Infrastructure
Dynamically meet the technology needs of the campus community at the time of need and seize the potential of technology to cooperatively build UMass Amherst's vision of the future. Through sustained funding and campus governance, the UMass Amherst technology portfolio will focus on:
- More modularized service offerings that are nimble, responsive, solution-driven, and reflect our commitment to service excellence.
- Engaged, collaborative, and intentional planning for the next generation of IT services, responding to campus community needs and anticipating tomorrow's technology landscape.
- A resilient and secure IT infrastructure that supports excellence in teaching, learning, and research.
- Digital integrations to ensure system interoperability, scalability, and extensibility across applications and platforms.
Infrastructure Action Steps
- Develop a data-driven IT service planning and management strategy that utilizes existing governance structures to engage the campus community, emphasizes operational effectiveness, and relies on a well-defined financial strategy to deliver an agile and accessible portfolio of IT services.
- Develop and implement a cloud service methodology that ensures IT services are architected for optimum resiliency and streamlined for ease and efficiency.
- Define and carry out a roadmap for online storage capabilities that meet current and projected academic and research needs as well as compliance requirements.
- Achieve a high completion rate on wired and wireless network infrastructure upgrades as part of the 5-year network modernization plan, using guidance from current IT governance bodies and addressing current community needs.
- Pivot to a new framework for the campus telecommunication systems that take into account current usage patterns, industry changes, and vision for the future.
- Define and roll out a campus-wide IT service architecture framework that formalizes architecture functions and consists of technical principles, standards, and support resources.
- Lead the business continuity/disaster recovery planning efforts at the system level to ensure redundancy and availability of critical IT services at UMass Amherst and across the UMass system.
Support
Continue to build an agile, data-driven IT service management and support strategy that exemplifies digital transformation. Support and service models prioritize scalability, resiliency, consistency, and a positive user experience across campus.
Support Action Steps
- Expand the framework for IT service management and support with a focus on shared service models for maximum consistency and efficiency.
- Elevate the customer experience by implementing user-centered service catalogs, support documentation, and other service request functionalities that respond to and demonstrate a deep understanding of the technology needs of the campus community.
- Develop a new content management strategy for IT support documentation, leveraging automation, vendor expertise, and industry best practices to maintain timely and relevant support articles, UX help, and other procedural materials.
- Re-engineer the login/authentication experience for campus services with an eye to human-centered design and information assurance. Prioritize services that require two-step login (multi-factor authentication) for enhanced security.
Operational Excellence
Continue to build a stronger, more inclusive, and world-class IT community across campus which exemplifies UMass Amherst as a workplace of choice that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion, and underscores progressive human resources principles.
Continue to build a dynamic, sustainable IT financial strategy that focuses on optimizing the management of IT resources and aligns with campus and system-wide efficiency and effectiveness efforts, including shared service models.
Outreach Action Steps
- Develop an organizational assessment framework that includes diversity and inclusion outcomes and career development pathways for IT staff.
- Cultivate a diverse applicant pool to attract talent from traditionally underrepresented demographics.
- Launch multi-modal professional development program for IT employees that meets current and future training needs for a premier and nimble IT workforce on campus.
- Grow engagement and outreach initiatives through internal communications, events, and other organizational programs. Foster a collaborative, supportive, and collegial work environment that highlights the contributions of IT employees.
- Pursue efficiencies and cost savings through cross-departmental collaborations, participation in shared services, and an appropriate level of standardization for interoperability and rapid deployment.
- Minimize investment in legacy platforms. Develop standardized transition roadmaps for legacy services and applications.
- Implement a community feedback mechanism that provides actionable metrics on the quality, health, and future opportunities of IT services.