IT Strategic Plan 2007-2010 Final

1. ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY Gl adl y we L ear n an d T each INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIC PLAN 2007 - 2010 Prepared by the Campus Technology Policy & Planning Council Presented to the Presidents Cabinet April 12, 2007 O f f i c e o f t h e A s s o c i a t e V i c e P r e s i d e n t , A c a d e m i c I n f o r m a t i o n Te c h n o l o g y 3 0 9 . 4 3 8 . 2 4 3 0 w w w. c t s g . i l s t u . e d u

2. Table of Contents Introduction Executive Summary Vision, Mission, Guiding Principles, and Premises for IT Funding .........................................................6 Strategic IT Goals ................................................................................................................................... 7 Background The Top Ten IT Issues Confronting Higher Education ........................................................................10 Illinois States Benchmark Institutions .................................................................................................. 14 Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 15 Vision, Mission, Guiding Principles and Premises for IT Funding Vision ..................................................................................................................................................... 16 Mission .................................................................................................................................................. 16 Guiding Principles .................................................................................................................................16 Premises for IT Funding ........................................................................................................................ 17 Strategic IT Goals and Action Items Goal 1: Support Illinois States aspiration to be the rst choice public institution in Illinois by developing best practices in testing, implementing, and utilizing technology to enhance high quality teaching and learning, research and creative activity, and professional service. .................................................. 18 Goal 2: Base IT decisions on coordinated planning, sustainable funding, and assessment. .................. 19 Goal 3: Promote excellent client-centered IT services that balance centralized and departmental IT support. .................................................................................................................................................. 20 Goal 4: Provide reliable, secure, and capable network and server access that supports the Universitys academic and administrative systems. ................................................................................................... 21 Goal 5: Support the Universitys administrative information needs. .....................................................22 Financing Information Technology at Illinois State Premises .................................................................................................................................................24 Recommendations .................................................................................................................................24 Appendix A: Charge from Presidents Cabinet Appendix B: A History of IT Governance, Organization, Leadership, and Planning at Illinois State The 1980s .............................................................................................................................................27 Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 2 o f 51

3. The 1990s .............................................................................................................................................27 The 2000s .............................................................................................................................................30 Appendix C: The Current State of IT on Campus and a Comparison with Benchmark Universi- ties IT Organization .....................................................................................................................................31 IT Funding .............................................................................................................................................35 IT Personnel .......................................................................................................................................... 37 IT Services Provided Centrally .............................................................................................................. 38 IT Services Provided by Non-central Units .......................................................................................... 44 Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 47 Appendix D: Campus Technology Policy & Planning Council Presidents Cabinet Charge Creating the Tech Council ........................................................................48 Structure of the Tech Council ............................................................................................................... 48 Members of the Tech Council .............................................................................................................. 50 Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 3 o f 51

4. Introduction At the outset it is important to clarify how the term information technology (abbreviated IT) is used in this report. For the purposes of this Plan, IT denotes the technologies used for processing, storing, and transporting information in digital form1 in support of teaching and learning, research and creative activity, and administration of the university. Even within the boundaries created by this narrow denition, the impact of IT on higher education continues to increase in importance every year for everyone on campus. Almost all of the literature on IT in higher education has the same general message about the increasing importance of IT planning, coordination, and collaboration. Here are two examples: IT continues to have a profound impact on higher education, inuencing not only almost every aspect of a students life ... but also almost every campus function. The evolving global digital network has fundamentally changed the nature of our communications, across campus and around the world. The rapid advances in processing power, data-storage capacity, bandwidth, and software development have revolutionized research, teaching, and learning. And our NetGen students, who have grown up with technology and have never known life without the Internet, have expectations for IT access, mobility, and convenience that have huge implications for teaching, learning, and institutional service.2 Information technology is not a hierarchical and independent functional area of responsibility. Technology is much more of a spider web, creating and allowing interdependencies among existing structures, and it can potentially be used to break down these often dysfunctional silos on campus. Whereas higher education has historically been organized in vertical administrative structures or silos, technologyas a cross-cutting functioncreates horizontal interdependencies that require administrators to manage these campus-wide functions.3 The expanding impact of IT on just about every aspect of what we do at a university requires strategic thinking and continuous planning. The University has not looked strategically at IT for at least twelve years; in IT terms that is a very long time. What you are reading is the product of a campus-wide process to once again think strategically about IT at Illinois State and to put together both an IT Plan and a process for regularly updating that Plan. Here is the path taken by the Campus Technology Policy & Planning Council to produce this document. In the spring semester of 2004, the Presidents Cabinet approved a reorganization of the governance structure of Illinois States central IT organization, creating the Campus Technology Policy & Planing 1 The language of this denition is taken from Carr, Nicholas G., IT Doesnt Matter, Harvard Business Review, May 2003, pp. 512. 2 Golden, Cynthia, ed., Cultivating Careers: Professional Development for Campus IT. 2006, EDUCAUSE e-Book, p viii. 3 Hawkins, Brian L., A Framework for the CIO Position, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 6 (November/December 2004): 94103. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 4 o f 51

5. Council (hereafter, Tech Council). This was done in order to increase the information ow from the end- users of IT to those responsible for delivering IT services to each of the areas on campus. In the spring semester of 2005, the Cabinet charged the Tech Council with creating a Strategic IT Plan for the Univer- sity in accordance with Action Items in Educating Illinois 2003-2010. That spring, the Tech Council began the strategic planning process, reading IT Strategic Plans at other universities, particularly the schools in our Benchmark Group 4, and researching literature on IT issues in higher education to nd examples of best practices in higher education IT. In the fall 2005 semester, an initial query across campus identied some of the IT issues important to faculty, staff, and students. With information from multiple sources, the Tech Council rst drafted an IT Strategic Plan. Along the way, members of the Tech Council consulted with various members of the campus community, formally and informally, on the IT strategies important to them. The result of that two-year exercise is this document: Information Technology Strategic Plan for 2007- 2010. First, and foremost, the purpose of this document is to establish Illinois States vision for IT in all areas on campus, its mission to the university community, and the guiding principles under which IT services are delivered to the campus, as well as an initial set of strategic goals and action items. A secondary purpose of this document is to offer both a historic look at IT governance, organization, leadership, and planning, as well as a comparison of IT at Illinois State with as many of its eight Benchmark Group schools as possible. The plan of this document is as follows. The Executive Summary contains statements on the campuss IT Vision, Mission, and Guiding Principles, a set of premises underlying the funding of IT, and descriptions of the Strategic IT Goals that make up the principle components of the IT Plan. Some Background information used by the Tech Council to prepare the Plan is next. A more detailed presentation of the Goals and Action Items follows. A more detailed statement outlining the Tech Councils recommendations on how to nance IT at Illinois State nishes the main body of the report. The four Appendixes contain material on the charge to the Tech Council to complete this Plan, a look at the history of IT governance, organization, leadership, and planning at Illinois State, a comparison of IT services offered at ISU and at our Benchmark schools, and information about the Tech Council. 4 Those universities are Ball State University, Bowling Green University, Clemson University, Miami University of Ohio, University of California at Riverside, University of California at Santa Cruz, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 5 o f 51

