I am thrilled to welcome you all back to the start of a new academic year. I hope you all had the chance to enjoy a warm (and wet!) summer and that you feel excited about the new year ahead. The past few years in the Vermont State Colleges System (VSCS) have been busy – and a lot – but I am so optimistic for what is ahead, and our IT team is excited to be a partner in that work.
Over the summer, the IT team has been busy working on many projects. I wanted to take the chance to highlight a few of them and remind folks about some key work ahead.
First, I want to remind folks that we have posted our new IT strategic plan. Developed in partnership with both the Community College of Vermont and Vermont State University, our IT plan seeks to ensure a strong foundation in our operations while building on opportunities for expanded partnership and innovation across the VSCS. We will approach this plan fluidly, understanding things will shift as we adapt as a system, but it provides guardrails to inform our IT investment and planning. In addition to the strategic plan, you will continue to find many expanded resources on our IT support site. Take a look!
I am thrilled to share our first annual report. The IT team gathered in the spring to reflect on our first year as a Shared Services team. The outcome of our conversation is WOW, we have accomplished a lot. The annual report is a way to help recognize the good work of our teams in addition to ensuring ongoing communication and transparency in our efforts. The annual report is a spotlight for some of that work, and I hope you enjoy it.
Last fall, we kicked off a project to assess the VSC’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Ellucian Colleague, and create a roadmap to future sustainability. The ERP software system supports our core business processes and helps us run our operations. The scope of the assessment included Colleague, UKG, and other software systems connected to Colleague. The objective of the assessment was to determine the best path to the future sustainability of our ERP. In the coming weeks, you will see more communication about a project to upgrade our Enterprise Resource Planning system as we transition into a Request for Proposals.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve you as your CIO. I want to recognize the work that not only my IT team does daily but also many of our partners across the system who are critical partners in meeting the objectives of our projects. I wish you well and look forward to our work ahead,
Dr. Kellie Campbell, Chief Information Officer