The IT plan will deploy technologies and services to enable UD’s strategies to increase research and scholarly activity, impact and innovation. UD will deploy a research cyberinfrastructure that facilitates complex, data intensive research. Research networks and partnerships will enable UD researchers to move their computer-intensive projects between on-premises and cloud-based resources. Expanded research computing services and data management expertise will encourage more faculty to apply research technologies to their work and maximize time available to focus on their scholarship. Improved consultative services will enable faculty in all disciplines to leverage IT capabilities, such as high performance computing (HPC) or data visualization, in their scholarship.

In conjunction with campus partners, the IT plan improves physical and virtual learning spaces and provides faculty with support to adopt digital learning technologies that are broader and more multi-disciplinary. It lays the technology and services foundation to support the academic strategy for online learning. Extended outreach will help more faculty and students discover digital learning capabilities. Innovation incubation programs will help early adopters evaluate emerging technologies and deploy new pedagogies. Integrated facilities and technology planning will improve baseline classroom capabilities and reflect innovations in learning space technologies in the campus master plan.

The IT plan sets a roadmap for the core administrative technologies that support student and administrative services and enables operational excellence. By approximately 2027, the University’s major administrative technology, PeopleSoft, will be phased out by its vendor. As this date approaches, the software will become more costly to maintain and fall further behind leading capabilities and practices. This goal sets a roadmap to upgrade PeopleSoft and address acute gaps in other administrative technologies. It prepares the University to move to the next generation of student information (SIS) and enterprise administrative systems (ERP). Strategies create the technological and organizational capacity to streamline processes and enhance user experiences with digital services.

To further operational excellence, the IT plan also introduces mechanisms to improve existing IT services and creates a framework to better organize responsibility for services among IT organizations. Strategies to optimize IT services create efficiencies, provide a more consistent service experience for faculty and students, and reduce information security risks. Most importantly, this goal creates transparent mechanisms to govern services to promote accountability and establish trust in University-wide IT services.