Boston University Technology Plan · • Upgrade and consolidation of learning management systems to Blackboard Learn 9.1 Shared Infrastructure Services • Installation of wireless

Boston University Technology Plan FY 2015–2020

Boston University Information Services & Technology

Office of the Vice President 111 Cummington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02215 T 617-353-1155

DRAFT Boston University 2015-20 Technology Plan 2

Table of Contents

Background: Technology @ BU

• FY 2010-14 Goals

• Community Satisfaction

• Service Health

• Benchmarks

• Key Trends

Our Plan

• Executive Summary

• Process & Structure

• Principles & Definitions

• Strategic Capabilities

• Initiatives

• Assessment

Appendices

• Appendix A:TechnologyServicePortfoliohealthcharts

• Appendix B:EnterpriseRiskManagementkeytechnologyrisks

• Appendix C:InitiativeAlignmentandImpact


Background: Technology @ BU FY 2010-14 Goals

Infiscalyears2010–14,BUInformationServices&Technologyhasbeenpursuingastrategyof“OneIS&TforOneBU,”focusedonthefollowinggoals:

• StrengthenedPartnershipsinTeachingandResearch

• SharedSupportServices

• RenewedEnterpriseApplications

• SharedInfrastructureServices

• Portfolio&ProjectManagement

• ServiceManagement

Thesegoalshavebeenpursuedwiththefullsupportandassistanceoflocaltechnologyserviceorganizations.Examplesofmajorinitiativesinsupportofthesegoalsinclude:

Strengthened Partnerships in Teaching and Research

• InstallationandupgradingofclassroomtechnologyinallUniversityRegistrarclassrooms

• Creationoffull-timestaffInstructionalTechnologySupportSpecialistsandEducationalTechnologists

• PartneringtocreatetheMassachusettsGreenHighPerformanceComputingCenter

• Creationofasharedresearchcomputingclusterandbuy-inprogram

Shared Support Services

• CreationoftheITHelpCenterandenterpriseITServiceDeskfunction

• ImplementationoftheDesktopSupportClusteringinitiative

Renewed Enterprise Applications

• ImplementationofSAPforFinance,HR,andProcurementfunctions(BUworks)

• ImplementationofBlackbaudECRMforDevelopmentandAlumniRelations

• ImplementationofKualiCoeusforResearchAdministrationAwardprocessing

• ReimplementationofDegreeWorksforBUDegreeAdvice

• UpgradeandconsolidationoflearningmanagementsystemstoBlackboardLearn9.1

Shared Infrastructure Services

• Installationofwirelessnetworkinginallclassroomsandresidencehalls


• Installationofwirelessnetworkinginacademicandadministrativespaces(inprogress)

• DeploymentofGooglemailservicesforstudents

• DeploymentofanenterpriseMicrosoftExchangeemailandcalendarplatformforallfacultyandstaff

• Deploymentofanenterprisedataarchivestorageservice

Theseinitiativeshavebeenenabledthroughtheimplementationofportfolio and project managementbestpractices,includingthedevelopmentofarobustprojectmanagementoffice,governancestructureandprocess.Inaddition,implementationofITIL-basedIT service managementprocessesandtoolshassupportedtheestablishmentofsharedservices.

Community Satisfaction

IS&ThasbeenmeasuringcommunitysatisfactionwiththequalityoftechnologyservicesatBUthroughtheTechQual+survey,astandardsurveydevelopedbyhighereducationITleadersforhighereducation.Weadministeredthesurveyinthefallof2009,2011,and2013.

2013Surveyresultsshowedpositivegainsinseveralareas,accompaniedbyrisingexpectations.Thelargestchangesinperceivedservicelevelbythecampuscommunityasawholearereflectedinthechartbelow:

Atthesametime,expectationsrosein2013asshownbelow:


Thisresultedinthefollowingdifferencesbetweenminimumandperceivedservicelevelsforthe1331student,facultyandstaffrespondentsoverall.Redindicatesserviceareaswhereperceivedlevelsfallbelowminimums,whileblueindicatesareaswhereperceivedlevelsexceedtheminimum.

Satisfactionwithtechnologyservicesishighestamongstudentsandlowestamongfaculty.Areasofmostcommongapsbetweenexpectationsandserviceprovidedarewirelesscoverage(question


3),classroomtechnology(question8),assessmentsystems(question17),researchsupport(question18),centralinformationsystemsecurity(question19),FinanceandHRinformationsystems(faculty/staffquestiononly,20),andstudentinformationsystems(faculty/staffquestiononly,26).

