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ITEC: The name of the
organization is the State University of New York (a.k.a. SUNY or University)
Information Technology Exchange Center (hereinafter referred to as ITEC) with
resources located at and hosted by SUNY Buffalo State College (hereinafter
referred to as Host).
Member: A Member is a
membership fee-paying organization or institution that receives services from
ITEC.
This document is a strategic plan for computing and
information technology services at the State University of New York’s (SUNY or
University) Information Technology Exchange Center (ITEC).
Additional detailed documentation pertaining to the
information contained herein can be found on ITEC’s web site:
www.itec.suny.edu.
The ITEC Executive Board and its management prepared this
document. Comments and questions are welcome and should be addressed to:
Chair, ITEC’s Executive Board and Advisory Committee
c/o
Barbara A. Boquard, Sr. Staff Assistant or
Ronald N. Brown, Jr., CIO
Buffalo State College
1300 Elmwood Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14222
716-878-4832
Barbara.Boquard@itec.suny.edu
Ron.Brown@itec.suny.edu
2. Executive Overview
Current Status:
Strategic development of ITEC is based on several fundamental principles:
- that services are beneficial and
cost effective to the membership;
- that membership is voluntary;
- that the funding of the basic
operations of ITEC is shared across the membership;
- that
all offerings and programs are self-sufficient and self-funded; and
- that
new initiatives are considered in consultation with the Executive Board and do
not adversely impact existing services.
Future Direction:
Continued operation under these basic principles.
2.2. Governance
Current Status:
ITEC is governed by its members. Each participating Member designates a
Voting Member, and System Administration designates a Voting Member, to serve on
the SUNY ITEC Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee elects the Executive
Board. Refer to ITEC’s By-laws for additional information on the ITEC Advisory
Committee and Executive Board (www.itec.suny.edu).
Future Direction:
Continued operation under this governance method.
2.3. Cost Model
Current Status:
Member-Based Programs
Members share the cost of ITEC operations (e.g., acquiring software site
licenses, providing support facilities and professional staff) through
self-assessed fees. Refer to the ITEC By-laws for procedures for withdrawing
from programs (www.itec.suny.edu).
University-wide Programs
The funding for these programs is determined by the University-wide Program
management, ITEC management, and System Administration. All University-wide
Programs are self-funded. Refer to the ITEC By-laws for procedures for
withdrawing from programs (www.itec.suny.edu).
Future Direction:
Continued operation under this cost model.
2.4.
Member-Based Offerings
Current Status:
The following are the ITEC offerings for Member-based programs:
2.4.1
Software Support and Services
2.4.2
Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery and Planning Services
2.4.3
Remote Services
2.4.4
Information Technology (IT) Hosting Services
2.4.5
Academic Software Initiative (available to non-member campuses)
Future Direction:
Growth is anticipated from additional ITEC membership and
additional offerings.
2.5.
University-wide Programs
Current Status:
ITEC provides IT services for the following University-wide Programs
Office of Library and Information Services
SUNYConnect
Learning Environments
SUNY Training Center
SUNY Learning Network
SICAS Center
SUNY-wide Technology Contracts
Future Direction:
Growth is anticipated in supporting the University-wide
Programs listed above and any future University-wide Program.
2.6.
Organization and Management
Current Status:
The present staffing of 30 positions consists of:
- a CIO, a CTO, a Director of Technology Planning, and
three support staff,
- a Supervising Programmer/Analyst of Applications Support
and Development with six (6) staff,
- a Supervising Programmer/Analyst of Layered Products
with eight (8) staff,
- a Supervising Programmer/Analyst of Systems and
Networking with nine (9) staff,
- shared operations staff (1.6 FTE) shared with Buffalo
State College, and
- student assistants as needed and available.
Future Direction:
Continue to maintain appropriate staffing to better manage
services offered to Members and University-wide Programs.
2.7.
Space and Facilities
Current Status:
ITEC is housed on the
campus of Buffalo State College. It consists of approximately 6,000 square feet
of office and computer room space.
Future Direction:
Additional space and
facilities are needed due to the growth of ITEC in recent years. Priorities
that need to be addressed include space for staff along with power and HVAC in
the computer room. The CIO, Executive Board, appropriate System Administration
office, and host campus representative must begin discussions with Buffalo State
College’s Vice President and CIO to determine if there are options available for
additional space and facilities on the campus.
The following describes the support, services, and
facilities that ITEC currently offers to Members and University-wide Programs
and the proposed future direction for each.