6. Executive Summary Vision, Mission, Guiding Principles, and Premises for IT Funding Vision: Delivering high quality IT services that support distinctiveness and excellence across the University. Mission:The mission of IT units at Illinois State University is to empower faculty and students in their pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning, research and creative activities, and public service, as well as to facilitate the efcient administration of the university. This is accomplished by following published best practices for IT organizations, by developing and implementing appropriate policies and procedures, by building and maintaining the necessary infrastructure, by investing in appropriate hardware and software, and by providing for a trained, service-oriented, support staff. Guiding Principles: IT initiatives enable faculty, students, administration, and select programs, to attain distinctiveness and excellence. Coordinated annual IT planning in compliance with all campus-wide policies and procedures, allows for careful IT resource utilization and avoids unnecessary duplication of IT services. Excellent service is the top priority of all campus IT professionals. IT professionals will be distributed throughout the University to provide services tailored to local constituent needs. The University provides strong, consistent support for IT professionals. The security of personal information and secure access to the campus network and Internet for all is essential. Appropriate policies and procedures and maintaining up to date network infrastructure, hardware and software are key components to IT security and protection from hackers and e-mail and Internet-borne viruses, worms, and Trojans. The use of IT makes working, teaching, learning, research and creative activity more accessible to persons with disabilities. Premises for IT Funding: Investment in IT is an institutional responsibility, opportunity, and challenge, requiring attention at the Presidential level. IT decisions can take place at the local, intermediate, and university level. This includes planning, priority setting, funding, and assessment. Some IT services are best provided at the local level, especially when clients have a working knowledge of the specialized hardware or software needed to Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 6 o f 51

7. support their work. Other IT services, notably those that can benet from quantity discounts or economies of scale, scope, or experience, are best provided at the central level. Certain standards and minimum specications may need to be set to be able to realize the cost savings from quantity discounts or from economies of scale, scope, or experience. Costs of unit-oriented or unit-enhanced IT services should be borne by the unit. This may include specialized classroom technologies or ofce technology that goes beyond the basic choices offered by the University. Local IT budgets are needed to meet these services and provide exibility to the units. Planning for the use of variance funds for IT-related initiatives is an essential part of IT budget management at both the local and university levels. Strategic IT Goals Goal 1: Support Illinois States aspiration to be the rst choice public institution in Illinois by developing best practices in testing, implementing, and utilizing technology to enhance high quality teaching and learning, research and creative activity, and professional service. Description of Goal Illinois State has a long-standing tradition of being in the forefront of pedagogical leadership and innovation. By identifying this goal, we commit to building on this tradition to use twenty-rst century tools to facilitate excellence in all areas of the universitys mission. College graduates of the twenty-rst century must have a depth and breadth of experience and facility with computers and other mediating technologies unimaginable 15 years ago; scientists, scholars, artists, and educators must adapt, adopt, and develop computing and related technologies as they develop and disseminate new knowledge in their classrooms, seminars, studios, and labs. Goal 2: Base IT decisions on coordinated planning, sustainable funding, and assessment. Description of Goal The rapidly developing world of information technology presents both opportunities and challenges. The academic environment provides opportunities to test and utilize changing technologies. At the same time, the university is challenged to identify which technologies are appropriate for the university to pursue when faced with limited budgets. All too often IT is forced to rely on money from unexpected sources - grant funding, variance dollars, funds left over at the end of the year - to make basic IT purchases. Little is left to fund innovations. A continuous IT planning process can assist colleges, departments, schools or units in being prepared to make the best use of scarce nancial and human resources. Assessing the impact of IT spending helps the university monitor the allocation of nite IT funds. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 7 o f 51

8. Goal 3: Promote excellent client-centered IT service that balances centralized and departmental IT support. Description of Goal IT transcends the traditional, vertical, administrative structures found in all universities. Technology development in one area can affect other areas that may appear supercially to be unconnected. IT is more like a spider web, creating and allowing interdependencies among existing structures (Hawkins, 2004). Thus, decision making regarding IT policy, support, and expenditures cannot be made in isolation from a wide spectrum of information and input. Having a single locus of responsibility for IT on campus will provide the broader perspective necessary to assure the coordination of IT services and limit duplication of technology resources and services. It is important to distinguish between our current decentralized IT support model and a distributed one. In a decentralized model, IT support staff report to, and are evaluated by, a local supervisor on their ability to meet local IT needs while adhering to local IT budgets, policies, and procedures. In a distributed model, IT support staff report to the central IT organization but work and have ofces, where practical, with the units they support, and are evaluated by both with regard to their ability to meet local IT needs while adhering to local and central IT budgets, policies, and procedures. The university community remains committed to an IT support model in which IT staff live with their clients but we recognize the need for more clearly dened roles for local units in a broader context of centrally-provided IT services. All distributed user support staff need to be accountable to their constituents and transparent in their practices. This distributed IT support model must facilitate cooperation, reward collaboration and require communication among all IT staff. Goal 4: Provide reliable, secure, and capable network and server access that supports the Universitys academic and administrative systems. Description of Goal Reliable, secure access to theUniversity network and servers is essential to every facet of living and working at Illinois State. In an age of increasing identity theft, the security and condentiality of personal and business data is of paramount importance. There are two key components needed to protectthe Univer- sity systems from unauthorizednetwork access andto protect the condentiality of data stored on servers from hackers and e-mail and Internet-borne viruses, worms, and Trojans: Appropriate policies and procedures determining access to the network,serversanddata must be written and communicated to the university community; the hardware and software that make up thesystems themselvesmust be maintained regularly and expanded as demand for access grows. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 8 o f 51

9. Goal 5: Support the Universitys administrative information needs. Description of Goal Administrative information needs are generally described as the acquisition, storage, processing, and distribution of data that supports the business functions of the University. More specically, administrative information needs include the development and maintenance of systems that are capable of transforming raw data into information that can be used as the foundation for the University's business decisions such as resource allocation, capacity and nancial planning, and selecting alternative courses of action. The primary purpose of administrative information systems is to provide operational support for the universitys business functions. These business functions include: student records administration, recruiting, admissions, advisement, nancial aid, registration, grade collection and reporting, transcripts, payroll, personnel management, alumni/development, parking, building key management, event management, student housing assignments, Redbird debit card administration, scal accounting processes, and sales, payment, and distribution of ISU products and services to purchasers. In addition, these administrative information systems serve to generate analytical information so management can evaluate the operational efciencies and effectiveness of policy options. The goal is to provide administrative information where and when it is needed in a format that is useful for the administration and management of the Universitys business functions and for administrative decision making across the University. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 9 o f 51

