CAUSE/EFFECT

This article was published in CAUSE/EFFECT journal, Volume 21 Number 4 1998. The copyright is shared by EDUCAUSE and the author. See http://www.educause.edu/copyright for additional copyright information.

Resourceful Campus Solutions to IT Staff Challenges

A severe shortage of IT personnel, IT salaries not keeping pace with the marketplace, difficulty recruiting and retaining IT personnel, the need to support widespread technology growth in all departments with limited human resources. What's a campus to do? This feature article shares the creative responses of six colleges and universities to these challenges.

(This is a multi-part article. Select one of the links below if you wish to jump directly to that section)

Overcoming the IT Staff Crisis at Alamo Community College District
by Charles W. Burmeister and Ernest A. Martinez

Last spring, the Alamo Community College District (ACCD) encountered a severe shortage of IT personnel. A number of IT personnel had departed for local industry positions with much higher salaries. There were only a few responses to routine position advertisements, and the quality of applicants was very mediocre. Seven (50 percent) of the analyst/programmer positions were vacant.

The ACCD is a large community college district located in San Antonio, Texas. It is composed of four colleges with an enrollment of over 38,000 students. Typical of most institutions, the ACCD is constantly improving processes through the use of new technology and now, in addition, is faced with critical projects related to the year 2000 crisis. These challenges cannot be surmounted, of course, without the resources of talented, experienced IT specialists.

With so many positions vacant at once, we realized that the long-term quality of the Information Systems department would be immensely affected by the quality of the personnel who filled these positions.

Solution: an intern program

To meet this need, an innovative professional analyst/programmer intern program was implemented. The program is simple in nature, but considering the results achieved, it contains sizeable portions of magic.

The program is built on the fundamental fact that there are many talented and experienced persons who wish to be in the "center lane" of an IT career but for various reasons have not achieved that goal. The professional analyst/programmer intern program provides them with this career opportunity.

The program was widely advertised. The professional requirements were set low--the primary requirement was a minimum of an associate degree, and a computer background was not required. The program sought to attract talented personnel who had the ability to learn and grow quickly. To assist in the evaluation process, the International Programming Aptitude Test (I-PAT) was used, and it proved to be very discriminating.

Outstanding qualifications

We received an extraordinary number (235) of applications. From these applicants, eleven interns were selected, seven with bachelor's degrees, four with associate degrees, and two with master's degrees. Eight are honor graduates and eight have at least associate computer majors. Seven have relevant computer work experience ranging from one to twelve years. All scored in the top 10 percent of the I-PAT. The cultural and ethnic backgrounds of the group are richly diverse. Their ages range from 23 to 54 with an average age of 38.

The eleven interns include a cum laude graduate from Rice University, a civil engineer, a former elementary school teacher with a math major, an honors graduate in statistics from the University of Texas, a computer science graduate from North Carolina University with an MBA from University of Texas at San Antonio, and an Indiana University graduate with an MBA.

Quick and easy training

Extensive online self-paced training systems were purchased to facilitate review and to quickly provide the interns with the comprehensive technical background necessary to enable them to be productive. Weekly workshops have also been directed by IT department managers. The camaraderie and esprit de corps of the group are excellent. Over 50 percent began production work after three months. We expect most of the interns to become full-time staff members and to contribute to sustaining a strong IT department.

In summary, the quality of the personnel recruited through this program was excellent and far exceeded the responses we had received by way of position announcements. The program has demonstrated that there is a large untapped pool of talented and experienced personnel who with some basic training can meet the IT personnel requirements of colleges and universities.

Acknowledgment:
Many of the fundamental ideas for this program were gained from the University of Texas at Austin which has had a successful intern program for many years. A critical success factor of the ACCD program can be attributed to substantial support provided by ACCD leadership.

Charles W. Burmeister ([email protected]) is Director of Information Systems and Ernest A. Martinez ([email protected]) is Executive Vice Chancellor at Alamo Community College District in San Antonio, Texas.

Strategic Partnering for IT Staffing at Texas A&M University
by Diana Biggerstaff, Susanna Coppernoll, and Onedia H. Sylvest

Traditionally, there was a solid working rela- tionship between information technology (IT) and human resources (HR) functions at Texas A&M University. However, the relationship dynamic has evolved over the past four years, moving from an operational to a strategic focus. Although a technology impact and a demand for "hot" skills have been primary drivers for change, the cultivation of a continuing dialog to identify and address strategic priorities has added value and redefined the role of HR. Building and sustaining a collaborative strategy between IT and HR functions fosters an internal capacity to lead change, allowing for the exploration of new ideas, and supporting a responsive, problem-solving methodology for meeting recruiting, retention, and retraining challenges.

