Welcome to Penn State's AIS Online Newsletter! Each month the newsletter brings you both general department information and feature articles from a highlighted organizational area within Administrative Information Services.

From the Director Personnel Notes Web & Communication Services AIS Open Forum AIS Education & Training Update Did You Know? Feature Story

From the Director

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Personnel Notes

New Hires On Nov. 3, Greg Von Kuster and Crystal Surovec joined the AIS staff. Greg began as the Web & Communication Services Lead Applications Programmer/Analyst. Crystal joins us as a Support Center Computer Support Specialist. Wendy Estep began, Dec. 10, as the Visual Communications Specialist with Web & Communication Services. Welcome Greg, Crystal and Wendy! New Position Rob Bowser has accepted the Sr. Applications Programmer/Analyst position for the ANGEL project. Congratulations, Rob! Intern Appointment On Oct. 8, Mark Poblete began an internship with AIS. Mark is working in Training Services with Senior Support & Training Analyst, Jen de Coste. Welcome and best of luck, Mark! Upgrades Effective Nov. 3, Mike Kauffman’s position was upgraded to Manager of Information Technology Services V, and Bobbi Lucas was upgraded to Lead Applications Programmer/Analyst. Congratulations Mike and Bobbi!

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Web & Communication Services

Beth Hayes Attends KM Brazil 2003 RedDot, AIS's soon-to-be-released content management system, was a participant at the recent KM Brazil 2003 Web content management trade show, Nov. 12 through 14 in São Paulo, Brazil. As part of an aggressive sales strategy, RedDot's aim was to spread the message of its solution benefits to potential customers. Upon request from the company, Web & Communication Services' Beth Hayes was invited to speak on her experience with this subject on behalf of AIS and Penn State, noting that, "The RedDot Solutions, Corp. has recently entered the Latin American market. Inviting Penn State to participate in the KM Brazil trade show enabled them to offer a real time customer perspective in addition to product introduction and overview." From the official press release, courtesy of Herbert Spektor of RedDot: São Paulo, November the 12th 2003 - RedDot Solutions Content Management Solutions Leader, announces its participation at the event KM Brazil 2003, to be held between 12 and 14 of November at the Rebouças Convention Center in São Paulo (SP). This event goal is to help CEOs, CIOs, CFOs and Marketing/TI executives to: decentralize the site content management, administrate the content quality by deploying a systematic approval process, publish relevant content to users at an appropriate timing, eliminate the inconsistency of appearance and navigation at the corporate sites and portals and facilitate the creation of multi-language and multi-format websites.    Participants from around the world attended KM Brazil 2003. Herbert Spektor of RedDot presents the many benefits of the company's content management system. Beth Hayes and RedDot's Maria do Socorro Campos Coelho Spektor. Between the key topics for KM Brazil 2003, RedDot Solutions is presenting the solution RedDot CMS (Content Management Server), which allows non-technical users to edit content from anywhere in the world, at any format and any time. The CMS package includes features that optimizes the collaborative work and facilitates the publishing and delivering of different types of information. According to Herbert Spektor, Partner Manager Americas, RedDot intends to distribute the message to the market about the benefits RedDot Content Management solutions can bring to the large corporations, also including education institutions. "Our goal is to generate interest and close business still this year, once we have a nice technology to explore the huge Brazilian market potential, not only because of our competitive prices, but also because of the advanced technology resources that guarantee easy for use and easy learning. Besides, the company is also promoting two technical presentations, the first on Nov 12 at 11h00 about "Improving the efficiency of corporate websites", to be presented by Herbert Spektor, and another on the 13th at 16h30, about "Penn State: Optimizing WCM to Achieve Online Goals", to be presented by Beth Hayes from Penn State University, specially invited by RedDot to participate at the trade show. Said Hayes, of her experience, "The KM Brazil 2003 trade show allowed me to share and describe the process we've used in AIS for determining the need for a Web Content Management System (CMS), establishing goals, identifying best practice functionality, vendor search process, content provider testimonials, experienced benefits and future goals. And although we have not yet fully implemented our Web CMS, I've learned that our approach, our findings and experiences are very much in alignment with a typical implementation. Using a Web CMS is much broader than installing a tool for updating content, and that concept it seems, is the crux of the issue -- regardless of the continent." For more on KM Brazil 2003, visit the official Web site at http://www.kmbrasil.com/.

