Documents Contributed by ECAR and Chargebacks or Cost Recovery

In 2004, MIT and Stanford University began the Total Cost of IT project to measure, or at least estimate, the total cost of IT at those two institutions. This bulletin describes the project costing model, processes, and findings and the ways this model can be replicated on other campuses. It explains how to categorize spending, which questions to ask, how to manage and analyze results, and how to extract a meaningful picture of IT spending.

This research bulletin, which draws on research conducted by ECAR in 2004 on the state of information technology funding, examines how higher education uses chargebacks for funding IT. It is based on data from 472 chief information officers and 386 chief financial officers, as well as qualitative interviews and case studies. The bulletin focuses on the pressures that drive change in IT and where and how institutions use IT chargebacks. It also explores some emerging models that may suggest the future for technology chargebacks.

This multi-part case study examines three different approaches to building a sustainable network funding model. The cases focus on three complex research universities that use strategies that may be applicable in a variety of higher education environments. The institutions studied include Cornell University, the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Wisconsin--Madison.

This ECAR research study is designed to illuminate a host of current financial management practices related to IT in higher education; to describe the state of the practice in this critical area; and to identify funding practices that appear to contribute to the overall effective function of the IT operation. The study is based on five major research initiatives: a literature review, survey responses from 482 chief information officers and 386 chief business officers in higher education, qualitative telephone interviews, and three in-depth cases studies involving five institutions.