Core IT Assessment Approach Common Solutions Group IT Governance and Funding Workshop January, 2006...

Core IT Assessment ApproachCommon Solutions Group

IT Governance and Funding Workshop

January, 2006Philip Long

Yale University

Past

• Charge by proxy of usage

– Per jack for network

– Per account for email

– etc.

Cost By FTEWhy FTE??

• Simple to understand, budget and implement

– (But not as simple as you think :-)

• Of three primary network costs (edge, core, Internet), our variable costs

were best explained by edge – roughly approximated by FTE

• Similar reasoning on email

• More complex formula would likely be more precise but at $15/month,

we’re good enough . . .

Core IT Infrastructure ElementsBlended Rates “per FTE”

• Basic 10/100/wireless network: $10.xx per month

• Norton Anti-virus: $.xx per month

• Imap, pop, virus & spam controlled email: $3.50 per month

• Help desk support for above

• Central campus cost: $15 +/- per month per FTE for all faculty, students and staff including anyone with network access

• Some schools have school specific additions, e.g., HIPAA security charge + more within Medicine

– Also, Medicine recharges differentially based on role

• What we need to add asap: institutional IT security

Campus-wide Core IT Assessment

• Effort began in December, 2000, implemented in October, 2004

• Assess every FTE on campus for core IT services

– Includes Service and Maintenance workers, etc. – online benefits, paystub

• Facilitating issues

– Prior charge-back model did provide full funding for included services

– Reduced expense base by 10%, held that expense base constant for 2 years

• Reduced impact on losers and generated real overall savings

– Strong backing by the Provost, willingness from most deans

• Primary complications: all governance

– Substantial winners and losers within restricted fund sources, including, where appropriate, federal grants and contracts

– Three major school losers: three year phase in

Effects

• Increasingly, all jacks are live, no prior ordering of network service

– All new buildings fully wired and activated

– Email is set up on request

• Most schools pay the assessment centrally as a single transaction

– For this group, universal appreciation of dramatic simplification

– Also, most see the cost as a great bargain for the service provided

• Schools with large restricted funds continue to sub-charge

– On a period based on the fund, some annual, some monthly

• Long term risk

– Network and email scale with expanding people

– However, network and email expense growth presumably must fit within normal

budget growth

Next Challenge

• Appropriate distributed IT model

• Created a new integrated IT organization from prior central campus

and Medical campus IT organizations

• Primary political drivers

– Cost

– Cost

– Savings

– Cost

– IT critical mass, technical competence, improved quality and services

– Alignment, future academic prospects

• Working hard at building a next generation IT organization