OneIT @ UofL

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This document is a working draft and does not represent a finalized plan.

DRAFT: ITS Strategic Plan

The twenty-first-century university is heavily dependent on technology as a driver of academic, economic and social change. The function of our OneIT strategic plan is to help the University of Louisville maximize IT opportunities through two key principles of cohesion and capacity, thereby promoting success for everyone at every level in our community.

UofL requires a robust technological foundation to support the 2023-25 strategic plan goals outlined for Learn, Discover, Connect and Work. While each pillar and each member of our community holds different key metrics of success, our OneIT strategic plan is designed to support significant improvements for:

  • Learn – We will engage students by promoting a seamless technology environment and specialized technology experience that helps them graduate. Our faculty will have appropriate technology to support asynchronous digital, network-based and pervasive learning. We will offer student co-curricular opportunities within IT that support post-graduation success.
  • Discover – Support for scholarly work is a key element of this plan. From the development of a full research computing unit through digital equity initiatives, this plan will provide faculty and researchers the technological capabilities to drive institutional scholarly excellence in a digital-first world.
  • Connect – By improving operational efficiency and system modernization, we look to create a more fluid IT that can easily adapt to meet the pressing needs of our greater university community. We will connect to the wider community through programs that introduce world of IT to pre-college students and offer disadvantaged youth the opportunity to explore IT careers.
  • Work – Technological advancement improves how data is used and the insight it offers. Through the development of better communication systems, better data-informed decision structures, and improved compliance support, we will improve the digital work strategy at UofL.

Working together is woven deeply into this plan. Technology staff employed by colleges, units and departments contribute immensely to the innovate technology solutions and daily support services for our faculty, staff and students. However, we need to do a better job of working together, be that between units or between units and central IT, or even between departments within central IT.

Similarly woven into the plan is the essential effort to improve our ability to protect, detect and respond to technology threats within the modern environment of our digital spaces. We recognize our interconnected world as open to online predators who have the potential to target the daily actions of any member of our community or the university as a whole and will continue to progress as a dynamic and actionable cybersecurity organization.

Build an Integrated IT System at UofL

The digital ecosystem at the University of Louisville has evolved over time to be a collection of independent efforts undertaken by individual units, with limited central coordination. The result is a fractured combination of technologies with widely divergent user experiences, limited central services, and differing levels of support and technological development within siloed units. We aspire to build a digital ecosystem with integrated services and support, feature secure applications and systems that are adaptive to UofL’s needs, and with a focus on scalability and sustainability.

1

Enrich Our Customer & User Experience (CX/UX)

Core to our shared mission, ITS and distributed IT must better support the entire UofL community. We will focus on developing a common service experience through appropriate automatic provisioning of technology systems and tools.

  1. Improve cross-ITS/IT communication and teamwork
  2. Develop and implement one unified service delivery system, for all technology staff throughout the university
  3. Update and modernize identity and access management
  4. Develop and implement student success support system(s) such as web portals, unified CRM, other tools

2

Build common services at scale

Operational excellence and a commitment to continuous improvement of how data is consumed, governed, stored and translated across the university. We look to increase institution-wide support, standardize processes, and enhance technology management best practices.

  1. Extend effective Project Management services to cover all new technology implementations
  2. Develop essential business process mapping services
  3. Streamline and consolidate the procurement process for software and other licensing agreements.
  4. Implement comprehensive, secure and compliant environments for all segments of the community
  5. Build a state-of-the-art, standards-based data integration architecture
  6. Develop and implement a modern data lake / data fabric with analytics services
  7. Complete our Financials system upgrade
  8. Investigate improvements to our student records system

3

Address digital inequity amongst units

Engage the campus community through inclusive, transparent, and responsive initiatives to ensure that institutional technology offerings are aligned with strategic priorities, and that digital resources are assigned effectively and efficiently.

  1. Establish a uniform and effective audio/video/streaming architecture for all learning spaces to improve the educational experience for all
  2. Build teams with mixed central ITS, distributed IT and vested UofL community members to pilot solutions for addressing digital inequity across our campuses
  3. Support application administration by trained technology professionals
  4. Build tiered storage systems that optimize cost and access speed for all units
  5. Extend wireless networks to all spaces housing UofL community members
  6. Embrace a culture where differential technology needs are recognized, valued and respected
  7. Build a uniform and sustainable endpoint support system

Expand Digital Capability and Capacity

The range and availability of digital technologies and tools has expanded exponentially over the past 10 years. A rise of technology-enabled and technology-enhanced business, learning and research environments and specialized computing possibilities, however, contrasts with the significant reduction of university personnel working in technology and an analogous decline in available funding for ITS. We need to strategically invest in key areas to meet current technology standards, be at the level of our peer institutions and contribute to UofL’s commitment to being a research and innovation powerhouse.

1

Strengthen Research Computing

As a premier, metropolitan R1 research institution, it is vital to empower our faculty and researchers with the tools and support necessary to excel in their field. From computational-driven laboratory contexts, state-of-the-art digital simulation and machine-learning algorithms to “grand challenges” innovative breakthroughs, we must provide the expertise and infrastructure necessary to transform their solutions for our future.

  1. Build an effective support system for faculty, researchers, post-docs and graduate students
  2. Develop a long-term sustainment plan for our research computing environment
  3. Build coalitions and partnerships in the Commonwealth and regionally to support discovery and industry development

2

Develop a modern, engaged IT Workforce

Bringing the best ideas and most efficient solutions to the university will require a technology workforce that is agile, engaged across the university and constantly learning to keep up with advancing digital technologies and tools.

  1. Build a culture of exploring new digital opportunities, with an increased focus on AI and machine learning
  2. Engage with units at UofL to identify core issues where new, innovative technology solutions might help
  3. Establish consistent training courses for all IT staff.
  4. Develop and implement a professional development plan
  5. Provide UofL students with more employment opportunities in ITS via co-curricular learning or grant-funded positions
  6. Through community outreach, grow the pipeline of potential technology-transformational talent

3

Modernize core infrastructure

Enable UofL’s future success with secure, reliable, and efficient technologies and a modern, digital standard infrastructure that is multilayered and adaptable to current needs. Adapting to cloud infrastructure, co-location environments and the ability to protect institutional data and privacy are all fundamental and critical IT practice.

  1. Become more adaptable and flexible with on-prem, co-location and cloud server resource delivery
  2. Develop and test a disaster recovery framework that optimizes cost and functionality
  3. Support application administration by trained technology professionals
  4. Implement a true security operations center function
  5. Create a model to ensure continuous cybersecurity improvement