10. Background The Top Ten IT Issues Confronting Higher Education For the last seven years, EDUCAUSE (a nonprot association whose mission is to promote the intelligent use of information technology in higher education) has taken the pulse of IT leaders at higher education institutions across the country to nd out what IT issues were most affecting their blood pressure5. The rst of four questions asked is Which of the IT-related issues [listed on the survey] are most important for your campus to resolve for its strategic success? The list below summarizes the top ten responses from IT professionals at 628 schools across the country and compares each response to its rating in the 2005 survey. 1. Security and Identity Management (up from #2) 2. Funding IT (down from #1) 3. Administrative/ERP/Information Systems (unchanged) 4. Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (not on the 2005 list) 5. Faculty Development, Support, and Training (up from #6) 6. Infrastructure management for IT (down from #5) 7. Strategic Planning for IT (down from #4) 8. Governance, Organization, and Leadership for IT (unchanged) 9. E-learning/Distributed Teaching and Learning (down from #7) 10. Web Systems and Services (unchanged) To understand some of the strategic Goals and Action Items recommended in this Plan, it will be helpful to look a little more closely at the issues on this list. That Security and Identity Management is the number one issue is not surprising given the increased number of universities that have had to notify hundreds of thousands of faculty, staff, students, and alumni about potential identity theft resulting from a breach of electronic data les.6 In 2006 alone, 65 universities have reported 83 incidents of lost, stolen, or hacked personal information. These incidents lead to the exposure of 2,683,059 records containing at least one type of sensitive and/or personal information.7 The 5 Current IT Issues Survey Report, 2006, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 29 (2), 2006, pp 12 - 30. 6 On December 18, 2006, The New York Times reported that, by one estimate, over 100 million records had been compromised since the infa- mous ChoicePoint breach in 2004. See An Ominous Milestone: 100 Million Data Leaks, The New York Times, December 18, 2006, by Tom Zeller Jr. 7 Dodge, Adam, 2007. Educational Security Incidents (ESI) Year in Review 2006, p. 5. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 10 o f 51

11. amount of records thus exposed ranged from 62 (University of Virginia) to 800,000 (UCLA). In Illinois, Western Illinois University (240,000 records) and Northwestern University (17,000 records) have appeared on this list in 2006. While not all data breaches occur at universities, those institutions are much more likely to be the target of would-be cyber-criminals because of the more decentralized, open culture of those organizations. As a result, many universities are greatly increasing their analysis and planning for ways to protect critical systems that store sensitive data. Illinois State has removed the use of social security numbers and is working to comply with the Payment Card Industry guidelines for transmission and storage of credit card numbers in order to eliminate the potential exposure of personal data EDUCAUSE reports that concern over how to fund IT has been the rst or second issue in all seven Top Ten Issue surveys. Funding IT is an especially keen challenge for universities when the demand for IT services rises while state funding declines or remains unchanged, as it has in Illinois from FY 2002 to FY 2006. Research by Goldstein and Caruso 8 offer four practices that facilitate successful IT funding efforts: Aligning funding and institutional priorities Creating scal exibility to support innovation Constructing and facilitating a structured and transparent IT budget process Making the CIO a member of the institutions cabinet and budget committee. The EDUCAUSE Core Data Survey (discussed below) reports that nearly 70% of the institutions re- sponding to that survey reported having implemented or being in the process of implementing an [En- terprise Resource Planning] ERP system.9 Administrative/ERP/Information Systems have been ranked in the top three issues critical for an institutions strategic success during the past seven surveys because, in part, of the number of human and nancial resources that need to be devoted to undertaking a change in these systems. The fourth issue, Disaster Recovery, has not been on the the list for the last seven years. It is not surprising to see it appear high on this years list after the IT disasters that were the result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. This interest has led to an increase in the number of business impact analyses undertaken by universities. While hurricanes are of little concern to our land-locked university, tornadoes are an ever- present possibility for Illinois State. This IT Plan underscores the need for a revitalized disaster recovery plan for all IT units on campus. Faculty development, support, and training rose a bit in this years survey over 2005, but it has been in the top ve list for six of the last seven surveys. New technologies used in instruction, (podcasting, wikis, and 8 Goldstein, P. and J. Caruso, Roadmap: Information Technology Funding in Higher Education, EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, De- cember 2004. As cited in Current IT Issues Survey Report, 2006, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 29 (2), 2006, p. 24. 9 Current IT Issues Survey Report, 2006, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 29 (2), 2006, p. 24. Examples of companies that develop ERP systems include SCT Banner, SAP, and PeopleSoft. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 11 o f 51

12. blogs), the near ubiquity of mobile computing devices (cell phones, PDAs, and laptops), and issues sur- rounding intellectual property rights and digital rights management topped the list of IT trends affecting faculty interest in support and development. Illinois States strategic challenge is to support faculty with the resources needed to explore new technologies for their courses, research and creative activity, and their academic discipline. Managing IT infrastructure in todays higher education environment requires a careful balancing of cost, manageability, exibility, stability, security, and performance. 10 Balancing all this while keeping up with rapid changes in the technology underlying the network, telephony, and servers makes for quite a tall order. Strategically, ISU needs to pay close attention to monitoring and managing its IT infrastructure; implementing regular replacement of its hardware and software; providing redundancy for mission-critical systems; planning for growth in bandwidth and storage; providing wired and wireless connectivity; being able to move quickly to the use of Voice over IP (VoIP) telephony; and being able to respond to federal and state laws that affect IT (such as the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) and the Payment Card Industry Secure Payments guidelines). The seventh issue, IT Strategic Planning, is of obvious concern to Illinois State. As noted in the Introduction, the campus has not looked strategically at IT in more than a dozen years. In this we join many other institutions that have made IT strategic planning a regularly recurring, campus-wide activity. IT governance, organization, and leadership clearly supports all the other top IT issues. Without strong leadership and a visible role in the institution, IT may watch from the sidelines until there is a reason such as a disaster for involvement.11 EDUCAUSE lists a number of critical questions that need to be ad- dressed regarding IT governance, organization, and leadership, most of which stem from an assumption that the campus already has a single locus of authority for IT. These questions include: Does the CIO communicate with academic and administrative leadership? Can the CIO articulate the universitys vision, mission, and goals? Is the IT strategic plan written to support the institutions plan? How is the effectiveness of IT measured? How well does the institutions IT advisory structure work? How is the campus developing future IT leaders? Is the IT organizational structure nimble enough to anticipate and respond to client needs? The ninth issue spotlights the importance of an institutional plan for expansion and support of e-learning and distributed teaching and learning. Illinois State needs to be comfortable with the role of e-learning in the curriculum and able to provide the technology to facilitate distributed teaching and learning activities. 10 Op cit., p. 25 (emphasis added) 11 Op cit., p 27. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 12 o f 51

