Information Systems & Technology Strategic Plan

About the IST Strategic Plan

Developed in 2016, through broad campus consultation, the aim of the IST Strategic Plan, 2017-2020, was to prioritize key strategic needs ahead of the University's new strategic plan and/or updated IT strategic plan, and identify the actions that could be taken to address those needs. This work was intended to target specific areas for improvement complementary to other ongoing operational activities and other major initiatives in such areas as information systems, security, and infrastructure, where planning and implementations would carry on in parallel.

Mission

Enable an exceptional IT environment through engagement, incubation, creativity and impact

Vision

Enable the University's mission through exceptional teaching, learning, research and administrative environments

Goal

Together we deliver: fostering strong relationships and delivering focused, high-quality, valued, savvy services and solutions

IST Strategic Plan Closure Report

High-level findings

During the Plan's consultation phase, questions posed to IST staff and community covered topics related to strengths and weaknesses, external influences, our customers, various services or functions, and how to measure success.

Feedback revealed a great deal of consistency between IST staff and the community when it came to our strengths and weaknesses. IST’s brand is reflected in its enterprise-wide perspective, strong foundational services, availability to clients and concern and support for campus in specific areas such as security.

Specific strengths

improved alerts and notifications
networks
depth of expertise in areas such as project management and security
classroom problem support
successful large system implementations

Specific concerns

speed and agility
not leveraging tools already acquired
visibility with licensing decisions
cost of some services

Opportunities

development of a cloud strategy
additional focus on security and privacy of data
more formal vendor and contract management
leveraging metrics
continuous improvement processes

Influencing factors and main themes

Factors that had the potential to influence the direction of this work included the rapid evolution of cloud offerings and resulting changes, the new University budget model, and increasing obligations related to compliance or other legislation. Overall, input coalesced around needs in five main themes:

Data – quality, definitions, warehousing, visualization
- (e.g., bibliometrics, humanities ‘mining’, buildings and org units, D2L metrics)
User Experience – user interface, accessibility, expectations
- (e.g., classroom technology, student ‘one stop’, ecommerce and self-service)
Tools and Techniques – risk management, infrastructure, cloud services
- (e.g., project and task software, O365, research storage)
Business Process and Integrations – planning, systems, reporting
- (e.g., onboarding, identity management, program appraisals)
Communications and Relationships – outreach, decisions, visibility, partnerships
- (e.g., project inventory, software licensing, PSIA process)

Review the IST Strategic Plan Closure Report in full, or review the content below for a high-level summary of our areas for action, history of the Plan, or to submit questions or feedback.

Areas for action

Work was organized into several key areas for action that organized the projects or other work needed to achieve our goals and overall strategy. Each area for action includes a definition and the respective actionable projects or initiatives.

Take stock of Knowledge & Information assets

Inventories and catalogues of knowledge and information assets give insights into common needs and capabilities. They serve as resources within IST and to clients, to help in problem solving. These information sources bring clarity, help to improve planning, and encourage better utilization of what exists (e.g. tools already in place are better utilized).

Title	Status	Description	Theme	Contact
Build a systems and applications inventory	Completed	This project will capture basic information about what systems or applications IST may support. The initial list is now complete, with a second phase involving working with the faculties to provide a place where they can capture their supported applications as well.	Knowledge	Client Services
Build a knowledge asset inventory	Partially Completed	This project would build an inventory for IST's knowledge assets, analyze the commonalities, classes of information, what tools best support which classes of information, and determine next steps. Initial work included the upgrade of knowledge base articles. Further work was deferred given parallel considerations as part of the Excellence Canada effort and Campus IT Review and related findings.	Knowledge	Client Services
Build a skills inventory	Completed	This project captured basic initial information about skills available at a group level within IST in order to provide options for support needs and overall support for planning purposes.	Knowledge	Technology Integrated Services

Delivery

Transparently demonstrate great delivery, focusing on speed of delivery, quality, inventiveness, dependability and clarity of action.

