Example of a Vision and Plan for the IT Environment

This example describes a process which used cross-functional teams to create a strategic planning for IT.

This is a vision and a plan for an IT environment to enable the overall success of the university. This IT strategic plan supports the broader vision of the university’s strategic plan. The IT Strategic Plan outlines what outcomes are desired through the deployment of information technology resources and why these outcomes are integral to the survival and growth of the university.

There are a few things that stand out in the process and underlying philosophy used in developing this IT Strategy plan.

1. What is the role of information technology in a modern research university? The CIO of this university believes that information technology is a critical enabler in modern higher education; it has a critical impact on pedagogy, providing the catalyst by which faculty members explore new ways of teaching and students engage in broadened approaches to learning.
2. Information technology is, in all its forms, but a tool. This tool has no impact without the most important consideration: how we use these tool?
3. Critical to success in effectively using information technology is to cease to think of it as a luxury or a commodity, but instead to adopt a view that it is a fundamental strategic asset of the institution
4. Crucial to this is the concept of IT Abundance — where information technology is current, advanced, readily available, and holistically (yet prudently) funded to meet and exceed the needs of key stakeholders - faculty, students, and staff.
5. The university must embrace the transformative power of information technology, not simply tolerate it;

This IT Plan focused on "what to do" and "why it is important" but must be followed by "how to get it done" and achieving desired outcomes envisioned by the plan.