Planning for the Future

All topics in this report will correspond to at least one of the three major themes of Student Success, Diversity and Inclusion, and Resource Management. The following icons will accompany each topic as a reference.

Student Success

Diversity and Inclusion

Resource Management

For the 2022-23 academic year, UBIT will begin design for replacing all building aggregation and telecom switches that are nearing end of life.

In terms of Wi-Fi, most access points will be upgraded by Spring 2023, with on-campus apartments and residence halls upgraded by Summer 2024 due to supply chain delays. As new hardware becomes available, outdoor Wi-Fi coverage will also be expanded.

The combined VPCIO technical teams are investigating the future of systems/services monitoring by evaluating industry best practices to determine the optimal 24/7/365 approach for UB. In addition, UBIT is looking into new licensing and infrastructure options for our VoIP phone system and the future of FAX services.

UBIT is working with Campus Leadership, Erie County and ECC Technologies on the viability of UB participating in the ErieNet Fiber project.

UBIT, University Communications, and University Advancement have embarked on the selection of an enterprise-wide constituent relationship management (CRM) solution to reduce data silos and improve interactions with a wide variety of stakeholders. This project has cross-campus participation with representatives from Finance and Administration, Academic Affairs, Enrollment Management, Institutional Analysis, Research and Development and several decanal units. A recently-completed RFI will inform the ultimate product(s) selection during Summer/Fall 2022.

The Strategic IT Portfolio Management is transitioning to TeamDynamix, a new portfolio management tool to advance resource management capabilities. The new system will further mature our processes of collecting, managing, reporting and communicating about top level IT projects. The new tool will enable the VPCIO area to better plan and communicate about IT resource capacity and utilization, and allow us to maintain the current visibility into projects planned and in progress, and further inform project prioritization efforts.

UBIT is partnering with JSMBS to help modernize their IT support and services. Our Strategic IT Portfolio Management Office is working with the Office of Medical Computing (OMC) to document and organize the work being done to support the Medical School and UBMD practice plan and align efforts with university technology standards.

In addition, our network team is working with Facilities and OMC to find a path to decommission the OMC Cary Hall/UBMD computer room and network infrastructure.

Technology alone has no hope of securing an organization. The most important elements of an organization’s security are a culture of security and constituent awareness. To continue addressing this risk, UB’s Information Security Office plans to:

• Make better use of our self-risk assessment to target specific risk more granularly
• Develop a mandatory cybersecurity training program for faculty/staff

A major area of high-risk university data is research data. As granting agencies and contract holders become more aware of the risks surrounding the sharing of data and the theft of personal information, more burden is being placed upon individuals to secure their data. The ISO has begun working with different offices within the VPR area to identify ways we can improve the experience of:

• Assessing and asserting security controls required in contracts and grants
• Helping individuals to understand their data security and privacy obligations
• Creating templatized security plans for research studies with sensitive/restricted data
• Completing an RFP for Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) gap analysis

Two-factor authentication is perhaps one of the most important controls when it comes to securing accounts. During the 2022-23 academic year, the ISO will be looking to expand our two-factor authentication adoption to groups like retirees and alumni.

As our vendor, Oracle, is focusing their future development efforts on their cloud-hosted, software-as-a-service application, it is important for UBIT to begin planning a review of how well our existing system meets the university's evolving needs and perform an analysis of our future options.

UBIT will partner with other key campus constituents to engage consulting services and thoroughly evaluate the current satisfaction level of HUB and decide how to best meet our Student Information System needs in the future.

UB door access will move to a centralized support model, away from support and oversight from SENS. Servers will be migrated to UBIT management and support, replacing the SENS rule program with a Lenel Custom Application.

UBIT is currently working with Finance and Administration on the selection and implementation of a campus-wide commitment and budget management solution.

UBIT is piloting a simplified and supportive self-service workflow solution to offer to the broader campus in 2022.

With every effort, UBIT strives to align with the university’s priorities of Student Success, Resource Management and Diversity and Inclusion. We are excited about the future of UB, and eager to provide support and infrastructure to help advance UB’s vision of becoming a Top 25 university.