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Implementation Roadmaps - Strategic Priorities Timeline

(All Themes Combined)

The Strategic Priorities Timeline below charts the initiatives described in the current IT Strategic Plan (link) according to our projected timeline of implementation. As the strategic plan is designed to be adjusted to ensure continued alignment with university priorities, this timeline, and the priorities listed, are subject to change.

Bolded items are contingent on available funding for new one-time and recurring costs.

Implementation Framework Initiatives
Foundational
  • Fund adoption of common service management and communication tools for all IT professionals.
  • Define shared values for all Virginia Tech’s IT professionals.
  • Confirm the current scope of core service offerings and designate service owners and service teams responsible for their delivery and continual improvement.
  • Adopt a common method and tool for creating, organizing and storing technical documentation.
  • Develop plans (timeline, structure, tool, terminology) for a single integrated catalog of IT solutions and services.
  • Update and align the information security strategy with the IT strategy. Develop a roadmap and funding model to support evolving research data security requirements in support of CMMC and NSPM-33.
  • Develop an enterprise application inventory and begin to assess opportunities to optimize the portfolio.
  • Partner with data stewards to assess the current maturity of data governance and identify necessary improvements to enabling processes and tools and confirm structures required to support ERP modernization are in place.
  • Complete onboarding for key leadership positions including AVP ESET, Exec Dir IT User Experience and Engagement, Director PMO and AI Architect.
  • Formalize the information security strategy and align it with the IT strategy. Develop a roadmap and propose a funding model to support evolving research data security requirements in support of CMMC and NSPM-33.
  • Review existing technical standards and guidelines for effectiveness and alignment with future strategic directions.
  • Complete policy review to include adjacent policies that forward governance.
  • Implement the proposed changes to improve IT governance (including new structures and processes for AI).
Optimize
  • Implement user endpoint backup capability as a core service.
  • Identify and prioritize the development of future core services and communicate it via a services roadmap.
  • Define the timelines and preferred order of implementation to update or replace the finance, HR, research administration and advancement solutions.
  • Continue to expand deployment of the enterprise integration platform.
  • Assess future data center and networking requirements to support research.
  • Update the inventory of major data repositories to identify what data types and classifications are stored within each, how the data is secured, and who are the accountable stewards overseeing the data.
  • Expand security related network monitoring capabilities especially in areas of the network used to transfer data classified as high risk.
  • Develop an optimization strategy for cost-efficient centralized research computing resources
  • Assess and recommend revisions to the internal IT funding model to facilitate adoption of core services and ensure availability of funding to sustain infrastructure and services.
Modernize
  • Complete the stabilization work around the student information system.
  • Develop a roadmap and funding plan for ERP modernization for HR/Finance.
  • Renew HPC infrastructure to support AI growth, increasing utilization of research computing, and compliance with new data security regulations
  • Simplify wireless network authentication through the implementation of device certificates.
  • Assess requirements and options to replace or upgrade the current video content platform and plan its implementation.

Bolded items are contingent on available funding for new one-time and recurring costs.

Implementation Framework Initiatives
Foundational
  • Define career paths and career plans and update position descriptions for all IT professionals in conjunction with HR.
  • Develop shared professional development opportunities for all IT professionals.
  • Develop and communicate software development guidelines, architectural reviews and code reviews to support any software development effort for administrative and student support applications.
  • Update the data strategy including role clarifications, data technology platforms (data warehouse/data lake, reporting), and improvements to data quality and access.
  • Review role-based architecture at the university to support workflow redesign and data access.
  • Begin systematic data clean-up process to prepare administrative data for conversion to new enterprise applications.
  • Continue to add services and search capabilities to the integrated service catalog.
  • Better integrate existing service access points with one another.
  • Identify standard tools and develop associated support services to enable workflow automation.
  • Assign product teams to facilitate the design, delivery and continual improvement of enterprise solutions.
Optimize
  • Adopt a shared IT Service Management (ITSM) approach, tool and processes.
  • Complete the enterprise applications roadmaps and streamline the portfolio to focus on fewer, better supported solutions.
  • Improve research data lifecycle management capabilities:
    • Better communicate to researchers and their IT support teams the range of available storage options and their optimal use cases. Provide easier paths to adopting storage solutions (links to service catalog improvements.
    • Develop an integrated service offering that brings together expertise from Office of Research, Library, Division of IT distributed research IT teams to support faculty to identify and implement solutions to meet their research data management needs.
    • Expand capabilities to provide controlled access repositories for research data.
  • Develop specialized processes and roles to field, triage, and coordinate follow-through on research and teaching related data and technology support needs.
  • Implement additional core services (endpoint management, imaging, and data loss prevention).
  • Implement a tool or tools to enable the management of data definitions, stewardship, location and access.
  • Continue implementing network architecture changes to create additional secure data enclaves that meet CMMC requirements.
  • Leverage AI capabilities to make it easier to search, request and obtain IT solutions.
Modernize
  • Begin the implementation of the enterprise applications roadmap with a presumed focus on ERP solutions.
  • Confirm a long-term solution for research administration and compliance systems and determine timing of addressing emergent needs for improved conflict of interest capabilities.
  • Improve identity and access management technologies and processes.
  • Continue transition to a cloud-based data warehouse/data lake and expand integrations with source systems.Continue to expand research computing clusters and related data center infrastructure requirements.
  • Increase campus internet capacity four-fold to accommodate expected demands for cloud services, research collaborations, and global content.

Bolded items are contingent on available funding for new one-time and recurring costs.

Implementation Framework Initiatives
Foundational
  • Integrate regular methods of assessment to evaluate the performance of core services.
Optimize
  • Establish greater consistency in the IT workforce (structure, roles, required competencies) across all divisions.
  • Expand consultative capabilities and expertise to provide general research consultations, data privacy and security and research application development.
  • Expand support for teaching and learning innovations (E.g., additional sandbox environments, internal grants to support acquisition of technology and additional support).
Modernize
  • Continue implementing components of new research administration solutions.
  • Identify and plan replacement of additional enterprise applications as necessary (advancement, CRM, academic applications for teaching and learning).
  • Continue integrating additional data sources into the data warehouse/data lake and structure additional data marts to meet reporting needs.