LSU Flagship IT Strategy Development | Modernizing IT Infrastructure for Enhanced Learning

1. Flagship ITStrategy Brian Voss, Chief Information Officer June 21, 2006

2. Flagship IT Goal • To provide excellent IT infrastructure and services … • To be a leader, in absolute terms on a national basis, in the creative use, application and provision of information technology … will best position Louisiana State University to be a leader nationally among public universities in teaching and learning, research, the student experience, outreach, community service, regional economic development and promotion of life-long learning.

3. Development of Plan • Representatives from the campus community • Faculty – both research and teaching focused • Students – both undergrad and grad levels • Administration – leadership and staff • IT Professionals – both inside ITS and especially from campus • Task forces organized • One task force for each Flagship IT Foundation area • Chaired by respected and insightful leaders from the campus communities (faculty, students, and administration) • Populated by involved and interested constituents in the specific areas – approximately 10-25 representatives on each Task Force • Ex-Officio representatives from the Office of the CIO and Information Technology Services

4. IT Abundance Within prudent and reasonable resources, and in line with institutional priorities, provide an environment that features “IT Abundance” … wherein IT is advanced, current, and readily available to support faculty, staff, and students in their achievement on of the mission of the institution. To be excellent in providing for IT Abundance, not as its own end, but as a way in which the mission of the institution is ultimately served.

5. 2005-2006 In progress… • Files to Geaux • New Institutional e-mail (Exchange); 1G storage for faculty/staff • HPC Renovation & LONI • Network 2010 • New (LOWER!) pricing for computers (for personal purchases too!!) • More software on TigerWare • Online Support Environment Pélican TigerWare Campus Agreement w/ Microsoft Student e-mail w/1G Storage Student Web-hosting

6. Recommendations • Build a solid foundation of IT infrastructure at LSU that is modern and kept up-to-date • Make significant strides in increasing the accessibility of the LSU community to IT infrastructure and services • Develop a robust, multi-tiered support enterprise to meet the varying levels and specific needs of the LSU user community • Develop sound fiscal planning for IT that leverages LSU’s existing investments, increases those investments in creative and innovative ways, and expends funding resources in the most responsible and efficient manner

7. Recommendations cont. • Secure LSU’s IT infrastructure, safeguard the integrity of LSU’s information resources and the privacy of its user community, and ensure the continuity of LSU’s IT infrastructure and information repositories in the face of possible disaster scenarios • Develop robust and plentiful IT resources to enable research at LSU • Develop robust and plentiful IT resources to enable faculty teaching and student learning at LSU

8. Recommendations cont. • Develop sound information systems featuring a rich set of applications and tools that address the increasing need for more effective and efficient institutional processes and provide for advanced academic analytics at LSU. • Support LSU student use of IT, not only as a tool in their learning, but to enrich their life experiences at LSU 10. Develop IT advisory and communication channels to ensure the continued involvement of the LSU community in the implementation of the Flagship IT Strategy and ongoing day-to-day provision of IT services to the campus

9. IT Infrastructure Action Items 1.01 University to provide staff with modern IT needed to be productive - standard level of personal computer - centralized life cycle replacement 1.03 Inventory of IT assets 1.05 IT needs addressed prior to construction of new facilities 1.06 Network reliability & availability 1.07 E-mail 1.08 Garden of architectures 1.09 Make wireless ubiquitous 1.10 Ready the campus for mobile technologies

10. Accessibility 2.01 Ready access to software 2.02 Ready access to specialized IT tools 2.03 E-mail kiosks and information stations 2.04 IT Commons 2.05 Availability of technology off campus 2.06 New staff should have telephony, Internet, and appropriate IT in place upon hire 2.07 Support for multiple operating systems 2.08 New technologies should interface w/ LSU applications 2.09 Basic IT skills for everyone

11. 3.01 Support should be robust, easy to use, transparent, and available in multiple levels based upon user needs 3.02 One-stop shop for all IT needs; 24x7 support 3.04 Training opportunities 3.05 Increase # of IT professionals 3.06 Training and certification of IT staff 3.07 Help Desk personnel should have specialized content area expertise Support

12. Funding 4.01 University should develop life cycle funding for IT 4.02 University should budget standard FTE based costs for IT infrastructure and services 4.03 Seek cost savings through leveraging of resources, including campus-wide agreements 4.06 When resources are allocated for new equipment, resources for support should also be included in cost 4.09 Creative funding to address backlog of information systems 4.10 Creative funding to develop leveraged and distributed IT support model

13. IT Security 5.02 Develop clear and forceful policies to secure IT infrastructure and protect University information 5.03 Programmatic mechanisms to assure security 5.04 Physical mechanisms to secure access to data 5.06 Get rid of SSN usage 5.08 Complete an IT disaster recovery plan

14. Research Enablement 6.01 An array of HPC resources; maintain top 100 status 6.05 Encourage use of high performance computing beyond traditional user groups 6.06 Specialized centers to support the use of specific information technologies (visualization, GIS, mathematical and statistical computing) 6.08 Robust communication and document sharing tools for collaboration 6.09 Online tools and training for common research IT tools 6.11 Coordination of multiple IT “islands”

15. Enable Teaching & Learning 7.01 Need for a single CMS that meets changing needs 7.02 Discipline-specific laptop program 7.03 Online tools for advising students 7.05 Electronic text creation/dissemination for classes 7.07 Support for faculty use of IT in classroom

16. Information Systems 8.01 Reduce UIS backlog 8.02 Mechanism for prioritization and oversight of planning for development and life cycle replacement of University information systems 8.05 Data warehouse environment and academic analytics 8.06 User-centered design techniques and common interface environment 8.08 Manage “build vs buy” strategies 8.09 Tiered storage architecture

17. Student Experience 9.01 Training for students on sophisticated programs 9.02 Incentives to increase student ownership of computers 9.03 Work with students to evaluate new technologies for recreational use 9.04 Fully-enabled IT living & learning environment (Greek housing, campus, residence halls)

18. Continued Involvement of LSU Community 10.01 ITS should continue use of task forces and seek input broadly from campus 10.02 Develop Web site that best facilitates IT knowledge 10.03 Quality measurement – more transparency in IT funding and costs

19. Next Steps Feedback from LSU community • Summer of Socialization – Read it & Comment! • SG endorsement (Done! April 06) • Faculty Senate endorsement (In progress) • Staff Senate endorsement (Requesting today) • Deans Council, Vice Chancellors, EVCP, Chancellor • Implementation Planning • Reconvene Task Forces • Implementation • Starting now – complete 2011

20. Why am I here today??Staff Senate Endorsement Requested! • Resolution to endorse the FITS • Couple with SG resolution (in hand) and Faculty Senate (first reading was in May; vote in September) • “Grass Roots” Support demonstrated • Help further secure administrative support • Help recruit more front-line spokespersons for FITS On the Web at: http://www.lsu.edu/fits

21. Questions?