Technology Evaluation Plan FRIT 8132 Christina Amaral Alexis Scranton November 4, 2010

Introduction The plan evaluated according to the analysis rubric, is the current Strategic Technology Plan at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). It was written and updated by Joanna Young, UNH Chief Information Officer on April 10, 2010. There is no indication of how often the plan is revisited or revised. Being that it was last updated within this year does provide enough to assume that the strategies laid out in the plan are either currently being implemented or are being prepared for implementation. This school is actively working on improving the universitys technological learning services, at least within the last year. This plan was arbitrarily chosen from a list of random universities because it was the most recently updated. Though neither member of this team evaluating this plan holds a current position in higher education, it was chosen due to an interest in learning more about the field unfamiliar to us both.

Technology Plan Analysis Rubric (Scores in red)

1. Executive Summary 1 An identifiable executive summary appears to be non-existent. The technology plan opens with a statement of what an important role technology plays in the world today and contributes this to the universitys need to enhance the technology support they offer. Nowhere is there a summary that clearly identifies the components mentioned in the rubric. Although no mission or strategies are laid out in a summary mode, the plan does state that technology is a key enabler of its mission and strategies and that modern technology is needed in order to accomplish its vision. This could easily be improved by providing, at the beginning of the plan, a summary that includes major components of the plan, such as the vision, mission, goals, etc. This is not to say the reasoning behind the importance of technology enhancements should be eliminated, but rather shortened as not to be the sole point of interest. In addition, due to how unorganized the plan is, according to the criteria assessed in this rubric, the plan would be followed more easily if it followed the points mentioned in the executive summary.

2. Identifies Contributors and Stakeholder Groups 2 There is no list of contributors or stakeholders that were included in the construction of this technology plan other than mention of consultation with the universitys community. In this context, community is not clearly defined. Therefore, it was not deserving of full credit in this area. There is, however, mention of a long list of different areas of the university itself that will be consulted in the future in regards to putting the technology plan into place. Here, it is understood a little better that the community referred to is the various entities that make up the university itself. Amongst this list of community members are the universitys technology organizations, such as the Library, the IT department and area of Research Computing. No further explanation or description is given regarding these organizations.

This area could be improved by making a clear list of all parties that were involved in creating this plan and providing a brief explanation of each. This explanation would give readers an idea about the purpose of each organization and perhaps how technology plays a role in their purpose.

3. Vision Statement 3 This area, labeled as Future Vision, in the technology strategic plan provides several scenarios in which it is hoped the new plan will play a role. The scenarios give great examples as to how enhanced technology will impact people in various positions at the university, from students, to faculty, parents, and alumni. A few examples are even provided to show how technology could be used according to what subject is being studied. For example, the vision is that a student studying marine science would have the capabilities to create and share large video files, or collaborate with peers via online workspaces. Scenarios are articulated in such a way as to provide others with a clear since of the many ways lives and learning will be positively impacted with the changes suggested in the plan. The use of scenarios was a creative way to express the universitys vision. There are no suggestions to the improvement of this section other than possibly the placement of the vision in the plan, following the executive summary and/or mission statement.

4. Mission Statement 1 This technology plan has no clear direct mission statement. One has to search the entire plan to get a since of what the mission is. From doing

exactly that, it can be gathered that the mission may include accessing new student markets and spurring increased collaborations in teaching and research and sustainability or providing technology that is accessible, engaging, responsive, flexible, and secure.

This can be improved by first determining where the mission statement will be placed in the technology plan, then by labeling it as such. Once readers can easily locate the mission statement, it should be written in a concise manner prescribing actions to make the vision a reality and to whom this vision will impact. Having said this, it would be advised the mission statement follow the vision statement.

