VPIT

IT’s all in the ServicePaul Sorenson

Vice-Provost (IT) &Professor of Computing Science

University of Alberta

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Organizational View

President

Provost & VP(Acad)

VP(Ext Rel) VP(Fin&Adm)VP(Research) VP(Fac&Oper)

Vice-Provost(IT)

AICT (CNS) AISUTS

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Services, Services, Services…

• Services – the definition• Services – the technology• Services – the philosophy• Services – the organization• Services – the plan and the budget• Services – the “Science”

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Services – the definition• Webster’s:

- “performance of work for another; - military or naval duty; - labor, assistance, benefit; - set of dishes at table.”

- “performance of work for another;

• Service in IT: what’s the nature of the “work” and who is the “another”;

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“Anothers” include…

• Students• Faculty• Support staff• Alumni• Stakeholders (governments, industry,

organizations, etc.)

73Identity

Management

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IT Services

• A service is a function that is well-defined, self-contained, and does not depend on the context or state of other services.

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Web Services Description Language (WSDL)

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Web Services Exposed!

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Philosophy• Uniformity – services are viewed and

requested in a consistent manner• Integration – a service can request

other services and can be requested by other services

• Anywhere at anytime – services running on the web can be accessed (on demand)

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Services – The Organization• Adopts a notion of high-quality service:

- helpful - performs (does what is says it will do) - consistent (reliable) - uses measurement to improve quality of service

• In general, meets service level agreements,which can be challenging …

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Services – The Organization

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Service Measures• SERVQUAL - Service Quality Surveys

Possibleoverkill

Keep up thegood work

Low priority

Concentratehere

Excellent

Adequate

Slightly ImportantExtremely Important

Performance

Importance

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VPIT10 Most Common

Dimensions• Tangibles—physical appearance • Reliability—perform as promised constantly • Responsiveness • Competence • Courtesy • Credibility • Security/Safety • Access—easy to do business • Communication—keeping customer informed • Understanding customer needs

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Service – Plan & Budget• Service score card approach• Contains:

- Service description- Service development history [recent]- Key performance measures and target service levels [e.g., SIS$/student]- Current budget/expenditures- 3-year budget forecast- Risks of failure and opportunities for improvement

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Service Culture• Service week!• Incentives to

support the culture!

Win Me! Win Me!

Win Me!

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Services Science• IBM’s challenge – 55% of their business is in

services and this portion is growing• Their major research labs in Yorktown

Heights, Almaden and Zurich focus on hardware and software research

• Major gap in research on service provisioning

• New research partnerships and academic programs in services science

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Alberta CAS (Centre for Advanced Study)

• One of 10 CASs worldwide• Focus is initially on UofA in machine learning,

nanotechnology, and bio-simulation• Initial discussions on services science

involving computing science, business, engineering, law

• Case studies, joint research projects, development of shared programs

• Involve research, learning and administration

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Conclusions

• Services approach provides a simple, yet holistic approach to information systems planning, deployment, evaluation, improvement and research.

• Global impact …

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Globalization

- Globalization I – [1492-1800] shrunk large to medium, resources and imperial conquest

- Globalization II – [1800-2000] shrunk from medium to small, global companies focused on market and labour.

- Globalization III – [2000-?] small to tiny and flattened, impact of IT

VPIT

Is IT Flattening Our World?&

Should We Really Care?

Bangalore

BeijingMap from:www.bfi.org/map.htm#define

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Quotes from the Experts

“The most profound thing to me is a 14-year-old in Romania or Bangalore or the Soviet Union or Vietnam has all the information, all the tools, all the software easily available to apply knowledge however they want.” … Marc Andreessen, co-found of Netscape

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Quotes from the Experts

“When I compare our high schools to what I saw when I’m traveling abroad, I’m terrified for our work force of tomorrow … America is falling behind.” … Bill Gates

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Quotes from the Experts“When I was growing up, my parents used to say to me. ‘Tom, finish your dinner – people in China are starving.’ But after sailing to the edges of the flat world for a year, I am now telling my two daughters, ‘Girls, finish your homework – people in China and India are starving for your jobs’.” … Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times author of “The World is Flat”

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The End!