Appendix A. A first draft of IT Policies that Provide Direction for the UM IT environment

A. Explicit UM IT Policies (Values/Attitudes)

  1. University Administrators must be proactive in managing and monitoring the computing software used on the machines in their departments or schools. Copying protected software also conflicts with the fundamental values of the University community regarding intellectual property.
  2. It is the policy of the University to maintain access for its community to local, national and international sources of information and to provide an atmosphere that encourages access to knowledge and sharing of information. It is the policy of the University that information resources will be used by members of it's community with respect for the public trust...
  3. Electronic mail and computer files are considered private to the fullest extent permitted by law. Ordinarily, access to electronic mail or computer files requires permission of the sender/recipients of a message or the owner of the file, court order, or other action provided by law.
  4. ITD will encourage, support and protect freedom of expression and an open environment for sharing information. Censorship is incompatible with the goals of an institution of higher education. Individuals should not be unwittingly exposed to offensive materials by the deliberate and knowing acts of others, but instead, should be allowed to choose what they wish to access for their own purposes.


B.Implicit UM IT Policies (Values/Attitudes)

  1. ITD will provide products and services that can be most cost effectively provided in a centralized fashion. ITD will leave to units and departments the provision of those services most cost effectively provided in a decentralized fashion. For example, ITD will provide shared access to special purpose equipment/services.
  2. ITD will provide funding mechanisms that meet the needs of both the institution and the individual. For example, mechanisms that encourage migration to new services. Mechanisms that don't penalize old services that continue to provide value.
  3. ITD as a first choice, will attempt to buy products and services. ITD will work with vendors to develop (future) products that work in our environment. Only if such products and services are not available, will ITD consider developing products and services.
  4. ITD will support and encourage within limits a multi-vendor product environment since that provides choice to users and encourages competition among vendors.
  5. ITD will consider data, like people, money and facilities, as an institutional resource
  6. ITD will provide security and control mechanisms that will guarantee the information privacy rights of individuals. In addition, ITD will guarantee the integrity of information.
  7. ITD will provide smooth, timely migration paths to new services.
  8. ITD will be involved in new technology pilots/prototypes. Business requirements rather than technology preferences will drive decisions. ITD will accept risk commensurate with anticipated benefits to our customers.

I. Appendix B. - A first draft of IT Principles that Provide Direction for the UM IT environment.

A. UM IT Principles (Goals/Design Objectives)

  1. ITD will provide standard, centralized infrastructure services specifically for use by other IT service providers around campus.
  2. ITD will enable easy end user access to enterprise information/data
  3. ITD will promote the cross functional integration of the University's systems and data.
  4. ITD will leverage information technology advances (to solve business problems)
  5. ITD will deliver services and solutions that have enterprise wide benefits
  6. ITD will take a process oriented instead of task oriented view of the University's business
  7. ITD will take a data centric as well as a process centric view of the University's business
  8. ITD will provide solutions that enforce restrictions on access as needed
  9. ITD will provide solutions/services that operate in an open systems environment and support open interface standards.
  10. ITD will provide solutions/services that allow integration of process and data as close as possible to customers
  11. ITD will provide solutions/services that conform to the security and control requirements of the University.
  12. ITD will provide one (non-redundant) authoritative copy of institutional data whenever possible
  13. ITD will provide the most cost effective solutions/services possible.
  14. ITD will provide solutions that maximize data sharing
  15. ITD will provide solutions/services that support interoperability of applications and data
  16. ITD will provide solutions/services that are independent of platform (portable) and as transparent as possible across platforms
  17. ITD will provide solutions/services with consistent user interfaces within platforms and as transparent as possible across platforms.
  18. ITD will provide standardized, ubiquitous network access to all it's services/solutions.
  19. ITD will provide for the coexistence of legacy and new services/solutions during a transition period and a migration path from legacy to new.
  20. ITD will provide solutions/services that are desktop focused
  21. ITD will provide solutions/services that support a distributed computing environment
  22. ITD will provide solutions/services in a generalized standardized modular fashion.
  23. ITD will provide sharable services with common functionality
  24. ITD will provide solutions/services that support the following list of "...abilities"
  25. ITD will provide solutions/services that are...: