Message from the CIO
July 2009
Service….Accountability….Passion….
Do those three words sound like a tag line for an advertisement of some kind? They are our Core Values and I’m proud to say that I believe the team is committed to them and we work to live up to them daily. Do we slip? Sure, occasionally and when we do, I ask you to please let us know.
As we begin a new fiscal year and probably one of the toughest we’ve had in decades from an economic perspective, I reflect on the contributions of this unit to the mission and purpose of this great university. The road we’ve traveled in the last decade has been pretty phenomenal. The road we’re on is pretty extraordinary too.
I am proud of where we are, but not satisfied. As a customer, I ask you to help us help you. Give us your feedback. Our Priorities are to keep the IT tools you’re accustomed to using available to you; to make good on our commitments and the deadlines we’ve agreed upon; to communicate with you; and be as consistent as practical so we can do more with the limited resources we have. Please also feel free to ask the “hard questions”. I’m confident that we can reach a mutually agreeable solution in the best interests of our collective mission.
ITSS is open to out-sourcing and partnering for managed services when there is a supplier base that has a track record of providing similar managed services to other clients, when that record is based on solid, defined service level agreements that are a part of the contractual terms and conditions, and when the costs are not significantly more than what we currently invest.
Since ITSS operates on a full-cost accounting basis we have a solid foundation for doing a cost/benefit analysis and gauging the return on investment. The inherent value in keeping up with where our efforts and non-personal resources are spent is to ensure that we’re placing “our money where our mouth is”!
Members of the staff and management team record their time against over 60 Programs of Service which are inclusive of hundreds of various components (or systems) and anywhere from 30-40 active projects at a time. We have successfully out-sourced in a number of areas and are continuously seeking opportunities to supplement our staff with the expertise that is available in the broader market when the cost/benefit is justifiable.
As a vendor/supplier, I ask you to help us help our customers. We rely on you in many significant ways and do appreciate your support. However, like most CIO’s, I get a lot of “cold calls”…. “cold email” actually. Please know, if you and I haven’t communicated in the past, chances are your email has been filtered to my junk box. It’s nothing personal, but I ask you to target your efforts on helping us find solutions to problems we’ve identified. You can get a sense of what our problems are by talking to the Managers and Directors on the team. They know what our initiatives are and are the folks I rely on for recommendations.
As a member of the ITSS staff, I ask you to stay focused. And if your management team isn’t, J call us on it! The number of Programs of Service that we support and projects that we’ve accepted is quite large and your workload is intense. Know though, that your contributions are valued and we are constantly looking for opportunities to find new sources for those activities that make sense. I’m confident that our full-cost accounting will help us identify those areas we can farm out so you can use your institution-specific knowledge to focus more on the things that add value to the university.
Again, I am proud of where we are, but not satisfied…let’s work together to make things even better!
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