelligence reporting system

  A set of administrative functions and associated software systems that support planning and decision making by categorizing, aggregating, analyzing, and reporting on data resulting from transaction-processing systems.

• Campus-generated power

  Provision of electrical power across an entire campus or large parts thereof that is generated by and for the institution, as distinct from a dedicated onsite generator for a specific facility, such as a data center.

• Carnegie classifications (Year 2018 version)

  A framework for recognizing and describing institutional diversity in U.S. higher education derived from empirical data on colleges and universities. Originally published in 1973, the framework has been updated in 1976, 1987, 1994, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2018. The CDS uses the 2018 version. To facilitate international benchmarking, CDS participants outside the U.S. are invited to self-select into one of the classifications (described fully at [http://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/descriptions/basic.php]).

• Carryover funds

  Remaining funds available from one budget year that is transferred to the following budget year.

• Center for teaching and learning (CTL)

  Centers for Teaching and Learning are independent academic units within colleges and universities that exist to provide support services for faculty, to help teaching faculty to improve their teaching and professional development. CTLs may have different kinds of names, such as faculty development centers, teaching and learning centers, centers for teaching excellence, academic support centers, and others.

• Central IT

  The centralized IT services and support organization reporting to the highest-ranking IT administrator/officer in the institution.

• Central IT capital spending

  Expenditures to buy, install, maintain, or improve an institution's information technology fixed assets, such as equipment or systems. Generally, these assets have a value of 5,000 USD or greater and are expected to last more than one year.

• Central IT one-time expenses

  Expenditures for services, activities or things that are not expected to re-occur on a regular basis, and do not fall under the institutions' typical operations (central IT operating spending) or capital expenditures.

• Central IT operating spending

  Expenditures for providing regular, ongoing infrastructure and services necessary for the operation of the institution (i.e., annual software contracts, utility payments, maintenance agreements, supplies).

• Central office

  In multicampus university or college systems or community college districts, the central office is a central administrative unit headed by the chief executive officers of the system or district. Most central offices include a central IT organization, some of which provide a wide range of services to individual campuses and some of which focus on coordinating the activities of IT organizations on the campuses.

• Chancellor

  In some multicampus systems and community college districts in the United States, chancellor is the title of the chief executive officer of the system or district, in which case the campus CEOs carry the title of president. In other cases, the president is the system CEO, with the campus CEOs designated as chancellors.

• Chief information officer (CIO)

  A common designation for the highest-ranking information technology officer/administrator in an institution, and sometimes an official title. Given the wide range of actual titles, the CDS sometimes uses "CIO"s to refer to all highest-ranking IT officers and administrators, regardless of their official titles. 

• Chief technology officer (CTO)

  One of several official titles for the highest-ranking information technology officer/administrator in colleges and universities. In some cases, CTO is the title assigned to a deputy to the highest-ranking technology officer/administrator.

• Classroom technology and support service

  Services to ensure classrooms are suitably equipped and functional to meet the needs of the education experience. For the purposes of reporting staff and student FTE, please include the following in this area if applicable:

  • Services that support the use of technology in traditional classrooms
  • Services that provide technology for traditional classroom use
  • Staff, hardware, software, etc., used to provide or support technology for traditional classrooms.

• Cloud computing

  A computing model in which technology resources are delivered over the Internet (consult What Campus Leaders Need to Know About Cloud Computing).

• Collaboration service

  Technology-enhanced communication, coordination, and collaboration services that facilitate the creation, sharing, and exchange of information and ideas within communities of interest; includes social media.

• Collaboration tools for learning

  Institutional online tools that foster collaboration among students and/or instructors for assigned course projects or spontaneous study groups, typically including shared documents, online text and video chat, shared whiteboard, etc. May be embedded in an online learning delivery system/LMS or provided as a separate system (e.g., Google Docs, wikis, social networks, etc.).

• Collaborative, informal learning spaces

  A informal learning environment that supports student-centered, collaborative knowledge discovery and creation through the use of technology. A collaborative space generally includes group-friendly seating, whiteboards, and projection displays. (see 7 Things You Should Know About Collaborative Learning Spaces).

• Commodity Internet

  A general term referring to the general public network known as the Internet, as distinct from special-purpose and restricted-access research and education (R&E) networks. Many universities and colleges have connections to both the commodity Internet and one or more R&E networks.

• Commodity peering

  An approach to provisioning commodity Internet service using excess capacity available on research and education (R&E) networks that connect at major interconnect (peering) points on the commodity Internet. The goals of commodity peering are to improve network performance and reduce costs.

• Communication and collaboration service category

  IT services that facilitate institutional communication and collaboration needs. Includes e-mail, calendaring, telephony/VoIP, video/web conferencing, unified communications, web content management system, web application development and hosting, and media development.

• Communications Infrastructure Services (IT domain)

  Functions and resources associated with enabling faculty, staff, and students to communicate and collaborate with others on and off campus. Please include the following in this area if applicable:

  • Wire and cable infrastructure for data, voice and/or video networks
  • Campus data network
  • Wireless network
  • Video network
  • Remote access (VPN)
  • Commodity Internet
  • Network management (including: capacity planning, performance monitoring, change management, etc.)
  • IPv6
  • Unified communications and collaboration
  • Dial tone (including services to student housing)
  • Telephone services (VoIP or conventional)
  • Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking
  • Voicemail
  • Cellular and paging services
  • Telecommunications (consulting, design)
  • Video surveillance systems
  • Cable TV
  • Network, phone, and cable TV delivery and operation in residence halls
  • Digital signage systems
  • Emergency notification
  • E-mail for faculty, staff, or students
  • Calendaring
  • Communication and collaboration technologies (e.g., video and web conferencing, Listserv, SharePoint, shared web browsing, wiki, Google Docs, MS OneDrive)
  • Business process/systems analysis specific to this domain area
  • Technology research and development specific to this domain area
  • Management responsibilities (HR management, financial planning, project management, vendor contract management, etc.) for staff dedicated to this domain area
  • Staff affiliated with these functions (including administrative, clerical, and support for this IT domain area)
  • Hardware, software, and supplies affiliated with these functions
  • Do not include:
    • High-performance research network (e.g., Internet2, National LambdaRail) (see Research Computing Services)
    • Network behavior analysis (see Information Security)

• Communications security

  Deals with measures and controls taken to deny unauthorized persons information derived from telecommunications and to ensure the authenticity of such telecommunications; includes cryptographic security, transmission security, and emissions security.

• Compliance

  The effort to ensure that laws, regulations, and even an institution’s own policies are complied with and that efforts are coordinated institution-wide (see also IT compliance and consult IT Governance, Risk, and Compliance in Higher Education).

• Component campus

  Designation for institutions that are included in multicampus systems and community college districts.

• Computer lab or cluster

  One or more computers provided by the institution for shared student use. Most labs or clusters provide seating and are intended for extended use. Compare to Kiosks.