5. Goals 2 The goals, or what are perceived to be the goals, due to the ill manner in which the plan correlates with the given rubric, are broad and extensive. The goals cover how the university will address the areas of new investments, collaboration, funding, sustainability, execution and balance. Each of these are well organized and thoroughly explained. New Investments: Projects/services that are innovative and support the goals of the university will be considered provided funding for all allocated costs are covered. Collaboration: (see Contributors & Stakeholders section) Funding: (see General Issues section) Sustainability: All projects/services pursued and acquired must be sustainable financially, operationally and environmentally. The issue of long-term security and longevity of the program/service is also mentioned here. Excellence of Execution: The goal here is to maintain high standards in executing all programs. Quality and accuracy, as well as alignment to the institutions mission, vision and culture will all play a role in future technology endeavors, looking to continuous improvement. Balance: All investments will be balanced in the sense of adhering to the schools mission and current and forecasted market. Hefty amounts of money will not be invested into being able to claim to have the best or most modern of something if it does not suit the needs of the schools community. Priorities will be kept in check. Each of these areas was laid out, but dont speak directly enough to the needs of the teachers and learners, rather the decision makers and the budget. These do

indirectly have an effect on teaching and learning, but since there was not a stronger alignment, the full score was not given. The goals also failed to specifically address the Who, what, when and how much questions. Goals can be as few or as many as the university decides. However many, they need to be goals that are measurable and are able to be measured by a defined period of time. Without these two factors, it is theoretically impossible to determine how near the goals are to being met or if they have been met or not. It would be advised that the contributors of this technology plan make a list of all the measurable differences they want to see happen and indicate to whom these changes will occur within each goal. After doing so, a reasonable time frame needs to be stated within each goal. This time frame may vary tremendously between goals. Also included needs to be how the goal will be measured. How will the determination of its completion be evaluated.

6. Objectives 1 This section received this score, because it lacks easily identifiable objectives. Since these objectives are essentially derived from the goals, without suitable goals, there are no fully developed objectives. The plan does include descriptions and characteristics of several initiatives. For the sake of this rubric and the lack of defined objectives, these initiatives will be evaluated as a means to which the overall vision and goals will be accomplished.

The initiatives are comprised of the following: Scholarship and Research Directory and Information Services, Learning Portal, Communication & Collaboration Suite, Institutional Repository, Identity Management, and Cyber infrastructure. Some of these are already in process of implementation. Cyberinfrasturcture was the only one mentioned to be in this stage. The remaining still require next steps of planning and funding to take place. Though these initiatives will assist in or are connected to what has been perceived as the goals, there have yet to be steps put into place as to how these will occur.

Before the objectives can be written, the goals need to be identified in the manner suggested. The next step would be to think about the single or multitude of steps that would need to happen to accomplish the goals, according to the measurable amount, by the defined audience. Doing this within realistic realms will help to move the goals along the way, resulting

in helping the manifestation of the visions and mission.

7. Needs Assessment 1 The needs assessment is non-existent. The only mention of anything minutely related is found in the introduction page that substituted for a proper executive summary. The one sentence includes the following statement, a stronger focus on academic technology, and consider critical developments in technology such as the expanding importance of cyberinfrastructure, increasing mobility of technology users and technology devices and the rapid growth of digital content. It is hard to say if this would follow under needs assessment or a different area. In order to improve this area of the technology plan, the goals and objectives will first need to be defined. Then, after having an overview of the steps needed, it can be determined as to what is lacking in terms of hardware, training, etc. This part of the plan, like most of the others, should be done in a systematic way. Beginning with the first goal, all of the related objectives should be assessed to determine what will be needed to carry them out. These components should be added in the needs assessment area of the plan.

8. General Issues 1 This portion of the technology plan is non-existent. There is no mention of any general issues that may be faced. Funding and the handling of new investments are mentioned in the supposed goals section. These could perhaps be placed or forced under general issues, but essentially there are none mentioned. If there is an issue with predicting what general issues may arise, the authors of the plan should reach out to the university community, as indicated as a method used in creating the plan. Community members should be made aware of the schools mission, vision, goals and objectives and told to provide feedback about any questions or concerns. From this feedback an idea of some general issues that may be faced at this school can be drafted. All stakeholders should be included in this request for input.

