IT Operational Plan
Adopted December 2013
This operational plan—adopted by IT Senate in December 2013—reflects current campus-wide
IT strategic priorities. The goals are a subset of those found in the IT Strategic Plan 2012-2020.
The middle column reflects activities designed to achieve those goals. Those activities may be
completed or be in progress at the end of the current fiscal year. Most activities will be in
progress during the fiscal year, and some will be completed. A smaller number of activities may
not start until fiscal year 2015, depending upon organizational capacity.
An assessment report will be completed in May 2014 addressing the status of each activity.
The right column indicates the committee or organization responsible for assessing progress on
each activity. In most cases, that same committee or organization will play a lead role
determining activity priorities, timelines and resource needs.
1. IT infrastructure in support of University strategic goals
Goal
Activity
Responsible for
assessment
Develop and improve
core network
infrastructure, including
connections to affiliate
and satellite campuses
and pervasive wireless
connectivity in support of
a dynamic learning
environment.
Complete data center (TMU)
Central IT
Develop and implement a data
services model (infrastructure
committee/Central IT)
Architecture &
Infrastructure committee
Central IT
Develop a plan for providing central
data storage
Architecture &
Infrastructure committee
Decommission existing data center
space in Liberal Arts building
Central IT
Create a 3-5 year roadmap for
campus network upgrades
Architecture &
Infrastructure committee
Provide ubiquitous convenience
wireless
Central IT
Define needs for high-density
wireless
IT Senate
In collaboration with the ADA team,
IT Senate
Work toward building a
modern data center and
providing data services
that support campus
units and the strategic
goals of the University.
Meet ADA standards and
campus policies for
technology accessibility.
DSS and EES, develop a plan to
address accessibility assessment,
training and information
dissemination
2. IT enterprise: structure, governance & funding
Structure IT governance
to unify planning,
eliminate duplication, and
coordinate budgeting,
while allocating global
resources across all
segments of the campus
population.
Build an IT funding model
that maximizes efficiency
and sustainability and
integrates funding
decisions with enterprise
strategic planning.
Assess whether all members of
campus community are
accommodated and represented in
decision making processes and
governance structures and make
needed changes
IT Senate
Establish mechanisms for the
cabinet to rebalance IT governance
participation and authority to deal
equitably with emerging needs and
funding challenges
IT Senate
Identify areas of IT service
duplication and develop a plan to
address that duplication.
IT Senate
Develop new funding model for
central IT (How affect campus IT?)
Central IT
Administration & Finance
IT Senate
Integrate University-level funding
model decisions into the IT strategic
planning cycle
IT Senate
Develop a cost/revenue map for
campus-wide IT
IT Senate
3. IT for teaching, learning and research
In partnership with
Academic Affairs,
develop a plan for
academic computing to
enable education for the
global century.
Define an organizational structure
that has ownership and
responsibility for developing
academic computing vision.
Academic IT
Identify key technology issues
related to retention and advising
efforts.
Academic IT
In partnership with
researchers and
administration, develop a
plan for research
computing to enable
discovery and creativity
to serve Montana and the
world
Collaborate with the UM research
community to develop a shared
advanced computing infrastructure
service.
IT Senate
Collaborate with the UM research
community to design secure data
storage for UM intellectual property.
Architecture &
Infrastructure committee
Involving sector
expertise, work to assess
current technology
offerings to students and
identify technological
barriers to student
academic success.
Collaborate and partner
with sectors to explore
and evaluate innovative
ideas related to new
learning spaces.
Evaluate and implement
standardization of commercial offthe-shelf software licensing where
applicable.
IT Senate
Evaluate and propose a cloud
architecture to provide broad access
to academic applications.
Architecture &
Infrastructure committee
Assess general lab, instructional lab
and tech lounge use to determine
best balance.
IT Senate define team
4. IT for institutional administration, decision making and innovation
Align enterprise
computing systems with
University and MUS
strategic goals and
policies.
Implement IT service
delivery processes to
Develop a Service Oriented
Architecture designed to allow
disparate systems access to Banner
information in a standardized format
where appropriate.
Enterprise Applications
committee
Work toward eliminating custom
forms and moving toward baseline
Banner.
Enterprise Applications
committee
Plan an implementation of Banner
WorkFlow for campus use.
Enterprise Applications
committee
Develop standardized course
requirements in preparation for
implementation degree audit
system.
Enterprise Applications
committee
Develop roadmap for campus
scheduling.
Enterprise Applications
committee
Identify, develop and implement key
service level agreements that
Central IT
achieve broad
understanding of IT
responsibilities and
service levels while
maximizing the customer
service experience.
Align electronic business
processes to maximize
investments in enterprise
level software and human
resource capital.
Establish a multi-campus
approach to computing
systems to ensure
strategic alignment and
to provide bulk
purchasing opportunities.
formalize technology delivery
expectations between service
providers and customer or users.
Implement LANDesk IT service
management systems, including
service desk, service catalog,
service request processes and
remote management of IT assets.
Central IT
Work toward implementation of a
single customer service ticket
tracking system across campus and
all service delivery teams.
IT Senate define team
Analyze and prioritize potential
business process efficiencies (e.g.
document management, workflow
management, online forms) in
collaboration with Ellucian.
Enterprise Applications
committee
Utilize resources made available
through movement towards baseline
Banner to increase support for other
enterprise systems.
Enterprise Applications
committee
Consolidate licensing across UM
affiliate campuses.
Enterprise Applications
committee
5. IT to enhance the student experience
Assess current
technology offerings to
students, identify gaps in
technology offerings on
campus. Study and
predict the expectations
of future students and
cutting edge
technologies.
Establish a student focus group that
will represent the student body in
collaborating with staff to help
determine the technology roadmap.
IT Senate define team
Analyze gap between current
technology offerings and student
needs and expectations.
IT Senate define team
Design / implement solutions for the
gaps in student requirements and
justifications for not doing so.
IT Senate define team
Updated December 2013