Director, Information Systems and Services

The Search is On

After a full year of interim co-directors, the search is finally on for a permanent Director of Information Systems and Services. The position announcement was recently placed in local and national publications. Review of resumes will begin September 19, 2005.

Elert Report Recommendations

Elert & Associates were hired in 2004 by Washburn University to study the IT organization at Washburn University. One of the specific recommendations included in their report, dated November 30, 2004, was in regards to creating a Chief Information Officer (CIO) position. More specifically, the following recommendation was made:

"Create a Chief Information Officer (CIO) position. This position would be responsible for all IT functions. While many of these functions can and should be delegated, this person should retain responsibility for strategic planning, budgeting, and communications.

"We recommend this position report to either the President or VP level. It may help to keep the EDUCAUSE results in mind when deciding to whom the CIO will report. In addition, WU should consider assigning this position a seat on the President's executive staff (or minimally, advisory to that group). Further, if the current Technology Steering Committee is retained, the CIO should chair this body.

"Elert & Associates recommends Washburn University open this position to both current staff and outside candidates.

"The position description should clearly state expectations and responsibilities. The person who fills this position will need to be outgoing and able to work with all types of people, but also be technically aware and be able to distinguish when a new technology is still in the development stage versus ready to put into production. The person selected must gain the respect of all leaders and IT users on campus while maintaining a focus on the direction of the campus adopted IT strategic plan."

The Elert Report included a comparison of Washburn University's organization/reporting structure to EDUCAUSE results. The EDUCAUSE results for institutions most like Washburn University show the CIO reporting responsibility as follows:

  1.  32.4% - report to VPAA
  2.  28.0% - report to President
  3.  20.0% - report to VPAT (Washburn's current structure)

Of these top IT administrators, approximately 40% are members of the President's cabinet

Washburn University's Action Plan

1. Organizational Structure

The position announcement states that this position will serve as the university's Chief Information Officer (CIO), but will report to the Vice President for Administration and Treasurer (VPAT).

So, why not give the person the title? Well, a bona fide CIO would report to the President as an integral part of the executive team. Currently, there are just too many political issues at stake.

Ron Wasserstein, Vice-President of Academic Affairs (VPAA), could lose his patriarchal position of allocating funds through the Electronic Technology Committee (ETC), a funding mechanism mentioned frequently in the Elert Report as being "politically charged" and ineffective.

Wanda Hill, Vice-President of Administration and Treasurer (VPAT), fought hard to get the Academic Computing Center reporting to her in 2000. Having won that political battle, she is not interested in giving up that control. However, consider that the promises made when the former ADP and ACC were combined never did materialize, with the current division within ISS (formerly AIS and ITS, formerly ADP and ACC) still quite significant. The result of this "integration" has caused more confusion, loss of services, and a serious lack of focus and resources for this critical university function. Evidence of serious problems at WU, cited in the Elert Report, is that WU is in the bottom 25% of similar institutions in the Strategic Planning category. This should be quite embarrassing to an institution with the resources that are currently available at Washburn University.

2. Resource Allocation & Budgeting

Current resources that this position should have overall responsibility for include the current budgets of both Information Technology Services and Administrative Information Systems. What isn't clear is whether this person will also have principal responsibility for the allocation of the $400,000 - $600,000 annual ETC funds. Resources available to this position could include the following $3.5 million:

  •  $1,828,019 - ITS Budget
  •  $1,140,317 - AIS Budget
  •  $   600,000 - ETC Allocations

3. CIO's Compensation

The current budget has allocated $88,756 for this position, with $17,000 returning from the two current co-directors compensation. Based upon the current budget, when this position is filled, the compensation for the director and the current three key reporting areas and the proposed new Security Officer will be as follows:

  •  $88,756 - Director, ISS
  •  $88,209 - Director, AIS (administration)
  •  $80,000 - Security Technician
  •  $68,945 - Director, ITS (formerly academic computing)
  •  $58,360 - Assistant Director, Instructional Services

Consider This

In order for Washburn University to attract the level of candidate that will make a real difference to this campus, the following changes should be seriously considered:

  • Compensation Level - Increased to the level of senior management, a range from $104,800 to $138,800
  • Reporting Structure - This position should be given the title CIO and report directly to the President as part of senior staff
  • Source - An outside candidate should be given the strongest consideration in order to bring a fresh, unencumbered approach to the job at hand

Without serious consideration to these significant changes, it is most likely that it will be business as usual. Then no one, including students, faculty, staff, and members of this community, will benefit from the expertise that should come from filling this position. But, that's the Washburn Way.