Office for Information Technology
Goals and Objectives
July 1, 2006

“This is the first time in the history of education where
the students are better at the delivery system than their teachers.”
Dr. Barry Munitz; CEO, J. Paul Getty Trust

“If everything is under control, then
you’re not going fast enough!”
Mario Andretti

 “Without counsel purposes are disappointed:
but in the multitude of counselors they are established.”
Proverbs 15:22

Vision Statement

Create and sustain an intuitive, seamless and secure technology environment that provides “always on” reliability supported by innovation and superior customer service that facilitates and supports the mission and goals of Berry College.

This vision is to collaborate within and beyond the college to create and sustain a technology environment that enables innovation and superior service to college constituents.  The environment is characterized as: intuitive, seamless and secure.  It provides positive identification and security for its users.  It is nearly “always on” in a supported 24 X 7 environment, one of unending change and improvement.  It is an environment that needs constant care and support from all who use it.  Everyone is obligated to ensure Berry College’s technology resources are built and maintained to the full benefit of the college and that IT services are aligned to its mission.

General guiding principles:

• Instruction, research and service are our primary missions; technology is not.
• Change and technology are inescapably linked.  No technology environment is ever complete.  It reflects the on-going evolution of the college and its constituents.
• Technology is complex. The intricate academic and business processes of the college demand a sophisticated and well integrated technology portfolio.
• Collaboration across traditional boundaries is essential to support successful technology projects. On a college scale, no one person or group is capable of evaluating the full spectrum of needs and challenges relevant in selecting and prioritizing among the various technology investments available. Managing the college’s technology requires a collaborative group effort.
• Investments in technology demand careful stewardship and project management, to be conducted openly and above reproach.  
• Planning for the long term is a requirements while much of the technology needed has not been invented yet.

The technology goals and objective plan has five criteria:

1. Clear goals and a realistic strategy for employing information technology to improve education, research and services.
2. Professional development strategy that ensures that staff members know how to use these new technologies effectively.
3. Assess services, hardware, and software that will be required to meet the goals and objectives.
4. Identify sufficient budget to acquire and maintain hardware, software, professional development, as well as other services that will be needed to implement and sustain technology support.
5. Include an evaluation process that enables the unit to monitor and report progress toward the specified goals and objectives and make periodic corrections in response to new developments and opportunities as they arise.
6. Technology planning will cover three years because of the rapid technological changes. Annual evaluations are typically done to ensure that the plan is on track with organizational objectives, goals, and institutional mission.

Strategic Goal

“Ensure that technology meets the current and future needs of the Berry community and remains competitive with peer and aspirant colleges and universities.”
Berry College Strategic Plan:  Goal 10: Technology            

Objective A: Provide all members of the Berry community with campus-wide access to current, reliable, secure and easy-to-use technology-based programs that meet approved instructional and administrative needs.

1. Provide “near” 24 x 7 access to critical systems used by students, faculty, staff, alumni, prospective students and parents in a superior customer-friendly manner. 
2. Support applications and related services at or above user expectations in a cost-effective manner.
3. Minimize mean-time-to-repair through the use of accurate documentation, hardware and software reliability, comprehensive monitoring and reporting systems and emergency after-hours support.
4. Optimize infrastructure reliability by employing where appropriate failover strategies, electricity UPS and generator backup systems, secure and well maintained in-ground and aerial facilities, and self-healing “mesh” backbone campus network as funding enables.
5. Minimize disaster exposure to critical systems (PBX, servers, email, applications, network, Internet) through an effective and annually tested disaster recovery plan.
6. Improve data security and annually audit security vulnerabilities. 
7. Replace servers, network hardware and desk-top computers and related equipment on a regular funded basis whereby all critical hardware remains under manufacturer’s warranty.
8. Communicate effectively.

Objective B: Recruit, retain and develop the highest quality computing and technology staff who are committed to the Berry mission.

1. Improve “redundancy of talent” to assure continuity of expert resources (no single point of expertise) and facilitate migration to new required skill-sets as technology changes.
2. Fund appropriate training and professional development of all technical staff.  Encourage and facilitate staff to keep abreast of technology changes while they earn recognized certifications and complete needed training.
3. Engage Human Resources to annually assess local prevailing salary and compensation benchmarks and make recommendations so OIT can remain competitive with the prevailing human resource market.
4. Encourage staff commitment to Berry College and retain institutional knowledge by developing career development paths with promotional and enrichment opportunities.

Objective C: Configure and equip instructional classrooms as appropriate with access to appropriate digital-technology systems (including multimedia systems) to help meet the educational goals of the college.

1. Multimedia Services in coordination with OIT and CIT.

Objective D: Implement budget planning and funding-acquisition procedures that will allow the college to acquire and implement new technological developments in a cost-effective manner.

1. Create and regularly update a prioritized “Technology Road Map” with justifications, opportunity costs and budgets over three years.  Update annually.
2. Establish new IT asset acquisition, procurement and replacement standards and structures. 
3. Assure that all critical hardware is under manufacturer’s warranty at all times and have appropriate “spares” available on hand.
4. Track what services cost and determine what Berry College is getting for its money. 

Objective E: Provide faculty and staff with ongoing professional development opportunities for acquiring skills needed to effectively integrate and to use technology-based systems in instructional and for student-administration services.

1. Center for Instructional Technology in coordination with Web Manager and OIT.
2. Provide comprehensive accurate and useful information for end users on IT plans, problems, outages, and emergency recovery.
3. Assess training needs and have the OIT Technical Trainer, OIT staff and external resources offer training and end-user one-on-one help as appropriate.
   
   
   
   

Objective F: Help provide and support appropriate adaptive technology for individuals with documented special needs as required.

1. Academic Support in cooperation with HR, E-communications and CIT.

Objective G:  Offer exceptional customer service.

1. Provide appropriate quarterly training to all OIT staff and student workers.
2. Implement a process of continuous improvement and assessment.
3. Obtain continuous customer feedback and assessment.

Objective H:  Foster a positive, respectful environment that recognizes and honors our staff, faculty and students.

1. Remain in compliance with all Human Resources guidelines and policies.
2. Provide opportunities for staff to take appropriate courses and training to enhance interpersonal and sensitivity skills.
3. Sponsor an annual competition for showcasing exceptional use of technology by faculty, staff and students.
   
   
   
   

Objective I:  Maintain a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plan for critical IT systems.

1. Initiate an initial disaster recovery plan by August 30, 2006.
2. Have the plan tested by November, 2006.
3. Refine the disaster recovery plan and incorporate a business continuity plan in support of Berry College requirement