The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Woldia University

ICT Directorate

Five Year Strategic Plan

 C
ontents
Five Year Strategic Plan...........................................................................................................................................3
Document Purpose..............................................................................................................................................3
Background.........................................................................................................................................................3
Long Term Objectives..........................................................................................................................................4
Overall Summary.............................................................................................................................................4
Strategic Elements...............................................................................................................................................7
Basic Requirements.........................................................................................................................................7
Year One..........................................................................................................................................................8
Year Two..........................................................................................................................................................8
Year Three.......................................................................................................................................................9
Year Four.........................................................................................................................................................9
Year Five..........................................................................................................................................................9
Six-Month programme......................................................................................................................................10
Objective 1 – Software Licensing...................................................................................................................10
Objective 2 – Internet Capacity Improvements.............................................................................................10
Objective 3 – The Teachers Building..............................................................................................................11
Objective 4 – Mersa Campus.........................................................................................................................11
Objective 5 – Increased WiFi Coverage.........................................................................................................11
Objective 6 – Bring the E-Mail Server In-House.............................................................................................11
Annexures.............................................................................................................................................................13
Network Design Philosophy..............................................................................................................................14
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan
Background...................................................................................................................................................14
Overall Implications.......................................................................................................................................14
Hardware Strategy........................................................................................................................................15
Connectivity......................................................................................................................................................18
Geography:....................................................................................................................................................18
Construction..................................................................................................................................................18
Utilities..........................................................................................................................................................18
Network Structure.........................................................................................................................................19
Non-Academic activities........................................................................................................................................22
Summary.......................................................................................................................................................22
Business management...................................................................................................................................22
Academic management.................................................................................................................................22
Other Systems...............................................................................................................................................23
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

Five Year Strategic Plan

Document Purpose

This document sets out a Five Year ICT strategy for Woldia University.

It is set out in two major sections:

1. The basis on which the strategy has been developed; and

2. The various elements required of the strategy, ICT and organisational.

It was developed in early 2018, and clearly changes in technologies and University strategic objectives
since that time may invalidate some assumptions. Technologies and strategic objectives will also
change during the five years.

As a consequence, it is a living document, and changes to the strategy can be expected as

circumstances change.

Background

The mission and vision of Woldia University (“WDU ”) as a centre for world-class academic and
scholastic pursuits includes a vision of the University as a site of world-class Information Technology
resources. The intention is that Woldia University is to be designated as an ICT Centre of Excellence by
the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

To that end, the existing ICT hardware, software and communications Infrastructure on the Woldia
campus, the Mersa Campus and later, the Lalibela Research Centre is to be upgraded and where
necessary replaced. The overall objectives and timescales are defined in Project Branna.

The likely timescale for the execution of Project Branna is a minimum of three years, and more likely
five years before fully complete. In addition, it must be recognised that Project Branna is a process, not
an event, and will inevitably require modification and change during its lifetime to maintain
conformance with the vision and mission of the University and implementation of state-of-the-art
technologies.

We must therefore consider Project Branna as a template for a 5-Year strategic plan to ensure firstly,
that Project Branna achieves its objectives; and secondly that that WDU remains a centre of ICT
excellence.

There is currently a programme underway of short-term improvements to the existing ICT

Infrastructure on Woldia and Mersa campuses. A key imperative in these projects is that they do not
compromise the longer-term objectives of Project Branna.

There are two main strands to the long-term ICT Strategic Plan, that of managing and maintaining
operational systems and ongoing development projects based around the installed infrastructure while
Project Branna is under way, and a second of planning and implementing changes to the operational
infrastructure according to Project Branna.

This document is intended as a living document setting out the various strategic goals of the Short-Term
Plan and Project Branna. It also includes the associated organisational changes needed in the ICT
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan
function to achieve and support these goals. It draws heavily on the Project Branna Project Summary
document already circulated.

Long Term Objectives

Overall Summary

It is the goal of the University to become the leading E-Learning Institution in Ethiopia. This in turn
implies that the University ICT Strategy supports that objective. The transition to an E-Learning
environment implies significant changes to both teaching and learning methodologies and the ICT
structures used to support that environment.

