IT Strategy Summary Vs10

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University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

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The IT Strategy for the University of Exeter

2009/12

Supporting the University achieve its goals by providing a quality and reliable IT service

enabling staff and students to securely handle their information,wherever they happen to be …

delivered by trusted IT professionals … working within best-practice quality processes




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Document Control

Document Reference: IT Strategy

Document Type Strategy

Document Status FINAL

Document Owner Mike Walton

Review Period Annually

Next Review Date July 2010




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ContentsPage

Executive Summary 4

Introduction 5

Key Drivers in IT and Higher Education 6

Principles underpinning the delivery of IT services 7

Responding to these challenges and trends: what we will do 9

Supporting the University‟s strategies 11

IT Services 12

Risks 12

Finance 12

What we aspire to be and to deliver 14

Governance and Processes 14

Appendices




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1. Executive Summary

This is the IT Strategy for the University of Exeter.

The strategy identifies the key trends within Higher Education and the IT industry that

will shape the delivery of IT services to the University. Key amongst these are theneed to be able to access IT services and information remotely; to rise to thechallenge of increasing demands for storage and bandwidth; to leverage theadvantages of alternative delivery models; to develop more environmentallysustainable ways of delivering IT; to embrace appropriate innovation and to buildsystems and processes that can maintain business continuity in the advent of ashock to staff, premises or systems.

This strategy articulates a number of key principles that will underpin decision makingin the coming years. Key amongst these is the prominence that will be given tomaintaining existing services. This is in response to the expectation of high serviceavailability, the growing realisation of the need to be able to maintain business

continuity throughout a shock to the University (such as swine flu) and the tighteningfiscal environment for the coming years.

This strategy identifies a number of initiatives which respond to the challenges andtrends within Higher Education and the IT industry. The strategy demonstrates howeach of these projects supports the University‟s own strategic themes of research &knowledge transfer, student experience, sustainability and internationalisation.

The key IT risks that have been identified and are being managed are captured hereas is a summary of the investment required to deliver the projects in this strategy.

A brief summary of the key elements of this strategy are captured in the following

statement of intent:

“ Supporting the University achieve its goals by providing a quality and reliable IT service


delivered by trusted IT professionals …

working within best-practice quality processes ”




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2. Introduction

This is the IT Strategy for the University of Exeter. IT has been built as an outcomefrom working groups of the BISS1 and ICSD2 managers and ICSD workshops andhas been consulted upon through the information strategy project and programme

groups.

The strategy has benefited from extensive input from Gartner3 Analysts, comparisonswith our Top Ten competitor Universities and discussions with the InformationSystems Dual Assurance lead.

In developing this strategy a comprehensive environmental scan has identified thekey themes both within Higher Education and the IT Industry that will shape thedelivery of IT services in the years ahead. This strategy articulates a number of keyprinciples that will underpin the development of the University‟s IT services anddemonstrates how IT will contribute to the delivery of the University‟s strategic goals.

From this strategy flow the specific IT projects and services that will be pursued tosupport the University in achieving and maintaining its Top Ten mission as aresearch-led University.

1BISS: Business Improvement Systems Support

2ICSD: Information Computer Systems Division

3Gartner: leading independent IT industry analyst




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3. Key Drivers in IT and Higher Education

This strategy seeks to respond positively to the key trends in the IT industry andwithin Higher Education. The most significant of these being:

MobilityThere continues to be a revolution in mobile computing and with it a growingexpectation that one should be able to access one‟s work IT systems and informationfrom anywhere. The move towards greater home-working, with the expectation thatstaff can operate „as if in the office‟ is part of this trend.

Changing expectations of studentsThe student intake to the University of the „digital native‟ or „Google generation‟ seesyoung people who have grown up with computing as ubiquitous communication andinformation-searching tools. Their expectations are that their diverse computingequipment will interact seamlessly and that computing tools will be available to

supplement both social and learning interactions.

Global Communities of staff and students

Academics work within communities that span organisational and national borders. Theability to communicate and share information internationally is increasingly important.Students‟ own social networks, particularly as our international student intake grows, needsto be facilitated.