Service Health

IS&Tmonitorsthehealthoftheservicesinourservicecatalog,aswellasthecorrespondingoperationalcostsofthoseservices.ThesehealthchartsareattachedasAppendix A.TheyreflectthefollowingnotablerisksintheBUtechnologyserviceenvironment:

• BUstillhasasetofcoreadministrativesystemsthatareendoflifeandrequirerenewalor,ataminimum,supportriskmitigation,includingStudentInformationSystems,AncillarySystems,andnon-SAPFinance,HRandBudgetsystems.

• BUtelephoneservicesarealsoatendoflifeandneedtobereplaced/migratedtonewer,unifiedcommunicationstechnology.

• BUhasabasicsetofinformationsecurityservices,mostofwhicharecurrent,butislackinginadvancedfunctionalityandmaturity/breadthofdeploymentofcurrentservices.

• BUhassomeresearchcomputingfacilities,suchastheIBMBlueGene,thatareendoflife.Visualizationcapabilitiesarealsolateintheirlifecycle.

• TheBUnetworkinfrastructureisinneedofarefreshprogram;Authentication,DirectoryandStorageServicesareinneedofrenewal.

Benchmarks

BUTechnologyServicebenchmarksaredrawnfromtheEducauseCoreDatasurveyandTechQual+Surveytools.Inaccordancewiththetermsandconditionsofusefortheseresources,thesedocumentsareavailabletoBUcommunitymembersonlyuponrequest.Pleasecontactvpist@bu.eduforaccess.

Key Trends

TheBUcommunityandgovernancecommitteeshavespentasignificantamountoftimeconsideringcurrenttrendsinhighereducationandtechnologyoverthecourseofthisplanningprocess.Trendsofparticularnotetowhichthesegroupsagreedwemustrespondinclude:

• Thetransformationofteachingandlearningthroughtechnology-enabledpedagogies.BeyondMOOCs,BUexistsinarapidlychangingcontextofwhathighereducationisandwillbeinthefuture.

• AnalyticsandBigData.BUwillneedtobeabletocollect,secure,analyze,manage,andretiremassivevolumesofresearchand,atleastpotentially,academicandadministrativedata.

• Globalconnectednessandcollaboration.TodayBU’sfacultyandstudentscanbefoundin75countrieson7continents,andwecollaboratenotonlyacrossdisciplinesandcolleges,butacrossinstitutionsandindustries.Thepowerofsocialmediaandnewcollaboration

mailto:vpist%40bu.edu?subject=Survey%20access


technologiesshouldbeharnessedintheinterestofBUgoals.

• Usability,includingmobility.Today’sstudents,facultyandstaffneedtobeabletoaccessservicesfromanywhere,onanydevice,throughanintuitiveinterfacecomparabletoconsumerservices.

• Informationsecurityasacorecompetency.Informationsecuritythreatsandconsequentregulatoryrequirementsareincreasinglypervasiveandcomplex.

• Extremepressuretocontrolorreducethecostofeducation.Withhighereducationhavingbeenidentifiedashaving“costdisease,”BUmustworktoleveragetechnologytoreduceadministrativeoverheadcostsandidentifynew,moreefficientoperatingmodels.

• TheabstractionofITservicesfromthephysicalcampus,andtransitionofITstafffrombuildersofsystemstoarchitectsandintegratorsofservices.Withpervasive,highbandwidthconnectivityandtheriseofcloudserviceprovidersatalllevelsoftechnologyservice,frominfrastructuretoplatformtoapplication,optionsforwaystoprovideITservicesarediversifyingrapidlyandrequirecarefulselectionandmanagement.

• Theimportanceofstandards,especiallyforinfrastructure.Astheapplicationsandclientdevicesbecomemorevariedandrapidlychanging,theneedforstandardtoprovideinteroperabilityandrapiddeploymentisincreasinglycritical.


FY 2015-20 Technology Plan: Executive SummaryGoal

ToenabletherealizationofthegoalsarticulatedintheBUstrategicplan,ChoosingtobeGreat,andthemitigationofBostonUniversityenterpriserisks,throughthedevelopment,sustainmentandoptimizationofinformationservicesandtechnology.

Principles

Theseprincipleswereidentifiedaskeyconceptsthatshouldremainconstantforthelifeoftheplan,servingastouchstonestobereferencedinthedevelopmentandexecutionoftechnologyprojectsandoperations.

Capabilities

Thesecapabilitieswereidentifiedascorecompetencyareasforinformationservicesandtechnology,withinwhichseveralstrategicinitiativesshouldbecarriedoutoverthecoming5years.

Initiatives The following 26 initiatives are listed in the order they appear in the plan.

