SUMMARY
The University of Massachusetts Boston, also known as UMass Boston or UMB, is an urban public research university serving 16,000 students and is the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massachusetts system.
Vantage was selected to work with UMB technical staff to perform an IT assessment and develop a university-wide IT roadmap or IT Enterprise Architecture (ITEA). The purpose of the roadmap was to document the current IT environment and the desired IT end-state and recommend actions to bridge the gap.
Since this project was closely tied to several very large-scale campus master planning, utility corridor and facilities relocation projects, the relocation of the campus data center ended up on the critical path.
As a result, Vantage helped UMB develop:
- A thorough understanding of the Information Technology Services Division (ITSD) resources in place and how they are managed and supported
- Recommendations for relocation of the data center and IT infrastructure.
- Facility and campus (“holistic” or “complete picture”) IT architecture and topology.
- High-level “architectures” that were used to ensure that IT requirements coordinate with the utilities redesign and as design parameters for the data center siting, sizing, power, and cooling requirements for day-one and beyond
BENEFITS
- Worked with ITSD Leadership to develop insights into the University’s goals and become a critical part of the solution
- Enhanced IT’s role as a strategic partner for the University
- Defined a clear plan for moving forward while educating the university community on the importance of integrating technology needs
SERVICES
- Developed baseline assessment of current UMB IT architecture.
- Conducted stakeholder meetings to determine needs, wants, pent-up demands, and future directions.
- Documented current industry standards and best practices as they pertain to IT architectures in higher education, especially at peer universities.
- Defined criteria for the new ITEA roadmap
- Produced design options to meet UMB’s requirements
- Coordinated with the Facilities Department, the Master Planning Office, and other University and Commonwealth of Massachusetts departments to obtain maximum project buy-in.
TECHNOLOGIES
- Enterprise IT Systems
- Data Centers
- Centralized Facilities and Staff Management
- Client: University of Massachusetts – Boston
- Location: Boston, MA
- Project Type: Education
- Services: Campus Technology Plan