INFORMATION SERVICES STRATEGIC PLAN

MISSION STATEMENT

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Teaching and Learning Guiding Principles
Create an environment that accomplishes integration of instructional technology into the curriculum.
Ensure all Parkside graduates are information technology and resource literate.

Services and Support Guiding Principles
Render stable and consistent service to everyone.
Reduce referrals of questions and queries.
Set college standards for software and hardware integration and usage.
Communicate the availability of quality information services, technology and data that support all university and community endeavors.

Infrastructure Guiding Principles
Achieve connectivity and compatibility.
Ensure security of the network.
Maximize utilization of existing computer classrooms and technology-enhanced classrooms.
Explicate the efficiencies that hardware and software can provide.

Information Services Staff Development Guiding Principles
Know the proper technology to efficiently succeed in our mission.
Know developing trends and applications.
Integrate our group services and support.
Think team, community and university.

VISION

VALUES REGARDING OUR USERS

• Mission-Oriented. All processes and activities will add value to achieve the University's mission in teaching, research and service. We will foster a single mission for all areas of our operation. The primary focus of IS is the service and information needs of our clients.
• Responsive to Clients. All IS units will deliver relevant, timely, and cost effective services and systems that meet or exceed the needs of the University's internal and external constituencies.
• Encourage Innovation and Service. IS will explore and implement innovative services while maintaining high quality core operations. IS will provide consultation services that are active and responsive . Internally, IS will encourage creativity, resourcefulness and constructive entrepreneurship to enable us to create and take advantage of opportunities.
• Logical and Intuitive Organization and Processes. The structure will be rational and intuitively understandable so clients can readily identify appropriate points of contact without encountering bureaucratic impediments. IS should maintain a sense of organizational identity for the library and computing functions, but seek a high level of integration and collaboration. Administrative policies, procedures, and systems will be based upon an objective analysis of best practices and functional needs.
• Cost-effective and Accountable. IS staff must be prudent stewards of the significant resources entrusted to us by the University. The organization will focus on core operations, and will modify or eliminate activities that fall outside our mission.

VALUES REGARDING OUR STAFF

• Value and Reward People. The commitment, energy, creativity, and knowledge of the staff are our greatest assets. Staff will be valued for their ability to apply their expertise, experience, creativity, and managerial ability to improve client services and operational effectiveness. IS will foster a satisfying and rewarding working environment in which staff develop a strong sense of teamwork, innovation, communication, trust, appreciation of diversity, and ownership. IS will provide appropriate support for professional growth and development, and will acknowledge and reward individual and team contributions. All staff will bear the responsibility for their own actions, with decision making authority commensurate with the responsibility of the position.

STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

• USER SERVICES: To be a strongly client-centered and responsive organization that anticipates and meets our client's needs, and exceeds their expectations. Goals:
  • Create an active client services program.
  • Aggressively promote sensitivity to cultural diversity for our clients and staff.
  • Organize operations logically, with easily identifiable points of service for instructional technology and multimedia, and for desktop computing and network support.
  • Redesign physical service areas for maximum functionality, comfort, accommodation, and aesthetics.
  • Provide high quality training and instructional services to support lifelong learning.

• INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICES: To create and maintain information services and systems that enable effective use of traditional and networked information. Goals:
  • Articulate plans to manage information resources in all formats.
  • Facilitate development of networked information resources on campus.
  • Implement plans for information resource preservation and business continuity planning.
  • Adopt common interfaces, standards, etc. for uniform access to information and systems.
  • Enhance and upgrade institutional electronic communication capabilities including appropriate modem capabilities as required.

• TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE: To employ academic and administrative information technology to advance the teaching and learning opportunities. Goals:
  • Establish campus-wide desktop computing standards, assist in purchase and maintenance of hardware and software, provide common set of tools and services on all campus servers; and, provide location-independent access all resources.
  • Assume campus leadership, and develop an aggressive plan to support, equip and maintain technology-based classrooms on campus.
  • Monitor the active use of all current computing public sites and meet evolving needs.
  • Employ state-of-the-art technology to expand computing performance and communications bandwidth within budget limitations.
  • Implement a life-cycle replacement strategy for all key technology assets.
  • Define and announce the hardware, software, and information products we will support.
  • Provide resources to support library and computing research needs.

• STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS: To develop partnerships and engage in outreach efforts on campus and with regional partners to expand the availability of information resources at UW-Parkside. Goals:
  • Work with university community to create corporate strategic alliances.
  • Work with WLS (Wisconsin Library Services) and the UW system to enhance information access.
  • Continue to assist the Office of Learning Technologies with long-range planning for the University of Wisconsin system.

• STAFF DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS: To foster the growth and development of our staff, and to improve our operational effectiveness so we can to advance the essential programs of Information Services. Goals:
  • Develop an ongoing staff training and professional development program.
  • Use the performance review process to advance our goals and programs.
  • Redesign and reallocate space for Information Services staff for maximum functionality.
  • Align the budget and organization to meet our highest priorities.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN

• TECHNOLOGY
  • Ubiquitous Computing. Computers are ubiquitous and will become transparent, capable of wireless global connectivity, and viewed as appliances, not as specialized devices.
  • Emerging Technologies. Computer interfaces will become easier to use because technological advances. The challenge will be to incorporate emerging technologies into the current stream of services without service disruption.
  • Ongoing Change. The obsolescence cycle for computing technologies will continue to compress, continuing the shift from a five-to-seven-year cycle of a decade ago to the one-to-two-year cycle today, and moving toward a nine-to-eighteen-month likely in the new century. Network technologies will mature into plug and play systems. Current innovations (high-speed networking, desktop multimedia, wide-area digital video, etc.) will become assimilated as basic services, while innovation continues in other areas.
  • New Standards. Many long-standing technological standards (e.g. the library's MARC format ) and tools (COBOL) will be replaced by the local application of emerging new standards, including HTML/SGML and its successors, XML, Java, Z39.50, Object-Oriented Programming and Distributed Objects, and EDI.

• DEMOGRAPHICS AND EMPLOYMENT
  • Changes in Population. Asian and Latin ethnic groups will have an increasing presence in American society, which will be accompanied by the increasing economic and political power of the Pacific Rim. The median age of the overall population is rising, with a growing proportion of retirees. There will be an economic restructuring of the middle and upper-middle class based upon ongoing increase in two-income households.
  • Workplace Changes. Collaboration and teamwork will become predominant organizational models in many corporate and educational settings. Workplaces will be increasingly location-independent with the growing acceptance of telecommuting . There will be a significant reduction in lifelong job security and an ongoing change in the nature of jobs. This will increasingly require workers to commit to lifelong learning.

• ECONOMICS AND CULTURE
  • Global economy. A worldwide marketplace will continue to drive public and private organizations to adapt to change to remain competitive. College graduates will continually need to upgrade skills appropriate for careers that will increasingly occur in international and multinational settings.
  • Infotainment. The lines between information and entertainment will blur. The Internet increasingly will be used for personal activities in leisure time. The demand for greater bandwidth to meet this need will become insatiable.
  • Digital Information. Information will be increasingly distributed and used in digital formats. With standardization of, and increasing ease of access to personal information, technology will continue to erode and re-define the nature of personal privacy.
  • Information Pricing. Technology and information will continue to grow in importance in all sectors, but will be decreasingly subsidized and increasingly commercialized. Information in a networked environment will begin to carry usage fees. Free access to network services will rule the market but network services and resources will be paid by the user or subsidized by intrusive advertising. A robust copyright reimbursement infrastructure will evolve.

CHANGES WITHIN HIGHER EDUCATION

• FINANCE AND MANAGEMENT
  • Financial Aid. Demand for financial aid will continue to increase in spite of its shrinking availability.
  • Funding Sources. The market will drive the demand. Corporations may find that training employees is more cost effective than giving scholarships.
  • Partnerships. Strategic partnerships and resource sharing will be increasingly necessary to meet university's instructional needs.

• STUDENT POPULATION/CLIENT BASE
  • Lifelong Learning. The emergence of a lifelong learning model for higher education will directly impact the nature of student populations. There will be a shift from traditional 18 to 22 year old undergraduates to a diverse mix of part-time adult students (both within and outside of the bounds of degree programs) and retirees.
  • Certificate programs. The market will drive universities' to shorten class attendance cycles with certificate programs becoming profit centers for many universities.
  • Changing Markets. Foreign students and students from previously under served ethnic groups represent a broad new market for higher education.
  • Technological Orientation. Pre-college training in the use of technology will increase the number of students with computing skills and change expectations of higher education.

• INSTITUTIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL FORMS
  • Changing Needs. Vocationally, college degrees will become less important than measured levels of competency in specific areas. New hybrid organizations will evolve to meet the demand for lifelong, competence-based learning, e.g. organizations that offer advanced certificates or Bachelor's degrees in carefully selected specialties. Competition will intensify from corporations and non-academic organizations to provide higher education. Universities must cultivate niche markets to sustain their particular strengths.
  • Interdisciplinary. The walls between academic disciplines and academic departments will erode, which may also be the case between and among institutions.

• SERVICE NEEDS AND STRATEGIES
  • Basic Skills. Student needs for foundational skills training and remediation will increase.
  • Technology. Universities will rely on technology for productivity gains in teaching and learning. Distance education represents one such opportunity, but there will be an enormous competition for the distance education market. In addition, state-of-the-art technology and a strong network presence will be key to institutional marketing and recruitment. Multimedia packages will become the basic learning unit (e.g. textbook) of the future.
  • Faculty Development. Faculty will require constant training, support, and incentives to use technology in the classroom.
  • Information Management. Information will continue to grow in excess of our capacity to organize or deliver it. Universities will serve as publishers, distributors, and preservation agencies in the networked digital environment. Many traditional library functions will be transformed by a growing dominance of electronic information formats, a decreasing emphasis on local ownership of information, and an increasing reliance upon access services.
  • The Campus. There will be an ongoing role for the university as a social community and physical place.

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLANS

The University of Wisconsin-Parkside and the other UW universities collaborate with UW system initiated technology initiatives to gain economies of scale while providing flexibility for individual campus priorities. The five 1999 IT system strategic directions and UW-Parkside's activities in each area are listed.

• The first strategic direction is the development of a systemwide academic and administrative infrastructure. It is conceived as modular, replaceable and supportive in terms of the entire UW system.
  • Student Information System
  • Shared Human Resources
  • Student Appointment/Payroll system
  • Asset Management package
  • Peoplesoft Financials
  • CBT(Computer Based Training)
  • Voyager library system
  • WCB (Web Course in a Box)
  • WebCT
  • Lotus Learning Space
  • GIS (Geographic Information System)
  • Microsoft contract
  • Microcomputer contract
  • Compressed video system
  • Microcomputer replacement plan
  • Licenses/fees for access to electronic information resources

• The second strategic direction is the definition of policy and cost implications of technology, including the costs of statewide policies and infrastructures, not just the costs of local campus based systems. For example, a system-wide pricing structure is under development for technology enhanced distance learning through Internet based technologies.
  • Five year technology funding plan
  • Microcomputer replacement plan
  • Student Technology Fee
  • GIS
  • Microsoft Contract
  • Lab Modernization and Classroom Renovation programs

• The third strategic direction is to implement more effective IT staffing models. It is being realized through the student IT training budget proposal in the governor's budget proposal, the planning surrounding staffing for PeopleSoft, various outsourcing efforts and the hiring of consultants where appropriate.
  • UW-P Student Technology Corps
  • Outsourcing consultants for installation, training and support of SIS and SP2
  • Reorganizing Information Services and upgrading technology positions where possible

• The fourth strategic direction is the improvement of faculty and student IT training and education. It is being realized through the summer 1999 training plans for students that are under development. Plans for training staff and faculty will be developed next.
  • New Instructional Designer
  • UW-P Student Tech Corps and program to train other students and staff
  • Learning Technology Center

• The fifth strategic direction is the building of partnerships that leverage IT investments. It broadens the concept of partnerships, which until now have been built on a campus-by-campus basis, to a wider scale, including K-12, the technical college system and industries.
  • Harley Davidson Partnership (now expanding to include other corporations)
  • Title III grant application
  • Southeastern Wisconsin Instructional Network Group (SWING)
  • UW System Nursing Consortium
  • UW system MBA Consortium
  • UW System Women's Studies Program

• Academic applications -
  • Web-based learning
  • Distance Education
  • Library automation
  • Common database licensing

• Common Administrative systems -
  • Financial
  • Human resource/payroll
  • Student administration
  • Identification, Authentication and Authorization

UW-Parkside participates in the planning activities of the Office of Learning and Information Technology, the agency responsible for the technology plan. The plan provides flexibility to allow individual campus' to make informed decisions and choices to best exploit technology in meeting the mission of the university.

