FY13 UW-Parkside Institutional IT Plan

 

A. Information Technology & University Strategic Objectives [1-2 pages]

1.       How was the plan developed?

The plan is a compilation of input received from a wide array of formal and informal sources including the institution’s IT governing bodies such as the Information Resources Committee, Stakeholders Group, Student Technology Fee, and the IT Core Team. Additional observations from less formal interactions with the campus community and other UW System institutions also played a significant role in forming this plan. A technology roadmap document was put together based on the findings.

 

2.       List the plan principles

Infrastructure – The infrastructure on campus continues to be a focal point for investment. Basic network bandwidth, wireless network coverage, and a reliable and secure server and storage environment are keys to providing computing services to the entire campus community. UW-Parkside’s membership in the WiscNet research and education network ensures that our demanding off-campus connectivity needs will be met.

 

Standards – When feasible, the campus seeks to utilize standards and to collaborate in applications and approaches to IT challenges, both among different segments of our own campus and between UW-Parkside and other UW campuses. Focusing on a limited set of solutions allows Campus Technology Services (CTS) to more reliably and efficiently provide for campus needs. In addition to supporting campus-wide standards, UW-Parkside also finds great benefit in aligning and benchmarking itself with other UW campuses when investigating and implementing IT solutions. The collective knowledge and experience of the entire UW System is a great asset that the campus seeks to utilize whenever possible. This is true for large Common Systems such as Peoplesoft as well as more limited use applications. When problems arise this approach provides for much greater depth in troubleshooting and quicker solutions that ultimately create a more reliable environment for the entire university community.

 

Maximizing financial and human resources – All new IT requests are evaluated to determine the total costs compared to the expected benefits and carefully chosen to make the most of limited resources.

 

3.       How is the plan being measured?

The ultimate purpose of the IT plan is to provide the campus community with valuable, timely, and reliable IT services to campus. The value to the community is measured through program reviews and feedback provided predominantly through the IT governance bodies. A new technology survey is being planned to more thoroughly measure information technology services and to prepare a more detailed strategic plan for CTS.

 

4.       How is the plan tied to the university’s strategic objectives?

The strategic plan for the campus, the UW-Parkside Promise, provides the overall environment which the IT plan then works to support. New projects proposed for the IT plan will be evaluated against the campus strategic directions to determine appropriateness and priority.

5.       How is the plan written (format, accessibility)?

The plan will be made available on the campus website in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format and provided in paper copy as requested.

 

6.       Are critical objectives identified/Is there an implementation plan for them?

Critical objectives and priorities for all objectives will be clearly stated in the plan. The general timeline for implementation will also be shown in the plan, with more specific project management timelines held by assigned project team members.

 

7.       Timeline

At this time the IT plan covers one calendar year while the larger roadmap includes plans for 3 or more years in the future.

 

8.       Description of IT Plan governance on the campus

Information technology on the UW-Parkside campus works closely with the Information Resources Committee (comprised of faculty, staff, and student representatives assigned by the University Committee), the Stakeholder group (comprised of key technology stakeholders), the IT Core Team (primarily users of Common Systems), and other formal and informal bodies. These groups provide guidance and develop policies for IT as well as library resources on campus. The CIO reports to the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration and is ultimately responsible for the implementation of the IT plan in collaboration with campus stakeholders and governance groups.

 

9.       Major themes of the plan

Ensure access for faculty, staff, and students - This means providing a robust infrastructure capable of providing computing services anywhere, anytime. It also means ensuring the desktop and server environments are reliable, supportable, and capable of supporting new applications as needs arise in our fast moving environment.

 

Support teaching and learning – Providing dedicated support staff and technology investments that facilitate teaching and learning. This includes introducing faculty to new technologies and making training and support available to assist with in the direct use of technology in teaching and learning. Classroom technologies (audio/visual equipment, smart boards, data projection) and online teaching tools and environments such as Desire2Learn and wikis are examples.

 

Support recruitment and retention of faculty, staff, and students

The overall technical environment plays a significant role in determining the attractiveness of any campus. Specific factors may include bandwidth available in residence halls, support for advanced research applications, ubiquitous wireless connectivity, or a modern desktop computing environment. Keeping the IT environment up to date and capable of meeting the needs of faculty, staff, and students alike is vital to recruitment and retention and works to support the UW System Growth Agenda.

 

Provide data for decision makers – This recognizes data and information as valuable assets for decision-making processes that occur on our campus. Common Systems provided the foundation for accurate and useful enterprise data. The next step is to ensure the data can be used in longitudinal studies and that it supports key performance indicators.

B. Projects for FY13 [Important campus projects costing less than $1 million]

1. Digital Communications

Project Description – The campus Integrated Marketing Team, at the request of the chancellor, has initiated the project to integrate the UW-Parkside brand message throughout the website and to create a more prominent and consistent image of the institution. Given the limited resources available for this project the plan is to follow the best practices set by other campuses such as UW-Stout and Platteville

Project cost – $ 500,000 for design, conversion, software, and hardware.

Funding sources – one-time GPR

Related Projects – campus recruitment, retention, and fundraising improvements.

 

2. Network Hardware Infrastructure Replacement

Project Description –UW-Parkside’s network hardware (firewalls, border routers, and switches) are all between 3 and 7 years old and we are observing sporadic outages due to hardware malfunctions. With the proliferation of mobile computing devices ranging from smart phones to tablets and with the increased use network image-based lab computers, network traffic has also increased dramatically to the point of saturating parts of the network. The project is intended to bring the network backbone speed from 1GB to 10GB which will position the campus network for expected future usage growth. We intend to explore leasing our network infrastructure with a scheduled five year replacement cycle.

Project cost – $163,000.00 annually to implement the ongoing infrastructure refresh.

Funding sources – ongoing GPR required

Related Projects – Digital Communications (included funding for some of the network and server hardware)

Issues – Availability of GPR funding.

 

3. Expansion of Document Imaging and Related Support

Project Description –The project is an initiative to move to paperless processes and to streamline workflows whenever possible. Document imaging is already partially in use at UW-Parkside but the utilization and support for automated document workflow is limited.

Project cost – $70,000 for additional staff to support document imaging and related systems

Funding sources – GPR funding.

Issues – Availability of GPR funding.

 

4. Classroom Equipment Replacement

Project Description – Classroom audio/visual equipment at UW-Parkside vary in age from a year old to more than 10 years old. This is causing some smartboards, projectors, and related equipment to fail. CTS is requesting funds to perform a one-time replacement of the oldest equipment and to formalize an ongoing replacement process.

Project cost – $157,500 one-time and $75,000 ongoing.

Funding sources - GPR

Issues – Availability of GPR funds.

 

C. Projects for FY13 costing over $1 million

None