IT sTRATEGIC PLAN

IT Vision

Campus Technologies empowers the Parkland College community through technology.

Strategic Plan Diagram: A pyramid diagram with the following information starting from the top: Strategy [Vision, Mission, Strategic Goals, Core Values/ Culture, IT Principles], Execution [ IT Principles, Objects and Key Results (OKRs), Initiatives]


IT Mission

Our mission is to implement comprehensive technology solutions to enhance the educational experience, streamline operations, and safeguard the college’s digital resources. We are committed to delivering reliable, secure, and innovative IT resources and infrastructure to provide a technology-rich environment that enhances collaboration, learning outcomes, and academic excellence. We strive to deliver top-notch customer service, promote digital literacy, ensure data security and privacy, and contribute to the overall success of our students, faculty, and staff. The following goals or objectives are aimed to support the IT mission.

  1. Enhance the student digital experience to create a seamless, inclusive, and engaging journey from admission through alum engagement.
  2. Empower faculty and staff with innovative IT solutions to drive student enrollment, enhance retention, and ensure student success.
  3. Employ IT capabilities to modernize and simplify administrative processes, promoting efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction.
  4. Strengthen IT security measures to safeguard the college’s digital assets, minimize vulnerabilities to attacks, and ensure compliance with security rules and regulations.
  5. Achieve operational excellence in IT by enhancing responsiveness, agility, and capabilities to meet and exceed the college’s evolving needs.

Core Values

As an integral part of the Parkland College community, Campus Technologies will uphold and embody the college’s core values. As an institution of learning, Parkland College cultivates inquiry, practical application of knowledge, and broad enrichment across our community. The following values are important to the fulfillment of Parkland College’s mission to provide programs and services of high quality to our students and community.

IT Principles

Principles serve as enduring rules and guidelines, rarely altered, guiding an organization toward achieving its mission. When making important decisions, referring to these principles is essential. This practice allows for making informed decisions and reinforces the principles, furthering alignment and cohesion across the organization.

1. We will invest in our employees

    • The success of the IT vision and mission depends on the expertise of our staff.

2. We will persistently pursue automation, including integrating AI technologies

    • Automation allows us to do more at better service levels.
    • AI leads to smarter operations and enhanced decision-making. 

3. We will reduce the proliferation of functionally redundant technology

    • Redundant technologies waste the college’s valuable resources.

4. We will be “cloud-first” for the selection of applications and infrastructure

    • Being “cloud-first” means prioritizing cloud solutions over traditional on-premises options to enhance our IT operations’ scalability, flexibility, and cost efficiency.

5. We will buy solutions rather than develop them ourselves

    • We prefer Software-as-a-Service cloud-based solutions over traditional software licensing models.
    • We prefer configuration over customization – Configuration changes are generally easily maintainable, while customization involves a long-term, non-trivial effort to maintain. 

6. We will become integration experts

    • Our technology ecosystem will comprise a unique mix of software applications, platforms, and systems, so we will have the skills and knowledge to integrate our systems.

7. We will evolve our network so it can flourish as the digital foundation for learning and discovery

    • Parkland College’s ability to be a primer in teaching and learning requires a reliable and resilient network.

8. We will continuously reassess and refine our business processes as we integrate new technology

    • When purchasing and implementing new IT solutions, stakeholders will review current business processes to ensure they align with our organizational goals and operational needs. This approach will help us maximize the new technology’s utilization and value.

IT Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

Campus Technologies will use the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) framework to align the department’s work with Parkland College’s overall strategic goals and priorities. These OKRs will initially be reviewed semiannually with the option to move to a quarterly cycle. OKRs consist of ambitious but achievable objectives, with three to five key results for each. Key results are specific, measurable, attainable, and relevant.

Objective 1: Enhance the student digital experience to create a seamless, inclusive, and engaging journey from admission through alum engagement.

Key Results:

A. Streamline onboarding, offboarding, and access management at Parkland College to provide a seamless, efficient, and positive user experience. Use technology to automate these processes, offer more self-service options, improve responsiveness, and aim for a 20% decrease in identity-related issues.

B. Set up a mechanism for users to provide technology-related suggestions with the goal of identifying at least two improvements based on this feedback within the academic year. 

C. Enhance network connectivity to the campus and Wi-Fi access across the college to provide reliable and high-speed internet access, fostering an environment conducive to academic excellence and operational efficiency. Reduce the number of complaints about the network by 30% for the 2024 spring semester compared to the 2023 fall.  

