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Strategic Planning for Information Technology in Higher Education

Strategic Planning for Information Technology in Higher Education. Michael A. McRobbie, PhD Vice President for Information Technology and CIO Professor of Computer Science & Professor of Philosophy http://www.indiana.edu/~ovpit/ Laurie G. Antolovic’ Chief Financial Officer

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Strategic Planning for Information Technology in Higher Education

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  1. Strategic Planning for Information Technology in Higher Education Michael A. McRobbie, PhD Vice President for Information Technology and CIO Professor of Computer Science & Professor of Philosophy http://www.indiana.edu/~ovpit/ Laurie G. Antolovic’ Chief Financial Officer Office of the Vice President for Information Technology and CIO

  2. Strategic Importance of IT • Fundamental to the teaching, learning and research missions of modern universities • Transforming the way universities do business • Major changes in research, creative activity, and scholarly communication • Promises to radically alter the entire teaching and learning process • Essential tool for all faculty, students, staff: to organize ideas, seek information, communicate • A major tool of institutional competitiveness

  3. Leveraging IT • IT investments in large US research universities can approach 10% of the budget fully costed – around half being administered centrally • No longer any need to convince universities of the importance of IT • Challenge is instead to most effectively leverage a university’s total IT investment: • For maximum return on investment • For competitive advantage • In support of a university’s research mission

  4. The Emergence of Standards • Leveraging a university’s total IT investment runs counter to years of distributed IT investments supported by a culture of devalued governance • A principal cause of this was historically a lack of standards • Standards, or a least a small number of compatible alternatives, have emerged across the board • This makes possible realistic and credible strategic planning for IT in universities that leverage their IT investment • Normally overseen by the CIO who is now a key member of a the senior management team of amodern university

  5. Presentation Overview • Describes IU’s “standards- based” IT Strategic Plan • This Plan has lead to savings or new funding approaching $200M over 3 years • It has been widely praised and copied • It is generic and can serve as a model for other research universities • http://www.indiana.edu/~ovpit/strategic/

  6. About Indiana University • Seven campuses State-wide (two largest and research intensive campuses in Bloomington and Indianapolis) • $1.9B budget (99-00) with 27% from the State of Indiana • 9,844 appointed staff • 4,276 faculty • 97,150 students • 42,000+ course sections • 1,000,000+ credit hour enrollment • $1B endowment

  7. Indiana University Campuses

  8. Goal for IT at Indiana University "To be a leader in absolute terms in information technology." - IU President Myles Brand, 1996

  9. Preparing for the Goal • Consolidated responsibility for IT at IU in one Office • Office of the Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer • Commenced 1997 - additions since • Provides leverage and critical mass • Standard model in industry due to standards, convergence, and cost control needs • Formed one University IT organization • University Information Technology Services - 1997 • Technology services offered University wide • 1200 IT staff • Approximately $70M annual base budget

  10. Preparing for the Goal • IT organization (cont.) • Four primary funding sources: Central University funds, Bloomington campus, Indianapolis campus, Regional campuses • Additional direct State funding for IT: ~$21M • State funding for high-speed networking: $7M • External/grant funding of over $10M annually • Total budget of over $100M annually

  11. IT Strategic Plan Indiana University Information Technology Strategic Plan: Architecture for the 21st Centuryhttp://www.indiana.edu/~ovpit/strategic/ • Most comprehensive IT plan ever at IU • University-wide in scope • Comprehensive six-year blueprint: 1998-2004 • 10 major recommendations, 68 detailed actions • Commenced implementation in FY98-99

  12. IT's Priority Among Other University Goals • IT strategy must fit institutional strategy • IU operates under a University-wide strategic plan • Strategic Directions Charter: 1994-1999 • 30 recommendations, 3 broad themes: communities of learning, excellence, accountability & best practices • Incentive funding: $25M seed fund • Institutional vision for Indiana University • American public research university • Leadership in creative use and application of IT

  13. Developing the IT Plan • Five-month timeline: Jan-May, 1998 • University Information Technology Committee • Taskforces: TLIT, RAC, UIS, Telecom • Campus Computing Directors • IUB and IUPUI Campus IT Councils • Broad input (e-mail, Web) from faculty, staff, students across all eight campuses

  14. IT Plan: Communication • Consultation within the University after presentation to the President • More than 150 briefings (Faculty councils, Advisory committees, Campus chancellors, etc.) • Comments and input requested • Advice as to priorities particularly sought • Recommendations and priorities of IT Plan were endorsed • Promote awareness of the IT Plan • Identify areas of collaboration or partnership • Encourage local IT planning

  15. 1. Sound Fiscal Planning 2. Access to Network Resources 3. Faculty & Staff Engagement 4. Teaching & Learning 5. Research 6. University Information Systems 7. Telecommunications: Convergence 8. Student Computing 9. Digital Libraries 10. Security IT Plan: Major Recommendations

  16. Recommendation 1 The University should build a solid foundation of IT infrastructure that will help and enable IU to achieve a position of leadership, and to assure that sound fiscal planning permits the maintenance of this infrastructure at state-of-the-art levels.

