ISAS Leaders Strategic Goal #5 Report Spring Overview:

Transcription

1 1 ISAS Leaders Strategic Goal #5 Report Spring 2015 Overview: Four cross-functional ISAS Work Groups were charged on February 11, 2015 to develop recommendations for ISAS strategic objective 5 Adopt best practices to ensure effective and efficient administrative infrastructure and processes. Groups were advised that recommendations should be of short term nature and able to be easily adopted and implemented. A report was requested by April 2, Central themes emerged from all four reports. Between the original charge in February and the report due date in April, the current governance process developed policies, procedures, and made decisions which met some of the recommendations. These are listed in the status area of each central theme. Central Theme 1: Centralized Space Management The College uses four different room scheduling methods (R25, Events Management s paper calendars, Outlook, and Banner) however there is no central repository of room availability / utilization. Centralized space management would allow for transparency of room availability, data collection on utilization, and to potentially automate specific support and equipment maintenance efforts. Recommendation: Learning Spaces Lab Group brought forward a recommendation to ISAS Administrative Stakeholders Committee April 17, 2015 for 1) mandatory campus-wide use of existing system, R25/R25Live as the central repository for all event data for all spaces on campus, including academic classes, special events, general room reservations, etc., and 2) that individual departments who manage spaces should discontinue the use of other scheduling tools as soon as they are able to use R25/25Live for this purpose. The benefit to the campus will be a central source of all room schedules and availability, facilitating more transparent and efficient use of campus spaces. Administrative Stakeholders agreed and the motion was carried to the President s Cabinet Monday April 20, 2015 and was approved. Began high level project plan and preliminary tasks required to include all campus spaces in R25 and implement 25Live for event scheduling. Project team will begin implementation during summer 2015.

2 2 Central Theme 2: Communication All four work groups identified the need to improve internal (within ISAS) and external (to campus, stakeholders) communication. All ISAS staff, without exception, use Outlook and keep calendars up to date for efficiency in scheduling meetings. Explore, recommend and implement a standard set of communication tools o Establish a unified communication platform with existing productivity tools to introduce multiplatform and multidevice into the workflow. Form a cross pollinated work group for cloud computing. Form work group on student and faculty needs related to apps for education and how Office 365 and / or Google Apps for Education impact teaching. Create a service catalog to provide campus-facing view of available services and products provided by all ISAS units. Create a shared language of common technical terms for CIO web site. ISAS staff should be able to communication technical terms to non technical users. Establish a campus wide knowledge base. Ideally one which provides other departments with a role to update and add information and one tied into MyBuffState site. LibAnswers in version 2 will soon migrate to v.3 which can be broken into departments via workflow. Suggestions include content control for valid responses and duplication as well as branding with ISAS and Buffalo State. Improve communication with and ISAS representation on standing campus committees such as Orientation Operations Committee. o Rotate responsibility on committees for point of view o ISAS representatives should take notes and share notes with rest of ISAS. Cloud Computing work group - ISAS EC agreed to form and charge a work group with a specific task, limited in scope, to create a report and make recommendations. Service Catalog - In process with CTS, work groups recommend all ISAS be included in the conversation to ensure we can have an ISAS wide service catalog, not a CTS specific service catalog. Standard set of communication tools Will be explored as part of VOIP project.

3 3 Central Theme 3: Efficiency Measures to Streamline Support Many issues were raised that identified the need to simplify support across units to better serve our stakeholders. Explore the principle of one help desk with a group of individuals from all ISAS units in order to streamline technical support for entire campus. Collaborate with Academic Affairs to recognize the Lab Coordinator title as service to the college in order to create a more attractive option for faculty to serve in this role. Align SCSM with ITIL foundations Explore a managed print, vendor provided solution for Administrative Offices Align SCSM with ITIL Foundations in progress on existing CO types (conversion to request and incident templates). Responsible: CTS. Central Theme 4: Policies and Procedures ISAS needs to clarify and communicate documented policies and procedures as they are central to efficiency efforts. Develop a policy for administrators to track auditors and other non-matriculated students. Develop formal procedures for department spending of funds and Technology Fee funds in order to prevent spending down at the end of the year on extraneous items or systems prior to vetting by new governance structure. Create an acceptable use policy for the various payment providers used by campus constituents. Policy on Auditors in development. Responsible: Brad Use of Technology Fee complete and approved

