Evolving vision for EUA includes realignment of governance groups

At a virtual town hall meeting in June, CIO Jessie Minton and Associate CIO for Applications and Middleware Melody Riley shared the evolution of their vision for Transform IT’s Enterprise University Applications (EUA) Program.

In 2020, the EUA analysis project team found more than 1,100 applications in use at the university, at an aggregate annual cost of $8.9 million, excluding staffing costs. At a virtual town hall meeting that summer, Minton shared the project team’s recommendations for rationalizing the university’s purchasing, development, hosting, management, support, and use of software applications and services.

Since Riley’s arrival at the university in September, she has worked to determine how best to proceed with the rationalization process, considering both the long-term vision for enterprise applications and the path to achieve that vision.

Long-Term EUA Vision

Riley outlined a vision for EUA in terms of the fundamental questions of why to make changes, who to involve, what will be achieved, how those changes will enable the UO mission, and what the ultimate result will be.

Why

Service advisory boards will be aligned to university organizational functions, strategic direction, priorities, and outcomes.

Who

The UO community — both IT staff and non-IT staff — and Information Services, with a focus on the constituents we serve.

What

Applications will be mapped to measurable, value-added services and capabilities.

How

  • UO employees can interact with a searchable catalog.
  • Consultations with IS about organizational functional needs will be available.
  • A path to the right solutions will be clear.
  • The right groups will come together from the conception of an idea to its delivery.

Result

The university’s spending plan for technologies is optimized. Technologies will be strategically sourced and will be architected to achieve the maximum value.

EUA Objectives

Riley expanded on the four main objectives for EUA. Here are some highlights:

  • Increase efficiency. Increase the reusability, supportability, and scalability of software applications while optimizing their impact to the university.
  • Reduce duplication. Understand and meet the organization’s functional needs, improve self-service and on-demand access, and improve training and adoption.
  • Optimize IT spending. Invest in the “right” capabilities and solutions, consolidate spending with greater value received, focus on the total cost of ownership and operation, and provide guidance for when to choose a campuswide solution.
  • Create equity. Increase the number of services available campuswide and reduce unit-to-unit disparities in technology access.

Foundational Realignments

As a starting point, Riley plans to oversee a series of structural adjustments within Information Services and in the service advisory boards that inform its work.

Riley is collaborating with the Applications and Middleware team to evolve the group’s organization. Also underway is an evaluation of existing service advisory boards (SABs). Some new SABs may be created to guide progress in unrepresented functional areas. Some existing SABs may receive adjusted scopes to better align with capability needs that contribute to the university’s mission.

“We want to reorient around capabilities, focusing on what UO faculty, staff and students are trying to do and the problems they’re trying to solve,” Riley said. “We want to develop and operationalize a model that will grow with us, one that includes hearing the needs of the university.”

Reassessment of governance groups will occur at regular intervals as part of a continual improvement process.

EUA Opportunity Assessment

Along with the realignments, Riley’s team will be conducting “opportunity assessments,” looking for areas of high need or high potential to increase the value per dollar spent. Once those opportunities have been identified, Information Services will assemble teams of technical and nontechnical staff, partnering with departments to assess the current state and identify the desired future state.

Current high-value opportunities — based on need or cost — include time and attendance systems, facilities and building management, web content management, and data analytics.

Existing and new service advisory boards with representation from across the university will provide feedback and guidance at the portfolio level to help prioritize projects and develop roadmaps for implementation.

University IT staff will be invited to participate in work groups throughout the enterprise university applications program.

A timeline and other details are available in the presentation slide deck.

Riley is available to provide the presentation from the town hall to departments throughout the university. Anyone interested can contact her directly at melodyr@uoregon.edu.

Virtual town hall on Transform IT EUA scheduled for June 30

A virtual town hall meeting to discuss the progress of Transform IT’s Enterprise University Applications (EUA) program is scheduled for Wednesday, June 30, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. UO faculty, staff, and students are invited to attend. Registration is required.

At the town hall, CIO Jessie Minton and Associate CIO for Applications and Middleware Melody Riley will share the evolution of their vision for the program since Riley’s arrival at the UO in September, including recommendations for governance and an updated timeline for implementation.

You’re welcome to submit questions in advance to Haylea Berry at hberry@uoregon.edu or ask questions during the Zoom meeting.

Next Steps for Enterprise Applications

At a virtual town hall meeting in July, CIO Jessie Minton presented an overview of the EUA project team’s recommendations for rationalizing the university’s purchasing, development, hosting, management, support, and use of software applications and services, along with her own recommendations for further analysis and implementation.

Below is an overview.

The following documents are also available on this website:

Some Key Findings

  • Over 1,170 applications are currently in use at the UO.
  • The aggregate annual cost of that software is $8.9 million, excluding staffing.
  • Custom development work occurs in 31 departments.
  • There is a lack of process to review potential software purchases for duplication with existing services, compatibility with campus architecture, or security.

Summary of EUA Project Team Recommendations

  • Where possible, enterprise applications should be hosted, supported, managed and purchased in an enterprise manner — i.e., centrally by Information Services.
  • Work underway to develop governance and consultation processes for application purchasing through Information Services should be completed.
  • Separate projects should be initiated to assess viability and consolidate applications by category where possible, starting with clear opportunities, including completing consolidation projects already underway and shifting usage to existing enterprise solutions where available.
  • The application catalog started by this project should be developed into a dynamic resource with ongoing maintenance.

