• One IT is a campuswide initiative to modernize, secure, and align UCLA’s digital operations in support of the university’s mission and overall excellence. This effort is central to the Effective UCLA flagship initiative of UCLA’s Strategic Plan, which focuses on strengthening institutional effectiveness and operational efficiency.
• Led by Digital & Technology Solutions (DTS), One IT brings together distributed IT functions into a coordinated model that promotes consistency, reduces risk, and improves service delivery across the campus.
• This effort is not just about reorganizing IT; it is about positioning UCLA for the future, with the right infrastructure, tools, and workforce to support digital equity, accelerate innovation, and operate more efficiently at scale.
• Through phased implementation, One IT will help the university unlock new opportunities to invest in its academic mission, protect its digital assets, and deliver a seamless technology experience for faculty, students, researchers, and staff.

• One IT supports UCLA’s efforts to become more secure, efficient, and responsive in how IT services are delivered.
• It reduces fragmentation, improves governance, and ensures more equitable access to digital tools and support.
• The initiative also positions UCLA to better support teaching, research, and public service with a coordinated IT foundation.

UCLA’s current IT environment has evolved over time into a highly fragmented structure, with more than 40 separate IT units, 10 campus data centers, and over 70 independently managed networks. While this distributed model provided flexibility, it has also introduced challenges that affect service quality, operational efficiency, and institutional risk.

The distributed state has led to:

• Increased Cybersecurity Risk – The lack of unified infrastructure, standards, and oversight creates vulnerabilities across the university. As cyber threats grow more sophisticated, a fragmented security posture places institutional data and operations at greater risk.
• Inconsistent Service Delivery – The user experience varies widely across departments, with uneven levels of IT support, responsiveness, and capability depending on location and resourcing.
• Duplicative Systems and Spending – Multiple units are operating parallel systems for functions such as ticketing, storage, endpoint management, and collaboration tools. This fragmentation creates redundancy and limits the university’s ability to invest in scalable, modern solutions.
• Barriers to Collaboration and Innovation – A siloed environment slows down cross-campus collaboration and makes it more difficult to roll out university-wide tools, analytics, or digital services to support faculty, staff, and students.
• Limited Transparency and Governance – Without a campuswide view of IT operations, it is difficult to make data-informed decisions about investments, staffing, or service strategy.

One IT addresses these issues head-on by creating a coordinated model that improves service consistency, reduces risk, and makes better use of UCLA’s talent and resources. It is a foundational step toward delivering secure, equitable, and modern digital services that meet the evolving needs of the university.

One IT is guided by a clear set of priorities focused on strengthening UCLA’s digital foundation while supporting the university’s academic, research, and service mission. These priorities define what success looks like over time and help align decisions and investments across campus.

• Modernize and align IT systems and services
  Evolve core platforms and service models to support current needs while preparing for future growth and innovation.
• Strengthen cybersecurity and operational resilience
  Protect data, reduce risk, and ensure critical services remain available and recover quickly when disruptions occur.
• Deliver consistent, high-quality digital experiences
  Provide reliable, user-centered services that work seamlessly across schools and departments.
• Optimize and reinvest resources into UCLA’s mission
  Use resources more effectively to support teaching, research, and student success.
• Promote equity and accessibility in technology
  Ensure digital tools and services are inclusive and accessible to all members of the UCLA community.

Together, these priorities guide a coordinated approach to technology that supports UCLA’s excellence today and strengthens the university for the future.

The initiative will occur in three phases:

Phase 1: Discovery (September 2025 – June 2026)

The Discovery phase is focused on capturing and analyzing data across campus to understand IT staffing, products, and services. This phase establishes a clear picture of the current IT environment, including people, systems, and processes, and identifies opportunities for alignment and improvement.

Key Outcomes

• Validated inventory of IT staff, roles, products, and services
• Visibility into technology dependencies, duplication, and gaps
• Baseline data to support defensible recommendations
• Identification of early opt-in opportunities, areas where earlier transition under One IT could provide meaningful value, and critical risks

Phase 2: Design (Projected timeline: July 2026 – June 2027)

During the Design Phase, DTS will work closely with campus leaders to co-create the future-state operating model and unit-level transition recommendations. The design phase focuses on defining how UCLA’s unified IT environment will operate, balancing shared services with local needs through collaborative planning and governance.

