Spending, Staffing, Service and Infrastructure Answering Four Questions about Information Technology COSTS David Smallen, VP for Information Technology, Hamilton College Karen Leach VP for Administration and Finance, Hamilton College October 29,2001

COSTS Mission (Spending) Are we spending appropriately on information resources to support the institutional mission? (Staffing) Are we staffing our organizations appropriately and compensating our staffs appropriately to attract and retain the needed support personnel? (Service) Are we providing appropriate services to meet the needs of users of information resources? (Infrastructure) Are we investing in and maintaining our infrastructure appropriately to assure that it continues to provide the necessary services?

COSTS Data Institutional Demographics IT budget and expenditures IT staffing

COSTS Institutional Demographics Headcounts –Full-time students –Part-time students –Faculty –Employees Institutional budget Institutional expenditures Institutional computers Percent student ownership

118 Participating Institutions (by Carnegie Classification) Bachelor –B –B Masters –M –R1 - 1 –M2 - 4 Two year (AA) - 7 Doctoral (D1) - 2 Research –R2 - 3 Law - 1 Religious - 2 Other - 4

Carnegie Classifications (for today’s analyses) B1 - >40% of degrees in liberal arts and more selective (generally more financial resources) B2 - <40% of degrees in liberal arts or less selective (generally less financial resources) M12 - offer full range of undergraduate and graduate degrees through masters (> 20 per year)

Institutional Size (today’s presentation) 25th50th75th# ALL B B M

COSTS Budget/Expenditures Salaries Fringe Benefits Student Help Contractual/consulting Hardware Software Professional Development Other

Are we spending appropriately? Benchmark #1 Proportion of IT budgets spent on different types of IT resources

Benchmark #1 Insights  50% of IT budget is personnel-related (ALL institutions.  12% of IT budget at B2 institutions directed at outsourcing  25% of IT budget is hardware-related (ALL)  7% of IT budget is software-related

Are we spending appropriately? Benchmark #2 Spending on technology per (employee + student)

Benchmark #2 (1999/2000 vs 2000/2001) IT budget per (employee + student) has increased for all types of institutions

Are we spending appropriately? Benchmark #3 Median 4.9% Percent of total institutional budget devoted to IT

Are we staffing appropriately? Benchmark #4 Number of users each IT staff member is supporting

Are we staffing appropriately? Benchmark #5 Number of computers each IT staff member is supporting

COSTS Staffing Administrative information systems Web Support Helpline Desktop computer repair Training Hardware/software installation Network Support Administration and Planning Curricular support Student Support Other

Are we staffing appropriately? Benchmark #6 Allocation of IT staff: percent supporting each service

Are we investing in and maintaining infrastructure? Benchmark #7 Number of campus users per institutional computer on campus

Summary: COSTS Benchmarks  Median spending on IT is 4.9% of the institution’s budget with a typical range of 3.6% to 6.2%. (Budget Impact)  Budget support for technology continues to grow at most institutions, with a median increase of 11% over the last year (1999/ /2001). (Budget Support Level)  B1 colleges typically spend more on technology per campus member---between $957 and $1561 per year. (Budget Support Level)

Summary: COSTS Benchmarks  B2 institutions use more outsourcing. (Budget Profile)  50% of IT budgets are typically devoted to personnel. (Budget Profile)  On average, institutions spend 25% of their IT budget on hardware and 7 % on software. (Budget Profile)  IT staff at M12 and B2 colleges support more users per staff member. (Staff Support Level)

Summary: COSTS Benchmarks  On average, institutions devote 25% of their staff to teaching and learning, 50% to support the current infrastructure, and 25% to central information systems. (Staff Support Level)  M12 and B1 colleges devote a greater percentage of IT staff to teaching and learning. (Service Staff Profile)  B1 colleges have 50% more computers per campus user than Masters or B2 colleges. (Computer Availability)