Copyright Michael Dieckmann, Geissler Golding, Melanie Haveard

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Does the CIO need an ERP?

University of West FloridaInformation Technology Services

The Genesis of the Idea

• Central IT organization leadership realizes it is facing a Central IT organization leadership realizes it is facing a growing gap between service demands and growing gap between service demands and performance/delivery capabilities.performance/delivery capabilities.

• Key issues revolved around knowledge management and Key issues revolved around knowledge management and supporting communications both within and between supporting communications both within and between “communities of practice.”“communities of practice.”

• Realized we were approaching 21Realized we were approaching 21stst century work with 19 century work with 19thth century (or worse!) tools.century (or worse!) tools.

• Solution: We needed an “ERP” system that dealt with the Solution: We needed an “ERP” system that dealt with the objects in the CIO’s universe, and met the needs of IT objects in the CIO’s universe, and met the needs of IT professionals.professionals.

Concept: “The Collective”

Theme taken from the idea of the “shared mind” of the Borg on the Star TrekTM series.

We envisioned a system that would enable information to “find” the individuals to whom it was pertinent, and would facilitate capturing information and understanding currently locked in the heads of IT knowledge workers.

Functional Requirements

Capture Knowledge (internally and externally) Improve Work Processes

– Conducting projects– Deploying new infrastructure/services– Responding to service outages and other “alert” situations– Reporting to Human Resources (Objectives, Performance

Reviews, Accountability) Improve management of resources Improve communications (internally and externally) Provide an integration point for ITS tools (a “digital workbench for

ITS Staff)

Not to mention…

A system that is… Highly adaptable and extendable Generic and flexible Does everything we haven’t thought of yet!

Strategic Objective

Strategic Goal

Project

Equipment

Service

Project Wrap-Up

These are all objects.

Define attributes and collect information about it

Service Type: Enterprise

Audience: Faculty, Staff, Students

Availability: 24/7

Description: This service provides…

What can we do with an Object?

John

Sally

Bill

in the roles they perform.

John – Service Manager

Sally - Trainer

Bill - Developer

Associate people with it

What can we do with an Object?

Post journal entries and discussion threads on it

What can we do with an Object?

Guide its development through processes

What can we do with an Object?

Step 1: Acquire the serverStep 2: Install server in a rackStep 3: Provide power and network connectivity

….

Step 34: Put server in backup rotation

Post “Alerts” on it

What can we do with an Object?

Red Alert

The student e-mail service is currently down.

The direct contacts have been paged.

What can we do with an Object?Relate it to other objects

Strategic Objective

Strategic Goal

Gives the CIO an effective way to communicate direction to the department

Aligns projects and their requirements with established goals

1) Strategic Planning

<Demo>

Project

Gives us a view into what resources and time we have already committed

Radar helps us schedule the most important/urgent projects first

Helps us determine what resources we haveavailable for new projects

Places projects into the system so they become relevant to the right people at the right time

2) Project Scheduling

Equipment

Service

3) Project OversightKeeps us apprised of progress on projects via journals, notifications, agents, reports and alerts

Lets us ask questions (post in targeted threaded discussions) about any project in progress within the organization

Keeps us informed (agents) of missed deadlines/milestones or of missing information

Equipment

Service

4) Deployment of Infrastructure

Ties infrastructure deployment with our work-order system

Keeps us on track and helps us deploy in a repeatable fashion (with the right handoffs at the right time)

Provides us with checklists for data integrity

Allows us to post alerts on systems informing campus and our support center of service outages and maintenance/upgrades

Equipment

Service

5) Deployment of Services

Notifies our support center with sufficient lead time for assuming the support and training burden

Helps us repeat our service deployment the way we want it to work, closely coupled with the infrastructure deployment

Provides a consistent, centralized repository for all end-user and technical documentation

Strategic Goal

Project Wrap-Up

6) Reporting on GoalsProjects cannot be completed unless all services and equipment are successfully deployed

Ties us back to our original goals

Helps us compile “annual report” information from project entries already posted

Functional Requirements - implemented

Capture Knowledge (internally and externally) Improve Work Processes

– Conducting projects– Deploying new infrastructure/services– Responding to service outages and other “alert” situations– Reporting to Human Resources (Objectives, Performance

Reviews, Accountability) Improve management of resources Improve communications (internally and externally) Provide an integration point for ITS tools (a “digital workbench for

ITS Staff)

Resources

http://its.uwf.edu

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