[Plsfaculty] FW: Accelerating Secure IT Services for Campus Units

Tue Nov 1 10:38:17 MST 2022

FYI information concerning developments in IT services...

David

From: Marquez, Mario A - (marquezm) <marquezm at arizona.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 1, 2022 10:33 AM
To: Galbraith, David W - (galbrait) <galbrait at arizona.edu>
Subject: FW: Accelerating Secure IT Services for Campus Units

This is an email that IT directors sent to Barry
You might want to pass this to the faculty

Mario A. Marquez
Systems Administrator Principal
University of Arizona
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
School of  Plant Sciences
http://www.splshelp.arizona.edu/
marquezm at email.arizona.edu<mailto:marquezm at email.arizona.edu>
Office 520-621-1257
Cell 520-429-2902
[UAriz-CALS-logo-247]

Subject: [ditc] Accelerating Secure IT Services for Campus Units

Dear Barry,

As members of Administration Technology Advisory Council (ATAC) and Deans Information Technology Council (DITC), we are committed to improving IT security on the University of Arizona campus and are asking that UITS collaborate with Unit Level IT moving forward. We are concerned that UITS has been in conversations with the Auditor General about the performance audit review since 2018 but have not involved ATAC or DITC to provide updates, explain possible solutions, or to collaborate solutions. As discovered by previous university-wide changes, campus units are unique IT ecosystems.  Collaborating with campus IT will give UArizona the greatest advantage toward success in addressing the Auditor General's findings and can help in ensuring an effective approach. We are committed to improving IT security at UArizona and are asking that UITS collaborate with campus IT moving forward.

The "Accelerating Secure IT Services for Campus Units" plan proposes a nearly complete transfer of service responsibility from campus units to centralized IT.  We are concerned UITS may not have the staffing, understanding of campus IT needs, or communication structure to successfully provide these services at the high level our faculty, staff, and researchers need to meet the UA's strategic goals. These concerns are validated by poor ticket response times from UITS, communication problems and issues with previous enterprise level rollouts. From our conversations with UITS during the IT Coordination meetings, a substantial amount of preparatory work by UITS is still necessary before migration plans can be created by campus IT units, including UITS-provided migration templates, migration guidance, project management definitions of project team members, meeting plans/agendas, defined milestones, and scope definition of Technology Lifecycle Care (TLC) and Managed Cloud Services (MCS) to delineate those that will be UITS-managed and those that will remain local-IT managed. There also isn't the communication structure in place, like the one used during the switch to @arizona.edu, that campus IT requested be used for all UITS projects in the future. Finally, our requests for updates and an evaluation on the takeover of SASG by UITS have gone unanswered. The review of this small-scale consolidation of desktop support under UITS will provide campus with a better idea of the process and UITS' ability to provide the support needed. We understand that UITS is understaffed and overstretched so please know that we are here to assist.

We would like a better understanding of how staff positions are being handled and what options are being made available to employees whose relevance may be reduced or eliminated by the proposed changes. The abrupt way this plan was announced has had an intense emotional impact on staff across campus.  This must be acknowledged.  While this project is not directly asking for staff lines from departments, we understand UITS' budget needs will grow to support TLC and MCS. Because the UA has finite resources, we understand that much of this funding may be taken from other units on campus. Employees at all levels will appreciate a clear communication of how staff positions will be handled and what options are being made available to employees whose relevance may be reduced or eliminated by the proposed changes. A compassionate approach would be to reassure our staff that they will be prioritized for positions potentially created within central IT and to create a plan for transitioning employees so that the UA does not lose highly qualified and trained employees. We also need UITS to clearly define all that is in and out of scope so we can begin making staffing plans for during and after the transition. We request a better explanation how these changes, possibly resulting in less staff at the local level, will help alleviate the issue of understaffing in local units that was presented as one of the reasons for making this change.

Another major concern for us is that the current TLC and MCS offerings will not be able to address the unique nature of the individual units or the research being done.  We agree that there should not be any exceptions to the need for security, but we do feel that there need to be exceptions to the limited options that UITS has determined that they can support. While these services were being designed, only a small number of campus IT leadership members were included in the focus groups. The focus group appeared limited to designing the TLC service offering to address the needs of campus units that lacked mature, local IT support rather than being flexible and agile to support campus units that have requirements for unique or customized services and support. Several members of ATAC and DITC have reached out to UITS to explore using TLC and MCS and found that the services did not support their needs either because of the current service limitations or the financial costs. The unique IT landscapes are why we hope UITS will be more open and collaborative in their planning moving forward. While UITS is beginning to acknowledge this at the operational level, we need to know that this is being supported and understood at the highest levels.

