Executive Summary

Information technology is playing an increasingly important role in the work of the University, both in its core mission of research and teaching and in day to day operations and service delivery. It has also become a significant University resource, accounting for approximately 7% of our budget. These factors, together with the current circumstances of looming structural change in higher education and persistent funding pressure, demand a broad-based, pan-university approach to information technology planning. 

Our information technology strategy will set out key directions and objectives for the use and management of information technology at York that align with and support the University’s overall strategy.  This plan will allow all parts of the University to gain a shared understanding of priorities and goals and chart a course for the next three to five years.

In the past several years we have witnessed some fundamental changes in information technology.  In a scant few years the growth of the Web has radically expanded and changed the scope of the applications of information technology.  A decade ago the focus of applications was internal – largely automating processes to improve organizational operations.   Suddenly today not only are people within an organization “connected” but so too are people outside the organization – they are now key participants in technology applications, systems and services.   We are moving to a point where you can assume the existence of the Internet as an infrastructure element for conducting business – for commerce, procurement, customer care and … learning.

The connectivity that has come with the expansion of the Internet has brought the most profound change in information access and communications. This technological change is at the root of a profound “revolution” in communications that holds the promise of bringing everything “on-line” – connecting everything and everyone.  This goes to the core of what we do as a University – teaching, learning, research and service rooted in interaction and the search for and communication of knowledge.

Our vision for technology at York is to embrace the communications revolution - to create a connected campus and through it develop a connected community. The connected campus will extend what we do within the physical campus providing a vital environment for discovery, investigation and interaction, all freed from the bounds of time and place.

The York University connected community will integrate the best attributes of our physical campus and the greatest strengths of information technology to enhance the way students learn; enhance the way faculty teach, advise, and conduct research; enhance the way administrators and staff provide services; and enhance the way the University itself is managed.

Having such an environment will enable York University to attract the best possible students, faculty, staff and external support by demonstrating our willingness to explore and exploit the possibilities that technology creates for advancing our educational and research missions.

The five recommendations in this strategy point to how we can use information technology and the measures that we must take to enhance our information technology environment.

1. The University must assess, through its academic and broader planning work, the strategic opportunities and implications of technology in teaching and learning while continuing to ensure that efforts by individual faculty are supported and that the use of technology in teaching and learning is accessible to more faculty.
   
2. The University will enhance the information resources to support the academic success of the community and the management of the University.
   
3. The University will increase efforts towards integrated service delivery via the web and assess the opportunity to dramatically transform the delivery of services to students, faculty and staff by taking a customer-centred, process oriented approach and by aggressively leveraging information technology.
   
4. York will put in place an information technology environment that is accessible, sustainable and adaptable to change.  This environment will be secure, reliable, and simple to use.  It will promote innovation and flexibility by facilitating information access, communication and collaboration within the York community and beyond, removing boundaries of time and place.
   
5. In order to capitalize on the potential benefits of distributed computing within the broader University framework, we must review and modify organizational structures, funding mechanisms, policies and planning processes.

Each recommendation includes a set of actions that will be taken. These recommendations and actions range in scope and many of them will require multiple individual projects, the participation of many groups and the integration with existing efforts in their implementation.

The University-wide scope of the information technology strategy implies a role for virtually every information technology support group at York.  This participation will be first through the use of the strategy in the preparation of annual computing plans and then in the active participation in specific initiatives and projects. Overall leadership for implementation will come from the Executive Director – Information Technology supported by the Information Technology Executive Group representing executive leadership and faculty.

The annual computing planning process, which is well ingrained within the planning cycle of Faculties and is being adopted by other groups within the University, will be a key vehicle for initiating and moving forward the specific activities and projects necessary to implement the strategy.