Business plan | IT Strategies and Policies | Seneca Students

2017-2018

Information Technology Services will focus on capitalizing on IT investments that have been made over the past 4 years. We will innovate with new technologies and actively engage and develop proactive communications with business stakeholders, which will establish ITS as a trusted partner. Our embedded customer service orientation will help build user confidence which will directly benefit the students, faculty and staff experience.

ITS is reorganizing the department to be more business-focused and will be successful in this initiative without increasing our headcount. We are also not requesting for an increase in overall budget which remains nearly the same as last year. ITS will set strategic direction to better serve our stakeholders with IT Strategy, Cloud Strategy, Mobile App Strategy and Academic technologies strategy.

Students

ITS is committed to delivering great services and support, when and how they are needed with the following initiatives:

• Our continued adoption of mobile app strategies, implementation of new features to the i3 student system and extending our Wi-Fi access at the Seneca@York courtyard will improve the user experience for our students.
• The implementation of on-demand application streaming to provide anytime, anywhere access to Seneca applications, remote learning tools to allow students with flexibility to attend classes remotely, implementation of new cloud strategy to move Blackboard My Seneca to the cloud will improve availability and ease of use.
• The digital learning initiative will introduce our students to the world of collaborative learning, and the implementation of wayfinding to provide on-campus navigational capability will enhance their Seneca Experience.

Faculty and staff

ITS proposed to enhance their user experience and improve ease of use with new features such as:

• The implementation of new Business Intelligence tools for the HR, Student and My.Seneca systems, will provide new analytical capabilities and the implementation of net tuition billing changes will allow administrative staff to fulfill the provincial mandate
• The easy and flexible HR user interface and continuous improvements to the i3 ERP system will provide new self-service capabilities and increase operational efficiency of administrative staff.
• Moving the academic computing systems to the cloud and flexible lecture capture technologies will improve performance, availability of Seneca Applications and enrich the student experience
• The introduction of a new CRM tool and the new web site development tool will provide new ways of communicating to the students and track metrics

ITS 2017-18 initiatives will be measured based on the following Key Performance Indicators:

• Full implementation of disaster recovery capability is implemented by May-2017.
• Identified academic systems, My.Seneca systems are successfully migrated to cloud by Aug-2017.
• Remote learning capability for students and faculty is implemented by Sep-2017.
• On-demand access to applications by streaming to student desktops and laptops, including BYOD is implemented by Sep-2017.
• Successful Implementation of mobile strategy roadmap with identified new features by Nov-2017.
• Full implementation Student, HR and My.Seneca business intelligence modules by Dec-2017.
• Adoption of Cloud Strategy and other technology initiatives will improve overall system availability to over 98%.
• Implementation of student facing initiatives will help improve Student KPI ITS metrics from 49% to 70%.
• Improved user satisfaction by reducing the number of open bug fixes and change requests by 50%.
• Improved service desk support with
  • Increased first point of contact resolution by over 50%
  • Reduction in abandoned calls to less than 5%
  • Service desk wait times reduced by over 75%

Alignment with the FY2017-18 college priorities

Academic programming and service:

• The ITS Cloud strategy is identifying and implementing various academic services in the Cloud. Academic Storage is also being refreshed and expanded so that students have the resources they require.

Customer service and communications

• Embedding customer service orientation into our service delivery will build user confidence in ITS with initiatives such as 24x7 Service Desk support and improving service metrics.
• There are several initiatives that relate to this priority such as enhanced network services and improvements in system availability. New services, such as application streaming, wayfinding, charging stations, technology refresh initiatives, i3 erp student facing improvements, increased availability of loaner laptops and reliable maintenance and upgrading of classrooms.
• Improving the communication process and collaborative approach with key stakeholder groups will establish ITS as a trusted partner.

Innovation

• The ITS Cloud Strategy is bringing in a new era of how ITS services can operate with cloud resources.
• New academic technology initiatives will transform the student teaching and learning experience.
• Continued adoption of mobile app strategy roadmap will offer increased student services on mobile devices.

Departmental operational priorities

• ITS is developing a 3-year IT strategy that offers an overall roadmap and action plan for ITS. This strategy will provide input to Seneca strategic plan
• ITS Infrastructure has a number of projects that refresh and improve existing services including academic and administrative connectivity Improvements such as the King Campus Server Room Consolidation and the Administrative Storage Upgrade.
• Sustaining and improving the i3 ERP system with new improvements, business process changes and implementation of additional capabilities.
• Improving analytical capability with the introduction of introducing business intelligence systems for student, HR and My Seneca systems.

Assumptions on which your area’s FY2017–18 plans and activities are based

• ITS requests approval of the CapEx and OpEx funding to support all the initiatives. Without funding, a number of the enhancements planned will not be feasible.
• Planning and prioritization from the PMO group in a holistic fashion to ensure that all initiatives are accounted and resources utilization is normalized throughout the year
• ITS will continue to work with business stakeholders by collaborating through product user groups, academic IT initiatives and improve IT governance.

Your area’s key interdependencies

• Many ITS initiatives require significant user participation. Availability and dedicating time is key to the successful implementation for most ITS initiatives.
• Proposed changes to King campus outbuilding and server room will need significant support of the Facilities department
• Developing a good understanding of the capabilities and risks of the cloud is important for successful adoption of the cloud strategy.

Risk assessment and mitigation for your FY2017-18 activities and operations

• Much of the IT infrastructure affects various aspects of computing at the college. While it is important to maintain uptime, it competes with the maintenance and enhancements that must occur to continue to grow our infrastructure. There will be service interruptions that need to be carefully planned with the college community to minimize the impact of these changes.
• Cyber security is a major threat facing many organizations. Any such cyber-attack will be a significant setback to the proposed initiatives. ITS is working with our stakeholders to educate them and improve their awareness to such risks. ITS also is proposing OpEx initiatives targeted to improve Seneca’s capability to prevent such attacks. 
• Prioritization of the initiatives is key in order to maintain course and have successful delivery for this coming FY 17/18. ITS will work closely with the PUG’s and internal ITS PMO group to ensure that there is an alignment between all the stakeholders.
• Timely implementation of the all the initiatives will require support of business users. Delays in their availability and commitment may end up delaying implementation. ITS will proactively work with key business stakeholders to setup regular touchpoints to ensure their availability.

ITS is working to develop in-house capabilities to deliver many of the proposed plans. Delay in their ability to adopt to the new technology may delay the implementation. ITS is working closely with Seneca vendors of record to enlist external support.