Anyone have experience with an external review of your IT shop?

Posted by drshauncooper on December 12, 2011

We have a new president and she has been conducting external review of various organizations on campus. Information Technology is one of these programs. Do any of you know of organizations or companies who might help facilitate this activity? We have a solid idea on what we want to do, but are open to additional ideas and would also welcome a third party to oversee the activity so that the review is seen as more neutral. Shaun -- Shaun Cooper, Ph.D. Chief Information Officer and Associate Vice President New Mexico State University (575) 646-2026 scooper@nmsu.edu ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.

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Hello Dr. Cooper Cincinnati State has worked with Blackwell Global Consulting. They performed a complete IT assessment and delivered IT strategic planning documents. Frankie Baker Chief Information Officer Information Technology Services 513-569-1453 tel Cincinnati State Technical and Community College 3520 Central Parkway Cincinnati, Ohio 45223-2690 www.cincinnatistate.edu  Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. | GNH

Posted by: Frankie Baker on December 12, 2011

At my last institution we engaged Cedar Crestone for a strategic planning effort. As part of their engagement they did an IT internal assessment. It was thorough and very helpful. Thomas H. Carnwath Vice President Technology and Information Services Hamilton Hall 320 South Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19102 Tel: 215-717-6440 Need Assistance? Call Oops (215-717-6677) to get answers. OTIS will never ask for your personal information or password. Never share this information with anyone. This message and any attachment may contain confidential or privileged information and is intended for the intended individual named as addressee. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, please notify the sender immediately by return email and delete this message and all attachments from your system. Any unauthorized disclosure, use, distribution, or reproduction of this message or any attachments is prohibited and may be deemed unlawful. Please consider the environment before printing this email.

Posted by: thcarnwath on December 12, 2011

I second the endorsement of Moran Technology Consulting.

Charlie McMahon

Vice President of Information Technology

Chief Technology Officer

Tulane University

504-988-8555 (O)

504-256-6688 (C)

Posted by: cmcmaho on December 13, 2011

I agree that it’s best to have an external review of a higher ed IT shop done by higher ed IT professionals. That’s how academic departments do it after all. I have been on several consulting teams doing that kind of review and Marty Ringle, as mentioned below, has done many of them. If you are uncomfortable recruiting individuals, the consulting firm Eduserve International is made up of mostly ex-higher ed IT folk, including several retired CIOs.

- Mark

Mark Berman, Chief Information Officer
Siena College

515 Loudon Road
Loudonville, New York 12211-1462
Tel: (518)786-5000, Fax: (518)783-2590

From: Ed biglin [mailto:ebiglin@STMARYS-CA.EDU]
Sent: Monday, December 12, 2011 7:05 PM
Subject: Re: Anyone have experience with an external review of your IT shop?

A couple of years ago, we had an external audit of our Technology done by Marty Ringle from Reed. We looked at some consultant groups, but in the end felt that someone with broad higher ed experience would serve us best.

The process was nervous-making, of course, but in the end was extraordinarily useful and enlightening. Marty did a thorough and thoughtful job, and was able to highlight for the campus the issues we had that were common in higher ed, as well as pinpointing our particular issues and strengths. He made a number of suggestions for directions as we move forward, and those have been very useful in my conversations around hiring, budgets, etc. I would think, based on that experience, that it would be a good thing for the College to do such an audit every five years or so, and having an outside reviewer is very useful.

stay well,

Ed Biglin, CTO
Saint Mary's College of CA

On 12/12/2011 9:58 AM, Pat Pettit wrote:

We had an external review done by Grant Thornton about five years ago, mainly on IT security and our administrative system, Banner. They really told us what we already knew we needed to address, they just validated everything and gave us a reason to get the dollars we needed.

Pat

Pat Pettit, Director of Information Technology, Millikin University

1184 W. Main Street

Decatur, IL 62522

217-362-6488

ppettit@millikin.edu

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This message along with any included attachments may contain information that is confidential and privileged. Unless you are the addressee (or authorized to receive for the addressee,) you may not use, copy, or disclose to anyone any information contained in this message. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and immediately delete the message and any attachments. Thank you for your cooperation.

