ITSS seeks input for strategic planning
by Ellen Gladden Jones
What hurdles does your department face in daily business transactions? What goals does your division have for new programs over the next three to five years?
Information Technology Support and Services has embarked on a strategic-planning process to align its resources with the dynamic needs of the MCG community.
“We’ll be asking more than just, ‘What are your IT needs?’” said Mark Staples, project director and director of information security. “What are the things you would like to see done in your area to make your job more productive and more efficient? What daily annoyances do you face that could be easier?’”
Through April, the ITSS Planning Project team will assess information technology at MCG through focus groups with teaching, research and clinical faculty; faculty support staff; and infrastructure support units such as Human Resources, Student Services, Facilities Maintenance and Materials Management. Focus group feedback and meetings with senior leadership will help ITSS publish a three-year plan to be presented to the President’s Cabinet in April.
“The objective is to develop a plan that will guide and prioritize how we deploy new services and operational improvements,” said Debbie Walker, project manager. “When this project is complete, we will have a practical advisory structure for Information Technology Support and Services and a guide for how to respond to demands for service. [To do that] you have to ask, ‘What IT projects will benefit the university most?’”
In addition to feedback from other departments, ITSS will also present findings from an internal assessment of ITSS operations. The report will include an inventory of services, staff needed to sustain each service/area, business processes and procedures and production support standards. An ITSS risk-assessment project, now under way, will also be used to develop the IT Strategic Plan.
“We’re getting out there and asking ‘What would make your work environment more productive?’ and simultaneously we’re looking across our own department and identifying our strengths and weaknesses,” said Mr. Staples. “In the end, we hope to establish a structure that will help IT set priorities and a system of governance based on input from the various constituent groups.”
Mr. Staples stressed that a strategic plan needs to be a “living and breathing document” that responds to needs and available resources on an ongoing basis. To stay in sync with the campus community, ITSS is developing a Governance and Advisory Committee to provide input and help change management of policy and procedures that have significant user impact.
“This is really the beginning of a continual strategic-planning process,” said Beth Brigdon, vice president for informaiton technology and chief information officer. “We hope to synthesize the input from different constituents for broad-based consensus building. If you are interested in participating or providing input, I encourage you to contact me.”
For more information on the project, contact Mr. Staples at mstaples@mcg.edu or ext. 1-1577 or Mrs. Brigdon at bbrigdon@mcg.edu or ext. 1-3840.