13. Chart 1: IT Issues Rated Critical for Institutions Strategic Success. PowerPoint slide from Top Five IT Trends in Higher Educa- tion, 20012006 based on results from the 2006 EDUCAUSE Current Issues Survey. When it comes to the tenth-ranked issue from this survey, Illinois State is in a good position, having ad- dressed many of the issues related to Web systems and services. The iCampus portal is an exemplar of how administrative data can be harnessed and delivered over the Web to provide access to important data rele- vant to students, faculty and staff. The HR Web site for new job applicants is another example of how external Web sites (People Admin) can gather data and integrate it with existing campus systems. Chart 1 shows the relative importance of the top ve IT issues from this survey over the last six years. It helps to show that, of the top ve issues in this years survey, two of them Security & Identity Management and Funding IT clearly dominate the remaining three issues in their relative importance in 2006. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 13 o f 51

14. Illinois States Benchmark Institutions With the publication of this IT Strategic Plan, Illinois State will join the schools in our Benchmark Group that have a stand-alone IT strategic plan or have a campus strategic plan that includes strategies and di- rections for IT. Those eight schools are listed in the table below. Those known to have a stand-alone IT Strategic Plans are shown in bold. Ball State University Bowling Green University Clemson University Miami University of Ohio University of California, University of California, Riverside Santa Cruz Univ. North Carolina, University of Wisconsin, Greensboro Milwaukee Each of these universities took different approaches to the problem of how to think strategically about IT and plan for its use. Some of these schools have been at this since 2000; others created their rst IT strategic plan in 2005. The most important lesson learned by the Tech Council in its review of these plans is that one size does not t all. An institutions IT plan, like its overall strategic plan, must reect the institutions culture, current state of IT, funding model(s), and governance structure. Most of the issues raised in those schools' IT Plans nonetheless reect the issues raised in the EDUCAUSE "Current IT Issues" surveys. For purposes of comparison (see Appendix C), information about the IT services offered at these schools was obtained from the 2005 EDUCAUSE Core Data Survey. The 2005 EDUCAUSE Core Data Survey is the fourth such survey asking (primarily) EDUCAUSE member campuses to respond to questions in ve different areas in an attempt to generate reliable data about information technology practices, structures, and expenditures at comparable institutions for benchmarking purposes. 12 A total of 938 institutions completed the 2005 Survey. Of the eight schools in our Benchmark Group, six submitted responses to the 2005 Survey. 13 The results of that comparison are partially summarized in Chart 2 below. The chart shows the relative level of IT funding, stafng, and some services at Illinois State as compared to our Benchmark Group of schools. This chart sets an index value of 50 to the median value (unless otherwise noted) of each measure at the Benchmark schools. The corresponding value of each measure at ISU is calculated relative to that index value of 50. For example, a median central IT budget of$19.8m at our benchmark group schools is given an index value of 50 and ISU's central IT budget of$12.2m is given an index value of 31.14 12 Hawkins, Brian L., Julia A. Rudy, and Robert Nicolich, Fiscal Year 2004 Summary Report, EDUCAUSE Core Data Service, p. v. 13 Bowling Green and the University of California at Riverside did not completed the 2004 or 2005 Surveys. 14 $12.2m is 62% of $19.8m and 31 is 62% of 50. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 14 o f 51

15. 100 80 60 Benchmark Group Median = 50 46 40 31 30 29 27 25 20 20 17 7 2 0 Funding Funding Funding* IT Staff IT Staff Class w/ Class w/ Internet High Perf Help Desk (dollars) (percent) (per head) Comp. Compr DocCam Band. Band. (Hours) * Mean values compared. Chart 2: A Comparison of IT Funding, Stafng, and Services at Illinois State with its Benchmark Schools. Median value of measure at Benchmark Group schools = 50; Relative value at ISU shown in red. Summary As Illinois State once again turns its attention to IT strategic planning, it is useful to learn about the IT issues confronting other colleges and universities. Several of the top ten issues listed in the most recent EDUCAUSE Current IT Issues Survey are also important at Illinois State. These include: IT funding; computer security and identity management; disaster preparedness: faculty development, support, and training; and, of course, strategic planning for IT. Similar issues are on the to do lists of the schools in our Benchmark Group. In comparison to these schools, ISU lies below the median value for every measure of IT funding, stafng, and services shown in Chart 2. With this environmental scan serving as background information, the Tech Council developed a more specic set of goals and actions tailored to Illi- nois States IT environment. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 15 o f 51

16. Vision, Mission, Guiding Principles and Premises for IT Funding Vision Delivering high quality IT services that support distinctiveness and excellence across the University. Mission The mission of IT units at Illinois State University is to empower faculty and students in their pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning, research and creative activities, and public service, as well as to facilitate the efcient administration of the university. This is accomplished by following published best practices for IT organizations, by developing and implementing appropriate policies and procedures, by building and maintaining the necessary infrastructure, by investing in appropriate hardware and software, and by providing for a trained, service-oriented, support staff. Guiding Principles IT initiatives enable faculty, students, administration, and select programs, to attain distinctiveness and excellence. Coordinated annual IT planning in compliance with all campus-wide policies and procedures, allows for careful IT resource utilization and avoids unnecessary duplication of IT services. Excellent service is the top priority of all campus IT professionals. IT professionals will be distributed throughout the University to provide services tailored to local constituent needs. The University provides strong, consistent support for IT professionals. The security of personal information and secure access to the campus network and Internet for all is essential. Appropriate policies and procedures and maintaining up to date network infrastructure, hardware and software are key components to IT security and protection from hackers and e-mail and Internet-borne viruses, worms, and Trojans. The use of IT makes working, teaching, learning, research and creative activity more accessible to persons with disabilities. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 16 o f 51

17. Premises for IT Funding Investment in IT is an institutional responsibility, opportunity, and challenge, requiring attention at the Presidential level. IT decisions can take place at the local, intermediate, and university level. This includes planning, priority setting, funding, and assessment. Some IT services are best provided at the local level, especially when clients have a working knowledge of the specialized hardware or software needed to support their work. Other IT services, notably those that can benet from quantity discounts or economies of scale, scope, or experience, are best provided at the central level. Standards and minimum specications will need to be set to be able to realize the cost savings from quantity discounts or from economies of scale, scope, or experience. Having standards and minimum specications does not imply a one size ts all approach to the purchase of IT hardware and software. Costs of unit-oriented or unit-enhanced IT services should be borne by the unit. This may include specialized classroom technologies or ofce technology that goes beyond the basic choices offered by the University. Local IT budgets are needed to meet these services and provide exibility to the units. Planning for the use of variance funds for IT-related initiatives is an essential part of IT budget management at both the local and university levels. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 17 o f 51

