Technology Forecasting

Overview

Technology Forecasting includes a suite of offerings that promotes common solutions for the campus community, provides technology summaries that facilitate easier IT planning, and allows for better economies of scale centrally and across campus IT departments.

Offerings

  • Desktop & Mobile Applications—supports requests for standards and best practices by collaboratively developing technology recommendations and best practice documentation
  • Technology Evaluations & Coordination—works collaboratively with Penn IT partners to identify, evaluate, and coordinate new IT services (or new ways of delivering existing services)
  • Technology Tracking—assists in technology planning by maintaining technology roadmaps for University-provided services, policy compliance, and impactful industry trends

Benefits

  • Quarterly updates on multi-year technology roadmaps to facilitate better planning and more efficient uses of technology along with a more orderly and holistic approach to the retirement, upgrading, or replacement of services
  • Annual comprehensive guidelines, including institutional and industry trends and recommendations on purchasing and replacement of client hardware
  • Individual purchasing guides updated as needed, typically following new hardware or operating system introductions from the University’s major vendors
  • Support policies and configuration recommendations based on University guidelines and best practices, including sustainability
  • Resources including the Standards Lab and Standards Cart that enable IT staff to test new devices, technologies, and enterprise solutions for use in the Penn computing environment

Who Can Benefit from This Service

  • University IT community
  • Faculty, staff, students, and UPHS

Additional Information and Resources