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Seven strategies for the future

By Peter C. Patton

Penn is a vibrant, complicated organism whose sinews and circulatory system are increasingly electronic. Sustaining those connections -- connections to one another, to information, to the world outside Penn -- is the role of Information Systems and Computing. Unique among Penn's divisions, ISC reports to both the Provost and Executive Vice President, helping link the academic and administrative domains.

ISC envisions a future of stronger collaboration across disciplines, between students and faculty, and among work groups as information technology levels the obstacles of geography and synchrony. We have a vision of information tools so widely available, so much easier to use, and so compatible with each other that they seem to disappear. Students will explore subjects in media best suited to the material and to their own learning styles, drawn from a palette of text, sound, video, and still pictures. Researchers in more fields will use visualization tools to find patterns and work with ideas as metaphors or images. Today the facts of Penn's business life are isolated. Without the ability to connect them easily, the daily work of faculty, students, and staff is made harder and our sense of community is weakened. This will change. Administrative systems throughout the University will work together and share data. Penn's leaders will have information from many sources on which to base decisions.

Seven strategies guide ISC in making that future a reality.

Ubiquitous network

A growing number of researchers, students, and staff depend crucially on PennNet, the University's component of the worldwide Internet. To support the next generation of library and business systems and to provide "anywhere, anytime" access to the expanding -- and increasingly multimedia -- resources at Penn and elsewhere, PennNet and its services will have to be upgraded, and in some areas completely redesigned.

The capacity, extent, and reliability of the campus backbone, its connection to the Internet, and support for remote access are the focus of a newly-formed Network Architecture Task Force. ISC is already engaged in wiring the residence halls (ResNet), upgrading Penn's Internet bandwidth (from 1.5 to 4 Megabits per second), enhancing building links (from 1 to 10 Mbps), installing wiring to desktops that will support future needs (100 Mbps or more), and deploying electronics to monitor network performance. Infrastructure services, such as network security and file sharing, are also being addressed, with the assistance of a new Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) Task Force.

Workgroup and end-user services are being improved as more powerful and easy-to-use software becomes available -- most of which requires both Ethernet connections and fairly advanced desktop computers. Task forces and advisory groups on electronic mail, office automation, Macintosh and PC networking, and campus-wide information systems (currently, PennInfo, Gopher, and World-Wide Web/Mosaic) are engaged with ISC in defining Penn's future in these areas.

Business systems that work together

A new generation of business systems that work together and share data will be put in place, beginning with the general ledger, budgeting, and purchasing/payables components of a new financial system. Penn's approach, known as "Project Cornerstone," involves streamlining and rethinking -- or "reengineering" -- administrative processes before acquiring such technology to support the

The new systems will be easy to use, with a graphical user interface and other qualities of today's personal computing software. They will follow a client/server model in which software is divided among computers of different sizes in different locations so individual tasks can be done where most effective. "Client" software, with a familiar look and feel on personal computers, will interact with a number of "servers" that provide data, computing power, or other services. The network will tie the components together.

The Cornerstone systems will share a common base of data and employ, for flexibility and ease of use, a relational database management system. Local business systems using the same RDBMS will also be able to share Penn's corporate data.

Management information

The data warehouse will contain selected data from existing and new systems -- filtered, made consistent, and aggregated as required. Desktop tools will support query, analysis, and reporting. A widely available online repository will contain data definitions, data models, and other "data about data."

Coordinating hub for academic computing

ISC is a coordinating hub for research and instructional computing, which at Penn is funded and managed in the Schools. Focusing on two major trends -- the emergence of interactive technologies and electronic publishing in education and the shift from mainframes to networked workstations in research computing -- ISC will increase its efforts to promote resource sharing, provide referrals, sponsor interest groups, and otherwise serve as broker and catalyst. ISC will expand its programs to negotiate discounts and site licenses for hardware and software used in instruction and research. We will continue to work with vendors to identify funding opportunities for Penn researchers and faculty. We will invest in central expertise and facilities requested by the schools.

Leveraged support

Penn has witnessed dramatic growth in the use of information technology. Penn faculty, students, and staff are demanding support -- from the mundane to the complex -- and there's not enough support to go around. ISC will expend effort where leverage is greatest. We will continue to provide a basic core of support services that offer economies of scale. We will establish more services for local support providers. We will negotiate selective arrangements to locate staff on-site in schools and administrative offices. We will continue to contract with outside suppliers where they offer unique services or gains in efficiency. New systems and services will be designed to require less support in the first place.

Architecture and standards

Setting hardware and software standards is a strategy that strengthens the other strategies by fostering communication, interoperation, and cost savings. ISC's approach is to embed the standards in a framework -- or "architecture" -- of principles and infrastructure models developed as part of Project Cornerstone and other efforts. With the Penn community, ISC will develop standards and undertake the advocacy and education that are essential if standards are to work in Penn's decentralized environment. We will concentrate first on office systems and networking standards, along with the desktop hardware, data, and system development standards required for Project Cornerstone. Desktop hardware has particularly far-reaching implications for Penn. ISC is leading a campus-wide effort to develop strategies for financing and managing the life cycle of desktop computers used with Cornerstone systems, a "catch up and keep up" initiative.

Cost savings

The strategies outlined here seek to hold down costs at the same time they improve services. The cost-containment threads running through the strategies are economies of scale, technology substitution, standards, and support for streamlined business processes. In most cases the savings accrue to ISC clients. Where savings accrue to ISC itself, they will be redirected to investments in infrastructure and to ISC support for research and instructional computing.

Note: ISC's long-range direction statement, "Making Connections: Building Penn's Electronic Future," is available from Linda May, 898-0005 or may@pobox. Your comments, suggestions, and reactions are invited.