18. Strategic IT Goals and Action Items Goal 1: Support Illinois States aspiration to be the rst choice public institution in Illinois by developing best practices in testing, implementing, and utilizing technology to enhance high quality teaching and learning, research and creative activity, and professional service. Description of Goal Illinois State has a long-standing tradition of being in the forefront of pedagogical leadership and innovation. By identifying this goal, we commit to building on this tradition to use twenty-rst century tools to facilitate excellence in all areas of the universitys mission. College graduates of the twenty-rst century must have a depth and breadth of experience and facility with computers and other mediating technologies unimaginable 15 years ago; scientists, scholars, artists, and educators must adapt, adopt, and develop computing and related technologies as they develop and disseminate new knowledge in their classrooms, seminars, studios, and labs. Action Items 1. Expand the role of the Tech Council to include responsibility for IT research and development in ways that foster continuous innovation in the use and application of new and emerging information technologies. a. Propose an initial budget for support of innovative IT ideas. b. Devise a set of procedures for seeking and approving RfPs for innovative ideas. c. Devise a method of assessing the efcacy of the supporting innovative IT ideas. d. Communicate the results of ISU-funded research into the innovative uses of IT in higher ed. 2. Provide technology-related support for University learning initiatives to support high-quality teaching and learning. 3. Expand the effective use of the course management software from WebCT (now Blackboard Learning Systems) to support high quality teaching, learning, and assessment initiatives. 4. Install, maintain, and update appropriate teaching technologies in all appropriate classrooms and library facilities. 5. Provide faculty, staff, and students with Web-based IT training options available 24/7. 6. Provide access to walk-up IT help and personal computer repair in the Tech Zone, The Univer- sity Computer Help Desk, and possible other campus locations. 7. Provide software licensing and management to ensure that faculty, staff, and students have the tools they need while minimizing costs and avoiding duplication. 8. Provide faculty with a basic computing system that is replaced (at their discretion) at an interval appropriate to its use. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 18 o f 51

19. 9. Promote IT literacy and understanding among faculty, staff, and students by providing resources to enhance the integration of IT-related topics, including ethics, into the curriculum, co- curriculum, and student life. 10. Facilitate the adoption of exemplary uses of IT to support teaching and training by hiring addi- tional instructional developers whose job it is to help faculty and staff apply fundamental principles of instruction to the use of IT in courses or in training. a. CTLT will provide coordination and facilitate training and communication among instructional developers housed centrally (in CTLT) or within departments, colleges, or divisions. Goal 2: Base IT decisions on coordinated planning, sustainable funding, and assessment. Description of Goal The rapidly developing world of information technology presents both opportunities and challenges. The academic environment provides opportunities to test and utilize changing technologies. At the same time, the university is challenged to identify which technologies are appropriate for the university to pursue when faced with limited budgets. All too often IT is forced to rely on money from unexpected sources - grant funding, variance dollars, funds left over at the end of the year - to make basic IT purchases. Little is left to fund innovations. A continuous IT planning process can assist colleges, departments, schools or units in being prepared to make the best use of scarce nancial and human resources. Assessing the impact of IT spending helps the university monitor the allocation of nite IT funds. Action Items 1. Develop an on-going IT strategic planning process that updates the campus IT plan once a year. This ongoing IT planning will involve faculty, staff, and students through their participation in the Campus Technology Policy & Planning Councils constituent and technical advisory committees. 2. Create a process to systematically determine and respond to IT-client needs and initiatives. a. Gather data pertaining to IT client needs from an IT Client Survey as well as from other campus sources. b. Include questions related to distance education as part of the survey. c. Tie the data gathered to the annual IT Strategic Planning process. d. Communicate the results of this process to the university community. e. Establish baseline measures and create benchmarking criteria. f. Assess the effectiveness of this process annually. 3. Assign responsibility for coordination of all IT communications. a. Hire or assign responsibility to someone who will, in part, be charged with soliciting, analyz- ing, and communicating the results of the IT Client Satisfaction Survey each year. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 19 o f 51

20. b. Develop a budget for that position that covers salary, ofce, and survey expenses. 4. Develop criteria for allocating/requesting funds for IT initiatives. Use an analysis of the expected benets and costs, collaboration and communication with the campus community during development and implementation, and an assessment of its impact. 5. Colleges, departments, schools, and units are encouraged to create an IT plan that is in alignment with the campus IT plan (and Educating Illinois) and local client needs and evaluate the progress being made on the local IT plan, revise as necessary, and disseminate the results annually. 6. Establish divisional and major unit accounts to ensure regular and timely recapitalization of equipment to encourage life-cycle budgeting. Goal 3: Promote excellent client-centered IT services that balance centralized and departmental IT support. Description of Goal IT transcends the traditional, vertical, administrative structures found in all universities. Technology development in one area can affect other areas that may appear supercially to be unconnected. IT is more like a spider web, creating and allowing interdependencies among existing structures (Hawkins, 2004). Thus, decision making regarding IT policy, support, and expenditures cannot be made in isolation from a wide spectrum of information and input. Having a single locus of responsibility for IT on campus will provide the broader perspective necessary to assure the coordination of IT services and limit duplication of technology resources and services. It is important to distinguish between our current decentralized IT support model and a distributed one. In a decentralized model, IT support staff report to, and are evaluated by, a local supervisor on their ability to meet local IT needs while adhering to local IT budgets, policies, and procedures. In a distributed model, IT support staff report to the central IT organization but work and have ofces, where practical, with the units they support, and are evaluated by both with regard to their ability to meet local IT needs while adhering to local and central IT budgets, policies, and procedures. The university community remains committed to an IT support model in which IT staff live with their clients but we recognize the need for more clearly dened roles for local units in a broader context of centrally-provided IT services. All distributed user support staff need to be accountable to their constituents and transparent in their practices. This distributed IT support model must facilitate cooperation, reward collaboration and require communication among all IT staff. Action Items 1. Assign the locus of responsibility for IT on campus to a Chief Information Ofcer with the Cam- pus Technology Policy & Planning Council serving in an advisory capacity to this ofce. a. Communicate to the campus the role of that ofce and the Tech Council in IT decision making. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 20 o f 51