Attachments A and B indicate the Members and the services currently provided
by ITEC. It is anticipated that additional institutions will utilize ITEC for
support and through participation in University-wide Programs. ITEC has
had conservative growth in the past and must carefully consider which new
offerings to undertake in the future. Programs are continuously reviewed
for currency.
3.1.
Governing
Principles
Current Status:
ITEC is one of several special purpose organizations within
the SUNY system established by participating institutions to support
multi-Member, computer-related, group activities targeted at improving the
quality, quantity, and cost-effectiveness of Member-based and University-wide
Information Technology (IT) services. ITEC is primarily a Member-based and
University-wide Program organization; participation is voluntary. Members share
the cost of ITEC operations (e.g., acquiring software site licenses, providing
supporting facilities and professional staff) through self-assessed fees for
those IT services requested by the Members. Similarly, University-wide Programs
fund the IT services used by those programs.
Strategic development of ITEC is
based on several fundamental principles:
- that services are beneficial and
cost effective to the membership;
- that membership is voluntary;
- that the funding of the basic
operations of ITEC is shared across the membership;
- that
all offerings and programs are self-sufficient and self-funded; and
- that
new initiatives are considered in consultation with the Executive Board and do
not adversely impact existing services.
Future Direction:
Continued operation under these basic principles.
Current Status:
ITEC is governed by its Members. Each participating Member
designates a Voting Member, and System Administration designates a Voting
Member, to serve on the ITEC Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee elects
the Executive Board. Refer to ITEC’s By-laws for additional information on the
ITEC Advisory Committee and Executive Board (www.itec.suny.edu).
The policy, direction, and accountability of ITEC shall be
under the stewardship of the CIO, guided by an Advisory Committee and its
Executive Board representing the Members, University-wide Programs, and other
units of the State University as specified. General administrative support of
ITEC is provided by the host campus, coordinated by the ITEC CIO under the
advisement of the Advisory Committee and the Executive Board. In general, ITEC
adheres to Buffalo State College’s policies and procedures for the
administrative functions.
The administration and guidance for University-wide
Programs comes from the Office of Information and Technology (OIT). The ITEC
Executive Board and OIT set direction for the service offerings of ITEC.
Future Direction:
Continued operation under this governance method.
3.3.
Cost Model
Current Status:
Member-Based Programs:
In ITEC’s Member-based program, participation is
voluntary. Members share the cost of ITEC operations (e.g., acquiring software
site licenses, providing supporting facilities and professional staff) through
self-assessed fees.
ITEC’s cost per Members for the base membership fee (staff,
space, and hardware used to support member activities, etc.) has increased
approximately 3% per year since its inception in 1988. Costs have been
controlled by increasing the number of Members and by finding the “best
practices” for use of technology in providing support and services to Members.
As new Members join ITEC, additional staff may be needed. Based on past
experiences this is not linear growth; most of the Member-based program staff
increases have been a result of increased membership.
While the costs over the above period of time have remained
in this 2% to 3% per year level, the number of products which ITEC supports has
not drastically increased. ITEC will be able to remain within this increase
range if there is no sharp increase in additional software products and/or no
sharp increase in services provided by ITEC. There may be need for additional
staff if there is a sharp increase in products to support or services to
provide.
It is important to note that any major increases in costs
have been from the additional software and services that Members have elected to
use and the increasing cost of that software. It is important to keep ITEC’s
base membership fee costs and the costs for optional services offerings
separate.
Refer to the ITEC By-laws for procedures for withdrawing
from programs (www.itec.suny.edu).
University-wide Programs:
The funding for these Programs is determined by the
University-wide Program management and ITEC management. All University-wide
Programs are self funded. Refer to the ITEC By-laws for procedures for
withdrawing from Programs. (www.itec.suny.edu).
Future Direction:
Member-Based Programs:
ITEC’s goal is to have the base / standard support and
service costs remain flat.
As Members elect optional ITEC services, staff will be
added to meet the demand for these optional services. For example, some Members
are realizing that the cost for the database administrator is not affordable and
they do not need a full-time position to fulfill this need. Therefore, they
have turned to ITEC and the SICAS Center to meet this need in a cost-effective
way. We project the cost for this type of optional ITEC services increasing on
average of 5% per year.
University-wide Programs
Continued operation under this cost model.
The following are the ITEC offerings for Member-based
programs:
3.4.1.