The changes to the academic and student environment are by and large beyond the scope of this
document, but in summary are:

 Establishment of organisational support for E-Learning:

o An Executive-level stakeholder committee, to plan, oversee and implement a strategy
for the deployment of digital technology and services;
o An Executive-Level stakeholder committee based in the Senate to define the scope and
deployment of E- and M- Leaning in the University;
o Establishment of a Digital Teaching and Learning Unit charged with the development
and support of blended learning modules and courses.
 Inclusion of the ICT Director in the University Strategic Planning process.

The principal requirements of the new ICT environment are, in summary:

 A robust, extensive and reliable physical ICT infrastructure;

 A strong communications capability between academia and the student body;
 Ubiquitous access to online information sources: and
 A strong, well resourced and properly structured ICT support and development unit.

If we consider the needs of blended learning, coupled with the requirements to develop web-based
student support services and support and develop the physical ICT infrastructure, it is clear that the
current ICT departmental structure is not effective and staffing levels are not sufficient.

First the role of the ICT Director needs to be at a strategic level. Gartner stated in a recent review of the
role and function of the decision-making process in Tertiary Education organisations:

“…………The ability to sit on the President’s Cabinet, executive committee or whatever the top
policy forum is called is far more important, in that this seat allows the top ICT leader to actively
engage in institutional-level discussions about strategic directions and policy and to work with
other senior officers in understanding the role that ICT can play in the various functional areas
on campus…………”.

At the very least, the ICT Director needs to be integrated into the University planning structure to
ensure that ICT is part of physical and educational planning.

The department should move towards a structure of the form shown in the graphic below:

Three functional areas -

1. service provision;
2. infrastructure management; and
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan
3. applications systems and E-Learning support and development.
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

Strategic Elements

This section sets out the tasks needed to implement Project Branna in its fullest form.

However, there is a requirement to make immediate improvements in service provision in some

areas and these are presented as a six-month implementation effort. It must be emphasised that
these interventions must be carried out using the Branna philosophy in order that they can be
incorporated into the full ICT environment at a later stage without the need for rework or
replacement.

Basic Requirements

The strategic elements are:

1. Network Infrastructure
a. Completion of the new main campus data centre and a network operations
centre.
b. Completion of a fibre-based campus-wide network for Woldia campus.
c. Integration of the Mersa campus with Woldia campus over the National
Research and Education Network (“NREN”).
2. Upgrade of key lecture venues to support E-Learning
3. Software Selection and Installation, including:
a. Systems software to bring the data centre and new network into operation
b. Collaborative “office” applications based around Microsoft Office 365
c. A unified communications environment:
i. Local and Inter-campus Voice over IP telephony;
ii. Local, inter-campus and remote Video Conferencing;
iii. Digital signage.
d. integrated campus administration, academic administration and student
services;
e. Call centre/Trouble ticketing;
f. Access and security management;
g. Local Library systems and access to regional, national and international library
services;
h. Faculty and Departmental systems;
i. Other systems:
i. student documentation archive
ii. income generation unit
iii. construction unit
iv. Fleet Management
v. catering

Timings
The timing around these activities is of necessity budgetary, and indicative at the highest
levels only. Detailed planning needs to happen when each project is initiated. In addition,
the overall work programme needs to be refined according to the University’s strategic
plans.
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

This will mean that some activities are moved, removed or added.

Year One

1. Complete the Six-Month Plan

2. Complete the Data Centre

The costs of the Data Centre can be reduced by installing only those network items
needed at the time they are needed.

However, the full infrastructure elements of power distribution and environmental

control, including the raised flooring should be installed from the outset. Network
operations could be compromised by work in the server rooms.

3. Begin the Blown-Fibre backbone rollout

The ultimate objective is to have a fibre ring around the campus to support existing
and new buildings. The first stage will be to start the ring from the Data Centre to
terminate at the Lalibela Gate in one direction, and terminate behind the Teacher’s
building in the other. It should be installed to allow it to be extended in both
directions in later stages.

This core ring will support connection to distribution centres at the Lalibela Gate, in
Procurement and in Admin in one direction and the Teaching and Learning Building
and the Teacher’s Building in the other. Other local buildings will receive services
from these buildings.

Please note that, when completed, the New Admin building is likely to be an
additional Distribution Centre for the local network in that area.

A connection to the W Gate should also be provided. This will be needed in the
future for a backup Security Operations Centre and Access Control.

4. Replace the existing network and provide new network installations.

Begin to connect the Distribution Buildings to the new fibre environment. Replace
their existing internal network, for example the President’s Building with a new
Passive Optical LAN infrastructure. Installation of Mesh based WiFi may also be
required in some locations.

