What is the VCC Utility?

The Virginia Community College Utility is a separate VCCS state agency created in 1997 to help serve and administer the information technology needs of Virginia's 23 community colleges and the System Office. See Hours of Operation Most of the Utility's personnel formerly occupied positions in the "distributed data processing network", which was a collection of positions at various colleges that worked as a group to serve the same needs. With the ever-increasing pace of technological advancement, it was decided that a separate agency needed to be dedicated to this effort.

While the individual colleges maintain their own internal networks and users, the Utility administers shared data, network, and video services and assists college IT personnel with use and integration of these services into their local network. See Utility diagrams
Services provided include:

Shared services for:

Student Information System
Financial Records System
Library Services

	E-mail services
	Video Network (video-conferencing/distance-learning) maintenance and support
	Wide Area (ATM) Network co-ordination and support in co-operation with the Virginia Tech network operations center
	Centralized problem reporting and Help Desk services
	Application development and support

For more information see Service Level Agreements.

The VCC Utility is divided into three areas which are explained in the paragraphs below.

Customer Support Center

Application Support Center

Network Operations Centers

Directions/Map Roanoke

Directions/Map Featherstone

Directions/Map Richmond
Directions/Map Annandale

Customer Support Center (CSC)

The Customer Support Center serves as a single, central, point of contact to the Utility for issues involving technology. The CSC operates a Roanoke-based Help Desk that works with the colleges' IT staff using a standardized Problem Reporting Process. The CSC also provides e-mail services and maintains the Utility Helpnet Website which provides information to both end users and Customer Support Liaisons.

The Customer Support Liaison (CSL) at your college is the primary contact for information that needs to be provided to your college from the VCC Utility. Most colleges have appointed a backup for the CSL and sometimes have designated others who may contact the Help Desk on specific issues (i.e. telecommunications, applications such as SIS, FRS, etc., and hardware).

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Application Support Center (ASC)

The Application Support Center is responsible for creating, implementing, and maintaining programs that are used to run daily college operations. Their main area of concern is the Student Information System and its upcoming conversion to PeopleSoft. Most ASC personnel are located in Richmond.

Network Operations (EServices)

Network Operations (with centers located in Richmond and Annandale) operates the two mainframe computer systems that run the Student Information System (SIS), library services (NOTIS), and the Financial Records System (FRS). See Mainframe Services Schedules. They also provide scheduling services for and maintain the VCCS Video Network (used for video conferencing and distance learning between colleges) and support the Wide Area (ATM) Network in co-operation with the Virginia Tech network operations center.