The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College

Board of Trustees

November 9, 2006

 

IT Master Plan

Prepared By

H. David Todd

 

Review

               Over the past few years, UVM has routinely developed and updated plans for information technology:

 

• 2003: IBM Information Technology Assessment and Recommendations
• 2004: Competitive Computing Report on “Web Discovery, Assessment, and Strategy Recommendations”
• 2005: IT Master Plan
• 2005: Institutional Repository Task Force Report
• 2006: Project CATalog Report: Content and Collaboration at the University of Vermont: A Strategy for Implementing the IT Master Plan”

 

               The Board last reviewed the Information Technology Master Plan on 30 March 2005 (PowerPoints at https://www.uvm.edu/cit/projects/itpc/documents/BOT_IT03-05.html). The goals and principles outlined in that 2005 IT Master Plan report have served the University well by providing both a general framework and specific goals. Some of those goals have been achieved (e.g., implementing PeopleSoft); some will continue to be works in progress (e.g., secure the information infrastructure); and some are in the planning stages (e.g., implement a web portal system).

 

               As over a year has elapsed since that last report, and nearly two years since the basic planning work was done, it is appropriate to revisit the IT Master Plan and to restart the planning process, mindful of Eisenhower’s quote: “Plans are nothing; planning is everything”.

              

 

2005 IT Master Plan

 

               The 2005 IT Master Plan process incorporated broad-based representation from within the University, was founded on prior planning work – including that of external consultants, and referenced external information sources to benchmark with peer institutions. The report presented guiding principles for IT development and support, priorities for IT development, a list of current initiatives, and goals for educational, research, and administrative initiatives.

 

               In that report, the top information technology priorities included:

• Facilitated and enhanced teaching and learning experience through technology and media
• Enhanced and more robust research technological environment
• Classroom, laboratory, and common area technology coherence
• Strengthened technological infrastructure (wireless and wired)
• Improved collaboration, communication, and information management tools
• Multiple avenues for technology assistance and training
• Information literacy and technological competencies for students
• Standards, with predictable software and hardware configurations.

 

And the resulting top initiatives were:

• Improve classroom, laboratory, and presentation technology: Classroom Quality Enhancement Project
• Integrated and personalized web architecture: “portal”
• Common data and digital repositories
• Enhanced reporting capability
• Integrated collaboration and communication tools
• Improved productivity, compliance, service: Project CATalyst
• Upgrading and expanding network infrastructure
• Minding the infrastructure.

 

 

               The principles, priorities, and initiatives identified in that report appear to have provided the guidance for resource allocation and staff effort over the past several years, and those initiatives spawned other, more focused planning efforts.

 

               In the course of developing implementation plans for some of these initiatives related to collaboration and digital repositories, the CATalog Project Team recognized that the implementation required a broader perspective. The issues that surfaced in that analysis were related to infrastructure management, systems consolidation, and related governance issues. One major element of the resulting recommendations is a proposed institution-wide IT governance structure.

              

 

Future Planning Framework

 

               The IT Master Plan should be guided by the University’s Vision, Mission, and Strategic Plan. The 2003-2008 Strategic Goals to which IT contributes directly, as demonstrated in the IT Master Plan, include:

• Create an outstanding student experience that promotes personal and intellectual development
• Recruit and retain excellent students, faculty, and staff
• Strengthen research, scholarship, and the creative arts.

 

The 2005 IT Master Plan focused the University’s IT resources on projects that relate primarily to those broader institutional goals.  In preparing for the next iteration of IT planning, we should expect that the planning effort will be expanded to explicitly include several issues related more with IT infrastructure management:

 

• Identity management, information privacy, and security issues
• Business continuity planning
• Long-term funding requirements
• Provision of IT services in a distributed/decentralized IT environment.

 

The planning process should continue to be in the context of supporting the University’s Strategic Goals, but the process should acknowledge that the University’s routine operations rely upon a stable and secure information infrastructure.

 

               The CATalog report establishes a governance framework for future IT planning. We intend to take the following steps to begin the next iteration of IT planning:

 

• Upon acceptance of the CATalog proposed IT governance structure, form a broadbased IT Master Plan subcommittee
• Charge the subcommittee with reviewing the 2005 IT Master Plan and assessing its state of completion
• Charge the subcommittee with developing a revised plan that includes consideration of new and evolving factors such as business continuity requirements, security requirements, etc.,
• Charge the subcommittee with reviewing and revising IT long-range funding requirements campus-wide (distributed equipment centers, classrooms/labs, etc.).

 

               In the course of developing its plans, the subcommittee will necessarily need to consider the IT support staffing requirements and opportunities for collaborative development and support of the IT infrastructure for the campus at large.