Information Technology Plan University of Alberta Jonathan Schaeffer Vice Provost and Associate Vice President

Thank you!

Schedule 8:00 8:30Breakfast 8:30 9:15Jonathan Schaeffer 9:15 10:15Breakout Session (1) 10:15 10:30Break 10:30 11:30Breakout Session (2) 11:30 12:00Discussion

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 change IT innovation created much of the pressure: E-learning Social media Electronic textbooks Cloud computing Mobility Sharing 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 First IT plan for the University of Alberta 30 recommendations Most affect IT “under the covers” Few directly affect the user communities Operational, not strategic Need 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: Google Litmus test for major change on campus Become proactive and nimble by piggybacking on an industry leader

IT Plan Characteristics Visionary and exciting Supports the Academic Plan Reflects financial reality Objectives must be achievable Advances research, teaching, administration Students are integral to the solution

Possible Principles Improve student engagement Invest in mobility Simplify campus IT Become more proactive and less reactive Responsive 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 change The plan must be a living document It has to evolve as technology and internal/external pressures change Some of the possible IT plan recommendations are already under way I could not wait; things needed to be done now No obligation to continue with current directions

Starting Point The following ideas are the start of the discussion Many more in the documentation Everything is up for review Need 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 recovery IT policies and procedures IT governance IT 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, infrastructure Green computing: socially responsible Cloud computing: new opportunities for cost-effective delivery of services Open data: support initiatives like Bear Scat (past) and Bearbook (present) ???

Other Ideas? E-textbooks Data archiving Electronic Documents & Records Management Virtualization Harnessing student creativity PeopleSoft functionality Portals Moving 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 IT plan that will enable us to provide by 2017 an outstanding IT environment for students, staff and faculty?