9. Conclusions and Recommendations 2 (Conclusions and recommendations are adequately justified although the basis of some conclusions not entirely clear. Submitted on time). This plan explains how the new technology would help with teachers, facility and administrators

with new technology they are going to try to implement. There are no steps in getting from what already existed to get to their new goals in technology. This part of the plan needs improvement with an explanation of how they plan to integrate the new initiatives to the university. Also, how can the faculty and staff improve on their prior knowledge of the systems that will take place at the university?

10.Acceptable Use Policy 1 (Policy issues are absent, incomplete, or difficult to understand; lack of Acceptable Use Policy draft; or submitted late). This plan lacked any type of Acceptable Use Policy. This was not a component in our technology plan. It did not list any types of policies that would be used the by the university or its faculty. There were no guidelines directing faculty on the use of software or hardware. Internet use was not discussed in this portion as well. Every technology plan needs to have limits and boundaries when dealing with a school or company. This plan lacks regulations and rules needed. Parental consent for student information to be shared on the Internet and any types of files concerning faculty needs approval.

11.Technology and Learning Statement 2/3 We evaluated this component at between a 2 and 3 due to the fact that this plan did mention plans for what to expect with the outcomes of the new technology and equipment. It did not however explain how it would effect the currently used technology, only how it would help expand once in place with the older materials. They did mention how they will do whatever alternations to the existing system necessary to provide the best systems and services they could to the university and the surrounding communities. There needs to be more elaboration on the use of the current technology and how this new plan will effect how the old programs ran.

12.Technology Standards, Requirements, and Models for Technology and Learning 2 (Provides general description of hardware, software and connectivity standards and requirements. Although clear, may miss some information elements. Submitted on time). We ranked this at a 2 because in the collaboration section of this plan, they explain that a committee will gather to discuss the standards and direction, division or responsibilities and sharing capabilities and so forth. They did not however explain what type of software or hardware would be

implemented if not already existent. UNH does mention many new initiatives they plan to offer with their new technology plan but it does not specify what type of hardware would be needed for these aside from the Internet and computer. There needs to be standards for all software and hardware used by the faculty and students at the university, otherwise many software could be used improperly.

13.Staff Development 3 (Clearly describes current and needed technology competencies; describes how plan will take teachers and other staff from present level of technology competency and knowledge to the level of skill required in the plan; describes staff development strategies and recommendations for incentives and professional development resources). The plan explains in all of its initiatives what will benefit the staff and students of the university. Each initiative explains in detail how each can benefit from the new plans and how they will be trained to use the new technology. They will even expand in place programs to help kick off the new technology. Many of the new services are rich in media and engaging all members of the university from staff to student to alumni. There are some initiatives that offer storage or networks to the behind the scene events that take place within the university.

14.Technical Support 2 (Provides adequate but not comprehensive description of technical support requirements and services. Submitted on time). The technology committee did say that technical help would be available for those that did need it but did not say when it would be addressed in a timely manner. There will be storage and network assistant but lacked the amount that would be offered. They did mention that it would be an IT group that would offer the assistance needed.

15.Projects, Budgets, and Timelines 2 (Provides most, but not all, of the projects, timelines and budget estimate information. Appears to be generally consistent with plan goals. Submitted on time). There were six definite initiatives that were listed and planned for but there were not timelines for when they would be implanted and started. The committee from the university and its investors would meet about the budget and estimate cost throughout the process of developing these plans. Each department head has to be aware of their cost and budgets with the new initiatives taking place. Each department head needs to be given an exact

number for their department budget so they all know working together what they can be offered in the new process.