Alternative models for delivering software applications

Increasingly new software systems are being hosted from „the internet‟ (or „the cloud‟) ratherthan from one‟s own internal IT department. This brings opportunities in terms of speed of

deployment and economies of scale and challenges in terms of the flexibility of theseservices and the different skills required to manage these services.

Outsourcing is increasingly the means by which some services are delivered. The role of acentral IT department is increasingly becoming one of management of third parties andintegration of third party systems.

Sustainability considerations becoming increasingly significant in the delivery of ITsystems

IT systems draw significant power. Increasingly there is be an expectation that IT will takethe lead in identifying lower-power solutions and making existing services more powerefficient.

Storage demands are increasing exponentially

As information becomes increasingly rich in sound, images and videos the demand forstorage of this data is increasing significantly. Furthermore, there is growing pressure forresearch data to be managed professionally in a secure data centre and made moreaccessible. Research funding councils are beginning to mandate that the data underpinningresearch is held in secure data centres and adheres to emerging standards to allow thisdata to be made available to others. There is also a growing recognition that makingresearch data secure and accessible is part of good scientific practice. Furthermore, someareas of research (particularly in the medical and biosciences areas) are starting to generatevery large amounts of data (e.g. from genome sequencing).

There is an expectation that storage capacity will not be a limitation on one‟s personal filesand research data.




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Network bandwidth demands are increasing

The same factors that are pushing the growth in demand for storage are also driving thegrow in demand for network bandwidth.

There is an expectation that bandwidth capacity will not be a limitation for how one accessesone‟s personal files and research data.

Information Security of data becoming more important but less easy to achieve

There remains a significant and growing threat from malicious external agencies whichwould seek to compromise the University‟s IT systems and seek to secure access to someof the University‟s data.

As University staff and workers become more mobile in their computing practices the meansby which data and IT systems are secured becomes more complex.

By the nature of its business a University needs to encourage open access andcommunication between individuals. This will sometimes work in tension with therequirement to secure and limit access to information.

Business Continuity measures becoming recognised as increasingly importantThe maintenance of IT systems and services that are reliable and highly available isincreasingly seen as a prerequisite to the continuing business of the University.

Furthermore, high profile disasters and the possible imminent swine flu pandemic haveunderscored the importance of building in business continuity to all parts of the University‟sbusiness. IT service continuity will continue to be an important factor in the delivery of ITservices as will the ability to support, through IT, the University in its response to severe lossof staff or premises. Systems will be designed to be resilient with appropriate duplicationand redundancy. Industry-standard service management processes, in particular the ITILquality management framework, will be adopted to ensure professional working practicesunderpin the support of IT systems.

Tightening fiscal environment

With perhaps a decade of tightening funding to Universities as a result of the world-widefinancial crisis it will become important to identify and focus upon priority areas forinvestment. This will drive the requirement to demonstrate value for money and soundbusiness cases for investments.

Transformation of business processes

IT can be used as a powerful lever to automate and help transform business processeswithin the University. It is increasingly recognised that IT system implementations mustinclude process transformations to individual‟s working practices in order to realise the

business benefits from IT investments.




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4. Principles underpinning the delivery of IT servicesIn developing this strategy a number of underpinning principles have been identified that will guidethe decision making and investments in IT in the coming years. These are:

IT is a service delivered for our researchers, teachers, students and staff

Maintaining this service continuity is crucial and will attract the priority of focus andinvestment.

We will endeavour to deliver the same service to all staff and students regardless oflocation. This will demand investment in our network and remote access tools.

We will seek out and embrace effective, focused and appropriate innovations andaim to be a ‟close follower‟ in our adoption of new technology.

We will build single-University-wide, COTS4 solutions that represent best value formoney rather than point solutions for different business units

We will move towards greater user empowerment through self-service andautomation.

We will explore differing models for delivering our services and evaluateoutsourcing alternatives as one of the means of delivering some of our services.

