University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

The IT Strategy for the University of Exeter

2009/12

Supporting the University achieve its goals by providing a quality and reliable IT service enabling staff and students to securely handle their information, wherever they happen to be delivered by trusted IT professionals working within best-practice quality processes

Page 1

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

Document Control

Document Reference: Document Type Document Status Document Owner Review Period Next Review Date

IT Strategy Strategy FINAL Mike Walton Annually July 2010

Page 2

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

Contents
Executive Summary Introduction Key Drivers in IT and Higher Education Principles underpinning the delivery of IT services Responding to these challenges and trends: what we will do Supporting the Universitys strategies IT Services Risks Finance What we aspire to be and to deliver Governance and Processes Appendices Page 4 5 6 7 9 11 12 12 12 14 14

Page 3

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

1. Executive Summary
This is the IT Strategy for the University of Exeter. The strategy identifies the key trends within Higher Education and the IT industry that will shape the delivery of IT services to the University. Key amongst these are the need to be able to access IT services and information remotely; to rise to the challenge of increasing demands for storage and bandwidth; to leverage the advantages of alternative delivery models; to develop more environmentally sustainable ways of delivering IT; to embrace appropriate innovation and to build systems and processes that can maintain business continuity in the advent of a shock to staff, premises or systems. This strategy articulates a number of key principles that will underpin decision making in the coming years. Key amongst these is the prominence that will be given to maintaining existing services. This is in response to the expectation of high service availability, the growing realisation of the need to be able to maintain business continuity throughout a shock to the University (such as swine flu) and the tightening fiscal environment for the coming years. This strategy identifies a number of initiatives which respond to the challenges and trends within Higher Education and the IT industry. The strategy demonstrates how each of these projects supports the Universitys own strategic themes of research & knowledge transfer, student experience, sustainability and internationalisation. The key IT risks that have been identified and are being managed are captured here as is a summary of the investment required to deliver the projects in this strategy. A brief summary of the key elements of this strategy are captured in the following statement of intent:

Supporting the University achieve its goals by providing a quality and reliable IT service enabling staff and students to securely handle their information, wherever they happen to be delivered by trusted IT professionals working within best-practice quality processes

Page 4

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

2. Introduction
This is the IT Strategy for the University of Exeter. IT has been built as an outcome from working groups of the BISS1 and ICSD2 managers and ICSD workshops and has been consulted upon through the information strategy project and programme groups. The strategy has benefited from extensive input from Gartner3 Analysts, comparisons with our Top Ten competitor Universities and discussions with the Information Systems Dual Assurance lead. In developing this strategy a comprehensive environmental scan has identified the key themes both within Higher Education and the IT Industry that will shape the delivery of IT services in the years ahead. This strategy articulates a number of key principles that will underpin the development of the Universitys IT services and demonstrates how IT will contribute to the delivery of the Universitys strategic goals. From this strategy flow the specific IT projects and services that will be pursued to support the University in achieving and maintaining its Top Ten mission as a research-led University.

1 2

BISS: Business Improvement Systems Support ICSD: Information Computer Systems Division 3 Gartner: leading independent IT industry analyst

Page 5

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

3. Key Drivers in IT and Higher Education

This strategy seeks to respond positively to the key trends in the IT industry and within Higher Education. The most significant of these being: Mobility There continues to be a revolution in mobile computing and with it a growing expectation that one should be able to access ones work IT systems and information from anywhere. The move towards greater home-working, with the expectation that staff can operate as if in the office is part of this trend. Changing expectations of students The student intake to the University of the digital native or Google generation sees young people who have grown up with computing as ubiquitous communication and information-searching tools. Their expectations are that their diverse computing equipment will interact seamlessly and that computing tools will be available to supplement both social and learning interactions. Global Communities of staff and students Academics work within communities that span organisational and national borders. The ability to communicate and share information internationally is increasingly important. Students own social networks, particularly as our international student intake grows, needs to be facilitated. Alternative models for delivering software applications Increasingly new software systems are being hosted from the internet (or the cloud) rather than from ones own internal IT department. This brings opportunities in terms of speed of deployment and economies of scale and challenges in terms of the flexibility of these services and the different skills required to manage these services. Outsourcing is increasingly the means by which some services are delivered. The role of a central IT department is increasingly becoming one of management of third parties and integration of third party systems. Sustainability considerations becoming increasingly significant in the delivery of IT systems IT systems draw significant power. Increasingly there is be an expectation that IT will take the lead in identifying lower-power solutions and making existing services more power efficient. Storage demands are increasing exponentially As information becomes increasingly rich in sound, images and videos the demand for storage of this data is increasing significantly. Furthermore, there is growing pressure for research data to be managed professionally in a secure data centre and made more accessible. Research funding councils are beginning to mandate that the data underpinning research is held in secure data centres and adheres to emerging standards to allow this data to be made available to others. There is also a growing recognition that making research data secure and accessible is part of good scientific practice. Furthermore, some areas of research (particularly in the medical and biosciences areas) are starting to generate very large amounts of data (e.g. from genome sequencing). There is an expectation that storage capacity will not be a limitation on ones personal files and research data.
Page 6

