What’s the project about?
ITD are currently carrying out a number of major strategic investments in the University IT infrastructure and systems. The Campus Wi-Fi project is part of this investment and will provide enhanced wireless coverage for all buildings and select outdoor spaces throughout the campus.

To comply with best practice security requirements the current open unauthenticated access to the wireless network via “ulwireless” will be phased out and all students and staff will access the network via eduroam. Eduroam is a secure international roaming infrastructure used by affiliated educational facilities to allow their staff and students to visit other participating institutions and continue to have wireless connectivity.

This project will greatly enhance the teaching and learning experience for the 15,000 students on the campus and provide significant benefits for the staff and guest population who require access to our wireless network.

What does it mean for you?
Students and staff will see increased wireless coverage throughout the campus. The quality of the wireless system has been significantly improved and can now support video, voice and data requirements.

All users will transition to accessing the wireless network via the eduroam network, the existing “ulwireless” and “UL Secure” networks will be retired.

Visitors to the university campus will access the wireless network through the new authentication-based Guest solution which has recently been deployed.

Status?
The overall project is in the Ramp Phase, status Green. 

The installation work is complete, the transition to accessing the wireless network via the eduroam network has commenced and will continue throughout 2020.

The following is a summary of the key project activities and their status.

Access to Wireless Services

Project Name University of Limerick Office 365 Migration Project 

What’s the project about?  The existing University of Limerick Microsoft environment had a combination of on-premise exchange servers for staff email and a legacy Office 365 environment services for student email and data and some staff data. The legacy 365 environment is not suitable for future needs of the university.

The University of Limerick Office 365 project incorporates the setting up of a new single Office 365 environment under which all student and staff Microsoft services will reside. The new Office 365 environment will contain Email, One Drive, One Note and SharePoint data. All legacy IT email infrastructure will be retired.

What does it mean for you? Users will have access to an expanded set of Microsoft services and enhanced security features. The new environment will also facilitate greater collaboration between staff and students. Shared links will now contain ‘ULCampus’ as opposed to ‘Studentmailul’.

Status? The overall project is in the Ramp Phase, status Green.

Staff One Drive, One Note and email data has been moved to the new University Microsoft Environment. Student Microsoft accounts will be setup in the new environment from September.

The following is a summary of the key project activities and their status. 

Project Name University of Limerick Multi Factor Authentication(MFA) for staff MS 365 Services

What’s the project about? The University of Limerick has been subject to a number of security attacks on Microsoft Services over the last year. These attacks pose a major risk to our networks and computer systems and have the potential to compromise critical applications and cause data protection issues. ITD have recently commenced the deployment of Multifactor Authentication which will enhance the security processes and help minimise the impact of future attacks. This project is one of an overall set of security measures being deployed by the University of Limerick.

Multifactor Authentication (MFA) is a security system that requires more than one method of authentication from an independent source to verify the user's identity for a login or other transaction. MFA is an effective control to insulate against remote attacks and has been recommended by the Data Protection Commission.

What does it mean for you?  Staff and affiliates with a University of Limerick Microsoft 365 account will be asked for MFA when accessing Microsoft 365 services, e.g. Email, One Drive, Skype, SharePoint etc. when connecting to the network remotely. This means a user will be required to use a second method of authentication e.g. a code sent to your smart phone when accessing any Microsoft service remotely. The design principles will endeavor to minimize inconvenience for the user while still achieving our security goals.

Status? The overall project is in the Plan Phase, status Green.

MFA has been enabled for a pilot group of 150 users. Planned rollout to all staff from May 2020. The following is a summary of the key project activities and their status. 

Registration Process

Click on the following Top Desk Link for information on the MFA Registration process

https://ul.topdesk.net/

 

• ITD will contact impacted departments well in advance relating to their SharePoint migration to jointly agree timelines
• Migration of identified site collections from the current SharePoint platform to SharePoint Online in Office 365 is a ‘Lift and Shift’ of user data
• Workshop Training will be provided department SharePoint champions\site owners
• Training Materials and fortnightly Drop-in Clinic Support will be provided

 

• Preparation: SharePoint Site Owners input will be required to plan new structure
• Site URLS(website address):  Any published links and documents with hardcoded links will need to be identified and updated with new location
• New User Experience:
  • New clean look and feel
  • Improved Search functionality
  • Office Integration
  • Versioning and Co-Authoring
  • Updated Document Management Structure

1. Ability to complete Online Forms
2. Ability to assign the Online Form through the various stages of the given approval process electronically.
3. Reporting – It will be possible to capture the status of a process, who currently owns the process as well as capturing the full audit trail of the process, including date and timestamps.

What does this mean for me?
Human Resources are one of many divisions who have expressed the need to migrate onto an Online Form & Workflow solution. The consensus throughout the campus, was that the HR Recruitment Pack Process would drive many efficiencies, throughout many departments, and was therefore identified to be the pilot solution. If you are an Originator or an Approver within the current HR Recruitment Pack Process, you will soon be migrated onto the electronic version. The solution will be delivered in a Phase 1 & Phase 2 approach. Phase 1 will deliver a working & operational solution, while further enhancements and fine tuning will be delivered in Phase 2. Watch this space for further details.

• The University of Limerick’s Acceptable Usage policy
• The University of Limerick’s IT Security Policy 

• To implement controls that are required in order to ensure that the University of Limerick remains compliant with Data Protection laws.
• To improve efficiency of processes through automation.
• To reduce Microsoft licensing costs paid by the University of Limerick
• To reduce user support costs - with the adoption of newer technologies and enhanced collaboration tools, the need for some accounts will be removed, and so will the costs associated with supporting those users.

What does it mean for you?

• You may notice some changes as you may receive automated emails when your account is about to expire, or asking you notify us of changes in the details we hold on your account like your ID number, or Department.
• If you are a Head of Department you will receive requests to sign off on ID Cards for contractors/employees of approved suppliers working for your department or to re-approve temporary ‘guest’ accounts - exceptional basis only – all users must ensure that any access to UL assets, which they grant to others, is for University use only, is not excessive and is maintained in an appropriate manner.
• If you are employed by an Affilliate/Subsidary/Supplier of UL you will be required to attain approval for your account and a UL ‘Authorised User’ ID Card on a regular basis, you will receive automated emails when your account is about to expire or is in need of review.  Following the HR ID Card Policy https://www.ul.ie/hr/current-staff/hr-policies-procedures-forms-z.

Status?
The overall project is in the Ramp Phase, status Green.