Enhancing IT Efficiency and Communication at Marian University

1. GENERAL University Marian Ford EDHE 6710 Dr. Baier

2. Institutional Facts • Collegial Institution • Founded in 1890 by Methodist Episcopal Church • Established downtown campus in 1997 for School of Law • Fall 2008/Spring 2009 enrollment = 3202/2886 • Programs include: dual enrollment high school program, eight graduate programs, law school • IT system used = Colleague or Datatel

3. Collegial Institution • The enrollment is relatively small . • Consensus and shared power are emphasized with a common commitment, and leadership emphasizes consultation and collective responsibilities between the administrators and faculty. • There is informal communication and interaction. The system is very democratic in design and all administrators and faculty are considered equal. • The institution emphasizes thoroughness and deliberation. • Persons in the leadership positions are expected to influence without coercion and must establish trust and create customs that the institution can embrace.

4. Dilemma • Overall lack of organization and decision-making regarding IT centered projects and issues • Only 3 programmers existed with no departmental or modular specialization. • There was no established training or documentation regarding procedures and upgrades in system. • No core group and no chain of command regarding workflow and project priority were established.

5. Why is it Top Priority? • Bottleneck created in IT department slows down efficiency and completion of current projects. • Consultants and training are needed because additional unnecessary costs and time were created. • Data integrity is not being upheld; processes are not being documented or followed. • There is a lack of strategic decision-making process for IT projects; this process is essential to the improvement of the University. • There is an overall lack of communication between departments ; this communication is vital to University success.

6. Changes Already Made • Organizational chart complete with hierarchy created • New Chief Information Officer hired to oversee entire IT department • Additional Datatel programmer and other essential IT staff hired • Business Process Management Team created • Strategic Business Plans required for all IT projects • Datatel consultants brought on campus to provide training instruction and suggestions

7. IT Organization Chart

8. Current Existing Problems Problem 1 Administrative Challenge • Deciding on the specific programmer to be assigned to each department, based on knowledge base, specialty and pre-existing relationship • Cross-training at some level with programmers in case of turnover; monitoring of documentation • Still need chain of command and chart to illustrate the specific programmer that each department reports to • Need to eliminate bottleneck and accumulation of work assigned to each programmer

9. Current Existing Problems Problem 2 Administrative challenge • More training required because of high rate of turnover • Documentation responsibility needs to be instituted • In-house training vs. outside training, cost/benefit analysis and consultant needed to evaluate which departments require high level of training • Is IT primarily responsible for monitoring how current documentation is?

10. Current Existing Problems Problem 3 Problem 3 contd. • Communication problems exist about decision-making; there is a lack of understanding of IT needs by BPMT. • Core Team should be created. • Membership needs to be expanded in Business Process Management Team (BPMT) because not all departments are represented. • Quick resolution with IT issues are non existent.

11. Current Existing Problems administrative challenge • Who should be included in BPMT? Too large a team will make for inefficient and fast decision-making body. • Duplication of members on new team and BPMT • There is a need to identify power users in system in order to create the new team. • Who does the new CORE team report to?

12. Resolution Problem 1 Changes proposed Rationale • There should be four Datatel programmers responsible for workload and inquiries should be assigned by departments. • Only designated person from each department should submit request and inquiries. • Projects that require more than 10 hours of IT work must submit project plan to Administrators Systems Director. • Bottleneck is occurring if all requests go through same programmer; programmer becomes specialized and more efficient in area. • Programmers should not be deciding priority of IT projects; projects need to go through BPMT. • Partnership and opportunity for training is created between programmer and manager of department.

13. Resolution Problem 2 Changes Proposed Rationale • Central server or drive needed for documentation of Datatel procedures, training materials, updated manuals, etc. • Manager of each department should be responsible for ensuring updates and included in evaluation of job duties. • Time and costs will be saved when departments are cross-trained and documentation exists for work-flow. • Repeated mistakes and questions will be eliminated. • Resource will be available for resolutions and research.

14. Resolution Problem 3 Changes Proposed Rationale • Need to evaluate membership of BPMT to ensure that all relevant departments are represented. • Create Core Team with members who have intimate working knowledge of system. • BPMT does not meet regularly enough to ensure quick resolution to IT problems. • BPMT does not have valid department members who are involved daily with issues in system.

15. CORE Team Defined • Core data is the information that the institution relies on to complete business processes. • Team should provide direction for institution regarding how to handle data in the system. • Data is shared between departments with those who work daily in system and understand ramification of projects and procedural changes.

16. CORE TEAM

17. CORE Team Requirements and Challenges • Mission needs to be created. • Ensure data integrity • Establish, document, and provide standard procedures • Create a forum for all academic and administrative departments to form consensus on data standards, communication and projects • Recommend and develop documentation for training of employees

18. CORE Challenges (contd.) • All members should be representatives of respective departments on BPMT but also should be power users with working knowledge of system. • Core team needs to meet weekly and upon demand to make decisions about issues. • All unresolved issues should be referred to BPMT for resolution. • Core team should be smaller than BPMT for efficiency; team can call on experts for specific help.

19. Resolution to Dilemma • Creation of Team with intimate working knowledge of system • Smaller, more efficient decision-making team • Power users of system that meets to identify and solve issues quickly • Helps Resolutions to Problems 1 and 2 work more effectively

20. References • Birnbaum, Robert (1988). How Colleges Work: The Cybernetics of Academic Organization and Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.