Information Technology Plan

University of Alberta2012-2017

Jonathan SchaefferVice Provost and

Associate Vice President

Thank you!

Schedule

8:00 8:30 Breakfast

8:30 9:15 Jonathan Schaeffer

9:15 10:15 Breakout Session (1)

10:15 10:30 Break

10:30 11:30 Breakout Session (2)

11:30 12:00 Discussion

Innovation in IT: Opportunities

• Hardware: faster speeds, more capacity, less expensive, greater scalability, virtualization…

• Physical network: increasing bandwidth, richer content, cloud computing…

• Wireless network: mobility giving rise to access any time, any where, any thing…

• Applications: social media, collaboration, content sharing…

Innovation in IT: Concerns

• Keeping pace with innovation: new technologies introduced seemingly daily

• Staying relevant to today’s student: students are early adopters

• Security: systems more complex and require more attention

• Privacy: more restrictions on usage of data• Auditors: requiring more professionalism

in the way we run our IT• Resistance to change

Universities Under Pressure

Barbara Horgan: “Armed with a plan that lists goals and priorities, a financial strategy that allows for life cycle planning, a reliable and robust IT infrastructure, adequate support services, and incentives for faculty to experiment with IT in their classes, institutions of higher learning will be well-positioned to use IT strategically... Ultimately, the goal is to educate students and faculty to be able to function effectively with technology in the 21st century.”

Don Tapscott: “Universities are finally losing their monopoly on higher learning. There is fundamental challenge to the foundational modus operandi of the University — the model of pedagogy. Specifically, there is a widening gap between the model of learning offered by many big universities and the natural way that young people who have grown up digital best learn.”

Universities Need to Evolve

Increasingly under pressure to changeIT innovation created much of the pressure:

E-learningSocial mediaElectronic textbooksCloud computingMobilitySharing beyond university boundaries

How do we stack up on these (and other) issues?

Crossroads

• Doing what we’ve done in the past is not good enough

• We can’t do more with less

• Need to do less with less

• This may require:• Getting rid of things we should not be doing• Changing the skills set of our IT personnel

Look Into the Future: 2020

Will we have locked-down desktop machines?

Will we have wired telephones?Will every student be carrying a powerful

computing device (phone, tablet, laptop)?Will most instructional content be online?Will we be in the business of providing

support for… Networking? Service desk? Learning management systems? Desktops?

Interchange 2007-2010

First IT plan for the University of Alberta30 recommendations

Most affect IT “under the covers”Few directly affect the user communities

Operational, not strategicNeed a new plan that develops a vision

(strategic) while conscious of the consequences (operational)

Reality

Today we are (generally) reactive to problems (fixing), slow to change, and resistant to change (all levels, all things)

Tomorrow we must be (within reason) proactive (anticipating), nimble, and embrace change

Case study: GoogleLitmus test for major change on campusBecome proactive and nimble by

piggybacking on an industry leader

IT Plan Characteristics

Visionary and excitingSupports the Academic PlanReflects financial realityObjectives must be achievableAdvances research, teaching,

administrationStudents are integral to the solution

Possible Principles

Improve student engagementInvest in mobilitySimplify campus ITBecome more proactive and less

reactiveResponsive to audit concerns

By 2017, we can be the top Canadian University in IT

Status

Beginning the consultation process

Building community support

Plan starts wending its way through governance in January 2012

Becomes effective July 2012

Planning Cannot Be Static

Pace of changeThe plan must be a living documentIt has to evolve as technology and

internal/external pressures change

Some of the possible IT plan recommendations are already under wayI could not wait; things needed to be done

nowNo obligation to continue with current

directions

Starting Point

The following ideas are the start of the discussionMany more in the documentation

Everything is up for reviewNeed your ideas!

What is missing?What is doable?What should be left alone?

Be visionary: our opportunity to transform!

1. Auditor

Control framework (COBIT/ITIL)Disaster recoveryIT policies and proceduresIT governanceIT security???

Mandatory?

2. Consolidation

Centralization where it makes sense

Reducing the number of data centers

Reducing diversity through standardization

Reducing the number of shadow systems

Collaboration beyond institutional boundaries

???

3. Transformation

Web strategy: new media, modern interfaces, consistency, excitement

Mobility: apps, content, infrastructureGreen computing: socially responsibleCloud computing: new opportunities

for cost-effective delivery of servicesOpen data: support initiatives like Bear

Scat (past) and Bearbook (present)???

Other Ideas?

E-textbooksData archivingElectronic Documents & Records ManagementVirtualizationHarnessing student creativityPeopleSoft functionalityPortalsMoving towards the paperless office

Takeaway Message

United we grow

Divided we status quo

Breakout (1)

What things should we be doing starting today to position ourselves

as an IT leader by 2017?

What are we doing today that we shouldn’t be doing in 2017?

Breakout (2)

Pretend that money is not an issue.

What should be the five priorities in the 2012-2017 IT plan that will enable us to provide by 2017 an outstanding IT environment for

students, staff and faculty?