VPIT

IT’s all in the ServicePaul Sorenson

Vice-Provost (IT) &Professor of Computing Science

University of Alberta

Feb. 17. 2006 IT Planning Session 3 - Focus on Servies 2

VPIT

A Service Commitment• To deploy services not just systems

• To align service delivery and support with a services technology strategy- web services approach to application provisioning- move to systems supported by SOA

• To organize along services delivery lines• To plan and budget based on services• To adopt a services philosophy throughout

the institution.• To study and deploy “services science”

Feb. 17. 2006 IT Planning Session 3 - Focus on Servies 3

VPIT

IT Services

• A service is a function that is well-defined, self-contained, and does not depend on the context or state of other services.

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VPITWeb Services Description Language (WSDL)

Feb. 17. 2006 IT Planning Session 3 - Focus on Servies 5

VPIT

Web Services Exposed!

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VPIT Services – The Philosophy

• Uniformity – services are viewed and requested in a consistent manner

• Integration – a service can request other services and can be requested by other services

• Anywhere at anytime – services running on the web can be accessed (on demand)

• Value – Must focus on customer (client)

Feb. 17. 2006 IT Planning Session 3 - Focus on Servies 7

VPIT

Services – The Organization• Adopts a notion of high-quality service:

- helpful - performed as promised (does what is says it will do) - consistent (reliable) - uses measurement to improve quality of service

• In general, services meet service level agreements,which can be challenging …

Feb. 17. 2006 IT Planning Session 3 - Focus on Servies 8

VPITService Measures

• SERVQUAL - Service Quality Surveys

Possibleoverkill

Keep up thegood work

Low priority

Concentratehere

Excellent

Adequate

Slightly ImportantExtremely Important

Performance

Importance

Feb. 17. 2006 IT Planning Session 3 - Focus on Servies 9

VPIT10 Most Common Service

Dimensions• Tangibles—physical appearance • Reliability—perform as promised constantly • Responsiveness • Competence • Courtesy • Credibility • Security/Safety • Access—easy to do business • Communication—keeping customer informed • Understanding customer needs

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VPIT

Service – Plan & Budget• Service score card approach• Contains:

- Service description- Service development history [recent]- Key performance measures and target service levels [e.g., SIS$/student]- Current budget/expenditures- 3-year budget forecast- Risks of failure and opportunities for improvement

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VPIT

Service Culture• Service week!• Incentives to

support the culture!

Win Me! Win Me!

Win Me!

Feb. 17. 2006 IT Planning Session 3 - Focus on Servies 12

VPIT

Shared Services• The development and production management of our

Administrative Information Systems is outsourced to IBM through a unique partnership.

• Major applications (student, HR, and finance) are implemented in Oracle-PeopleSoft ERP.

• April 2005 renewed a five-year shared services contract with IBM to support the production management.

• September 2005 developed a new development model that involves three preferred vendors of which IBM is one.

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VPIT

Successful Shared Services• Successful shared services good

governance model• Considerable effort was expended in 1st five

years to develop a workable governance model

• Currently evolving the model to handle:- multiple new development vendors- “ERP-aware” applications- growing importance of our ERP in all aspects of the University’s operations

Feb. 17. 2006 IT Planning Session 3 - Focus on Servies 14

VPITShared Services Governance

Project• Review SS governance models available in the

literature.• Review the evolution of our governance model

to date.• Determine both perceived and real gaps

regarding its ability to support high quality shared services quality services assessment.

• Examine who in the partnership can best deliver what parts of the services and what’s missing.

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VPIT

Services Science• IBM’s challenge – 55% of their business is in

services and this portion is growing• Their major research labs in Yorktown

Heights, Almaden and Zurich focus on hardware and software research

• Major gap in research on service provisioning

• New research partnerships and academic programs in services science as part of the new IBM Alberta CAS (Centre for Advanced Studies)

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VPITIBM Alberta CAS

(Centre for Advanced Study)• One of 18 CASs worldwide• Focus is initially on UofA in machine learning,

nanotechnology, and bio-simulation• Initial discussions on services science involving

computing science, business, engineering, law• Case studies, joint research projects,

development of shared programs• Involve research, learning and administration

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VPIT

Conclusions• Services approach provides a simple,

yet holistic approach to information systems planning, deployment, evaluation, improvement and research.