UW-Superior – FY13 UW Institutional IT Plans

 

A.      Information Technology & University Strategic Objectives

1.       How was the plan developed?

UW-Superior provides technology to the campus constituents through a merged Technology Services unit that brought together administrative computing and academic computing and was finalized with the hiring of a CIO in April 2007.  Additionally, information technology is an important service component of the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Distance Learning Center, Library Services, and Residence Life.  A coordinating committee called Information and Instructional Technology Services (IITS) over time provided coordination.  The annual planning process had traditionally been a project wish list from the various units from which funding is sought.  There have always been more ideas then funding. Typically, the IITS group would then recommend priorities. Recommendations were passed onto the CIO and the University Technology Committee when awarding funding from multiple sources (a.k.a. Classroom Lab Modernization and Student Tech Fee).  In 2010, the campus established a new departmental strategic planning and annual reporting process. Each campus unit conducts a planning process and enters their plan into a web based assessment and planning management system at the end of the planning cycle results are entered to create a detailed assessment report.  The campus IT Plan will be revised in spring and summer of 2013 when the campus undergoes its strategic planning work.

2.       List the plan principles

The Technology Services plan for 2013 arranges multiple objectives under five goals. The goals are: 1) Faculty Staff/Investment: helping people make better use of current technology; 2) Technology Investments: maintaining and enhancing usability of current systems; 3) Technology Investments: new initiatives; 4) Technology Infrastructure and Security: supporting reliable and effective uses of technology; and 5) Planning and Process: improving the delivery of technology services.    

3.       How is the plan being measured?

Each objective in the plan requires a measurement. Project based objectives are measured by the completion of the projects. Services based objectives are measured by periodic user satisfaction surveys.  The Technology Services SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis and customer relationship management process periodically solicit input for the next major revision of the plan.

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

The University of Wisconsin-Superior's Strategic Priorities document was released to campus on April 16, 2008. The priorities were developed over a two year period with the input of hundreds of faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members to guide UW Superior into the future. A Continuous Improvement Planning Team (CIPT) was established to lead and involve the campus in making our strategic priorities a reality. This group developed the new departmental/unit strategic planning and annual reporting process in 2010 and will assure that departmental/unit plans tie to the UW-Superior Strategic Priorities. More information is available at http://www.uwsuper.edu/cipt. CIPT reviewed and updated the Strategic Priorities document in 2011. The planning group also identified as one of eight planning areas the need to: “Develop a Strategic Information Technology Plan that establishes a long-term technology vision and addresses infrastructure needs”.  That work is underway and we anticipate completion in the summer of 2013.

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

The annual plan has always been available in written form and available for campus review on the web at http://www.uwsuper.edu/iits/plan/index.cfm. The WEAVEOnline Technology Services plan is also posted there.

6.       Are critical objectives identified/Is there an implementation plan for them?
The past project-based process grouped projects by critical objectives. Implementation plans have not been published but rather have been developed and executed by the project implementer.

7.       Timeline

Whenever possible, projects are associated with a timeline for completion. The current plan methodology does not include guarantee of funding for desired projects – in that case timelines are dependent on funding.

8.       Description of IT Plan governance on the campus

In addition to the IITS committee (explained in #1), the campus has a University Technology Committee. The University Technology Committee (UTC) advises the IITS Management Team on activities and strategies to be used in implementing the campus Information Technology plan. This advice includes recommendations on new software and technologies as well as recommendations on various technology usage policies and procedures. UTC includes four (4) faculty, three (3) academic staff, one (1) classified staff, one (1) WSEU representative (3) students, and the Chief Information Officer.

9.       Major themes of the plan

All Information and Instructional Technology Service units strive to support the campus Liberal Arts mission. Students, faculty and staff should be able to use technology to advance the University's mission: fostering intellectual growth in the liberal arts tradition.  The technology environment will be accessible, reliable, convenient, and secure for the purpose of enhancing teaching, learning and research.

B.      Projects for FY13 costing over $1 million

There are no specific campus funded Information Technology projects in FY13 over $1 million; however, UW-Superior does have some significant needs which require future funding.

STAFF TRAINING: The challenges of turnover in the Technology Services department and the PeopleSoft functional offices required hiring new staff.  The Oracle/PeopleSoft Student Information System environment requires rigorous, deep technical staff paired with functional users who have significant business process knowledge in their PeopleSoft module. Significant investment in vendor training has been made but more needs to be done in the coming years. 

FUTURE ORACLE UPGRADE: The UW-Superior campus completed the Oracle/PeopleSoft Campus Solutions Version 9 upgrade in July 2009 and the Peopletools 8.5 upgrade in July 2010. In the process, we evaluated every local customization to determine the suitability of maintaining. Functional users are asked to evaluate the new version’s features with the goal of adapting business process wherever possible to use the out of the box functionality.  UW-Superior is the only UW campus that utilizes the SQL server platform and not Oracle. We have been trying to prepare to resolve this incongruity. Over the past years, after investing significant resources in training our DBA in Oracle the individual left to take a higher paying position. A migration to the Oracle platform will require increased staffing, staff training, and consulting services. Our estimate is around $100,000 to $200,000. As there is no available funding to address this need this is on hold at this time. 

INFRASTRUCTURE – NETWORK & VOICE: Several building/renovation projects have been completed on the UW-Superior campus. Completed in 2009 were a major library renovation and a new student center. Completed in 2011 were a new academic building, Swenson Hall, and a renovation to Barstow Hall. Funded by construction dollars the new academic building provided a new data center, new equipment for the internet/network routing core and classroom technology for thirty-three classrooms and five conference rooms. The student computing locations in computer classrooms and study spaces were expanded. Student technology fee funding and Classroom/Lab modernization funding were dedicated over the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 cycle to equip these rooms.

The renovation/building projects have provided for renewal of significant portions of the network (voice and data) infrastructure on the UW-Superior campus. However, there has been no life-cycle funding for the network renewal in the remaining buildings.  For classroom audio/visual technology there is also an inadequate funding stream for maintenance and renewal. The campus has benefited from funding from the UW-System AV DIN updating two classrooms in our Fine Arts building in FY11 and will apply for funding again in the next cycle for other needed space improvements.

The campus voice services are provided by a campus-owned phone (PBX) and voicemail system. This unusual situation for the UW-System came about over seventeen years ago because of the lack of public Centrex infrastructure in our area to adequately support a University. A previous Board of Regent assisted the campus in getting approval to purchase an adequate phone system. This arrangement saved drastically on annual operating expenses. This important infrastructure piece is now aging and presents a significant capital expense that needs to be addressed in the coming year(s). The voicemail system failed entirely in fall of 2011 and had to be replaced. The campus was without voicemail services for three weeks.

The new campus-wide Strategic IT Plan will lay the framework for UW-Superior to seek funding for projects to address these serious needs.