Facing Change Together: Collaboration at the Core

Lake Forest College & Kalamazoo College

Commonalities between LFC and Ko Small schools with small

endowments o Merged organizations with

similar philosophieso Oberlin Groupo Jenzabar schoolso Both working on new library

building projectso Both struggling with small staff

size and inadequate budgetso MITC/NITLE members

Where We Were

What We Are Not

Where We Wished to Be

Getting to Where We Wished to Be

o Executive level discussion at LFCo Improve IT serviceso Add staff expertise

o Temporarily fund through grant?o Conclusion: collaborative

approach best chance of grant support

o Contacted Kalamazoo o They said yes (the fools)o Applied to Mellon - received

$200,000 grant for collaboration

What Were We Thinking?

Donnelly and Lee Library Lake Forest College

May 2003 – September 2004

Upjohn Library Commons Kalamazoo College

June 2004 – December 2005

Both Colleges were undertaking major library renovations during collaboration.

Morphing of The Concept

o Idea changes through further discussions (or, just what is it we really need, anyway?)

o Difficult to find the ideal candidate

o NITLE Conference in Lisle, IL provided more fodder for this crazy idea

Diagram 1: Productivity and Innovation Competitive Gain for Institution

Productivity Innovation Few Technology Users

III IV

Imp

act

Many Technology Users

I II

Using IT for Competitive Advantage

4. Training

1. Administrative

8. Student

6. Hardware Installation

3. Desktop Repair

2. Helpline

9. Network

7. Web

5. Curricular

Decision to Hire Consultant

o Dynamic Campus Solutions (DCS) selected to advise us on collaboration opportunities and prepare us to collaborate

o A solid technology foundationo Reliable systems and network

connectivityo Sufficient/spare Internet

bandwidtho Integrated networks and

systemso Directed, knowledgeable,

committed staff

Successful Collaboration Needs

Opportunities for Collaborationo DCS recommendations for possible

collaboration :o Network Services

o Shared network maintenance & supporto Shared Groupware system

o Help Desk Serviceso Shared phone operatorso Shared Help Desk system

o Phone Serviceo New Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP)

phone systemo Shared PBX administration

o Web Serviceso Shared Liquid Matrixo Shared Content Management

o Administrative Computing (ERP)

Selection of Projects o Shared Help Desk environment-

Help Desk softwareo Shared Groupware – (email,

calendar/scheduling system)o VoIP analysis and deploymento Install campus-wide shared

network monitoringo Upgrade Internet connectivityo Review administrative shadow

systemso Consolidate and optimize

servers

Evaluation & Implementationo Groupware evaluated

o Novell Groupwiseo LotusNoteso Microsoft Exchange

o Help Desk systems evaluated

o Track-Ito FrontRange HEATo RT (open source)

And the Winners Were

o Groupware selectedo Microsoft Exchange

o Help Desk system selectedo Track-IT

Groupware

o Do you have a Groupware product?

1. Exchange2. Groupwise 3. LotusNotes 4. Oracle Collaboration Suite 5. Open Source 6. Other

Track-ITo How many of you have Help

Desk software?o Is it homegrown, commercial

or open source product?1. Homegrown2. Commercial3. Open Source

o Are you satisfied with your product?

History of Collaboration2003

Spring LFC and K decide to collaborate on a Mellon Grant

August$200,000 Grant received

Fall Meeting in Kalamazoo, Jim and Lisa discuss approaches

History of Collaboration2004

Feb LFC and K meet potential consultants for the first time—still thinking about ERP collaboration

Winter Discussions with GLCA Director resulted in suggestion to hire consultants

for project rather than hire a shared project manager

Spring Negotiations with consultants

Summer Consultant campus Visit to Kalamazoo College

Fall Consultant campus Visit to Lake Forest College

Nov Technology Improvement Plan received results in staffing changes at K

and LFC

Nov NITLE conference in Lisle, Illinois-further discussions ensued with

Presidents and CIOs

Dec Meeting at LFC to discuss specifics of collaboration after both reviews – “Preparation for Collaboration”

History of Collaboration2005

Jan Signed implementation agreement with consultants

Feb-Dec Implementation

April Demos of Groupware and Help Desk systems

May - August Implementation of Groupware and Help Desk systems

September Fall Semester roll out

Dec Wrote second grant to Mellon for training

Political issues (or now the fun begins)

o System architecture

o What architecture do you use?

1. UNIX2. Microsoft 3. Novell 4. HPux

What Were We Thinking?

Data Center

o Evaluation of our current centers led to decision to contract with a data center in Chicago to house servers

o Redundant power, multiple access to multiple ISPs

o Expansion if collaboration grows

Outcomes

o All servers in Chicago data center

o Separate server farms for groupware and network file storage

o Shared server for Help Desk systems

Data Center Schematic

Where We Are Now

Immediate Savings

o Not as significant as could beo Negotiated for DS-3’s together o Better pricing on Microsoft

software than if negotiated separately

o Some savings on purchase of hardware

o Definite savings on purchase of Track-IT software and hardware

Where We are Nowo Informal sharing of resources

o Staff expertiseo Staff assistance

o Track-ITo Running on same servero Can see each other’s ticketso Poised for further collaboration

o Groupwareo Separate servers, but sharing

back-up strategyo Poised for further collaboration

Where We Hope to Be

o Positioned for sharing staff

o Systems administrationo .NET programming expertiseo VoIP implementationo Help Desk — deeper

collaborationo Sharing tools and best

practiceso Adding additional partners

Where We Wish to Be

What Are You Thinking?