Title	Status	Description	Theme	Contact
Leverage the Excellence Canada Going for Gold effort and framework to improve delivery	Completed	The Excellence Canada initiative focused on ‘how’ we are delivering as a department, describing our current state, identifying priority processes to consider and implementing changes in a pilot. These would include the use of Lean principles and assess how to embed the principles into our work. Pilots included VM Requests, IST support for the new SSC and Works database instance migration.	Delivery	Departmental and Campus Applications
The Help Desk Remote Support Enhancements	Completed	This project would recommend process improvements and solutions and implement a remote support tool (Bomgar). It would enable IT help desk workers to be more efficient at helping clients and achieving greater satisfaction for an increasing number of clients who are spread out around main and satellite campuses.	Delivery	Client Services
O365 campus deployment	Completed	This project would build on the initial rollout of Office 365 services, including email for students and staff. There would be consideration for use cases, awareness, potential efficiencies, and greater opportunities for collaboration.	Delivery	Technology Integrated Services
Investigate an IST operations dashboard for the University community	Completed	This project considered the development of an IST services dashboard using the WCMS platform. The dashboard will provide greater transparency to IST users and a place to obtain more information about the status of services.	Delivery	Departmental and Campus Applications

Data

Driven | Dependable | Developing | Designed

The management of data is improved through standards, integration, appropriate access, tooling and data governance. Advance the access, quality and presentation of data for greater value to Waterloo. Build the capabilities for data management to enable analysis (for the future strategic plan). Be a trusted partner in data management.

Title	Status	Description	Theme	Contact
Implementation of data and information governance	Replaced	This fundamental data management initiative would implement data governance capabilities (e.g. best practices, policy implementation, access guidelines and requests) for all data domains (e.g. Human Resources, Student, Research, Co-op education). Data governance is being delivered as part of the Data as a Strategic Resource program, with AIGC assuming the role of Steering committee for that effort.	Data	Enterprise Resource Planning
Creation of a data warehouse	Replaced	This data initiative would implement a series of data capabilities for a specific domain. A number of tactical and operational initiatives were completed, as part of DSR, including the Azure environment and initial data lake as well as work with specific functional areas for reporting needs (e.g., Registrar/Admissions), student 'dashboard' report, etc.	Data	Enterprise Resource Planning
IST metrics	Completed	This effort examined the reporting currently available or needed for IST to monitor its initiatives and operations in support of continuous improvement. Pilots included statistics related to help desk activity and others.	Data	Client Services

Build communications framework

Increase awareness and visibility into the work of IST, within IST and across Waterloo. Build trust and relationships beyond one-on-one interactions. Provide more opportunities for direct end user interaction. Enable IST to become more aligned with the work of Waterloo.

Title	Status	Description	Theme	Contact
Creation of a digital IST Annual Report	Completed	Identified as an external communications initiative, the IST Annual Report helps to tell IST's story and gives visibility to the department's work.	Communications	Client Services
Launch a termly IST Newsletter	Completed	Externally, the IST Newsletter will communicate what is happening in IST, promote new services and tell our story.	Communications	Client Services
Revitalize the IST website	Completed	Enhancements to the IST website will allow users to more easily find IST services, provide easier navigation and improved user experience overall.	Communications	Client Services
New tools to support the onboarding of staff	Completed	Additional onboarding tools will include a blog on the IST Internal website where IST Directors can post updates from their areas; annual IST Group updates through Friday morning seminars; and annual CIO town halls. These provide a way to share information, a better understanding of our department and its services to campus, as well as common and consistent messaging.	Communications	Client Services
Internal and external collaboration	Completed	Strengthen the connections between account reps with all of the individual IST groups and examine options for how we can improve collaboration and communication with other campus IT teams.	Communications	Client Services
Alerts and notifications enhancements	Completed	Finalize the necessary governance and release expanded notifications to campus. Integrate the emergency notification system (ENS 2.0).	Communications	Client Services
Review the use of social media	Completed	This initiative involved a review of current social media use and practice and developed a strategy for its future use by the department.	Communications	Client Services

Governance

How decisions are made and the roles in decision making are often unclear. Bring clarity to approaching IST for IT requests. Build a culture where risks are regularly identified, monitored, addressed, and reviewed, and Policy 11 is embedded into our work. Work towards increased information-driven decision-making where priorities are understood by all across IST.

