All the Moving Parts: Designing a Merged Library/IT Organization EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference January 10, 2006

Presenters  Todd A. Heckman Partner, Smart and Associates, LLP  Robert Renaud Vice President & CIO, Dickinson College

Agenda  Institutional Context  Factors Leading to Reorganization  Key Decisions  Organizational Design  Initial Outcomes  Key Learnings  Web Site

Institutional Context

 Budget problems in the 1990s  New leadership  Dickinson College Strategic Plan, FY  Focus on measurable outcomes

Factors Leading to Reorganization  Strategic Plan review in 2004: Budget balanced Selectivity increased National visibility enhanced Library organization stabilized IT services issues identified  Smart Associates engagement

Key Decisions  Decision to merge, April 2004  Decision to adapt initial design to Dickinson culture  Decision to create CIO position  Decision to keep existing units essentially intact  Decision to use summer to implement initial changes

Primary User Interface College Governance Structure Dickinson College Strategic Plan Campus Network Functional Applications Administrative Academic How the strategy is managed & translated Primary First Line Response to Campus How the unique departmental requirements are supported by technology The common foundation for driving economies of scale The primary driver for technology strategy Organizational Design

Primary User Interface College Governance Structure Dickinson College Strategic Plan Campus Network Functional Applications Administrative Academic CIO Institutional Systems Infrastructure Systems Academic Technology User Services President Library Services

Organizational Design  LIS Departments Academic Technology Services Infrastructure Systems Institutional Systems Library Services User Services  LIS Cross Functional Teams Global Education and Language Instruction Web Design and Management

Organizational Design Administrative

Initial Outcomes  New management team in place  Decision to replace ERP  Migration to new network OS  WiFi deployment  Broad deployment of PDAs  Dramatic gains in front line service  Integrated Web presentation

Initial Outcomes  Staff pushback  Resistance to integrated Web site  Confusion over library  Poor alignment with governance structure  Space and logistics problems

Key Learnings  Manage expectations at all levels  Align organization with governance structure  Involve staff in decisions affecting worklife  Separate organization and public face  Understand cultures within merged organization

Key Learnings  Manage expectations at all levels Tension between need to absorb change and show results Poor understanding of rationale Challenge of communicating to divergent groups

Key Learnings  Align organization with governance structure Initial LIS structure incompletely mapped to faculty committees Gaps caused miscommunication Committee structure changed in Fall 2004

Key Learnings  Involve staff in decisions affecting worklife Issue of speed of changes History of little change New CIO, new directors Issue of work space

Key Learnings  Separate organization and public face Fallacy of one to one matching of organizational structure and services Case study of the library as brand Role of the Web

Key Learnings  Understand cultures within merged organization Neither library nor IT side is monolithic Divergent professional cultures Inheriting past baggage

Web Site

Key Learnings  Understand cultures within merged organization Neither library nor IT side is monolithic Divergent professional cultures Inheriting past baggage

Key Learnings  Understand cultures within merged organization Neither library nor IT side is monolithic Divergent professional cultures Inheriting past baggage

Key Learnings  Understand cultures within merged organization Neither library nor IT side is monolithic Divergent professional cultures Inheriting past baggage

Key Learnings  Understand cultures within merged organization Neither library nor IT side is monolithic Divergent professional cultures Inheriting past baggage

Questions and Comments

All the Moving Parts: Designing a Merged Library/IT Organization EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference January 10, 2006