EDUCAUSE | Documents Contributed by ECAR and Financial Management

Toward Sustainable Funding for Information Technology Infrastructure

ckeller — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:16:33 -0500

This research bulletin presents a framework for the effective, ongoing, sustainable funding of IT infrastructure in universities and colleges. The framework articulates the composition of IT infrastructure and derives a cost model for provision of infrastructure services. The model is intended to be straightforward, enabling ready adoption, while also providing flexibility so that it can be updated on a periodic basis to reflect changing technological demand and supply conditions.

The Future of Higher Education: A View from CHEMA

drupal — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 10:13:56 -0500

This study, designed and analyzed by ECAR on behalf of the Council of Higher Education Management Associations (CHEMA), identifies the forces of change that are building for higher education and seeks to understand their potential implications. The report adds the voice of higher education's administrative leadership to the dialogue about the future of our institutions. Sponsored by 22 CHEMA member associations, the study examines how administrators and officials engaged in college and university support functions anticipate that higher education will change over the next ten years by identifying the changes, opportunities, and threats these leaders foresee for higher education, for their institutions, and for specific functional areas. In addition, the study discusses how prepared institutions are to manage change and shape their own futures.

So, What Does IT Cost?

drupal — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 09:30:50 -0500

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.

IT Portfolio Management and Accountability in Higher Education

drupal — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 12:24:09 -0500

IT portfolio management at the University of Nebraska is being used to address accountability in the broadest sense: strategic decision-making, project analysis, and performance-based reporting. The practice helps decision makers objectively determine which IT projects or systems should move forward and which ones must wait, when to involve others in the decision-making process, and which resources can help managers reach the best decisions. This research bulletin describes how IT portfolio management is structured and employed at the University of Nebraska.

CHEMA Looks at the Future of Higher Education, 2006

drupal — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 15:59:39 -0600

This survey instrument is part of a project sponsored by CHEMA to look at the future of higher education from the perspective of its members. The project will examine how the executives who lead higher education's support functions anticipate that higher education will change over the next 10 years. It will identify the drivers of change and discuss the types of opportunities and threats these leaders foresee for higher education, their institutions, and their functional areas. The research will look at how some of these forces are creating change across multiple functional areas. To the extent that change is anticipated, we will also examine how prepared institutions are to manage change. Finally, the project will identify areas in which these leaders believe higher education can act to shape its own future. The project will be conducted by a research team from the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR).

Chargebacks and Information Technology Funding

drupal — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 09:37:14 -0600

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.

Information Technology Funding in Higher Education

drupal — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 13:16:06 -0500

This is the February 2004 ECAR survey instrument used for ECAR Research Study Information Technology Funding in Higher Education.

IT Portfolio Management for Colleges and Universities: Balancing Risk/Return for Strategic Results

drupal — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 08:54:34 -0600

This research bulletin explores how institutions optimize their portfolio of information technology investments. Drawing from recent research conducted at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management among 130 CIOs, it explores how institutions decide which IT projects to fund and how they assess the costs and benefits of their investments. Do institutions intervene to improve the performance of IT investments that are not delivering on their promise, or are expensive IT investments allowed to languish without intervention?

Information Technology Funding in Higher Education Key Findings

drupal — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 16:37:19 -0600

This summary 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 summary 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

Information Technology Funding in Higher Education Roadmap

drupal — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 15:50:03 -0600

This ECAR Roadmap 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.