NC STATE UNIVERSITY Campus Systems and Calendar Systems: a self assessment Sarah Noell, ITD, Project Coordinator Harry Nicholos, ITD, Technical co-chair Cheri Renninger, RMIS, Technical co-chair

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Why are we here? Discussions with Chancellor, Provost, and Vice-chancellor for Finance and Business led to buy-in (mandate) to: –Do a comprehensive review of the systems and calendar systems running on campus. We need to improve our understanding of the university’s fiscal investments in IT.

NC STATE UNIVERSITY The bottom line... NC State is now more accountable for how we spend our IT dollars. The Legislature, Office of the President, and ITS are all looking more closely at how we spend (invest) our IT dollars. Finally, we need to do a self-assessment to make sure that we provide our customers with cost effective services that are highly functional and meet their requirements.

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Overarching goals of our charge To do a cost benefit assessment and analyze the way the university is offering and calendar services on campus. –Through this assessment we hope to develop a framework and process that can be applied to other areas that require similar evaluations.

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Overarching goals, cont’d Improve the method by which information and input is gathered by decision makers. Make recommendations to the administration concerning our business practices and suggest improvements and / or changes if needed.

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Current Thinking in this Area There is a growing movement in both business and government to look more closely at how IT dollars are invested. IT services have become core business services, thus decisions about them are more critical. –Greater interest in who is making the decisions and how they are being assessed.

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Four Main Principles Layer 8 is an approach to answering these types of questions. It asks that we look at our IT investments and business practices and allows leadership to make informed decisions. In particular, it supports 4 main principles. –Accountability –Transparency –Governance –Process

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Accountability Can we account for how the university spends its IT dollars? We anticipate that our resources will shrink. –Are we using our resources as effectively as we can? –Are there changes and improvements we can make that will benefit our customers and be efficient as well? Do we need different IT investment strategies?

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Transparency Do we know how money is spent on IT investments? Are our evaluation processes and decisions made in an open manner?

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Governance Governance addresses three questions: –What decisions must be made? –Who should make the decisions? –How will we monitor these decisions? Do we have a process in place for IT decision making?

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Process What plans and procedures can be put in place to help do a self- assessment? What do we want NC State to be and how do we get there?

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Proposed seven step process 1.Identify project purpose, goals, and objectives 2.Inventory of supporting infrastructure 3.Benchmark 4.Requirements (essential and aspirational requirements) 5.Strategic plan: develop strategic options and alternatives 6.Select and implement chosen plan 7.Ongoing assessment

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Where are we now? At the beginning stages of this process. –Goals, objectives, and purpose have been stated and we have been charged to move forward. Beginning to move forward on several fronts: –Inventory –Benchmarking –Requirements

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Campus input is crucial! Communication is essential throughout this process. –We value and want campus input. –We believe we have an opportunity to do something positive for campus.

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Committee structure

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Coordinating Team Comprised of members of ITD and RMIS –Cheri Renninger –Craig Zimmer –Harry Nicholos –Larry Robinson –Sarah Noell –Tim Lowman

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Role of Customer Service sub-committee Identify key issues regarding and calendar services. Identify key people to participate in focus groups. Help develop questions for a campus-wide customer survey. Encourage completion of inventory surveys.

NC STATE UNIVERSITY The Customer Service sub-committee Comprised of all major stakeholders on campus: –College IT Directors –University Budget Officers –Administrative staff and administrators (Staff Senate) –DELTA –Students from GSA and SGA –Faculty (FCTL or Faculty Senate) –NCSU Libraries

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Role of the Technical sub-committee To provide technical guidance as strategic plans are developed. –Help determine technical feasibility of the proposed plans. –Help determine the costs associated with proposed plans. –Ensure that dependencies are addressed.

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Technical sub-committee Comprised of –The and calendar sub-committee of the University IT Committee. –Other technical staff, as appropriate.

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Focus Groups Yes, there will be a lot! We will be asking questions about needs, wants, problems etc in two areas: calendar and .

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Focus Groups Chancellor Executive Officers Extension Units Research Council Research Committees College IT Directors Faculty –Teaching (include DE) –Research –Lecturers/adjunct –TLTR meetings –FCTL Students (traditional & distance) General & administrative staff Governance –Faculty Senate –Staff Senate –Student Senate & GSA –DDD meetings Help Desks Open Forum

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Inventory of existing systems Identify campus systems that are participating in service delivery. Distribute survey (similar to one done in 2001) to College IT Directors and others on campus Surveys can be found at: Select either Calendaring survey or survey Send any additional questions to Calendar:

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Next steps Distribute inventory survey –Additional questions received by 3/15. –Survey distributed by 3/21. –Completed and returned by 4/1. Customer service sub-committee needs to meet. –Identify members. –Convene meeting. –Outline goals and objectives for this group. Focus groups will begin before end of spring semester. Develop an online campus-wide customer survey. Investigate peer institutions.

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Now we’d like to hear from y’all! Thanks for your time today; please continue to ask us questions and provide feedback. Keep informed via the web site We will be back in touch for a focus group with this group.

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Resources you may find helpful IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT Decision Rights for Superior Results, Peter Weill & Jeanne W. Ross (2004) Government Accountability Office publications: Information Technology Management: A Framework for Assessing & Improving Process Maturity Accessible version: