IUPUI Student Technology Fee transition planning

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For an overview, see Changes in management of the IUPUI Student Technology Fee.

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How is the transition process being managed?

The Office of the Vice President for Information Technology (OVPIT) is managing the transition. Overall leadership of the transition is provided by Stacy Morrone, Associate Dean for Learning Technologies and Associate Professor, and Sue Workman, Associate Vice President for Support. David Donaldson is project manager for the transition and leads an operational team that will carry out the transition plans with school representatives. Oversight is provided by Garland C. Elmore, Dean for IT at IUPUI and Deputy CIO. He is joined by a support team which includes Debby Allmayer (Human Resources Officer), Christine Fitzpatrick (Communications Officer), Jill Piedmont (Deputy Finance Officer), and Theresa Walsh (Executive Assistant). University Information Technology Services (UITS) is working with each school to plan the transition. Each IUPUI dean appoints members to represent the school; hence there are 18 transition teams, one for each school.

How will the transition be rolled out?

Initial meetings focus on the transitional process. The teams identify technologies and services to be leveraged in the short term as well as those which will require substantial analysis over several months or a year or more. An operational team of UITS and school representatives will manage a smooth and effective transition.

What is the timeline for this transition?

February 23, 2009-June 30, 2009: UITS and school transition teams are charged to develop school plans for transitioning services that are appropriately funded by the Undergraduate Student Technology portion of IUPUI's General Fee to UITS management, effective July 1, 2009.

July 1, 2009-June 30, 2011: UITS manages the Undergraduate Student Technology portion of IUPUI's General Fee at IUPUI and continues transition planning with IUPUI's schools. Services that remain within schools will be evaluated by the transition teams on a case-by-case basis and funded through UITS accounts managed by Associate Dean Stacy Morrone and Associate Vice President Sue Workman.

July 1, 2011-June 30, 2012: The transition period is complete when all Undergraduate Student Technology facilities and resources are being managed by UITS.

What principles define the "common good?"

One of the guiding principles in originally establishing the technology fee was that it be used to directly support information technology services available to students. General purpose services are typically available to all students or support an important campus priority for undergraduates. These typically include the computers, networks, software, and staff support for undergraduates, regardless of their major, and provide the foundation upon which schools can build discipline-specific or unique, distinctive offerings. School-specific services and facilities will remain the responsibility of the schools and will be funded by sources other than the Undergraduate Student Technology portion of IUPUI's General Fee. Within this context, there may be opportunities for schools to provide their own software and services in a general purpose facility, which may be given preferential scheduling based on school needs.

How will discipline-specific use be distinguished from the "common good?"

In reviewing Undergraduate Student Technology portion of IUPUI's General Fee-funded infrastructure, facilities, and services during the transition period, the UITS and school-based transition teams will apply the following questions to distinguish between discipline-specific services and general purpose, widely accessible services:

Does the IT resource support undergraduate students?
Is the resource accessible or available to all undergraduates regardless of major or class standing?
Can the facility or service potentially serve an important priority at IUPUI, for undergraduates overall or across multiple disciplines or departments?

What are examples of services funded by the Undergraduate Student Technology portion of IUPUI's General Fee?

Services made possible by this change in the administration of the STF include operating, maintaining, and upgrading the UITS Student Technology Centers (STCs); consulting in the STCs; software in the STCs; consulting and services from the UITS Support Center (available online and via chat, email, phone, and in person); printing; STEPS workshops offered through UITS IT Training and Education; accounts on the central information systems; audio, video, and image support in multimedia facilities; technology in informal learning spaces; email stations; and other services being planned by the transition teams.

Will students lose access to specialized facilities and software for their majors as a result of this change?

An important principle in transition planning is to avoid disruptions with respect to technology services available to undergraduates at IUPUI, including those services offered within disciplines and majors. Since IUPUI is a large comprehensive campus with many schools and academic units, the unique and special needs of each school will be considered by the transition team members. The goal is to preserve essential services for students during and following the transition, including those that may be determined not to be most appropriately funded by the Undergraduate Student Technology portion of IUPUI's General Fee.

How will leveraging resources improve efficiencies/What IT services are best provided by schools?

