Some Thoughts and Questions on Centralized vs. Distributed I.T. Functions 1. (mainly questions) 2.Classroom / Faculty / Desktop support 3.Governance and major project management University of Colorado at Boulder

CU: combination of centrally and departmentally provided ; historically, fairly large portion departmentally provided, hasn’t changed much (yet) CSG survey: many universities moving toward more centralized , far more via carrot than stick 4 key issues: functionality, support, cost, security What are the effective carrots? Any experience with campus policies on security requirements / ramifications for departmental systems?

Classroom / Faculty / Desktop Support “centrally managed, locally positioned, jointly commissioned” Faculty support: Distributed Academic Technology Coordinators: MOU with each school and college Desktop and classroom support: cluster model Computer classrooms and labs: evolving from open labs that happen to be located in specific departments, to hybrid departmental classrooms and labs / open labs, still centrally managed

Governance Campus I.T. Council: high-level I.T. strategy and policy group; academic / administrative / student representation, chaired by CIO –Faculty Advisory Committee on I.T. (FACE-IT): strategic discussion of academic I.T. needs, directions and policies; representatives from each school and college –I.T. Infrastructure Advisory Group (ITIAG): advice on operational and strategic administrative and infrastructural I.T. issues; representatives from central and departmental I.T. organizations

Major Project Management (e.g.: enterprise directory) Project and customer teams integrate central and departmental IT organizations and create shared ownership and commitment to using campus middleware infrastructure – but not perfectly!