Partnering to recruit

In the past, Computing and Information Services (CIS) enjoyed a larger pool of highly qualified candidates than available positions. As the IT market demand increased and private sector salaries rose, this changed dramatically. Vacancies were open for months, and the vacancy announcements yielded small applicant pools with a shortage of qualified candidates.

During the past year, CIS and HR employment staff collaborated to reverse that trend. CIS augmented the standard vacancy announcements provided by the employment office with a customized CIS Web page that detailed vacancy descriptions and linked it to the HR Web site. CIS also began using professional association listing options like EDUCAUSE's Job Posting Service and fee-based Web employment listings. Finally, CIS staff began attending selected job fairs with HR recruiters. These efforts increased the number of qualified applicants and reduced the time that positions are vacant.

Partnering to retain

In 1991, CIS developed a career ladder for the advancement of programming and systems analyst positions. The staffing assumptions were narrowly defined so that the positions in the ladder required a computer-related degree and the people in the ladder competed for a few promotions available only because of attrition. These assumptions stopped working as CIS faced a growing number of vacancies and a rising turnover rate. In 1997, CIS and HR classification and compensation staff revised the career ladder, better defining the required skill levels and removing the requirement for computer-related degrees. CIS also revised the promotion policy so that promotions occur whenever a person is performing at a higher level. New career paths were created for the training and networking groups in CIS, and career paths for other job families are being developed. The most recent change modified the educational requirement to allow an equivalent combination of training and experience in lieu of a degree.

Partnering to retrain

Employee development is one of the keys to recruiting and retaining talented IT staff. In 1996, CIS began examining training and development efforts. The first step was to work with HR training and development staff to exchange ideas on how to get a formal, organized effort going within CIS. The experience and insight from this interaction helped CIS establish a Training Council composed of a cross-section of employee volunteers.

The CIS Training Council directs training assessment, planning, and implementation efforts. Many of the interactive skills workshops available to CIS employees are provided through a partnership with HR that facilitates attendance of open enrollment courses and CIS-only scheduled courses. This partnership has enabled 30 percent of CIS employees to attend training since September of 1998.

University-wide benefits

The HR and IT partnership at Texas A&M University has transformed the CIS recruiting, retention, and retraining philosophies and practices. Furthermore, this collaboration will also benefit the wider population of the University. For example, CIS is pilot testing a jointly developed flexible work program that includes a telecommuting option. The results of the CIS pilot will contribute to recommendations that HR will make about University practices concerning telecommuting. The strategic partnering process has facilitated the free flow of information between CIS and HR, leading to greater understanding and resulting in shared discoveries that will help the University move into the new millennium.

The authors are staff members of the Computer and Information Services and Human Resources organizations at Texas A&M University. Diana Biggerstaff ([email protected]) is Manager, Classification and Compensation, in Human Resources; Susanna Coppernoll ([email protected]) is Employee Development Coordinator; and Onedia H. Sylvest ([email protected]) is Project Director, Internal Services.

HR and IT: A Progressive Partnership at Wake Forest
by Robin Ganzert, Tamara Greenwood, and Betsy Hoppe

In 1996, Wake Forest University undertook the challenges of implementing an innovative strategic plan entitled the Plan for the Class of 2000. The plan addressed six areas-university ideals, personal teaching, class and program availability, top quality faculty, scholarship support, and information technology. The information technology component of the plan presented the opportunity for the human resource (HR) and information technology (IT) departments to form a critical partnership upon which successful implementation of the plan would rest.

Decentralized IT: creating the ACS

The HR and IT partnership was formed out of necessity. The strategic plan required an infrastructure that would support the inclusion of technology both inside and outside the classroom. To fortify this massive venture, staffing levels increased and a new, decentralized IT organizational hierarchy evolved. The IT staffing structure was decentralized and a new category of "technology professional" was defined on campus. The position of Academic Computing Specialist (ACS) was created to provide academic departments with their own specialized expertise to support further the intent of the plan.

Seventeen ACS positions exist in academic departments today. They report to academic department heads, not to the chief information officer, fostering a grass roots approach to technology. The chief information officer is responsible for centralized IT services, including infrastructure, networking, and academic and administrative programming, while the ACS is the frontline staff member who assists faculty in their technology projects at a departmental level.

