OneIT began in 2015 as a portfolio of 16 efficiency projects identified through the Transparent, Inclusive Efficiency Review (TIER) process initiated by the state Board of Regents.

History of TIER

The Regents commissioned Deloitte Consulting to conduct an efficiency review of the three state universities. The recommendations developed by Deloitte after a period of interviews and data gathering focused on four administrative areas: IT, Human Resources, Finance, and Facilities.

Deloitte's report (IT begins on p. 91) produced four IT-related recommendations.

  • IT-01:  Centralize commodity and infrastructure services on campus
  • IT-02:  Restructure ITS to accommodate new environment
    • IT-01 & IT-02 Increase visibility and reporting of IT activities
  • IT-03:  Consolidate applications across campus and between universities
  • IT-04:  Implement virtual desktops, reduce local printers and printing

The Regents issued a request for proposals (RFP) for external consultants to partner in the implementation of the business cases, and each university was able to submit a proposal for self-implementation. 

For the information technology portion of the University of Iowa’s proposal, IT leaders from central and distributed units met for a daylong retreat, where they identified 16 projects to meet the objectives of the four IT business cases. Teams had one week to develop initial descriptions of each of the projects, which were summarized and incorporated into the UI’s proposal along with the HR and Finance plans.

The Regents accepted the universities’ proposals for self-implementation of the IT, HR, and Finance business cases. They retained Chazey Partners to lend expertise and advice to the institutions during implementation and to provide assistance to the universities in areas where resources or a deeper level of analysis is needed. 

Completion of TIER projects

The original 16 OneIT projects were completed in 2018, resulting in $4.4 million in ongoing annual savings. As outlined in the Year in Review, we made incredible progress together in a short period of time. 

The goals of the TIER project work were: 

  • Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of IT by dramatically reducing the cost of providing general IT services necessary for day-to-day campus operations. 
  • Identify areas where specialization and innovation are critical to meet unique needs in research and instruction, and assure that those needs are properly addressed. 
  • Enable reinvestment of time and resources into teaching, research, and service.

OneIT organizational strategy unfolds 

To realize all the benefits for campus envisioned by OneIT, it became much more than a portfolio of projects. The IT community  evolved into a unified IT community called OneIT, comprising the central IT organization, Information Technology Services, and the distributed IT organizations in colleges and administrative units.

Building upon those efforts, the leaders have worked to develop a unified vision for the future in support of the strategic goals of the institution. The latest OneIT Strategic Plan was published in October 2023.

OneIT is now working on an array of strategic initiatives and operational projects aligned with the strategic plan. Information about those projects and their timelines is available on the OneIT roadmaps page.