4 4 Policy for Online Payment Providers draft. Responsible: Brad and Bob B. Central Theme 5: Use of Existing Software Systems The predominant issue for strategic direction 5 is to Maximize the use and value of existing resources by the following actions 1. Complete analysis of currently licensed enterprise software (e.g. Banner, Blackboard, R25, BDM, Degree Works) 2. Improve reporting and analytics. Banner: Set up financial aid rules per regulatory requirements. Customize SSB to prevent students from accepting unsubsidized loans over subsidized loans. Explore feasibility of auditor component. Blackboard: Create script to auto populate Organizations for use of departmental communication to students in majors, minors, and concentrations. K2: Form a project team charged with input of all purchasing information into K2 in order to have all purchasing data in one place for centralized reporting and analysis. Continue to track classroom instructional lab use. Add software tracking along with Banner data potential use for Argos? R25: See Theme 1 SCCM: Form work group to: o Thoroughly review system for potential application within ISAS. o Create and prioritize projects to get data into the software and processes based on best practices, to maintain current, reliable data. Central Theme 6: Licensed Software Buffalo State is a large campus with 180+ programs therefore it is understood there are diverse software needs. However without a formal lab coordinator role, and due to the fact we are in our first year of established governance, there are different and duplicative software packages in use on campus. As software vendors begin to change business practices and costs continue to rise, we need to get a firm handle on what we have, how it s being used, and, in consultation with the academic departments, if we still need to retain specific packages. In addition, as cost rise with products like Adobe, we need to explore alternatives.

5 5 ISAS should lead by example. There will be academic departments reluctant to change to save money or time. Form ISAS wide group to identify and review non-enterprise and non-suny licensed software in each ISAS unit, and provide a report on what it does and how it s used. Then make recommendations on whether we should maintain the status-quo or move to a single solution, or to something else. Continue to explore additional software titles for virtualization. Specifically, client software utilization specialized software deployment in StudyQuad, measure utilization of specialized software, use of metrics to determine location of software, identify means to deploy software that cannot be virtualized. Review current lab software such as Refworks/Endnote, statistical packages, older software licenses such as Past Perfect, individual desktop licenses such as SnagIt Make a concerted effort to increase knowledge of alternatives to Adobe products Inventory Smart Board license due to changing vendor business model. Create process / procedure to eliminate under or non-utilized software. Identify clerical resources to input CTS Purchasing data into K2 (also in Theme 5) Central Theme 7: Storage As part of Strategic Goal 7 Initial development of a strategic plan for storage of current and archival materials campus wide, including identification of funding, agreement on standards and documentation of the plan work groups identified the need to get a handle on storage and digital asset management. Provide secure access to files from off campus Create policies for use of enterprise storage to minimize misuse Create ISAS wide shared language of definitions for storage, repository, needs for both long term storage, needs for accessible repositories and digital asset management.

6 6 Continue existing product/software review (Ensemble, Digital Commons) ISAS-wide group has been formed to address bullets 2-4 under this heading, to include a recommendation on implementation of bullet 1 as part of the plan. Responsible: Judi, Marc, Melaine, Melissa. Other Than Central Themes: Work groups identified other areas that did not fall into one of the aforementioned themes. Recommendations related to single sign on / campus portal and managed print solutions were determined worthy goals yet slightly beyond the scope of this round of recommendations therefore will be considered for long term. A recommendation to reassigning Pay-to-print supply ordering from the Library to Procurement already has a solution as the administration of Pay-to-print is an established ISAS service. It is suggested the Library use a clerk for day-to-day management of this service. Questions / ideas related to Student Orientation - will hopefully be addressed by the hire of a new Orientation Director (in process at time of this report). Current solution of offering students free printing dollars if they submit their ID photo electronically to avoid waiting in the ID photo line have been gaining traction. Questions / ideas related to text book costs and affordability measures the University Faculty Senate issued a resolution to support the Student Assembly s resolution on the affordability of textbooks and to encourage faculty to adopt open textbook sources when possible and to increase faculty awareness of these options. See UFS Resolutions, specifically the one on Open Access Publication: Resolutions-SUNY-Plattsburgh-spring-2015.pdf Conclusion: Great ideas and solutions were generated from the four work groups. In addition it allowed for each ISAS unit to work together. It is recommended to continue the charge to ISAS leaders to review goals annually. For consistency, a specific format of recommend and suggest should be created. For diverse perspectives, it is also recommended to rotate the convener for each group on an annual basis.