CIT - UVM's Division of
Computing and Information Technology

Division of
Computing and Information Technology
FY 1997 - 2000

Budget and Planning Process

October 16, 1995

1. Executive Summary
2. Scenario 2000
3. Technology at UVM
4. Planned Activities for FY1997-2000
5. Student Recruitment and Retention
6. Development Priorities
7. Innovation and Change Efforts
8. Human Resources

9. Diversity

Section 1: Executive Summary

For the next few years information technology will continue its inexorable advancement: there will be more and more need for knowledge, information and learning in all forms, at any time and from anywhere, processors will become more powerful, programming more sophisticated, information storage capacities larger, network/communications facilities both faster and more widely available and new applications will emerge.

These advances, by themselves will surely result in significant differences in our lives and culture. More important will be the changes we make in the ways we communicate, learn, serve, are served and work.

The application and integration of these technology advancements will result in improved quality of the education, research and services that UVM provides. By freeing time previously dedicated to bureaucracy and other tedium, we will be able to focus our efforts on making UVM more customer-oriented as well as more efficient while raising the quality and value of a UVM education.

We will gradually change and redesign the way we do business, and do it more effectively, more efficiently and in ways that better serve our customers. Technology will continue to be developed, examined, evaluated and implemented to assure that it serves our customers -- students, faculty, staff. Our customers will be helping us do things better for them.

Technology will be used to leverage the expertise of our faculty, to make it possible for our best educators to serve more students more efficiently, and in ways our students want to learn. While no technology can ever replace the value of a human teacher and mentor, the emerging technology will be used to assist both the teaching and learning processes. Above all, there will be increased emphasis upon teaching everyone to use the technology to pursue lifelong learning needs.

Research endeavors will continue to be supported with technology and its advances. More often the newer technology will first be put to the test in these areas before being fully exploited in other arenas. Collaboration and sharing of distributed resources will enhance research efforts and results.

The evolving information technology processes and multiplicity of standards of implementation which have so far led to client frustration and defied integration across technical platforms are gradually being replaced and transformed into friendly, elegant, easy-to-use online facilities. The complex, convoluted information-processing rules are being been rewritten by the industry to smooth the information flow, eliminating unnecessary steps and serving the customer as directly as possible.

In order to be where we need to be in five years and take advantage of information technology, we must plan to do things collaboratively . We must focus on what we can do well, with measurable service improvement and benefit to our customers. We must listen to how our customers say they want to be served, and make that a cooperative effort. We need to make that a common purpose and find newer funding mechanisms whereby we pool our scarce resources, among ourselves and with new partners, to deliver what our customers want - instruction, research and service.

Section 2: Scenario 2000

Teaching And Learning

In the year 2000 information technology will be ubiquitous. Computing and networking will be integrated into every course and much course work will be based in information technology resources, with today's advanced applications being commonplace ‹ e.g. geographic information systems, human genome, survey analysis, research archives, and realtime multimedia applications. Leading course work will focus on knowledge acquisition, expert agent development, just-in-time learning, learning from anywhere and learning on demand. These paradigms will not replace the traditional classroom and methods of teaching and learning, but would rather support, extend and supplement them.

Every class will have:

an e-mail address for faculty, instructor and teaching assistants;
a home page for course description, including syllabus, online readings, online assignments, previous exams, previous exam answers, online archive and current student projects;
an e-mail list or a Usenet news group for discussion;
in IRC or MOO like conference room;
a CU-SeeMe like video center.

Every student, faculty member and staff member will have:

at least one computer, likely a portable, pluggable notebook;
an e-mail address, a home page, and several network agents;
high speed network connections for remote as well as local access;
several years online experience.

Our students will be:

many Vermont k-12 students, participating in enrichment courses;
most Vermont high school seniors, enrolled in advanced placement UVM courses;
the traditionally matriculated University of Vermont student;
the full time graduate student and post graduate student;
most Vermont school teachers, enrolled in professional degree programs;
many Vermont adults, enrolled in professional development and guaranteed admission programs;
similar numbers of Virtual Vermonters;
similar numbers of virtual students from anywhere;
anyone who wants to continue learning on demand in a virtual classroom.

Research

Research endeavors will be supported by ubiquitous access to vast reserves of information stored at various electronic gateways and repositories around the world. Access will be available at the desktop, in laboratories, at home, at conferences and in the field. Increased bandwidth will become more available and affordable to support realtime multimedia applications, and processing power will increase multifold within affordable costs. Research work will not be dependent on or limited by centralized processing facilities, but will be facilitated by a distributed networking infrastructure on campus and off campus enabling researchers to collaborate among themselves in a distributed collaborative environment sharing resources at multiple locations. Publishing will be facilitated by this high speed, high bandwidth infrastructure with access to shared printing on demand facilities and with the ability to make one's research efforts more widely and quickly known via electronic repositories of information.

