What is ECAR, What is its Research Process, and How Can You Make the Most of it? Susan Grajek, Vice President, EDUCAUSE ECAR Annual Meeting, Tempe, Arizona, January 2014

Today: ECAR and more

Benefits of ECAR Subscriptions Professional research All ECAR research, including more than 30 reports Family of resources: maturity indices, infographics, data tables, and key findings and actionable recommendations Available to your entire institution, not metered or restricted CHECS reports Gartner research Community and professional (and profession!) development ECAR Annual Meeting ECAR Working Groups Opportunity to lead or participate in Working group publications ECAR is the only subscriber-driven research organization dedicated to understanding IT's role in colleges and universities

ECAR Grows! Subscribers

Expansion Program Areas From 0  2 Meetings Security, Policy, GRC Admin IT Meetings From 1  3 Enterprise Security ECAR Grants From 1  2 Gates Lumina Capabilities +1 ECAR Working Groups Staff From 9  15/16

Diverse Services and Programs Cybersecurity Programs and HEISC Core Data Service IT GRC Working Groups

How does it all fit together?

Quite well, actually Teaching and Learning Admin IT GRC, Security, Policy other areas in support of Emergent/Future IT Issues Predict and Plan Formative Working groups Define and Design Descriptive ECAR research Understand, Make the Case Normative Core Data Service Assess, Plan, Make the Case Phase Product Line Derivative products and services: HE Briefs, SITAR, Custom Analyses Jobs to be done

Upcoming

ECAR 2014 Research Research on Technology in the Academic Community Annual Undergraduate study A new Faculty study IT Governance, Risk, and Compliance The Top Ten Strategic Technologies for 2014 New Models for IT Service Delivery Integrated degree planning and advising analytics (IPAS) Maturity and Deployment Indices for Higher Education IT

Current Working Group Projects Lead(s) Focus Big Data Guy Almes,Texas A&M University Examines how campuses will support big data and work with national data centers Emergency Communications Jim Jokl, University of Virginia and Mark Katsouros, The Pennsylvania State University Summarizes recent changes in emergency communications and the impact these will have on campus and statewide. IT Service Catalog Ricardo Chavira, Yale University and Hillary Rosenfeld, Boston University Best practices and a expandable, flexible taxonomy to define common catalog of core services Mobile Data Collection Rosemary A. Rocchio, University of California, Los Angeles Focuses on the promise and concerns of the emerging practice of collecting data using mobile devices and uploading that data to a server for aggregation and analysis. Research Data Storage Judy Caruso, University of Wisconsin-Madison Focuses on what services and governance might be needed as institutions increase their maturity in data management and storage support. Responsive Web Design Looks at the basics of responsive web design, an approach that makes content available on a variety of devices. TCO for Cloud Services Gabe Youtsey, University of California, Davis and Erik Lundberg, University of Washington Developing a methodology to accurately and fully benchmark costs of today's campus-based services against cloud alternatives.

Sneak Preview: Top 10 Technologies! “Strategic technologies” are those relatively new technologies institutions will be spending the most time implementing, planning, and tracking in 2014. Business intelligence reporting dashboards Mobile apps for enterprise applications Mobile app development Enterprise identity and access management solutions Learning analytics: Course level Administrative or business performance analytics Unified communications and collaboration 802.11ac wireless networking standard Virtual desktops or virtual PC applications Learning analytics: Degree advising

Under Development Helping you assess the value of IT

A Conceptualization of IT’s Value Value is a balance of Inputs relative to Outputs Individual services and technologies Services (Deployment Indices) This is what the institutional community actually experiences Outputs Governance, culture, process, infrastructure, leadership, etc. Capabilities (Maturity Indices) Finances, Staffing, Management practices Inputs to IT This is primarily what we measure today. Inputs

Value is Relative What are you aiming for? Peers Strategic Priorities How is your maturity, deployment depth relative to your peers? How are your inputs:outputs relative to your peers? Peers Are you leading in the areas your instituiton’s strategy wants to lead in? Might you be over-investing in areas that are not priorities? Strategic Priorities What level(s) of maturity have you achieved? How do you compare to a “best in class” standard? External Standards Outputs in relation to inputs Peers Strategic priorities An absolute level of progress

Under Development: SITAR and MIDAS Funded by the Lumina Foundation Step 1: Develop a strategic set of IT benchmarks based on both inputs and outputs Step 2: Create tools and a service to enable institutions to use those benchmarks affordably and productively Leverage existing EDUCAUSE data and research Collaborate with those who will use the tools and services

Project Components Use existing data from the EDUCAUSE Core Data Service Primarily IT staffing and finances (inputs) Use existing and develop new data to measure IT outputs (MIDAS) Develop a semi-customized templated reporting service to enable institutions to benchmark affordably and “authoritatively” (SITAR)

A Higher Ed IT Research and Benchmarking Framework IT Service Management, Policy, Governance, and Strategy Deployment, service management, and governance toolkits, standards, standard processes (create and connect to and adapt existing materials) Emergent Areas Practices, Solutions, Technologies, Applications  Frameworks Landscapes Models Building HE markets IT Domain Areas Teaching and Learning Informa- tion Security IT Support ERP Research Network, Voice and Data Data Center Services Web Product- ivity Apps E-mail, Calendar, etc.) Staffing Finances Deployment indices Maturity Indices Standards Core Technologies and Applications (several within each domain) Detailed tracking in CDS (solution, costs, quality, contextual info, plans to change) Annual market analysis reports Solution-specific SIGs Customer panel wishlists Adjunct Technologies and Applications (many within each domain) High-level tracking in CDS or via recurring brief surveys Simple almanac-type reports  

MIDAS: Maturity indices Examines multiple dimensions of progress, not just technical Enables institutions to determine where they are…and where they aspire to be Both expert- and data- driven Research computing Analytics

MIDAS: Deployment indices Stages of deployment for specific technologies and services Aggregate to track progress in a domain Example: Planning and Advising Systems

SITAR: Strategic IT Assessment Report Institutions contribute data by participating in CDS and completing maturity and deployment indices They specify their benchmarking parameters Comparison institutions and groups Strategic priorities They receive a report with the results, showing strengths, gaps, and providing expert analysis and recommendations Uses Self-study Mediated through a consultant Used by consortia Vision: An affordable alternative or supplement to major consulting studies, a service by and for higher education

Timeframe Winter 2014 Spring – Summer 2014 Develop a prioritized taxonomy of maturity and deployment indices needed to benchmark higher education IT Spring – Summer 2014 Design and prototype strategic IT assessment report (SITAR), based on CDS data and templated narrative Design, implement, and collect data for three new core MIs and DIs that can be generated via an improved MI tool and also used to inform SITAR Develop a plan for operationalizing SITAR beyond the prototype stage Develop data management and improvement plans and SITAR report framework enhancement plan for follow-up in Phase II Create a sustainability plan (business model) for the new services

Making the most of ECAR and Related Programs

What are you trying to accomplish? Predict and Plan Define and Design Understand, Make the Case Assess, Plan, Make the Case Use the Top 10 IT Issues and Technologies in planning sessions Join an existing working group Propose a new working group Suggest ECAR research Use ECAR research products Studies help you understand Powerpoints and infographics help you make the case Executive briefs will help even more Complete Core Data Use the Reporting tool in a self-assessment Contact peers to learn how they’re doing it The SITAR project will help even more

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Questions? Susan Grajek, Ph.D.