• Conferencing and telephones (IT Service; 2020 CDS survey)

  Telephony, including voice/VoIP, teleconferencing, and web conferencing hosted either in cloud or on-premises.

• Conferencing service

  Online conferencing services other than teleconferencing.

• Configuration management

  The process of controlling modifications to hardware, firmware, software, and documentation to protect the information system against improper modification prior to, during, and after system implementation.

• Consultants

  See Professional services.

• Consulting and advising service

  Guidance services on how to leverage technologies and select technology solutions, including those in the cloud.

• Course/program recommendation system

  System for estimating a student's chances of success in a course or program, and making recommendations on that basis, using student characteristics and statistical patterns of success.

• Credit transfer/articulation system

  Provides information about the transferability of a student's earned or potential course credits from one institution to other institutions.

• Customer relationship management system

  Strategy, business processes, and software for managing and enhancing an institution's interactions with customers, such as students, prospective students, and alumni; faculty and staff; and current and prospective donors.

• Customization

  Changes that are made to a college or university's specific instance of an administrative system application, usually to make the system meet an institutional need or fit an institution's established processes.

• Cyberinfrastructure (CI)

  The distributed computer, information, and communication technologies combined with the personnel and integrating components that provide a long-term platform to empower the modern scientific research endeavor. Components of CI include high-performance computing, storage resources, visualization facilities, sensors and other data collection apparatus, and advanced networks. In some countries, CI is referred to as e-xcience (from https://www.nsf.gov/cise/sci/reports/atkins.pdf).

• Data center service (The Higher Education IT Service Catalog, First Edition)

  Maintenance of physical data centers, including co-location services, planning, and strategy for data center management.

• Data center services (IT Service; 2020 CDS survey)

  Strategy, planning, architecture, and operation of physical and virtual data centers, including on-premises, remote, and cloud-based data centers.

• Data loss prevention

  Tools that actively prevent data loss by monitoring and preventing improper use of sensitive data in transit (network), at rest (storage), and while at use (endpoint).

• Data Scientist

  Staff member responsible for analyzing complex data and providing data-driven advice for their unit. Manages statistical data and creates predictive models based on their unit's needs. Possesses advanced analytical skills, as well as oral and written communication abilities. Processes research information for easier consumption and transforms it into actionable plans. Provides value to their unit through findings and thoughtful insights. (This professional job description courtesy of CUPA-HR).

• Data warehouse

  A central repository of data often created by integrating other data sources and used for reporting and analysis.

• Data warehouse vendors (Institutional profile)

  A system or software for storing, accessing, processing and delivering data. This includes relational and non-relational systems storage systems or combinations of those systems.

• Database Administrator

  Staff member that maintains effective and efficient operation of a computer database. Ensures database runs properly, keeps database current, makes access readily available and timely, and formulates and designs new database applications. Makes decisions regarding procedures for set up of, access to, and operation of database. Refers decisions relating to major policy changes or the purchase of new software to supervisor. (This professional job description courtesy of CUPA-HR).

• Database Management (IT Service; 2020 CDS survey)

  Hosting and administration of databases, physical and virtual.

• Database service (The Higher Education IT Service Catalog, First Edition)

  Includes hosting and administration of databases.

• Decentralized IT

  Departments or units of the institution that provide all or nearly all of their own IT services, without reporting directly or indirectly to the CIO or equivalent office.

• Dedicated on-site generator

  A source of electrical power for a data center or other facility, separate from the campus or public electrical grid. Dedicated generators are often used to back up other sources of electrical power; some are permanently installed, and others are mobile.

• Degree audit

  Checks student's transcript against degree requirements and identifies unmet needs for degree completion.

• Desktop and mobile device support (IT Service; 2020 CDS survey)

  Support for all types of end-point devices, including laptops, desktops, mobile devices, and related peripherals that are not in the printing service. These devices might be personally or institutionally owned (including loaner equipment) and might be part of a shared pool or a computer lab. Includes support for the associated operating system, hardware, and systems that provide enterprise management of computing devices.

• Digital asset management system for learning

  Institutional system or contracted service which allows management of multimedia assets including video, including repository, search, edit and publish features (e.g., Kaltura, YouTube, Flickr, iTunesU, etc.).

• Disaster recovery data center

  A data center with the necessary storage, compute, and communications capacity to resume operations of mission-critical systems in the event the primary data center(s) are unavailable.

• Distance education

  Teaching methods and associated technology that enable students to access instruction and instructional resources without being in the same educational setting as the instructor. Models for distance education include distributed students with real-time or asynchronous access to an instructor, other students, or online materials; students assembled in a classroom with a remote instructor; students and instructor(s) in multiple classrooms connected simultaneously; and other variations.

• Distributed antenna system (DAS)

  A network of spatially separated antenna nodes that provides wireless services within a campus, building, or other area. One application of a DAS is to enhance cellular telephony service in an institution while maintaining institutional control of the antenna infrastructure.

• Distributed IT

  All staff with IT responsibilities who do not report to the CIO and all resources that are not within the CIO’s purview (including decentralized IT). The CIO often has some level of authority and/or responsibility over the distributed IT services (see also Decentralized IT).

• Distributed IT staff

  Staff who do not report to central IT but who work 50% or more on IT activities and who have IT staff job titles (e.g., programmers, DBAs, etc.) consistent with the CDS IT Domain definitions.

• District

  A group of community colleges with a common governing board; analogous to a multicampus system.

• Document imaging and management service

  Electronic document-management services.

• E-learning

  Learning that involves a web-based component, enabling collaboration and access to content that extends beyond the classroom.

• E-learning course analytics for instructors

  Institutional system that provides instructors advanced online course analytics including, for example, student progress through materials, success on assessments, and course-level statistics on what materials the class as a whole has reviewed. May be part of a full function LMS or a separate system.

• E-mail and calendaring service

  Services associated with e-mail, calendaring, contacts, broadcast mail, enterprise-wide mailing list management, and messaging.

• Embedded BI

  The integration of self-service BI tools into commonly used business applications. BI tools support an enhanced user experience with visualization, real-time analytics and interactive reporting.

• E-portfolio sites service

  Services for e-portfolios, which provide a way for students and faculty to showcase their work and academic accomplishments.

• E-publishing platform for learning

  Institutional platform that provides electronic distribution of text, enabling students to access e-books/e-texts on mobile devices and offering additional features such as annotation, search across texts, and note sharing. Basic systems deliver existing packaged e-content; advanced systems enable collection, copyright clearance, and bundling of content similar to e-texts and e-coursepacks.

• E-science

  See Cyberinfrastructure (CI).

• Early-alert systems

  See Academic early alert system.

• Education plan creation/tracking system

  System for creating and monitoring a student's detailed, long-term educational plan, typically leading to degree or credential completion.

