Let’s talk about IT Federation: Clearing up common misconceptions

Reality: IT Federation is part of the university’s broader Operational Excellence effort and is being shaped by voices from across the university. Gathering input from diverse groups across campus isn’t just a checkbox — it’s a core value of how we work. Both DoIT and distributed IT staff were involved in phase 1, and we’re looking forward to hearing from many others in phase 2 and beyond.

Reality: The federated operating model will be developed collaboratively as part of this program. We’re currently presenting to various committees and groups across the university, and holding discussions/conference sessions where technology staff can share more about their experiences and ideas. We plan to offer more opportunities to hear your thoughts and ideas in phase 2.

Reality: When some folks hear “federation,” they think about the government and assume that our end goal is centralizing IT. In reality, a federated operating model is a hybrid, and has a blend of service delivery types. Our focus is on coordination: how we work together, make decisions, manage services and more.

Reality: While DoIT does provide most enterprise services, they don’t provide all of them. This program is helping identify many nuances in our current operating structure, including service ownership, coordination and delivery. IT Service Management Discovery is one of the 5 service proposals identified in phase 1. We’re committed to exploring these areas further as we dive deeper into the program.

Reality: Some schools, colleges and divisions (SCDs) are undergoing restructuring. These efforts were initiated by their respective SCDs and several predate IT Federation. While the IT Federation Program is not leading these efforts, they will shape how our operating model evolves. Through IT Federation, we want to focus on building the framework that allows our diverse environments — regardless of how they are structured internally — to collaborate seamlessly.

Reality: While being good stewards of the university’s resources is important, this program isn’t a budget-cutting exercise. There are many drivers, including financial stewardship, service quality, risk reduction and research competitiveness. Higher education is facing growing external pressures — from rising cybersecurity threats and compliance demands, to the rapid rise of AI. IT Federation is about adapting to these changes proactively, on our own terms today, instead of reactively.

Reality: It makes sense that at first glance, you’d want to pause your work to see how IT Federation evolves. But we don’t want this program to stifle or block innovation. Instead, it aims to enable and improve it. Keep moving forward; we want to build a framework that supports your momentum, not stalls it. And please reach out to us and share how you are innovating or improving services. We would love to learn from your successes and build our examples of innovation in action.