21. b. Develop a budget for that ofce that covers both personnel and operating expenditures to offset costs of administering IT on campus. 2. Develop a detailed distributed IT support model to provide coordination of technology professionals that are distributed throughout the university to provide services tailored to local constituent needs. 3. Provide strong, consistent support for technology professionals: a. Provide funding for professional training opportunities. b. Create a career advancement path for on-campus IT positions. Include rotational assignments in other units, where feasible, as part of advancement. c. Encourage closer inter-unit connectedness, and a stronger coordination between cross-unit local technology initiatives. d. Provide consistent evaluation parameters for supervisors of IT staff. Goal 4: Provide reliable, secure, and capable network and server access that supports the Universitys academic and administrative systems. Description of Goal Reliable, secure access to theUniversity network and servers is essential to every facet of living and working at Illinois State. In an age of increasing identity theft, the security and condentiality of personal and business data is of paramount importance. There are two key components needed to protectthe Univer- sity systems from unauthorizednetwork access andto protect the condentiality of data stored on servers from hackers and e-mail and Internet-borne viruses, worms, and Trojans: Appropriate policies and procedures determining access to the network,serversanddata must be written and communicated to the university community; the hardware and software that make up thesystems themselvesmust be maintained regularly and expanded as demand for access grows. Action Items 1. Develop, communicate, and implement appropriate policies and procedures necessary to provide secure access to the campus network and Internet and review these policies and procedures annually. 2. Develop, communicate, and implement appropriate policies and procedures necessary to protect personal and university data and review those policies and procedures annually. 3. Develop, communicate, fund, and implement a model for the availability of consistent, up-to-date technology and a renewal and replacement cycle for the campus area network infrastructure hardware and software to provide secure access to the campus network and Internet. 4. Develop, communicate, and implement appropriate policies and procedures for granting third- party access to the campus area network for university-related uses in compliance with local, state, and federal regulations. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 21 o f 51

22. 5. Install, maintain, and update wireless access points across campus in sufcient numbers to ensure wireless Internet access from anywhere on campus. 6. Build out a production network service that can increase high-performance networking capacity (e.g., Internet 2) to 1 Gbps (gigabits per second) or more to support advanced research opportunities. 7. Update the University data center in JH 152 in order to ensure mission-critical central IT services are expanded appropriately, adequately protected, and secure. 8. Consolidate the location and management of server services from all across the campus to reduce unnecessary redundancies and realize economies of scope. 9. Develop, communicate, fund, and implement a model for the availability of consistent, up-to-date technology and a renewal and replacement cycle for the campuss consolidated server hardware and software. 10. Develop, document, and test adequate disaster recovery scenarios and procedures to deal with major disasters affecting central IT service availability. 11. Develop, document, and test business continuation plans for non-centralized units designed to ensure that critical systems maintained in these environments can be restored in the aftermath of a service impacting event. Goal 5: Support the Universitys administrative information needs. Description of Goal Administrative information needs are generally described as the acquisition, storage, processing, and distribution of data that supports the business functions of the University. More specically, administrative information needs include the development and maintenance of systems that are capable of transforming raw data into information that can be used as the foundation for the University's business decisions such as resource allocation, capacity and nancial planning, and selecting alternative courses of action. The primary purpose of administrative information systems is to provide operational support for the universitys business functions. These business functions include: student records administration, recruiting, admissions, advisement, nancial aid, registration, grade collection and reporting, transcripts, payroll, personnel management, alumni/development, parking, building key management, event management, student housing assignments, Redbird debit card administration, scal accounting processes, and sales, payment, and distribution of ISU products and services to purchasers. In addition, these administrative information systems serve to generate analytical information so management can evaluate the operational efciencies and effectiveness of policy options. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 22 o f 51

23. The goal is to provide administrative information where and when it is needed in a format that is useful for the administration and management of the Universitys business functions and for administrative decision making across the University. Action Items 1. Install, maintain, and update the hardware and software infrastructure necessary to support the Universitys current and anticipated future business functions. 2. Create an integrated environment for the development of administrative applications to reduce long term development and maintenance costs. 3. Integrate data repositories to facilitate secure access to data and the transformation of that data to useful information. 4. Create an infrastructure that supports a secure, web based, user friendly interface for authorized access to University data. This may include allowing controlled access to data for selected popula- tions of people who may need only one-time or short term access (e.g., parents, nancial institutions, etc.). 5. Integrate 3rd party applications with administrative applications and services. 6. Develop, communicate, fund, and implement a nancial reporting system that facilitates nancial reporting and planning for all functional units on campus. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 23 o f 51

24. Financing Information Technology at Illinois State Premises 1. Investment in IT is an institutional responsibility, opportunity, and challenge, requiring attention at the Presidential level. 2. IT decisions can take place at the local, intermediate, and university level. This includes planning, priority setting, funding, and assessment. Some IT services are best provided at the local level, especially when clients have a working knowledge of the specialized hardware or software needed to support their work. Other IT services, notably those that can benet from quantity discounts or economies of scale, scope, or experience, are best provided at the central level. 3. Standards and minimum specications will need to be set to be able to realize the cost savings from quantity discounts or from economies of scale, scope, or experience. Having standards and minimum specications does not imply a one size ts all approach to the purchase of IT hardware and software. 4. Costs of unit-oriented or unit-enhanced IT services should be borne by the unit. This may include specialized classroom technologies or ofce technology that goes beyond the basic choices offered by the University. Local IT budgets are needed to meet these services and provide exibility to the units. Planning for the use of variance funds for IT-related initiatives is an essential part of IT budget management at both the local and university levels. Recommendations 1. The Tech Council, in its advisory role to the Chief Information Ofcer, should help formulate and develop all campus-level IT planning, policy, and budgetary recommendations and forward them to the Presidents Cabinet for nal review and approval. The Tech Council will follow a systematic procedure modeled on best practices at other universities in determining the priority of campus-level IT proposals. 2. A mechanism for nancing IT on campus should have the following components: a. IT enhances productivity similar to other ongoing operating expenditures and thus should be considered an ongoing and necessary part of university expenditures. Costs associated with providing essential IT services should be a component of each divisions annual operating budget. Essential IT services are dened as: IT personnel Service and maintenance agreements Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 24 o f 51

25. Access to communication channels Email (with spam and virus blocking) File storage (les, Web, backup) Access to data Basic level of technology in classrooms Basic level of technology in ofces (computer/monitor, access to printing) Annual renewal and replacement fund b. All too often units and departments are forced to rely on money from unexpected sources - grant funding, variance dollars, funds left over at the end of the year - to make basic IT purchases. Little is left to fund innovations. An IT initiative fund, in addition to and on par with the current Technology Tuition Fund, should be established to assist units seeking new, innovative uses of IT. This would be in addition to budgeting for ongoing essential IT services. Typically these initiatives would be project oriented, costing less than $100,000 each with a dened life-span no longer than three scal years. Approval of these initiatives should be made by the Tech Council following a systematic procedure modeled on best practices at other universities. c. The renewal and replacement of IT equipment on a routine basis is an important way to avoid losing ground on productivity. A pay-as-you-go Service account into which funds for renewal and replacement can be saved for future use should be created as a way to handle IT purchases and as a way to use budget dust to offset future expenditures. 3. The Tech Council should sponsor campus-wide discussions with appropriate stake-holder groups and formulate guidelines addressing the following issues: a. Who decides what issues are best handled at what level? b. Who sets the standards and the minimum specications? c. What is the process by which priorities get set at each level? d. Who resolves disputes among competing priorities? e. How is progress-to-goal assessed? Who does the assessment? How are units held accountable for realizing their IT goals? f. Who decides IT costs? g. Who decides how to allocate nancial and personnel resources across priorities? h. Who decides how new resources are allocated? Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 25 o f 51