• Educational technology consulting and training service

  Services to ensure that faculty and other course creators have the knowledge and assistance they need to optimize their effectiveness in using teaching and learning technologies.

• Educational Technology Services (IT domain)

  Functions and resources associated with and specific to supporting teaching and learning at the institution. Please include the following in this area if applicable:

  • Instructional technology support including:
    • Instructional support staff (including technologists and designers)
    • Instructional technology used by faculty (including learning management system and support, e-portfolios, assessment systems, and collaboration tools, etc.)
    • Teaching and technology center staff
  • Learning management systems (homegrown or purchased)
  • Library systems
  • Technology systems to support student success (e.g., degree audit, advising center management, academic early alert system, etc.)
  • Classroom technology equipment and installation
  • Classroom and learning space support (including audio visual support)
  • Student technology centers (labs, makerspaces, collaborative spaces, training, support, etc.)
  • Specialized training for faculty and students
  • Distance education, e-learning, online learning, and/or hybrid learning support and related technology
  • Business process/systems analysis specific to this domain area
  • Technology research and development specific to this domain area
  • Management responsibilities (HR management, financial planning, project management, vendor contract management, etc.) for staff dedicated to this domain area
  • Staff affiliated with these functions (including administrative, clerical, and support for this IT domain area)
  • Hardware, software, and supplies affiliated with these functions
  • Do not include:
    • Multimedia services (Support for design, production, and deployment of content in audio, still image, animation, video, and interactive formats, often in combination with text.) (see IT Support Services)
    • TV production and broadcasting (see IT Support Services)
    • Desktop computing/endpoint computing (see IT Support Services)
    • Specialized support centers (e.g., special center for multimedia production or centers that support use of specialized hardware or software) (see IT Support Services)
    • IT Training and education including: policy training and education; general user training and education and related staff (see IT Support Services)

• Electronic student portfolios

  An online, digital system for students to collect, reflect on, and share their work over a course or program of study.

• Emergency notification service

  Services in support of campus alert systems.

• Endpoint computing service category

  Services that enable community members to do their day-to-day work, including providing access to enterprise services. Includes network access, user file storage, endpoint computing backup solutions, desktop virtualization, computer labs, and printing.

• Endpoint configuration management

  A system to manage operating system and application patch levels and more, typically allowing remote update or emergency push.

• Endpoint encryption for sensitive data

  Tools that provide endpoint encryption (e.g., to protect sensitive data on a lost or stolen device), with institutional decryption on documented need.

• Endpoint support service

  Support for all types of endpoint devices and associated operating and application software.

• Enterprise Infrastructure and Services (IT domain)

  Functions and resources associated with developing, managing, and operating the core IT infrastructure for the institution. Core infrastructure includes data centers, servers, storage, databases, portals, etc., as outlined below. Please include the following in this area if applicable:

  • Web support services including:
    • Content design and web-based publication
    • Content management support
    • Web server support
    • Web-based applications development or interface
  • DHCP and DNS
  • Portal development and support
  • Mobile application design and development
  • Accessibility testing and enterprise application remediation; software QA
  • Enterprise infrastructure (storage, system backup and recovery, servers)
  • Systems administration and operation
  • Data center, operations
  • Data center environmental support systems such as HVAC, UPS and backup power supply, and systems monitor
  • Disaster recovery planning and implementation
  • Database administration
  • Enterprise application integration (e.g., ERP integration, homegrown systems integration with ERP, ERP data warehouse, etc.)
  • Middleware development and support
  • Enterprise architecture
  • Service-oriented architecture (web services) development and support
  • Virtual desktop infrastructure
  • Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) contract management
  • Infrastructure support for departmental IT support providers (including desktop asset management software)
  • Business process/systems analysis specific to this domain area
  • Technology research and development specific to this domain area
  • Management responsibilities (HR management, financial planning, project management, vendor contract management, etc.) for staff dedicated to this domain area
  • Staff affiliated with these functions (including administrative, clerical, and support for this IT domain area)
  • Hardware, software, and supplies affiliated with these functions
  • Do not include:
    • E-mail for faculty, staff, or students (see Communications Infrastructure Services)
    • Calendaring (see Communications Infrastructure Services)
    • Voice and data networks (see Communications Infrastructure Services)
    • Security Infrastructure development and support (see Information Security)
    • Identity management (see Information Security)

• Enterprise licensing service

  Negotiation, acquisition, and management of licenses for technology broadly used throughout the institution.

• Enterprise resource planning (ERP)

  Refers to an integrated suite of administrative information systems designed to support and automate business processes through a centralized database system. In higher education, these systems usually include student systems, financial systems, and human resources (payroll/personnel) systems, as well as data warehouse and planning tools.

• ERP Finance system (Institutional profile)

  A system or software to manage a variety of financial functions including procurement, accounting and budget management.

• ERP Human resources or payroll system (Institutional profile)

  A system or software to support human resources management, including recruiting, training, payroll, benefits administration, etc.

• ERP Student information system (Institutional profile)

  A system or software to manage information about students, including the admissions process, course registration and grades, degree audit, housing, etc., and to provide student self-service functions such as course registration, access to course catalogues, class schedules, grades, transcripts, and so forth.

• Exchange rate

  Because all financial data in CDS survey modules are in U.S. dollars, participants outside the United States are asked to provide the conversion rates from local currency to U.S. dollars.

• External providers expenditures

  Ongoing and one-time expenditures for services for which central IT is responsible, but provided by entities outside the institution. Including, but not limited to, the following: externally provided help desk or data center; services provided by multicampus system or district offices; professional services arrangements for projects or ongoing work, for security audits, for network architecture planning, etc.; network connectivity; shared service arrangements for multiple institutions for data center capacity, backup services, shared ERP implementations, etc.; cloud service providers (SaaS, IaaS, etc.) for services such as e-mail and calendaring, LMS, payroll, etc.; consultants not paid from your university’s payroll (e.g., specialists, engineers, head hunters); etc.

• Facilities management

  A system for all facility management activities including preventative maintenance, inventory, work orders, facilities scheduling and rental, equipment tracking, and vendor tracking.

• Faculty information systems service

  Services that support faculty administration, review, promotion, and tenure.

• Federation

  A federation is an association of organizations that come together to exchange information, as appropriate, about their users and resources in order to enable collaborations and transactions.

• Fee-based/cost-recovery funds

  Funds received in direct exchange for services provided by central IT (e.g., network services, computer repairs, printing, contributed funding for HPC; monthly charges for telephone lines/sets, server hosting in the data center, dedicated desktop support services, software license fees charged to users).

• Finance, human resources, and procurement systems service

  Administration and maintenance of enterprise systems (integrated or stand-alone) that support financial management, human capital management, and procurement.

• Firewall

  Set of related programs and policies that protects the resources of a private network from users on other networks. A firewall can also control what outside resources users of the private network can access.

