Establishing an IT Process Improvement Program Carrie Regenstein and Jeff Silber EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference, Chicago March 23, The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents

1 Happy 13th Birthday, DoIT! 700+ employees in 12 departments trying to –Present seamless service –Develop interoperable & robust applications –By –Working across the division How about security? What about communications? And don’t forget the My UW-Madison portal (my.wisc.edu) Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera…

2 Cries for help Pockets of excellence, but… Grass roots & top-down process initiatives Inconsistency still abounded Shoemaker’s children

3 February 2004 Commitment “To put in place the resources we need to adopt the work that many of you have been doing — and to continue to improve our DoIT processes and procedures.” “To have improved, consistent processes, consistently implemented, to make it easier to do our work and to free our energy to do our work.” “To identify and implement standards for the work we do: project management standards, development standards, documentation standards.” “To put resources to this work.”

4 Eliminate confusion, but No new bureaucracies! “The intent is to build processes and procedures that make some of our messy stuff cleaner and thus easier to accomplish.” “Everyone working in this area now is doing it on the margin — doing it over and above getting regular work done.”

5 Hire a senior staff member! “Key responsibility is to coordinate getting this work done. “Facilitate our procedure and process improvement. “Assist us in defining appropriate processes and procedures; ensure documentation, communication, training, and implementation support. “Evaluate processes and procedures; modify and improve them, as necessary. “Recommend more resources, as necessary.”

6 Wow! Inclusive hiring process: six groups, and new Process Task Force Office of Quality Improvement (OQI) partnership Facilitator, not project manager Comfortable with all staff; courageous with leadership; ombudsperson

7 Welcome to UW-Madison and DoIT! Phenomenal orientation notebook But what does it mean to have a new role?

9 What I Thought Higher ed and private industry best practices would apply. Customer service and DoIT goals were aligned. “Right makes might” rather than “Revenue makes might.”

10 What I Found Best practices need to flex when valued uniqueness in the academic environment is warranted. –Which is which?

11 What I Found Customer Service does matter but translation is important! –A provider of service to many! “So many customers, so little time.” –Who’s the customer? Is “customer” the right word? Without revenue as a driver, what matters?

12 What matters? Right: It is the right thing to do. Funding: There is money to do it. Customer: The customer requested it. Boss: The boss ordered it. Individuals: The technologist wants to do it. All of the above None of the above I don’t know. Go back to slide #1.

13 How can we get there? Project-Focused Learning Phase Implement a process Study how the process works Repeat & document what works Discard what does not work Project Project Project Tried and proven processes

14 There wasn’t any! Recognition of this was in itself a success; raised awareness that there were not easy solutions Enabling the debates, discussions Low Hanging Fruit

15 Enablers to Success Time spent by leadership to engage with staff and reach decision Time spent by leadership and grass roots groups to discuss and set goals Background Encyclopedia Freedom to spend 30 days meeting with staff throughout the organization Liaison with campus Office of Quality Improvement and Strategic Planning

16 Partnered with existing project teams  Operational Framework  Project Management  Security  Enterprise Collaboration Tools  Communications Successes

17 Process example: Operational Framework –Consistent way of handling incidents –Better change awareness –Process ownership & accountability –Defined process for moving service into production –Defined roles and responsibilities –Review process for success and weaknesses –Framework to engage process stakeholders to assure better service delivery

18 Raising Awareness: Project Management Requires a Social Contract –Defining the purpose, principles and roles Sponsors CIO Directors Project Managers Project Teams Management Staff

19 Looking for a place we would like to be Culture Vision Strategy Philosophy Enterprise Understanding Alignment & architecture, infrastructure principles, practices tech systems integration quality tech products Project Management Standards Process Management

20 Lessons Learned: A Work in Progress Higher Ed & “the real world” Grass roots as enabler “Process” and “Project” management Effectiveness, efficiency, and real-world budgets Defining customer service

21 Challenges Budget pressures create sense of caution over intent of improvements. Process is “Not the fabric, but what makes the fabric softer.” People don’t want to be told how to make their fabric, yet expect demonstrable results. Internal consultant role in influencing change - expert telling the experts how to work differently. Foster creative, independent thinking while implementing standards and consistent practices. Trust & Communication.

22 Measuring success: He said/She said