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Features of a Successful Distributed

Support Model

Arts & Sciences Duke University

EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference

Baltimore, January 16, 2003

Overview

• The proposition

• Background

• Broad strokes

• Mechanics

• Successes

• Current challenges

How to….

• Provide comprehensive & transparent services to faculty

• Meet individual needs

• Maximize limited resources

• Support both high-end users & newbies

• Foster growth for IT staff

• Anticipate needs

• Shape priorities

Symbiotic Balance

• Need to listen for what faculty need

• Need to lead - open possibilities and guide through choices

• Need to harness the energy of IT staff

• Need dynamic synchronization

Communication

About Duke University IT

• 9 schools with individual IT orgs

• Center for Instructional Technology

• Office for Information Technology supports 6,300 undergrads, telecom and enterprise apps

Ancient History

• Central acad & admin orgs

• Mainframe computing

• Good infrastructure planning

• Insufficient department level support

• Lots of “funny money”

• Lack of real money

Dahntay Jones, www.goduke.com

Home of the Blue Devils

Academic Council

• Advisory Committee on Academic Computing

– ACAC

– ACACAC

• Series of reports established principles

• Dissolved itself in protest (1992)

Advent of President Nan Keohane

1993/1994

• Requested IT report

• Joint faculty/admin committee

• Appointed search committee for VPIT/CIO

• Combined acad & admin orgs

President Keohane

A&S Computing1993

• Assistant Dean appointed• No A&S Computing budget• Departmental IT staff: 14 FTE• The plan: write a plan

Broad Strokes

Simple Idea

• Make decisions as close as possible to the user

• Centralize vanilla services

• Create structure to allow transparent movement between central and decentralized services and resources

Components

Faculty IT Staff

Resources

The Faculty

• Producers and disseminators of knowledge

• Jewels of the institution

• Tenure-holders

• Primary clients

IT staff

• Independent yet interdependent

• Restless intelligence

• Curious and intense

• Mentors and mentored

• Defy categorization

Resources - Central

Free!

• Classroom multimedia

• Web design

• Network

• Site Licenses

• IT staff salaries

Resources - Departmental

Annual computing budgets

• Based on individuals’ IT use

• Spent in context of departmental IT plan

• Require participation & prioritization

The power of money

Irrespective of amount, money:

– Delegates responsibility

– Empowers

– Begs the question of priorities

– Gets attention

– Provides leverage

Why a Distributed Model?

• Starting from decentralized

• Need department insiders

• Career path for IT staff

• Scales resources

Central Elements

• Quality

• Standards/policy development

• Best practice/consultation

• Communications

• Community

Decentralized Elements

• Priorities (funding and services)

• Processes

• Customized implementations

Desktop Support

Technical Hardware

Support

User

Support

ASNA:A&S Networking Administrators

Classroom Support

Multimedia Design

Workshops

Web Support

Database and WebProgramming

•DukeNet•Servers•“Best practice” technical practices•Security policies

Environment/Infrastrucure

Arts and Sciences Computing Support “Fuzzy” Diagram

Department Faculty

A&S ComputingCommittee A&S

Deans

OIT

CIT

PerkinsLibrary

Features

• Symbiotic balance of IT staff & faculty

• Peer Recognition

• Teamwork

• Common values

• Trust

• Community

Harnessing the Energy

Dept’l Faculty Liaisons Best practice & forums

Policies & Budgets

Mechanics

• Lines of report

• Faculty advisory committee

• Departmental budgets

• Departmental Faculty Computer Liaisons

• Meetings & forums

About Arts & Sciences

• One of nine schools at Duke

• One of two schools granting undergrad degrees

• Includes ~ 70% of the faculty

Who are we supporting?

• 34 academic departments & programs

• 13 acad support & admin offices

• 580 regular rank faculty

• 570 post-docs, research faculty

• 600 staff

• 1,000 graduate students

A&S Computing2002/2003

• Departmental IT staff: 40 FTEs

• Central IT staff: 22 FTEs

• Annual budget $3.2M

• Add’l departmental salaries $2.2M

Reporting Structure

• Associate IT dean is member of Dean’s staff

• Faculty & chairs report to dean

• IT staff have dual report

– Managerial: departments

– Technical: A&S Computing

A&S DeansAssoc. Dean for Computing

Faculty

Departments

A&S Computing

Dept IT Staff

Fabric of Communication

Central IT Staff

Faculty Advisory Committee

• Advises on annual budget

• Advises on policy development

• Provides conduit for unsolicited input

Departmental Budgets

• Based on annual computing census

– 67% response rate

• In the context of departmental computing plans

Meetings & Forums

• Monthly “A&S Networking Administrators” (ASNA)

• Weekly/biweekly platform centered work groups

• Mailing lists

• Source of advice & direction

• “Best practice” & policy development

Evaluation parameters

• Quality of role within a team

• Level of expertise in job-related areas

• Initiative and learning appropriate new skills

• Timeliness of completing specified work and projects, including quality documentation

• Effectiveness and timeliness of communication with colleagues & clients

• Quality of participation in/contributions to A&S and university community

Measures of Success

• Few complaints

• Some praise

• Low rate of undesirable IT staff turnover

• IT literate faculty and staff

• Effective use of technology

Examples

• A&S IT Security Policy

• 15,000 hours of classroom multimedia use/semester with 3.5 FTE

• Development of standards & guidelines for Web development

• Remotely managed Linux and W2K distributions

• On-line budget system

Staff

• Identified centers of expertise

• Appropriate distribution of

expertise

Local Expert

Web

Documentation

DepartmentWeb Design Team

New Site

Department

New Site

???

New Site

Department

Ben

The Faculty Database

Programmer

Deans

Programmer Web Designers

C

F S

C

F S

C

F SC

F S

C

F S

Challenges

• Scaling up

– Identify leaders

• Local vs “best practice”

– Patience

– Processes, policies & priorities

• Communication!

Current Challenges

• Web support

– Web design & maintenance

– Web programming

• Home support

• 24 x 7 classroom support

• Avoiding grid-lock…

Features

Modes of Communication

• Leadership at the highest level

• Faculty involvement

• Mechanisms supporting community

• Economic incentives supporting goals

Communication

Contact InformationArts & Sciences Computing

Duke University

www.aas.duke.edu/help/about/

Melissa Millsmelissa.mills@duke.edu

Adrienne Mooreadrienne.moore@duke.edu