This article is the first in a series focusing on the work being done by the Initiatives Coordination Office for the Reimagining Cornell effort. Other stories will include reviews of procurement; facilities; energy conservation; and human resources, finance and communications.

A comprehensive review of Cornell's campuswide information technology infrastructure has been launched to find ways to improve IT services and reduce budget deficits. The "Reimagining Cornell IT" initiative will focus on university IT governance, the hardware and software used throughout the university and how desktop and end-user support is provided.

Steven Schuster, interim executive director of CIT, is administrative sponsor. Dan Huttenlocher, dean of the Faculty of Computing and Information Science, is academic sponsor, and Charles Walcott, professor emeritus of neurobiology and behavior, is faculty consultant. Craig Higgins, assistant dean for administration in the College of Human Ecology, will manage the initiative. The task force includes an array of IT professionals from across the campus. The group is expected to present its report to the Initiatives Coordination Office (ICO) Steering Committee in April, and its recommendations will go to President David Skorton and Provost Kent Fuchs by the end of April.

"Our goal here is twofold," Huttenlocher said. "To help in finding the savings necessary to balance Cornell's budget, and to take a very broad look at IT on campus and see what we can do it make it more effective." IT has become central to the way a modern university works, he pointed out, so "It's important to understand IT governance -- how we make decisions about it on campus."

Schuster echoed the emphasis on improving services. "This is a phenomenal opportunity," he said. "It's clear that IT is not always meeting the needs of the campus. The budget is saying that we have to become more efficient, but if we look at the way we collaborate and coordinate across campus, it's my belief that we can deliver IT both more efficiently and more effectively."

Members of the task force plan one-on-one meetings with employees in key IT organizations throughout the university to gather ideas and concerns. IT staff members are also encouraged to offer suggestions through an online form.

The review will be guided in part by an analysis last fall by the consulting firm Cornell contracted to identify opportunities to streamline nonacademic operations. "They had suggestions on where to look, and supplied metrics on peer institutions and industry standards for certain kinds of support," Higgins said. "Our job is to validate some of that info. [After that] it's more Cornell-driven: How do we redesign ourselves? Maybe by getting better at this we'll leave some additional money on the table for what the university is really about, which is teaching and research."

The overall goal of the ICO's Reimagining Cornell effort is to realize $90 million annually in administrative savings by 2015. How much of that might come from IT savings will be decided by Skorton and Fuchs after reviewing the recommendations.