IT Town Hall Meeting Scott F. Midkiff Vice President for Information Technology and CIO Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Virginia Tech midkiff@vt.edu IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 1
Agenda Comments on budget reductions Comments on cybersecurity working groups IT Strategic Plan IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 2
Budget Reductions Excerpts from 9/1 email from President Sands: We will seek to preserve current budget plans and special initiatives, to the extent possible. We hope that this year s reduction can be managed centrally with various one-time strategies. However, for FY 2015-16, we will implement a more thoughtful and judicious approach. To the degree possible, we will look at various revenue enhancements, such as increased support from auxiliaries, But it is likely that some portion of the expected reductions will come by cutting expenses or identifying efficiencies across the university. IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 3
Budget Reductions for FY 2015 Expect salary adjustments for university staff and faculty to proceed as planned Expect modest or, possibly, no cuts to individual units Need to begin to position ourselves for Fiscal Year 2016 and beyond IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 4
Budget Reductions for FY 2016 Expect some cuts, but how much is not clear Renewed importance of showing the value of IT to the university Renewed importance of IT services to: Improve efficiencies across the university Help the university grow strategically IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 5
Cybersecurity Working Groups Enterprise support for multifactor authentication Chair: Mary Dunker System log archiving and analysis Chair: Theta Bowden Cybersecurity training for IT professionals Chair: Scot Ransbottom IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 6
From: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/swot_en.svg/910px-swot_en.svg.png IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 7
Strengths Skilled, experienced, and dedicated workforce A foundation of innovation and technical leadership History of service to the university IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 8
Weaknesses Understaffed and underfunded given the growing demands on IT Lack of governance in some areas to prioritize growing demands for limited resources Workforce skills not fully adapted to new role of IT as a consultant and broker Not enough communication between groups in IT and between IT and other university units IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 9
Opportunities Growing opportunities for leveraging information technology Growing programs Improving efficiencies Becoming even more central to the teaching and research missions of the university New technologies present new opportunities for enhanced functionality and increased efficiencies Cloud Mobile Advances on many other fronts IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 10
Threats Cyber threats Threaten the functioning of systems and the integrity of data Defenses can threaten the usability of systems and costeffectiveness of systems Disasters Growing reliance on information technology increases impact of a disaster affecting services Growing demands to be served by a fixed budget Growth in demand for compute, storage, network, and development capacity exceeds resources IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 11
Threats (continued) Retirements A large number of IT employees are or soon will be eligible for retirement Potential for a significant loss of experience and delays in hiring and training replacements IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 12
IT Strategic Plan, Operational Plan http://www.it.vt.edu/publications/ IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 13
IT Strategic Plan for 2012-2016 Building on strengths and pursuing opportunities to support A Plan for a New Horizon Pillar 1: Enabling networked learning in the networked university Pillar 2: Providing competitive advantage through sustainable advanced cyberinfrastructure and collaboration Pillar 3: Leveraging information technology to distinguish the Virginia Tech experience Pillar 4: Advancing information technology for enterprise effectiveness DCSS - April 25, 2013
Pillar 1: Teaching and learning Area 1: Online and technology-enhanced education Goal 1: Help faculty develop technology-enhanced learning strategies including support for effective design of learning activities and innovative instructional strategies Goal 2: Investigate, develop, and utilize current tools and emerging technologies to enhance learning environments IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 15
Pillar 1: Teaching and learning Area 2: Computational thinking Goal 3: Translate the goal of computational thinking from A Plan for a New Horizon to the context and activities of the IT organization IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 16
Pillar 2: Competitive cyberinfrastructure and collaboration Area 1: Scaling up Goal 1: Provide outstanding, leading edge institutional resources to researchers by significantly expanding the stability, scale, capabilities, and services of Virginia Tech s cyberinfrastructure IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 17
Pillar 2: Competitive cyberinfrastructure and collaboration Area 2: Increased collaboration Goal 2: Nurture a collaborative community of scholars, practitioners, and educators at Virginia Tech in areas related to cyberinfrastructure to encourage innovation and investment Goal 3: Increase the number, type, and frequency of collaborations, outreach, and communications activities related to cyberinfrastructure with external people and groups to expand opportunities and further Virginia Tech s reputation IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 18
Pillar 3: Differentiating the Virginia Tech experience Area 1: Physical spaces Goal 1: Provide innovative technology-drenched spaces to distinguish the physical university experience from the virtual university experience Goal 2: Sustain and innovatively improve converged technologies for safety and security on campus Area 2: BYOE Goal 3: Leverage IT to enhance and enable the increasingly wide array of devices brought to campus to elevate the experience of students, faculty, staff, and visitors IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 19
Pillar 4: Enterprise effectiveness Area 1: Expanding exemplary capabilities Goal 1: Improve IT s agility and ability to responsively meet the institution s highest priority needs while using central and unit resources as effectively as possible Goal 2: Support the university s mission and activities with enterprise systems, applications, and data that exemplify industry standards for availability, reliability, security, sustainability, and robust functionality IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 20
Pillar 4: Enterprise effectiveness Area 2: Position enterprise systems for the future Goal 3: Explore efficiencies, innovation, and effectiveness in enterprise systems and implement innovative technologies and services that serve as catalysts and enablers for advancing the missions of the university IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 21
IT Strategic Plan for 2012-2016 Addressing weaknesses and threats to position IT for the future Pillar 5: Ensuring the security and resilience of information technology resources Pillar 6: Improving communication with customers and partners Pillar 7: Strengthening the information technology organization DCSS - April 25, 2013
Pillar 5: Security and resilience Area 1: Securing infrastructure, data, and research Goal 1: Establishing a level of security that continuously protects and ensures the resilience of university infrastructure, data, and research Area 2: Community engagement Goal 2: Actively engage the Virginia Tech community in ensuring and improving IT security through research collaborations, education programs, and deliberate community outreach IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 23
Pillar 5: Security and resilience Area 3: Managed access Goal 3: Enhance Virginia Tech's ability to effectively and efficiently manage access to institutional data and services IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 24
Pillar 6: Improving communication Area 1: Retooling Goal 1: The IT organization will focus on communication as a strategic lever to enhance connectivity in the networked university and will expand communications efforts within IT, with the university community, and with a broad range of internal and external partners and potential partners IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 25
Pillar 7: Strengthening the IT organization Area 1: Agility and effectiveness Goal 1: Improve organization-wide understanding, planning, and documentation of IT services and activities Goal 2: Develop and maintain a workforce pipeline for the Information Technology organization IT Town Hall - October 6, 2014 26