04 May CTS Working to Strengthen Partnerships with Campuses
North Dakota University System has implemented a process improvement program called ServiceOne. ServiceOne began as a bottom-up change request. The purpose of ServiceOne is to deliver and support IT (Information Technology) products and services more efficiently and effectively to better serve the student community. While the focus is on process standardization, Core Technology Services is partnering with North Dakota University System campuses to deliver a more customized approach to effectively address their needs. Darin King, Vice Chancellor of Technology/CIO described as “maturing CTS’ operational functions into an effective, efficient, relationship-based environment. Our focus is on providing high-quality services using best practices and processes while partnering with NDUS institutions to deliver streamlined, customized services according to their unique needs.”
NDUS CTS’ ServiceOne program currently includes nine ITIL® practices. Each practice has a practice owner who “owns” the practice, and a Practice Manager who oversees the practice on a day-to-day basis. Below is basic information on each of these practices.
- Organizational Change Management (OCM) is utilized to help personnel transition through implemented changes. Focusing on the “people side of change” will help ensure the changes are readily adopted and sustained so that forecasted benefits will be realized (e.g., increased availability of products and services).
- Relationship Management is used to manage the relationships and communication between the organization and its stakeholders and strengthen working relationships with Customers, Users, and Technology Partners to better support the campus initiatives.
- Service Desk will be a single point of contact providing a clear path for users to report incidents, queries, and service requests. The Service Desk is focused on the Users’ experience and will provide reports and knowledge-based documentation.
- Problem Management will identify the root cause of one or more incidents and facilitate the identification of a permanent, cost-effective solution. This practice will enable Core Technology Services to eliminate similar or recurring incidents or reduce the impact of incidents as well as increase Customer and User satisfaction.
- Change Enablement will assist CTS in maximizing the number of successful service and product changes by ensuring risks have been properly assessed, authorizing the implementation of changes, and managing the change schedule. This will reduce unplanned outages.
- Service Level Management is utilized to set clear business-based targets for service performance, and to ensure that delivery and support of services is properly assessed, monitored, and reported against these targets.
- Service Request Management supports the agreed quality of a service by handling all pre-defined, User-initiated service requests in an effective and user-friendly manner.
- Service Design focuses on the design of IT services and covers the processes and documentation that will enable the design of services that meet the needs of the campuses.
Focus groups that were conducted in 2021 found that these nine practices will improve the delivery and support of CTS’ products and services, increase service availability, better align CTS’ activities to campus priorities, enable data-driven decision making, and improve communication within CTS and with campus technology partners and staff.
The North Dakota University System is a unified system of higher education governed by the State Board of Higher Education. Organized in 1990, the system includes two research universities, four regional universities, and five community colleges. The mission of the State Board of Higher Education and the Chancellor of the North Dakota University System is to unleash the potential of higher education in the state to enhance the quality of life, and the social and economic validity of all served by its public colleges and universities.
Core Technology Services (CTS) is the technical arm of the North Dakota University System (NDUS) and facilitates the development of the NDUS Information Technology Strategic Plan in collaboration with the information technology staff from NDUS institutions.