CIO Briefing Provides Updates to Campus IT Staff

October 23, 2007

On Monday, September 24, 2007, Brian Roberts, CIO and Vice President for Information Technology, held a briefing for campus IT staff. The intent was to outline activities surrounding strategic planning for IT at the university, to encourage a two-way conversation about issues and concerns related to technology here on campus, and to provide updates on various IT projects.

Overview

Roberts focused his general remarks in the following areas:

• Alignment - In his State of the University Address on September 19, 2007, President Powers outlined his vision and priorities for the university. Because the university’s financial resources are impacted with each legislative session, the president is considering new ways to better align the university’s budget and decision-making with its mission and goals. Roberts stressed that it is important for the IT community as a whole to be aware of the president’s priorities and consider how technology products, services, projects and plans reflect his new direction.
• Projects - IT projects reach across campus and require coordination, collaboration and transparency to meet the needs of customers and be successful, said Roberts. He encouraged the technical community to allow him to speak for IT on campus by addressing concerns about reinventing the wheel, efficient allocation of resources and keeping the decision making process for IT projects on campus transparent.
• Value Proposition - Roberts stressed that with the president’s focus on budgetary concerns, deans and colleges will be thinking about finances. IT will be part of those considerations, making it extremely important to clearly articulate how IT projects bring value to the campus community.
Governance -  Administrative computing on campus is an example of the type of collective decision-making that must become a hallmark for the university’s IT community. Clearer definition of IT governance will lead to strategic decision-making for IT across campus and increase IT alignment with the vision and priorities outlined by President Powers.

In addition to his remarks about IT on campus, Roberts shared news about the initial work of the ITS Projects Office to identify and document existing and possible ITS projects and begin implementing a clear process for selecting and managing them. He also outlined the direction and goals of the ITS strategic planning initiative launching in October. Roberts intends for this effort on the part of ITS senior management to result in a clear articulation of ITS roles, responsibilities and first principles resulting in better alignment of information technology efforts on campus with the priorities outlined by President Powers.

Updates

Roberts also provided updates on a variety of projects and initiatives of interest to the campus IT community including:

• Establishing a new Data Center in Austin.
• Investigating new options for student e-mail.
• The first ITS Faculty Summit held on July 12, 2007.
• Additions to UTS 165, UT Systems Information Resources Use and Security Policy.
• The Encore Initiative which is focusing on academic computing.

Archived Webcast

To listen to the CIO Briefing in its entirety go to: e-rtsp://146.6.74.12:7070/cio_briefing.mp4

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