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Commissioner of Higher Education

The Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education (OCHE) is the central administrative unit of the Montana University System and the Board of Regents. OCHE's mission is to provide comprehensive administrative support and leadership for all units of the MUS and to serve students through the delivery of high quality, accessible postsecondary educational opportunities, while actively participating in the preservation and advancement of Montana’s economy and society.

Goals

Agency Goals and Objectives

State Strategic Plan Goal Reference: Goal 5: The State’s information assets and citizens’ data are protected

Objectives

  • Objectives 1:

    • Develop and maintain comprehensive system-level infrastructure to support cybersecurity in the MUS and across all MUS institutions that complies with state and federal laws
    • Increase MUS information security knowledge base at OCHE
    • Revise IT governance policy and improve communication to the Board of Regents
    • Provide ongoing leadership and coordination in furtherance of IT governance practices.

    State Strategic Plan Objective Reference: Goal 5: The State’s information assets and citizens’ data are protected

State Strategic Plan Goal Reference: Goal 2: Strategic IT investment empowering delivery of citizen services

Objectives

  • Objectives 2:
    • Create a seamless online course catalog for students to discover, register for, and access all online courses across all campuses in the Montana University System.
    • Provide a seamless digital learning environment for all students and courses that will modernize and improve the quality of service and create a single, consistent digital learning environment.
    State Strategic Plan Objective Reference: Goal 2: Strategic IT investment empowering delivery of citizen services
    Goal 3: Citizen one-stop shop anywhere, anytime, any device

State Strategic Plan Goal Reference: Goal 2: Strategic IT investment empowering delivery of citizen services
Goal 3: Citizen one-stop shop anywhere, anytime, any device

Objectives

  • Objectives 3:
    • Maintain a central application to allow students to apply to any campus in the Montana University System, which is provided for free for all Montana residents
    • Maintain a career and college readiness portal as a single point of entry and to serve multiple audiences

    State Strategic Plan Objective Reference: Goal 3: Citizen one-stop shop anywhere, anytime, any device

Information Technology Resources and Capabilities

Number of FTE: 4.0

Support system-wide initiatives and manage day-to-day intra-office operations to enable OCHE staff to carry out the Board of Regents' primary strategies to access and affordability, workforce & economic development, and efficiency & effectiveness.

Projects

Division OCHE / Budget, Administration & Planning
Project / Program Purpose and Objectives To understand the MUS business context, the resources that support critical functions, and the related information security risks. This process will help further develop the Board’s IT governance structure. OCHE will establish a workgroup comprised of the Commissioner’s staff and university system stakeholders to identify and analyze security frameworks and their applicability to the MUS. Based on the recommendations of the workgroup, OCHE will recommend to the Board of Regents a governance approach that will ensure security controls are implemented across the MUS in a manner that will most effectively protect sensitive MUS information.
State Strategic Plan Goal/Objective Reference Goal 5: The State’s information assets and citizens’ data are protected Goal 2: Strategic IT investment empowering delivery of citizen services
Estimated Start Estimated Delivery
Estimated Cost Comment As we are initiating a discovery process for governance and framework implementation, costs remain unclear at present. Results of our analysis may indicate the need for further personnel and/or software and hardware resources requiring additional funding.
HB 10 Request No Funding Sources Unknown: - Comment: Amount will be determined as a result of analysis
Annual Costs Upon Completion Comment Costs will be determined as a result of analysis
Status of the project as of March 31, even numbered years. Indicate % completed and status of funds expended. No funds are currently expended. Project has begun as of 5/1/2022, with estimated 5% completion.

Division OCHE / Academic & Student Affairs
Project / Program Purpose and Objectives Identify a single Learning Management System vendor for the Montana University System to replace the 3 separate systems and 5 contracts currently in place.
State Strategic Plan Goal/Objective Reference Goal 2: Strategic IT investment empowering delivery of citizen services Goal 3: Citizen one-stop shop anywhere, anytime, any device
Estimated Start Estimated Delivery
Estimated Cost 2,000,000 Comment Cost is an estimate only and likely to change during ongoing discovery and a Fall 2022 request for proposal.
HB 10 Request No Funding Sources : - Comment:
Annual Costs Upon Completion Comment Annual costs will be determined through ongoing analysis and a RFP process
Status of the project as of March 31, even numbered years. Indicate % completed and status of funds expended. No funds currently expended. Project began January 1, 2022, with an estimated 5% of work complete.

Summary of Hardware

I have reviewed all of my agency's systems in Assurance CM and certify that it is accurate: Yes

Total Number of Appliances 10
Total Number of Physical Servers 2
Total Number of Virtualized Servers 5
Total Usable Storage Space 0 GB
Device Type Quantity Estimated Replacement Value Comments
Desktops 15 18,000
Laptops 67 100,500
Mobile device (tablet, phone) 33 16,500
Mobile WiFi (Verizon Jetpacks) 11 1,100
Printers 39 19,500 Plan to phase some of these out
Cameras 2 2,220
Video Conference Camera System 1 11,750

Agency Contact Information

Agency Director / Administrator
Clayton Christian
406-449-9124
cchristian@montana.edu
560 N. Park Ave., Helena MT 59601
IT Contact (CIO / IT Manager)
John Thunstrom
406-544-3822
JThunstrom@mso.umt.edu
32 Campus Dr., 305 Brantly Hall, Missoula, MT 59812
Information Security Manager
Justin van Almelo
406-994-7464
justin.vanalmelo@montana.edu
University Information Technology, PO Box 173240, Bozeman MT 59717-3240