16.Clarity of Writing 3 (Writing is concise and clear; uses active voice when appropriate. No misspelling, grammar or punctuation mistakes evident). The technology committee did a great job with writing this plan even though it lacked some major components for a clear and successful technology plan. They did a nice job dividing up each section with using appropriate font and bolding text.

Summary Overall, we believed that our technology lacked many key components to make it a substantial and effective plan. They were in depth about what types of initiatives would take place with this new plan but they did not include an estimated budget, types of hardware needed and how fast certain projects would take place. After looking through the technology plan and reading throughout materials in class about what a proper technology plan should look and sound like, we have to say that this technology plan fails to meet the requirements. There were some aspects of the plan that were very thorough and descriptive about the goals but at the same time lacked detailed specifications about the IT support, the faculty support and what was the overall main goal aside from developing new initiatives for the university.

UNH Strategic Technology Plan Joanna Young, UNH Chief Information

Officer - April 2010
People increasingly experience or interact with an organization through a technology lens. Accessible, engaging, responsive, flexible, and secure applications, with uses ranging from the casual enquiry to the complex workflow or visualization, are useful or even required by the student, the professor, the researcher, the administrator, the donor, the ticket purchaser and the visitor, whether physically on our

campus or in remote corners of the globe. Therefore, technology is integral to UNH1 and a key enabler of its mission and strategies. The University is presently at an important juncture in how it uses and manages technology. The University of New Hampshire Strategic Plan vision and specific programmatic initiatives require new and updated technology. Technology change is rapidly expanding the options available for provisioning technology and associated services. These changes are lowering the barriers to technology adoption and raising the complexity of integrating, securing and supporting technology. All of this is occurring in environment that has finite resource and is sensitive to the impact of technology operations on budgets, human resources and energy consumption. The value of technology is realized through supporting our core mission as a higher education institution. UNH must maintain alignment between academic, research and outreach goals and its technology strategies and initiatives. Through an environmental scan, literature review and consultation with the UNH community, the technology master plan has identified strategies to move UNH technology forward2. These strategies are responsive to UNHs Strategic Plan, include a stronger focus on academic technology, and consider critical developments in technology such as the expanding importance of cyberinfrastructure, increasing mobility of technology users and technology devices and the rapid growth of digital content. Consultations with University leadership enabled the planning team to devise strategies that are responsive to issues that are of primary importance to UNH including accessing new student markets and spurring increased collaborations in teaching and research and sustainability.
For purposes of this document, UNH means all academic and administrative departments and sites, regardless of location. 2 This document is a prcis of the full UNH Technology Plan, which was the result of significant collaboration by a committee of UNH technology professionals. The full plan and list of committee members can be found at it.unh.edu.
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Requisites for Change

Successful change positively affects organizations and the people it serves. In order to identify, prioritize and implement technology investments that will have the most positive impact, we must commit to certain approaches to technology investment and management. New Investments: We will encourage innovation, leverage of shared resources, and implementation of integrated and interoperable systems. We will invest in projects and services that most support our goals, based on qualitative and quantitative measures. New investment project approval will require funding for one time and ongoing resources and cost estimates to be identified. Ongoing cost estimates must be comprehensive and include hardware renewal and replacement, security, and software maintenance as well as other direct operating costs. Collaboration: We will involve the community in generating ideas, conducting analysis, making recommendations, and determining lifecycles. UNH IT and our many constituents will work together to create efficiencies, optimize the division of responsibilities and provide well-integrated solutions. The leadership of UNHs major technology organizations, including UNH IT, the Library, Research Computing, Cooperative Extension Information Technology, Academic Technology Liaisons, UNH Manchester IT and the Interoperability Lab, will gather input and consult regularly regarding technology standards and directions, division of responsibilities, sharing of capabilities, coordinated professional development, alignment of project portfolios and collaborative leadership of joint projects. Funding: We will support financial practices that result in sensible technology usage behavior and outcomes. Common infrastructure and services should be funded collectively. All departments must be enabled to meet minimum requirements for capacity and currency. Duplication of services or creating excess capacity without institutional value will be discouraged. Charge-backs for central services should be used as a funding model only in those cases where the charge-back helps with effective use of technology resources. Charge-backs must not become barriers to innovation, unduly burdensome to administer or encourage IT to offer non-strategic services as a means to generate funds.

