Office of Information Technology
Welcome to the Office of Information Technology (IT) at The American University in Cairo. We serve the AUC community through providing the technology needed to support AUC's goals and objectives. The IT team is responsible for technology in all AUC premises, including student and faculty housing premises and AUC buses. This semester, we are happy to announce that Internet bandwidth has tripled at AUC New Cairo and was upgraded in the Zamalek Building, and WiFi services were upgraded in the New Cairo campus. More and more services are being automated to minimize trips to administrative offices and to facilitate approval cycles.
The IT team consists of:
University Technology Infrastructure (UTI)
Responsible for the AUC network, telecommunication, Internet services, systems and data centers, central data storage and IT security
University Academic Computing Services (UACT)
Responsible for academic services (Blackboard, Moodle, course evaluation) in addition to all web services, open access labs, multimedia labs, labs for special needs, software licensing and campus-wide desktop support
University Information Systems (UIS)
Responsible for administrative systems (Banner Student Information System, SAP Enterprise Resource Planning System, funds management system, document imaging) in addition to AUC's central database administration
Classroom Technologies and Media Services (CTMS)
Responsible for technology in classrooms and event halls, in addition to video conferencing and video streaming services
IT Service Help Desk Team
Our one stop shop for helping the AUC community
The teams are headed by Senior Director for IT Operations, Amgad Yassin.
The office also includes the following crucial staff members:
Financial and Administration Manager Angelique Roesch
Director for IT for North America Marmina Abdel Malek
Our mission is to provide a world-class IT environment for a teaching and research institution of the highest caliber. Our people, our organization, our services and our technology should be reliable, modern, responsive and supportive to AUC’s goals and objectives.
IT Core Values
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Service
IT is a means of achieving the University’s goals and is not a goal in itself.
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Responsiveness
We must stay abreast of all technological advances to be able to offer new services and respond to new demands. Users and beneficiaries of technology have the final say in IT direction.
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Reliability
IT resources must be available when and where required, as well as maintained professionally and in a manner to maximize their convenience and stability.
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Innovation
IT should constantly be looking for new or improved services and means of delivering them, importing the best from elsewhere and developing unique products internally.
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Support
IT personnel should be organized to install systems, answer questions, instruct users, and repair facilities quickly, efficiently and with the least possible disruption, striving to be seen as a valuable resource rather than a bureaucratic obstacle – the people who look for ways to say, “Yes, we can."
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Productivity
IT represents an expensive investment for the University, and IT staff should constantly work to eliminate waste, reduce cost and increase efficiency.
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Change
Both within IT organization and in the University at large, new possibilities and new exigencies will demand organizational change and renewal, and IT should be a vehicle to facilitate new ways of doing things.
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Development
IT can be no better than the people who provide and support it, and IT skills should be cultivated and recognized through internal and external training, as well as conference attendance and presentations.
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Excellence
In everything IT does for AUC, it should strive to be and provide nothing but the best; the best technology for the tasks required, the best people, and the best support and service.
Recent News
AUC’s Banner Technical Team Presenting at SunGard Summit, Las Vegas
From the left: Amgad Yassin, senior director of IT operations; Nouran Maher, student information system analyst; Shereen Gamal, senior SIS+ specialist.
On March 27, 2012, AUC’s Banner technical team gave a presentation about the University’s Banner implementation experience at the SunGard conference in Las Vegas, USA. The team presented the University’s success story in changing its student Information system, the obstacles faced and the lessons learnt from this University-wide implementation.
By early 2010 and after two years of implementation, the Banner project has come to a successful end. “For a University with the magnitude of AUC, and with over 100,000,000 records of student data, it was nothing but a simple project,” said Nagwa Nicola, AUC chief technology officer.
In February 2009, the Banner student implementation project started. All student data, as old as 1986, was migrated from SIS+ to Banner. Data migration represented the biggest challenge faced by the AUC technical team, who had to ensure optimum data quality and accuracy.
This process included many obstacles such as data cleansing, accounting for the different logical and physical structures between the SIS and Banner, and data mapping between the two systems.
Other challenges, including budgeting and contingency planning, community-wide training, coordination between all stakeholders, business process re-improvement and systems integration with Banner, were smoothed out by AUC’s competent staff which cooperated to achieve the envisioned success of this project.
The SunGard summit connects more than 6,000 higher education professionals from around the world in one of the largest learning networks of its kind. It is held every year in the United States where users get the opportunity to share their experiences and learn about the higher education best practices in various education disciplines such as information technology, student administration and strategy formulation.