Key Outcomes

• Defined One IT target-state operating model
• Unit-by-unit transition recommendations
• Prioritized business cases for staff and technology transitions
• Agreed sequencing and readiness criteria

Phase 3: Transform (Projected timeline: July 2027 – October 2029)

The Transform phase will implement approved transitions integrating people, processes, and technology under One IT. This phase moves from design to implementation, guided by governance-approved sequencing to ensure minimal disruption and measurable improvement across UCLA’s digital ecosystem.

Key Outcomes

• Phased transition of people, processes, and technology into DTS
• Execution of approved business cases aligned to milestones
• Minimal disruption through governance-approved sequencing
• Measurable improvements in service delivery, resilience, and efficiency

• During Phase 1: Discovery (September 2025 – June 2026), there are no layoffs, no reapplications, and no changes to day-to-day responsibilities for IT staff. IT professionals will continue supporting the same schools, departments, and programs they do today.
• The primary change during Discovery is a reporting line alignment of IT Consolidation Leads and IT Unit Leads to Digital & Technology Solutions (DTS) to enable coordinated planning and data gathering. This reporting change is administrative and does not change the work, systems supported or the relationship with local units.

UCLA is ensuring continuity and job security for IT professionals through a phased, data-driven approach that prioritizes stability. During the Discovery phase, roles, services, and systems are documented and validated before any changes are considered, and no workforce transitions occur without governance review and advance communication. One IT is designed to strengthen long-term sustainability, create clearer career pathways, and preserve the expertise that supports UCLA’s academic and research mission

• One IT is intentionally designed to improve service quality, security, and accountability by applying lessons learned from previous reorganizations at UCLA and peer R1 institutions. The initiative is phased to focus on understanding and improving services before expanding or transitioning them, reducing disruption and risk.
• As One IT progresses, the campus will see clearer communication and feedback opportunities, stronger and more consistent cybersecurity practices, improved reliability, faster response times, and more consistent service standards supported by shared governance and measurable outcomes.

Departments will retain flexibility and input in how their IT needs are met.

• Local IT experts remain in place
• Specialized systems are respected
• Departments continue to shape shared services implementation

One IT streamlines coordination and standards — not creativity or decision-making.

Departments and IT staff are actively involved throughout One IT through the Discovery process, cross-campus working groups, and shared governance bodies. Local IT leaders and staff help document current services, identify dependencies and areas where flexibility is required, and contribute to designing future service models. Success is defined collaboratively using service quality, reliability, security, and user-experience measures, with input reviewed through governance structures to ensure decisions reflect academic, research, and operational needs.

• DTS leadership understands that many IT professionals have experienced frequent changes, leading to fatigue and uncertainty. One IT is intentionally designed to be different — it emphasizes stability through a phased, data-driven approach and long-term investment in people and technology.
• UCLA is taking a deliberate, transparent, and inclusive approach, supported by the Discovery process, shared governance, and clear decision pathways. Open communication through regular updates, working groups, town halls, office hours, and listening sessions gives staff meaningful opportunities to share feedback and stay informed.
• Most importantly, people are at the center of One IT. By prioritizing professional growth, respect for local expertise, and predictable processes, the initiative aims to rebuild trust and strengthen UCLA’s IT community over time.

The initiative is guided by a governance structure that includes the Academic Senate, Change Leader Network, and Effective UCLA and One IT governance groups. These groups will provide ongoing feedback and help shape priorities.

Each department has developed unique systems, relationships, and ways of working that are vital to supporting faculty, research, and students. The real strength of UCLA IT lies in the people who understand how things work locally, and One IT is structured to protect that expertise.

DTS leadership is collaborating closely with the Academic Senate and the soon-to-be-launched Change Leader Network to carry forward academic and research-specific knowledge into the new shared services model.

IT Consolidation Leads (ITCLs) and IT Unit Leads have been chosen from within UCLA’s existing IT community. These leaders bring first-hand knowledge of their units’ systems, teams, and needs, ensuring that local expertise shapes every step of the transition.