  17. Key Initiatives • Implemented a base funding model for life cycle replacement of IT resources on all campuses • One time funds allocated to modernize existing desktop computers, increasing base funds equally from Schools and OVPIT over 5 years to reach full life cycle funding; • Over 110 Schools and service units • 15,000 machines; • $20M full replacement value • $6M annual life cycle cost • 10,000 machines modernized at cost of $11M More details available at Poster Presentation

  18. Key Initiatives • Providing all members of the University with access to a modern IT environment with commonly used software • Continuing to increase enterprise-wide software license agreements • Microsoft ELA extremely successful: • 240,000+ copies • $44M+ value • Agreement extends through mid-2003 • Other licensing agreements include among others Corel, Oracle, SPSS, Symantec http://www.indiana.edu/~dsl/software/list/

  19. Key Initiatives • Expanded the award-winning Knowledge Base System • Recruitment and retention of key IT leadership and technical staff • Ongoing efforts to make compensation competitive: nearly $1M in base salary increases for IT staff • Increased focus on training and development for IT staff • Planning well under way for two new buildings to house IT at IU • Communications Technology Complex on the Indianapolis Campus • Computation Information Building on theBloomington Campus

  20. Recommendation 2 The University should provide students, faculty and staff with reliable access to computing and network services, on the campuses and off.

  21. Key Initiatives • Increased modem capacity to solve congestion problems; more than 2,600 modems on the two main campuses • Issued a major RFI for comprehensive levels of remote access technology and possible outsourcing • Continuing to upgrade campuses’ networks • Switched 10Mbps now University-wide standard for desktop connectivity and aggregating onto 100Mbps network segments joined to a Gigabit Ethernet backbone • 250+ buildings connected • 55,000+ ports

  22. Recommendation 3 Appropriate incentives and support should be established so that faculty and staff are encouraged in the creative use and application of information technology for teaching, research, and service.

  23. Key Initiatives • Awarded $1M by the Ameritech Foundation to establish the Ameritech Fellows Program • Grants to some 60 faculty over 5 years • Encourages best practices in the use of IT in teaching/learning • Technology Classes and Training • Enterprise License Agreement for 600 NetG CBT modules • STEPS and PROSTEPS: 1,600 computer education classes given to 27,000 participants yearly • Certification Classes • A High Performance Network Applications Program provides funding to assist faculty in developing innovative applications in research and teaching that require high performance local, regional, or nationalresearch networks

  24. Recommendation 4 Indiana University should assume a position of worldwide leadership in the use of information technology to facilitate and enhance teaching and learning.

  25. Key Initiatives • Classroom technologies • Implementing five-year plan for upgrading and providing new technology for all 600+ general inventory classrooms on all campuses across the University • Student Technology Center upgrades and enhancements on all computers 4,000+ computers • Supporting classroom instruction • Oncourse as a production service on all campuses • Establishing or significantly expanding the Teaching and Learning Centers on all campuses • Faculty development seminars • Local Support Model for faculty using technology in the classroom • Distributed Education - Releasing a draft Distributed Education Strategic Plan for IU

  26. Recommendation 5 In support of research, UITS should provide broad support for basic collaboration technologies and begin implementing more advanced technologies. UITS should provide advanced data storage and management services to researchers. IU should continue its commitment to high performance computing and computation, so as to contribute to and benefit from initiatives to develop a national computational grid.

  27. Key Initiatives • Supercomputers • 184-processor IBM RS/6000 SP • 124GB of memory • All Power3+ processors • Peak performance of 275GFLOPS • Going to 1TFLOPS within 9 months • 64-processor Sun Enterprise10000 • 64-processor cluster of Compaq PCs

  28. Key Initiatives • SP-2 Utilization • For April utilized over 70% with 72% of programs run parallellized • Main application areas and CPU Hours • Chemistry 53,889 • Biology 38,348 • Physics 20,455 • Quantum Chemistry 7,987 • Mathematics 4,270 • Computer Science 3,610 • Psychology 1,483 • Business 881 • Liberal Arts 238 • Engineering ~100

  29. Key Initiatives • Massive Data Storage • Dedicated 11-node IBM RS/6000 SP • IBM 3494 robotic tape device with approx. 32TB storage capacity • StorageTek donated 9310 robotic tape device with 120TB storage capacity • High Performance Storage System (HPSS) software for data management • First research site to deploy a capability that links HPSS with Distributed File System (DFS) software • Has enabled complete automation of all IU’s enterprise data and provides support for data-intensiveresearch computing

  30. Key Initiatives • Research Computing Support • High Performance Computing Support Team • Computational Research Support Group • Center for Statistical and Mathematical Computing • Unix Workstation Support Group

  31. Recommendation 6 University-wide prioritization, coordination, oversight and planning are required in the implementation of institutional information systems. In order for these systems to work together in a seamless manner and accommodate an ever-increasing number of users, UIS should implement common interfaces and a common information delivery environment that facilitate their integrated use. A new Student Information System should be a top priority.