Install network services in previously un-serviced locations, for example

procurement.

5. An Email/Office 365 pilot, including transfer of the WDU .edu.et mail domain to an
internal host if not carried out in the Six-Month programme.

6. Software selection for the Integrated Campus Management and VoIP Systems.
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

Year Two

1. Continue to replace the existing network and provide new network installations;
2. Continue to extend WiFi coverage;
3. Start to install Video Conferencing;
4. Selection and implementation of VoIP. This will proceed in parallel with item 1;
5. Roll-Out of institutional Office 365;
6. Roll-Out of campus-based institutional e-mail; and
7. Planning the roll-out of the Integrated Campus Management System.

Year Three

a. Extension of the fibre ring to behind the male dormitories and new staff
accommodation;
b. WiFi in dormitory common rooms;
c. Implementation of the integrated campus management system;
d. Extension of network services to new buildings;
e. Continuing implementation of VoIP; and
f. Software selection for access control and security.

Year Four
a. Implementation of a SOC (“security operations centre”); and
b. Implementation of access control and security.

Year Five

It is very difficult at this stage to set out the precise activities to be carried out at this time.
However it is likely to be a continuation of those of previous years and completion of
unfinished tasks. There will, in addition be new imperatives.
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

Six-Month programme

Objective 1 – Software Licensing and Office 365 Pilot

At the time of writing, the majority of all Microsoft systems and applications software in the
University is unlicensed. This places severe restrictions on our ability to achieve the most
basic objectives of both the short-term and Branna projects.

Plan:

Carry out the Windows 10/Office 365 Pilot project. This will start the license
regularisation process and demonstrate to staff and students the value to be derived
from it.

Running the pilot will also provide clear guidance to the correct operation of the full
implementation of licence regularisation.

This requires completion of Objective 6 – Bringing the E-Mail Server inhouse.

Objective 2 – Internet Capacity Improvements

One of the largest complaints about the existing environment is poor network coverage and
poor service levels, particularly that of the Internet service, both in individual bandwidth and
speed. However, it must be recognised that increasing the Institutional Internet bandwidth
under the existing configuration will do little to improve matters and must wait on the
network infrastructure improvements planned in Project Branna.

Plan:

The proposed improvements are in two options, an upgrade to the existing environment and
installation at the new Data Centre.

Option 1 - Upgrade the existing ICT equipment:

1. Power
a. Fix the existing or install a new UPS
2. Connectivity. This assumes upgraded Internet bandwidth.
a. A communications rack containing enterprise-sized interface equipment
(core router) capable of supporting the entire network.
b. A network rack supporting a core switch.

Option 2 – Install Equipment in the Data Centre:

1. Install the basic infrastructure in the Data Centre:

a. Power
i. UPS and Backup power in the basement
ii. Connect the Data Centre power supply to the existing backup
generators, or install a dedicated generator
iii. Under-floor power reticulation for the full implementation
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

b. Infrastructure
i. Raised flooring
ii. Air Conditioning
iii. Access Control
c. Connectivity
i. Networking equipment and cabling
ii. Transfer of the corporate Internet Connection to the Data Centre
iii. Install a new Internet Interface in the Data Centre:
1. A communications rack containing enterprise-sized
interface equipment (core router) capable of supporting
the entire network.
2. A network rack supporting a core switch.
iv. A blown fibre connection to the existing IT data centre
v. Access Control to the equipment and UPS areas.
2. Upgrade the existing IT room to include a distribution layer switch and router
connected to the Data Centre to support the upgraded Internet bandwidth.

Objective 3 – The Teachers Building

Plan:

Complete the internal network infrastructure in each of the two Teacher’s Buildings,
and link them to the existing, and later, new Campus network with a fibre
connection to the current IT Building.

Objective 4 – Mersa Campus

The existing ICT infrastructure at Mersa Campus does not meet the ICT needs of the campus.
Some simple upgrades can be implemented to substantially improve the quality of ICT
service on the campus:

Plan:

1. Install a Data Centre.

2. Install a WiFi mesh network covering the Admin building, Library and Staff Houses.
3. Verify the correct installation and operation of the student labs.
4. Increase the Internet Bandwidth.