Software Support and Services
Current Status:
Software support and associated services are the basis on
which ITEC was founded. Simply stated, ITEC is
- the provider of software support to Members, and
- an extension to Member institutions in providing
services to supplement those onsite.
This originated with HP (previously Compaq and DEC)
allowing the University to have a single point of contact for University-wide
software agreements (support, media, upgrades, etc.). Oracle, Hyperion, Group
1, Timbuktu, SolidWorks, IBM Lotus, and the Academic Software Initiative have
been subsequently added. The Academic Software Initiative includes Oracle
Academic, Kermit, ESRI, Mathematica, Maple, and Minitab. Software is
distributed via Getsoftware, FTP server, or CD. Refer to ITEC’s Support
Services document for additional information on the Software Support and
Services offering (www.itec.suny.edu).
Future Direction:
Layered Products
In the Layered Products area, ITEC has made major strides
in meeting and providing high-quality software and services to Members. These
efforts will continue to be supported and enhanced in the future.
Future Direction:
Application Support and Development
Future growth is anticipated through increasing software
offerings to Members, particularly in support of the academic instruction and
research needs of the University. The manner in which ITEC provides academic
support for Members must be scaleable, cost effective, and not adversely impact
existing services. In general, we anticipate using the University faculty and
academic support staff’s expertise to provide support for all members.
3.4.2.
Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery
and Planning Services
Current Status:
ITEC is starting an Information Technology Business
Continuity and Disaster Recovery and Planning (IT BC / DRP) Project in
conjunction with the SICAS Center, the SUNY Training Center, and SUNY System
Administration. The initial focus of this project is on Banner campuses.
Recovering the Banner database and applications, providing a web-based email for
emergency communications, and providing SUNY Business Systems authentication for
a Member during a disaster are the initial goals of this Project. The Project
will assist Members in planning for the protection of their databases and code
trees (applications). Electronic data vaulting has been tested with a few
Members by copying the Banner database and applications to an electronic data
vault at ITEC.
Also, ITEC is preparing an “IT BC/DRP Application and
Information Database” to be the repository of information needed for an IT
disaster recovery. This will include some traditional “fixed field” information
entry and scanning of documents into a database (e.g., equipment lists, diagrams
of existing systems). In addition, a template is being designed that will
outline the various roles of the campus IT BC/DRP Task Force allowing the
Members to respond to a disaster in an orderly and planned manner. Furthermore,
a step-by-step response to a hypothetical disaster will be included.
Future Direction:
It is anticipated that additional Oracle databases and
other applications such as CMS/LMS, non-Banner ERP applications; and other
academic applications will be added to the Project as resources and time are
available. However, it is important to meet the goals of the initial Project
before expanding the Project.
3.4.3.
Remote Services
Current Status:
The Remote Services offering provides a cost effective
alternative to Members by providing experienced technical staff to perform high
level system administration tasks.
As part of the Remote Services offering, ITEC staff
performs non-repetitive computer system administrative tasks such as the
installation, monitoring, and setting up of system procedures for computer
systems (mainframe or server). For example: installation of a database software
or operating system, compilers, performance tuning reports, and developing
procedures for backup and recovery of the disk system. The Member is
responsible for such items as hardware purchase and maintenance and repetitive
systems tasks as documented by ITEC. Refer to the Support Services document
for additional information on the Remote Services offering and on the
responsibilities of both the Member and ITEC for this offering (www.itec.suny.edu).
Future Direction:
Future growth is anticipated in the number of Members
electing the Remote Services offering. It also is anticipated that Members and
the University will bring forward the need for other types of services for which
the Remote Services offering is appropriate.
3.4.4.
Information Technology (IT) Hosting Service
Current Status:
Transitional and permanent technology (IT) hosting services
is an offering in which ITEC is responsible for providing the computer hardware
and the operations of the computer system(s) for a Member. The hardware is
generally located at ITEC although there may be some small servers in support of
three-tiered architecture (WEB applications, forms, print spooling, and so on)
at the Member’s site. The day-to-day operation of the local server(s) is the
responsibility of the Member. Some ventures are joint programs with other
SUNY-wide organizations (e.g., SUNYConnect, SUNY Learning Network). Refer to
the Support Services document for additional information on the IT Hosting
offering and on the responsibilities of both the Member and ITEC for this
offering (www.itec.suny.edu).
Future Direction:
Growth is anticipated in the number of additional Members
that will elect this offering. It also is anticipated that Members and the
University will bring forward the need for other types of software for which IT
Hosting Service is appropriate. This may be expanded to the academic
instructional area.