• Fixed-term labor

  Nonpermanent staff employees working for the institution for a specified purpose and for a specified period of time (e.g., limited positions, temporary employees, one-time funding positions, labor for specific one-time projects, one-time staff supplementation, etc.).

• Fringe benefits

  Nonsalary benefits such as medical and dental insurance, pension plan contributions, life insurance, subsidies for meals, vehicles or housing, etc.

• Full-function online learning delivery system

  Institutional system that enables instructors to provide students electronic access to materials, assignments, engagement activities, and quizzes and provides an overall capability for students and instructors to complete a course fully online. May be a specialized e-learning system or an LMS with these e-learning capabilities.

• Full-time equivalent (FTE)

  A combination of full- and part-time personnel (or enrolled students) into a single measure as determined by formula. For nonstudent personnel counts in the CDS, please calculate FTE based on a 40-hour work week over the course of the full FY (or approximately 2,000 hours per year). For student employees, the following methods may be used to calculate this number: (1) If you know the total number of student worker hours allocated to central IT during the fiscal year, divide that number by 2,000 (number of hours/year based on a 40 hour work week) OR (2) If you know the total number of dollars used for student workers, divide that number by the average hourly wage and then divide the result by 2,000.

• Full-time student

  • Undergraduate: A student enrolled for 12 or more semester credits, or 12 or more quarter credits, or 24 or more contact hours a week each term.
  • Graduate: A student enrolled for 9 or more semester credits, or 9 or more quarter credits, or a student involved in thesis or dissertation preparation that is considered full time by the institution. Doctor's degree — Professional practice — as defined by the institution (from [http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/glossary/]).

• Governance

  The way in which a higher education institution is organized for the purposes of decision making and resource allocation and how the varying parts are managed in a way that promotes the mission of the institution (see also IT governance and consult IT Governance, Risk, and Compliance in Higher Education).

• Grants management system: post award

  Software to support administration of research projects from notice of award through final billing.

• Grants management system: pre award

  Software to support development and submission of grant proposals to external funding agencies.

• HDI Customer Satisfaction Index

  Web-based customer satisfaction surveying service; see [http://www.thinkhdi-csi.com/].

• Help desk

  For the purposes of reporting staff and student FTE, please include the following in this area if applicable:

  • Walk-in support for students, faculty, and staff
  • Call-in support for students, faculty, and staff
  • Call centers
  • Support for knowledge bases, self-help tools
  • Specialized support centers
  • Help desk staff

• High-performance computing (HPC)

  Configurations of parallel processors, storage, and specialized networking designed to address large jobs with more or less tightly coupled subprocesses.

• High-throughput computing (HTC)

  Systems that are designed to provide large amounts of computing power over long periods of time, e.g., weeks or months.

• Host

  Any end device connecting to a data network, via wire or wireless, not including the equipment necessary to make the network function (such as routers, switches, modems, wireless access points, etc.). Examples of hosts include desktop computer, laptop, tablet, smart phone, VoIP phone, server, printer, thermostat, web cam, security camera.

• Host-based intrusion detection system

  File and system software monitoring tools to detect any unauthorized activity or changes, e.g., Tripwire.

• Host-based intrusion prevention system

  File and system software monitoring tools to detect and prevent any unauthorized activity or changes.

• Human resources (HR) information system

  Software to support human resources management, including recruiting, training, payroll, benefits administration, etc.

• Hybrid/blended course

  Courses where web-based, online learning replaces a percentage of traditional face-to-face instruction (also known as hybrid or mixed-mode courses; consult The Blended Learning Toolkit: Improving Student Performance and Retention).

• Identity and access management service

  Services relating to authentication, access, role-based provisioning, etc.

• Identity provider

  Source for validating a user identity in a federated identity system.

• In-house infrastructure and services expenditures

  Ongoing and one-time expenditures for “in-house” infrastructure and services provided by and run by the institution. Including, but not limited to the following: equipment purchases (hardware, software, specialized devices or appliances, etc.); maintenance contracts for hardware and software run in-house; software licensing fees (for software running on university-owned or leased computers); network cabling; fiber-optics; electronics; environmental systems such as cooling and dehumidification; fire suppression; power management and redundancy (UPS, generator, etc.); data center equipment (racks, etc.); etc.

• InCommon

  A formal federation of organizations focused on creating a common framework for collaborative trust in support of research and education. InCommon eliminates the need for researchers, students, and educators to maintain multiple, password-protected accounts. Instead the federation supports user access to protected resources by enabling organizations to make access decisions to resources based on a user's status and privileges as presented by the user's home organization (from https://www.incommon.org/.

• Information Security (IT domain)

  Functions and resources associated with providing information and systems security services and programs for the institution, including directory, identity management, and access provisioning/de-provisioning functions and roles, etc. Please include the following in this area if applicable:

  • Authentication services
  • Account administration (including account provisioning and deprovisioning)
  • Authorization services
  • Directory services
  • Single sign-on
  • Federated identity
  • Password management
  • Identity management
  • Security planning, design, and implementation
  • Security policy and process development
  • Security consulting
  • Coordinating response to incidents of inappropriate use of information or information technology
  • Vulnerability analysis
  • Security infrastructure development and support
  • Intrusion detection and prevention
  • Secure computing
  • Network perimeter detection
  • Network behavior analysis
  • Security information and event management (SIEM)
  • Data loss prevention (DLP)
  • Server- or system-level antimalware, virus detection, and/or antiphishing solutions
  • Security awareness and training programs
  • Business process/systems analysis specific to this domain area
  • Technology research and development specific to this domain area
  • Management responsibilities (HR management, financial planning, project management, vendor contract management, etc.) for staff dedicated to this domain area
  • Staff affiliated with these functions (including administrative, clerical, and support for this IT domain area)
  • Hardware, software, and supplies affiliated with these functions
  • Do not include:
    • Desktop applications for information security (e.g., antimalware, virus detection, antiphishing, etc.) (see IT Support Services)

• Information Systems and Applications (IT domain)

  All systems and applications not specific to other IT domain areas that are required for institution operations, including ERP and other administrative applications. Please include the following in this area if applicable:

  • Administrative/enterprise information systems including:
    • Enterprise decision support (e.g., business intelligence, data warehouse, analytics systems, etc.)
    • Human resource management application systems
    • Payroll systems
    • Fiscal and procurement application systems
    • Financial management systems
    • Student information application systems (admissions, financial aid, records, advising)
    • Alumni/advancement/fundraising application systems
    • Lifetime engagement application systems (CRM)
    • Room scheduling and events management
    • Grants management applications
    • Research administration and compliance systems
    • Document and records management systems
    • Auxiliary systems (e.g., housing, cashiering, parking, event sales and ticketing, travel management systems, etc.)
  • Administrative system support including:
    • Implementation and support of these systems
    • Mobile interfaces for these systems
    • Training of users of these systems
    • Programming support related to these systems
    • Business process/systems analysis specific to this domain area
    • Technology research and development specific to this domain area
    • Management responsibilities (HR management, financial planning, project management, vendor contract management, etc.) for staff dedicated to this domain area
    • Staff affiliated with these functions (including administrative, clerical, and support for this IT domain area)
    • Hardware, software, and supplies affiliated with these functions
  • Do not include:
    • Learning management application systems (homegrown or purchased) (see Educational Technology Services)
    • Library systems (see Educational Technology Services)
    • E-mail for faculty, staff, or students (see Communications Infrastructure Services)
    • Calendaring (see Communications Infrastructure Services)
    • Database administration (see Enterprise Infrastructure and Services)
    • Middleware development and support (see Enterprise Infrastructure and Services)

• Information technology infrastructure library (ITIL)

  A set of practices for IT service management (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of business (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITIL.