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

Network bandwidth demands are increasing The same factors that are pushing the growth in demand for storage are also driving the grow in demand for network bandwidth. There is an expectation that bandwidth capacity will not be a limitation for how one accesses ones personal files and research data. Information Security of data becoming more important but less easy to achieve There remains a significant and growing threat from malicious external agencies which would seek to compromise the Universitys IT systems and seek to secure access to some of the Universitys data. As University staff and workers become more mobile in their computing practices the means by which data and IT systems are secured becomes more complex. By the nature of its business a University needs to encourage open access and communication between individuals. This will sometimes work in tension with the requirement to secure and limit access to information. Business Continuity measures becoming recognised as increasingly important The maintenance of IT systems and services that are reliable and highly available is increasingly seen as a prerequisite to the continuing business of the University. Furthermore, high profile disasters and the possible imminent swine flu pandemic have underscored the importance of building in business continuity to all parts of the Universitys business. IT service continuity will continue to be an important factor in the delivery of IT services as will the ability to support, through IT, the University in its response to severe loss of staff or premises. Systems will be designed to be resilient with appropriate duplication and redundancy. Industry-standard service management processes, in particular the ITIL quality management framework, will be adopted to ensure professional working practices underpin the support of IT systems. Tightening fiscal environment With perhaps a decade of tightening funding to Universities as a result of the world-wide financial crisis it will become important to identify and focus upon priority areas for investment. This will drive the requirement to demonstrate value for money and sound business cases for investments. Transformation of business processes IT can be used as a powerful lever to automate and help transform business processes within the University. It is increasingly recognised that IT system implementations must include process transformations to individuals working practices in order to realise the business benefits from IT investments.

Page 7

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

4. Principles underpinning the delivery of IT services

In developing this strategy a number of underpinning principles have been identified that will guide the decision making and investments in IT in the coming years. These are: IT is a service delivered for our researchers, teachers, students and staff Maintaining this service continuity is crucial and will attract the priority of focus and investment. We will endeavour to deliver the same service to all staff and students regardless of location. This will demand investment in our network and remote access tools. We will seek out and embrace effective, focused and appropriate innovations and aim to be a close follower in our adoption of new technology. We will build single-University-wide, COTS4 solutions that represent best value for money rather than point solutions for different business units We will move towards greater user empowerment through self-service and automation. We will explore differing models for delivering our services and evaluate outsourcing alternatives as one of the means of delivering some of our services. We will provide appropriate security to safeguard our information assets We will seek to embrace open standards to ensure interoperability and future proofing We will adopt international best practice as befits a Top 10 institution, particularly the ITIL5 quality management regime. We will endeavour to make our service charging transparent We will endeavour to develop our IT staff so they are seen as knowledgeable and trusted professionals. We will move towards greater standardisation of University equipment and services wherever possible where this does not inhibit research and innovation. This is seen as the way of driving up quality of service and driving down the cost of delivering this service. We will strive for the IT Infrastructure and systems to be periodically refreshed to ensure it continues to be capable of delivering to our customers requirements.

4 5

COTS Commercial Off The Shelf Systems. i.e. standard, commercially-available systems.

ITIL: IT Infrastructure Library. Acknowledged as the industry-leading set of service management standards.

Page 8

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

5. Responding to these challenges and trends: what we will do

Having identified the key challenges and trends for the University in the coming years this strategy proposes we respond by progressing the following initiatives. Mobility Continue the roll out of the wireless data network across Streatham and St.Lukes campuses. Continually refresh the models of PDAs6 and mobile phones supported. Complete the trial of a new remote working tool (CITRIX) to allow access to University systems from home/remote computers. Increase the capacity of the remote login service (VPN). Move towards a unified communication environment where mobile phone, video conferencing, instant messaging, email, voicemail and desk phone can be integrated and controlled to improve person to person interaction. Explore solutions for mass contacting of students in the event of significant events (e.g. SMS messaging to all students if the campus is closed). Develop information security policies that support remote working by clarifying staff and student responsibilities for handling data on mobile and remote computing devices. Changing student expectations Through the web 2.0 project deliver robust blog and wiki tools and develop making geocoded information (i.e. information which is sensitive to physical location) available. Explore semantic-enabled information. Explore delivery of systems and information to student mobile phones. Enhance and grow the Echo360 lecture capture service. Embrace open standards for IT hardware and software to maximise interoperability. Enhance and refresh the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Global Communities for staff and students Continue to develop the portal as a means of accessing University information. Encourage appropriate use of remote communication services such as Skpye. Continue the implementation of the high speed data network across all buildings. Alternative models for delivering software applications Consider cloud computing solutions for new or refreshed services (e.g. the VLE and email service) Sustainability considerations becoming increasingly significant in the delivery of IT systems Continue air cooling efficiency measures in the IT data centres Virtualise data centre computer servers to reduce power use and reduce capital replacement cost. Continue PC and telephone power efficiency measures Continue printing power efficiency measures. Adopt power efficiency as a selection criteria for new equipment.