3.4.5.
Academic Software
Initiative
Current Status:
ITEC provides software and support for the following
software included in the Academic Software Initiative (ASI):
Oracle Academic
Kermit
ESRI
Mathematica
Maple
Minitab
SolidWorks (individual subscription)
Campuses may subscribe to the complete ASI package (Oracle
Academic, Kermit, ESRI, Mathematica, Maple, and Minitab) or select portions of
the software package. SolidWorks is not included in the complete ASI package
but may be subscribed to individually.
Future Direction:
Growth is anticipated in the number of campuses selecting
the ASI offering. It also is anticipated that campuses and the University will
bring forward additional software packages to be included in the ASI offering.
3.5.
University-wide Programs
Current Status:
ITEC provides IT services for the following University-wide
Programs:
Office of Library and Information Services
SUNYConnect
Learning Environments
SUNY Training Center
SUNY Learning Network
SICAS Center
SUNY-wide Technology Contracts
The management of the University-wide Programs is through
the sponsor of the program. It is important to note that University-wide
Programs are self-funded.
Future Direction:
Growth is anticipated in supporting the University-wide
Programs listed above and any future University-wide Programs.
Current Status:
In March 2006, the ITEC Executive Board approved the
re-organization of ITEC to include a CTO, a Director of Technology Planning, and
three supervising programmer analysts to lead the Application Support and
Development, Layered Products, and Systems and Networking areas of ITEC.
Additionally, two new DBA and two UNIX positions were approved by the ITEC
Executive Board and are pending approval from Buffalo State College. The
following is ITEC’s current organizational chart:
Future Direction:
Continue to maintain appropriate staffing to better manage
services offered to Members and University-wide Programs. ITEC staff works
under the principle “if we can provide a quality and cost-effective solution we
will, within reasonable resources.” This goes from the CIO to the Keyboard
Specialist I. ITEC will continue this model.
Additional staffing will be needed to meet the demands of
increased membership and increased optional services requested by Members. In
addition, as University-wide Programs depend on ITEC for services and
facilities, additional staff will be needed. The CIO must notify the Executive
Board and the SUNY System Administration office with which ITEC is
organizationally affiliated of upcoming needs and justification for positions.
ITEC’s goal is to maintain staff salaries within 25% of
market value.
3.7.
Space and Facilities
Current Status:
ITEC is housed on the campus of Buffalo State College. It
consists of approximately 6,000 square feet of office and computer room space.
The computer room is shared space with Buffalo State College’s Computing and
Technology Services department.
Future Direction:
Additional space and facilities are needed due to the
growth of ITEC in recent years. Priorities that need to be addressed include
space for staff and power and HVAC in the computer room. The CIO, ITEC
Executive Board, appropriate System Administration office, and host campus
representative must start talking with the Buffalo State College’s Vice
President and CIO to determine if there are options available for additional
space and facilities on the campus.
ATTACHMENT A
ITEC MEMBERSHIP
University Centers
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Community Colleges
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Albany |
Adirondack |
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Binghamton |
Broome |
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Buffalo |
Cayuga |
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Stony Brook |
Erie* |
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Finger Lakes |
University Colleges
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Fulton Montgomery* |
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Brockport |
Corning |
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Buffalo |
Dutchess |
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Cortland |
Fashion Institute |
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Empire State |
Genesee |
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Fredonia |
Herkimer |
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Geneseo |
Hudson Valley |
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New Paltz |
Jamestown |
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Old Westbury |
Jefferson* |
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Oneonta |
Mohawk Valley |
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Oswego |
Monroe |
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Plattsburgh |
Nassau |
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Potsdam |
Niagara |
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Purchase* |
Orange |
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Rockland |
Health Science Centers
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Schenectady |
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Downstate |
Suffolk |
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Upstate |
Sullivan*
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|
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Ulster
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Specialized Colleges
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|
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Environmental Science and Forestry* |
Other
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Farmingdale |
System Administration |
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Maritime |
Research Foundation |
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Tech at Utica Rome |
SUNY Learning Network |
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OLIS |
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Statutory Colleges |
SUNY Training Center |
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Alfred University (Ceramics) |
SICAS Center |
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Cornell |
Levin Graduate Institute* |
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Colleges of Tech/Agric
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Alfred |
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Canton |
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Cobleskill |
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Delhi |
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Morrisville |
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* ASI membership only
ATTACHMENT B
ITEC Member Campuses 2006-2007 Strategic Plan.xls
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Buffalo State College
