canheit | on the edge | june 15-18, 2008 | university of calgary collaborative computing on an...
TRANSCRIPT
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
Collaborative Computing on an Institutional Level
Steve Breeck,
Harold Esche,
Bill Richardson
University of Calgary
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
University of Calgary
30000 students
2300 faculty, 2700 staff
$800M budget
$250M in research
Students from 80+ countries
16 Faculties/53 Depts/30 Institutes
Big and Complex!
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
The History of IT at the University of Calgary
(in only one slide)
First IT Unit in 1961
First CIO in 2004
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
The Typical Question:
Should IT be Centralized vs Decentralized?
Organizing IT
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
Organizing IT
The Really Important Questions:
What are the desired outcomes?
What services are important to the University?
Do you want operational excellence?
Do you want innovation?
What does the University need from IT in 5 years?
Are you going to be a CIO or an IT Director?
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
Fundamental IT Equation
operational excellence+
service focus +
collaboration
=
Really Cool Stuff
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
ITAG
Integrated
Technology
Action
Group
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
What does ITAG Do?
Whatever it wants to do!
Communication between units
Identification of important issues
Delivery of solutions
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
First ITAG Project:Integrated Help Desk
Support environment in 2005– IT responsibilities split across campus– UCIT integrating their support services– Unit support level vary from full to none
– Users have to decide what their IT related problem was and who to call
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
The Vision
User says to us,
“I have a problem with my computer”.
And an integrated Help Desk determines what that means and what to do to solve the problem.
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
Pilot Project - Technical
Main players:– UCIT– Haskayne School of Business– Faculty of Kinesiology
Determine roles and responsibilitiesCreate an experts list of who knows what and who to contactIntegration of incident reporting toolsSix month pilot with concluding report to ITAG and the faculties
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
Pilot Project - Political/Cultural
Talking to people in the faculties about their support needs and desires
Educating support staff on the benefits of integration
Educating faculty and staff on how to use the new system– Use the new system, phone, email, web– Don’t come to my office and ask for help
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
Pilot Project Results
Surveys have indicated that users were generally satisfied with the Integrated Support model
There continue to be some people who preferred the old system
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
Support environment 2008
– Original participants– Department of Geography– Faculty of Communications
and Culture
– Campus Infrastructure– Human Resources– Engineering – in the works– Medicine - in negotiation
Technical environment–Update incident management software and phone system–Ongoing work to improve self-support systems, FAQS, on-line how-to’s
Participants
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
UNITIS Project
UNIT Information System (UNITIS)
Developed internally by Department of Math over last 10+ years
Improved business processes
Improved data quality
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
UNITIS Project
Simple Goals
Provide real-time, accurate information to websites (and administration)
Align best practices within unit, but still allow flexibility
Improve data quality
World Peace
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
Hurdles
Technical issues (easy part)
Development of concise project goal
Political challenges– Crosses potentially all information silos– Does not align with traditional funding models– No project champion at senior level
Evolving IT governance model
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
UNITIS - now
Evolution from concept to a product
Joint development effort with active development across faculties.
Deployment across many departmental units
Business plan developed
CANHEIT presentation next session! (Cassio Room)
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
File Storage Project
Project created by ITAG to address common file storage issues
Develop a plan to implement a best-practices approach to campus data storage
Implement a storage project working model
Make available campus wide
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
Storage Challenges
Many types of storage & storage infrastructure
Need for better storage management policies
Data protection and Disaster Recovery capabilities
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
Laptop Encryption Project
Proposed by UCIT Security Officer
Prevent the loss of confidential information & intellectual property due to the theft or loss of a U of C laptop by making the data inaccessible to unauthorized users
Cross platform support
Keep it simple for end user
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
Campus Information Management Project
Newest ITAG initiativeLooking at all information on campus and how it is gathered, stored, distributedNot an “IT problem” - this touches all aspects of institutional activitiesWill required buy-in from all levels of the universityTechnical problems will likely be minor compared to cultural challenges
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
Looking into the future
The future is here. It’s not just widely distributed yet.
William Gibson
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
With that view …
Integrated IT Help Desks becoming Integrated Everything Help Desk?
A “311” Service.
Department-centric services becoming Individual-centric services?
A user-maintained service “mash up”.
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
Some learnings
– Day-to-day responsibilities slow progress on projects Sometimes hard to reach consensusDifficult to get interest from non-IT folks
+Provides a place to build relationshipsIntegrated is better than central or siloIt takes time, but it is worth the effort
CANHEIT | On the EDGE | June 15-18, 2008 | University of Calgary
Questions or Comments
?