Title	Status	Description	Theme	Contact
Develop a prioritization and alignment approach for IST efforts	Cancelled	IST utilizes a number of existing steering committees, campus budget processes, available resources, system lifecycles and other factors in prioritizing work. The development of new schemes was paused with changes in government funding and the university budget process.	Governance	N/A
Adopt an IT risk framework	Replaced	This initiative involved the adoption of a specific IT risk program, in alignment with Policy 11, for the identification, assessment, mitigation and monitoring of IT risks. Material associated with the initial investigation became part of the Campus IT Review and its recommendations.	Governance	Chief Information Officer
Confirm committee roles and membership	Replaced	This initiative would provide clarity and document roles for committees IST leads or might be involved in, and ensure there is a good understanding of how decisions are made. A review of campus IT committees and governance, including representation considerations for all groups, has been conducted as part of the IT Review. A recommendation for further action is anticipated.	Governance	Chief Information Officer
Review IT policies, standards, guidelines	Completed	This initiative would review the many IT-related policies, standards, and guidelines where updates or other change might benefit IST internal work and campus as a whole. Relevant practice was compiled and included in the Campus IT Review as well.	Governance	Chief Information Officer
Review existing Service Level Agreements	Partially Completed	This project would bring clarity to IST's customer relationships through the consolidation and completion of the existing suite of agreements, by consolidating, standardizing and completing as much as possible. Priority was given to specific agreements.	Governance	Client Services
IST Strategic Plan administration	Completed	This set of activities included the creation of the plan web presence, updates on project activity, monitoring of the program and any parallel opportunities, change management activities, reporting and other administration needed to ensure the success of the overall effort. This also involved work related to closure of the plan.	Governance	N/A

Together we deliver

Together we deliver: fostering strong relationships and delivering focused, high-quality, valued, savvy services and solutions is a culminating area for action that brings together knowledge and information assets, delivery, data, communication, and governance. It also covers the cultural changes/change management that needs to occur to make the plan execution successful.

Title	Status	Description	Theme	Contact
Support the campus in the development of a full business continuity plan	Ongoing	A formal Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is being developed for the campus. This project focuses on creating a BCP for the all units, one which will become the main reference during an event. As a major participant in the plan, IST will need to evaluate the results of the BCP, so that after an unplanned disruption, normal IT business can resume as quickly as possible. IST also will provide support for the tools and technology required to support the overall exercise.	Together	Client Services
Internal Audit on Cloud Computing	Completed	As part of the overall university audit plan, an audit of cloud-based applications and related practices was conducted. A number of findings were acted on, with others referred to other initiatives such as the Campus IT Review (e.g., a statement on the approach to cloud systems). Related activities also included the planning and strategy in DCA for the many departmental information systems.	Together	Departmental and Campus Applications

Changing times

change

Strategic plans provide important guidance and focus on specific areas for attention. A key aspect, however, is their ability to adapt and accommodate changing and unexpected needs during their duration.

With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic in the final year of the plan, work in our various action areas and indeed IST operations overall shifted to support the campus through this difficult period.

While not specifically included as projects within the plan itself, IST was able to respond and move forward on a number of initiatives to support students, faculty, staff and campus partners as we jointly navigated the pandemic. All of these reflected some of the key aspirations found in the plan such as working better together and in maintaining the best possible user experience to support learning activities in a very challenging time.

Moving forward

moving forward

In 2019, the campus embarked on a review of our overall IT capability. The final report from its Steering Committee is now with the Provost and CIO for review and consideration of next steps.

The information collected from that exercise, in addition to the lessons learned and advances made as a result of this plan, specific initiatives arising from the University’s 2020-2025 Strategic Plan, lessons from the pandemic and other campus needs will provide important guidance and feedback for our next planning cycle.

Thank you to those who contributed to the development of the plan, who led or contributed to the various projects, and ultimately worked to help IST provide better service to the campus.

How we got here

The overall strategy of the IST Strategic Plan, the foundation on which the work of the Plan is based, is the outcome of consultation and plan development phases that occurred with stakeholders from across campus, and is represented by five working themes.

User experience

deliver high-quality, valuable and consistent services

be focused on delivery
deliver with the user in mind

Data

pie chart

prepare and mobilize data

recognize the value of data
advance access, quality and presentation of data for greater value
be data-driven in decision making

Tools & Techniques

person using a computer

be a technology savvy IST

be dynamic and anticipate future changing business needs
provide focused, consistent services and tools
be financially astute and sustainable

Communications & Relationships

three busts of people in circle

establish strong, complementary partnerships

meet and exceed client expectations in the delivery of all activities
develop sustainable relationships
strengthen our connection and partnerships with faculty members and the faculties
be effective and consistent in our communications
be transparent and give visibility to our work
be flexible and provide quality leadership