Objective 5 – Increased WiFi Coverage

This has already begun to an extent. However, the physical network cabling used to deliver
the increased coverage has not been installed according to the University networking
standards to be implemented in Project Branna. It will need to be replaced, together with
some of the equipment at a later stage.

Objective 6 – Bring the E-Mail Server In-House

Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

At present the University’s email is hosted by a third party reached over the Internet. This
means that when the Internet is unavailable for any reason, internal and external email
services are lost.

If local email and the collaborative features of Office 365 are to be fully accessible, even
when the Internet is unavailable, the Office 365 and Email servers need to be hosted on the
local network.

Plan:

Move the email server in-house.

This simple six month plan will bring a quantum improvement to the ICT environment on
both Woldia and Mersa campuses.
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

Annexures
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

Network Design Philosophy

Background

Woldia is a rural town in a predominantly agricultural area with little by the way of IT
resources to draw on. There are no local major suppliers of IT products, services or support.
All support services will therefore come from Addis Ababa at best, and more likely from
outside Ethiopia. Unless a service can be provided remotely, same-day service is not
possible or likely.

There are other infrastructural constraints.

The municipal power and water supplies to the Woldia Campus are unreliable at best. The
campus does have backup generators, but these work to a restricted schedule and do not
provide 24/7/365 cover. The University recently signed a letter of intent for a solar power
facility. The new IT Data Centre is planned to be used for a pilot project, but will need other
backup power arrangements to complement the solar facility.

Internet connectivity is supplied by the sole parastatal supplier, Ethiotel. From time to time
Internet access is lost in whole or in part. Neither Woldia nor Mersa campuses is connected
to the national educational network operated by EtherNet.

To summarise, Woldia University will need a robust, stable and always available enterprise-
level campus network infrastructure. The ICT infrastructure on Woldia campus will certainly
be the largest in Woldia, and perhaps in the region.

Overall Implications

Taken together, the implications for Woldia University are that:

1. The hardware and software we employ must be enterprise standard, and be top-tier,
robust and easily managed, preferably automatically. We do not have the luxury of 24-
hour service and we have severe support limitations imposed by the small number of ICT
support staff.
2. We must employ leading state of the art software and hardware to develop that world-
class site;
3. The technology infrastructure must be capable of significant growth and enhancement
without fork-lift replacement of hardware and software;
4. We cannot rely on local resources, and indeed will almost certainly be required to
provide community-based services to assist development of ICT skills and resources in
the area;
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

Hardware Strategy

Overall design

The design remit includes two main precepts: the first, to be a leading-edge design; and
secondly to be capable of economic upgrade to accommodate new buildings on campus,
growing student and staff numbers, and new campus and departmental applications.

In general terms, the network must be designed for increases in scale, redundancy, security,
and provision of acceptable levels of service even during peak loads. IT people might look at
the network as an end in itself, to users it is a tool to help with their daily workload, just like
the telephone. They do not need, or indeed want to know the technical details of how it
works. Just that it does, reliably and securely.

Further in Woldia, we have limited support resources, so the network must as far as possible
be self-healing, self-optimising, and self-defending.

Other considerations are the new technologies brought about by digital transformation,
particularly the increasing use of WiFi and BYOD in the network environment. Base
bandwidth speed has significantly increased to cope with the demands of multimedia.
Access to the network needs to be at least at broadband speed, and for WiFi requires 1Gbps
as a minimum to function optimally, and ideally 2Gbs or greater to accommodate new
multimedia applications. In Woldia, students usually have a smartphone and are increasingly
demanding WiFi on all areas of campus to provide access to learning materials and to social
media.

The development of E-Learning and M-Learning as the principal means of delivering course
content and receiving feedback will also put increasing pressure on Student Service provision
through WiFi, and access to student labs and library services. These will, in all probability be
met through increased WiFi coverage, with as few dead spots on campus as possible.
Futures

Looking at futures, it is evident that there are five major influences on the network design:

1. Digital transformation

Bring Your Own Device (“BYOD”) and the movement of existing manual processes to
a digital platform is already with us. Increasing student and staff numbers indicate
that the University will need to introduce digital workflow management to allow the
substantial increases in administrative workload to be managed without major
increases in staff numbers.

As the University develops and the power of the new network becomes apparent,
the number and complexity of administrative and academic applications deployed
over the network will grow. On-line document management and library systems,
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

both local and internet-based will become increasingly important to the learning
process.

