Challenge 7

Leveraging University Technology Expertise To Strengthen Performance.

Information technology plays a key role in achieving the University’s strategic vision and in attaining a culture of continuous improvement, customer service, and cost savings. Technology, when properly aligned with the University’s needs and its organizational structures, can be a powerful tool for improving efficiency and services.

Information technology at the University serves two critical purposes: first, to support the institution’s mission, vision and priorities, and second, to identify and create strategic institutional opportunities. Primary leadership for achieving these purposes resides in the University’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) and is described in its strategic plan and annual compact documents. (Also see President Bruininks article in the July/August issue of EDUCAUSE Review, “Utilizing IT to Optimize Scarce Resources.”)

The Office of Information Technology’s strategic plan focuses on shifting resources from routine transactions to direct support of teaching, research, and public engagement. In addition, the office strives to optimize the University’s resources by eliminating technology duplication, aligning organizational technology support and individual units’ operating environments with enterprise technologies, and exploiting enterprise system capabilities.

Success towards service, efficiency, and improvement has not emerged through a single technological solution. Instead, progress has been realized when faculty, department heads, deans and senior administration have come together in agreement on the value that technology or systems can bring to the organization.

Successes have been predicated on a centralized information technology organization that has an ability to form strategic relationships with functional service areas such as University financial officers, human resource executives, the registrar, student admissions and financial aid as well as the provost, deans and those in the academic units.

Examples of resulting successes are described in the section below, followed by action items identified for future success.

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Customer Support and Service Delivery

The University is using its information technology expertise to expand student, faculty, and staff access to anytime-anywhere electronic service, content, and information. This includes access to networks, computing, goods and services purchasing, University data and reports, teaching and learning technologies, and other electronic resources. Examples of services provided are described below.

Microsoft Campus Agreement: Microsoft operating system and office productivity software has been made available free to all University staff and faculty. Academic and administrative unit adoption of this software suite simplifies the technical environment, saves money, and increases ease-of-service throughout the institution.

OneHelp: The University is improving efficiency by expanding its technical helpline into a 24/7 service with staff who help callers with a wide range of technical problems.

ePortfolio: ePortfolio is a secure Web site for saving, organizing, viewing, and selectively sharing educational and promotional achievement records. When integrated with a student’s academic records, ePortfolio becomes an effective advising tool. Developed on the University’s Duluth campus, ePortfolio is now available to any University student, faculty, or staff member.

In conjunction with other colleges and universities (e.g., University of Michigan and University of Delaware), the University of Minnesota has released ePortfolio as open-source software. In the first few months, more than 500 institutions worldwide have expressed an interest in this technology. Over 28,000 ePortfolios are in active use across the four University campuses.

UMCal: The University now uses an institution-wide calendar service, UMCal , for all faculty, staff, and, beginning with the class of 2008, all students. Previously decentralized and disparate calendaring systems throughout the University caused significant inefficiencies. UMCal not only simplifies the electronic calendaring process but also creates institutional cost savings and gives units that run their own calendar services the option of additional savings through server retirement, licensing fees, and administrative costs.

Best Practices: In an effort to manage the technology environment in the most fiscally prudent manner possible, the Office of Information Technology developed a statement of best practices (download PDF) for use by faculty and staff. The statement includes practices addressing computer purchases, desk-top support, and duplicating centrally-provided services.

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Enterprise Applications Systems

Over the past several years, the University has made a major commitment to and investment in the development of enterprise applications systems in order to respond strategically to its teaching, learning, research, and administrative needs. Four of the five major administrative information systems have been successfully replaced: human resources, grants management, libraries, and student systems.

Replacement of the fifth system, financial, is currently under way. This and other initiatives are described below.

Enterprise Financial System Project: In 2004, the University began the first phase of planning, analyzing, and designing a new enterprise financial system. Implementation of the new system began in 2005 with individual modules released for University departmental/unit use as they become available.

WebCT Vista: WebCT’s course management software is used extensively across the University. The number of WebCT course sites has grown dramatically over the past year. By November 2004, there were 3,248 course sites and 29,557 student users. In 2004, the existing WebCT system was upgraded, with implementation – following pilot courses and assessment of results – taking place in 2005.

