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