NUIT 2003 Annual Report - Northwestern University Information ...

The University’s dependence on information technology
and the sophistication of technologies available to our
students, faculty, and staff continues to increase. The basic
responsibilities of the Information Technology division,
however, remain the same. They are: providing quality
services to the University community, attending to new
high priority needs of the University’s many programs,
and controlling costs.
We measure performance and availability of our services and
systems to help provide high-quality services. A sample of
these measurements and a survey of our users are given in
this report. A study by Gartner Group benchmarking our
performance against industry places us in the top quarter
of industry best practices. New system redundancies and
backup should further improve this record.
To attend to new high priority needs, we have a mature
planning process that updates the University’s Information
Technology strategic plan annually. In addition to our normal
information gathering, the input to this year’s strategic plan
included an external audit report on security and a self-study
we prepared for the University’s Program Review process.
The Program Review committees’ recommendations, many
of which matched the priorities in our strategic plan, will
help shape our strategic plan for next fiscal year. The
challenge with identifying and supporting community needs
is that some priorities are designated as being low and,
therefore, do not get the necessary support. I appreciate
our community’s understanding that not every need can
be designated as being of high priority. Some of the new
initiatives for this year are highlighted on pages 7-16.
Controlling costs in an environment of tight university
budgets requires us to phase out systems and services that
no longer bring high value to the University. In addition, we
have successfully looked to government and industry sources
to increase the resources available to the University.
Examples of initiatives that have received external funding
are described on pages 20-22. These resources have allowed
us to update programs and facilities at minimal cost through
collaboration with other major universities and selected
technology companies.
Security has been a major concern this year and will continue
to be for some time to come. Proliferation of assaults on the
University’s computing resources and network requires
continued vigilance and the expenditure of valuable resources.
Despite these threats, we have maintained the integrity of
our network infrastructure. Effective security requires active
participation from Northwestern University Information
Technology users. We appreciate the work of many
throughout the University who have contributed to this
effort. We also hope our users will understand the need to
introduce restrictions to enhance security.
Our administrative and academic partners play crucial roles in
making technology more useful, accessible, and cost-effective.
We intend to continue expanding collaborations that further
enable us to achieve the University’s information technology
goals and objectives, and to reaffirm our commitment to
providing the highest level of service.
I wish to thank my Northwestern University Information
Technology colleagues, including the hundreds of student
employees, for their invaluable work; University service
partners for their effective collaboration; and the members
of the University community for their continued support,
cooperation and encouragement. Finally, I thank our advisory
committees for their willingness to serve.
Mort A. Rahimi
Vice President, Information Technology
and Chief Technology Officer
Message from the Vice President
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