1. Expand collaboration between technology teams and organizations at BU who provide pedagogical, content, and instructional design to improve coordination, facilitation, and promotional capabilities.

2. Ensure that learning platforms support anywhere, anytime use by a diverse, global community in a safe environment. Include support for mobile learning, rich media, voice and video communication, social networking, and emerging forms of assessment.

3. Provide quality classroom teaching environments for all courses, and experiment with and support the adoption of innovative classroom technologies.

4. Provide secure repositories and user-friendly analytical tools to access academic information, from official records to course-specific information, in support of teaching effectiveness, student retention and graduation, and pedagogical research.

5. Experiment with social networking technologies to develop online communities of practice in teaching, learning, and research.

6. Build upon the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center to provide sustainable, shared research computing and storage infrastructure to BU researchers.

7. Develop and implement a campus cyberinfrastructure plan to enhance BU research infrastructure, from the campus network to regional, national, and cloud-based computing resources.

8. Provide robust, secure, usable research administration tools to enhance sponsored program management by faculty.

9. Support the lifecycle of research, academic, and administrative data in partnership with BU Libraries.

10. Partner with Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering to develop a dynamic, collaborative pool of human resources for the development and support of computational software for research.

11. Support and leverage emerging “big data” tools to provide new analytical capabilities for research, teaching, and administration.

12. Join peer institutions and industry in developing safe ways to leverage cloud infrastructure for research, including high performance computing and big data.

13. Enhance administrative systems to improve efficiency and capability, with a primary focus on research and academic administration.

14. Ensure the ability to rapidly and securely provision new services by deploying industry standard Identity and Access Management (IAM).

15. Expand the digitization of paper records and automation of manual workflows, including electronic signatures.

16. Deploy a professional development system for faculty and administration that tracks the completion of required and elective training in areas such as security awareness, compliance, technical skills, pedagogical or research methodologies, and management.

17. Expand adoption of IT service management best practices, including continued development and implementation of a shared service catalog, ITIL processes, and service management platform.

18. Provide access to user-friendly tools in support of data-driven assessment with a focus on academic and administrative service quality.

19. Develop an enterprise data dictionary and governance process in support of data sharing and distributed analysis.

20. Provide support and training to empower faculty and staff to use data in strategic, tactical, and operational decision making.

21. Provide unified, high fidelity services that support one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many communication and collaboration with integrated video, voice, messaging, scheduling, shared workspaces, and social networks.

22. Reduce the risk associated with legacy applications by pursuing the replacement of central and local student information systems and developing a roadmap to transition other applications at risk for obsolescence.

23. Develop a sustainable funding model and ongoing maintenance plan for the campus data network and core systems infrastructure.

24. Strengthen controls over the systems and devices that host Restricted Use data, and educate users on proper handling.

25. Implement an awareness program around the BU Data Protection Standards in partnership with BU academic experts.

26. Provide solutions to allow people to easily secure their mobile devices in accordance with BU requirements.

Sustainability&RiskManagementDataManagement&Analytics

OperationalEfficiency&EffectivenessResearchleadershipLearningQuality&Innovation

CollaborationAcrossBoundaries


Our Plan: DetailProcess & Structure

TheBostonUniversity2015-20TechnologyPlanhasbeendevelopedtoguidetheevolutionoftechnologyinfrastructureandservicesatBU,bothbythecentraltechnologyorganization,InformationServices&Technology,andlocal/specializedtechnologysupportteams.TheTechnologyPlansupports,bothdirectlyandfoundationally,thefollowingstrategicgoalsoftheUniversityStrategicPlan:ChoosingtobeGreat.

• Strengtheningthequalityofthefaculty.

• Strengtheningourcommitmenttointerdisciplinaryprogramsinresearch,education,andoutreach.

• Strengtheningtheexcellenceofourundergraduateeducation.

• Strengtheningthestudentresidentialcommunityandthestudentexperience.

• Strengtheningtargetedprogramsingraduateresearchandeducation.

• Strengtheningourleadershipasanurbanandglobalresearchuniversity.

AlignmentwiththeBUStrategicPlanwillbesustainedthroughreviewandrevisionastheUniversityplanisupdated.

TheTechnologyPlanalsoaimstoaddresstechnologyrisksidentifiedthroughtheServicePortfolioHealthChartandUniversity’sEnterpriseRiskManagement(ERM)program.IdentifiedtechnologyERMrisksareattachedasAppendix B.