• IT service delivery and support (IT Service; 2020 CDS survey)

  Includes design and maintenance of the capabilities, tools, and service points needed to deliver IT services or provide end-user support. Includes service desks, call centers, and online support delivery. Might include concierge support or special event service delivery.

• Information Technology (IT) Support Services (IT domain)

  Functions and resources associated with providing general support for the institution that is not specific to teaching and learning or administrative applications. Generally, services included in this domain are intended to be used by any user (faculty, students and staff). Please include the following in this area if applicable:

  • Desktop/endpoint computing (including technical support, analysis, and consulting)
  • Hardware and software to support desktop/endpoint computing (including desktop applications for information security (e.g., antimalware, virus detection, antiphishing, etc.)
  • Executive IT support
  • User support services (including support center and/or help desk and/or knowledge base/self-help tools)
  • Specialized support centers (e.g., special center for multimedia production or centers that support use of specialized hardware or software)
  • Reference desk and staff (library/IT staff in a merged organization)
  • Support for reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities
  • Computer installation, maintenance, and repair (including staffing and support contracts)
  • Computer store including computer resale activities and staff
  • Departmental computing support
  • IT training and education including: policy training and education, general user training and education, and related staff
  • Multimedia services (Support for design, production, and deployment of content in audio, still image, animation, video, and interactive formats, often in combination with text.)
  • Non-instructional/non-classroom audio visual support
  • TV production and broadcasting
  • Printer/copier services
  • Business process/systems analysis specific to this domain area
  • Technology research and development specific to this domain area
  • Management responsibilities (HR management, financial planning, project management, vendor contract management, etc.) for staff dedicated to this domain area
  • Staff affiliated with these functions (including administrative, clerical, and support for this IT domain area)
  • Hardware, software, and supplies affiliated with these functions
  • Do not include:
    • IT communications and publications including user documentation and general informational publications and related staff (see Administration and Management of IT)
    • Student technology centers (labs, training, support, etc.) (see Educational Technology Services)
    • Specialized training for faculty and students (see Educational Technology Services)
    • Communication and collaboration technologies (e.g., video and web conferencing, Listserv, SharePoint, shared web browsing) (see Communications Infrastructure Services)
    • Infrastructure support for departmental IT support providers (see Enterprise Infrastructure and Services)

• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

  A provision model in which an organization outsources the equipment used to support operations, including storage, hardware, servers and networking components. The service provider owns the equipment and is responsible for housing, running and maintaining it (from SearchCloudComputing.com; also consult Spotlight on Cloud Computing: Infrastructure as a Service).

• Infrastructure service category

  Enterprise-level hardware, software, systems, and network infrastructure that provide underlying support for institutional activities. Includes data centers, network backbone, wireless, central storage and system backup solutions, server virtualization, and systems management and operations.

• Innovation

  The act or process of building on existing research, knowledge, and practice through the introduction or application of new ideas, devices, or methods to solve problems or create opportunities where none existed before.

• Institution

  For CDS participants from central offices of multicampus systems and community college districts, institution refers to the central office only, not the entire multicampus entity. For all other participants, Institution refers to the individual college or university (which the legacy CDS survey referred to as a campus). See Multicampus system.

• Institutional research (IR)

  The function in college and university administration to inform planning and decision making by collecting, analyzing, reporting, and warehousing a wide range of data about students, faculty, staff, finances, etc. While such functions may be carried out by many individuals, most institutions have a central Office of Institutional Research, or the equivalent, responsible for the institution's primary IR activities, including reporting of institutional information to accrediting agencies, government offices, and other external entities.

• Instructional Technology and Design (IT Service; 2020 CDS survey)

  Ensuring that faculty and other course creators have the knowledge and assistance they need to optimize their effectiveness in using teaching and learning technologies, including e-text development and online course development.

• Interactive learning

  Learning environments that involve interaction between the student and faculty, other students, or resources. Interactive learning can involve simulations, games, role playing, experimentation, etc.

• IPEDS

  The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Systems (IPEDS) is a single, comprehensive, data collection program designed to capture data for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for all U.S. institutions and educational organizations whose primary purpose is to provide postsecondary education. IPEDS collects institution-level data in such areas as enrollments, program completions, faculty staff, and finances. IPEDS data reporting requires the extensive effort of a variety of offices on any campus, and this is the "official" information the college or university stands behind, used by the federal government. EDUCAUSE collects a subset of IPEDS data from CDS participants from outside the U.S. in order to facilitate international benchmarking.

• IPv6

  An Internet Protocol standard developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force that is designed to succeed Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) in order to address the increasing number of users and devices accessing the Internet.

• IT compliance

  Programs or processes that ensure the institution’s IT resources and systems are operated in ways that meet the laws and regulations impacting those systems and comply with institutional policy (see also Compliance and consult IT Governance, Risk, and Compliance in Higher Education).

• IT governance

  Programs or processes that ensure that the campus IT strategy is aligned with the institution’s strategic plan. IT thus becomes a strategic partner in the institutional mission (see also Governance and consult IT Governance, Risk, and Compliance in Higher Education).

• IT professional services service category

  Services that are consultative in nature, in contrast to the other categories, which tend to be technology based; these may be a combination of customer-facing and non-customer-facing services. Includes IT training, consulting/advisory services, business continuity/disaster recovery, enterprise architecture, portfolio/project management, and ITSM.

• IT risk management

  Programs or processes that help an institution identify the risks that it faces with regard to its present or planned IT resources and systems and affirmatively address those risks in a way that satisfies its overall goals (see also Risk management and consult IT Governance, Risk, and Compliance in Higher Education).

• IT service management service

  People, processes, and tools that enable service management. This is a supporting service.

• Kiosk

  A general-purpose or specialized computer or terminal installed in a public area to enable students, other community members, or the general public to access information, transact business, or perform other functions. A kiosk is intended for comparatively short sessions and is often designed for standing access, as compared to the computer workstations found in a typical computer lab, which provide for extended use.