Sustainability: We will require legacy and new projects and services to be financially, operationally and environmentally sustainable. All technology must be appropriately accessible and secure. Legacy technology must have a lifecycle that ensures continuing value and sustainability. New investments will require sustainable attributes prior to approval. Excellence of Execution: We will make and meet the right commitments, ranging from service level agreements to innovative technology implementations. We will use industry standard IT management processes and architectures that align with our requirements and culture. We will execute efficiently and effectively on new programs and alterations to existing systems and services. We will measure our projects and operations sufficient to ensure quality and accuracy, and will leverage best practices in our commitment to constant improvement. Balance: We will balance our investments, with focus on meeting those requirements that most strongly align with our market and mission. We must be willing to reprioritize, including delaying or cancelling programs and services. We will need to adopt some solutions that are good enough if we derive no strategic benefit from the extra investment to be best in class. We will standardize on more common 2 solutions and avoid making duplicative technology investments when a solution that meets the majority of a constituent needs already exists. We will analyze existing projects and services across UNH and recommend opportunities to retire duplicative technologies, re-order priorities or scale back service levels to align with overall strategies and create the capacity to reinvest in new priorities.

Future Vision
In the UNH Strategic Plan, a series of future scenarios are put forth. Most if not all of the scenarios require technology; technology we plan to deliver in technology initiatives. The student collaborating at a distance with an advisor requires collaboration functionality and a reliable, powerful network. The marine science graduate student requires the ability to create, store and share large video files, via a portal, and requiring storage and a strong network. The Center for the Arts hosting a conference requires logistically complex and elaborate rich media, identity management, online conferencing, and collaboration functionality, accessed via an online portal and run over a strong network - and afterwards the proceedings must be stored for future access and use. Other scenarios include: A faculty member requests and is swiftly able to get assistance with technology tools, education and support resources needed for a class. There is a range of academic technology services available, including high-tech classrooms and online learning. Students employ collaborative workspace for class project work where they can store content and iterative drafts of their work, prior to final delivery, and then seamlessly move the final product into their online portfolios. Alumni and community members receive information about events and volunteer opportunities via the channels that fit the individual constituent from mobile devices to social networking portals. Mundane yet necessary activities, from parents viewing tuition and fee payment history, to scheduling of classrooms or athletic facilities, are easily accomplished, real-time transactions.

Technology Initiatives

All initiatives will directly support the UNH Strategic Plan programmatic initiatives, envisioned in the future scenarios. Initiative plan and delivery may be in direct support of one or many of the programs. In most cases, initiatives will be comprised of multiple individual projects and phases. Success of these initiatives will all be predicated on the requisites for change as well as support for disciplined program management including: Functional and technical requirements that are complete, accurate and support test-driven design, whether we are building or buying technology. Effective management practices, including measurable and effort-based plans. 3 The description and characteristics of these initiatives 3 are:

