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Web Applications delivers consulting services to help customers identify the best strategies for choosing tools and applications that support teaching, research, public service, and University administration via the Internet. Our consulting services evaluate and deliver cost-effective solutions like web-delivered commodity software packages and outsourced web applications (such as Zoomerang surveys) that minimize the high cost of custom development to our customers.
In addition, the consulting practice of the Web Applications unit handles nondevelopment aspects of serving campus customers on projects. Some examples of this service include: working with campus standards bodies to deliver security assessments and ADA compliance assistance; performing technical project management in coordination with the TAM for software projects; and managing vendor relationships for outsourced and packaged solutions.
Consultants will also coordinate data integration and reporting issues for applications with IST's Data Services department.
Finally, part of the mission of the Web Applications unit is to provide resources to the campus in the form of web design templates, software code samples, and web services that departments can incorporate into their own software. Managing the outreach and information publication will be a function of the consulting services part of the Web Applications unit.
Web Applications provides software development services and builds world-class solutions using a focused set of the campus's chosen technology platforms in which we will build expertise. We coordinate closely with the Architecture unit of Application Services, and use in-house talent to build custom solutions in areas which are core to the mission of the University and where preexisting solutions are unavailable or not cost-effective.
Web applications we build from scratch will be for software that directly relates to higher education, or the University's competitive advantage.
In addition to consulting and software development, Web Applications includes a group that handles application management, especially focusing on the post-deployment parts of the application lifecycle. This team interfaces with the Service Desk to coordinate operational support for production applications (and tier-2 and -3 support), and participates during the earlier stages of the software development lifecycle to help establish support models.
Operational services also include maintenance of active applications, performing some content and programming changes in conjunction with Production Control. Operations support also includes participation in the launch of new applications, working with the Release Management and QA functions in the Production Control unit.