Rick Bunt Chief Information Officer and Associate Vice-President

1. ICT Update 2009 Rick Bunt Chief Information Officer and Associate Vice-President Information & Communications Technology

2. The ICT Portfolio

3. Directly Responsible For: ICT governance and policy ICT strategy, ICT architecture, information architecture Networks and servers Core campus-wide services (PAWS, e-mail, calendar, web services, course tools, collaboration tools, ..) Telephones Instructional support technology Sales, service, training Partners In: Unit/College-based systems and facilities including some of our major campus systems: SiRIUS (SESD), UniFi (FSD), AboutUS (HRD), Library, Advancement, … Learning space enhancements (with EMAP and FMD) Research facilities (WestGrid, HPCRF, GIS,…) The Portfolio’s Responsibilities

4. ICT Strategy ICT Architecture Whatwe do. Our long term plan of action – how ICT should be used to enable the university to achieve its goals. The context in which we do it. Our organizing framework for data, applications and technical infrastructure captured in a set of policies, design principles, organizational structures and technology choices to achieve the effective integration of systems, processes and data.

5. A Blueprint for Integrated Service Delivery PAWS Presentation and Access Academic/Business Processes SiRIUS, UniFi, AboutUS, Reporting, WebCT, … Integrated Applications Student HR/Finance Research Courses Information Repositories Services (authentication, authorization, directories, …) Infrastructure Equipment (servers, network, …)

6. ICT Planning:Major Planning Documents • ICT Foundational Document, June 2003 • ICT Plan, February 2004 • ICT Plan, October 2007 • Information Strategy, April 2008

7. Our Key Planning Principles Federated Model shared responsibility Service integrated services anywhere, anytime Collaboration progress through partnerships Stable Funding escape “the tyranny of episodic funding decisions” Source: ICT Foundational Document, June 2003

8. Looking Back

9. Priorities of the Second ICT Plan • Supporting the university’s information requirements • Enhancing the ICT environment to enable and increase research success • Enhancing the ICT environment to enrich teaching and learning But, of course, our first priority has to be: • Maintaining/improving current services

10. Some Recent Projects Maintaining/Improving Service Upgrades and functional enhancements to major systems PAWS SiRIUS, UniFi E-payments Degree Works Software infrastructure Authentication and authorization WCMS for managing website content Communications Telephone system replacement (analog to VOIP) • “PAWS has transformed the way I teach … a valuable and liberating classroom tool.” • Gordon DesBrisay, Department of History

11. More Recent Projects Enriching Teaching and Learning Teaching and learning infrastructure Wireless upgrades and expansion Course casting, lecture streaming, online exams, Web 2.0 tools, … Enabling Research Success Research infrastructure High performance grid computing: WestGrid, HPC Research Facility Research Collaboration Facility Federated access: Eduroam • “Hi Rick,I am now using Eduroam at the University of Paris … Thanks — neat service!” • Stephen Urquhart, Department of Chemistry

12. And… Supporting Information Requirements Implementing the information strategy Achievement record, planning parameters, student analytics, college profiles Enhancing the information architecture Data warehouse, data marts Policy matters Governance

13. Looking Ahead

14. CIOs’ Top 10 Issues in Higher Ed IT Source: EDUCAUSE annual CIO survey

15. My Priorities Enhancing our information architecture Authentication and authorization infrastructure Enabling research (cyberinfrastructure) Supporting teaching and learning with technology Business continuity/disaster recovery planning Supporting mobile devices

16. Enhancing Our Information Architecture We need to develop an “information architecture” that will allow information to be managed and leveraged more effectively. An Information Strategy for the University of Saskatchewan, April 2008 Information architecture:structures and processes to gather, organize, store and provide information, to enable the effective integration of servers, databases, hardware components, software tools, data models and information delivery mechanisms.

17. Enterprise Data Warehouse What An Information Architecture Looks Like

18. Access Management • Authentication and Authorization Infrastructure (AAI): who is allowed to access what services • AAI is a critical element of security. • Consolidating on-campus AM technologies. • Key principle: authenticate centrally, authorize locally • New approach introduced for external services - national and internationaltrust federations The Canadian Access Federation

19. Enabling New Styles of Research High performance computing High speed networking Collaboration facilities Visualization facilities Mass storage GIS services More …

20. Cyberinfrastructure Resources for collaboration within virtual communities High-performance computing resources Expertise Advanced network infrastructure resources Applications, tools, Middleware Data storage and management resources

21. physics community biomedics community astronomy community . . . . . . . Scientific facilities A Vision of ICT Infrastructure for Science Research projects Sharing and federating scientific data Sharing computers, instruments and applications Linking at the speed of the light

22. Supporting Teaching and Learning(inside and outside the classroom) “The challenge is not to bring technology into the classroom. The millennials, with their Facebook and their cell phones, have done that. The challenge is to capture the power of technology to improve learning for all.” David Wiley, Brigham Young University

23. Business1 Continuity Planning The Issue • As we have become increasingly dependent on technology throughout the university, business-critical processes have become increasingly vulnerable to its unavailability. • Possible impacts: • disruption of critical business processes, financial/legal implications, damage to reputation, … 1The business of the university includes teaching, research, administration and external activities.

24. Business Continuity Planning Examples of Threats • Hardware or software failure • Catastrophic event (blizzard, tornado, fire, labour dispute, pandemic, …) • Hacker attack • Virus or other form of malware • Compromised data • Denial of service attack

25. Questions How prepared are we to continue doing business while the technology problem is being dealt with? How able are we to recover from the time the technology was unavailable? How much are we prepared to invest in speeding up recovery? How much “risk” are we prepared to accept? Business Continuity Planning

26. Business Continuity Planning What’s Been Done • ITS prepared a set of recovery times for major systems • Engaged IBM to help with a BCP pilot project • a set of processes within two SESD units • Reported to Board on pilot project • Now talking about next steps

27. Wrapping Up

28. Our ICT Governance Structure

29. A Balancing Act campus demands capacity to deliver campus standards local practices maintaining service new initiatives centralization decentralization

30. ClosingThoughts Recognition:Technology is as important to the modern university as the buildings. Investment:Continued investment in technology is necessary in order for us to be competitive. Innovation:University environments demand innovation; being on the leading edge is critical to education and research. Collaboration:We must all work together, with both internal and external partners.