• Knowledge management system

  A system of used to identify, create, store and disseminate information.

• Lab-management systems service

  Services to record and track lab experiments, equipment, and specimens.

• Learning management (IT Service; 2020 CDS survey)

  Offerings that relate to the management of academic course materials (e.g., videos, documents, spreadsheets) and that facilitate teaching and learning using online portals. Includes learning management systems and other learning platforms, as well as services that provide on-demand, usually modular skills-based learning to employees and/or students.

• Learning management system (LMS) (Institutional profile)

  Software that provides an integrated suite of online resources and communications capabilities in support of traditional courses and can also serve as a platform for fully online courses. A typical LMS provides a range of activity modules, such as forums, databases, and wikis; facilitates student assignments and quizzes; and enables monitoring of student engagement and reporting of grades. Many LMS implementations are integrated with student information systems.

• Learning management systems service (The Higher Education IT Service Catalog, First Edition)

  LMS services in support of managing and sharing course materials (e.g., videos, documents, spreadsheets, etc.) and facilitating learning through collaboration.

• Lecture capture

  Institutional system for audio/video capture of instructor lectures or other venue- or studio-based activities for later distribution via the Internet (see also Automated lecture capture.).

• Lecture capture service

  Services for recording, storing, editing, and publishing course lectures.

• Level of service

  Technical support subdivisions, tiers, or levels, used to better serve a business or customer base (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_support).

• Library systems service

  Services for library systems that provide access to local and remote information in support of teaching, learning, and research; includes acquisitions, catalog, circulation, serials, a public user interface, interlibrary loan, discovery tools, etc.

• Library/IT Staff

  If your central IT organization has merged with the library, please divide the library FTE into two categories when answering Module 1, Question 28:

  • Those performing IT-related functions should be included in items 1 through 10 as appropriate.
  • Those performing "traditional library functions" should be included in item 11 - Other, and describe them as library staff.
  If your IT organization has not merged with the library but you have staff supporting library systems, please include these staff in the appropriate FTE categories.

• Log management

  A system that collects and normalizes log event data from multiple sources for central storage, review, and alerting.

• Mainframe

  A computer typically optimized for high reliability and security, high-volume and concurrent input/output processing, and substantial storage. Examples include IBM Z-Series, Unisys ClearPath, and Fujitsu BS2000.

• Malware protection

  Tools that protect endpoints and systems from harmful or intrusive software, such as viruses, trojan horses, spyware, etc.

• Medical and health systems service

  Services that support clinical processes, including health-record management, pharmaceutical data, medical appointment scheduling, residency placements, and more.

• Middleware service

  Services in support of the layer between the operating system and the end-user application. This may also include the layer that connects applications.

• Model classroom

  A space to experiment with new technology prior to implementing it and the ability to try out new ways to design a classroom.

• Monitoring service

  Monitoring services for IT services and underpinning technology.

• Multicampus system

  A group of two or more colleges or universities—each with substantial autonomy and headed by a chief executive or operating officer—that fall under a single governing board served by a system chief executive officer who is not also the chief executive officer of any of the individual institutions. Such a system is to be distinguished from a “flagship” campus with branch campuses and also from a group of campuses or systems, each with its own governing board, that is coordinated by some state body. Some examples of how IT might interface with campuses in a multicampus system are:

  • The system provides IT services that campuses are required to use but are not charged.
  • The system provides IT services that campuses are required to use, and campuses are charged.
  • The system provides IT services that campuses may opt to use for a fee.
  • The system provides IT services only for system offices.
  • The system provides all IT services system-wide.

• Multimedia services

  Support for design, production, and deployment of content in audio, still image, animation, video, and interactive formats, often in combination with text.

• Network access control system

  Tools that scan endpoints upon network attachment, typically to determine update/patch and anti malware status.

• Network access service

  Provisioning of access to networks, ensuring security and appropriate authentication.

• Network and connectivity management (IT Service; 2020 CDS survey)

  The architecture, installation, and operation of infrastructure items required to offer network connectivity, such as network cabling, routers, and firewalls. Includes connecting devices (including Internet of Things devices) to the network, network access management, securing access to networks, and appropriate authentication (e.g., network registration systems, VPN, and NAC).

• Network connectivity

  Ability to connect to networks inside and outside the institution including commodity internet and research networks.

• Network filtering

  Firewalls, access control lists, etc., to enforce secure network zones.

• Network intrusion detection system

  Network monitoring tools that identify and log threats.

• Network intrusion prevention system

  Networking monitoring tools that identify and prevent threats from attempting to penetrate the network or from leaving the network.

• Network operations center (NOC)

  A facility for monitoring and managing a data, video, or voice network. The facility may also include some of the operating equipment.

• Network service

  Includes maintenance of infrastructure items required to offer network connectivity; does not include support for end users to access the network.

• One-time funds

  Non carryover funds available to support work (e.g., project work, grant funds) conducted in a specific year. Funds of this type are not expected to be available every year.

• Ongoing base funds

  Annual funds allocated by the university to operate the central IT organization.

• Online learning technology services

  For the purposes of reporting staff and student FTE, please include the following in this area if applicable:

  • Services that support the use of technology for online learning
  • Services that provide technology for online learning
  • Staff, hardware, software, etc., used to provide or support online learning technology

• Other IT Domain (IT domain)

  Please include the following in this area if applicable:

  • IT in an affiliated hospital
  • Institutional research
  • Library technology
  • Mailroom
  • Do not include:
    • Print/copier services (see IT Support Services)
    • Reference desk and staff (library/IT staff in a merged organization) (see IT Support Services)
    • Library systems (see Educational Technology Services)

• Outsourced/Outsourcing

  Refers to services purchased from external providers, i.e., "what you pay someone else to do". Examples include: externally provided help desk, data center, or services provided by multicampus system or district offices; include associated one-time project costs and professional services. This includes other units / budget centers within an institution.

• Part-time student

  • Undergraduate: A student enrolled for either less than 12 semester or quarter credits, or less than 24 contact hours a week each term.
  • Graduate: A student enrolled for less than 9 semester or quarter credits (from [http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/glossary/]).

• Payment card industry (PCI)

  In general, PCI refers to debit, credit, prepaid, ATM, and other cards and associated businesses. PCI also refers to the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council, which oversees the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

• Peer group

  A group of institutions with similar characteristics (e.g., size, geographic location, mission, consortia affiliation, etc.) used for comparison purposes. The EDUCAUSE Core Data Service provides the capability to combine any group of institutions into a comparison peer group.

• Penetration testing tools

  Tools used by security staff to "attack" systems and software with the intention of identifying vulnerabilities and evaluating defenses.

• Plagiarism detection system

  System or tools to identify plagiarism in student assignments (e.g., Turnitin, Ephorus).

