The Cooperative Computing Initiative (CCI) would like to express a unified and representative perspective of the future of UF computing resources. The Task Force’s final report to the Provost will greatly impact each of the offices represented as it attempts to chart a new direction for information technology on campus.

The CCI convened a one-day retreat to discuss campus information technology recommendations. Present at the meeting were Earl Robbins, chair (CIO), Al Amirin (Shands), Jerry Bigham (Academic Affairs), Vicki Clifford (CIO), Mike Conlon (HSC), Warren Curry (Information Systems), Pete Kearney (IFAS), Sue Legg (OIR/CIRCA), Bill Noffsinger (Business Services), Andy Olivenbaum (NERDC), Dave Pokorney (NERDC-Network Services), Tom Thomas (Information Systems), and Jack Worley (Housing).

After much frank discussion and open collaboration, the group agreed to propose the following recommendations to the IT Task Force:

 The university should employ a Vice President for Information Technology who reports directly to the President or Provost. The primary functions of this office would be to provide vision and direction for the campus enterprise and to develop a community process for planning and implementing a campus-wide IT strategy. The group felt that both functions are missing in our IT current environment.

 The Vice President for Information Technology must have appropriate campus-wide authority, budget and personnel resources to provide the tools and to control:

• IT standards
• Systems architecture
• Systems security
• The UF network
• Data administration
• Software methodology for enterprise applications
• Interoperability between applications
• Data center (NERDC), and
• Training for IT staff.

 To help guide the selection and reorganization process, the CCI provided examples of the strengths and weaknesses of the current IT environment. The committee also wanted to list the major threats and opportunities facing the university in the near future.

 The university’s strengths include:

• An impressive array of existing IT functions
• Great talent
• A huge institutional knowledge base
• Vast computing power within our campus data center and other sites
• A strong core network and connectivity to the outside world
• A strong desire to be better
• Adaptability
• Readily available resources, and
• An ability to execute tactically.

 We recognized the following collective weaknesses:

• A lack of strategic direction
• An inefficient use of computing power and people
• Department networks
• An inability to execute strategically
• Institutional inertia
• Poor vendor relationships
• Ineffective, non-existent data administration
• A "build" mentality as opposed to “buying” solutions
• A lack of accountability
• Old infrastructure for applications, and
• State system constraints.

 There are several major threats that could negatively impact UF in the near future:

• High turnover and low retention of IT staff
• IT staffing in general
• The rapid rate of technology change
• Lost opportunities for upgrading campus systems
• Unplanned obsolescence
• Competition
• The Army contract
• The need for corporate alliances
• Digital rights management, and
• Intellectual property protection.

 Finally, we discussed these issues as upcoming opportunities for UF:

• The social security number/universal ID conversion
• The efforts of the State Technology Office
• New state-wide business systems
• Distance/alternative education
• E-business
• Wireless computing and communications
• Network grid enabling, and
• Leveraging technology changes to our advantage.

 The CCI Retreat was an exercise in true collaboration. While the members communicated the concerns, interests and biases of their respective IT environments, each was committed to identifying what was best for the future of IT on campus. Each person was committed to enterprise-wide planning and each was committed to a better and more centralized vision for university computing resources.