IT Times, May 2002: A Road Map to New Technology at UC Davis

A Road Map to New Technology at UC Davis

This Issue
Behind the Scenes of the Emerging Architecture
New Business Architecture Milestones

Advanced Technology Projects At A Glance (PDF)

Advanced Technology Projects Web site

Technology Infrastructure Forum

Technology without human creativity is like a good car without a driver. It provides us with a vehicle for progress, but can't blaze trails or set destinations without a person behind the wheel. Technology without collaboration is even worse: like a car with two uncooperative drivers fighting over the wheel, burning up lots of fuel yet getting nowhere. The potential to utilize technology toward improving the vitality and efficiency of a diverse campus raises important questions. With such a powerful engine at our disposal, how do we get where we all want to go?

In other words, when our multi-faceted campus wants to use appropriate technologies to help us overcome technology infrastructure issues so we can better fulfill the campus mission, how do we cut a path toward a solution while navigating the crossroads of technology, people, and problems?

To name a few of the recent challenges...

Internet security concerns us all (especially in the past year as network invasion and identity theft are on the rise), begging the questions: how do we assure that credit-card transactions via the Web are secure and legitimate? What standards and regulations should be in place for conducting the campus' business over the Web? Can one set of standards apply to all the various departments and offices on campus that need this promise of online security?
Campus administrators, faculty, and staff members begin to show an interest in enhancing their interactions with distant colleagues (without having to spend inordinate amounts of money on travel), facilitating guest lectures from remote locations, creating virtual meetings with several individuals from different locations, and accommodating overflow crowds at special events. Can the campus provide reliable, standardized video-conferencing services using the Internet? What will it take to efficiently deploy this service and take advantage of recent network technology advancements?
Since our campus is home to a large group of people, many departments have kept their own large sets of records for all the faculty, staff, and students they serve. The more we grow, the more uncoordinated our collections of data records can become. What can we do about ambiguous or duplicate records? How do we catch erroneous or conflicting records? Can the various administrative system owners on campus collaborate to define and develop an official campuswide directory, adjusting their systems to interact with the new directory?

Getting Behind the Wheel

Just two years in the driver's seat, Dr. John Bruno, Vice Provost for Information and Educational Technology (IET), invites a hands-on approach when he sets out to perform a critical element of his job: addressing major campuswide technology challenges. As technology has evolved, so have the ways we implement it on campus. Dr. Bruno recognized early on that IET should not work in isolation from the rest of the campus, but rather, should solicit collaboration and active participation at every stage of the process on even the most complex or sensitive technology projects. "Technology providers like us must be proactive and collaborative so we can discover solutions that help the campus fulfill its mission. When facing campuswide technology tasks, the most effective strategy is to consult the campus technology advisory groups, our customers, and the large community of experts on our campus. If we don't, we could spend inordinate amounts of time researching and implementing the wrong solutions," says Dr. Bruno.

To set the wheels in motion, Dr. Bruno outlined a simple hands-on process for confronting technology challenges. The process is flexible enough to accommodate plenty of research, evaluation, and input, yet sturdy enough to retain focus and avoid runaway projects. Dr. Bruno calls these projects "Advanced Technology Projects" (or "ATPs" for short). The projects are "Advanced" because they are major campuswide issues that involve newer technologies. But something about the collaboration involved, the incoming and outgoing flow of research and ideas makes them especially representative of a new, advanced way of addressing technology on campus.

Navigating an Advanced Technology Project

Before a technology solution is implemented on campus, a lot of investigation and collaboration is required:

A campuswide business or academic need (e.g., online security, Web-based video-conferencing, or unique directory records) is identified that can be met through the implementation of a technology solution.
Dr. Bruno works with campus administrators and system owners to identify a team who can carry out research and develop recommendations for the implementation of possible technology solutions. A project letter is penned, defining the business need, the charge to the team, deadlines, and investigational stepping stones to help the team along the way.
The team begins working on the project, consulting with appropriate groups, such as the TIF (Technology Infrastructure Forum), AC4 (Academic Computing Coordinating Council), NBA (New Business Architecture), AdC3 (Administrative Computing Coordinating Council), and other campus organizations. By drawing all the key folks into the loop and holding open meetings, the team gathers a thorough and varied array of input. The team then provides Dr. Bruno with updates, and presents progress on the campus' ATP Web site.
The team completes the investigation phase, writing a formal recommendation about how the campus should proceed with the project. When appropriate, the ATP results in the formation of an implementation workgroup to set the project into motion on campus.

Defining the ATP teams is a crucial step. "To encourage the leveraging of our collective expertise, I recommend diversifying our team membership," Dr. Bruno explains. For example, the Common Authentication project currently underway includes specialists from IET, Accounting and Financial Services, the Office of the Registrar, the Computer Science Department, and the UC Davis Medical Center. Customer advisory groups are often consulted, and Dr. Bruno adds that he'd "also like to encourage more faculty involvement."

For regular updates on current ATPs, visit http://vpiet.ucdavis.edu/advancedprojects/. For announcements on new ATPs, keep visiting the site and checking in with IT Times. Questions or comments about ATPs should be directed to vpiet-info@ucdavis.edu.

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