Throughacombinationofengagementwithtechnologyleaders,reviewofemergingtrendsandbestpractices,participationincampusfocusgroups,andinternaldiscussion,theBUtechnologygovernancecommitteeshaveformulatedthefollowingPrinciplesandStrategicCapabilities.TheStrategicCapabilitieseachsupportoneormoregoalsofChoosingtobeGreatand/orhelpmitigateEnterpriseRisks,anddrivemultipletechnology-relatedInitiatives.TheseinitiativeshavebeenmappedspecificallytoChoosingtobeGreatgoalsinAppendix C.ThePrinciplesarebroadguidelinestokeepinmindaswemoveforwardwiththeInitiatives.

Note:throughout,“we”isusedtorefertotheBUtechnologyservicescommunityasawhole,includingthecentraltechnologyorganization,InformationServices&Technology,andlocaltechnologyorganizationsworkinginpartnership.


Principles & Definitions

Principles

Theseprincipleswereidentifiedaskeyconceptsthatshouldremainconstantforthelifeoftheplan,ifnotbeyond,servingastouchstonestobereferencedinthedevelopmentandexecutionoftechnologyprojectsandoperations.

• Enableresourcestobeallocatedtoinnovationbyprovidingcommonservicesinthemostefficientmannerpossible.

• Reducecomplexityandcostthroughreasonablestandardization.

• Encourageuseofandcontributiontosharedcomputingfacilitiesforservicesthatbenefitfromeconomiesofscale.

• Providecentrallicensing(ifapplicable),vendor/suppliermanagementandsupportforwidelyusedtechnologies.

• Adoptthemostcosteffectiveinfrastructure,platformsandservicesthatmeetBUrequirements,regardlessofserviceprovider(opensourcecommunity,BU-hosted,cloudprovider,other).

• Minimizeinvestmentinlegacyplatforms;ensurethatnewsystemsprovideemergingcapabilitiesexpectedbyendusers.

• Reducethenumberofshadowinformationsystems.Whereshadowinformationsystemsareidentified,workwiththeowner(s)toidentifyandaddresstheunmetneed.

• Investinprofessionaldevelopment.

• Fortechnologystaffintechnical,managerialandspecificacademicandadministrativesubjectareas.

• Forfaculty,administratorsandstaffinthedevelopmentofpedagogical,computational,analyticalandprocessoptimizationskills.

• Prioritizeaccessibilityandeaseofuseintheselection,implementationandpromotionofnewsystemsandservices,toensurethebroadestimpactandbenefittotheBUcommunity.

• Ensureaccesstoservicesforpeoplewithdisabilities.

• Supportmajorplatforms,devices,andbrowsersinusebymostBUcommunitymembers,includingpersonallyowned,oftenmobiledevices.

• Adoptopenstandardswheneverpossible.

• Focusonusabilityininterfacedesign.

• Communicateaboutserviceavailabilityandcapabilityinnon-technicallanguage,viamultiplemethods.

• Continuetofosterandsustainaserviceorientedculture,inwhichtechnologyisameans,ratherthananend,andvalueisplacedonbenefitsrealizedbytheBUcommunity.Ensurethatservicesustainabilityandcontinuousimprovementareprioritizedequallywithprojectactivity.

• Listentoneeds.


• Learnfromtheexperiencesandfeedbackofthecommunity.

• Fosterinnovationbysupportingexperimentationandprovidingflexibleframeworksandtools.

• ConsiderBU’sglobalreachindesignofinfrastructure,informationandsupportservices.

• Enablecompliancewithsecurityrequirementsbymakingiteasytodoso.

• Applyappropriatecontrolstoadministrativeandacademicwork,respectively.

• Encourageopensharingofdata,othercontentandexpertisebymakingiteasyandsafetodoso.

• Supportthedevelopmentofinfrastructurethroughabalanceofinstitutionalfunding,sponsoredresearchgrantsandindustrialsupport.

• Governtechnologyservicesandprojectsefficientlyandeffectively,includingrepresentationthatenablessharedservicesacrosscampuses,whilebalancingstakeholderengagementwiththeabilitytomaketimelydecisions.

Definitions

• Legacyplatform:Aplatformforwhichcapabilitiestosustainandenhancefunctionalityisseverelylimitedornonexistent.Examplesincludeproductswhicharenolongersupportedbyavendororcommunity,orservicesreliantonunderpinningtechnologiesthatarenolongercompetitiveinthemarketplaceortaughtinmainstreamcomputerscience.

• Shadowsystem:Asystemwhichsubstantivelyreplicatesfunctionalityprovidedbyacentralinformationsysteminordertoprovidesupplementaleaseofuseorfunctionalitytoalocalunit.


Strategic Capabilities

Thesecapabilitieswereidentifiedascorecompetencyareasforinformationservicesandtechnology,withinwhichseveralstrategicinitiativesshouldbecarriedoutoverthecoming5years.