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AIS Open Forum

AIS Open Forum serves as an excellent forum to encourage and facilitate dialog about work-related technologies and issues. If you haven't yet attended an Open Forum meeting (most Thursday afternoons) please plan to do so! It's an opportunity to learn about a tremendous number of things, and interacting with your coworkers during the meetings is well worth the time. DATE/TIME TOPIC SUGGESTED SPEAKER LOCATION 12/11 @ 3 p.m. Web Services Carl Seybold Room 2, Shields 12/18 @ 3 p.m. Planning for 2004 (munchies) N/A Room 2, Shields 12/25 Happy Holidays! N/A N/A All revisions and updates to meeting dates, times and topics are reflected on the AIS Open Forum Web page. Ideas and suggestions for topics are encouraged and may be submitted to Mike Kauffman.

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AIS Education & Training Update

Computer-Based Training Development Resources Available AIS Training Services is pleased to welcome Mark Poblete to our team as a computer-based training developer/intern. Mark is a freshman in IST and has worked extensively with developing Web sites and using Web development tools. When we combine his Web skills with Chris Lucas' Instructional Systems background, we are now able to offer comprehensive computer-based training development. Currently, we have an internal Security project, eCommerce New User training, and a variety of Data Warehouse end user training on our schedule. If you have a project you would like to discuss, please contact me to set up a meeting. Web-Based Training Curricula Spotlight Each month a new Web-based training curriculum is featured. This month's curricula is: Curricula Title: Web Developer's Programming Track Description: This curricula includes a variety of topics, including: · Building XML Web Applications · CGI Using Perl · Databases · Dynamic Server Pages · HTML · HTML Dynamic · Internetworking Professional · Introduction to ASP.NET · Java Enterprise Connectivity · Java Programming · Java Servlets  · JavaScript · JavaScript: Creating DB Solutions · MS .NET · MS VBScript Programming · MS Visual Basic .NET · Perl · Server Admin · Web Apps with DB Security · Web Services Development Using WebSphere Studio · Web Site Security Management · XHTML · XML  Last Updated: This curricula was last updated August 2003.

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Did You Know?

Spam and Virus Notification Routing To ensure the most efficient service possible, Security Operations and Services (SOS), the ITS unit responsible for addressing Penn State's system-wide information technology security issues, asks the following procedures be followed when submitting notification of the receipt of computer spam and/or viruses: Any reports of a virus should be sent to virus@psu.edu Reports of unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) should be sent to spam@psu.edu

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eCommerce Highlights  ePay ePay, a "Virtual" credit card terminal replacement for the leased or purchased credit card terminal continues to grow. ePay is installed at over 65 locations around Penn State. One of the key advantages to ePay is that eliminating the credit card terminal rental fees can save money and TNS phone line fees, while providing credit card processing capabilities at more locations. ePay Card Swipe AIS now offers a certified credit card reader that can be attached to a computer's keyboard. The credit card reader enables 'Card present' locations to swipe the card information directly into ePay. The small one-time cost allows card present locations the capability to replace their leased or rented credit card terminals with a more cost effective solution. Fitness Pass Memberships for Faculty and Staff University Park Faculty and Staff are now able to pay their Fitness Membership fees online with a Visa or Mastercard credit card. Application Fees Both Hershey College of Medicine students and Dickinson School of Law students can now apply to school online and pay their application fee with a credit card. ID+ Office The ID + office online switched to the AIS eCommerce service. Their online Web application provides for adding A La Board, Diners Club, and Faculty Staff Club Meal Points with a credit card. eStore 'Gifts From Home': Parents and Friends of students can now order 'All Occasion' and 'Wellness' baskets from Housing and Food Services through the new 'Gifts from Home' eStore site. Also, the registration and payment of more than nine Ag Science conferences are being hosted through this.

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