Page 148 - UniZulu Annual Report 2020

accommodation and lecture hall spaces on an ongoing basis. The Institution is also working with professional designers and structural engineers to plan accommodation units along with the spacing and social distancing norms as per legislated guidelines.
As indicated in the Report of the Chairperson of Council, the approval of UNIZULU’s Master Project List (MPL) was the first step of the final preparation of the Infrastructure Implementation and Project Management Plan (IIMP). Programme implementation reference groups have been set up and engagements are ongoing with the identified individuals following the relaxation of national lockdown regulations. UNIZULU initiated a process to appoint construction entities to implement construction projects in 2021. The refurbishment of the Old Vice-Chancellor House, Use-Conversion and Conference Facilities and the upgrade of Stores and PPO Offices were completed during the year under review.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
IT is playing an ever-increasing role as a strategic enabler of the University’s mandate. The responsibility of the ICT Steering Committee (ICTSC) is to ensure operational implementation of the strategic initiatives as set by ARCC, who overseas IT governance at UNIZULU. Several critical IT infrastructures are either at the end of life, end of support or are currently failing. UNIZULU’s strategic plan is specifically aimed at the IT infrastructure development and digital transformation is taking effect at UNIZULU. The University managed to implement Microsoft Teams and One Drive to make sure that business continuity and teaching and learning collaboration were not hampered. Moodle E3.8.3 version was implemented for the Learning Management System. Access by students has reached 95% using different types of devices. Due to critical IT infrastructure failure, a decision was taken in 2019 to postpone the ITS Integrator 4.1 upgrade until 2020. The postponement alleviated the pressure on staff and allowed the University to properly prepare for 2020 registration and for the timely completion of the systems year-end processes.
In 2020, the University successfully hosted the servers of the ITS Integrator 4.1 on the Cloud. Adapt IT hosting includes among others, a production server for Integrator 4.1 (all modules) and backup server. These servers will also back up on the University Premise Data Centre, which will include an ITS Testing environment. Legacy systems and hosting services will coexist for the foreseeable future. Due to the substantial setup cost, the minimum period that Adapt IT provides this service for ITS Integrator is for three years. The University will remain the owner of all Oracle
licensing and the data that resides on the server hosted by Adapt IT. The data can be moved to another environment at the termination of the contract. As part of the ICT strategy to keep on training staff on the ITS System, ICT arranged training with Adapt IT as requested by systems owners.
The IT audit by Deloitte & Touché and Ngubane & Co. in 2017 included assessment of general computer controls, network security review (internal vulnerability assessment and penetration testing) and limited application control. Regarding the network security review, the audit found that cyber threat assessment, e.g. cyber risk assessment, internal and external vulnerability assessments and cyber device (firewall, routers, switches, etc.) reviews had not been performed for 2017. Furthermore, it was found that a cyber framework, which includes user awareness training, had not been implemented. Database cyber security systems were procured to protect the University against unauthorised access to systems and data. Furthermore, with the decision to host an ITS production server, the perceived risks of unauthorised access to sensitive information and access to sensitive data was addressed.
A Print Management Solution (PMS) for staff and students provide centralised shared printing, scanning and photocopying services using multi-functional output devices. The PMS has resulted in 100 machines that were installed in total on both University campuses.
A tender for laptop and desktop computers has been awarded and the order was placed for 1 300 devices. This was implemented in January 2020 and the contract will mitigate the lack of tools of the trade in teaching and learning for lectures as well as staff to execute their duties. ICT staff worked through lockdown to set up and deploy laptops to staff and students. All new devices are chipped to enable tracking to increase recovery chances. A multi-year tender was successfully awarded to three suppliers and over 700 new desktop computers were deployed at student labs across both campuses. MTN also sponsored a fully equipped 20-seater lab, including five wheelchair spaces for students.
SAFETY AND SECURITY MANAGEMENT
UNIZULU has been facing a plethora of security challenges over the years. Steady progress has been made in the following security areas: the development of the Integrated Security Master Plan; the professionalisation of PSD; stakeholder engagement; and security events. The Master Plan straddles the conventional security prefecture and the evolving modern application of security. In this regard, the master plan calls for the improvement of physical security, increase in patrols and stringent application of access control. In the same vein, the master plan serves as a blueprint
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