26. Appendix A: Charge from Presidents Cabinet One of the action items in Illinois States strategic plan, Educating Illinois 2003-2010, requires the Univer- sity to review and revise long-term technology planning and implement systematic actions for the Uni- versitys technological infrastructure, information delivery systems, and support. (p. 19) On March 16, 2005, the Presidents Cabinet sent the Chair of the Campus Technology Policy & Planning Council the following charges relating to this action item: 1. Develop a 3-year Information Technology Strategic Plan and an ongoing strategic planning process for technology at Illinois State. 2. Write a statement of the vision, mission, and guiding principles for campus technology at Illinois State. 3. Based on this statement, write a list of the goals for campus technology and identify which are immediate, short-term, or long-term priorities. 4. Develop a list of action items associated with each goal and a set of performance indicators that measure the success of the action items in the Information Technology Strategic Plan. 5. Estimate the cost to implement each of the action items. Some of the specic issues that the Information Technology Strategic Plan should address are: A comprehensive review of the current resources devoted to technology among all departments and units on campus and an assessment of the allocation of those resources to the goals and action items; Tighter coordination of the actions taken by distributed technology support staff so that those actions adhere to the Information Technology Strategic Plan, to university technology policies and procedures, and do not duplicate existing technology services; A clearer delineation of the technology responsibilities between technology support staff in the different VP areas; A funding philosophy (i.e., should it be conceived more like a campus utility or departmental responsibilities) for campus technology and alternative funding models to be considered. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 26 o f 51

27. Appendix B: A History of IT Governance, Organization, Leadership, and Planning at Illinois State The 1980s In the beginning, IT meant the mainframe. The university adopted this technology in the mid-1970s as a way to enhance its ability to process the daily nancial information needed as it grew. Because of the focus on use of technology to streamline the administration of the university, the unit in charge of the mainframe during this period was referred to as Administrative Computing. Dr. Kup Tcheng was the head of Administrative Computing throughout the 1980s. He worked with an advisory group (made up of Deans representatives from each college) on academic computer issues. With the increase in instructional use of personal computers that began with the Apple II in the mid-1970s and took off with the IBM PC in the early 1980s, the Provosts ofce sought to coordinate the academic uses of computers. Associate Provost Jeff Chin spearheaded the development of the rst set of computer classrooms for the teaching of writing. An academic advisory committee, chaired by Dr. Anita Webb-Luppo, recommended that each college create a computer plan in the context of improving computer literacy among faculty and students at ISU. In 1985, Provost Strand appointed Dr. Wayne Andrews to coordinate the planning and budget allocations for IT in the colleges 15. He remained in this position for one year. The position remained va- cant thereafter. The 1990s As instructional, research, and administrative uses for the mainframe and PCs continued to grow, Presi- dent Wallace hired Dr. Conrad Dietz in 1989 to serve as the rst Executive Director for Computing and Information Systems, a position that reported to the President. Administration of the uses of IT was di- vided into Computer Services, directed by Kup Tcheng (followed in 1990 by Steve Bell), Academic Com- puting, directed by Dr. James Carter, and Telecommunications, directed by Bill Blomgren. A year later the unit added a Technical Services department directed by Lee Moulic, and renamed Computer Services to Administrative Computing and expanded its duties, including the rst on-campus computer store. In 1993 Network Services became a separate unit within this organization, directed by Mike Gallagher. The annual budget for Computing and Information Systems was over $4.6m in FY93. According to an internal report on the state of the campus from 1987 - 1997, this arrangement proved ineffective16. Con Dietz left the University in 1992 and Jim Carter stepped down from his positions that same year. In August 1993 Dr. Bill Gorrell, former director of the Ofce of Institutional Research, became the Executive Director of 15 Champagne, Roger, The Thirteenth Decade, Illinois State University, p. 81. 16 Wyman, Mark, The Fourteenth Decade, Illinois State University, p. 22. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 27 o f 51

28. Information Systems (the new name for Computing and Information Systems). Institutional Research was added to the list of units in Information Systems, and, in 1994, Technical Services and Network Services were merged. Also in 1994, Academic Computing was reorganized as a new unit, Instructional Technol- ogy under the new Associate Vice President for Instructional Technology, who reported to the Provost. A Policy Committee and a Strategic Planning Committee was created to advise the Executive Director. Bill Gorrel remained as Executive Director of Information Systems until 1997. In May of 1993, President Wallace created two university-level committees to think strategically and develop technology plans for both Administrative and Academic Computing. Bill Gorrell chaired the committee that wrote the Administrative Computing Strategic Plan, which was released in January 1994, and Dr. David Williams chaired the committee that wrote the Academic Computing Strategic Plan (Vision 2000), which was released in May 1994. The administrative computing plan proposed eleven short-range initiatives 17 and three long-range initiatives 18. Both the goal of integrated email and a client/server computing architecture were possible because of earlier investments in ISUnet, the campus wide Token-Ring network. The plan also called for a transformation of Computing and Information Systems into Information Systems, with a broader, more administrative, scope, with Academic Computing moving to the newly-created ofce of the Associate VP for Instructional Technology. Two advisory committees were planned from this reorganization; the Infor- mation Systems Policy Committee and the Information Systems Strategic Planning Committee. The later committee was charged with systematic IT planning and periodic publishing of progress information. The academic computing plan proposed eleven goals 19, each of which contained recommendations and action items. In the course of developing recommendations for addressing those goals the committee identied three major issues that they felt supported all of the goals. They were: Organization of campus instructional technology; Distributed computing as a campus computing model; and Funding. In response to the rst issue the committee recommended creation of the ofce of the Associate Vice President for Instructional Technology. The campus response to the second issue took place only after a 17 They are: Improved access to legacy data; administrative on-line transactions; integrated campus email system; establishment of a University Data Administrator position; a pilot project using client/server and open system technologies; a relational database for decision support; establishment of a security administrator position; staff training on client/server environments; integrated backup and recovery process for network resources; LAN-based groupware solutions; and systematic project planning and periodic publishing of progress information. 18 They are: Augmentation of IS; provision of business contiuation/disaster recovery procedures in the distributed computing environments; and development of document imaging systems. 19 They are: Organizational infrastructure, Students and faculty in a decentralized environment, Planning, Funding and allocation, Rewards and incentives, Instructional technology guidelines, Access to network resources, Electronic exchange of information, Coordinated network of labs, Instructional technology support, Adaptive [computing] environments. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 28 o f 51

