OTDI Transition Information

Starting in FY27, The College of Education and Human Ecology will be expanding our operational partnership with the university’s Office of Technology and Digital Innovation (OTDI) to include the support of local technology – computers, tablets, audio-visuals – and help desk as part of OTDI’s MITS Core Services framework. This enhanced partnership will create multiple efficiencies for the university and the college including:

  • Aligning with university senior leadership’s vision for a “stronger together”, one university framework without impacting EHE’s ability to lead, innovate, instruct and conduct world-class research. 
  • Enhancing OTDI’s (and the university’s) ability to leverage economies of scale across Information Technology.
  • Generating an overall annual cost savings for EHE, which will allow the college to focus on its strategic priorities. 
  • Expediting alignment with university and industry Information Technology standards, thus improving the university’s cybersecurity profile and streamlining Information Technology architecture within the college.
  • Enhancing focus on instructional and research specific technology projects and operations, therefore amplifying opportunities for innovation within the college core services and offerings. 
  • Providing professional development and long-term career growth opportunities for the EHE's Office of Information Technology staff transferring to OTDI. 
  • Improving the college’s ability to optimize local computing within its environment, as the college currently has an unsustainable number of computers based on the current number of employees (faculty, staff, and student employees). 
    • Currently the college has approximately 520 employees, yet it has over 2,000 computers.

What’s next?

Over the coming months, EHE OIT will share more details on the transition, how service requests will be managed through OTDI, and how this project will provide greater transparency into college-wide technology costs. Our college will join a growing list of OTDI’s Managed Information Technology Services (MITS) partners that you can find on this page.

This page will be updated as new information is available, so please check back if you have questions.

Decommissioning unsupported computers and tablets by June 2026

The college’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) has been gradually removing outdated computers and tablets from service over the past three years. As part of the transition to the university’s Managed Information Technology Services (MITS), improving IT security and support remains a top priority. To support this effort, the college will significantly reduce the number of unsupported and underused devices in circulation.

Between April 1 and May 31, EHE OIT will coordinate the collection and secure decommissioning of hundreds of unused or severely underused devices. You may receive a message from EHE OIT identifying specific computers or tablets that should be returned to the service desk located at 196 Arps Hall or collected by EHE IT staff.

Retiring these devices will help reduce the college’s ongoing technology support costs and improve the overall support experience by allowing staff to focus on commonly supported equipment. OIT appreciates your assistance with this effort. If you have any major concerns, please notify EHE OIT as soon as possible.

FAQ

  • This will immediately improve EHE’s cybersecurity framework, continuity planning, and ability to respond to support requests. There are economies of scale that OTDI can leverage within IT that the EHE cannot. Our IT team has had single contributors in multiple critical areas due to staff losses and budget constraints. By moving services to OTDI, our key staff will have backups and more support to provide technology services to the college.  
  • Based on elements that were negotiated with OTDI and that are in-scope as part of this service alignment partnership, the college anticipates seeing an annual cost savings in future fiscal years.
    • For example: EHE’s file, application, database and web servers are due for a major investment/upgrade in FY27. Transforming to OTDI services will avoid hundreds of thousands of dollars as one-time expenses.
    • OTDI’s core service includes refreshing employee workstations on a 4-year cycle as compared to EHE’s current 60 month + window. This reduces performance and support issues.
  • With recent OTDI leadership changes, a new perspective on the function of enterprise IT has been adopted wherein OTDI is focusing on where they can scale to generate cost efficiencies across the University while at the same time providing greater access to IT resources and expertise within the larger OTDI organization.
  • EHE is actively exploring long term budgeting strategies and realistic ways to eliminate or reduce technical debt (financially and technologically). Moving to the OTDI Core Services model for desktop and local infrastructure support will reduce reoccurring operational IT costs for EHE in coming fiscal years. 

Between now and July 1, our current technology team will update and communicate the new support processes that will begin on July 1, 2026. Until then, please continue to access the support teams in the same manner. 

The IT Services team (currently led by Melanie Qualls) will transfer to OTDI on July 1, 2026. Vincent Cefaratti and Brandon Smith will also transfer to OTDI’s team. 

  • OTDI will provide level 1 and level 2 support of college A/V. The quickest way to reach them during business hours with an issue will be to call 614-688-4357.
  • OTDI also provides general event support, wherein if you submit a request in advance (preferably 24+ hours) of your event they will ensure all the A/V in the room(s) is operational the day of the event and they will be “on-call” if something arises during the event (OTDI staff will not attend the event, but will be in proximity of the event if support is needed). 
    • OTDI will also provide proactive A/V checks to regularly ensure all EHE A/V is operational.
  • No, all employees will still be assigned a computer, and it will be refreshed every 4 years (including peripherals, which is an enhancement from the current refresh framework; monitors, keyboard, mouse, and docking station). 
  • OTDI will help the EHE optimize the current computer fleet to the ideal core operational level. Currently EHE maintains an almost 3:1 ratio of devices to full-time staff and faculty. 

Yes. OTDI supports Windows and Apple computers. Their standard configurations are found here.

 

In preparation for the transition to the university’s Office of Technology and Digital Innovation (ODTI) support of our college computers, new purchases will be limited to urgent needs. EHE’s Office of Information Technology will review new computer or tablet requests and consult with requestors to identify possible interim solutions or to approve an exception.  Under the FY27 OTDI support model, faculty and staff will receive a new primary computer every 48 months to maintain peak performance and support security standards. 

With all EHE computers being transferred to support by the Office of Technology and Digital Innovation(ODTI), unsupported and low performance devices need to be fully decommissioned.  This includes computers over six years old and tablets (iPads, Microsoft Surface, Android tablets and Chromebooks) over five years old. Removing the devices not only maintains security but also reduces the college’s budget for technology support.