IT Planning: Laying Groundwork

by Catherine Bindewald

The Office of the Chief Information Officer has begun the complex process of developing a strategic plan for Information Technology at Ohio State. This past summer we adopted a two-tiered approach and began by participating in the development of strategic technology planning for the Office of Information Technology. The OIT plan will form a strong foundation for the university’s technology plan and will provide valuable first experiences in laying the groundwork for the universitywide process that begins this winter. The College of Education embarked on a similar path and invited our participation (see related article).

Where do we start a strategic plan? The Academic Plan itself gives us our road map. As we initiate this multifaceted endeavor, we will concentrate on aligning our technology investments with the strategic technology goals of the university community. By responding to the visioning of the Academic Plan, we will be led in the right direction.

The planning process involves developing a communication plan and mission and vision statements; conducting interviews and focus groups to gather information and assess the requirements of executives and stakeholders; prioritizing a list of strategic initiatives with goals for each and performance indicators; developing an implementation strategy in five successive one-year action plans with budgets; developing a quality assurance process with a schedule of progress checks; and developing a survey tool to inventory campuswide technology resources.

We are also discussing the governance of this planning process and developing strategies on how to engage the campus community.

The strategic plan will not be a study that sits on the shelf; it will result in goals that will be integrated into our daily working responsibilities. By the end of this calendar year, we hope to have established our technology strategic goals for the next three to five years. Once the Strategic Plan draft is completed, it will be presented to the campus community for consideration and discussion next autumn quarter. Implementation of the plan follows in the winter of 2003.