This article was published in CAUSE/EFFECT journal, Volume 22 Number 4 1999. Copyright EDUCAUSE. See http://www.educause.edu/copyright for additional copyright information.
From the Editor
The last half of this decade has seen a resurgence of interest and investment in administrative information systems in higher education. The rise of networked and distributed computing has dramatically changed not only automated transaction processing systems but also the way campuses store and make information accessible to faculty, students, and staff. Aging financial, human resources, and student information systems have needed to be replaced or upgraded to improve quality and services, to take advantage of emerging electronic business opportunities, and to support the delivery of technology-based education--not to mention to ensure readiness for the year 2000.
In addressing these needs, many colleges and universities have embraced the concept of enterprise resource planning (ERP), embarking on implementations of complex enterprisewide, integrated systems, often in conjunction with efforts to reengineer related business processes. With so many commercial packages available and increasing shortages of information technology staff to develop such systems in-house, most of these implementations have been undertaken in partnership with one or more vendors and consultants.
This issue of CAUSE/EFFECT features an article that draws on the experiences of several institutions (primarily research universities) that have been engaged in such enterprise system implementations and offers some wisdom gleaned to date. Authors Jack McCredie and Dan Updegrove share 22 lessons learned �from the trenches� that translate into an excellent set of guidelines for avoiding the potential pitfalls inherent in such complex projects. Their frank advice--from establishing a decision-making framework early in the process to understanding the role of consultants to being skeptical about vendor promises to recognizing that the project will never be completely finished--should prove very valuable to others facing the need to renew administrative infrastructures.
In a second feature article, authors Gayle Jaacks and Michael Kurtz describe what worked and what didn�t at Western Iowa Tech Community College when their student system vendor released a major upgrade that prompted a decision to carry out a comprehensive critical review of the college�s business processes. Their article relates the methods the college used to reengineer those processes to take full advantage of the new functionality the upgrade provided and shares the lessons they learned in the process.
At Mount Holyoke College, reengineering efforts took a different form and resulted in the realization that what works in the corporate world doesn�t necessarily work in academe. Particularly in two organizational restructuring efforts at this small liberal arts college, several �rules� of reengineering were bent to ensure success. Authors Madeline Carnevale, Sandra Berestka, and Debra Morrissey describe these efforts and summarize the components of a successful reengineering environment.
Last year at this time CAUSE/EFFECT focused an issue on the �IT staffing crisis� (see http://www.educause.educem984.html). Twelve months later recruitment and retention of information technology professionals continues to be a major challenge for higher education. Two areas in which we face challenges are human resources approaches and work environment. Authors Michael Eleey and Lynn Oppenheim address both of these areas but focus on the latter in their thoughtful article on retaining IT staff through effective institutional planning and management. One of the keys to retention, they say, is job satisfaction within a well-managed organization. Their article recommends a systems approach to ensuring a positive working environment to help reduce turnover in this critical area.
This issue�s campus profile features Seton Hall University, winner of the 1999 EDUCAUSE Award for Excellence in Campus Networking, which recognizes not only outstanding network infrastructure but also �well-planned, appropriately executed, and pervasive utilization of campus networking in support of the institution�s mission.� Their IT planning and organization, mobile computing program, corporate partnerships, and use and assessment of technology in teaching and learning provide an outstanding example of an �exceptionally unified and exceptionally comprehensive� approach to effective investment in and application of information technology in higher education.
Julia A. Rudy, CAUSE/EFFECT Editor