The Information Technology Planning Council
The Information Technology
Planning Council
Mission
To provide the people, knowledge, infrastructure, hardware, and support
to enable the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the University of
Vermont to achieve their goals.
We recognize that:
- IT is a tool that should support and promote education,
collaboration, and research throughout the UVM community.
- IT must be responsive to the ever-changing educational
environment
and needs of the students, faculty, staff, and alumni.
- IT will continue to evolve and integrate with every level of
activity
at the University of Vermont.
A Vision for Information Technology at
the University of Vermont
Technology pervades and transforms nearly all aspects of the University
experience. Sometimes it is invisible, a necessary utility like the
network that silently connects us. Sometimes it is dramatic, a
revolutionary teaching and research tool like multimedia simulations of
physiological phenomena used in medical education. Understanding our
technology needs, prioritizing our technology goals, and creating a
sustainable funding model for technology are crucial to achieving our
mission as a University, and to accomplishing our ambitious shared
vision for the University of Vermont.
The success of the University of Vermont will be directly linked to a
core set of services built on consistent information systems.
University faculty, staff, and students must be able to organize,
present, and preserve educational experiences and materials, and to
conduct and share research activities via common technological
interfaces. Technology tools that facilitate communication among the
campus community and beyond and that help us manage effectively the
people and resources that make up the University will be essential to
establishing our strategic niche in an increasingly competitive higher
education and research environment.
The vision statement for information technology reflects the
University’s overall strategic directions:
The University of Vermont will
provide an innovative and responsive information technology environment
that fosters the academic, administrative, and creative endeavors of
its students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends. As a small yet
academically-complex research institution, with a commitment to
providing exemplary undergraduate education, the University of
Vermont will be the model “high tech, high touch” institution. We will
provide technologies that are integrated, personalized, and responsive
to all our diverse constituent needs, thereby facilitating and
transforming the University’s teaching, research, and public service
missions.
This vision is characterized by five key requirements:
- A coherent, integrated plan for the evolution of the University’s
fundamental information systems, and the common technological
architecture and infrastructure that support them;
- Carefully-articulated and appropriately-applied standards that
shape and support our information technology environment;
- Shared communication, collaboration, and information management
tools that form the common foundation for effecting our various
missions;
- A responsive, flexible, and effective central information
technology organization to lead and support technology endeavors across
the University, in close partnership with departmental and unit
technology organizations; and, A clear and sustainable budgeting and
financing model to assure that resources are appropriately organized
and deployed to support the core priorities of the University as a
whole.
Although the University of Vermont currently has many elements of these
requirements, we must now mold them into a complete, systematic,
on-going approach to the development and use of information technology.
Information technology is the systemic underpinning of all that we do
and, as such, requires dedicated focus and investment of resources.
Guiding
Principles and Values
To effect the vision, we adopt the following guiding principles:
- To provide the highest level of IT leadership and support
possible in helping members of the UVM community reach their academic,
research, and administrative goals.
- To enhance communication between the users of technology and
those providing the services.
- To provide appropriate and equal access to information
technologies for all members of the UVM community wherever feasible,
thereby bridging the “digital divide.”
- To use technology to enhance communication, to support the
learning environment, and build a stronger sense of community.
The following values form the underpinning of our information and
communications technology environment:
- Innovation and creativity
- Open communication
- Collaboration
- Responsiveness
- Respect for the diversity and unique needs of UVM students,
faculty, staff, and alumni
- Clear commitment to quality in all aspects of IT services and
functions
- Fiscal responsibility
- Personal accountability
- Integrity and adherence to high ethical and professional standards
- Lightness of heart, and pride in the accomplishment of good work
Specific
Technological Guiding Principles (see IBM Appendix C)
- Customer-linked investments
- IT policy and oversight
- Metrics
- Buy vs. build solutions
- Local IT
- Self-service
IT Architecture Principles (see IBM Appendix D)
I. Architecture Principles to Promote Sharing of
Resources
- Reusability
- UVM Branding
- Methodology
- Data Sharing
- Standard Protocols
- Common Environments
- Data Capture
II. Architecture Principles to Support Integrated
Systems Solutions
- Access to Legacy Systems
- Data Independence
- Network
- User Interface
- Information
- Access and Outreach
- Connectivity/Interoperability
- Security
III. Architecture Principles: Selection Criteria to
Evaluate Software Solutions
- Flexibility
- Layers
- Functional Isolation
- Modularity
- Portability
- Integration
Last modified October 13 2004 12:11 PM