Scholarship and Research Directory and Information Services: This will be a collection of services that will be guided by the need for interdisciplinarity, enterprise, inclusiveness and outreach. Information services will enable the capture and analysis of individual and department data. Directory services will enable people within and beyond the institution to locate UNH resources based upon a variety of search criteria. These services will require integration and interoperability with a number of existing and new systems, including ERP, department databases and web sites, and UNHs internet presence. These services will be built as true technology services, and require modern connection and translation capability. Learning Portal: The Learning Portal (LeaP) is technology service[1] that will archive rich media and other digital curricula, enable new teacher-learner relationships, and stimulate new pedagogies. UNH IT will work with the Provosts Office and faculty groups to evaluate the services and technologies needed to create LeaP. Initial focus will be on collecting what we already have in place, to better leverage repositories of themebased lectures, exercises, assignments, data or digitized media that can be accessed, repackaged and used by UNH teachers and learners, using a wide array of creative interfaces. We will train and support faculty, continuing and expanding programs such as the Faculty Instructional Technology Summer Institute (FITSI). LeaP will be dependent upon Cyberinfrastructure (see below). To build LeaP, we will need requirements and specifications that are complete and support test-driven design. LeaP will require integration and interoperability with a number of existing and new systems, including student information and learning management. LEAP will require a modern architecture and portal technology. Communication & Collaboration Suite: The suite will be a collection of services that will enable people and groups to work together from varied locations and using varied hardware or software tools, including mobile devices. The suite will allow the creation and management of sites that support collaborative functions, ranging from joint editing of media to virtual meetings to interactive video or text chat. It can be used to engage alumni and friends, connect researchers within UNH and other institutions, and collaborate on projects of many shapes and sizes. These services will integrate with other systems, including the ones listed here. Institutional Repository: The repository is a storage, discovery and retrieval system that will enable the University to archive and promote faculty, student, and institutional scholarly work, including data sets, research materials, reports, and published findings, ensuring continued access to that work for the benefit of both the University and the public at large. The repository will also archive University records and other assets in accordance with the practices of the University Archives. Services associated with the repository include statistical tracking and citation reporting, access to faculty research profiles, assistance with author and intellectual property rights and requirements, and research data curation and preservation services. The development
The order of the initiatives is not indicative of priority, size or order. All are considered to be priorities during the coming years and their pace and sequence will be ascertained according to institutional priorities. [1] A service refers to a set of related software functionality, together with the policies that control their usage.
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4 of the repository will be guided by University content and best practices in records and metadata management, and will interoperate with other university systems. Identity Management (IDM): IDM will be a service that enables authorization, authentication and access for individuals to data and systems. It will be a service connected to UNH data and applications. In order to provide access and deliver outreach, we must provide a service that allows individuals and groups to identify themselves, be given authorized credentials, and have those credentials enable access to applications and data. The process of provisioning, altering and deleting access must be measured in minutes or even seconds, according to evolving roles and relationships of individuals and groups. The service will ensure the appropriate levels of security and privacy. Cyberinfrastructure (CI): CI is a collection of technologies, including networks, storage, servers,

operating systems, databases and datasets. It is the backbone, behind-the-scenes technology that should be invisible yet responsive to users. UNH and the Northern New England area in which it and its state system partners reside does not currently have sufficient access to modern CI, which is required to realize any of the programmatic initiatives listed here or in the UNH Strategic Plan. We require our human and digital assets to be ubiquitously visible and available to wide varieties of individuals and organizations, ranging from schoolchildren in homes or small towns, to urban social sector or commercial institutions. High capacity, high availability CI will enable that availability. The next steps for all initiatives are to propose specific approaches, plans and funding mechanisms for initiatives. (Some, like Cyberinfrastructure, are already underway.) There are many intersections between existing and emerging technologies and practices, including but not limited to software, services and pedagogies. We need to be flexible, innovate and efficient, and adhere to inclusive and decisive governance. We will work with leadership forums such as the UNH Cabinet, Provost Council, Faculty Senate, and Student Senate to start and govern all programs correctly. During the life of all programs, UNH IT will communicate and collaborate with the community via its web presence, it.unh.edu, as well as via other logical channels.

Conclusion
Our technology ambitions are challenging, but essential. They align and support UNH mission and objectives. They represent pragmatism and innovation. They will intentionally be delivered and supported with excellence. We will face risks and issues as we pursue our ambitions, but we will be energized and focused on the transformative results. Questions, feedback and constructive criticism on this document, and any information technology topic, are welcomed by the UNH CIO at it.unh.edu. 5