About ITS

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In March 2008, Information Technology Services (ITS) launched a new strategic plan to better align information technology efforts on campus with the priorities outlined by President Powers in his State of the University address.

For ITS – Consensus on a
New Direction

A necessary first step in addressing the IT needs and vision for our campus was one of self-examination. Led by ITS senior management, the strategic planning process resulted in decisions regarding the vision, mission, values, goals and strategic priorities for ITS. Input and research from students, faculty and staff across campus played an important role in determining our new direction. We wanted to know where we were succeeding, where we had room for improvement and where remained opportunities in the guise of challenges.

As a group that has undergone significant consolidation and reorganization in recent years, we needed to assess our current strengths without feeling bound to outmoded hierarchies and allegiances. The strategic planning process itself fostered communication and collaboration throughout the organization in an unprecedented way. As a result, the ITS Strategic Plan clearly states our collective commitment to quality and value; it is a consensus document that has deep support throughout the organization.

ITS Strategic Plan Overview

With a vision to enable the university to achieve its goals of excellence in research and education, the strategic plan focuses on providing innovative and robust IT products, services and solutions to our campus customers. In broad terms, the plan documents who we are, how we work together for the benefit of the university and what each member of ITS contributes to the quality of life on our campus.

The strategic plan's six goals offer a framework for determining priorities; for budgeting time, staff and funds; and for setting expectations within the organization and across campus. We hold ourselves accountable for achieving the following goals:

• Leadership:
  Provide a vision for positive change and share and exemplify best practices
• Operational Excellence:
  Provide superior, reliable and secure IT services at the best value
• Organizational Excellence:
  Cultivate an environment that values professional growth and career satisfaction
• Customer Focus:
  Foster customer success by understanding and anticipating their needs
• Innovation:
  Facilitate and develop creative solutions through new approaches, partnerships and research
• Transparency:
  Inspire trust and accountability through honest dialogue and clear decision making

We invite the campus community to mark our progress as we implement specific strategies and action plans. We look forward to the challenge of realizing these ambitions and working with others across campus to make strategic IT improvements for our world-class institution.

For IT on Campus – Alignment with the University's Mission and Goals

Our next step then is to partner with others in the university's academic and administrative units to review campus-wide IT activities, issues and priorities. To begin, we need a clearly defined picture of IT on campus that includes identifying all current resources dedicated to IT and all existing IT-related services.

As we engage in open, honest dialogue about the role of IT in the teaching and research mission of the university we will, no doubt, have points of disagreement and conflicting priorities. Nonetheless, it is vital that the IT community on campus come together to identify the services and technologies that add value to the university, now and into the future. By doing so, we can play a significant role in enabling the university to go further in fulfilling it's potential as the best public university of our time.