Administration and Services

At a minimum every desktop will have access to the network infrastructure to access in a secured, need-to-know way whatever information is required to serve our customers. Such access and security will be available from our traditional work areas, from alternative work locations and also be available in alternative work schedules. Students, faculty and staff will routinely conduct most of the UVM business via the network ‹ avoiding the need to wait in lines or to go to a particular place at a specific time. Time freed from "paper-shuffling" activities can be used to better serve customers through personal, face-to-face services as well.

The desktop will be of adequate capacity and power to allow us to serve customers as well as to allow us to explore, learn the skills of information technology, and lead by example. Desktop technology will be sustained at sufficient levels to facilitate continued improvement in electronic service delivery. We will find new ways of doing our business in a more cost-effective manner and in ways that make our customers special. Our clients will become partners with us in serving them, by telling us how they wish to be served, and what are their criteria for successful service. They will bring with them an expectation of service and results by having being previously exposed to information technology. We must also be sensitive to those customers who are not quite ready for this and will need to be served face-to-face with the human touch.

Our students, faculty and staff will be able to learn, do research, teach and work from virtual and portable locations, on and off campus, in addition to their traditional space since information access and services will become ubiquitous, consistent and even. Our students will have consistent connectivity, access and services from on campus, in classrooms, on the green, in the field, in residence halls and off campus. Our information and business service offerings for students, faculty, employees and the larger community will be available on demand as information technology becomes ubiquitous and our clients remain connected to UVM.

These visions have had repeated references throughout the "Doing IT at UVM" manifesto. They are culled from several scenarios of the use and implementation of information technology in relation to UVM's critical choices.

Section 3: Technology at UVM

UVM will continue to exploit existing technologies and adopt new technologies, to improve customer service and achieve its mission. But we will not be able to adopt every new technology. The choices will be made in ways that best enhance the value UVM offers and best serve our clients. Below are listed some of the items we intend to focus on in the next few years:

UVM's presence on the World Wide Web will stand with the best. This vehicle will also be used to deliver information, collect data, provide friendly, easy-to-use customer information and feedback, and create an impressive presence in the networked world.
Electronic communications media will be the first choice in information exchange and information building.
Access to personal information will be available to students, faculty and staff using controlled access and security measures. Similarly, students, faculty and staff will be able to manage, create and update their personal information items.
Access to institutional data will be available to all on an as-needed, secured basis for making decisions.
Fault tolerant systems with massive storage capacity and extensible computing power will be commonly available in a shared, distributed, cooperative environment.
We will help students, faculty and staff achieve appropriate levels of competency and professional development to make best use of IT resources.
On campus access to UVM's network backbone and information resources gateways will be improved by wireless access. This will supplement and support efforts to network all physical classrooms, residence halls, athletic facilities, conference facilities, meeting rooms, offices and general purpose areas.
Metropolitan Area Networking (MAN) could be coupled with UVM's existing on-campus Wide Area Networking (WAN) and existing distributed Local Area Networks (LANs) to provide seamless connectivity, access and service for our students, faculty, staff and the larger community.
Connectivity from points outside the metropolitan area will be available, but certain applications and services will not be available until the entire state has the required infrastructure and affordable rates. In the short term, dial-in access through high speed modems will be available.
Special attention needs to be given to maintain the human touch and be sensitive to regulatory issues.

Section 4: Planned Activities for FY1997-2000

A full range of services provided by CIT is itemized in the "Doing IT at UVM" (page 18). CIT's infrastructure services will continue but will evolve over the next few years. This transition and evolution for delivery of these services are outlined in the "CIT Service Plans" document dated March 17, 1994. Specific projects, briefly described below, are planned to be undertaken over the next four years.

Migration to open systems will continue. For example, we will help the remaining users of the UVMVAX system migrate to open systems and desktop alternatives.
We will continue to enhance the academic host computing facilities in order to provide a robust, powerful, scalable and reliable resource for academic communications, research, instruction and as an Internet gateway.
Acquisition of a replacement telephone switch will be undertaken. The RFP will be let in two years after joint consultation with FAHC and the campus community.
Implementation of remote access to UVM's information resources and services for all students, faculty and staff will be improved, making off-campus facilities comparable to those currently enjoyed on campus.
Conversion of the Advancement fund-raising system from the proprietary VAX/VMS system is planned for completion before the next major fundraising campaign.
Conversion of the Library's Notis online system from the proprietary IBM mainframe environment will be planned in conjunction with Library and Media Services.
Implementation of graphical user interface (GUI) access to data on legacy systems (e.g. FRS, HRS) will continue.
Reduction of paper and paper handling via redesigned processes and online interfaces will continue in order to improve efficiency and customer service.
Maintenance of current administrative systems (HRS, FRS, Banner, Advance, Notis) will continue.
Maintenance and enhancement of microcomputer labs and software will continue in order to meet requests from faculty and students for advanced technology.
Expansion of student access to IT resources will occur as joint projects in the residence hall complexes and with academic units across campus and in classrooms, for example, BSAD, SNR, CALS, and CESS.
Professional development of clients (students, faculty and staff) will continue via traditional free classes, custom classes designed for particular constituencies, online fora, the TechWeb, symposia, and collaborative efforts with Staff Development and Continuing Education.
Ongoing support and enhancement of the network infrastructure will continue.
We will continue to find solutions for the increasing demand for desktop support and problem solving needs in the client areas. Some solutions include continued CIT scheduled help through our existing staff, the helpline and its distributed field support (DFS) program, electronic access to experts, online information lists, fee-for-service arrangements, and development of local expertise.
We will continue to explore new software and information technology with our colleagues and clients so that we can adopt emerging standards and new technology.
We will continue to provide telephonic services to include dial-tone, phone mail, automatic call distribution, call processing and long distance services.
We will continue to provide, on an income-expense basis through the Depot, sales, maintenance, preconfiguration, delivery and setup of network ready systems. The Depot will continue its support for the incorporation of computers in academic programs, for example, the EMBA microcomputer requirement program.

