IT Services employs the following governance methodology in completing its mission.
The goals of this methodology are:
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Ensure that IT Services continually aligns its resources with evolving university goals while deploying its resources in an efficient, transparent manner.
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Promote the use of information technology as a university-wide strategic asset.
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Empower members of the university community by providing a clear process for obtaining support from IT Services guided by a clear, concise decision process.
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Retain compliance with Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education IT Governance requirements.
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Retain compliance with university IT-related policies and procedures with emphasis on providing confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information within IT applications.
Requesting Services
IT Services accepts requests from any member of the university community (students, faculty, staff, and affiliates) as well as committees. Request by ihelp, email it-support-center@iup.edu, phone 724-357-4000, or in person at IT Support and the Student Computing Help Desk in Delaney Hall. The entrance is located towards the Putt and Delaney courtyard near the basketball courts.
Requests can be made on behalf of the individual or on behalf of a department, office, division, committee, task force, or team. Requirements resulting from State System IT Governance requirements will also be transformed into requests.
Other IT Support Contacts
If a given request is not appropriate for IT Services, the user will be notified and/or a referral will be made to the appropriate contact.
Production Failures
A triage procedure will be used to determine if the request represents a "production failure" to an existing system supported by IT Services. If so, fulfilling this request will become a top priority, and resources will be utilized to gain the timeliest successful resolution possible.
Help Desk Calls
If a request is not a production failure, triage will further determine if the resolution will likely require 15 IT Services person hours or less. If so, the request will be assigned to the appropriate staff and will typically be addressed in a first-in, first-out manner.
Requests where the resolution will likely require more than 15 IT Services person hours will not be treated as help desk calls and will be transformed into a project request priority from that division's executive sponsor.
Project Requests
The executive director of IT Services manages IT project request queues in partnership with each division's executive sponsor, typically the vice president or division leader. The chief information officer serves as the executive sponsor for the State System IT Governance and internal IT Services projects.
Projects from the Office of the President (including Cabinet officials not represented by a division), are prioritized on a case-by-case basis.
Executive sponsors can request a change in priorities if warranted by unforeseen situations, but only if deemed practical by the executive director of IT Services.
IT Security and General Support Compliance
Compliance with industry-standard IT security practices, contract and license requirements, and overall support infrastructure can impact resolution of help desk and project requests, including the inability to fulfill certain requests.