During the Discovery and Design phases, each unit’s IT environment — including staff, systems, and services — will be carefully documented and mapped before any changes occur. This ensures that nothing critical is lost or overlooked.

Success and accountability will be measured using clear, shared metrics that reflect service quality, security, and user experience. These include service response times, cybersecurity and reliability improvements, and user satisfaction feedback, informed by baselines established during Discovery. Progress will be reviewed through governance structures and shared transparently through regular updates, reports, and dashboards on the One IT website.

Faculty input is integral through:

• Academic alignment ensuring IT improvements directly support teaching and research
• Shared governance and consultation with the Academic Senate and Change Leader Network
•  Participation in cross-campus Working Groups, where faculty collaborate with IT leaders and staff to assess current systems, identify needs, and help design future service models
• Collaborative design processes that define priorities, success measures, and areas requiring flexibility
• Ongoing engagement through town halls, listening sessions, and open forums

One IT strengthens UCLA’s ability to teach, research, and innovate by providing modern, reliable, and secure technology. It unifies IT teams and systems to:

• Support research and teaching with advanced tools and data services
• Protect research and institutional data through stronger cybersecurity
• Ensure consistent, equitable IT support across all schools and departments

A shared governance model ensures that implementation decisions reflect the needs of UCLA’s academic and research community.

One IT is designed to strengthen—not limit—academic innovation by providing a secure, flexible, and modern technology foundation for teaching and research. It will:

• Protect academic freedom and research data through stronger cybersecurity
• Expand access to modern tools like AI, cloud computing, and high-performance storage
• Make cross-disciplinary collaboration easier
• Maintain flexibility so specialized systems can stay local when needed

Faculty input through the Academic Senate, One IT Governance, and Change Leader Network ensures that decisions always reflect academic and research priorities and decisions reflect the needs of UCLA’s academic and research community.

One IT is about transforming operations to make UCLA’s IT resources more effective and impactful. Currently, UCLA operates more than 40 separate IT units, 70 networks, and 39 email systems. This level of fragmentation creates duplication, inefficiency, and unnecessary costs across campus. By unifying our IT operations under One IT, we can:

• Make smarter, more coordinated technology investments
• Reduce duplication of systems and services
• Streamline vendor contracts
• Strengthen cybersecurity

Research computing is a core component of One IT. The initiative aims to expand secure, scalable research infrastructure, reduce duplication of systems, and increase access to advanced computing and data management tools for all faculty.

Yes. We will continue the existing close collaboration with the Vice Chancellor of Research organization and individual PIs/researchers with compliance requirements for research to provide support. Through One IT, we will have the opportunity to strengthen research computing enclaves which will address many of the heightened regulations by design.

Consolidation actually strengthens security by allowing UCLA to standardize protections, monitor threats holistically campuswide, and reduce vulnerabilities caused in-part by fragmented systems. One IT’s unified infrastructure will help to identify, prioritize, and reduce risk and also improve response times to cyber incidents.

One IT will create a foundation for innovation at scale. By modernizing infrastructure and cloud capabilities, UCLA can more effectively adopt emerging tools such as AI, data analytics, and automation, all while maintaining proper governance and data security.

Maintaining operations and avoiding system interruptions is at the center of how we will transition services, products and systems. Each transition goes through its own discovery and validation process to ensure continuity. Systems are only consolidated when alternatives are tested and proven stable and all changes are coordinated with our community to ensure we minimize interruptions.

The phased approach to One IT has been designed to ensure continuity is prioritized during this transition. In the initial phase, no operational changes have occurred, and local IT staff have been empowered to continue providing support for their services. As we rationalize and transform services, mission critical operations and services will be identified and we will follow our rigorous IT change management and business continuity practices in partnership with campus to ensure the availability of services.

The next One IT information session will be scheduled for Winter 2026. In the meantime, unit leaders will continue to receive targeted updates based on readiness and planning progress.

• Visit the One IT webpages for news, resources, and the project timeline
• Email oneIT@ucla.edu with questions or feedback
• Attend upcoming office hours or information session (dates to be announced)