Summary: Defending the IT Budget

Created by John Borwick (Wake Forest University) on June 2, 2009

Cross-posted from http://itsm.is.wfu.edu/node/178.

J. L. Albert, James Amann, and Mary Jane Casto from Georgia State University gave this presentation, "Defending the IT Budget."

Georgia State University is doing a lot of cool things. They also presented on project prioritization Monday.

When J. L. Albert, the CIO, was hired in 2004, he had several issues. The department had an inconsistent focus on the customer, and the University felt that IT was a "budgetary black hole." The vision, or response to these issues, was to focus on customer needs and improve services.

They wanted to make their budget transparent to allow comparisons between their costs and equivalent external costs. They created this transparency in large part by establishing clear accountability for services. The "budget managers" (CIO reports and CIO second-level reports) then were put in charge of their services. They own the services and they defend budget recommendations for those services.

Georgia State University partnered with NDMA to create a business plan and a detailed service-based budget.

Some costs are considered "seed corn" and are not cut, e.g. training. Staff bill time to projects. Some money is considered "venture capital" for new projects.

They can now show their exact costs. Faculty thought that IT had received a big windfall by a switch to VoIP and IT could show that actually they gave all the money back to the University budget. This redirected energy towards looking at the other IT shops on campus.

You no longer have to say "no"--instead you can say "let's figure out how we can pay for this."

Use asset depreciation to help explain IT operational budgets.

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		Summary: Defending the IT Budget Created by John Borwick (Wake Forest University) on June 2, 2009 Cross-posted from http://itsm.is.wfu.edu/node/178. J. L. Albert, James Amann, and Mary Jane Casto from Georgia State University gave this presentation, "Defending the IT Budget." Georgia State University is doing a lot of cool things. They also presented on project prioritization Monday. When J. L. Albert, the CIO, was hired in 2004, he had several issues. The department had an inconsistent focus on the customer, and the University felt that IT was a "budgetary black hole." The vision, or response to these issues, was to focus on customer needs and improve services. They wanted to make their budget transparent to allow comparisons between their costs and equivalent external costs. They created this transparency in large part by establishing clear accountability for services. The "budget managers" (CIO reports and CIO second-level reports) then were put in charge of their services. They own the services and they defend budget recommendations for those services. Georgia State University partnered with NDMA to create a business plan and a detailed service-based budget. Some costs are considered "seed corn" and are not cut, e.g. training. Staff bill time to projects. Some money is considered "venture capital" for new projects. They can now show their exact costs. Faculty thought that IT had received a big windfall by a switch to VoIP and IT could show that actually they gave all the money back to the University budget. This redirected energy towards looking at the other IT shops on campus. You no longer have to say "no"--instead you can say "let's figure out how we can pay for this." Use asset depreciation to help explain IT operational budgets. EDUCAUSE \| SERC09 \| southeast regional conference 2009 John's blog Login or register to post comments 91 reads
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