E-Learning, especially Active Blended Learning, will put a heavy load on the new
network. It will need to be responsive, available and secure at all times. If in
addition, the University rolls out on-line distance learning, accessibility via the
Internet will become of crucial importance.

This implies a network capable of supporting an increase in both scale and

complexity without sacrificing accessibility, responsiveness and quality of service.

2. The Cloud

We have proposed a cloud-based environment. It will support an internal private

cloud or clouds for University use, and if required a public cloud service for external
on-line course delivery and possible support for local service provision.

The private clouds will support an Intranet, which in turn supports academic and
administrative websites, internal community websites, blogs and other Social Media
applications.

3. Mobility

Key influencers in recent times have been the use of smart devices as the primary
connection to network services and the need to always be connected. Add to that
VoIP and the need for SIP technology to support smartphones as on-network phone
extensions. In network terms this brings challenges in authentication, support and
quality of service.

It also implies that ubiquitous WiFi coverage will be needed in all areas of campus to
support both data and voice. Most if not all new installations will therefore be WiFi
rather than cabled.

4. Internet of Things

The internet of things (IoT) journey is well underway. It may not be applicable to
administration, but it is highly likely that some academic applications, perhaps
predominantly in lab environments will emerge in the next few years that require
machine-learning intelligence based on analytics and business policy.

Some applications in Access Control and Security are also likely to have an IoT
requirement.

Enterprise campus networks need the bandwidth and flexibility to support this influx
of machine connectivity. At some stage we will need IoT data aggregation, filtering
and analysis at the network edge, usually for the purposes of security and speed of
data analysis.

5. Security
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

Cyber Security lies heavy on the mind today. It has been said that the only secure
network is one that hasn`t been hacked yet.

The University needs to realise that the greatest threat to Cyber Security is already
inside the gates – their users. Far more data breaches follow inadvertent or
malicious user action or inaction than by an automated malware or hacking attack.

Some companies that partner with Universities to undertake joint research projects
insist that there is comprehensive protection against Intellectual Property theft, even
to the extent that computers hosting their proprietary information are not
connected to the University network.

While the network needs to have malware protection to protect against external
attack, the best defence is user education.

A network security policy has been prepared as a separate document.

Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

Design Implications

Connectivity

There are several significant challenges in Woldia when considering connectivity and cable-
laying:

Geography:

The site is very large, by no means flat and a river runs through it in a West-East
direction. In short, it has a low point in the North-Eastern corner and rises in all
directions to a high point in the South-Western corner. It is about five kilometres
from corner to corner.

There is a swamp and the small river towards the northern end of the campus. This
implies difficulties in laying underground cables.

Lines of sight for point to point wireless or laser-optical connections can also be
difficult to find because of ridgelines and intervening buildings.

Fortunately, the new Data Centre has clear lines of sight to most areas of campus
from its roof. In the future, the new Admin Building will provide even better lines of
sight.

Construction

Construction of new buildings, roads and other smaller works are underway in all
parts of the campus. Again, this implies difficulties with underground cables.

Utilities

The campus receives power from both the Woldia and Mersa Municipalities.

The Municipal power supplies are unreliable and can drop or fluctuate at any time.
Total losses, brown-outs and surges are common.

The existing computer room has a comprehensive UPS installation designed to

support the existing ICT equipment for some hours. It has not been functional for
over two years, has not received the required maintenance, and there are no plans
to bring it back into operation. In effect it is working as a very expensive surge
protector.

The campus has backup generators, but because of operational constraints they do
not operate 24/7. There are frequent power blackouts during the working day with
the consequent loss of network services and Internet connectivity.

At the time of writing we are planning a pilot solar power installation for the Data
Centre.
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

The unreliable and intermittent power supply is a major constraint against providing
a 24/7/365 ICT environment and prevents any progress towards an E-Learning
environment.

Futures

The physical infrastructure is required to cope with voice, data and multi-media for
around 15,000 devices from day one on both physical and WiFi connections. The
number of users will rise each year for the foreseeable future.

It is certain that the network will expand to include buildings currently under
construction and planned:

 The new Administration Building is expected to be completed in around 18

months.
 There are proposals to build an Academic Teaching Hospital on the campus,
a 5,000 seat graduation hall and a sports centre including a swimming pool.
 The new lecture hall building, five floors of laboratories and teaching rooms,
will need significant IT resources.

