IT Services

Purpose and mission

Information Technology Services are responsible for the provision of central information technology and audio-visual services for all the University to support teaching and learning, research and administrative activities.

The main purposes and objectives of IT Services are to:

1. Support the University in achieving the objectives set out in its strategic plan by providing first class, easy to use, efficient, economic, reliable, sustainable, scalable, ubiquitous and robust information and audio-visual technologies and services, underpinning the University's business and academic support processes, aligned to the University's strategy and focused on meeting user requirements;
2. Investigate new developments in information and audio-visual technologies which will enhance the services provided by IT Services and which may offer the University new opportunities in-line with its strategic direction but perhaps beyond the scope of its current plans.

Context

This document sets out the proposed strategy for IT Services for the next three years and has been developed within the context of the University's corporate plan (“Making the Future” published in January 2009). Over a three year period it is highly likely that there will be significant changes within the Information and Communication Technology and audio visual industry and within the HE sector that will necessitate major revisions to this strategy.

Goals

IT Services will fulfil its purpose and meet its objectives by striving to achieve each of the goals listed below.

1. Liaise with the whole of the University community to determine the IT and audio-visual services that are required to enable the University, its Schools and Professional Services to achieve their goals in an efficient and effective fashion. Proactively market the services provided by IT Services to the University community.
2. Continue to improve the infrastructure to provide a reliable, resilient, scalable and sustainable foundation for the provision of core IT services to the University.
3. Develop and deploy a common desktop for Windows, Macintosh and Linux systems to support an appropriate working environment for members of the University.
4. Implement a scheme to provide University staff with supported computers on a regular replacement cycle.
5. Enable members of the University to make use of the core services in appropriate ways from devices which they own or control.
6. Enhance the teaching and learning experience by developing the University's Virtual Learning Environment and other systems.
7. Support the development and deployment of facilities and systems to support Sussex Plus.
8. Secure the continued provision of audio-visual systems in general teaching space.
9. Work with Professional Services and other units to replace the systems used to support the University's business and academic support activities (including the Finance, HR and Student Systems). Procure, develop and deploy systems that enhance the operation, management and administration of the University.
10. Develop and deploy appropriate services to support the particular IT requirements of the research community within the University, paying particular attention to the sustainability of these services.
11. Provide and engender an environment where IT Services staff can develop their skills in appropriate ways, enabling them to contribute to the work of the department and enjoy productive working in an appreciative, supportive and professional department.
12. Adopt industry standard methods for the management and delivery of our services.
13. Develop a budgetary and environmentally sustainable approach to the provision of the University's IT and audio-visual services.
14. Develop and foster professional relationships with other institutions and organisations for the mutual benefit of both bodies, and particularly where such relationships enhance the provision of information technology and audio visual services to the University.
15. Ensure that the services provided to the University are being provided in ways which represent good value by undertaking appropriate benchmarking and similar activities.

Linking our objectives and goals
to the University strategy

“Making the Future” sets out a number of goals for the University to achieve. The environment needed to realise these goals includes the provision of a good IT infrastructure (including data networking, file storage, email and calendaring services, workstation support, core software provision, business and academic process support software) and the IT Services Strategy includes a number of goals focused on the provision and development of these facilities (IT Services Goals 2, 3, 5, 9, 12, 13, and 15). It is of critical importance to the University that this IT infrastructure is in place and may be depended on to support all the activities of the University. IT Services must be responsive to the user requirements and feedback in delivering this supporting environment (IT Services Goal 1).

A number of the IT Services goals focus more directly on the goals set out in “Making the Future”.

Goal 1: Innovative research and scholarship

IT Services provides and develops the core facilities which underpin the research activities of the institution. These facilities include the data network, access management to e-resources delivered by the Library, data storage and computational facilities.
IT Services Goals (2), (9), 10, (13)

Goal 2: Inspirational teaching and learning

IT Services provides and develops the essential core infrastructure to support teaching and learning, including the Virtual Learning Environment, audio-visual facilities and will provide additional IT facilities to support the Sussex Plus initiative.
IT Services Goals (2), 6, (7), 8, (9)

Goal 3: Enhancing the student experience

IT facilities play an increasingly important role in student-life: the majority of our students have been brought-up in home and school environments where IT based devices and services are ubiquitous. IT Services has a key role to play in providing enhanced facilities for the student (and staff) community.
IT Services Goals 2, 3, 5, 6, 7

Goal 4: Engaging with business and the community

IT Services provide core infrastructure for the members of the University which can assist them in engaging with business and community. Where appropriate and of mutual benefit, we work with local organisations and partners.
IT Services Goal 14

Goal 5: Developing excellence in our staff

Members of staff are the most valuable resource the University and the department have and it is essential if we are to succeed that we develop our staff to their full-potential in the delivery of excellent IT and audio visual services for the University.
IT Service Goals: 11, (12)

Goal 6: Working with the best

The University benefits from informal relationships that IT Services develops and fosters with other like-minded institutions (especially those in the '94 Group) and through our membership and participation in professional associations and sector wide initiatives.
IT Services Goal 14

Goal 7 Managing Effectively

IT systems underpin the basic operation of the University – they are essential to the continued operation of the business; as well as basic business operation (Finance and HR) they provide the essential facilities for managing the delivery of education and research (Students, Research support).
IT Services Goals 1, 9, 12, 13, 15

Goal 8 Operating Sustainably

The appropriate use of IT systems can improve the effectiveness of many elements of the University's business and academic support processes and can help drive-down costs.
IT Services Goals 4, 9, (10), 13, 15

Service characteristics

Within the context of developing this strategy, we have considered the characteristics the University's principal IT services should exhibit. In implementing this strategy we shall develop services that include these attributes (in appropriate degrees). These characteristics are summarised below.

