The Direction of IT at Michigan Technological University


Status of this Memo

This memo is a draft of the official opinion statement from the MTUSYSADM 
group concerning the mechanism by which the IT Department should derive the 
direction of its activities.  It does not describe a technical standard. Distribution of 
this memo is unlimited.



1.  IT must derive its direction from the needs of the academic, research, and administrative 
units.

	According to the MTU Computing Strategy (June 1995):

	The basic direction for academic computing lies within the academic and research 
	units (i.e., departments or schools).  Administrative computing gets its direction 
	from administrative and academic units (i.e., divisions or offices).  They define the 
	need for various types of computing capability and capacity.  All other computing 
	organizations derive their purpose and direction from the needs of these units.

	The central computing organization (IT) is responsible for supporting the needs of 
	the administrative, academic, and research units.


2.  It is essential for IT to be aware of the needs of the other units on campus in order to 
properly set their direction.

	An annual Computing Strategy Conference, run by the CAC,  will be held to facilitate an 
	open forum for presentation of the computing strategies of the academic units.  This will 
	be a two day conference with the academic units presenting their computing plans on the 
	first day and the IT units presenting theirs on the second day.  This conference will take 
	place one month prior to submission of the annual computing strategy plans to the CAC, 
	thus allowing time for revisions to the units plans following the conference.  The 
	recommended attendees for the conference are: the Provost, the Vice-Provost for 
	Research, the Vice-Provost for Information Technology, the Directors of the IT units, the 
	Deans of each college, the academic Department Chairs, and the individuals responsible 
	for setting the computing direction in the academic departments.  This conference will be 
	open to the public.

	Prior to the submission of the academic unit's annual computing strategy documents a 
	strategy meeting will be held between representatives of each unit and appropriate 
	representatives from IT.  This meeting will facilitate clear communication of the needs of 
	the unit and allow the IT units to set their direction and priorities for the year.


3.	IT must communicate its goals and activities to the campus.

	From the MTU Computing Strategy:

	Annually, the organization [IT] will publish a list of goals ... Quarterly, the IT 
	organization will publish a list of accomplishments against these goals.


4.	Conflicts between the goals published by IT and the needs of the other units must be 
addressed by the CAC.

	According to the MTU Computing Strategy:

	Annually, the CAC Strategy Subcommittee will review the IT organization's 
	annual goals in conjunction with the department plans, and will advise the Director 
	of Information Technology concerning any conflict.