• Teaching & Learning Quality and Innovation WewillenableBUtobealeaderinthedevelopmentofnewlearningmodels,whileenhancingtheBUcommunity’sabilitytoengagestudentsacrossdisciplinesinactive,deeplearning,usingbothprovenandemergingpedagogicalmethods.

• Research Leadership Wewillrenewourcommitmenttoleadingresearchcomputinginfrastructureandsupportservices,especiallyinfieldsidentifiedasstrategicareasfortheUniversitymovingforward.

• Operational Efficiency and Effectiveness WewillenableBUtomeetorexceedapplicablepeerandindustrybenchmarksforoperationalefficiencyandeffectivenessinsupportservices,especiallyintheareasofacademicandresearchadministration.

• Data Management and Analytics Wewillextendourabilitytocollect,store,analyze,anddisseminatedata,includingbigdata,insupportofstudentsuccess,researchproductivityandadministrativeeffectiveness.

• Collaboration Across Boundaries WewillimprovetheBUcommunity’sabilitytodiscover,connectandinteractwitheachotheracrosshistorical,organizational,disciplinary,geographicandinstitutionalboundaries.

• Sustainability and Risk Management Wewillplanfortherenewalofcriticaltechnologyinfrastructureandensurethatsecurityandcomplianceareconsistentlyaddressed.


Initiatives

NOTE:Initiativeswhichhavesignificantrelevancetomorethanonestrategiccapabilityareaarelistedineachapplicablearea.Initiativesarelistedinpriorityorderforeachcapabilityarea.

Teaching & Learning Quality and Innovation

WewillenableBUtobealeaderinthedevelopmentofnewlearningmodels,whileenhancingtheBUcommunity’sabilitytoengagestudentsacrossdisciplinesinactive,deeplearning,usingbothprovenandemergingpedagogicalmethods.

Initiatives

1. ExpandcollaborationbetweentechnologyteamsandthevariousorganizationsatBUwhoprovidepedagogical,content,andinstructionaldesignsupporttoimprovetheseorganizations’cumulativecoordination,facilitation,andpromotionalcapabilities.

a. Provideappropriateaccesstoinstructionaldesignanddigitalmedia/contentproductioncapabilitiesforfacultyandstudents.

b. Enablefacultyexperimentationineducationaltechnologyinnovation.

c. Disseminatesuccessfuleducationaltechnologyexperimentsasbestpractices,includingcreationoftemplatesandreusablelearningobjects.

d. Facilitateinterdisciplinary/interprofessionalcollaborationinteachingandlearning.

2. Ensurethatlearningplatformssupportanywhere,anytimeteachingandlearningbyadiverse,globalcommunityinasafeenvironment.Includesupportformobilelearning,richmedia,voiceandvideocommunication,socialnetworking,andemergingformsofassessment.

3. Providequalityclassroomteachingenvironmentsforallcourses,andexperimentwithandsupporttheadoptionofinnovativeclassroomtechnologies.

4. Providesecuredatarepositoriesanduser-friendlyanalyticaltoolstoaccessacademicinformation,fromofficialacademicrecordstocourseparticipationinformation,insupportofteachingeffectiveness,studentretentionandgraduation,andpedagogicalresearch.

5. Experimentwithsocialnetworkingtechnologiestobuildorenhanceonlinecommunitiesofpracticeinteaching,learning,andresearch.


Research Leadership

Wewillrenewourcommitmenttoleadingresearchcomputinginfrastructureandsupportservices,especiallyinfieldsidentifiedasstrategicareasfortheUniversitymovingforward.

Initiatives

1. BuildupontheMassachusettsGreenHighPerformanceComputingCentertoprovidesustainable,sharedresearchcomputingandstorageinfrastructuretoBUresearchers.

a. ForgeandsupportsharedinfrastructureandresearchbetweenBU’sCharlesRiverandMedicalcampuses.

b. Ensurethattheresearchcomputinginfrastructureenablesresearcherstobecompetitiveforgrantfunding,andtoscaleapplicationstonationalfacilities.

2. DevelopandimplementacampuscyberinfrastructureplantocontinuetoenhanceBUresearchinfrastructure,fromthecampusnetworktoregional,national,andcloud-basedcomputingresources.

3. Providerobust,secure,user-friendlyresearchadministrationdataaccessandanalytics,enhancingfacultyabilitytomanagetheirsponsoredprograms.

4. InpartnershipwithBULibraries,supportthedatalifecycle,includingthecapabilitytosecurelystore,protect,share,publish,archive,andexpire/retireresearch,academic,andadministrativedatainaccordancewithapplicablepoliciesanddatamanagementplans.

