May 2000

Volume 16
Number 2

The Spiraling Demands on IT Staff and Budget

The CIOs of most institutions are faced with an ever-spiraling demand on IT staff and budget as well as continual justification of the resources for them. In an attempt to address the demands and justification, the CIO often turns to numerical budget and staffing comparisons between institutions. Such comparisons, although useful, are fraught with complexities.

In order to provide cost-effective services, CIOs must instead determine the cost of providing particular services based on the parameters in place at their institutions. The cost of providing the service must then be judged against its value to the institution. If the cost/ value ratio is excessive then other options must be pursued. Each service that is improved or added must be judged in the same manner. The role of the CIO is to inform the users as to the true cost and the possible value in order to allow the community to do the cost/benefit analysis.

To justify budget and staffing many have tried to devise metrics based on FTE students or faculty or the number of computers. The various surveys done by different institutions provide important data that can help guide us in our decision-making processes.  But much like global temperature data and the discussion of global warming, the number of variables makes reaching a widely accepted conclusion very difficult.

But as with global warming we can know the relationship between individual parameters even though we do not know all the causes and effects. The fact that we cannot reach agreement on the overall problem in IT demand does not mean specific action cannot be taken in those areas where we do know the cause and effect relationships. Some examples are:

• Number of hardware and software standards
• Customization of software solutions
• Complexity of network systems services
• Age of hardware
• Regional demand for technical staff
• Number of academic programs using technology and the level of use by each program
• Number of services

Increases in any of these areas will increase the cost and/or staffing requirements for any institution. Clear linkages must be established between services, the parameters above, and staffing or cost. This linkage directs the focus of the budget-staffing discussion on the services provided instead of the needs of IT.

Comparisons between institutions are often difficult due to the number of factors that come into play. The support cost for a highly customized administrative system for an institution located just outside of New York City will be much higher then an out-of-the-box administrative system for an institution in rural Virginia.

As technologists, we tend to enjoy new, different, and difficult projects but each of these tendencies increases the cost of support.  Therefore, we must also understand the impact of our own decisions as we implement new or improved projects and programs.  We all know technically elegant solutions may not be the best solution based on the parameters in place at our institution. The creativity of the IT staff must not be squelched but the staff must clearly understand the importance of providing cost-effective solutions of significant value to the users.

CIOs must then communicate both to their staff and their users the relationship between institutional decisions past, present, or pending and the technology requirements for the institution including staff and budget. By doing so the CIO gives the users sufficient information to determine if the service in question is worth the cost. The process of justifying budget and staffing should be primarily user driven, based on the services they need and local parameters influencing cost. Focusing the discussion on the cost of these services in light of the factors in place at the institution moves the discussion from an IT request to a community request. Providing users with the appropriate information allows them to be knowledgeable participants in this discussion.

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The Edutech Report is a monthly publication of Magna Publications

The EDUTECH REPORT is published each month by Magna Publications www.magnapubs.com, 2718 Dryden Drive, Madison, WI 53704; 800-433-0499. President:William Haight whaight@magnapubs.com; Publisher: David Burns dburns@magnapubs.com; Managing internal editor: Rob Kelly robkelly@magnapubs.com. Content provided by contributing editors Linda Fleit lfleit@edutech-int.com and Thomas Warger twarger@edutech-int.com. Subscription Customer Service custserv@magnapubs.com. Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. Authorization to photocopy items for specific clients is granted by Magna Publications for users registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) Transactional Reporting Service, provided that 50 cents per page is paid directly to CCC, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 09123. Phone: 978-750-8400; www.copyright.com. For those organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by CCC, a separate system of payment has been arranged. One-year subscriptions: $199. Discounts available for multiple subscriptions.