D. Implement a generative AI-based chatbot for KB.parkland.edu. This technology will provide 24/7 personalized technical support to students, enhancing their academic experience and engagement with the college community.

E. Implement technology to reduce the costs of instructional materials such as textbooks and personal technology for students to create more inclusive and accessible learning environments.

F. Reduce the overall number of support calls to the Technology Service Desk (TSD) by 15%, decrease average call duration by 20%, and improve the first-call resolution rate to 85% through optimizing service desk operations, advancing remote support capabilities, and increasing user self-service abilities. 

G. Collaborate with the Learning Commons to reassess and establish a more sustainable process for loanable technology devices, guaranteeing consistent and equitable technology access for students.

Objective 2: Empower faculty and staff with innovative IT solutions to drive student enrollment, enhance retention, and ensure student success.

Key Results:

A. Provide training resources to empower all stakeholders in utilizing the full potential of Parkland’s systems and data. Work with CETL to increase awareness of available resources and increase training technology utilization, such as LinkedIn Learning.

B. Collaborate with Student Services and various other college departments to eliminate all non-SaaS compliant customizations in the Colleague system, exploring alternatives like modifying business processes, utilizing Colleague’s standard configurations, or integrating third-party software solutions.

C. Support Academic Services efforts in procuring and implementing Curriculum and Course Management to centralize academic program organization and course content delivery. This system simplifies administrative tasks, enhances student-faculty collaboration, offers performance analytics, and creates better opportunities to serve our students. The measure of success is Academic Services satisfaction.    

D. Partner with Academic and Student Services departments to implement a student early alert system to proactively identify and assist students at risk of academic underperformance or other challenges. 

E. Develop and execute an effective communication plan that ensures stakeholders are informed about key initiatives, changes, and updates, leading to a 30% increase in positive feedback. Leverage multiple communication channels to reach users where they are. 

Objective 3: Employ IT capabilities to modernize and simplify administrative processes, promoting efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction.

Key Results:

A. Modernize the ERP system to implement new features to enable personalization, access to data through Data Lake and Data Warehouse, modern integration and automation, and overall better system management to improve security and resiliency. 

B. Develop and launch a user-centric analytics and reporting infrastructure, enabling the College departments to perform data analytics and generate reports independently, with full system functionality and user training.

C. Identify and eliminate or simplify at least ten redundant or outdated administrative steps or procedures using newly employed IT capabilities. Leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and other automation tools that are already available to the college. 

D. Implement five targeted enhancements to the TeamDynamix system to streamline the user interface and experience, ensure adherence to established Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and utilize advanced features to accelerate the handling and resolution of service requests and problems.  

Objective 4: Strengthen IT security measures to safeguard the college’s digital assets, minimize vulnerabilities to attacks, and ensure compliance with security rules and regulations.

Key Results:

A. Remediating 80% of CampusWorks identified cybersecurity issues by August 2024.

B. Attain 80% compliance with NIST 800-171 and CIS Controls frameworks by December 2024.

C. By June 2024, implement an annual penetration testing protocol, including the resolution of all highlighted critical or severe security gaps within two months following each test.

D. Achieve an 80% reduction in security incidents through the implementation of a comprehensive security risk strategy within two years, including establishing Zero Trust Security Practices.

Objective 5: Achieve operational excellence in IT by enhancing responsiveness, agility, and capabilities to meet and exceed the college’s evolving needs.

Key Results:

A. Rebuild the Project Management Office (PMO) to standardize project management practices and increase efficiency, predictability, and success rates of technology initiatives within the college. 

B. Implement an employee professional development program and ensure that 70% of the IT team members attend at least one formal course or workshop in a year aimed at enhancing their skills.

C. Reduce system outages caused by preventable issues by 50% through enhanced monitoring, improved technology and architecture, and implementation of preventive maintenance routines.

D. Develop and formalize five Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each IT team within Campus Technologies, ensuring that 100% of teams have defined metrics, and institute a quarterly review process to evaluate and adjust these KPIs for continuous improvement.

E. Evaluate the effectiveness and robustness of all college-supported systems, eliminate duplications, and prioritize the implementation of high-value system features. Ensure all college-backed software is cataloged in TeamDynamix.  

F. Establish a comprehensive end-point management system and streamline processes, achieving 95% coverage of all workstations and laptops within the college and ensuring timely updates and security patches for 98%.