Imaging: In collaboration with the Duluth campus, the Twin Cities campus is launching a University-wide document imaging project . The digitization of paper records promises to yield efficiencies, reduce costs, save space, and improve services through near-instant search and retrieval capabilities. For example, since its inception, imaging automation has helped the Twin Cities campus admissions office process 18 percent more applications with fewer staff. There are currently 26 University units ready to implement this technology and integrate it into their business processes.

Portal: The University portal allows the University to deliver customized information, provide access to University resources, and facilitate instruction system-wide. During the first nine months of 2003, the portal was used to deliver the federally mandated HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) training to nearly 19,000 individuals in a cost-effective manner. This level of training compliance would not have been achieved without the portal capability.

SEVIS: During the last three years, the federally mandated SEVIS (Student Exchange and Visitor System) program for international students and scholars required extensive reconfiguring of PeopleSoft systems related to data management, which cost the University an estimated $500,000. In the past year, International Student and Scholar Services and the Office of Information Technology have made a number of improvements that will reduce costs and provide more efficient processing of visas and other documentation.

eBenefits: Benefit administration within PeopleSoft was implemented in April 2004. This project changed the open enrollment for employee benefits from a manual process to self-service. Benefits of the new system include reduced cycle time, reduced manual data entry, and reduced errors for over 20,000 benefit-eligible employees. The first Web-based self-service open enrollment period took place in October 2004.

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Technology Infrastructure Operations

The operation and maintenance of the University’s technology infrastructure is critical to sustain enterprise services and their delivery to the University community. The University routinely analyzes the performance of these critical functions in order to drive further efficiencies and assist in capacity planning. In addition, effective obsolescence planning and implementation enable the redeployment of University funds toward new technologies and support strategies.

Data Network Upgrade: A 16-month project is currently upgrading 60,000 network connections to increase speed and throughput by a factor of 100, enhance firewall services, and improve video and other high-performance network-related applications.

Wireless Networking Coverage: The University is increasingly supplementing its wired network with wireless network coverage. This has proven to be the most effective way to deliver network services to areas where flexibility is desired and costs were previously prohibitive. Currently, there are over 380 wireless access points that provide services to classrooms and common/public spaces in over 80 buildings on the Twin Cities campus.

Interactive Television and Online Classes: The University’s interactive television system links all campuses using two-way video and audio links so that instructors and students can see and hear each other. Because the system can connect with other state, national, and international systems, it effectively links the University to the developing global distance education network.

Online classes are another option for students in remote locations and for students who want the flexibility this type of learning offers. Enrollment in online classes on the Twin Cities campus rose from 587 in 2002-03 to 2,455 in 2003-04, a 318 percent increase.

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Academic and Research Technology Needs

The Office of Information Technology works closely with individual faculty, departments, and collegiate units to address their technology needs related to teaching, learning, research, and public engagement. Examples of this collaborative process are described below.

Internet2 ®: The University of Minnesota is a member of the Internet2 ® consortium developing advanced network applications and technologies.

Many sponsored grants today come with a requirement that researchers be connected to Internet2 ® in order to share large amounts of information and imaging with peers across the country.

Technology-Enhanced Learning: Technology-enhanced learning is the term the University uses to describe its distributed education, instructional technology, and technological support of the core teaching mission. All these efforts are designed to help students develop greater knowledge and understanding through improved access to the University’s intellectual assets and through innovative instructional strategies. The University takes an enterprise-wide solutions approach to these initiatives, deriving maximum efficiency from a robust and flexible infrastructure.

Next Generation of the Professoriate: The goal of this project, started in 2002 by the University’s Technology-Enhanced Learning Council, is to work with incoming faculty to develop the theory and practices needed for effective teaching in technology-enhanced learning classrooms. The program pairs new faculty with volunteer mentor faculty from their discipline. Both groups attend workshops on technology and training in the design and use of technology-enhanced learning materials. New faculty also receive funds for equipment and/or software to support their teaching.

Interactive Technology—Breeze and Blogs: The University now offers Breeze, a Web collaboration system used for creating and publishing multi-media presentations and conducting live meetings via the Web from a desktop computer. Presenters can display graphics and PowerPoint slides, broadcast audio and video, interact using chat and whiteboard tools, and gather real-time feedback from on-site and distributed audience members. Students or audience members gain access via a link from a WebCT course site, a myU (portal) site, or a general Web site.

