Responses to questions and comments

I've gotten interesting questions, comments, and suggestions since my last post. Here are my thoughts on them:

• "While I can see the value of an integrated IT for the University, I would not like us to lose the 'personal touch' provided by our dedicated college support staff. I would assume faculty and staff in each of the 3 academic colleges feel this way about their own IT unit. Ours is really special and I feel strongly that they should remain independent."
  
  Providing good service and a personal touch are essential to successful IT support. What we have to do is to focus on the services being provided - the outputs, in computer nerd terms - rather than on the current structures that provide those services - the inputs. It's hard to separate the two when we're so used to how we've been doing things, but too often, the current structure gets in the way of providing the best service.
  
  
• A related comment: "We don't want to lose the autonomy that lets us provide the services our unit needs."
  
  Our emphasis must be on the needed services. Where autonomy is necessary to provide the services effectively, we should support it. If it isn't necessary, autonomy has to be weighed with other goods like efficiency, economy, consistency, accountability, and communication.
  
  
• " Why isn't Computer Science's IT group/staff listed under Academic Affairs?"
  
  When I made the list, I was thinking of CS as an academic services unit, sort of like Distance Ed, rather than as an IT unit. This relates to questions that we discussed in the TCC (Technology Coordination Council) yesterday, and that I'll talk about more in my next post later today: Who is an IT person? Where should we draw the line between IT and other functions, especially when somebody wears several hats?
  
  
• See Mike's comment on my previous post about computer labs. He makes good points.
  
  
• "How do our comparable institutions organize IT?"
  
  Finding out that is part of the fact-gathering I'm just starting. I'll post what I find.
  
  
• "Does this reorganization effort fit with the UWG strategic plan being developed?"
  
  Definitely. The plan is still in the draft stage, but it includes these subgoals under the "Managing Resources" goal:
  
• "Organizational Assessment/Reorganization Efforts to increase functionality, eliminate redundancy and review the outcomes of the organization."
• "Customer Service Improvements"