Section 5: Student Recruitment and Retention

Success in this area will come from a common effort throughout UVM. CIT's mission statement places very strong emphasis upon ser ving the student (and faculty and staff) as a customer and providing friendly, competent and helpful service.

Our efforts are geared to ensuring that students are attracted to UVM by availability of contemporary information technology, its integration in the curriculum and electronic service delivery.

In order to assure that students are well-served, we will continue to help Residential Life and the academic units make networked computing facilities available to all students in a timely manner from the residential rooms.

In order to enhance the value and availability of the IT infrastructure, CIT will continue to work with Residential Life and the academic units to place computing lab facilities across campus and in the classroom. Some facilities will be customized to meet specific, pedagogical needs.

We will continue to provide universal access to the IT facilities and services to all students (and faculty and staff) at an affordable cost, possibly including remote, wireless access.

We will continue to play a significant role during orientation and "yield day".

We make certain IT services available to our students as soon as they are admitted so that they can become part of the UVM culture as early as possible. Conversely, we do the same thing for recent graduates so that we maintain a mutually beneficial relationship, and we remain connected during a transition period.

We have been and will continue to assist all departments to make UVM more visible, appealing and accessible on the Internet, and to make their services available via electronic means, for example, touch-tone telephone registration, online access to enrollments and class lists, InfoCat, and departmental WWW pages.

We will continue to employ and train students to be consultants to their colleagues, faculty and staff, to manage our labs, to provide helpline consultation, and, in general, to give them real-life working experiences. These working experiences enhance student loyalty to UVM and maintains connections with us.

Section 6: Development Priorities

Successful efforts at implementing technology for the betterment of our clients will have sharing, selflessness and cooperation as watchwords.

Internal institutional funding is scarce and already stretched to capacity. New funding mechanisms need to be developed through partnerships with internal constituents and business entities that appear to have common interests in service to our clients. The current matching funds program from IBM is waning in size and the burden to continue equipment upgrades will now be placed on institutional budgets. These funds have been used to acquire IBM equipment at list prices to serve the greater needs of the UVM community. The business community can be encouraged to participate in service provisioning to our clients via shared funding of infrastructure access for personal information, sports kiosks and other marketing efforts. As deregulation of the telecommunications industry takes hold, partnerships with signal carriers and signal processors will be fruitful if only to extend our services at affordable rates within reach of points outside the metropolitan area. And there also great gains to partner with local carriers for on campus and metropolitan area networking.

Section 7: Innovation and Change Efforts

The major efforts will be in the area of making electronic communications our first choice in information sharing, access and creation, whether that will be for learning, research or service. Students will have alternative means of registering for courses, will have electronic means of applying for admissions and submitting information for that process, and we will process that information electronically. Our services will be mostly available from anywhere in electronic fora. Our faculty will have access to the information technology they need to integrate that into their curricula. We will have to keep our less advantaged clients in sight and provide for their needs as well as those who are technologically endowed. These efforts must be cooperative to be successful.

Section 8: Human Resources

We have identified all target budget reductions in the sum of $400,000 for the 4 year period ending FY 1997. All have been accomplished through attrition and voluntary separations.

Staff will continue to build skills in technical areas to help all student, faculty and staff in the use of information technology. At times, as is now evident with Windows 95, our staff are learning alongside and from our clients. It is evident that students, faculty and staff in client areas need to continue to build their own reserve of local technical support while still relying on more advanced sources of help from the islands of excellence that exist across campus. This has had extensive treatment in the "Doing IT at UVM" document.

Our future efforts are directed to helping our clients become more and more self sufficient for help in desktop support, providing distributed field support teams made up of both staff and student consultants on an ad hoc basis, participating as teachers in UVM's formal staff development efforts, conducting online electronic classes and traditional classroom experiences, and ensuring that online discussion and problem resolution listservs are available.

Section 9: Diversity

The division is represented in the Hearing and Investigative Officers program of the Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity and Diversity program. It is also represented on the Judicial Council of the Student Body. It is one of the initial members of Education Internship Program sponsored by The Office of AA/EEO for minorities.

Last updated: 14 November 1995.
Comments to cit@uvm.edu