Finally, we are concerned over the nature of UITS' communication methods across campus. This includes tailored communications to different groups, the systematic exclusion of campus IT leadership from the conversation and the slow rollout of communication channels and templates for projects. TLC and MCS has been the topic of conversation over the last several years but had not been presented as a potential mandatory solution for campus units until the recent announcement as a finished project. The lack of communication to ATAC and DITC over the last several months, UITS' unwillingness to track issues and provide minutes for IT Coordination to help improve communication and involvement of leadership unable to attend all the meetings and the use of significantly different slides/information for campus leadership vs the IT community has fostered mistrust and caution rather than collaboration and the mutual support we need to be successful. Through collaboration with the leaders and experts affected by this change, we could have answered a number of the questions and concerns and made this process much less anxiety causing for everyone.

We hope that this communication is taken in the constructive manner in which it is intended. We look forward to working with UITS to define a campus It structure that is secure and still supports the UArizona's strategic plan, students, faculty, staff, and research at the high level they deserve.

Sincerely,

Lucas Guthrie, Chair of DITC and Director of IT and Facilities, CAPLA
Spink, Beverly, vice-Chair of DITC and Senior Director, Information Technology, UAHS
Jeff Kohler, Chair of ATAC and Assistant Athletics Director, IT Operations, Administration and Athletics

Patrick  J. Barabe, Director, Information Technology-Computing Support, Graduate College Admin
Cynthia Barlow, Information Technology Manager, Principal, Fine Arts Administration
Brian Bates, Information Technology Manager, College of Applied Sciences & Technology
Ashley D Bidegain, Manager, Information Technology-Systems, James C Wyant College of Optical Sciences
Drennen A Brown, Director, Information Technologies and Spatial Services, Planning Design & Construction
Christina A Carbone, Information Technology Manager, Mathematics
Steven J Chang,  Department Head, Technology Strategy and Services, Technology Strategy & Services
Leo J Enfield, Information Technology Manager, Principal, Engineering Administration
Robert D Flores, IT Support Helpdesk Analyst III, Arizona State Museum
Jose Fragoso, Assistant Director, Technology Services, Housing & Residential Life
David Gay, Director, Information Technology-Computing Support, Public Health Administration
Rey Granillo, Manager, Development and Information Technology, AZ Institute for Resilience
Michael Griffith, Director, Digital Initiatives, College of Education
Jason L Katterhenry, Director, Information Technology Services - AZPM
Shawn Kolofer, Lead Specialist, Infrastructure, Eller Information Technology
Steve Machtley, Assistant Dean, Learning - Healthcare Technology Innovations, College of Nursing
Dan C Mayhew, Director, Information Technology, Information Technology
David Mayhew, Manager, Operations, Technology Strategy & Services
Lizeth Mora, Senior Director, Information Technology, Social & Behavioral Sciences
Elia Nazarenko, Lead, Platforms, Technology Strategy & Services
Bryant Parker, Director, Eller IT, Eller Information Technology
Rahr, Matt, Director, Cyber & Information Technologies, CALS
Collin Rogow, Principal IT Architect, Veterinarian Medicine Administration
Bart Rossmann, Director, Instructional and Research Computing, Humanities Administration
Robert J Sommerfeld, Assistant Chief, University of Arizona Police Department
Tony Schlak, Director, Information Technology, Pharmacy Administration
Michael S Wagenheim, Assistant Dean, Information Technology and Online Learning, College of Law
Kevin D Williams, Director, Facilities Management Information Technology, Facilities Management
Ed Xia, Assistant Dean, College of Medicine Information Technology Services, COM Info Technology Services
Travis S Zwickl, Systems Administrator, Principal, Arizona Global

[The University of Arizona block 'A' logo.]
Lucas M Guthrie
Director of Information Technology and Facilities
College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture
ARCHITECTURE, 203
PO BOX 210075 | TUCSON, AZ 85721-0075
Office: 520-621-0448 | Cell: 555-555-5555
lucasg at arizona.edu<mailto:lucasg at arizona.edu>
https://arizona.zoom.us/j/606908881
capla.arizona.edu<https://capla.arizona.edu/>
|
[Integrity, Compassion, Exploration, Adaptation, Inclusion, Determination]<https://brand.arizona.edu/signature>

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