29. second IT strategic planning exercise, in 1999, again recommended realization of this goal. As a part of their response to the third issue, the committee recommended increasing funds allocated to the new ofce of the AVPIT and allocating a portion of student tuition dollars to fund access to essential technology services needed for learning. A Technology Tuition fund was created in 1999 with a balance of $1.1m. President Wallace approved the new position of Associate Vice President for Instructional Technology in Spring 1994 and a search began that semester. That search culminated in the spring of 1995 and the rst person to hold the ofce, Dr. Fred Gage, started in July of that year. Dr. Gage recommended formation of an Information Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC) and an Instructional Technology Strategic Plan- ning Committee as important additions to the IT governance structure. ITAC, chaired by Dr. Galen Crow, began its work in Fall 1996, serving as the Presidents IT advisory committee. Dr. Gage served as Associate VP for Instructional Technology until Spring, 1997. In 1995, the Provost created the Executive Committee on Academic Technology (ECAT), chaired by Dr. Fred Gage. As an advisory committee ECAT formally ended in 2004 when its duties were subsumed by the Campus Technology Policy & Planning Council. Recognizing that the dramatic increase in dependence on IT resources for teaching, research, and administrative tasks indicated a need for a high-level IT administrator, ITAC recommended to President Strand that a search begin in the Fall of 1997 for a Vice President for Information Technology. Many of the functions of this new position were previously performed by the Executive Director of Information Systems and the Associate V.P. for Instructional Technology. The year-long search to ll this position was unsuc- cessful. ITAC, however, continued its role as advisory to the President on IT matters until it was disbanded by President Boschini in May 1999. After the search for a Vice President for IT ended, four directors comprised the highest ranking IT administrators on campus: Steve Bell, for Administrative Computing, Bill Blomgren, Telecommunications & Networking (both of whom reported to the VP for Business and Finance), Dave Greeneld, Computer User Services (who reported to the Associate Provost), and Dr. Jim Bradford, Instructional Technology Services (who reported to the Assistant to the Provost). In January 1999, recognizing information technologys strategic importance [to the University] and its diffuse status [across the University], Provost Goldfarb created the Provosts Committee on Information Technology. The committee, chaired by Dr. Jack Chizmar, was charged with making recommendations concerning how IT should be organized to support teaching and learning. The nal report of this committee, Organizing Information Technology: An Architecture that Supports Teaching and Learning, was released in May 1999. (It is referred to locally as the Chizmar I report.) The plan developed six themes 20 around which specic action items were recommended. One of the action items recommended as a part of the Technical Support theme was development of a model for implementing distributed (or networked) computer tech- 20 They are: Teaching and learning, Communication, Technical support, Resources, Infrastructure, Organizational structure. Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 29 o f 51

30. nical support on campus. That model, known as the Distributed Support model, was more fully developed in Organizing Networked Technical Support, a report published in June 2000. The Resources theme included twelve action items one of which called for development of a distributed budgeting model that combines distributed nancial management with central coordination, planning, and oversight. Referencing the theme of Organizational Structure, the Committee debated whether the administration of IT should ow outward from a Vice Presidential position or from an Associate Vice President-level position under the Provost, and left that choice to the Presidents Cabinet. The 2000s In fall of 1999, Provost Goldfarb, working from the recommendations of the Chizmar I report, started the process of creating the position of Associate Vice President for Technology, a direct report to the Provost. Dr. David Williams was appointed to that position in January 2000. The ofce, branded as the Campus Technology Support Group (CTSG), merged several administrative units from each of the other VP divisions. This move was the largest reorganization of IT units on campus. As a part of this reorganization, ECAT remained the principle governance body for IT on campus, although the campus-wide extent of its reach was not supported by all campus divisions. With Steve Bells retirement in 2002, a new position of Assistant Vice President for Administrative Infor- mation Systems was created and Dr. Danney Hayden took on the responsibilities of administering the mainframe and the systems and desktop support staff for the Divisions of Finance and Planning and Uni- versity Advancement. Dr. Williams returned to the School of Music in 2003 and Dr. Mark Walbert assumed the role of Associ- ate Vice President for Academic Information Technology in August of that year. During FY04 the Vice Presidents approved his request to change the governance structure for IT. The new governing body, called the Campus Technology Policy & Planning Council, replaced ECAT as the principle IT advisory committee for campus technology. The Tech Council is charged with controlling spending on technology services and establishing a clear policy and planning structure for technology on campus. The chair of the Tech Council, currently the Associate VP for Academic Information Technology, reports to the Presidents Cabinet on IT matters requiring their approval. This was the rst time since ITAC disbanded that the Presidents Cabinet charged a single group with making and enforcing decisions about IT for the campus. (See Appendix D for the charge from the Presidents Cabinet creating the Tech Council as well as a chart showing how the Tech Council is organized and a description of the advisory committees that assist the Council.) Illinois State University IT Strategic Plan 2007 - 2010 Pa g e 30 o f 51

31. Appendix C: The Current State of IT on Campus and a Comparison with Benchmark Universities To gain a good perspective on the current state of information technology at Illinois State it is helpful ex- ploring how IT is organized, funded, and staffed, and what IT services are offered by central and non- central units on campus. This local perspective is broadened by comparing Illinois State with other universities in each of those categories. We dene central IT support as services offered by the ve units making up the Campus Technology Support Group and by Administrative Information Systems. All other units are bundled in the non-central category. To facilitate comparison, we will look at the eight universities 21 listed as our Benchmark Group by ISUs Ofce of Planning and Institutional Research. Compari- sons supported by data are always preferable and, where possible, we use comparative data from the most recent EDUCAUSE Core Data Survey. EDUCAUSE is a nonprot association whose mission is to promote the intelligent use of information technology in higher education. The 2005 EDUCAUSE Core Data Survey is the fourth such survey asking (primarily) EDUCAUSE member campuses to respond to questions in ve different areas in an attempt to generate reliable data about information technology practices, structures, and expenditures at comparable institutions for benchmarking purposes.22 A total of 938 institutions completed the 2005 Survey. Of the eight schools in our Benchmark Group, six submitted responses to the 2005 Survey23. IT Organization Chart 1 shows the current IT organization at Illinois State, which has remained fairly stable since 2000 24. Administrative Information Systems (AIS) administers the universitys mainframe computer that provides services for HR, payroll, student accounts, the Registrar, and so on. The Campus Technology Support Group (CTSG) administers telecommunications services, networking services, Resnet, and the open computer labs for the campus. It is also responsible for Tech Zone (the campus computer reseller), the campus Web portal, and design and development of Web sites for departments, colleges, and the university. CTSG has campus-wide responsibility for managing email, calendaring, le and Web page storage, the Help Desk, classroom technology, Web support, desktop support, and systems (server) support. Similar services 21 Those universities are Ball State University, Bowling Green University, Clemson University, Miami University of Ohio, University of California at Riverside, University of California at Santa Cruz, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. 22 Hawkins, Brian L., Julia A. Rudy, and Robert Nicolich, Fiscal Year 2004 Summary Report, EDUCAUSE Core Data Service, p. v. 23 Bowling Green and the University of California at Riverside did not completed the 2004 or 2005 Surveys. 24 In 2005, Faculty Technology Support, part of the original Campus Technology Support Group, was merged with the Center