We will provide appropriate security to safeguard our information assets

We will seek to embrace open standards to ensure interoperability and futureproofing

We will adopt international best practice as befits a Top 10 institution, particularlythe ITIL5 quality management regime.

We will endeavour to make our service charging transparent

We will endeavour to develop our IT staff so they are seen as knowledgeable and

trusted professionals.

We will move towards greater standardisation of University equipment andservices wherever possible where this does not inhibit research and innovation. Thisis seen as the way of driving up quality of service and driving down the cost ofdelivering this service.

We will strive for the IT Infrastructure and systems to be periodically refreshed to ensure it continues to be capable of delivering to our customers‟ requirements.

4COTS Commercial Off The Shelf Systems. i.e. standard, commercially-available systems.

5 ITIL: IT Infrastructure Library. Acknowledged as the industry-leading set of service management

standards.




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5. Responding to these challenges and trends: what wewill doHaving identified the key challenges and trends for the University in the coming years thisstrategy proposes we respond by progressing the following initiatives.

Mobility Continue the roll out of the wireless data network across Streatham and St.Lukes

campuses.

Continually refresh the models of PDAs6 and mobile phones supported.

Complete the trial of a new remote working tool („CITRIX‟) to allow access to Universitysystems from home/remote computers.

Increase the capacity of the remote login service („VPN‟).

Move towards a „unified communication‟ environment where mobile phone, videoconferencing, instant messaging, email, voicemail and desk phone can be integrated andcontrolled to improve person to person interaction.

Explore solutions for mass contacting of students in the event of significant events (e.g.SMS messaging to all students if the campus is closed).

Develop information security policies that support remote working by clarifying staff andstudent responsibilities for handling data on mobile and remote computing devices.

Changing student expectations

Through the „web 2.0‟ project deliver robust blog and wiki tools and develop making„geocoded‟ information (i.e. information which is sensitive to physical location) available. Explore semantic-enabled information.

Explore delivery of systems and information to student mobile phones.

Enhance and grow the „Echo360‟ lecture capture service.

Embrace open standards for IT hardware and software to maximise interoperability. Enhance and refresh the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

Global Communities for staff and students

Continue to develop the portal as a means of accessing University information.

Encourage appropriate use of remote communication services such as Skpye.

Continue the implementation of the high speed data network across all buildings.

Alternative models for delivering software applications

Consider „cloud computing‟ solutions for new or refreshed services (e.g. the VLE and

email service)

Sustainability considerations becoming increasingly significant in the delivery of ITsystems

Continue air cooling efficiency measures in the IT data centres

„Virtualise‟ data centre computer servers to reduce power use and reduce capitalreplacement cost.

Continue PC and telephone power efficiency measures

Continue printing power efficiency measures.

Adopt power efficiency as a selection criteria for new equipment.

6PDAs: Personal Digital Assistant (e.g. a Blackberry device)




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Storage demands are increasing exponentially

Refresh and grow the data storage facilities for staff and students‟ non-research data.

Build a University-wide high capacity research data backup and archiving facility.

Network bandwidth demands are increasing

Continue the network upgrade project to deliver high capacity bandwidth to the desktop

and ubiquitous wireless coverage on campus.

Information Security of data becoming more important but less easy to achieve

Develop appropriate information assurance policies and communicate these well withinthe University to build an appropriate information assurance culture.

Identify appropriate encryption tools for laptops, USB devices and the wireless service toallow secure handling of personal or confidential information.

Continue to build the Identity and access management tools so that the right people canaccess the right data.

Business Continuity measures becoming recognised as increasingly important

All new services will consider appropriate resilience and duplication to ensure servicecontinuity.

Follow up actions from the Spring‟09 business continuity consultancy.

Bolster the remote access service to allow more staff to work from home if required.

Tightening fiscal environment

Working with the Infrastructure Strategy Tranche 2 version 2 streams to prioritise ITinvestments in the coming years. Initial work in this group suggests that emphasis shouldbe placed upon maintaining existing services and systems.