Leveraging resources provides economies of scale that can result in greater efficiency and cost savings across the IUPUI campus and Indiana University overall. Examples of leveraged IT services that improve efficiencies include agreements with Microsoft, Macromedia, Symantec, Oracle, Corel, SPSS, Dell, and others that consistently supply IU campuses with hardware and low- or no-cost software, at savings of well over $111 million. As described in the IT Strategic Plan, Empowering People:

Proper uses of leveraged services actually increase abundance and enable more unique activities that can be done at the edge... Achieving the appropriate balance between leveraged and edge services will require careful and ongoing guidance among administrators and IT service providers. Clear policies and standards should be established... that support the optimum balance of leveraged and edge technology services across the university. Transitions of innovative edge services that may migrate to leveraged services over time should be seamless to edge service providers and users.

The differences between leverage and edge are also explained in Empowering People:

Technology resources can be extended through an ever-evolving, community-based infrastructure that includes leveraging enterprise common goods services and edge services to meet specific needs in departments, schools, and administrative units. Effectively balancing what is done at the edge and what is done with leverage requires a deep relationship of trust among IT service providers across IU. While services unique to local functions are often best hosted and maintained at the edge, IT resources maintained by campuses, schools, or departments that duplicate leveraged enterprise services reduce efficiencies, increase costs and complexity, and may pose substantial risks to data and IU's public reputation. Proper uses of leveraged services actually increase abundance and enable more unique activities that can be done at the edge. Where infrastructure services exist or can be achieved in a timely manner, IU should not duplicate or develop shadow edge systems in the absence of compelling business reasons and in consultation with UITS.

Are there opportunities to enhance other student IT services with this change?

UITS and the schools will explore new opportunities to enhance student IT services at IUPUI and achieve the goals of Empowering People, the new university IT strategic plan. These opportunities include developing additional Student Technology Centers in areas serving large numbers of undergraduates, enhancing support for student laptops, expanding wireless networks, equipping new computer classrooms, and providing specialized, instructor-requested software broadly available across campus.

How will faculty and students be involved in the process?

UITS works regularly with the IUPUI Faculty Council Technology Committee, and will additionally review plans and progress with the Faculty Council Budgetary Affairs Committee and the Campus Planning Committee. Faculty are also involved in their schools' transition teams at the discretion of the deans. Transition team members are available to discuss the Undergraduate Student Technology portion of IUPUI's General Fee process with other groups and forums. UITS is working with the IUPUI Undergraduate Student Government to engage student participation in the process. Additionally, schools may also involve students in the planning and transition.

Are IT staff in the schools included in the initial meetings?

The deans of each school at IUPUI appoint their representatives for the transition teams. Members often include associate deans, faculty, IT staff, and students.

How will this change affect IT staff in schools whose salary is currently paid in part or totally from the Undergraduate Student Technology portion of IUPUI's General Fee?

Since staffing requirements to support student technology services provided by UITS and changing service requirements within schools must be determined, decisions regarding IT staff positions were deferred until July 1, 2010. During the first year of transition, individual staff assignments and roles will be determined. Some school IT staff currently funded by the Undergraduate Student Technology portion of IUPUI's General Fee may transfer to UITS. Staff members whose job descriptions do not primarily include undergraduate student support may remain in service to the school. Increasing the depth and breadth of IT support campus-wide and focusing school staff on faculty and local support may provide opportunities for many staff to advance their careers. As is always the case in an information technology organization, roles and responsibilities will continue to change as technology and student needs evolve.

Will school-based local support provider (LSP) units be impacted by this change?

LSPs will no longer have responsibilities for campus-level student services provided by UITS. LSPs will focus on faculty and administrative support, and discipline-specific student IT services provided through the general fund or course fees within their schools. Schools may leverage their IT resources and services by forming partnerships to share resources for better faculty and departmental support.

Will replacement funds be provided for discipline-specific costs currently provided by the Undergraduate Student Technology portion of IUPUI's General Fee?

School-specific services and facilities will remain the responsibility of the schools and will be funded by sources other than the Undergraduate Student Technology portion of IUPUI's General Fee by the end of the three-year transition (July 1, 2012), unless they serve all undergraduates or meet an important campus priority (see the timeline and common good sections).

What opportunities exist to better leverage access to research technologies at IUPUI?

The tools and facilities for research are critical to IUPUI's mission as an urban research campus. In its conversations with schools at IUPUI, UITS will explore opportunities to better leverage access to all IT services managed by UITS, including those that support undergraduate student research.

How will I know how the Undergraduate Student Technology portion of IUPUI's General Fee is used?

Transparent planning and budgeting information regarding the Undergraduate Student Technology portion of IUPUI's General Fee will be provided through regular reports and on the UITS web site. Additionally, the campus administration and UITS are developing assessment measures to gauge and report progress and success.

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Last modified on August 12, 2009.