Student Affairs IT StaffSurvey Results

The first question was designed to help determine what proportion of our staff currently work as specialists versus those who have taken on multiple roles.

24 out of approximately 50 IT staff filled out the survey, but in some instances only a fraction answered a particular aspect of a question (those who are developers, for example).

Proportion of your time spent working on in the following areas? Table 1 n=24

0%-20% 20%-40% 40%-60% 60%-80% 80%-100%ResponseCount

Applications Development

44.4% (8) 22.2% (4) 16.7% (3) 5.6% (1) 11.1% (2) 18

Applications Production & Life Cycle Management

30.0% (6) 40.0% (8) 15.0% (3) 15.0% (3) 0.0% (0) 20

Desktop & End User Support

64.7% (11) 11.8% (2) 5.9% (1) 5.9% (1) 11.8% (2) 17

Server Management

85.7% (12) 14.3% (2) 0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 14

Network Administration

92.3% (12) 0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 7.7% (1) 0.0% (0) 13

Business Analysis 36.4% (8) 45.5% (10) 13.6% (3) 0.0% (0) 4.5% (1) 22

Management & Administration

28.6% (4) 35.7% (5) 21.4% (3) 7.1% (1) 7.1% (1) 14

A quick look at the data in Table 1 shows most responses are clustered towards left side indicating that most people tend to spend only a small percentage of their time on specific tasks.

However, we realized that this snapshot likely exaggerated the extent of fragmentation because staff who worked in Applications Development likely also performed App Prod & Life Cycle Mgmt.

So we combined similar areas and added the « other » results, and got the following picture.

Proportion of your time…

w/Categories Combined 0%-20% 20%-40% 40%-60% 60%-80% 80%-100%

App Dev & Prod/Life Cycle 1 5 4 6 4 20

Network Admin & Server Mgmt 2 8 2 0 1 13

Desktop Support 12 2 1 1 2 18

Business Analysis 8 10 3 0 1 22

Mgmt 4 4 3 1 0 12

Security

Training

What the combined data shows is: Where we have specialists, they are almost all to be found

in the applications area. But even there, only a small fraction (4/20) devote 80-100% of their time to applications work.

In the area of server/network admin, over 75% of the staff who support this function spend less than 40% of their time on infrastructure services.

Desktop support is even more fragmented. 12 of the 18 who report providing desktop support do so for 20% or less of their time.

Business Analysis jumps out as another area where most are asked to fill in and do work outside of their primary area of responsibility and, likely, training.

What does this mean?

Not surprisingly, there is a significant mismatch between our goal of deepening skills and fostering specialization and our the current deployment of IT staff.

There are likely significant gains to be made by taking peripheral responsibilities off of IT staffs’ plate allowing them to focus more consistently on their primary functions

We will have to be very careful as we move towards disentangling roles and functions to ensure continuity of service

The upcoming individual assessment will be crucial in determining both individual skill sets and interests as we move towards an org structure with more specialists, and some (but fewer) generalists.

Looking at SA IT from the 10,000 ft. level, where would you invest?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Applications Development

30.0%(6)

5.0% (1)

15.0% (3)

5.0% (1)25.0%

(5)0.0%

(0)5.0% (1) 5.0% (1)

10.0% (2)

Applications Production & Life Cycle Management

9.1% (2)

27.3%(6)

0.0% (0)

13.6% (3)

18.2% (4)

9.1% (2)

9.1% (2)13.6%

(3)0.0%

(0)

Web Content Management System

4.8% (1)

4.8% (1)

14.3% (3)

4.8% (1)9.5%

(2)14.3%

(3)23.8%

(5)9.5%

(2)14.3%

(3)

Desktop & End User Support

4.8% (1)

0.0% (0)

19.0% (4)

19.0% (4)

4.8% (1)14.3%

(3)19.0%

(4)14.3%

(3)4.8% (1)

Server Management9.5%

(2)0.0%

(0)9.5%

(2)4.8% (1)

28.6% (6)

23.8% (5)

4.8% (1)14.3%

(3)4.8% (1)

Network Administration0.0%

(0)9.5%

(2)4.8% (1)

14.3% (3)

0.0% (0)

19.0% (4)

14.3% (3)

4.8% (1)33.3%

(7)

Business Analysis9.1%

(2)22.7%

(5)4.5% (1)

13.6% (3)

9.1% (2)9.1%

(2)4.5% (1)

27.3% (6)

0.0% (0)

Security33.3%

(7)19.0%

(4)14.3%

(3)9.5%

(2)4.8% (1)

4.8% (1)

4.8% (1)9.5%

(2)0.0%

(0)

Project management0.0%

(0)15.0%

(3)20.0%

(4)20.0%

(4)5.0% (1)

5.0% (1)

15.0% (3)

0.0% (0)

20.0% (4)

If you condense the 9 point scaleInvestment Priorities 1-2 1-3 4-6 7-9

Applications Dev 35% 50% 30% 20%

Applications Prod & Lifecycle 36% 36% 41% 23%

Web Content 10% 24% 29% 48%

Desktop & End User 5% 24% 38% 38%

Server Mgmt 10% 19% 57% 24%

Network Admin 10% 14% 33% 52%

Business Analysis 32% 36% 32% 32%

Security 52% 67% 19% 14%

Proj Mgmt 15% 35% 30% 35%

Well being of Employees

UX

Additional investment priorities

Totaling the percentages in the first two columns shows that:

App Dev & App Prod & Life Cycle are ranked #2 & #3

Security, surprisingly, was the top priority for greater investment (ranked 1st or 2nd by 52%), and

Business Analysis came in 4th

If you expand the tally to include each individual’s top 3 investment priorities, improved Project Mgmt clearly emerges as the next most important need.

If you could propose an additional investment in your area…

Increase specialization

Investment in staff & cross training

Clearer prioritization

Code bank – capture best practices

More standardization & centralized provisioning

Movement class

Briefly, Give us one suggestion…

Clear charge for decision makers & don’t over-promise, and do focus on execution

Phased approach

Keep info flowing outward

Ticketing system – track institutional knowledge

Business Analysis

Briefly, give us one caution… Loss of domain specific knowledge

Have clear roles & responsibilities

Transparent processes & metrics

Publish prelim Org Structure for comment

Assumptions are not reality

In a vacuum people will speculate and morale will nosedive

Paralysis by analysis

Thanks for your input

Coming Soon

Regular informal, info sessions with Angela and her leadership team

Scheduling of individual skills & interests assessments