Appropriate	The services to be provided must be appropriate to current and evolving needs of the University community.
Available	The services should be available when (and where) the users want to use them. Their availability should compare favourably with the availability of the electricity supply.
Customer focused (User orientated)	The services to be provided will meet the needs of sections of the University community. The requirements to develop new service may be led by the user community or by IT Services, but the focus for the delivery of any service will be its user community.
Economic	The services will be provided in the way that makes best use of the resources available (including staff time and financial resources). The total cost of the provision of a service over its projected lifetime rather than initial costs will (of course) be considered.
Effective and efficient	The services will provide high quality service solutions that may be used in a straightforward fashion. The services will operate in ways that make optimum use of their users' time and effort.
Multi-sourced	We would seek to provide services using elements that could be sourced from multiple sources to ensure continuity of supply for the lifetime of the service.
Of general utility	The services to be provided will be required by a number of user groups and will (normally) be required by more than one department or unit of the University.
Resilient	We shall implement services so that they are resilient to failure of individual elements of the system. Where appropriate we will use components from diverse sources to enhance the resilience of a service. The degree of resilience provided for a particular service will be proportional to the adverse effect on the University caused by the failure of the service.
Robust	We shall use elements in our services that are of industrial strength, that operate in the ways set out in our service descriptions and in their specifications, and that are able to sustain the planned levels of usage.
Scalable	We shall implement services in ways that will allow us to vary the capacity of the service. Services will be able to be expanded to cope with increased levels of usage and reduced to meet contracting demands. Wherever possible we will implement systems which can be incrementally expanded in order to reduce costs. We shall implement services so that they operate predictably under different levels of load.
Secure	We shall implement services so that they are secure from unauthorised use or access. The amount of effort deployed in making a system secure will be consistent with the risk to the service and the value of the information handled by the system.
Standards based	Where possible services will make use of elements (hardware and software) that conform to recognised International, National or industry standards. Where these standards are widely used we are able to benefit from the shared experiences of the community that use system elements that conform to these standards. In reality there are many elements of our service provision that are locked-in to solutions provided by vendors such as Microsoft and Oracle. The development of a set of local standards, adopted within the University, provides further benefits to the University.
Supported	Wherever possible, the services should be based on elements that are fully supported by reputable organisations. These “reputable organisations” may be major suppliers, consultancy services or major international co-operatives that provide an established support community. Where elements have to be developed in-house we shall ensure proper arrangements are made to support these developments.
Sustainable	We shall ensure that the elements (hardware and/or software) used in our services will continue to be supported for the planned lifetime of the service.
Timely provision	We shall design the services in such a way that we can provide them within the timeframe they are required by the users. We shall not embark on the provision of services in-house where we are unable to meet the required (not necessarily the same as the desired) timescale. Where a service is required that we can't provide in-house, within the required time scale, we shall explore the possibility of its provision by agencies outside IT Services.
Value for money	The life-time cost of services and service development will be considered when choosing solutions to deploy within the University.

Monitoring the implementation of this strategy

In order to monitor the progress in implementing this strategy, the progress in achieving each of the goals will be tracked.

Goal	Summary of goal	Proposed monitoring / measurement
1	Liaison & marketing	Regularly publish information about liaison with the University Schools and professional services; use survey instruments. Publish IT services web access statistics.
2	Infrastructure improvements	Regularly publish availability, performance and usage data for core services and track improvements.
3	Common desktops	Regularly publish usage and adoption measures and track increased take-up.
4	Staff workstation scheme	Regularly publish service call rates for staff workstations and track reduction.
5	User owned devices	Use a survey instrument to determine progress.
6	Teaching & Learning Systems	Regularly report usage and track increase.
7	Support Sussex Plus	Regularly report usage and track increase.
8	Secure AV provision	Regularly publish the backlog in upgrading AV systems.
9	Replacement of major business systems	Track progress.
10	IT support for the research community	Track usage of services with a particular research focus (such as data storage, data network usage); track HPC activity; collate appropriate feedback from liaison activities.
11	ITS Staff satisfaction	Monitor absence rates, rates of resignation; evaluate attitude through appraisals; use a survey instrument.
12	Industry standards for service delivery	Monitor preparedness for submitting to external assessment. External review / benchmark.
13	Environmentally sustainable	Regularly publish appropriate performance measures.
14	Professional relationships with other institutions	Report major interactions and assess their value.
15	Value for money	Regularly publish information about value for money achieved. Benchmark with other organisations and against external data.
	Innovation	Publish (internally and where appropriately externally) innovative developments or applications of IT and AV that further the purposes and activities of the University.