PDAs: Personal Digital Assistant (e.g. a Blackberry device)

Page 9

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

Storage demands are increasing exponentially Refresh and grow the data storage facilities for staff and students non-research data. Build a University-wide high capacity research data backup and archiving facility. Network bandwidth demands are increasing Continue the network upgrade project to deliver high capacity bandwidth to the desktop and ubiquitous wireless coverage on campus. Information Security of data becoming more important but less easy to achieve Develop appropriate information assurance policies and communicate these well within the University to build an appropriate information assurance culture. Identify appropriate encryption tools for laptops, USB devices and the wireless service to allow secure handling of personal or confidential information. Continue to build the Identity and access management tools so that the right people can access the right data. Business Continuity measures becoming recognised as increasingly important All new services will consider appropriate resilience and duplication to ensure service continuity. Follow up actions from the Spring09 business continuity consultancy. Bolster the remote access service to allow more staff to work from home if required. Tightening fiscal environment Working with the Infrastructure Strategy Tranche 2 version 2 streams to prioritise IT investments in the coming years. Initial work in this group suggests that emphasis should be placed upon maintaining existing services and systems. Continue to renegotiate third party contracts to build upon Creating Value achievements.

Page 10

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

6. Balanced portfolio of new technologies to support the University achieve its goals
This strategy identifies the technologies that the University of Exeter is or is planning to embrace in the coming years. The overall aim of any portfolio of projects is to achieve a balance of organisational efficiency and new innovations. The challenge is to pick appropriate and targeted technologies to pursue and ensure the timing of the adoption of new technologies is appropriate (to avoid adopting technologies that wont mature and avoid an unnecessary heavy burden of being part of the maturing of embryonic technologies). The development of this portfolio builds upon some of the principles laid out in section 4, echoes the priorities emerging from the ongoing T2V2 capital investment discussions and is informed by discussions in the University Innovations Group. The Gartner Hype Cycle framework is used as a basis for this analysis to demonstrate how the University of Exeter is adopting a portfolio which balances emerging and mature technologies and focuses predominantly on technologies that can leverage high and moderate transformation to a higher education institution. This Gartner Hype Cycle is effectively an amalgam of the technologies being adopted by or relevant to Higher Education institutes across the world. As such it provides an invaluable competitor analysis. The following two tables present the University of Exeters portfolio of new technologies that we aim to embrace. The first table shows the likely maturity rate of technologies against their business value. The second table shows the life cycle of technologies (through the cycle of hype into maturity which Gartner have articulated). The ringed entries show which technologies are already being embraced, which are mature in their planning and which are being closely watched. These two tables demonstrate the this strategy presents a balanced portfolio of emerging, new and mature technologies.

Page 11

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

.

Initiative already an active project

Initiative mature in planning

Initiative on radar or in early stages of planning

Page 12

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

Initiative already an active project

Initiative mature in planning

Initiative on radar or in early stages of planning

Page 13

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

7. Supporting the Universitys strategies

In developing this IT Strategy careful attention has been paid to ensuring that IT contributes to the Universitys core strategies. A number of key initiatives have been identified as delivering the greatest benefit in supporting these Universitys strategies. These are articulated below, with an emphasis upon keeping existing systems operational. These priority projects are: Maintaining Existing Systems Enhance / maintain existing core systems (Aptos, Trent, SITS, Library, Scientia, BI, Supportworks, APMS/Kinetic, Raisers Edge) Refresh email, portal, voicemail, storage and printing hardware Refresh of student-accessible PCs, video conferencing, other audio visual equipment Lecture capture (enhance Echo 360 capacity) (supporting the Technology Enhanced Learning strategy) Data Network Upgrade: planned tools to give resilience, security and enhanced management tools Research & Knowledge Transfer Build a University-wide high capacity data storage (backup and archive) facility to support research (supporting Science Strategy in growing our research capability). Continue the implementation of the high speed data network within and between campuses Develop the Research Management Administration System (RMAS). High Performance Computing facilities to support science research (supporting Science Strategy) (refreshing the current Zen supercomputer facility) Digitisation of book stock and video/film library Teaching, Learning and Student Experience Enhancement of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Applications to support the Forum Wireless network as part of high speed data network Development of Portal application Refresh online assessment system (supporting the Technology Enhanced Learning strategy) Refresh the VLE Developing applications to support the operation of the Forum Sustainability Continue to virtualise central computer servers to reduce power usage and capital refresh costs Move to lower power computing equipment (including Thin client PCs) Embrace best practice for air cooling in data centre Automating power-off on cluster PCs. Internationalisation Exploring deployment of applications to mobile phone Identity and access management to ensure access to the right systems by the right students and staff from any location. Enablers
Page 14