Introduction of digital telephony will bring a call for access to the phone network
using personal smartphones, leading to a need for WiFi access in all areas of campus,
both internal and external.

Other applications will need to use a physical cabling infrastructure that in most
cases will parallel the ICT network. Access Control and Security, including CCTV are
already in plan. It is likely that Fire Services will join the system when a Security
Operations Centre is established. Other applications may follow.

Network Structure
Connectivity

The need for later increases in capacity indicate that blown fibre is the best medium for
delivering interbuilding connectivity. Therefore, install a blown fibre infrastructure. In
essence it will be a blown fibre ring around the campus starting and terminating at the Data
Centre. Connections from the ring will run to the buildings currently identified as
distribution centres, then blown fibre again from the distribution centres to individual
buildings.

The capacity should be such that it provides connectivity for services to each building, with
sufficient spare capacity to allow easy installation of future cable runs without the need to
trench or re-trench. That may require more than one blown fibre cable.

The cable runs are currently envisaged to need to support data and voice, access control,
CCTV and Fire Control.

In addition, access manholes and domes should be placed in positions where it is likely that
cables will be run to new distribution or access layer buildings, allowing new runs to be easily
and economically added to the infrastructure.
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

Because of the potential run lengths and speed, only single mode fibre capable of supporting
a minimum of 10GB is to be used. In future we may need a backbone speed of 40Gb.

Where geography or distance prevents the use of fibre, connectivity will be provided by
using wireless or laser-optical connections. If a fibre connection is installed in the future,
then the wireless or laser-optical connections can provide disaster recovery backup, or can
be dedicated to other applications, for example VoIP or CCTV.

Inbuilding connectivity will be a fibre backbone between floors, running from a network
room connected to the distribution centre. Individual floors will connect to the backbone via
switches on each floor. Normally, switches will be housed in wall-mounted secure swing-
frame network cabinets, but floors with multiple cabinets may need a network room for
connectivity to the fibre backbone.

We must also look at replacing the existing copper cabling with Passive Optical Lan (POL)
technology. Looking at future requirements, it is evident that we will need a 40Gbps
backbone and in time 10Gb to the desktop to support multi-media applications. Copper
cabling has been around for many years and is limited in the bandwidth it can carry. From
time to time it also needs to be upgraded and replaced.

The current copper cabling is not installed to any known standard and is often well outside
acceptable installation standards. This is an opportunity to replace it with WiFi or POL access
to provide maximum future scalability and ease of maintenance.

We have defined Cisco as the preferred supplier of networking hardware and software. They
have been consistently a leader in networking. They have a comprehensive range of
software and hardware offerings covering most, if not all our requirements. They are
currently the market leader in Software-Defined Access networks and are working towards a
fully automated Intent-Based network.

Structure

Traditionally, networks have been structured on a three-layer model: core, distribution and
access layers.

This structure ensures that the number of devices data travels between the end user and its
ultimate network destination is variable, depending on destination. This can affect service
levels, the travel time depending on the route taken and network congestion. It makes
definition of alternate routes difficult. Spanning Tree technology attempts to make sense of
complex networks with multiple connections between devices, but it is difficult to install and
manage.

A Leaf and Spine structure, physically similar to the three-layer model, ensures that the
journey from any point on the network to any other point passes through the same number
of devices, improving the quality of service and automatically providing alternate routes
should one be congested or unavailable.

This type of structure is already implemented in WiFi Mesh environments.

Intent-Based and Software Defined Access Networks

Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

As stated above, we need a network that has a minimum of manual intervention in both
installation and management. A Software Defined Access (SDA) network goes a long way
towards that environment.

SDA is the first step on the way towards an Intent-Based network (IBN). A SDA is a self-
configuring, self-learning, self-healing network. An IBN is true automation, a SDA that
learns, adapts and evolves by itself. IBN is only in the later stages of development, and Cisco
are working closely with Universities and Research Centres to bring it to commercial reality.

Simply put, Software Defined Access splits the network into two levels or planes – the
physical level of equipment, and the software level which sits over the physical level and
defines what the network looks like and how it operates. In essence, the network configures
itself as equipment is added to it.

That then gives the opportunity to define and manage the network from a central point
using software rather than configuring individual bits of equipment. This makes deployment
and management of the network simpler and less resource intensive. It is therefore cheaper
and more effective.

