Foreword

Dear Colleagues,

Information technology is today one of the most critical tools in higher education. It permeates every aspect of a University from the first contact a student has with its Web site through the myriad systems that manage and provide access to its information; to the desktop computer — now such a fundamental part of the daily life of nearly every faculty and staff member; the intricate web of fiber optic cables that link these computers together and connect them to the world of digital information; the supercomputers that carry out the massive computations that underpin simulation and modeling; and the wired classrooms, dormitories and student laboratories, which are now such fundamental components of the educational process.

But information technology, though critical, is still just a tool. It relies on people for its effective utilization, whether they be those who use these tools on a daily basis, those who instruct others how to use them, those who create or design new uses for these tools in teaching and research, or those that ensure they are maintained in good repair. And equally important is the need to upgrade tools and acquire new, more effective ones that save time, money and effort, all the time mindful of the need to constantly re-train people in their use and to re-conceptualize how best they can be used.

The Indiana University Information Technology Strategic Plan is the most comprehensive and far-reaching plan ever prepared for the development of information technology at IU. It provides an aggressive and bold, yet thoughtful and measured vision for how information technology should be developed, used and applied at Indiana University leading into the next millennium. It is sensitive to the fact that the University is a multi-campus institution with a formidable reputation in the arts, humanities, social sciences, basic sciences, and health sciences, but with an increasing emphasis on technology and applied science. It recognizes that eminence in the use and application of information technology requires the University to build more effective partnerships with other research institutions as well as with industry and government, both at the State and Federal levels. The plan is also realistic in that it appreciates the need to balance central direction in the development of some areas of information technology with the distributed responsibility of individuals and academic groups in other areas. And finally it recognizes the importance of effective access to the University's infrastructure and information assets from anywhere and at any time. For this underpins the transition of traditional higher education into distributed global education unfettered by boundaries of space or time. This Strategic Plan has been prepared in response to a request from Indiana University President Myles Brand for a plan for the development of information technology at IU that will enable the University to become a leader in absolute terms in its use and application. This in turn is a vital part of his plan that IU "... move forward to the next level until it is recognized as one of the very best of the nation's universities."

The Strategic Plan completes a process commenced about fifteen months ago to overhaul information technology and the way it was structured at the University to better prepare IU to take the leadership position in information technology that President Brand envisions. This process included reorganizing the information technology organizations at IUB and IUPUI and consolidating them into UITS, reviewing and re-prioritizing UITS expenditures, carrying out the first University-wide security audit and reconstructing the entire University information technology committee structure. The Strategic Plan is the culmination of this process.

I would like to express my gratitude to the Chairman of the University Information Technology Committee, Mike Dunn, who has done a superb job in marshaling this whole process of preparing the Strategic Plan and giving leadership in a complex, often difficult task. My sincere thanks are also due to Jon Barwise, Russ Eberhart, Dennis Gannon and Jim Perin, the Chairs of the various University information technology taskforces, for the major contributions that they made. More than 100 people on the various committees and taskforces contributed to the development of the Strategic Plan and many other members of the University community provided comments. I am most grateful to all of them. Many staff in UITS and in the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology also contributed to the preparation of this plan and to all of them my thanks as well. I would like especially to thank Gerry Bernbom and also Karen Adams. The University is much in debt to all of those involved in the preparation of this Strategic Plan. It is a far-sighted document and I commend it very strongly to you.

Michael A. McRobbie
Vice President for Information Technology

Dear Vice President McRobbie:

As Chair of the University Information Technology Committee, it is my privilege to present to you the Information Technology Strategic Plan. The plan is titled "Architecture for the 21st Century..." to remind us all that information technology is becoming as important as more traditional infrastructure, and we must plan for its development on a regular basis, both technically and financially.

This plan results from an intensive planning process of about five months duration, involving over 100 faculty, staff, and students, who served either on the University Information Technology Committee, or on one of the four area Taskforces. We also gathered input from the general University community.

With so many people involved, it is impossible to thank them all. But I would like to single out the Taskforce chairs Jon Barwise, Russ Eberhart, Dennis Gannon, and Jim Perin, not just for their vital roles in chairing the Taskforces, but also for their role on the Drafting Committee. Two representatives from your office, Gerry Bernbom and Karen Adams, also served on that committee and provided critical support. Gerry deserves special note as he was responsible for much of the editorial work associated with this document.

I would also like to thank Bob Andree as head of the Computer Center Directors Committee for gathering input from the regional campuses. Your Associate Vice Presidents were extremely helpful, as were the secretaries to the Taskforces, and various other UITS staff. Finally I would like to thank Penny Studley for her cheerful and efficient work as secretary for the UITC.

Our Committee was charged with designing a comprehensive plan that would make IU a leader in the use and application of information technology. We did this without the constraints of a specific budget, so as to present a vision of what is needed to make Indiana University a leader (in absolute terms) in the use of information technology to support the traditional missions of teaching, research, and service. Two major themes emerged from our deliberations, both of which are essential for effectiveness in carrying out other parts of the plan. These two themes are life-cycle replacement funding and access (Recommendations E1 and E2, and corresponding Actions). They both have to do with the fact that we cannot expect faculty, staff, and students to become leaders in the use of information technology if they do not have reliable access to decent, well-supported equipment.

Of course both recommendations have major budgetary impact and will likely need to be implemented in a phased manner. And access must be considered in a constantly changing environment, with Internet service likely to develop into something like a utility within the next few years. The critical question is what we do in the interim to remove a significant barrier to computer use. A mixture of solutions seems the right answer.

There is one concern that relates to funding, but is not specifically mentioned in the plan, and which I now take the occasion to stress. This has to do with the special money from the State for information technology for this academic year and the next. It is essential that this be continued as base funding. Schools and other units are under great financial pressure these days, and are finding it increasingly difficult to fund the new investments in information technology that they must make.

Full implementation will call for increased levels of expenditures, both inside and outside of UITS. Indiana University, like most (perhaps all) universities, has not yet come to grips with the real cost of information technology — in people and equipment. We can achieve leadership by seriously addressing this problem, hopefully with cooperation from the State.

In closing, let me give thanks, on behalf of the Committee, for the support you and your staff have given to us in the development of this Strategic Plan.

Sincerely yours,

J. Michael Dunn
Chair, University Information Technology Committee
Oscar Ewing Professor of Philosophy
Professor of Computer Science

Members of the University Information Technology Committee

OVPIT Faculty Liaisons

University Information Technology Strategic Plan Drafting Subcommittee