UW-PARKSIDE PRINCIPALS FOR SERVICE PRIORITIES

Earlier technology planning at UW-Parkside outlined three principles for the use of technology. These requirements remain compelling and relevant. Listed below, with examples of current use from the system's technology plan and from Parkside initiatives, the principles inform Information Services staff in meeting university priorities.

1. Technology must support teaching, research and service. Examples:
   • Voyager library system - UW-Parkside went live in August 1999. Hardware, program and initial half-year maintenance support paid by UW system.
   • UW System licenses for access to numerous electronic information sources has provided UW-Parkside users with research quality library and information resources.
   • Blackboard - A web-based classroom management and course hosting program. Housed on the UW Milwaukee campus, fees all initially paid by UW system. Use on campus is increasing.
   • WebCT - Another web-based classroom management and course hosting system housed on the Madison campus. Fees paid by UW system. Minimal use on campus.
   • Lotus Learning Space - Another web-based classroom management system housed on the Eau Claire campus. Fees paid by UW system. Used within the MBA consortium.
   • Microsoft Contract - UW system contract for academic and administrative productivity tools for students, staff and faculty. Purchase program initiated November 1999.
   • Compressed video system - Used for distance education courses for the MBA, Nursing consortium and other classes.
   • Microcomputer replacement policy - Information Services reallocated funds to support this program. The program provides for the purchase and replacement of approximately 100 microcomputers per year. The goal is to renew the computer of every full time faculty, academic and classified staff who needs a computer for daily work every three years.
   • Information Services operates open Student Microcomputer labs in three areas. Appropriate space and funding for personnel support, equipment and renovation must be found before additional needed labs are created.

2. UW-Parkside will acquire and support communication systems that enhance productivity, encourage greater dialogue between student and teacher and among students, improve the university's relationship with its communities, and provide scalability to take advantage of improved cost and technology factors. Examples:
   • Information Services Network Plan provides for systematic technological enhancements and planned redundancies as fiscal and personnel support allows.
   • The Student Technology Fee provides for enhanced access and improved electronic communication between and among students and faculty.
   • The Microsoft Contract allows students and staff to purchase the latest software to enhance communication, teaching and learning.
   • The Lab/classroom Modernization and Classroom Renovation programs provide for improved classrooms and labs to better facilitate communication and the teaching/learning process.
   • The Instructional Designer's mission is to improve classroom productivity and teacher/student communication.
   • The Student Technology Corp initiative provides for training students from any major/field of study to assist other students with technology problems.
   • The Learning Technology Center was created and staffed with the instructional designer to assist faculty with learning and experimenting with new and different pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning.

3. Support the administrative goals of the university in the most efficient and cost beneficial manner possible through the use of technology. Examples:
   • Student Information System, Touchtone registration and Degree Audit Reporting System. Computer Service staff, along with staff from Admissions, Registration, Cashier's Office, and Financial Aid continue planning, training, and testing new administrative systems to improve the processes every student encounters.
   • The Shared Human Resources Project, a UW system Peoplesoft initiative, is to provide efficient and cost beneficial human resource processes for the university, the system and the state.
   • The Student Appointment/Payroll automated system, a DoIT initiative, is to provide cost effective and timely reporting of student workers.
   • The Asset Management program, a Peoplesoft module initiated by the UW system, will enhance record keeping within Business Affairs.
   • The Shared Financial Resource System, a Peoplesoft module initiated by the UW System, will provide for enhanced financial monitoring and reporting both on the campus and within the UW System.
   • The Computer Based Training program, networked on UW-P's campus, is a series of over 400 technology lessons available to all campus based students and staff.
   • The Microsoft Contract will provide for standardization of support and training for microcomputer systems and office productivity software.
   • The Microcomputer Replacement plan provides a three year refreshing cycle for workstations.
   • UW-P's five year technology funding plan is the basis for much of technology's migration and improvement.

ANNUAL PRIORITIES

This document is intended to both inform the university community and guide the priorities of Information Services. The Technology Advisory Committee, will regularly review the document and advise Information Services which services best fit the priorities of the university.

To see previous years' Priorities, click here.

University of Wisconsin - Parkside Information Services 900 Wood Road PO Box 2000 Kenosha, WI 53141-2000 262-595-2221