Moving Forward on Clear Opportunities

The following areas were identified as clear opportunities based on priority, ease of implementation, or existence of relevant projects or services.

Information Services will now begin assessing the availability of IT staff and campus stakeholders to participate in a series of projects as detailed below to further analyze and implement changes in these areas.

Implementation efforts may involve the reorganization of IT staff who support applications in some categories.

Purchased Software

Pursue opportunities to consolidate applications through existing projects and services, and initiate a limited selection of new projects to meet unmet campus needs, including:

  • Continuing the CRM program and migrating all possible functions to the recently purchased Slate platform in a phased process after the initial Slate implementation for undergraduate and graduate admissions.
  • Continuing the Communications and Collaborative Technologies (CCT) Program, consolidating around enterprise solutions where possible:
    • Videoconferencing (Zoom and Teams)
    • Office productivity (Office 365 and Dropbox)
    • Telecom applications (TBD)
  • Working with campus partners to migrate all room and event scheduling to EMS, the existing enterprise application.
  • Acquiring enterprise password management application approved by Information Security Office.
  • Developing a model for trainings and tutorials about software, building on HR’s current effort to replace Skillport eLearning.

Custom Software Development

Initiate a project to explore consolidation of custom software development at the UO, addressing:

  • Supportability;
  • Consistency of tools and technologies used;
  • University prioritization, agility, and availability of alternatives;
  • Application security;
  • Establishment of best practices for development, intake, business analysis, quality assurance, and testing;
  • Understanding and scaling to demand.

Application Catalog and Consultation

Initiate a project to formalize a dynamic application catalog, including:

  • Identifying, developing, or acquiring tools and methods for creating a public application catalog that will be seeded with data from the EUA project.
  • Integrating information from development staff, purchasing systems, network discovery tools, and license servers/usage APIs.
  • Creating a related model for consultation services about applications to avoid future security risks and duplication of purchases.

Looking Ahead

The following application categories are also important to address in the coming years, but will require more partnership:

  • Databases, data, and analytics, including our Oracle databases
  • Project management
  • Time and attendance
  • Facilities, building automation, and work management
  • Web content management
  • Printing management
  • Enterprise applications currently managed by a single unit other than IS

Melody Riley, who will join the university on Sept. 21 as associate CIO for applications and middleware, will lead this effort going forward.

The completion of this important assessment brings this Transform IT project to a close.

The future projects outlined here won’t fall under the Transform IT umbrella, though they will certainly continue to transform technology at the University of Oregon.

If you have any questions, please email transformit@uoregon.edu.

CIO releases recommendations for EUA follow-up

Last week, we posted the final recommendations report of the Enterprise University Applications (EUA) Project. Today, we’re sharing CIO Jessie Minton’s recommendations for further analysis and implementation of those changes on a category-by-category basis.

Minton will discuss both the EUA Project team’s final report and her recommendations at the Transform IT virtual town hall meeting tomorrow (Wednesday, July 15), at 10:30am-12pm. As a reminder, registration is required.

EUA final report released; virtual town hall scheduled for July 15

The final recommendations report of the Enterprise University Applications (EUA) Project is now available.

The EUA Project team recently completed an assessment of software applications in use at the university. The report outlines the team’s recommended approaches to changing the purchase, development, management and support of applications to save resources and improve services. An executive summary is also available.

A virtual town hall meeting to discuss the EUA recommendations is scheduled for Wednesday, July 15, at 10:30am-12pm. UO faculty, staff, and students are invited to attend. Registration is required.

At the town hall, CIO Jessie Minton will also share her recommendations for further analysis and implementation of those changes on a category-by-category basis, which may involve the reorganization of IT staff who support applications in some categories.

You’re welcome to submit questions in advance to Kristin Smith at klsmith@uoregon.edu or ask questions during the Zoom meeting.

If time permits, Minton will also field questions about the ongoing USS implementation project.

EUA project team submits final report to CIO

The Enterprise University Applications (EUA) Project team submitted its final report to CIO Jessie Minton on June 15.

The report reflects the team’s recommendations for categories of applications in use at the university that have the potential for efficiency gains and cost savings related to purchasing, hosting, management, and support.

The team will discuss the report with Minton at its final weekly meeting on June 18. In the coming weeks, the report will be posted on this website.

EUA project team compiling recommendations for applications

Over the past few weeks, the Enterprise University Applications (EUA) Project team has gathered data to create a catalog of applications in use at the university. Team members have also been evaluating the range of software used at the university. In groups of two or three, they have been reviewing applications on a category-by-category basis, in categories such as finance and business processing, project management, and forms and surveys.

As of May 20, the subteams had identified application categories with the potential for efficiency gains and cost savings related to purchasing, hosting, management, and support. Project Manager Tony Saxman is compiling those recommendations into a draft report for the full team to review.

The team then plans to choose four or five projects to recommend as the initial priorities for further focused analysis and implementation.

Team members are also working to develop recommendations about the delivery of custom application development as a service and associated potential organizational changes.