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UWM IT Review SummaryPresentation to UTR’s

Bruce Maas

Interim CIO

8-11-2005

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UWM IT Review Summary• Letter with link to full report to campus released August

1, 2005 from Provost Rita Cheng• From the original letter to the campus community the

purpose of the review was to “…examine the alignment of technology services with the university mission. To do that, we should examine the organization and structure of information technology services in the Office of Information Technology and Information and Media Technologies”. Provost John Wanat 7/29/04. – Determine if IT support is optimally organized– Examine that Operations are economical, efficient and effective

to achieve the core mission of the unit and campus

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Provost Cheng’s Cover Letter• “One of the purposes…was to prepare for

a search for a permanent Chief Information Officer”.

• “I am asking Interim Director Bruce Maas to begin to immediately implement these recommendations”.

• “…I am also asking that there be special efforts to address the prevalent themes…”

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Prevalent Themes• 1. The pressing need for the campus to

prioritize proposed major IT projects.• 2. The need for I&MT to meet the campus IT

needs without continually adding on to, rather than replacing, existing structures and skills.

• 3. The need for I&MT to carefully balance responsibility to meet current campus needs while also evaluating and preparing the campus to use appropriate emerging technologies. Foresight is valuable, but not more valuable than ensuring the highest quality of services currently in use.

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Cover Letter Summary• “Well –planned coordination and support of

technology across all campus units is imperative in a period of increasing budgetary constraints”.

• I&MT– “pivotal to…maximize benefits”

• Entire Campus– “must be unified and cooperative”

• Core Service Team Approach– “Productive…continued…expanded”

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The Nine Bullet Points• 1. Prioritization of IT Projects and Expenditures• 2. Staff Training and Development• 3. Governance• 4. Organizational Structure• 5. The relationship between centralized and

decentralized IT• 6. Customer Service• 7. Equipment Replacement• 8. Matching staff assignments to areas of greatest need• 9. Potential for outsourcing of printing operations

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What does this mean to I&MT?• 1. Support for the need for the campus to make tough

decisions on prioritization. • 2. A call for campus cooperation in these efforts.• 3. Suggestions provided by the IT Review Committee

serve as our road map• 4. We have support for funding for Server and other

capital replacement.• 5. We have support for our project management and

enterprise approaches to systems.• 6. Reinforcement of the importance of many of the

initiatives we had already begun in the 04-05 fiscal year

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What is the Role of UTR’s?• UTR mission, vision, values?• Expectations, especially communication• Balancing unit and campus responsibilities• Professional development needs• Relationship to other governance groups• Meeting format and activities?• How can the CIO and Provost help UTR’s

be effective partners?

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Important Concluding Statements• “If something is added, does something else need to be removed?

Or is the new techology more efficient, enabling the campus to do more with available resources? If this is not possible, how do we allocate or redeploy the resources needed to support new systems and services?...

• The CIO, I&MT leaders, UTRs, IT-related governance groups, and campus leaders need to stay abreast of national IT trends in higher education, such as an increasing focus on security issues, business process reengineering, and cost containment strategies…

• Taking emerging technologies, national trends, UW System IT Initiatives, and campus priorities into account, UWM must ensure that technology decisions are made wisely”.

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Next Steps• Talking through the report with

stakeholders, listening, considering…• Creation of a strategy• Building I&MT response into the

campus IT strategic planning effort with guidance from governance

• Execution of the plan• Asking “How are we doing?”