Decentralized HR role: selecting and hiring the ACS

As IT became decentralized with the new ACS positions, the role of the campus HR department changed. The HR function became decentralized during the ACS candidate selection and hiring processes. The ACS candidates were selected by faculty members representing different academic departments, and interviews were held by those faculty members, without HR department representation. HR department staff came into the hiring process at the time of the offer, but there was little to no intervention during the recruitment and selection stages. They served "backstage," providing support at the request of the faculty interviewers or dean of the college.

Non-traditional HR attraction mechanism: finding the ACS

Prior to the formation of the ACS position, the HR department used traditional methods of attracting potential candidates, such as a telephone job line and newspaper advertising. To attract candidates to the ACS position, the Wake Forest HR department used the World Wide Web for job postings for the first time. As a realized benefit of the partnership, the HR department actively uses the Web site now to attract employment candidates for all campus positions.

Centralized IT: hiring and retention

In support of the plan's infrastructure, the centralized IT staff tripled during this same time period, impacting the HR function tremendously. Attraction and retention methods for IT staff changed the role of HR in the traditional higher education marketplace, and the HR department responded with continued use of the Web site for attraction, out-of-cycle market salary increases, and tuition remission for the MBA program. The centralized IT department has found that working with HR is beneficial in providing quality candidates and in retaining quality employees.

Lessons learned

The decentralization of IT has created two groups of technology professionals. Both groups are selected, hired, and managed in different ways that are suitable to the departmental culture. Centralized IT's culture is very different from that of an academic department. The HR department is the link between both groups, providing traditional and non-traditional support. HR has changed the traditional university hiring procedures and retention policies to support the IT staffing initiatives necessary for the success of the strategic plan. The unique, competitive marketplace for IT staff, the departmental culture, and the organizational fit are factors that forced changes in the traditional HR processes.

Resources:

The Plan for the Class of 2000 can be found at http://www.wfu.edu/Academic-departments/Program-Planning-Committee/Plan-for-the-Class-of-2000.html. See http://www.wfu.edu/Administrative-offices/Human-Resources/ for more information about the Wake Forest HR department.

Robin Ganzert ([email protected]) is Assistant Dean of Administration and Human Resources at the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University; Tamara Greenwood ([email protected]) is a faculty member at the Calloway School of Business at WFU; and Betsy Hoppe ([email protected]) is the Assistant Dean and Director of Information Technology at the Calloway School of Business at WFU.

Collaboration, Adaptability, and Flexibility: Keys to Success at Mount Holyoke College
by Lauren Turner

Mount Holyoke College is a private, liberal arts college for women, located in western Massachusetts, with 1,900 full-time, undergraduate students and 900 employees. Approximately three years ago, our computing, library, and electronic services departments underwent restructuring that involved the merging of these previously separate entities into one large organization, Library Information Technology Services (LITS).

Many of the employment challenges we face are not dissimilar to the challenges of our peer institutions. Changing office and classroom technologies, maintaining competitive salaries, training and retraining, work restructuring, and managing expectations are among them.

We all acknowledge that demand for technology support and services has grown exponentially over the last five years. However, our information technology resources are limited. Therefore, it has been essential that LITS management work closely with College senior management to establish reasonable priorities and goals for themselves. Both human resources and information technology leadership have been successful in gaining support from senior management and in moving discussions about technology to be more central to college planning. Technology planning can no longer be a periphery or stand-alone activity.

Mount Holyoke College human resources (HR) and information technology (IT) staff have brought their respective expertise to a partnership that has resulted in the identification and implementation of several creative strategies for supporting technology growth with limited human resources.

Local experts group

Working together, LITS and HR staff established a group of users from across campus to function as a network of experts who partner with IT staff in all kinds of activities to support the growing demand for technology education and training. LITS worked with heads of academic and administrative departments to identify the experts and garner departmental support for the concept. The local experts group serve in a "train the trainers" capacity in their departments; act as liaisons between IT and their departments; help identify, test, and prioritize new technologies and their uses; and even identify office ergonomic concerns. An initial concern about this initiative was whether staff who were identified and invited to participate would feel that they were being fairly compensated for this more advanced technology role they would be assuming. This is addressed below in the discussion of our Salary Administration Program.

Training sessions

Recognizing that many of our current employees are struggling with the need to learn new technologies, last year we incorporated ongoing LITS technology training opportunities into the HR catalog of spring professional development opportunities. Participation in training sessions has increased since we coordinated these efforts, and many staff have successfully developed technology skills that have helped them to be more effective in their jobs.