5. PartnerwithHaririInstituteforComputingandComputationalScience&Engineeringtodevelopadynamic,collaborativepoolofhumanresourcesforthedevelopmentandsupportofcomputationalsoftwareforresearch.

a. Enhancesupportfordisciplinesandresearchersnewlyengagedincomputationallyintensiveresearchanddatavisualization.

b. Provideopportunitiesforundergraduateengagementincomputationalresearch.

6. Supportandleverageemerging“bigdata”toolsandmethodologiesasappropriatetoprovidenewanalyticalcapabilitiesforresearch,teachingandadministration.

7. Joinpeerinstitutionsandindustryindevelopingsafewaystoleveragecloudinfrastructureforresearch,includinghighperformancecomputingandbigdata.

8. Experimentwithsocialnetworkingtechnologiestobuildorenhanceonlinecommunitiesofpracticeinteaching,learningandresearch.


Operational Efficiency and Effectiveness

WewillenableBUtomeetorexceedapplicablepeerandindustrybenchmarksforoperationalefficiencyandeffectivenessinsupportservices,especiallyintheareasofacademicandresearchadministration.

Initiatives

1. Enhanceadministrativesystemstoimproveefficiencyandcapability,withaprimaryfocusonresearchandacademicadministration.

a. Supporthighqualityresearchadministrationservicestofacultythroughtheprovisionofeffectiveresearchadministrationsystems.

b. Consolidateandintegratefacultyinformationsystemstoenhanceeaseofdatamanagementbyfacultyandaccuracyofreporting.

c. Evolvestudentinformationsystems(admission,registration,financialaid,etc.)toenhancethestudentexperienceacrossBU,supportstrategicacademicinitiativesandemerginglearningandcredentialingmodels,andenablequalityrelationshipmanagementwithstudentsandparents.

d. EnablequalityandefficiencyinUniversityfinancialandhumanresourceadministrationthroughenhancementofBUworksandrelatedinformationsystems.

2. EnsuretheabilitytorapidlyandsecurelyprovisionnewservicesbydeployingindustrystandardIdentityandAccessManagement(IAM)infrastructure,includingfederatedidentitycapabilities.

3. Provideunified,highfidelitycommunicationandcollaborationservicesforone-to-one,one-to-many,ormany-to-manyvoiceandvideocommunicationthatintegratemessaging,scheduling,sharedworkspaces,andsocialnetworksviamostdevices.Makesignificantprogresstowardretirementoflegacyvoicecommunicationservices.

4. Expandthedigitizationofpaperrecordsandautomationofmanualworkflows,includingelectronicsignatures.Focusonareasofgreatestimpact:

a. Travelandexpenseprocessing

b. Researchproposaldevelopment

c. Researchgranteffortreporting

d. Visaandpermanentresidencyprocessing


6. Provideuser-friendlyaccesstodataandanalyticaltoolsinsupportofdata-drivenassessment,especiallyforapplicationtoassessmentofacademicandadministrativeservicequality.

7. Deployaprofessionaldevelopmentsystemforfacultyandadministrationthatcantrackthecompletionofrequiredandelectivetraining,includingsecurityawareness,compliancecertification,technicalskills,pedagogicalorresearchmethodologybestpractices,managementskills,andothertraining.

8. ExpandadoptionofITservicemanagementbestpractices,includingcontinueddevelopment


andimplementationof:

a. Asharedservicecatalog

b. Uniformincident,change,problem,andconfigurationmanagementprocessesacrosscentralandlocaltechnologyorganizations

c. AcommonITservicemanagementplatform

Data Management and Analytics

Wewillextendourabilitytocollect,store,analyze,anddisseminatedata,includingbigdata,insupportofstudentsuccess,researchproductivity,andadministrativeeffectiveness.

Initiatives

1. InpartnershipwithBULibraries,supportthedatalifecycle,includingthecapabilitytosecurelystore,protect,share,publish,archive,andexpire/retireresearch,academic,andadministrativedatainaccordancewithapplicablepoliciesanddatamanagementplans.


3. Providesecuredatarepositoriesanduser-friendlyanalyticaltoolstoaccessacademicinformation,fromofficialacademicrecordstocourseparticipationinformation,insupportofteachingeffectiveness,studentretentionandgraduation,efficientplanningofacademicprograms,andpedagogicalresearch.

4. Provideuser-friendlyaccesstodataandanalyticaltoolsinsupportofdata-drivenassessment,especiallyforapplicationtoassessmentofacademicandadministrativeservicequality.

