President Daniel Fogel has initiated an active Strategic Planning process that involves all of UVM's organizational units and programs. A Vision has been defined that includes achievement by UVM of a highly-differentiated status as the "... the nation's premier small public research university". In accordance with this vision, seven strategic goals have been developed, and a number of institution-wide action steps defined under each goal. During the fall of 2003, departmental units are being asked to further develop their components of the Strategic Plan to align with the organizational vision.

At the same time, certain areas of focus have been identified that require development of a coherent approach that is consistent across all organizational boundaries and that embodies a long-term perspective. Information technology is one of these common areas of focus. As a result, the President specified in his 2002 Convocation Address that an IT Master Plan will be developed as one of UVM's planning initiatives, and this has been included as an Action Step in the UVM Strategic Plan.

In addition to integrating with the UVM strategic planning process, the IT Master Plan needs to address areas of ongoing concern and debate relative to IT management at UVM. This includes:

• Providing for ongoing, consistent management oversight and decision-making relative to implementation of IT-related initiatives;
   
• Planning for and funding the long-term IT development needs of the organization, including appropriate application of both operating and capital budgeting processes;
   
• Appropriate level of centralization vs. decentralization of IT resources and responsibilities;
   
• Approaches to identifying and prescribing use of IT-related standards across the user community;
   
• Quantification, measurement and continual improvement in levels of service to the clients of IT service and resource providers;
   
• Methods for identifying and effectively implementing new technologies (e.g., web services, wireless communications) that can provide significant and cost-effective advances in delivery of client services;
   
• Determining appropriate approaches to acquiring and utilizing externally-contracted providers for selected areas of IT service; and
   
• Provision of high levels of security for the overall IT user community and for UVM's IT assets, while still providing for appropriate levels of privacy and confidentiality.

The Master Plan itself will not provide definite answers to these types of issues, but will specify planning, policy and decision-making frameworks that will allow UVM to identify and address such issues, in as objective and consistent a manner as possible, over the long-term.

Another UVM management requirement is the need to translate the organizational vision and strategic goals into implemented realities. Therefore, the Master Plan will include a component that will translate the strategic framework into specifically-defined initiatives and projects that can be authorized, planned, funded and implemented.

Last modified September 16 2003 03:06 PM