  32. Legacy Information Systems • Legacy information systems are being replaced as they: • Provide poor service to “customers” – faculty, students, and staff • Sustain continuation of expensive, stove-piped business practices in administrative organizations • In some cases, nearly 30 years old – brittle, breaking, and increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain • Run on expensive mainframe technology • Are not integrated and have no single entry point (common front end) • Are not fully Web-based • Use Social Security Number (SSN) identifiers

  33. New Information Systems • New Information Systems will: • Provide vastly improved services to customers • Allow significant transformation of business practices and administration organization (Administrative Review Task Force) • Be highly integrated at all levels with a single entry point (OneStart Web portal) • Be based on state-of-the-art software and tools • Run on commodity server technology and be less expensive to maintain • Not use SSNs as identifiers • Provide automated federal updates – financial aid and taxes • At $70M, largest software engineering project in IU’s history

  34. New or Enhanced Web-based Information Systems • Teaching and Learning (Oncourse) – Course management • Research (ERA) – Proposals tracking • Student Information System (SIS) – Admissions, Financial Aid, Registration and Records, Student Financials • Human Resources (HRMS) – Records, Benefits, Payroll • Library (SIRSI) – Circulation, Serials, Acquisitions, Public Catalog (OPAC), Catalog (IUCAT), and Reserves. • Financial (FIS) – General Ledger, Budget, Accounts, Capital Assets, Contracts & Grants • Purchasing (TOPS II) • Facilities Management (FIMS) • Information Environment (IUIE)

  35. Technical Architecture • Browser access to all information systems through OneStart portal • Oracle database • IBM SP Unix hardware/OS for large database and Web servers • Microsoft NT for thin client/other applications • IBM Websphere Apache Web server software • Compuware development, testing and system administration tools • IBM Mass Store Virtual Tape System • Amdahl mainframe will be retired

  36. Recommendation 7 The University should accelerate planning for a converged telecommunications infrastructure. Specific attention must be given to improving the state of the inter-campus networks, planning for and deployment of adequate commodity Internet connectivity, a university-wide base level of telecommunications connectivity, advanced networking infrastructure and applications, wireless networks and support for multimedia and streaming media.

  37. Key Initiatives • Statewide IUNet running DS3-level service, dark fiber between main campuses • Establishing a State-wide Optical Fiber network and a State GigaPoP • Implemented Internet2 Abilene network now connecting more than 180 institutions • NOC to Abilene • NOC to International Networks • TransPAC (US-Asia), funded with $10M NSF grant and an additional $40M from the Japanese Government • MirNET (US-Russia) • Eurolink (US-Europe) • Ampath (US-South America), and • to the STAR TAP

  38. Key Initiatives • Negotiated a 3-year contract for long distance and international telephone services with McLeodUSA • Deployed IP-based H.323-standard desktop video-conferencing in test-bed desktop and room-system applications

  39. Recommendation 8 IU must provide the information technology tools, infrastructure and support services so that students may effectively engage in learning and research, appropriate to their various academic disciplines and areas of study. IT support for students should include technology support centers and a computing environment that is seamless across boundaries of campus, home, residence hall, and community.

  40. Key Initiatives • Responsible for IT support in the Halls of Residence, modernizing the labs (295 seats) and network infrastructure (15,000+ ports) • Improving student technology support through the expansion of call-center hours and development of specialty support/consulting centers • Published an online Computer Guide • Leveraging the Institution’s purchases of desktop computers by working with vendors to make workstations available for purchase by IU students, faculty, and staff

  41. Recommendation 9 The University should build upon and expand its digital library program, and develop the digital library infrastructure that is needed to support research, teaching and learning.

  42. Key Initiatives • Major $3M NSF DLI2 award to establish a Digital Music Library (IU is lead institution, with collaborators from US, UK, and Japan) • Life cycle funding established for major digital library collections of music, electronic texts, and digital images • Major digital collections development in arts, humanities and sciences: Hoagy Carmichael (music, texts, multimedia), US Steel (historic photograph archive), Digital Library of the Commons (e-print archive for political science, economics and environmental science)

  43. Recommendation 10 The University, with leadership from OVPIT, must continue to develop policies and implement procedures that protect the security of IU's information technology resources and institutional data, safeguard personal privacy, and respect intellectual property rights, while at the same time promoting two traditional university values associated with academic freedom: access to information and freedom of discourse.

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