5. Developanenterprisedatadictionaryanddatagovernanceprocessinsupportofdatasharinganddistributedanalysis.

6. Supportandleverageemerging“bigdata”toolsandmethodologiesasappropriatetoprovidenewanalyticalcapabilitiesforresearch,teachingandadministration.

7. Providethesupportandtrainingrequiredtoempowerfacultyandstafftousedatainstrategic,tactical,andoperationaldecisionmaking.


Collaboration Across Boundaries

WewillimprovetheBUcommunity’sabilitytodiscover,connectandinteractwitheachotheracrosshistorical,organizational,disciplinary,geographicandinstitutionalboundaries.

Initiatives

1. Provideunified,highfidelitycommunicationandcollaborationservicesforone-to-one,one-to-many,ormany-to-manyvoiceandvideocommunicationthatintegratemessaging,scheduling,sharedworkspaces,andsocialnetworksviamostdevices.Makesignificantprogresstowardretirementoflegacyvoicecommunicationservices.

2. ExpandcollaborationbetweentechnologyteamsandthevariousorganizationsatBUwhoprovidepedagogical,content,andinstructionaldesignsupporttoexpandandimprovetheseorganizations’cumulativecoordination,facilitation,andpromotionalcapabilities.

3. Ensurethatlearningplatformssupportanywhere,anytimeteachingandlearningbyadiverse,globalcommunityinasafeenvironment.Includesupportformobilelearning,richmedia,voiceandvideocommunication,socialnetworking,andemergingformsofassessment.




5. PartnerwithHaririInstituteforComputingandComputationalScience&Engineeringtodevelopadynamic,collaborativepoolofhumanresourcesforthedevelopmentandsupportofcomputationalsoftwareforresearch.

6. Experimentwithsocialnetworkingtechnologiestobuildorenhanceonlinecommunitiesofpracticeinsupportofteaching,learningandresearch.

7. DevelopandimplementacampuscyberinfrastructureplantocontinuetoenhanceBUresearchinfrastructure,fromthecampusnetworktoregional,nationalandcloud-basedcomputingresources.


Sustainability and Risk Management

Wewillplanfortherenewalofcriticalinfrastructureandensurethatsecurityandcomplianceareconsistentlyaddressed.

Initiatives

1. ActivelymanageandreducetheriskassociatedwithBU’slegacyadministrativeapplications.

a. Makesignificantprogresstowardreplacementoflegacycentralandlocalstudentinformationsystemswithcore,sharedservicesthatenableconvenient,personalizedstudentinteractionswithadministration,includingAdmissions,FinancialAid,Registration,StudentAccounts,Studentemployment,andHousing.

b. Createaroadmaptotransitionotherlegacyapplicationsatriskforobsolescence.

2. Developasustainablefundingmodelandrefreshprocessforthecampusdatanetworkandcoresystemsinfrastructure.

3. StrengthencontrolsoverRestrictedUsedataandthesystemsanddevicesthathostormayaccessit.Ensurethatalldepartmentsknowtherequirementsforproperhandlingofsuchinformationandhowtoreportacompromiseofsuchdata.

4. DevelopandimplementaneffectiveawarenessprogramaroundtheBUDataProtectionStandards,whichdefinethedifferencesinsecurityrequirementsfordifferenttypesofdata.ForgepartnershipswithBUacademicexpertstodevelopinformationsecurityeducation,trainingandoutreach.

5. ProvidesolutionstoallowpeopletoeasilysecuretheirmobiledevicesinaccordancewithBUrequirements.

6. EnsuretheabilitytorapidlyandsecurelyprovisionnewservicesbydeployingindustrystandardIdentityandAccessManagement(IAM)infrastructure,includingfederatedidentitycapabilities.






10.InpartnershipwithBULibraries,supportthedatalifecycle,includingthecapabilitytosecurelystore,protect,share,publish,archive,andexpire/retireresearch,academic,andadministrativedatainaccordancewithapplicablepoliciesanddatamanagementplans.

11. Joinpeerinstitutionsandindustryindevelopingsafewaystoleveragecloudinfrastructureforresearch,includinghighperformancecomputingandbigdata.