Continue to renegotiate third party contracts to build upon „Creating Value‟ achievements.




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6. Balanced portfolio of new technologies to support theUniversity achieve its goals

This strategy identifies the technologies that the University of Exeter is or is planningto embrace in the coming years.

The overall aim of any portfolio of projects is to achieve a balance of organisationalefficiency and new innovations. The challenge is to pick appropriate and targetedtechnologies to pursue and ensure the timing of the adoption of new technologies isappropriate (to avoid adopting technologies that won‟t mature and avoid anunnecessary heavy burden of being part of the maturing of embryonic technologies).

The development of this portfolio builds upon some of the principles laid out insection 4, echoes the priorities emerging from the ongoing „T2V2‟ capital investmentdiscussions and is informed by discussions in the University Innovations Group.

The Gartner Hype Cycle framework is used as a basis for this analysis todemonstrate how the University of Exeter is adopting a portfolio which balancesemerging and mature technologies and focuses predominantly on technologies thatcan leverage high and moderate transformation to a higher education institution. ThisGartner Hype Cycle is effectively an amalgam of the technologies being adopted byor relevant to Higher Education institutes across the world. As such it provides aninvaluable competitor analysis.

The following two tables present the University of Exeter‟s portf olio of newtechnologies that we aim to embrace. The first table shows the likely maturity rate oftechnologies against their business value. The second table shows the life cycle oftechnologies (through the cycle of „hype‟ into maturity which Gartner have

articulated). The ringed entries show which technologies are already beingembraced, which are mature in their planning and which are being closely watched.

These two tables demonstrate the this strategy presents a balanced portfolio ofemerging, new and mature technologies.




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.

Initiative mature inplanning

Initiative on radar or inearly stages of planningInitiative already an active

project




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Initiative mature inplanning

Initiative on radar or inearly stages of planningInitiative already an active

project




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7. Supporting the University’s strategies In developing this IT Strategy careful attention has been paid to ensuring that IT contributes to theUniversity‟s core strategies. A number of key initiatives have been identified as delivering thegreatest benefit in supporting these University‟s strategies. These are articulated below, with anemphasis upon keeping existing systems operational. These priority projects are:

Maintaining Existing Systems

Enhance / maintain existing core systems (Aptos, Trent, SITS, Library, Scientia, BI,Supportworks, APMS/Kinetic, Raiser‟s Edge)

Refresh email, portal, voicemail, storage and printing hardware

Refresh of student-accessible PCs, video conferencing, other audio visual equipment

Lecture capture (enhance Echo 360 capacity) (supporting the Technology EnhancedLearning strategy)

Data Network Upgrade: planned tools to give resilience, security and enhancedmanagement tools

Research & Knowledge Transfer Build a University-wide high capacity data storage (backup and archive) facility to support

research (supporting Science Strategy in growing our research capability).

Continue the implementation of the high speed data network within and betweencampuses

Develop the Research Management Administration System (RMAS).

High Performance Computing facilities to support science research (supporting ScienceStrategy) (refreshing the current „Zen‟ supercomputer facility)

Digitisation of book stock and video/film library

Teaching, Learning and Student Experience Enhancement of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

Applications to support the Forum

Wireless network as part of high speed data network

Development of Portal application

Refresh online assessment system (supporting the Technology Enhanced Learningstrategy)

Refresh the VLE

Developing applications to support the operation of the Forum

Sustainability Continue to „virtualise‟ central computer servers to reduce power usage and capital refresh

costs

Move to lower power computing equipment (including „Thin client‟ PCs)

Embrace best practice for air cooling in data centre

Automating power-off on cluster PCs.

Internationalisation

Exploring deployment of applications to mobile phone

Identity and access management to ensure access to the right systems by the right

students and staff from any location.

Enablers




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Develop a Facilities Management system

Implement a Document and Workflow management system.

Remote access tools to support Homeworking and remote working

Data network tools for resilience, security and network management

Develop Service Orientated Architecture and other middleware solutions to improve dataflows and data integration

Collaboration / social computing tools

A full list of the IT projects can be found in Appendix D.

