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During the August 8 Town Hall on Transform IT, Jessie Minton, chief information officer, was asked the following:

Question: “Please address budgets, layoffs related to [communications and IT] centralization efforts, and lost talent due to people leaving.” An audience member also asked this related, follow-up question: “What about the IT layoffs that happened as a result of the communications centralization?”

Answer: After checking later with Kyle Henley, vice president for university communications, Jessie Minton confirmed that University Communications has not conducted any layoffs as a result of integration.

Neither restructuring—University Communications nor Transform IT—is about reducing staff costs. UO cannot afford to eliminate IT staff. There is more demand for IT services than staff to provide those services, and staff reductions are counter to the goals of both initiatives. Transform IT will rationalize the use of IT resources on campus, increase the level of IT maturity, and create equity in the core IT services provided. These goals cannot and will not be accomplished through layoffs.

Budgets are closely related to staffing. As services are shifted in the next set of Transform IT projects, we expect to find some cost savings through consolidation of multiple contracts with the same vendor and better coordination of key enterprise services. We will capture these savings in an index that is specific for Transform IT, and those funds will be re-invested in the university’s IT to better support our institution’s academic and research missions.

The Campus Engagement project is nearing completion and people are understandably curious about what will come next and how to get involved.

The Campus Engagement project will produce a report that will help inform the next set of Transform IT projects. To determine which services should be offered on an enterprise basis and how to implement changes, we will use community-based governance in the form of a Transform IT Steering Committee and service transition committees.

The Transform IT Steering Committee will review and approve any proposed service changes, and service transition committees will guide respective service transitions.

Transform IT Steering Committee

The newly-formed Transform IT Steering Committee is comprised of:

• Jessie Minton, chair
• Adriene Lim
• Jamie Moffitt
• Kyle Henley
• Roger Thompson
• Joe Sventek
• Angela Wilhelms
• Brad Shelton
• David Conover
• Missy Matella
• Juan-Carlos Molleda*
• Sara Nutter*
• Ben Brinkley **
• Dave Gibson, classified employee
• Kyler Nunen, student

(List updated with names of new members on October 15, November 13, and November 14, 2018)

* These members will rotate with other deans every nine months.

** This member will rotate with other IT directors every six months. The IT directors from College of Design, School of Journalism and Communication, and School of Music and Dance are not eligible to serve in this role.

Service Transition Committees

When a service is identified be modified, a Transform IT service transition committee will be created. That committee will be comprised of people who use the service and staff who deliver that service and provide strategic and operational guidance to each transition project. Since the services to transition have not yet been determined, these groups will be formed later in 2018.

Please join Jessie Minton, chief information officer, for the next Town Hall on Transform IT on Wednesday, August 8 from 10:00am to 11:00am in the Knight Library Browsing Room. UO Portland will be connected via video. (Details will be announced shortly.)

Jessie will provide an update on the work done up to this point and talk about what comes next for the program. You are welcome, but not required, to send questions in advance to cioassistant@uoregon.edu.

Coffee, tea, and light refreshments will be served.

The project’s two teams are on track to complete their meetings for the Campus Engagement Project by the end of July, one month ahead of schedule. Project staff have met with 60 groups since the work began in March 2018.

Next, staff will use the information gathered to generate a report that will inform the next group of Transform IT projects. The report is expected to be released by October 15.

Although we do not yet know the details of the next set of Transform IT projects, no services will be changed without input from a cross-campus, cross-functional group comprised of providers and users of each service. Those teams will be formed as the next set of project(s) are developed late this summer or fall.

Jessie Minton, chief information officer, will present an update and take questions about Transform IT on August 8 from 10:00am to 11:00am in the Knight Library Browsing Room.

Do you prefer to receive Transform IT updates via email? Subscribe to email updates using the form on the bottom right of this website.

The Campus Engagement project is well under way, with the project teams meeting with 44 of 60 groups (73%) since late March. This project is anticipated to complete on time (by end of September). For more information on the status of the Campus Engagement project, see the milestone schedule updated on June 18.

All work conducted as part of the Campus Engagement project or Transform IT is noted in the program website’s calendar, posts, and project documentation updates. If you hear that other work is under way and that work is not noted on the Transform IT website, then it is likely speculation or rumor.

When the Campus Engagement project completes, staff will use the information gathered to generate a report that will inform the next group of Transform IT projects. Although we do not yet know the details of these future projects, no services will be changed without input from a cross-campus, cross-functional group comprised of providers and users of each service. Those teams will be formed as the next set of project(s) are developed late this summer or fall.

Jessie Minton, chief information officer, will present an update and take questions about Transform IT on August 8 from 10:00am to 11:00am in the Knight Library Browsing Room.

Since the Campus Engagement Project began in March, the project managers and business analysts have had 34 discussions with departments, schools, colleges, teams, centers, and institutes through Tuesday, June 5.

The project team reports that 12 more discussions are scheduled for June, with more in the works. They anticipate completing all Campus Engagement project work by July 31st.

See this site’s calendar for more information about past meetings and future events that have been finalized. Also see a high level description of the process used to gather and validate information through the Campus Engagement Project.