CITES Units

Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services (CITES) is comprised of nine units, which are described in the sections that follow. The activities of CITES are coordinated by the CITES Leadership Team, whose members direct the nine units.

The current structure of the CITES' organization reflects its functions. By design, the most visible unit to those outside of CITES is the Service Center. It serves as the gateway to all CITES services and is providing faculty, staff, and students a well-defined entry point into the organization. Inquiries are either handled in the Service Center or passed on to the appropriate service managers in several of the other units: Application Services, Research and Learning Technology Services, Enterprise Infrastructure, Networking, or Physical Infrastructure.

Two other units, Administration and Planning and Process Improvement, are dedicated to the internal operations of CITES. Finally, the IT Architect works on the University's IT infrastructure.

Office of the Executive Director

The Office of the Executive Director provides provides leadership and overall direction to the CITES organization. This office is responsible for the campus IT infrastructure, enterprise services, and solutions that support the education, research, and public engagement missions of the University. The Executive Director, who reports to CIO, is actively involved with major IT activities on campus, which are built around both a strong central program and strategic collaborations with colleges and departments.

Service Center

Groups: CITES Help Desk, Service Request Management, Client Relationship Management, CITES Service Center Communications

Unit Charter: All inquiries, incidents, and requests for CITES services come in through the Service Center. Information about CITES and CITES services goes out through the Service Center. The Service Center staff work with the other units in CITES to be sure that the voice of customers and clients are being heard throughout the service lifecycle--from the development of a new service to the retirement of existing services.

Application Services

Groups: Database Services, Identity Management, Portal Services, Production Applications, and Software Engineering

Unit Charter: Application Services has overall responsibility for CITES’ large-scale, campus-level services. These responsibilities range from the design, development, and implementation of services to service management (enhancements, service life-cycle).

Research and Learning Technology Services

Groups: Learning Technologies, Research Support Services, Learning Space Services, Academic Technology Services, and Engineering Workstations.

Unit Charter: Research and Learning Technology Services provides training and consultation for incorporating technologies into teaching and research, as well as building and maintaining virtual and physical collaborative learning environments.

Enterprise Infrastructure

Groups: Storage and Backup, Windows System Management, Systems Management Group, Data Center

Unit Charter: The work of Enterprise Infrastructure unit is to build and maintain the infrastructure (servers, systems, data center) required to provide reliable campus-level and departmental services.

Networking

Groups: Network Engineering, Network Design, Network Support and Network Services

Unit Charter: The Networking Unit is responsible for the planning, design, installation and ongoing support of the campus wired and wireless data networks. This includes the networks within campus buildings, the networks that connect campus building to each other, and the networks that connect the Urbana campus to the other U of I campuses, to the commercial Internet and to the national research networks.

Physical Infrastructure

Groups: Plant Engineering; Communications Installation & Maintenance Services (CIMS); Assignments; and Classroom & Conferencing Engineering

Unit Charter: The Physical Infrastructure Unit is responsible for the design, installation and operation of the physical infrastructure that supports the phone and data networks in all campus buildings as well as the design, installation, and operation of the educational technology in some 170 General Assignment classrooms. Additionally the Plant Engineering Group also designs the fiber and copper infrastructure that connects all campus building to each other. The Classroom and Conferencing Engineering Group also supports the design and installation of conferencing systems and digital signage and provides AV consulting services for new construction and remodeling projects.

Administration and Planning

Groups: Business Analysis and Contract Management, Organizational Development and Learning, Training Services, University of Illinois WebStore, and IT Administration

Unit Charter: The main purpose of Administration and Planning is to advance CITES business practices. One key function is the analysis of all of CITES’ services in light of CITES overall business model. The unit is also responsible for managing contracts,

Process Improvement

Groups: Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and Audit Support; Change Management; Project Management; User Experience Design; and Technical Field Services.

Unit Charter: The Process Improvement Unit’s overall objective is to lead CITES’ efforts to optimize the underlying processes, such as change management and business continuity planning, that are necessary for CITES to operate efficiently. The unit is responsible for the work flows within CITES and brings the rigors of best practices from disciplines like project management to determine how CITES can use processes to accomplish its mission.

IT Architect

Unit Charter: The IT Architect is responsible for the overall Information Technology Systems architecture that supports the University's business strategy and goals. Such an architecture must encompass the design of new IT services and the modification of existing ones, both to be sure they align with the IT systems architecture and also to maintain a consistent vision of services and their quality. The set of CITES' services provided to the larger campus IT community and to the campus in general must all be a part of a common blueprint. Ideally, the services are all a part of the same Service-oriented Architecture (SoA). To do so involves identifying common foundations, common building blocks, and common tools.