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

Develop a Facilities Management system Implement a Document and Workflow management system. Remote access tools to support Homeworking and remote working Data network tools for resilience, security and network management Develop Service Orientated Architecture and other middleware solutions to improve data flows and data integration Collaboration / social computing tools

A full list of the IT projects can be found in Appendix D.

8. IT services
Our customers across the University rely upon the day to day IT service to carry out their roles. As such, maintenance of these existing day to day IT services will be our priority. Briefly, these services are: IT applications: maintaining the high availability of University-wide systems such as the web, Email, SITS, APTOS etc. and implementing new systems. IT Help Desk: for all enquiries, requests for service and incident reporting. Desktop Support: for equipment and system installation, desk-side incident resolution and IT planning. Learning Spaces management: for audio visual equipment support and set up, video conferencing and telematics. Telephony and data network services Maintenance and development of underpinning hardware and software infrastructure IT service continuity and Information Security

Page 15

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

9. Risks
A full risk management process has been adopted to identify and manage the IT-related risks. A full risk register can be found at (hyperlink here to IT risk register). The most significant IT-related risks that are being managing are: Ageing data and telephony infrastructure beginning to fail Virus infection onto network limits access to key systems Loss or compromise of sensitive University information Loss of power to the secondary data centre Loss of key IT personnel due to severe weather or illness outbreak Ability to continue to invest in or refresh IT infrastructure

10. Finance
The IT projects identified in this strategy are under discussion in the Universitys Infrastructure Strategy (T2V2) groups. This has led to a prioritisation of these IT projects, with a focus initially on maintaining and enhancing existing systems. The three level prioritisation exercise suggests a funding profile as follows: Initiative
Priority 1 projects & initiatives Priority 2 projects & initiatives Priority 3 projects & initiatives 2009/10 1,540k 532K 611k 2010/11 1,675k 653k 399k 2011/12 3,285k 848k 919k 2012/13 2,855k 783k 50k

Page 16

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

11. What we aspire to be and to deliver

The successful delivery of IT services across the University demands more than merely the implementation of technology. The approach and attitude of IT staff is key to ensuring a professional service. IT staff within ICSD7 and BISS8 are striving to deliver this professional and improving IT service to the University and have set themselves the task of delivering a service that is known as: Making a positive contribution to running & transforming the University. Responsive to student and staff needs Customer Focused and striving to deliver excellence to meet the needs of research, learning & support services Highly available and Resilient so that the IT infrastructure becomes invisible Embracing appropriate Innovation Demonstrably Value for Money Helping to drive through transformational business change to improve education and research Outward looking, owning problems, proactive and communicating well Empowering staff and students to make best use of their IT facilities An exemplar to other Universities Striving to lower the environmental impact of IT services Delivered by trusted IT professionals who win your confidence

12. Governance and Processes

The delivery of this strategy will be based upon good governance. We will adopt best practice in adopting the Prince2 approach to project management and the ITIL quality framework for service management. IT Risks will be tracked and managed through our IT risk register. Information security and IT service continuity planning will form part of this governance. This strategy is owned by the Project and Programme Board and will be revisited annually. The IT Strategy can be summarised as follows:

Supporting the University achieve its goals by providing a quality and reliable IT service enabling staff and students to securely handle their information, wherever they happen to be delivered by trusted IT professionals working within best-practice quality processes

ICSD: Information Computing Systems Division

BISS: Business information Systems & Support Page 17

University of Exeter: IT Strategy Summary

Appendix A: Mapping IT initiatives onto University strategies

Appendix B: ICSD Risk Register

Appendix C: Detailed funding to support this strategy

Appendix D: Prioritised IT projects References and input: University of Bristol IT Strategy June 2007 Gartner IT Strategy template 2007 Gartner analyst input Jan-Martin Lowendahl Developing and ICT Strategy: A managers toolkit Preponderate consultants Podcast by Tish Roberts, Director of the JISC e-Learning Programme 2008 (http://www.onlineconference.net/jisc/content2008/salmon/salmon.pdf) UKRDS : UK research data service feaasibility study. Exec Summary, issued Feb09 Nicholas G. Carr Does IT Matter

Page 18