Project Roadmap

The Project Roadmap offers the W&L community a comprehensive view of ongoing and completed technology initiatives, highlighting support for upgrades, new services, applications, and innovations that advance the university's mission.

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Teaching and Learning

Tools, methods, and programs that empower the university's educational mission, enable students to thrive, and enhance the creative and digital fluency of all learners.

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Enhancing AI use-case development on campus by providing continuous research opportunities and educational programs for faculty and students.

  • IQ Center:
    • Makerspace: Conversion of available space to broaden the availability of tools, including new soft material and sewing stations, electronics and robotics workbench, new hand tools and power saws, large bed laser cutter, and large format vinyl cutter.
    • Continuing to offer evening workshops to students with offerings that will make all students feel welcome and increase feelings of belonging in the IQ Center.
    • Continued growth and support for High Performance Computing, R and Python, Matlab, and Quantum Computing.
  • Harte Center: Alignment and coordination of resources and programming where technology and instruction intersect.
Provide support for the restructure of the Workday academic foundation resulting from the work of the General Education Implementation Committee and required changes to Foundation and Distribution Requirements.

graphic of people with arms raisedCommunity Support and Engagement

Get insight into the coordination of IT resources, ongoing community engagement, training initiatives, and the collection of essential feedback to ensure the needs of students, faculty, and staff are met.

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  • New and ongoing training, adoption and support on various office productivity software, including O365, Box, Adobe, Smartsheet, Okta, Workday, Copilot, PaperCut and more.

graphic of logos like Box, O365, Copilot, Adobe, Workday, Zoom, Papercut, and Smartsheet

  • Develop functionality that allows users to easily discover and access available campus technology resources, including file storage, AI tools, and other applications.
  • Continue to evaluate and refine ITS service practices and strategies to enhance user experiences during the onboarding and offboarding processes.
  • Offer and participate in department meetings to better understand community needs.
  • Engaging a technology council of power users to identify community needs and enhance institutional technology use.

graphic of cloud and technology wiringTechnology Infrastructure

Integrating new solutions into the university's existing technology infrastructure to ensure seamless, efficient operations across all systems and to address future challenges.

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  • Transact Payments system replaces Nelnet for student billing (completed 7/15/24)
  • Slate Advancement deployment to replace Raiser's Edge environment
  • Migration to PowerFAIDS Cloud (rescheduled to begin summer 2026)
  • W&L Data Model Initiative:
    • Create an institutional data strategy with outputs that include a roadmap and identified milestones to realize the vision.
    • Increased emphasis on data definition work across functional areas.
    • Revitalize the University's current data warehouse and data modeling efforts.
    • End goal - creating a common dataset for use in reporting and analytics.
    • Provide more visualizations and deliver better self-service options, where appropriate.
  • Cloud VoIP phone evaluation. (e.g., Zoom phone or similar)
    • Proof of concept through Fall 2024. Deploy beginning Summer 2025 or Summer 2026, depending on approved funding.
    • Retire old analog phone switch and copper plant by summer 2026.
  • Network hardware replacement:
    • Mass replacement of network switching equipment to improve campus connectivity and capacity where demand is highest.
    • 50% completed summer 2024 (primarily academic buildings)
    • Remainder to be completed summer 2025
  • Wireless platform upgrades and mass wireless access point replacement
  • Fiber plant replacement in key locations where older fiber may restrict the ability to meet community demand. (Science Center)
  • Microsoft Office 365:
    • Now - May 2025: Plan and prepare for migration to a single-tenant environment
    • Summer 2025, with approved funding, begin migration of existing email (students only)
    • Enhances collaboration functionality across tenants, including employees, undergraduate students, and law students.
  • Build redundant core services into Microsoft Azure or AWS or a partner data center.
    • Expanding our cloud service reach with possible migration of critical infrastructure.
    • Investigating the cost and advantage of leveraging cloud services for hosting servers.
  • Planning for retirement of MyVI:
    • Possible move to Hyper-V depending on virtual desktop needs across campus
  • Expand and optimize backup methodology.
  • Begin deploying classrooms in new construction with AV over IP; a more reliable and best-practice infrastructure for increasingly complex technology offered in the classroom.

graphic of a privavy shield

Information Privacy and Security

Underscores the ITS commitment to ensuring that all technology solutions meet the highest standards of security and legal compliance, safeguarding the privacy and integrity of the university's data.

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  • Deploy Rapid7 antivirus protection to all Windows desktops, replacing Windows Defender.
  • Zero Trust and Least Privilege Efforts
    • Further segmentation of the network
    • Tailor user application and data access to essential job functions (i.e., narrowing or limiting the user's access to data and applications required for their job)
  • Hardening disaster recovery plan with live testing
  • Continue ransomware table top drills using outside consultants
  • Automate certificate renewal and management process
  • Research and explore additional MFA options (including Windows Hello and Passkey)
  • Move to post-quantum encryption methods

graphic of a light bulb

Technology Innovation

Efforts in identifying and implementing cutting-edge technology solutions that drive innovation in teaching, learning, and campus operations.

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  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
    • Continue partnership and participation with the Harte Center to determine appropriate licensing and support of AI on campus.
    • Research and explore AI opportunity enhancements for operations and productivity
    • Large Language Model (LLM) - research and develop an LLM based on content from W&L support services (e.g., ITS How-To materials) to simplify finding help solutions for specific questions.
    • Continue to research and deploy AI specific use cases within ITS
      • Coding (e.g., SQL, .NET, etc.)
      • Communications
      • Data analysis

graphic of a gear with coding symbol

Application Enhancements

Enhancing existing technologies to ensure they deliver value, operate efficiently, and remain aligned with the university's goals while meeting evolving user needs and industry standards.

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  • Workday Innovation
    • W&L specific application development within Workday environment
    • Deploy Adaptive Planning with the Business Office for financial data modeling.
    • Reporting and Analytics (Prism, Discovery Boards, Worksheets, etc. - supporting the W&L data model noted above)
    • Research and promote awareness of new features released in the biannual Workday updates to encourage adoption.
    • Facilitate and support campus focus groups to understand campus needs and to gather information to share with the Workday Development Team and influence future releases (e.g., working with the University Registrar to improve Workday Student functionality)