Assessment

Wewilldevelopabalancedscorecard-styledashboardtotrackourprogress,includingthefollowingfourquadrants:

Projects

• Thenumberofprojectsinprogressineachstrategiccapabilityarea,bystatus

Community Satisfaction

• Bi-annualTechQual+resultsandmonthlyticketresolutionsurveyresponses

Service Portfolio Health

• Numberofcriticality4and5serviceswithhealthlessthan3

Cost

• Statusofcostbenchmarksrelativetopeers,suchascentralITfundingas%ofinstitutionalexpenses,andITfundingperFTE

Wewillalsocontinuetopublishservicelevelmetricsforsupportoverall,aswellasspecificserviceSLAs,athttp://www.bu.edu/tech/about/service/metrics/

http://www.bu.edu/tech/about/service/metrics/


Appendices

Appendix A: Technology Service Portfolio Health Charts

Seefollowingslides

Service Portfolio Health Charts

Information Services & Technology 24 August 2013

Key to Criticality and Age Values Information Services & Technology: Service Portfolio Health Charts 2013

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v 1.1, 24-Aug-2013

Criticality 5 Life safety or compliance requirement 4 Required for continuation of learning or service activities for all or many clients 3 Required for continuation of learning or service activities for some clients 2 Enhances quality of learning or service activities for all or many clients 1 Enhances quality of learning or service activities for some clients

Age 5 New 4 Early in industry standard life cycle 3 Middle of industry standard life cycle 2 Near end of industry standard life cycle 1 End of life

Information Services & Technology: Service Portfolio Health Charts 2013

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Appendices

Appendix B: Enterprise Risk Management Technology Risks

Seefollowingchartandlegend

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6

5

9

2

3

1

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7 8

Lik

eli

ho

od

Impact

Almost

Certain

Possible

Rare

Minor Moderate Major

December 2013 ERM – Information Technology Risk Area

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Appendix C: Initiative Alignment

Initiatives

This table maps plan initiatives to the University-wide goals in Choosing to be Great.

1. Expand collaboration between technology teams and organizations at BU who provide pedagogical, content, and instructional design to improve coordination, facilitation, and promotional capabilities.

2. Ensure that learning platforms support anywhere, anytime use by a diverse, global community in a safe environment. Include support for mobile learning, rich media, voice and video communication, social networking, and emerging forms of assessment.

3. Provide quality classroom teaching environments for all courses, and experiment with and support the adoption of innovative classroom technologies.

4. Provide secure repositories and user-friendly analytical tools to access academic information, from official records to course-specific information, in support of teaching effectiveness, student retention and graduation, and pedagogical research.

5. Experiment with social networking technologies to develop online communities of practice in teaching, learning, and research.

6. Build upon the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center to provide sustainable, shared research computing and storage infrastructure to BU researchers.

7. Develop and implement a campus cyberinfrastructure plan to enhance BU research infrastructure, from the campus network to regional, national, and cloud-based computing resources.

8. Provide robust, secure, usable research administration tools to enhance sponsored program management by faculty.

9. Support the lifecycle of research, academic, and administrative data in partnership with BU Libraries.

10. Partner with Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering to develop a dynamic, collaborative pool of human resources for the development and support of computational software for research.

11. Support and leverage emerging “big data” tools to provide new analytical capabilities for research, teaching, and administration.

12. Join peer institutions and industry in developing safe ways to leverage cloud infrastructure for research, including high performance computing and big data.

13. Enhance administrative systems to improve efficiency and capability, with a primary focus on research and academic administration.

14. Ensure the ability to rapidly and securely provision new services by deploying industry standard Identity and Access Management (IAM).

15. Expand the digitization of paper records and automation of manual workflows, including electronic signatures.

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Initiatives (continued)

This table maps plan initiatives to the University-wide goals in Choosing to be Great.

16. Deploy a professional development system for faculty and administration that tracks the completion of required and elective training in areas such as security awareness, compliance, technical skills, pedagogical or research methodologies, and management.

17. Expand adoption of IT service management best practices, including continued development and implementation of a shared service catalog, ITIL processes, and service management platform.

18. Provide access to user-friendly tools in support of data-driven assessment with a focus on academic and administrative service quality.

19. Develop an enterprise data dictionary and governance process in support of data sharing and distributed analysis.

20. Provide support and training to empower faculty and staff to use data in strategic, tactical, and operational decision making.

21. Provide unified, high fidelity services that support one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many communication and collaboration with integrated video, voice, messaging, scheduling, shared workspaces, and social networks.

22. Reduce the risk associated with legacy applications by pursuing the replacement of central and local student information systems and developing a roadmap to transition other applications at risk for obsolescence.

23. Develop a sustainable funding model and ongoing maintenance plan for the campus data network and core systems infrastructure.

24. Strengthen controls over the systems and devices that host Restricted Use data, and educate users on proper handling.

25. Implement an awareness program around the BU Data Protection Standards in partnership with BU academic experts.

26. Provide solutions to allow people to easily secure their mobile devices in accordance with BU requirements.

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Documents

Boston University Technology Plan · • Upgrade and consolidation of learning management systems to Blackboard Learn 9.1 Shared Infrastructure Services • Installation of wireless