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Directors Statement
IT Services is a multi-disciplined department at Northumbria with approximately 150 colleagues. We are responsible for the provision, maintenance and development of a wide range of computing and communications facilities for staff, students and visitors to Northumbria. We look after 4 campuses (two in Newcastle as well as in London and Amsterdam), 800 physical and virtual servers, supporting 11,000 devices used by over 30,000 staff and students.
Our department is headed up by a relatively new senior management team comprising three core areas, Operations, Service Delivery and Service Management. We are also responsible for all technology-enhanced learning, bringing people and technology together to support teaching and learning across the University. Working collaboratively, the leadership team recognises that there is scope to make a difference. The appeal for the Assistant Directors recently joining the department has been that they have wanted a progressive role and the chance to influence the cultural and technical transformation of Northumbria.
As a department, we live by the University blood line “Taking on Tomorrow”, continually looking forward and testing out new technologies so that we have an ambitious approach to information technology. We place the student experience and academic research staff at the heart of all we do to facilitate Northumbria’s vision to be a research-rich, business-focused, professional university with a global reputation for academic excellence.
It is an exciting time to join IT services here at Northumbria University. There is an opportunity to shape and transform the service and how it supports a growing university. The IT Strategy was approved in January 2020 and provides the technology roadmap, aligned to the University Strategy, that will transform the architecture and operation of technology across the University. As such, we have a significant portfolio of planned future work, backed by a University Executive and Board who recognise the value delivering the IT Strategy will bring.
Dr Simon Corbett
IT Director
Northumbria University IT Strategy – Executive Summary
The IT Strategy provides the strategic framework for Northumbria’s technology roadmap for the period FY19/20 to FY22/23. It provides the scope of what will be delivered and should be used in conjunction with the IT Delivery Plan, that will comprise the detail of how each item will be delivered, target architecture, operating models and where appropriate the business case and return on investment.
The IT Strategy has been developed in wide consultation with staff and students. It has been informed by workshops with IT Services and Faculty colleagues, an extensive review of the existing technology landscape and infrastructure, consideration of the key technology risks that could impact the University, and focused consultation with University Executive. It has also had input from students through NSS comments, and a Go Out And Listen All Ears session with the Students Union. This collective input has been the foundation on which the IT Strategy has been built.
The IT Strategy is a key enabler for the wider University Strategy and as such, the framework is aligned with the academic and business priorities of the broader University. It has been structured to support the vision of the University Strategy and so has five IT Outcomes that align with the five University Strategic Outcomes.
In order to deliver the five IT Outcomes, thirty two IT Objectives have been defined. Together these thirty two IT Objectives build the IT Strategy, deliver the IT Outcomes and support the wider University Strategy.
Whilst each IT Objective aligns to an IT Outcome, they have also been prioritised.
Nine Priority 1 IT Objectives focus on the high risk, high impact areas of a legacy IT infrastructure. These Priority 1 objectives address the key technology risks to the University. These risks, of a major infrastructure failure, or a major cyber security incident on a key University date such as clearing, could result in significant financial and reputation loss to the University. The Prioirty 1 IT Objectives are key. Not only do they mitigate the severity risks, they deliver the foundations on which the remaining strategy can be built.
Fourteen Priority 2 IT Objectives are aligned to a University Business Outcome and will be required in order to deliver that Business Outcome in full. Some deliver the foundations on which the Business Outcome is built, others provide a contributing technical element that will drive the income generation targets.
Nine Priority 3 IT Objectives are needed to deliver the future vision of a transformed IT Service to support the University.
Both capital investment and an uplift in ongoing staff and non-staff revenue will be required to deliver the IT Strategy, particularly for the Priority 1 objectives. The full picture of the linkage between investment and cost savings will be drawn out in the IT Delivery Plan and major investments will be requested through the prescribed University governance process.
The IT Strategy is ambitious, addresses the technology risks to the University, supports the change agenda to deliver the University Business Outcomes, and is an enabler to Northumbria’s vision to be a research-rich, business-focused, professional university with a global reputation for academic excellence.
