The seventh annual Educause Current IT Issues Survey Report highlights two areas which I have been following.  First, Security & Identity Management (IdM) rose to the top, displacing IT Funding as the most strategic issue needing to be resolved for future success.  Second, Portfolio Development & Management was a new category this year and immediately received attention, appearing among the top-ten issues expected to become more significant in the coming year.  Other issues I have been tracking of late were also covered, including ERP, Academic Alignment, and Web Services (SOA). 

Here are some of the highlights from the report, with additional resources referenced at the end.  Overall, this report is a treasure trove of Higher Education IT strategic thinking:

Perhaps a rebranding of the application section of the Enterprise Architecture, Application Portfolio Management (APM) is a healthy way to inventory, and rationalize an organization's applications.

By rationalize, we mean "to form a rational conception of". In other words, are all the applications that IT currently supports governed by reason?

Applications are assets provided their costs do not exceed delivered value.

• How can I marshal the resources required for new projects and initiatives?
• What applications are impacted by a new project?
• If we eliminate this application, what other applications and databases will need modification?
• What applications should be integrated, consolidated or eliminated?
• What applications provide redundant functionality?
• Which applications cost the most to support?
• What can I do to control costs?
• Where are we underutilizing assets due to fragmentation, lack of common definitions or lack of integration?

Resources:

• DCI Web Seminar - Application Rationalization: Taking Stock of the IT Portfolio to Accommodate Business Needs (PDF / Watch Presentation)