Core Objectives of SOAR 2028
1. Exceptional Customer Service
We will deliver exceptional customer service and support by prioritizing responsiveness,
quality, and user satisfaction across all IT services.
Key Initiatives:
- Develop a training program to improve IT support staff's communication, technical
skills, and empathy, enhancing service quality.
- Introduce data-driven feedback mechanisms to collect, analyze, and act on user feedback,
ensuring continuous service improvement and responsiveness.
- Establish a user advocacy group comprising campus stakeholders to assess and recommend
enhancements to services and user experiences.
- Publish service delivery metrics to build transparency and foster accountability through
clear communication of performance data.
- Launch proactive outreach and knowledge-sharing campaigns to educate users on IT tools,
best practices, and updates, enhancing engagement.
2. Scalable & Secure IT Service Delivery
We will provide available, reliable, scalable, and secure IT services to support the
teaching, learning, research, and administrative needs of the ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥ community.
Key Initiatives:
- Implement a tiered incident response framework supported by robust governance tools
to ensure service availability and minimize disruption.
- Transition to cloud-first to enhance scalability, reliability, and cost-efficiency
while supporting long-term business continuity goals.
- Adopt advanced monitoring tools and integrate them with governance frameworks to proactively
identify and mitigate system vulnerabilities.
- Establish a centralized IT governance model to streamline decision-making, align service
delivery with institutional goals, and improve operational efficiency.
- Develop an IT risk management framework aligned with ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥â€™s strategic priorities to enhance resilience against evolving threats and ensure compliance.
- Standardize configurations and protocols to simplify service management, enhance consistency,
and reduce operational complexity across IT systems.
- Develop a comprehensive lifecycle management process for IT assets to improve cost
efficiency, extend resource longevity, and support strategic planning.
- Conduct regular continuity and security drills to test and refine business continuity
and disaster recovery plans, ensuring organizational readiness for disruptions.
3. Innovation & Enhancement
We will foster innovation in teaching, learning, and research by integrating emerging
technologies and enhancing digital platforms to .
Key Initiatives:
- Create innovation labs to prototype and test emerging technologies, fostering collaboration
among students, faculty, and researchers.
- Partner with academic departments to align IT projects with research initiatives,
prioritizing investments that support strategic institutional goals.
- Through the use of AI develop data-informed personalized learning platforms to deliver
tailored educational experiences that enhance student and faculty success.
- Expand high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities to enable advanced research and
address the growing needs of data-intensive disciplines.
- Promote student and faculty-driven innovation through initiatives like hackathons,
innovation grants, and interdisciplinary collaboration projects.
- Regularly benchmark IT services against industry standards and leverage insights to
drive continuous improvement and competitive differentiation.
- Leverage automation technologies, including RPA and machine learning, to streamline
administrative workflows and improve operational efficiency in support of teaching,
learning, and research.
4. Effective Project & Change Management
We will build efficient, trusted, and scalable program and project management practices
to ensure successful execution of IT initiatives that align to institutional strategies
and goals.
Key Initiatives:
- Implement flexible project management practices to enhance adaptability and responsiveness
to evolving institutional needs.
- Standardize a project intake and prioritization process using scoring frameworks to
align with institutional strategies and goals.
- Develop comprehensive training for project managers on risk assessment and mitigation
strategies to ensure proactive identification and management of project risks.
- Integrate a centralized portfolio management system to provide visibility, real-time
resource allocation, and streamlined oversight of IT initiatives.
- Establish a governance framework with project performance dashboards and KPIs to monitor
progress and ensure accountability.
- Create a continuous feedback mechanism to capture lessons learned and refine project
delivery processes.
- Enhance resource and capacity planning to ensure effective allocation of staffing
and budgets across IT initiatives.
- Adopt collaborative project tools to enable cross-functional teamwork and improve
efficiency in project execution.
5. Culture of Continuous Improvement
We will establish a culture of continuous improvement by leveraging process improvement
frameworks to drive operational excellence, optimize the UITS technology portfolio,
and enhance service delivery processes in alignment with the ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥ Taking Flight Strategic
Initiatives.
Key Initiatives:
- Develop a comprehensive framework for process improvement initiatives by leveraging
methodologies like Lean or Six Sigma to drive operational excellence.
- Foster a knowledge-sharing culture by implementing collaborative tools and platforms
that encourage cross-functional learning and innovation.
- Implement a technology rationalization process to assess and streamline the entire
technology portfolio, including applications, infrastructure, and tools, optimizing
resources and reducing complexity.
- Establish cross-functional working groups to drive and champion process improvement
initiatives, ensuring broad institutional alignment and engagement.
- Establish regular review cycles to evaluate and enhance existing IT processes, incorporating
user feedback and aligning with institutional goals.
- Leverage analytics and performance metrics to monitor and improve operational efficiency
across UITS services and initiatives.
- Introduce scalable training and upskilling programs to equip employees with the skills
needed to support continuous improvement initiatives.
6. Talent Retention & Development
We will attract, retain, and develop top IT talent to build a high-performing team
that meets the evolving needs of ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥.
Key Initiatives:
- Develop targeted career progression plans to retain high-performing employees and
foster long-term engagement.
- Encourage regular mentorship opportunities within the IT department to promote professional
growth and knowledge sharing.
- Conduct annual skill gap analyses to align training investments with evolving technological
needs and organizational priorities, including cross-training.
- Support flexible work policies to enhance employee satisfaction and promote a healthy
work-life balance.
- Launch leadership development programs to cultivate strong leaders capable of driving
organizational success.
- Build an employee recognition program to celebrate achievements and reinforce a culture
of excellence and innovation.
SOAR 2028 represents UITS's commitment to innovation, collaboration, and excellence.
With a clear vision and measurable objectives, we are dedicated to enhancing the technology
experience for students, faculty, and staff across ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥.
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