Heading in the right direction
The OneIT team believes that the initiatives below, all involving collaboration across organizational boundaries, represent model behaviors and can be scaled up and replicated out.
Student success technologies projects
More than two dozen technology projects focused on enhancing student services and success are slated to be completed within the next two years. Student success projects include implementation of a new course catalog, advising and academic planning tools, and paperless processes in Admissions and the Registrar's Office. The projects and their oversight are a collaboration of multiple units across campus, including Central Information Technology, the Office for Student Success, the Registrar's Office, Admissions, and Student Affairs IT. The close cross-unit partnership provides centralized project portfolio management, as well as the opportunity to standardize implementation and outreach strategies.
Software asset management initiative
Central IT has taken on the role of leading software licensing management strategies by providing software asset management tools and resources to campus. A significant part of the success of this initiative has been the building of relationships across the organization through the regular Software Asset Management (SAM) Roundtable meetings where stakeholder input is solicited and guidance provided.
Mobile app development
In August 2016, UM launched its first mobile application (UMontana) and continues to develop high-value services that can be delivered effectively on smartphones and tablets. The app integrates content and functionality from Moodle, provides access to grades, helps connect students to academic tutors, and features popular tiles such as the Food Zoo menu, the UDash bus schedule and hours of operation of offices and businesses on campus. In Spring 2017, the mobile app even hosted the Associated Students of UM (ASUM) annual student government election. Successful mobile app development is the result of partnerships across IT units that include Web Technology Services, Enterprise Information Systems, and Student Affairs IT, as well as a number of undergraduate student-workers, a few of whom have graduated into full-time employment with the mobile app vendor, CampusM.
IT service management consolidation (support tickets)
In an effort to inventory, consolidate, and streamline IT services, multiple campus IT units recently partnered in selecting, funding, and implementing a campus-wide IT service managment (ITSM) solution called TeamDynamix (TDX) for Higher Ed. The new tool will provide a single point-of-entry online portal for users to request IT services and support, as well as provide self-help tools and content. The tool will significantly enhance IT professionals' ability to collaborate on tickets and projects across units. TDX also includes enterprise service management options for facilities, human resources, and project management, which offers additional opportunities for integrating and consolidating access to campus services and support.
Central IT funding model change
Central IT is pursuing significant changes to its funding model to ensure that IT funding is
sustainable, equitable, and allows the University to meet growing academic, administrative, and research IT needs. As of July 1, 2017, IT discontinued monthly departmental charge-backs on network ports and telephone connections.
Network and telephone charge-backs have constituted a significant part of Information
Technology's operating budget for many years, but revenue has dropped 35 percent over the past three years as departments have discontinued telephone service in favor of personal cell phones and opted to have employees connect to the UM network wirelessly rather than through a hardwired network port. While those strategies helped units meet budget challenges, they did not produce overall savings for UM and had a detrimental impact on productivity and services.