8. IT servicesOur customers across the University rely upon the day to day IT service to carry out their roles.As such, maintenance of these existing day to day IT services will be our priority. Briefly, theseservices are:

IT applications: maintaining the high availability of University-wide systems such as theweb, Email, SITS, APTOS etc. and implementing new systems.

IT Help Desk: for all enquiries, requests for service and incident reporting. Desktop Support: for equipment and system installation, desk-side incident resolution and

IT planning.

Learning Spaces management: for audio visual equipment support and set up, videoconferencing and telematics.

Telephony and data network services

Maintenance and development of underpinning hardware and software infrastructure

IT service continuity and Information Security




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9. RisksA full risk management process has been adopted to identify and manage the IT-related risks. Afull risk register can be found at (hyperlink here to IT risk register). The most significant IT-relatedrisks that are being managing are:

Ageing data and telephony infrastructure beginning to fail Virus infection onto network limits access to key systems

Loss or compromise of sensitive University information

Loss of power to the secondary data centre

Loss of key IT personnel due to severe weather or illness outbreak

Ability to continue to invest in or refresh IT infrastructure

10. FinanceThe IT projects identified in this strategy are under discussion in the University‟s Infrastructure

Strategy („T2V2‟) groups. This has led to a prioritisation of these IT projects, with a focus initiallyon maintaining and enhancing existing systems. The three level prioritisation exercise suggests afunding profile as follows:

Initiative 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13

Priority 1 projects &initiatives £1,540k £1,675k £3,285k £2,855k

Priority 2 projects &initiatives £532K £653k £848k £783k

Priority 3 projects &initiatives £611k £399k £919k £50k




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11. What we aspire to be and to deliverThe successful delivery of IT services across the University demands more than merely theimplementation of technology. The approach and attitude of IT staff is key to ensuring aprofessional service.

IT staff within ICSD7 and BISS8 are striving to deliver this professional and improving IT service tothe University and have set themselves the task of delivering a service that is known as:

Making a positive contribution to running & transforming the University….

Responsive to student and staff needs

Customer Focused and striving to deliver excellence to meet the needs of research,learning & support services

Highly available and Resilient so that the IT infrastructure becomes invisible

Embracing appropriate Innovation

Demonstrably Value for Money

Helping to drive through transformational business change to improve education and

research Outward looking, owning problems, proactive and communicating well

Empowering staff and students to make best use of their IT facilities

An exemplar to other Universities

Striving to lower the environmental impact of IT services

Delivered by trusted IT professionals who win your confidence

12. Governance and ProcessesThe delivery of this strategy will be based upon good governance. We will adopt best practice inadopting the Prince2 approach to project management and the ITIL quality framework for servicemanagement. IT Risks will be tracked and managed through our IT risk register. Informationsecurity and IT service continuity planning will form part of this governance.

This strategy is owned by the Project and Programme Board and will be revisited annually.

The IT Strategy can be summarised as follows:

Supporting the University achieve its goals by providing a quality and reliable IT service


delivered by trusted IT professionals … working within best-practice quality processes

7ICSD: Information Computing Systems Division

8BISS: Business information Systems & Support




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Appendix A: Mapping IT initiatives onto University strategies

Appendix B: ICSD Risk Register

Appendix C: Detailed funding to support this strategy

Appendix D: Prioritised IT projects

References and input:

University of Bristol IT Strategy June 2007Gartner – IT Strategy template 2007Gartner analyst input Jan-Martin Lowendahl„Developing and ICT Strategy: A manager‟s toolkit‟ – Preponderate consultantsPodcast by Tish Roberts, Director of the JISC e-Learning Programme 2008 (http://www.online-

conference.net/jisc/content2008/salmon/salmon.pdf) UKRDS : UK research data service feaasibility study. Exec Summary, issued Feb‟09 Nicholas G. Carr “Does IT Matter”

http://www.online-conference.net/jisc/content2008/salmon/salmon.pdf






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IT Strategy Summary Vs10