Weblogs, or “blogs” (Web pages created as interactive electronic journals), are another example of interactive technology gaining momentum at the University. The Libraries and the Office of Information Technology have collaborated to promote blogs as an effective form of personal expression, a discussion tool, and a basis for forming communities of learners. The number of blogs established to date has surpassed the initial goal of 1,000 per year.

Classroom Quality and Use: Fifty-seven percent of campus classes are held in 293 centrally managed, general purpose classrooms (with 20,520 student seats, comprising 316,913 square feet in 52 buildings). Colleges or departments manage another 265 classrooms and 426 labs and studios.

The Office of Classroom Management supports teaching and learning by faculty and students in University classrooms. Its objective is to increase classroom usage and improve classroom technology.

Demand for central classrooms has consistently increased over the past five years to its current rate of 14,000 sections per semester. Yet use of these classrooms is 61 percent over the class day; during peak demand hours use increases to 68 percent. A major effort has been initiated with departments and colleges to improve usage by shifting more classes to off-peak hours. In the past two years, the number of technology-equipped classrooms has increased, including those with wireless networking capability.

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Performance Measures

The University uses a broad range of measures and tools to assess its technological performance and identify areas for continued improvement.

Results from enterprise system projects related to student records, human resources, electronic grants management, and libraries are captured and quantified in the academic or administrative units in which the new systems are employed. This information is used to further reshape and/or automate business processes.

Technology Expenditures: The University tracks its overall information technology expenditures as a percentage of academic, administrative, research, and outreach technology-related expenditures. For the last three years, these expenditures have held steady.

Information Technology Spending per Capita: The University measures the average information technology expense per student, faculty, and staff (headcount) throughout the entire institution.

Customer Satisfaction: The University continually measures and publishes annually the results of a technology satisfaction survey in seven key satisfaction categories.

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Future Actions

Continuous assessment and creating new technology initiatives are necessary to enhance services and identify opportunities for program improvement and efficiency. Areas of focus and action items that will result in future improvement are identified below.

Web Content Management: The College of Education and Human Development and the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs are lead collaborators with the Office of Information Technology on implementing FileNet, a new content management system at the University.

This system is serving as a catalyst for achieving an appropriate balance between centralized and decentralized services for Web page development and maintenance. Units can use FileNet to efficiently and effectively publish their digital communications. One barrier to broader participation and, thus, greater efficiency, is the annual cost that would be borne by units opting to use FileNet. A recurring allocation through the compact process is providing funds to ease this transition.

Walter Library Computer Upgrade: In partnership with the College of Liberal Arts and the Institute of Technology, the Office of Information Technology is upgrading Walter Library’s public computer lab. This is the most visible, highly used public lab on the Twin Cities campus, and is used to recruit faculty and students during campus tours, and often pressed into a 24/7 schedule to meet demand.

Storage: The University’s reliance on electronic systems, historical and archived data, and disk space require sound electronic storage strategies. Investments in a new electronic data storage system will fundamentally change the historical practice of managing disk space for data storage. This approach will avoid distributed unit costs and decrease server security risks while providing a more effective method to manage enterprise system data.

Graduation Planner : The Graduation Planner, scheduled for implementation in 2005-06, will be a Web-based planning tool for undergraduate students and advisors throughout the University system. This project was launched as a result of the 2002 report, Improving Our Graduation Rates.

The Graduation Planner will create a real-time database of all undergraduate academic programs and requirements and a student’s own record of courses already completed. This will enable students to plan their classes for their entire four years and try out and store what-if scenarios for future planning as well as provide information for advising and administrative planning (e.g., course section and classroom assignment projections).

This state-of-the-art technology application will integrate a number of existing enterprise systems, including PeopleSoft student records; APAS (Academic Progress Audit System); ECAS (Electronic Course Authorization System; ePortfolio; catalog, schedule, and course guides; and provost and Board of Regents approval of new and changed academic programs.

E-Mail Marketing Communications: In partnership with University Relations, the Office of Information Technology is piloting the use of Lyris, a sophisticated e-mail marketing communications program that enables the University and its collegiate units to communicate more effectively and efficiently with their constituencies. Previously, these communications efforts were labor-intensive and costly if handled internally or entailed expensive outsourcing to external vendors. When fully implemented in 2006, this tool is projected to save the University $175,000 over a five-year period and create new strategic opportunities and approaches to electronic communications.

Challenge Six  |  Summary and Criteria

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