SunGard Higher Education Launches Strategy and Assessment Service to Help Institutions Better Align IT with Business Objectives
MALVERN, Pa., January 3, 2007 — SunGard Higher Education is offering a new consulting service to help higher education leaders align their technology initiatives with their institutions’ strategic goals. This new offering, called the SunGard Higher Education Strategy and Assessment Service, results in customized decision-making tools and a roadmap for designing or refining the Unified Digital Campus that contributes to the institution’s unique mission, SunGard Higher Education (www.sungardhe.com) announced today.
The SunGard Higher Education Strategy and Assessment service is built upon the Enterprise Architecture Framework which correlates educational/business activities, strategies, and priorities directly to the technology infrastructure that is required to support them. SunGard Higher Education worked collaboratively with British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) to create and test the Strategy and Assessment Service, by customizing Enterprise Architecture specifically for the higher education marketplace.
“As BCIT invests a significant amount of money and energy to transform the organization into a leading polytechnic institution, we want to ensure that we are making the right technology decisions,” said Leo de Sousa, enterprise architect at BCIT. “The Strategy and Assessment Service, with its higher education targeted approach to Enterprise Architecture, is a field-tested process to help institutions see where they are, where they are going, and then identify and manage the changes across the entire enterprise to help deliver on an institution’s strategy.”
The SunGard Higher Education Strategy and Assessment service guides institutional leaders through defining their strategic goals; linking them with institutional objectives, resources, and personnel; and then mapping those to the initiatives that can best help them succeed. Through a series of workshops, the identified initiatives are then connected to the institution’s technology services, business functions, applications, and the IT infrastructure required to facilitate them.
“The SunGard Higher Education process and supporting tools that we co-developed using an action-research model helped BCIT fully identify, describe, and map business functionality and requirements with educational functionality and information system requirements—all from an enterprise perspective,” Mr. de Sousa continued. “The process helped us identify the right things to do, and then helped our staff and faculty do things right.”
The Strategy and Assessment Service employs a number of tools to help institutions gain a thorough understanding of their present-day campuses and their desired states, providing a fixed point of reference toward which an institution can navigate. BCIT co-developed and field tested the planning tools and continues to use them to align its IT strategy with the Institute’s vision.
“Our Strategy and Assessment Service can help institutions improve planning, improve the alignment of IT with educational and business objectives, reduce IT complexity, and position IT as a valued investment,” said Brad Rucker, senior vice president, professional services, SunGard Higher Education. “BCIT leaders deserve praise for collaborating in the design, development, and testing of the service and deliverables that can now contribute to the success of other institutions."
About BCIT
British Columbia Institute of Technology annually serves 48,000 students by delivering polytechnic education in Canada and around the world. BCIT builds pathways for career success with full-time and part-time studies leading to certificates, diplomas and applied bachelor's degrees. Technological innovation demands higher levels of applied knowledge. BCIT is developing applied master's degrees for several disciplines. Our dedicated resources for applied research support our extensive linkages with business and industry.
About SunGard Higher Education
SunGard Higher Education provides software and support, systems implementation and integration, strategic consulting, and technology management services to help colleges and universities build, unify, and manage their digital campuses. Bringing together people, processes, and technology, SunGard Higher Education assists more than 1,600 customers worldwide to strengthen institutional performance through improved constituent services, increased accountability, and better educational experiences. www.sungardhe.com
About SunGard
With annual revenue of $4 billion, SunGard is a global leader in software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also helps information-dependent enterprises of all types to ensure the continuity of their business. SunGard serves more than 25,000 customers in more than 50 countries, including the world’s 50 largest financial services companies. Visit SunGard at www.sungard.com.
Trademark information: SunGard and the SunGard logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.