Executive Summary
The Office of Information Technology (OIT) is the University’s central IT unit, providing centralized, core, enterprise-level technology services in support of the University of Minnesota’s tri-part mission that are:
- broadly consumed across the institution’s system of five campuses;
- core to central academic and administrative business operations, and;
- offer commodity-like economies of scale.
OIT manages 21 centralized services that include more than 180 enterprise public-facing technologies.
Informed by a robust IT governance process, IT services deliver quality, value, and efficiencies as measured by employee productivity and service cost containment.
Headcounts: Fall 2023
Unit-Specific Measures & Data
- 93% of UMN survey respondents are satisfied or very satisfied with IT services.
- Technology Help enables continuous productivity by serving students, faculty, and staff. More than 6,000 interactions occur monthly through the service desk, chat bot, and walk in locations, with an overall satisfaction rating of 4.6/5.
Organizational Structure/Design
The OIT reports to the vice president and CIO (VPCIO) and is comprised of ficve directorates — Academic Technology, Application Development, Identity and Access Management, Infrastructure and Production, and User Support — all supported by a business office. The matrix organizational design avoids duplication.
Health Sciences Technology and University Information Security report to the VPCIO, who also manages a systemwide IT portfolio of services in a distributed, yet highly integrated organizational model. Distributed IT leaders have dual reporting accountability to their college/unit leaders and the VPCIO. Unique pedagogical, and business-related technologies, are managed locally, while commodity-like services are provided centrally. Distributed IT services are complementary and not competitive.
* Excludes $1.8M in sponsored revenues
Revenue does not include carryforward or net transfers.
* Excludes $1.8M in sponsored expenditures
Expenditures may exceed revenue when carryforward is used.
Key Areas of Strength & Strategic Opportunities
Strength: Integrating and Optimizing IT Resources
The VPCIO continues to optimize the institution’s entire IT resource capacity by articulating technologist roles and aligning IT activity to the University’s mission. The body of work associated with this activity is often referred to in the industry as “digital transformation.” Industry trends coupled with technology enablers provide the institution with innovation opportunities that were previously unavailable. These opportunities have the potential to advance disciplines, research, and business lines in new and different ways through the use of information technologies.
Strength: Modernizing Legacy Systems
Modernized technology has the potential to transform pedagogical, research, and business capabilities. This transformation requires a significant investment and a focus on value realization. IT functions/services that are in the process of modernization:
- Grants Management System
- Data Management Practices and Toolsets
- Identity and Access Management
- Data Center Modernization
- Communication Tools
Strategic Opportunity: Managing Institutional Risk
Understanding the University’s cybersecurity risks and managing them through a balanced risk-management approach that ranges from user education to the placement of technical controls.
Strategic Opportunity: Growing Research Infrastructure to Meet Demand
As the demand for research data storage continues to grow exponentially, OIT continues to deliver sustainable data storage infrastructure and stewardship by leveraging partnerships with the Research Innovation Office, Libraries, University colleges, and research deans.
Strategic Opportunity: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is a significant disrupter and presents both significant opportunities and challenges to the enterprise. In partnership with the executive vice president and provost, the Office of General Counsel, University Information Security, and other stakeholders, the VPCIO and systemwide IT leaders are actively piloting and planning for the integration AI capabilities into IT enterprise services.