1.0 Introduction
Information systems technology is constantly changing. New technologies that are developed will make it possible to meet additional needs and to improve upon existing solutions. For new technologies to be effective in administrative computing, however, they must take into account recent changes in the University's user community, organizational strategies, and computing and networking environment.
The University's administrative computing user community has grown larger, more diverse, more knowledgeable about the kinds of services available and more demanding with respect to the quality and type of the service needed. Previously the clientele of the administrative computing function has been central administrative units (Payroll, Purchasing, Personnel, Registrar etc.). Increasingly faculty, academic departmental users, students, applicants for admission, and high school and community college counselors, have also come to rely upon services of administrative computing departments.
The University's organizational strategies are being reoriented. The direction of this change was first highlighted in a report of the New Campus Administrative Support and Ancillary Services Planning Group, Sustaining Excellence in the 21st Century (March, 1991) which identified "a new administrative vision" called a "network model." The information technology strategy that is derived from this model involves shifting the "locus of administrative activity to the departmental level" by providing "easy access to central campus administrative choices." (Page 20) and has four major elements:
Subsequent to the issuance of this publication in 1993, the President of the University appointed a task force on Improved Management Initiatives (IMI). The role of the group was to advise the President on how to maintain high quality administration, maintaining quality services and fiduciary responsibility in the face of diminishing resources. The IMI group produced four reports in March 1994, the overall framework recommended to accomplish the stated objectives, "Empowerment with Accountability," and reports in three areas (Capital Programs, Accountability and Human Resources). Each of these recommends new approaches to achieving improved administrative productivity. In large measure each report recommends the use of technology as a major ingredient of improved management practices.
The University's administrative computing environment is affected by the development of data networks. And, data networks are required for implementing the new administrative vision. In the past, a relatively small number of central campus administrative departments--such as Personnel, Payroll, and the Registrar--had terminals connected to central administrative computers; instructional and research computing was supported by dedicated terminals connected to academic computer centers and by a few dedicated terminals located in libraries and connected to online catalogs. During the last few years, campuses have installed campus backbone TCP/IP-based networks and a variety of departmental networks, which supplement or replace the terminal networks described above. They have connected the departmental networks to the campus backbones and the backbones to the Internet in order to allow communication with other individuals located at a single campus, at various University campuses, and at other educational institutions and organizations.
The growth in networking has broadened the user base for administrative computing support services. Networking has provided administrative and academic users alike access to a variety of services such as the MELVYL® catalog and various specialized databases, the various online campus library systems, and other reference materials like the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) database, policy statements, phone directories, calendars of events, and class schedules. Networking has enabled users in academic departments who previously had little or no access to administrative applications such as payroll, purchasing, and student records, to use networks to directly access administrative systems and thus obtain information needed in support of research or instruction. Networks have also enabled academic users located at different campuses or at entirely different institutions to use the networks for research purposes.
One of the goals of technological change in the University's administrative computing environment is to enhance service to the user community. To achieve this goal, changes in administrative computing technology must take into account changes in the University's user community, its organizational strategies, its computing and networking environment, and the ramifications of these changes. In order to ensure that the changes made in University's administrative computing technology are consistent with the changes discussed above, this document sets forth objectives and guidelines for administrative computing. The document then goes on to describe the University's current and future administrative computing environment for major applications, and the environment for applications developed or supported by the Office of the President. It is the combination of the objectives and guidelines and this description that constitutes the framework for the administrative computing.
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