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- Unified Communications
Office of the Chief Information Officer
403 Thompson Memorial Library
1858 Neil Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210
Phone: (614) 292-6553
Fax: (614) 688-4226
Unified Communications Program
Currently, the OSU faculty and staff receive e-mails, voicemails, text messages, and faxes; use a multiple number of major business processes to perform their tasks; and, access these various forms of communications from different devices (like laptops or PC’s, to standard telephones, cell phones, PDA’s and fax machines). By leveraging currently available technology of centrally managed enterprise solutions such as e-mail, voicemail, active directory, wired and wireless networks, and the campus telephone system, a unified communications solution for the university can be implemented.
Program Vision
The Unified Communications solution will simplify and integrate the major forms of communications systems and processes; and enable them to work together in real time to streamline information delivery and ease of use for each customer.
Program Governance
The Unified Communications Program was named a critical program for the Office of the Chief Information Officer and identified as a key initiative of the university in early 2009. To support the program's success and represent the needs and concerns of the greater university community, the following cross-institutional advisory bodies were created.
Program Steering Committee
| Name | Role | College Office or Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Javaune Adams-Gaston | Sponsor: E-mail Project | Office of Student Life |
| Kathleen Starkoff | Sponsor: Unified Communications Program | Office of the CIO |
| Susan Ballinger | Business Partner | Office of Business and Finance |
| David Greenberger | Business Partner | Fisher College of Business |
| Donna Hobart | Business Partner | Office of Academic Affairs |
| Bill Schwartz | Business Partner | Office of Business and Finance |
| Diane Dagefoerde | Advisory Community Executive Committee | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Jim Lemon | Advisory Community Executive Committee | Office of Research |
| Joanne Dehoney | Office of the CIO Senior Leaders Team | Office of the CIO |
| David Pike | Office of the CIO Senior Leaders Team | Office of the CIO |
| Phyllis Culbertson | Office of the CIO Senior Leaders Team | Office of the CIO |
| Jamie Lambert | Program Director | Office of the CIO |
Technical Advisory Group
| Name | College Office or Unit |
|---|---|
| Andy Greicius | Colleges of the Arts and Sciences |
| Bob Mackin | Office of Business and Finance |
| Brady Dodson | Office of the CIO |
| Brian Keller | Colleges of Biological Sciences & Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
| Chad Neal | Ohio State University Medical Center |
| Charlie Clay | Office of the CIO |
| Chuck Morrow-Jones | Office of the CIO |
| Don Marchienski | Ohio State University Newark Campus |
| Doug Brownfield | Graduate School |
| Larry Glover | Office of the CIO |
| Mike Hiatt | Office of Student Life |
| Mike Kaylor | Colleges of the Arts and Humanities |
| Jamie Lambert | Office of the CIO |
| Shaun Rowland | College of Engineering |
Program Projects
The Program currently has two active projects: Enterprise E-mail Project and the Unified Messaging Project. Jamie Lambert, Office of the CIO, is the UC Program Director.
Enterprise E-mail Project
The Office of Student Life and the Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) have partnered to deliver a “one university” e-mail and calendaring system to replace the university’s current central systems. The new enterprise system will be built using the Office of Student Life’s proven, highly functional and highly available model and have the capacity to serve all Ohio State faculty, staff, graduate and professional students, and other entities associated with the university.
During September and October 2009, the Enterprise E-mail Project will go through a “socialization process”. The process includes a series of discussions with university leaders to talk about the difficulties of communicating via the current (135 systems) e-mail environment and to explore the merits of using one, university-wide e-mail and calendaring system. The current environment of many systems makes it difficult to communicate and is expensive to operate. The new system will simplify and improve communications and is expected to free up university resources of $2 million dollars annually. The entire university community will be able to participate in the system by the fall of 2014.
Project sponsors, Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston, Student Life Vice-President, and Kathleen Starkoff, Chief Information Officer, are leading the discussions with university leaders which include: the Senior Management Council, the Council of Deans, the University Senate and the Integrated Financial Planning Committee. View the presentation (Adobe PDF format) used for the discussions.
E-mail Project Core Team
| Name | College Office or Unit |
|---|---|
| Valerie Shafer | Office of Student Life |
| Jamie Lambert | Office of the CIO |
| Lisa Wang | Office of Student Life |
| Brady Dodson | Office of the CIO |
| Mike Hiatt | Office of Student Life |
| Helios Yu | Office of Student Life |
| Bruce Woltman | Office of the CIO |
| Kevin Balogh | Office of the CIO |
| Lisa Calcara | Office of the CIO |
| Julia Snyder | Office of the CIO |
Unified Messaging Project
The Unified Messaging (UM) Project will replace the university’s legacy voice mail system, which is nearing its end of life, with the next generation of voice messaging solutions. The new solution will provide existing services, such as voice mail and auto attendant, as well as advanced services like unified messaging – a single inbox for access and management of voice mail and fax messages from various devices.
The UM Project will be managed over three phases: Solution Procurement, which includes the selection of a new UM system(s); Solution Readiness, which includes the installation, configuration, testing and acceptance of the new UM system(s); and Solution Launch, which includes organizational readiness activities, migration of existing voice mail users and launch of initial service offerings to campus. The Solution Procurement phase was completed in September 2009. The Project Core Team is now focused on Solution Readiness activities through end of December 2009.
Tracey Richardson, Office of the CIO, is the Project Manager for the UM Project.
Unified Messaging Project Core Team
| Name | College Office or Unit |
|---|---|
| Charlie Clay | Office of the CIO |
| Tracey Richardson | Office of the CIO |
| Ted Revard | Office of the CIO |
| Dave Hamilton | Office of the CIO |
Questions or Comments
If you have questions or comments regarding the Unified Communications Program or its related projects, use our contact form and one of our program team members will respond to your inquiry.