• Platform as a service (PaaS)

  A category of cloud computing services that provides a platform allowing customers to develop, run and manage Web applications without the complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure typically associated with developing and launching an app (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_as_a_service).

• Portal

  An approach to an institution's website that aims to leverage investments in enterprise information systems, data warehouses, and infrastructure by providing a seamless and easy-to-navigate web interface to an integrated set of information services for various institutional constituents.

• Portfolio and project management service

  Project portfolio management and project management services. These may be a supporting service.

• Power over Ethernet (PoE)

  A system that passes electrical power along with data on Ethernet cabling; unlike USB standards, PoE allows long cable lengths.

• President

  Title for the chief executive officer (CEO) in most U.S. colleges and universities. In some multicampus systems and community college districts in the U.S., president is the title of the chief executive officer of the system or district (in which case the campus CEOs carry the title of chancellor). In other cases, the chancellor is the system CEO, with the campus CEOs designated as presidents.

• President or chancellor's cabinet

  The administrative leaders who meet regularly as a group with the institution's chief executive officer. The cabinet may be all administrators who report directly to the CEO, or it may be a larger or smaller group.

• Printing service

  Copy, scan, fax, and printing services, including applications for managing these services, such as print quota systems.

• Prior fiscal year

  The most recent fiscal year ending before July 1. In the United States, most higher education fiscal years end in May, June, or August; accounting practices vary internationally.

• Professional development expenditures

  Expenditures to support staff development and/or training through either formal coursework, conferences, or informal learning opportunities (including associated travel expenditures).

• Professional services

  Services provided by an entity outside the institution that central IT does not provide in-house (e.g., data center design, security audits, network architecture planning, etc.).

• Provost/chief academic officer

  In many institutions in the United States, Australia, and Canada, a provost is the senior academic administrator, responsible for curricular and instructional programs and, in some cases, admissions, libraries, museums, student services, and IT. Deans of the various colleges, faculties, and schools typically report to the provost. This position is designated as pro vice chancellor in some institutions in the United States and Ireland.

• Rack-mounted server

  A rack-mounted server is one that is specifically designed to be rack mounted. These servers are often thin and long (to fit in a traditional 42U rack).

• Real-time web- or videoconferencing online learning environment

  Institutional capability to conduct real-time, synchronous teaching and learning across multiple sites. Typical capabilities include web-based or classroom-based audio/video capture with bidirectional transmission and shared board presentation.

• Remote exam proctoring

  A system or systems to assure student identity or conformance to examination rules for remotely delivered examinations (e.g., ProctorU, Respondus).

• Reporting and analytics service

  Business intelligence platforms, data warehouse, dashboards, analytic tools, transactional reporting, and operational data stores.

• Research administration systems service

  Services in support of systems used to secure funding, manage funding, conduct research, and facilitate compliance.

• Research and Education Networking Information Sharing and Analysis Center (REN-ISAC)

  A membership organization headquartered at Indiana University that provides security information collection, analysis, dissemination, and early warning to support the unique environment and needs of organizations connected to served higher education and research networks (from http://www.ren-isac.net/).

• Research and education networks

  Specialized and restricted-access networks dedicated to support universities, colleges, and other education and research institutions and their affiliates, as distinct from the commodity Internet. R&E networks are operated at the national, regional, and state levels, with numerous interconnections around the world. Institutions served by one or more R&E networks typically have a direct connection to the commodity Internet as well.

• Research computing service

  Technology resources and services to support research that has specialized or highly intensive computation, storage, bandwidth, or visualization requirements.

• Research Computing Services (IT domain)

  Functions and resources associated with and specific to supporting research at the institution. Please include the following in this area if applicable:

  • Research storage and archive
  • Data management and planning services
  • High-performance computing
  • High-throughput computing
  • High-performance research network (e.g., Internet2, National LambdaRail, Canarie)
  • Grid and data-centric computing
  • Advanced visualization (visualization hardware and software)
  • Discipline-specific applications development, programming, and support directly related to research
  • Consulting and/or training services for researchers (e.g., statistical consulting, assistance in preparing research grant applications, etc.)
  • Research technology services from remote sites
  • Business process/systems analysis specific to this domain area
  • Technology research and development specific to this domain area
  • Management responsibilities (HR management, financial planning, project management, vendor contract management, etc.) for staff dedicated to this domain area
  • Staff affiliated with these functions (including administrative, clerical, and support for this IT domain area)
  • Hardware, software, and supplies affiliated with these functions
  • Do not include:
    • Research administration and compliance systems (see Information Systems and Applications)

• Research service category

  Services supporting the institution’s research activities, including specialized storage and computation, high-performance computing (HPC), visualization, and lab-management systems.

• Responsive web design

  A web design approach aimed at crafting sites to provide an optimal viewing experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling—across a wide range of devices, from mobile phones to desktop computer monitors (from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsive_web_design).

• Risk management

  The way in which an institution determines its appetite for risk, as well as how risk controls and mitigation strategies for any given endeavor are developed and enforced throughout the enterprise (see also IT risk management and consult IT Governance, Risk, and Compliance in Higher Education).

• Satellite academic campus

  A campus that does not have its own executive officer, as distinct from a component campus of a multicampus system or community college district.

• Scanning tools for private/protected information

  Tools to scan networked drives, endpoints, servers, and portable media for personally identifiable information and/or protected information such as health records, employment records, student records, SSNs, credit card and other financial account numbers, passports numbers, etc.

• Scrubbing

  The process of amending or removing data that are incorrect, incomplete, improperly formatted, or duplicated.

• Secure computing service

  Services that provide a secure computing environment for end users; includes network security, system security, application security, etc.

• Secure remote access

  Tools providing secure access for remote clients.

• Secure wireless access

  Secure access across campus wireless networks via standards-based security specifications (e.g., 802.11).

• Security consulting service

  Consultative services, training, education, and awareness raising.

• Security incident response and investigation service

  Services that respond to, remediate, and seek to prevent security incidents.

• Security information and event management

  A system that collects and analyzes log event information from multiple sources, applying techniques such as event aggregation, correlation, etc.

• Security policy and compliance service

  Services relating to institutional policy or compliance guidelines and requirements; includes support for audit processes.

• Security service category

  Infrastructure and services that provide security, data integrity, and compliance for institutional activities; includes security services such as virus protection, encryption, privacy impact assessments, information risk management, emergency preparedness, data security, identity management solutions, access controls (i.e., passwords, accounts, and authentication), audit and monitoring systems and services, and data access and stewardship.

• Self-service BI

  An approach to data analytics that enables business users to access and work with corporate data even though they do not have a background in statistical analysis, business intelligence (BI) or data mining.

• Server and storage management (2020 CDS IT service)

  Provisioning, hosting, and administration of physical and virtual servers and related storage. Includes the maintenance and provisioning of core storage capabilities such as server storage and database backups.

