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2001-2005 UHV AGENCY I.T. STRATEGIC PLAN
Contact Person:
Joseph S. Ferguson
Information Technology Director
361-570-4391
I. Executive Summary
The University of Houston - Victoria 1999-2003
Information Resources Strategic Plan has been
developed within the bounds of the university's
mission and in conjunction with the on-going strategic
planning process. Information resources and
telecommunications will play a vital part to the
success, growth, and development of the university
during the next five years. The goal of this plan is
to document the efforts we will take to improve the
quality, timeliness, efficiency, and customer
satisfaction of information resources and services.
The University of
Houston - Victoria provides support for information
resources throughout the campus through in-house
services, out-sourcing, and inter-agency contracts,
providing those resources in the most cost effective
manner to meet the goals of the university, the UH
System, and the State of Texas.
The university's overall IR strategy is two-fold:
-
Provide efficient and
effective information resources for our students,
faculty, staff, and community partners,
-
Use technology to
improve or expand our ability to deliver educational
resources to our customers.
II.
Introduction/IR VIision
Current IR Status
The University of Houston - Victoria currently
provides computer and telecommunication support for
faculty, staff, students, and administrators primarily
through the Information Technology Department. This
department is responsible for providing those
resources in the most cost effective manner to meet
the goals of the institution, the UH System, and the
State of Texas. Those responsibilities include: the
operation and maintenance of academic and
administrative server systems, microcomputers, campus
network operations, telecommunications services
(including the support and operation of the
university's PBX switch), and interactive video
operations; operation and supervision of six microlabs
and two special projects rooms supporting academic
computing; providing a variety of training courses for
faculty and staff on software and technology topics;
developing and maintaining application programs and
data access applications in support of administrative
functions; and assisting in the development and
implementation of information resources strategic
policies and procedures.
The primary challenge for this institution involving
information resources centers around a geographically
diverse student base, an active faculty, and evolving
technologies. This challenge will involve the
technological leap required to maintain and expand
support of distance education in the transmission of
instruction through Internet-accessible on-line
courses and interactive video technology, and maintain
those services in a reliable and effective manner. The
University of Houston - Victoria is in the process,
along with the other components of the University of
Houston System, of implementing on-line courses for
whole programs, along with interactive courses in
support of specific geographical areas of our service
region. The challenge here is to recognize
opportunities and to act upon them to increase the
availability of instruction to remote audiences. An
additional challenge is to provide the staff support
and technology resources needed to encourage
innovative uses in support of instructional
activities, research and development, and
institutional information distribution.
A second challenge is the transition to an integrated
administrative system to support financial, student,
and human resources. The University of Houston -
Victoria is in the process, along with the other
components of the University of Houston System, of
implementing PeopleSoft application for that purpose.
The University of Houston System is spearheading this
project, and UH-V is integrally involved in the
planning and implementation of this system.
A third challenge is the extension of Library services
to meet the needs and demands of the changing
technology and changing geographical locations of our
students. The Library is planning ongoing enhancements
of the Library Automation System, which is shared with
Victoria College and the Victoria Public Library;
expanding access to Library resources for all students
independent of their location; improving and expanding
library resource sharing among the UH System
components; and taking full advantage of all resources
available through Tex-Share, the state library
resource sharing program.
This strategic plan outlines our approach to each of
these challenges.
Table 1: Goals, Objective, and Strategies
|
Item |
Description |
| Goal 1.
Teaching and Learning |
UHV
will provide high-quality instruction and learning support in
selected degree programs, with emphasis upon outreach,
collaboration, and responsiveness to the needs of place-bound
students.
