IT at UofA Building a New Vision Jonathan Schaeffer

Skip the Niceties Integrated-distributed model means that campus fragmented on , calendaring, portal, network control, backups, LMS, etc. Disconnect between central IT plans and faculty/department/unit IT needs Major and disruptive changes are coming Must change campus attitudes if we are to have the IT infrastructure needed to be a top-20 by 2020 institution

Why Do We Need to Change? Economic reality –Possible reductions in IT funding –“Do more with less” expectations Auditor General –Has decided that Alberta PSEs are not approaching IT with the discipline needed –We must conform with AG “recommendations” IT security –Real danger to institutional reputation

My Opinion Information Technology (IT) is… –Essential (and growing) for research –Essential (growing and morphing) for teaching –Mission critical for administration/finance IT is critical to this institution’s future UofA cannot afford to have substandard IT infrastructure in any of these areas

My Goal Raise the profile of Information Technology at the University of Alberta.

Reality Need to hear from you! Top-down and bottom-up process Too much of what is done centrally is decided without consulting the people who actually do the work Cannot address the problems without a united effort

Why a Retreat? Hear your concerns Have you help the VP(IT) office define institutional priorities Gain your insights into how we can move forward together Created unity so that we have a stronger voice

Local Pressures IT groups tend to be: –Under staffed –Over worked –Under appreciated –Asked to do more with the same (or less) –Only get feedback when things go wrong Need to develop strategies to percolate these concerns up the food chain

(1) AG Control Framework Mandated by AG to be deployed in five years Add discipline to managing all financial IT systems and infrastructure support –Disruptive but the business case is obvious Mandate includes non-financial IT systems, including education –Very disruptive but unclear why Coming soon… IT research systems –Very disruptive and potentially confrontational How do we make these changes?

(2) IT Security Security not treated as seriously as it should –Institutional reputation at risk With the ITSO leadership, this will change –Awareness program –Education program –UofA policies and procedures for security –Must percolate into the departments/units –Disruptive change

Central Support for IT? Many faculties/units have gone their own way, leading to IT fragmentation Extensive (expensive) duplication of services –Dozens of independent systems –35 Blackberry servers –No central Microsoft Active Directory service Not exploiting economies of scale

(3) Utility Computing Core IT infrastructure is utility computing Should be done centrally (or out-sourced) – –Calendaring –Networks –Backups –Wireless Only the last one has a central mandate

(4) Leveraging Expertise Need to do a better job of leveraging skills We have over 30 IT islands on campus Can we create a web of expertise? –Units sharing people? –Subcontracting work with other units? –IT Guide to the Experts? –IT help forum? –Increase venues for communication?

Other Initiatives (Central) COBIT/ITIL training Green computing Electronic document management Learning Management Systems review PeopleSoft Grants 2.0 AMS outsourcing agreement Student portal

Other Initiatives (Local) Engage HR on IT salaries –Initial results: IT salaries on campus in line with those in Alberta public/private sectors Create annual IT awards Create a professional development fund Regular consultations with IT personnel Quarterly newsletter from VP(IT)

What Can the VP(IT) Office Do? Make the case for more investment in IT with the Deans Bring the message to the President and Vice Presidents –September 17, 8:00 – 12:00 session Help create a united voice that gives us strength in numbers

Summary Lots of work to do Requirements: –Change: enormous resistance to change; this must change if we are to make progress –Money: some things will have a price tag Our reliance on IT will only grow Must be proactive, aggressive, and united

Now It’s Your Turn Need your candid, no-holds-barred input The dialogue must continue beyond today –

What are the top 5 IT issues consuming your group’s time? administration desktop support installs security help desk hardware repairs bureaucracy missing skills ???? under staffing financial constraints keeping things running new technology purchasing project management people management too heavy a workload