>>> "Shaun Cooper, Ph.D" <scooper@NMSU.EDU> 12/12/2011 10:18 AM >>>
We have a new president and she has been conducting external review of
various organizations on campus. Information Technology is one of these
programs.

Do any of you know of organizations or companies who might help
facilitate this activity? We have a solid idea on what we want to do,
but are open to additional ideas and would also welcome a third party to
oversee the activity so that the review is seen as more neutral.

Shaun

--
Shaun Cooper, Ph.D.
Chief Information Officer and
Associate Vice President
New Mexico State University
(575) 646-2026 scooper@nmsu.edu

**********
Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.

-- Ed Biglin, Ph.D.Chief Technology OfficerComputer and Technology ServicesSaint Mary's College of CA925-631-4640

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.

Posted by: mberman on December 14, 2011

All--

Just to second Mark's comment... we finished a nearly year-long engagement with Eduserve International in September; Tom Warger was the principal. He and his team did an outstanding job, particularly with engaging the various functional departments, speaking truth to power, and building trust with the president. We have and are reaping the benefits with funding and new unanimity of purpose.

Good luck.

Lee

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

W. Lee Hisle

Vice-President for Information Services
and Librarian of the College
Connecticut College
New London, CT
(860) 439-2650
www.conncoll.edu/is

Posted by: wlhis@conncoll.edu on December 14, 2011

A third on Moran. Good people who understand what we face in this funky business of higher ed IT.

______________________________________

Peter Greco

Chief Information Officer

Regis University

3333 Regis Blvd

Denver, CO 80221-1099

Learners becoming Leaders in the Jesuit Catholic Tradition

Visit us on the Web at regis.edu

Posted by: pgreco on December 14, 2011

Message from marilyn_delmont@nshe.nevada.edu

I have found Gartner Consulting, Inc. to be better than most. Also, they have an extensive database where you can do your own bench marking. However, they tend to be pricey. Best Always, Marilyn Delmont Associate Vice Chancellor for Information Technology Nevada System of Higher Education Phone: (702) 895-4590 Fax: (702) 895-1772 Marilyn_Delmont@NSHE.nevada.edu "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." __Winston Churchill

Posted by: listserv-anon on December 14, 2011

When I first arrived at Bowdoin, I had a security assessment done using some friends at Stanford who had formed a company. They have since sold that company. Two years later Stroz Freeburg did a complete forensic review of Bowdoin. These guys are exceptional but a little expensive. You have to prepare yourself for the fallout from this kind and evaluation. http://www.strozfriedberg.com/home.aspx Three years later I did another security assessment using Forrester. They did a good job but it was a lot of staff time. http://www.forrester.com/rb/research Two year later we did a financial, security, systems audit using PWC. This was the review that helped me to create a full time CSO. http://www.pwc.com/ This year we hired KPMG. We just finished a financial/security audit with them. Great company to work with and this audit focused on financial information and business systems. http://www.kpmg.com/us/en/joinus/pages/default.aspx I try to have an outside assessment of our systems, security policies and practices every two years. I don't like to use the same company. I really don't want to use anyone who is from higher ed. I know what standard practice is in higher ed. I want a company who compares our work and thinking to the top companies in the world. I hope this helps. If you want more detail, please call or email me. Mitch Davis CIO Bowdoin College 9600 College Station 308, Hawthorne/Longfellow Brunswick, ME 04011 Office 207 725 3930 Direct 207 607 9932 Fax 207 725 3764 Email mwdavis@bowdoin.edu Admin: Jennifer Wienckowski - 207-725-3277 - jwiencko@bowdoin.edu ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.

Posted by: Mitchel_Davis on December 15, 2011

We had an external review performed by Gene Spencer in 2008, and we invited Gene back to campus a few weeks ago for some additional assessment. Gene truly works with our campus as a partner and provides wonderful insight, guidance, and assessment for our ITS organization and our institution. http://www.genespencerconsulting.com/ Trey Short Chief Technology Officer Illinois Wesleyan University tshort@iwu.edu

Posted by: treyshort on December 15, 2011

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