Core technology competencies

In thinking about the way office staff positions are changing and how technology is a central and key competency for success, LITS and HR worked together to establish a set of core technology competencies for new office hires. We identified, and obtained management support for, the following set of skills that we would establish as prerequisite skills for all new office/administrative hires: basic word processing, basic spreadsheet, use of Web browsers, basic shared printer and file sharing, e-mail, file management, basic hardware use and maintenance, and appreciation of work analysis and work restructuring.

Salary administration system

In 1996 we implemented a new salary administration system. Our former system did not include job factors that appropriately recognized and valued the changing role of technology in campus jobs. As we embarked on developing a new system, we knew that our job evaluation instrument (the tool we use to collect information about position duties, responsibilities, experience, and education) had to be modified so that it would collect better information about technical competencies required in positions. Probably the most important change in our salary system was the closer linkage with market salary data. We did extensive benchmarking for many positions in our system in order to establish a competitive salary grade range structure. In assigning positions to grades, we not only considered the data collected from the internal assessment of the position, we also factored in market salary information from a significantly expanded market (not just the higher education market we used to determine competitive salaries in the past).

Reclassification and restructuring

Since LITS was emerging as a new organization just as we were about to implement our new salary system, we agreed with LITS management that we would conduct a comprehensive study of their positions once the merger was complete. This study resulted in the reclassification of several positions with corresponding salary adjustments, and agreement among LITS management, HR staff, employees in LITS, and other appropriate college officials that we had achieved our goals, which were to appropriately value positions based on our internal position evaluation instrument and to pay competitive salaries.

One noteworthy strategy we implemented was the restructuring of the position of director of desktop technologies (former title of this position was director of administrative computing). The responsibilities of this new position include, in addition to more traditional administrative computing functions, the responsibility to partner with departments to enable them to creatively and efficiently use technology to accomplish their goals, improve efficiencies, and restructure workflow. Specific skills, abilities, and qualities we sought for the incumbent in this position included the ability to lead and implement work restructuring projects and train team members on the work restructuring process.

Involvement of IT staff in searches

We have also invited information technology staff, as appropriate, to serve on search committees for key administrative and faculty positions so that they could lend their expertise to the search and selection process.

In summary, HR and LITS leadership truly work together to ensure that the college understands its technology needs, and have developed a working partnership that enables us to respond to changing needs quickly, effectively, and efficiently. Mount Holyoke College has adopted an institutional collaborative approach to information technology management and resource allocation. We continue to foster an environment in which individuals and departments are expected to partner to get work done and to create a culture which can not only function effectively with, but thrive on, change.

Lauren Turner ([email protected]) is Director of Human Resources at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

Purdue University's IST Training Program
by Nancy L. Yuochunas

Like other organizations, Purdue University has been impacted by the ongoing national shortage of staff qualified to work as network administrators, programmers, and other key computer technology support personnel. Under the leadership of Purdue's director of personnel services, key university administrators and faculty representatives from the computer technology department used the unique combination of resources available in higher education to create a new applicant pool for technology positions by developing the Information Systems and Technology (IST) training program.

IST training program

The IST training program offers an opportunity for individuals who are interested in technology careers, but who lack the appropriate skills, to quickly obtain the skills they need to meet their goals. There are two categories of participants: (1) individual (non-sponsored) trainees from within or outside the University; and (2) trainees who are sponsored by University departments.

Departments that want to nominate an employee for the training program submit application letters that include the trainee's qualifications and an explanation of the department's need for personnel with additional technical skills. These letters are submitted to the IST Steering Committee for selection of participants. Sponsoring departments have to agree to entirely relieve participants of their ordinary work responsibilities for the duration of the program and to provide them opportunities to apply their new skills upon their return to work. Participation in the program is contingent on the program participants signing an agreement to stay with the University for at least two years. Individuals who do not fulfill this commitment are required to reimburse the University for the cost of their classes.

Education component

The program includes an educational component for all participants and two three-month practicums for non-sponsored participants. The education component is made up of six classes offered for University credit. Purdue faculty teach these computer technology courses in an intensive eleven-week summer session. The curriculum includes:

Students must receive at least a C in each individual course and no less than a B average for all courses to successfully complete the program.

Practicum component

Upon successful completion of the education component of the program, sponsored participants return to their employing department, and individual, non-sponsored trainees must then successfully complete two three-month practicums. University departments may participate in the IST program by providing projects for the practicums and supervision for the trainee during the completion of that practicum. Trainees are evaluated at the end of each three-month assignment. At the end of two successful assignments, the trainee is eligible to apply for IT jobs on campus.