This goal addresses the State
Strategic Plan under Goal 2: Texas state government will enhance
the performance of its agencies' mandates, missions, and core
competencies through application of information resources. |
|
Objective 1 |
Continue to expand outreach delivery of academic programs. |
|
Strategy 1 |
Expand
online and online-supplemented offerings, committing the
necessary resources for faculty training and technical support. |
|
Objective 2 |
Continue to provide effective learning support and related
services to students and faculty at off-campus locations, in
quality commensurate with that afforded on-campus students and
faculty. |
|
Strategy 2 |
Maintain support of Internet and LAN servers to support access
to online courses by students at any Internet-accessible
location. |
|
Objective 3 |
Continue to provide faculty and staff orientations and training
opportunities, especially in the use of administrative and
instructional technologies and systems. |
|
Strategy 3 |
Maintain support of training sessions for faculty and staff in
all general categories of technology applications. |
Table 2: Information Resources Policies and
Practices
|
IR Priorities |
During the institution's formal
process of strategic planning, planning for IR is included. The
Director of Information Technology sits on the President's
Cabinet and makes recommendations to that body based on
information and requests from all areas of the university's
organization. Our Information Resources and Technology Committee
solicits input from all areas of the university and prioritizes
those items received. Recommendations from these two entities
are submitted in priority order for review by the President's
Cabinet, and are then submitted, with changes recommended by the
Cabinet to the Budget Committee for funding approval. The Budget
Committee is made up of the President, the Vice-President for
Academic Affairs/ Provost, and the Vice-President of
Administration and Finance. |
|
IR Planning Methodology |
The Director of Information
Technology makes recommendations to that body based on
information and requests from all areas of the university's
organization. Our Information Resources and Technology Committee
solicits input from all areas of the university and prioritizes
those items received. Recommendations from these two entities
are submitted in priority order for review by the President's
Cabinet, and are then submitted, with changes recommended by the
Cabinet to the Budget Committee for funding approval. |
|
Operating System |
The institution currently supports
the following operating systems: Alpha OpenVMS,
Windows 95, 98, 2000 and NT
Mac OS 8, 2000
Linux |
|
Development Methodology |
All major administrative
applications have been outsourced to the University of Houston,
so no formal software development methodology is in place at
this institution. No case tools are in use at the institution. |
|
Software Audit and Management |
All campus-wide software purchases
are centralized in the Information Technology Department. An
annual inventory of installed software is made to insure
compliance with software licensing. |
|
Quality-Assurance Practices |
Risk management policies and
procedures have been developed and approved as part of the
university's Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual and
our Risk Management Manual. |
|
E-Government |
All major administrative
applications have been outsourced to the University of Houston,
so all plans and activities involving receiving forms and
accepting payments through the Internet are handled by that
agency. |
|
Security |
Security policies have been
developed and approved as part of the university's
Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual and our Risk
Management Manual. An Information Security Risk Analysis has
been completed and documented. |
|
Geographic Information Systems |
There are no GIS systems located at
this institution, and no plans to implement any during the
course of this plan's life. |
|
Disaster Recovery/ Business
Continuity Planning |
The university has developed and
approved a Information Technology Disaster Recovery Plan and our
agency's Risk Management Manual. Our plan includes the
interagency agreement we have with the University of Houston for
off-site processing and support of disaster/ recovery
operations. |
|
Resource Use |
Policies have been developed and
approved as part of the university's Administrative Policies and
Procedures Manual and are published in the Student Handbook to
identify the proper usage of our information resources.
Operational policies and procedures have also been developed for
interactive video operations and usage, including use of these
resources by other state agencies. |
|
Information Sharing |
Data is shared with other agencies
and other external entities when a formal request is made to the
department/school that is responsible for that data. When
approved, Information Technology personnel assist with the data
transfer in the requested or approved format. |
|
Training and Continuing Education |
Individual departments and
divisions set priorities for and plan for training needs within
the unit, including Information Technology for information
resources positions. Training information on all employees are
documented on an annual personnel evaluation and maintained in
each employee's personnel folder. |
|
Data Center Operations |
With all major administrative
applications having been outsourced to the University of
Houston, there is no necessity for this service for this
institution. |
Table 3: Agency
Platforms, Systems, and Telecommunications
|
Category |
Type |
Operating System |
Database Management System |
Capacity/ Size/ Count |
Comments/ Descriptive Information |
|
Mainframe |
N/A |
|
|
|
|
|
Minicomputer |
DEC |
Open VMS |
N/A |
2 |
|
|
Network |
|
|
|
|
Current topology: 10/100 switched
Ethernet |
|
LAN Servers (central) |
PC |
NT |
N/A |
9 |
|
|
LAN Servers (remote) |
N/A |
|
|
|
|
|
LAN Client/ Workstations (central) |
PC
Mac |
Win 98
Mac OS 8 |
N/A
N/A |
250
8 |
|
|
LAN Client/ Workstations (remote) |
N/A |
|
|
|
|
|
WAN Servers |
Mail
Web, DNS |
Open VMS
NT |
N/A |
2
2 |
|
|
Stand alone Workstations |
None |
|
|
|
|
|
Internet Service Provider |
VIRO via UH |
|
|
|
University of Houston |
Shared Network
|
Owned: UH-V |
|
|
|
University related network supported
by interconnecting data lines via GSC's
TEX-AN lines. |
Table 4: Agency
Databases
|
Database Name |
Financial Aid DB |
|
Database Description |
Database to store and retrieve
financial aid data on students at UHV. Primary users are
Financial Aid Office personnel. |
|
Database System |
PowerFAIDS on Sybase |
|
Estimated Physical Storage
Requirements |
Now: 150 MB.
Two to five years: 500MB to 1.0
GB |
|
GIS Data Classification |
N/A |
|
Sharing |
Data is shared with other UHV major
applications which reside at UH. Data sharing is primarily
through regular data transfers. |
|
Future |
As the PeopleSoft implementation
occurs, we will determine if that application will support our
needs for financial aid, and if so, we could convert to that
application. A timeframe for that is unknown, but probably not
within the scope of this plan.
No plan for GIS functionality is
anticipated. |
Table 5: Agency Applications
| Application Name |
Name and acronym of
the application |
| Application Type |
N/A |
Table 6: Interagency Data Needs
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