It is a new technology and major IT companies, including Cisco are fully embracing it, seeing
it as a means of easily introducing new technologies into an existing environment. An ideal
environment for coalescing cabled and WiFi environments and introducing the Internet of
Things and BYOD.
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

Non-Academic activities

Summary

Administration is to a certain extent caught between two stools:

 Academic Administration. Students need to be registered, assigned residence

accommodation and fed. Curricula need to be developed and lecturers and venues
assigned. Examinations need to be scheduled, marks awarded and recorded.
 Business Administration. As with any large organisation, the University needs to carry out
the basic business functions of accounting, human resources, salaries and wages,
procurement and so-on.

The two components do need to speak to each other. Academic Administration will need to use the
procurement system to order supplies. Catering will need to ensure that enough food is prepared to
feed all students registered to receive meals. Finance need to prepare the regular reports needed
by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

The long-term requirements need to be assessed in the light of the projected increases in staff and
student numbers. Looking at a business process and asking the simple questions – “why do we do
this at all”, “Is there a simpler, faster and more economical way to do it” allows us to develop
automated WDU workflow processes that take full advantage of current and future technologies. In
that way, automated workflow processes will allow much more to be done with greater control than
at present without large increases in staff numbers.

There is little benefit to be gained by automating the existing manual paper-based processes.

Simply put, WDU will implement a fully Integrated Campus Management system that links business
and academic administration, providing a holistic view of the academic and business performance of
WDU.

Business management

WDU needs an Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) system aligned to a Distributed Enterprise
Architecture. The architecture will support:

 Fully integrated, industrial strength Accounting, Purchasing, Human Resource and Inventory
Management systems among others;
 Automated workflow processes;
 An Executive Information System; and
 Other niche reporting and management tools, for example building and fleet management.

This will require a careful examination of the systems currently available from commercial
companies including PeopleSoft, Microsoft and others to ensure that they support the full range of
ERP facilities we need, either now, or are clearly stated in their product development roadmaps.

Academic management
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

The Academic Management component of the Integrated Campus Management system will be a
specialised component of the integrated system.

The major components are likely to include:

 Management of the student body, registration, graduation, examinations and so-on;

 Curriculum Management;
 Assigning lecturers and venues to curriculum elements;
 Integration with digital records processing; and
 On-Line application processing.

Other Systems

Institutional Office Applications

Simply put, this encompasses the common office requirements for document management,
spreadsheets and email.

Library Systems

Access to knowledge is the life-blood of a University. The University Library needs to be able to
provide the means for academics, undergraduate and postgraduate students to reach world-wide
sources of information. This will be of particular importance in an E-Learning environment.

Institutional Website Management

This covers the development and management of the publicly available University website and
internal websites. It will also include web-based functions providing student and academic services.

Voice over IP Telephony and Video Conferencing

A significant part of University communications expenditure comes from telephone and video-
conference calls. Implementing a Digital Telephony environment will greatly reduce the costs by
moving calls and conferencing from a tolled basis to toll-free digital calls using the Internet. Robust
links between Woldia and Mersa will allow free communications between the two campuses. Other
benefits will accrue from the advanced features available from a digitally based system.

Security and Access Management

Currently WDU does not operate an Access control system at either a campus or building level. As
the University expands one will be required to secure buildings and high-value items. Creating a
Security Operations centre in a secure room in the basement of the Data centre will provide an
opportunity to link the various aspects of campus security, access and fire control, CCTV and asset
management.

Digital Signage

A simple system to communicate with the University community using the digital network enables
programmable signage supporting text and video, including a broadcast system.

Locally developed Applications

Departments in both Academia and Administration will need specialised applications. ICT, with the
assistance of external specialists will develop and support these applications.
Woldia University – ICT Strategic Plan

Access Control by Authentication

The requirement will be for user-based authentication. The ultimate objective will be for a Single-
Sign-On (“SSO”) environment. However, a tiered approach may be required in the initial stages.

Implementation of authentication will require hardware and software. It should be transparent to

the connection method, WiFi or cabled.

The concept is based around casual and authorised users. Casual users will connect to the network,
but not be allowed inside the Institutional firewall. They will be restricted to Internet access only,
and may be subject to time limited access, restricted website access and bandwidth and download
restrictions.

Authorised users can pass through the Institutional firewall and access University systems and data
according to their access privileges.