• Server infrastructure service

  Provisioning, hosting, and administration of servers, physical and virtual.

• Service provider

  Organization or entity that is providing services to members of a federated identity system and relying upon the assurances of an identity provider to control access to those services.

• Shaping

  Shaping bandwidth utilization refers to adjusting parameters on the institutional Internet connection to limit use through various means, such as type of connection, location of connection, direction of traffic, time of day, or other specific characteristics.

• Software as a service (SaaS)

  A software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_service).

• Software distribution service

  Distribution of software and licenses via media, online methods, and license servers.

• Staff

  Refers to all staff employed by the central IT organization, including clerical, technical, and management staff and limited-term or temporary employees. If your IT organization has merged with the library, please include in your staff count only the library FTE personnel who perform IT-related functions (see Library/IT staff).

• Stand-alone server

  A stand-alone server is a self-contained server that traditionally sits on a shelf and is not specifically designed to be rack mounted.

• Storage service

  Back-end technology and services required to maintain core storage capabilities, including server storage, database backups, etc.; does not include customer-facing storage options.

• Student cocurricular activities management system

  System for tracking and recording student participation in extra institutional activities related to an academic course or program, such as internships or volunteer programs.

• Student employee FTE

  See Full-time equivalent (FTE).

• Student evaluation of teaching effectiveness

  Tools for students in online courses to provide anonymous feedback on teaching to improve the learning experience for themselves and others.

• Student extracurricular activities management system

  System for tracking and recording student participation in extracurricular activities.

• Student information system

  Software to manage information about students, including the admissions process, course registration and grades, degree audit, housing, etc., and to provide student self-service functions such as course registration, access to course catalogues, class schedules, grades, transcripts, and so forth.

• Student information systems service

  Services to support admissions, enrollment, registration, orientation, financial aid, student accounts and collections, advising, and career services.

• Student self-service referral to social/community resources

  System that queries students about noncourse-related success factors (e.g., child care, transportation, or health) and refers them to appropriate institutional or community services.

• Student success analytics dashboards

  Online information displays that provide student success key performance indicators appropriate to the role of the individual using the display.

• Student success data warehouse/operational data store

  Data repository making student success data available for convenient reporting and analysis.

• Student technology centers

  Facilities, equipment, services, and staff in support of student access to and use of the institution's and other information, learning, and communications resources; includes public student lab support and specialized training and support for students.

• Student technology fee

  A mandatory fee or fees (including fees that are embedded in tuition) that are charged to students for the purposes of providing technology infrastructure and/or services to a broad spectrum of students. Revenue generated from these fees is not based on technology usage or tied to specific courses (i.e., “course fees”).

• System

  See Multicampus system.

• Tablet

  Portable personal computer equipped with a touchscreen as a primary input interface.

• Teaching and learning service category

  Instructional technology, tools, and resources directly supporting teaching and learning; includes learning management systems, in-class and online course development, learning analytics, course evaluation, lecture capture, webinars, and other academic tools for faculty and students.

• Team-based classrooms

  A classroom designed to have students sit and work in teams rather than listen to presentations. Some classrooms have the flexibility to be configured in different ways and so can support a variety of learning functions, such as presentation, discussion, and team-based learning (consult ELI Discovery Tool: Guide to Collaborative Learning).

• Technology-enhanced spaces service

  Provision and maintenance of technology in specialized learning environments. For the purposes of reporting staff and student FTE, please include the following in this area if applicable:

  • Services that support the use of technology in spaces other than traditional classrooms such as computer labs/clusters, collaborative spaces, makerspaces, research labs, libraries, etc.
  • Services that provide technology in spaces other than traditional classrooms such as computer labs/clusters, collaborative spaces, makerspaces, research labs, libraries, etc.
  • Staff, hardware, software, etc., used to provide or support technology in spaces other than computer labs/clusters, collaborative spaces, makerspaces, research labs, libraries, etc.

• Telephony service

  All services associated with telephony, including voice services, teleconferencing, etc. For the purposes of reporting staff and student FTE, please include the following in this area if applicable:

  • Wire and cable infrastructure for voice network
  • Dial tone (including services to student housing)
  • Voicemail
  • Long distance resale
  • Cellular and paging services
  • Telephony staff, hardware, software, etc.

• Television service

  Broadcast services.

• Television-quality video studio

  Video facilities, equipment, transmission capabilities, and expert personnel enabling the institution to produce or participate in remote production of live and recorded video programming suitable for television broadcast.

• Time division multiplexing (TDM)

  Transmission of multiple signals, such as telephone calls over the same medium by taking turns on the channel. TDM is used for circuit mode communication, as contrasted to VoIP.

• Training service

  Training services for end users on IT applications and systems.

• Turnkey analytics

  A type of analytics system built end-to-end for a customer that can be easily implemented into a current analysis and reporting process.

• Underrepresented groups

  Refers to groups of the population that have historically held a smaller percentage of professional roles within a field or institution as compared to the percentage of that group in the overall population. Examples of the characteristics these groups are based on include, but are not limited to: race and/or ethnicity, sex and/or sexual orientation, religion, disability status.

• Uninterrupted power supply (UPS)

  A mechanism that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source fails with near-instantaneous protection from input power interruptions.

• Utilities and space/facilities expenditures

  Any charges assessed to central IT by the institution or other facility owner for use of space and utilities (including electricity). Some examples include rent, maintenance, and property taxes. Occupancy costs for space dedicated to IT functions, such as the data center (including power/heat management and raised floor), are also included.

• Virtual computer lab delivery

  Platform to deliver software applications or provide virtualized desktop environments. (e.g., Citrix) for use by online students.

• Visualization service

  Graphics, visualization, and virtual reality facilities and services in support of research application areas such as biomedical engineering, chemistry, space weather modeling, computational fluid dynamics, archaeology, and fine arts.

• Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

  A set of technologies and commercial products and services that enable transmission of voice and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. VoIP usually refers to replacement of traditional telephone sets and their associated cabling and user charges with either a dedicated VoIP phone set or an appropriately configured computer. VoIP can also be deployed within the telephone-switching infrastructure, even if users retain their traditional sets.

• Vulnerability assessment tools

  A tool set to scan network attached devices for known vulnerabilities.

• Vulnerability management

  Systematic examination of an information system or product to determine the adequacy of security measures, identify security deficiencies, provide data from which to predict the effectiveness of proposed security Measures, and confirm the adequacy of such measures after implementation.

• Websites service

  Services related to websites, including content management systems.

• Work study

  The U.S. Department of Education, through the Federal Work Study Program, provides funds earned through part-time employment to assist students in financing the costs of postsecondary education (from http://www2.ed.gov/programs/fws/). College and university departments that employ work study students have correspondingly lower wage costs. Institutions outside the U.S. may benefit from similar programs.