Program to date

The IST training program was launched in the spring of 1998. Availability of the program was publicized throughout the University and in Central Indiana. One hundred sixty applications were received from individuals within and outside the University. Ninety-three of the applicants were tested and screened, and twenty individuals were interviewed by University technical staff who selected the trainees to enter the program. Fifteen participants were selected for the initial class: eight individual trainees and seven sponsored employees. Twelve members of the 1998 class successfully completed the education component and have either returned to their departments or are completing their first three-month practicum.

While it is still too soon to judge the success of the program in terms of placement of non-sponsored trainees in new positions, departments that sponsored trainees have reported satisfaction with the improved skill levels of their staff who completed the education component of the program.

Nancy L. Yuochunas ([email protected]) is Director, Application and Project Management Services, at Purdue University.

IT Salaries: Wisconsin Partners to Compete
by Jack Duwe, Judy Caruso, and Marcia Jezwinski

The University of Wisconsin, Madison, is one of twenty-six campuses in the University of Wisconsin System, and the UW System is only one of thirty state agencies to employ information technology professionals from the classified civil service. These IT professionals include programmer/analysts, network specialists, database analysts, and other IT professionals who primarily work on network and computer applications. Of the 1,952 classified IT professionals in state service, 309 work at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

In recent years, state IT salaries have not kept pace with the market. State agencies, primarily located in Madison, and the University were having difficulty recruiting skilled IT staff and retaining existing staff. The civil service compensation plans were rigid, and the hiring process was both lengthy and bureaucratic. With salaries 20-50 percent below market rates and turnover rates of 14 percent in 1996, IT supervisors found it increasingly difficult to meet the information technology needs of their customers. IT managers and agency management brought their complaints to the Wisconsin Department of Employment Relations (DER). Sensitive to the problem, DER staff assembled an IT advisory board in January of 1996.

Information Technology Compensation Advisory Council

The purpose of the IT Compensation Advisory Council was to work with the DER Secretary on issues affecting the classification, compensation, recruitment, and retention of people employed in the IT occupational area. The Council was charged with helping the Secretary to establish an innovative compensation system to enhance the recruitment and retention of well-qualified professional IT staff. Members of the Council included IT directors from several of the largest and smallest state agencies and the University of Wisconsin, Madison's deputy chief information officer.

From January of 1996 to the fall of 1997, the Council identified and prioritized the problems with the current IT classification and compensation system. Solutions were categorized based on ease of implementation. One solution, for example, was to raise the minimum rate for certain classifications. DER was free to implement this solution at any time (other solutions required legislative changes or union ratification) and did so on June 9, 1996. IT managers from the state agencies and DER staff worked jointly in this effort.

Building support for broadbanding

A key solution to the compensation issue was the creation of a broadbanding system for IT professionals. The road to broadbanding began with DER and the IT directors obtaining the support of officials from state agencies and the UW System, legislators, human resource managers, and state budget officers. The focus then shifted to union-represented employees. The success of the broadbanding program depended in large measure on union members understanding and accepting the broadbanding concept before contract negotiations began. To this end, "pre-bargaining" discussions were held with union members.

Broadbanding was initiated for non-represented staff and supervisors in October of 1997 and for represented staff in May of 1998.

What is broadbanding?

Broadbanding for IT professionals and senior managers is entirely different from the classification and compensation system for other civil service staff in Wisconsin. Broadbanding places equal value on the actual job and the experience and qualifications of the person. This is a shift from traditional thinking in state government, which places value almost exclusively on the job rather than the person. Broadbanding also reduces the traditional human resources control of the program, which in turn increases the role of managers and supervisors.

Goals of broadbanding include:

Building a partnership

The work of the IT Compensation Advisory Council has gone beyond the development of the broadbanding program. That very successful partnership among state agency IT directors, DER, and human resources managers has evolved into a permanent committee that continues to meet monthly. It is now focusing on ways to improve the marketing of state IT jobs, reduce the number and duration of procedures for hiring IT staff, and establish tools and techniques for competing more effectively with the private sector for skilled workers.

Keys to success

This Wisconsin initiative has been very successful. Some of the keys to its success include:

Jack Duwe ([email protected]) is Deputy CIO and Associate Director of the Division of Information Technology (DoIT), at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; Judy Caruso ([email protected]) is Director, Applications Technology, DoIT; and Marcia Jezwinski ([email protected]) is Assistant Director, DoIT Human Resources.

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