CAUDIT A collaborative group promoting the use and support of IT in higher education A Short Overview Neil Thelander – Deputy Chair, CAUDIT and Director of IT Services, QUT Richard Northam – General Manager, CAUDIT Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology Promoting and advancing the use and support of information technology in higher education Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

A Quick Background Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology What is CAUDIT and what does it do?

What is CAUDIT? Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology The Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology is an industry wide group of: –The IT Directors/CIOs of all universities in Australia, and –New Zealand together with universities in PNG and the South Pacific, and –Major Commonwealth Research Organisations such as CSIRO and AIMS.

Vision CAUDIT's Vision is that leaders in Australian universities, Australian Government Departments and industry recognise both CAUDIT and its members as an important source of strategic advice on the use of Information Technology in Higher Education. Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology Mission CAUDIT's Mission is to enhance its members' ability and influence as key strategic advisers on the use of Information Technology in Higher Education.

Strategies to achieve the mission developing and maintaining relationships with key members of the Higher Education sector, assisting members to develop professional skills, providing mutual support mechanisms to members, encouraging development and application of standards, benchmarking, best practice and policies, sharing expertise among members and colleagues, being a major focus for relationships with similar international organisations and the IT industry. Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Influence Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology With 53 members who contribute strategic IT leadership to their universities or research organisations, CAUDIT is able to speak authoritatively to Government, Industry and University bodies on all aspects of IT and this is illustrated by the wide range of Government committees on which CAUDIT is represented and by the variety of company directorships held by various CAUDIT members.

Membership Aimed at Higher Education and Research Organisations –38 Australian Universities –8 New Zealand Universities –3 Fiji/Papua New Guinea Universities –2 Peak Australian research bodies –3 Others Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Member Meetings 2 Meetings are held each year for all IT Directors. At one meeting IT Directors may also invite one of their senior staff to attend. Members in each state also have meetings to discuss issues and projects of common interest or to collaborate. Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Membership Fees Membership fees are charged annually –Full membership Approx AU$8,000 * –Australian Associate and Affiliate membership Approx AU$4,000 * –Overseas Associate Members Approx AU$2,000 * –Independent of the size of the institution * Indexed to the Consumer Price Index Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Governance – CAUDIT Executive The CAUDIT Executive is appointed by election for 2 year terms. –Chair –Deputy Chair –Treasurer –Member Representative –Immediate Past Chair –NZ Representative by invitation (Chair of NZ SCIT) Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Governance – Standing Committees Standing Committees oversee the conduct of various strategic projects including: –Procurement –Technical Standards –Benchmarking –Risk Management –Professional Development Chaired by an IT Director Supported by the CAUDIT Staff Typically 4-5 other IT Directors or nominees serve on each committee Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Staffing General Manager (Full Time) Executive Officer (0.6 FTE) Various Consultants and Project Officers, as required. Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Value Proposition? So what compels our members to pay an annual membership fee? Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Procurement CAUDIT plays a key role in acting as a single point of contact which vendors can negotiate sector wide licensing and supply arrangements. The Standing Committee on Procurement oversees the negotiations which are typically led by an IT Director who has an interest or relationship with a particular vendor. Benefits: –Reduces the burden on individual institutions associated with negotiating –Allows the sector to leverage the negotiating skills of a small number of highly talented negotiators Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Procurement Benefits (continued) –Allows smaller institutions to gain access to technology at the same price as their larger peers –Reduces the cost of doing business for the vendor => allows prices to be reduced and/or additional products to be included –Gives the vendor some certainty in terms of future revenue => allows prices to be reduced and/or additional products to be included –Allows the collective bargaining power of the sector to be applied to a vendor Typically CAUDIT negotiates “all you can eat” deals which are priced on a per staff and/or student basis with minimal compliance/administrative overheads Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Procurement Some interesting facts about the collective bargaining power that CAUDIT can bring to the negotiating table Students Staff Approx AU$1.2 billion annual expenditure on IT Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Procurement CAUDIT Microsoft Agreement –Based around the Campus Agreement –Negotiations done at a national level once every 3 years for a 3 year contract term –CAUDIT acts as the negotiating body, the contract is still between the institution and Microsoft, CAUDIT members can choose to opt in or not –Common core set of products, with optional extras –During the last round of negotiations for the current 3 year agreement, CAUDIT was able to drive the price down significantly. Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Procurement CAUDIT Microsoft Agreement During the last round of negotiations, we achieved an annual saving over the previous contract negotiation Annual saving to the sector = AU$2,500,000 For an institution with say staff that represents an annual saving of AU$62,500! Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Procurement VMWare –An entirely new way of thinking for VMWare –All you can eat agreement, including: VMware Infrastructure Enterprise Edition consisting of the following products: –ESX Server; –VMFS (Virtual Machine File System); –Virtual SMP; –VirtualCenter Agent; –VMotion; –VMware DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduling); –VMware HA (High Availability); –VMware Consolidated backup; VirtualCenter Management Server; and Platinum Support and Subscription Services acquired with VMware Software Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Procurement VMWare Education Retail Price of US$█. █ █ per effective full time student For most members the final cost came out at less than what they were already paying just in annual maintenance on their existing limited set of VMware licenses! Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Procurement Some other vendors CAUDIT has negotiated with: –Microsoft –VMWare –Sun Microsystems –Oracle –Citrix –HP –CISCO –RedHat –Novell –IronPort –Patchlink –ProActive Services (ITIL training) Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Procurement Pushing the boundaries of vendors –For many years CAUDIT had been lobbying Microsoft to get the price of Office below the $100 mark to encourage students to buy it rather than pirate it. –The “Its Not Cheating” program pioneered in Australia –Students buy a perpetual license for Office for AU$75 –Fulfilment is by internet download –Now being rolled out through the world (11 countries so far) –Marketing varies from country to country, the other name you’ll see is “It’s a steal” Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Benchmarking Project The benchmarking project has collected data and developed various benchmarks allowing IT Directors to compare various aspects of their operations with other Universities. Using these benchmarks CAUDIT and IT Directors can identify examples of best practice throughout the sector and facilitate the sharing of this knowledge to everyone. Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Individual university names have been removed

Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology Individual university names have been removed

Australian Access Federation A federation of identity across the sector based around Shibboleth and PKI, Expected to go live in January 2009, test bed federation already live, Australian higher education will be the first Higher Education Sector in the world to have a root certificate embedded into the browser/OS with Microsoft, Apple and Firefox. Has received support from various government agencies totalling many millions of dollars Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Collaboration and Sharing of Ideas and Best Practice A very strong culture of collaboration between CAUDIT members now exists Members routinely piggy back off each others procurement tenders and the like Members often share technology and experiences through structured best practice sessions and via informal contacts Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

CAUDIT-EDUCAUSE Institute Each year CAUDIT runs an institute which was originally modelled on the US EDUCAUSE Management and Leadership Institutes to provide professional development for IT Directors and their staff. Highly successful, over subscribed every year since it started in 1998 (roughly 400 senior IT staff trained) Developing the next generation of IT Directors (who have at least some knowledge of CAUDIT when they get into such a role having attended the institute) Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Other Professional Development CAUDIT sponsors various workshops throughout Australia to provide more targeted training to both IT Directors and their staff. Examples include: –AusCERT Workshops on Security –Benchmarking Workshops –Best Practice presentations –It is anticipated that CAUDIT’s activities in this area will increase as it brokers other courses over the coming year Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

International Relations CAUDIT facilitates relationships with various international organisations, including: –UCISA (UK) –EUNIS (Europe) –SCIT (NZ) –EDUCAUSE (USA) –CUCCIO (Canada) –Surf (Netherlands) Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Study Tours CAUDIT organises 2 study tours each year –One will focus on a particular theme e.g. eResearch and run in conjunction with a conference. To date the focus has been UK, Europe, this year Canada although this will shift to SE Asia and China in 2009, –One runs immediately after the EDUCAUSE Conference and is focused on developing vendor relationships through customised and targeted briefings at a vendor’s Executive Briefing Centre Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

e-Research CAUDIT is playing a key role in raising the awareness of its members about e- Research (e-Science) as well as informing various Government Departments about how Australia should co-ordinate and invest in e-Research Infrastructure to support researchers. Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Advocacy and Representation CAUDIT plays a key role in providing high level advice to: –Universities Australia –The Federal Government CAUDIT has been invited to serve on various Government committees, including: –NCRIS –HEBAC –AeRIC As well as making submissions to government on various issues Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Advocacy and Representation By building its reputation and leveraging its influence, CAUDIT and its members have been able to convince various government agencies to provide funds in the order of millions of dollars towards various projects. In a recent meeting with Federal Government bureaucrats, they openly noted that CAUDIT was now considered a strategically important constituent group for them on matters relating to IT in higher education, innovation and research. Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

The CAUDIT Staff Executive Officer –Administration and financial support of the organisation –Member support –Meeting organisation and support –Oversight of the EDUCAUSE CAUDIT Institute –The role started around 1996 Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

The CAUDIT Staff Senior Project Manager –Oversight of all projects –Vendor relationship management –Development of position papers etc –Management of surveys –This role started around 2003 Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

The CAUDIT Staff General Manager –Lead and manage various CAUDIT strategic initiatives, projects and activities on behalf of the executive –Manage the administrative and operational activities of CAUDIT including staff employed by CAUDIT –Provide high level support to members on a broad range of topics and activities and facilitate collaboration between members –Coordinate the development of CAUDIT position papers and responses to sector or government calls for submissions –Take a lead role in developing strategic alliances with vendors and the conduct of sector wide negotiations for products and services on behalf of the membership –Take a leadership role and oversee the development and implementation of professional development activities for the membership, including study tours, workshops and other professional development as required Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Key Success Factors Employing dedicated staff who can follow things through and coordinate and harness the skills of those around the sector who are willing to contribute Employing staff who are ex IT Directors or CIOs from the higher education sector who bring comparable knowledge & skills to the role as those they serve Employing staff who understand the business of the members and the challenges they face Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Questions ? Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Key Contacts & Web Site General Manager Richard Northam Executive Officer Ian Hunter Web Site: Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology