Understanding Our IT Investments

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Understanding Our IT Investments

• David Smallen, Hamilton College
• CIC IT Workshop
• March 31, 2001

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Four Central Questions the COSTS project

• Are we spending appropriately to support the
  institutional mission?
• Are we staffing our IT organization appropriately
  and compensating our staffs appropriately to
  attract and retain the needed support personnel?
• Are we maintaining our IT infrastructures
  appropriately to assure they continue to deliver
  the necessary services?
• Are we providing appropriate IT support services
  to meet the needs of users of information
  technology resources?

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Todays Talk

• The challenges
• The COSTS project (w/Karen Leach)
• Results
• The future - how to participate

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Challenges of understanding IT costs

• Pace of change
• Decentralization of support
• Institutional differences
• Organizational structure
• Lack of a common framework

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The COSTS Project with Karen Leach,
Colgate U

• CLAC/COSTS Partnership (59 guaranteed
  respondents)
• Over 100 respondents expected
• One annual survey
• Collect core data (institutional, IT , IT staff)
• Monthly analyses provided

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Todays data set

• 41 small colleges (
• Carnegie Classification B1
• Averages
• 1887 full-time students
• 2000-2001 institutional budget 68.7 M
• institutional computers 1100
• 82 student computer ownership

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Spending appropriately?
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Spending appropriately?
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Spending appropriately?
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Staffing appropriately?
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Staffing appropriately?
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Compensating appropriately?
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Maintaining appropriately?
In 1998-99 Typical replacement cycles for
infrastructure wereComputers 3 to 5
years Central Servers 3 to 4 years Network
Electronics 5 to 6 years
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Appropriate services?
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Appropriate services?
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Appropriate services?
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Appropriate services?
Quality Measures???
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The COSTS Survey

• Institutional Data
• Full-time students
• Part-time students
• Faculty headcount
• Employee headcount
• Institutional budget/expenditures
• Number of institutional computers
• Percentage of student ownership

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The COSTS Survey

• IT Budget/ Expenditure Data
• Salaries
• Fringe benefits
• Student help
• Contractual and consulting
• Hardware
• Software
• Professional Development
• Other

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The COSTS Survey

• IT Staffing Data
• Administrative information systems
• Helpline
• Repair
• Training
• Curricular support
• Hardware/software install and renewal
• Web support
• Student Support
• Network Support
• Administration and Planning
• Other

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What do you need to do?

• Complete the three tables (spreadsheet) for your
  institution for each year
• Submit data
• Receive analyses

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How to Participate?
Cost Of Supporting Technology Services
http//www.costsproject.org dsmallen_at_hamilton.edu
kleach_at_mail.colgate.edu