Background
In 2003, at the direction of then EVCP Paul Gray, the Berkeley campus undertook the Information Technology (IT) Strategic Planning process. Over the next two years, under the guidance of Ken Goldberg, Chair of the Academic Senate Committee on Computing and Communications, cabinet members and the multiple IT-advisory committees in existence at that time engaged in a process to articulate the current state of IT on campus and to identify the desired future directions [1].
The IT strategic planning work revealed a number of critical technology-related issues, including the need for clear and consistent IT governance, funding, and organizational structures. The assessment concluded that foundational work in this area was necessary as a key enabler for progress in all other IT areas. Consequently, in fall 2005,the IT Review Committee, chaired by UC Systemwide Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, Emeritus Jud King, was established to make specific recommendations about IT funding, governance, and structure. The Committee contained a mix of internal domain experts from the Berkeley campus and external reviewers from peer institutions and private sector companies. The findings of this group were published as a report entitled Information Technology at UC Berkeley: Funding, Governance and Structure [PDF] in January 2006.
The Chief Information Officer (CIO): roles and responsibilities
Of the report's seven recommendations, four directly addressed the role and responsibilities of the CIO function. Specifically:
- The CIO function needs to be strengthened, defined more clearly, and distinguished from the function of running IST [2].
- The CIO should be involved in formulating all campus-level IT budget requests.
- The CIO should be the key link between input/advice from IT stakeholders and formulation of campus-level IT budgets.
- There should be a clear way for knowledgeable faculty to interact with the CIO and for the CIO to receive expert faculty advice and draw on highly regarded faculty partners to advocate for proposed IT investments.
In July 2006, after working with campus technology leaders to develop a plan, I undertook a restructuring of the central IT organization, ultimately incorporating many of the IT Review Committee's recommendations. The reorganization included establishing the Office of the CIO and creating the Deputy CIO position to oversee the day-to-day operations of IST. This division of responsibilities was intended to allow me, in the newly reframed CIO role, to focus on IT issues of strategic importance to the entire campus, work that involved developing a broad understanding of campus technology needs and creating partnerships with both administrative and academic units to address them; creating a transparent IT governance structure to encourage operational and cost efficiencies; playing a more strategic role in the systemwide IT body and decision-making process; and creating structures and mechanisms to provide IT staff training, professional development, and retention.
The Office of the CIO (OCIO)
In addition, I identified several functions as essential to supporting the governance structure and to ensuring the consistency of approach to and campus engagement in a number of critical areas. These included:
- the development and ratification of common technology architectural directions, program and project management practices;
- the oversight of the campus technology investments and overall technology investment portfolio;
- the evolution of campus IT policies to keep abreast of the changing landscape of requirements and solutions; and
- the improvement and coordination of staff professional development opportunities for the campus technical community.
To support these critical campus functions, I established the following small, focused departments comprising the OCIO.
Financial Planning and Technology Investment Services (FPTIS)
FPTIS promotes the strategic investment of campus IT resources through financial management and technology acquisition services. FPTIS endeavors to learn about, develop, and promote sound IT multi-year financial models and budgeting on campus. To help understand campus IT investment, a recent accomplishment is a report on multi-year campus IT spending (see Insights into Berkeley IT Expenses). FPTIS develops and manages processes for IT funding requests, the IT Bank, and the IT Loan Pool.
Strategic Technology Acquisition, a unit of FPTIS, provides direct support to campus managerial staff that are responsible for strategic technology implementations, works closely with Procurement Services, and maintains ongoing contacts with major technology vendors.
In addition, FPTIS supports the Chief Information Officer through organizational budget and financial management services. For more information, see the Financial Planning and Technology Investment Services website.
Human Resources / Technology Staff Development
The manager of Human Resources (HR) / Technology Staff Development functions as the campus leader responsible for technology staff development for the campus IT community. Regardless of which department or unit a technical staff member reports to, the HR/Technology Staff Development manager works with campus HR to support these individuals through the creation of programs and activities that support appropriate professional development. The HR/Technology Staff Development department is also responsible for all human resources–related functions for the OCIO and IST divisions. This includes employee relations, compensation and classification, recruitments, benefits, new hires and separations, HRMS transactions, and maintenance of all staff personnel files.
Security, Privacy and Policy (SPP)
The SPP office has oversight responsibility for campus technology-related policy, including development, implementation, and compliance. Increasingly facile information exchange through the use of advanced technology has made privacy and security the major issues in this area. SPP helps customers identify relevant policy provisions and procedures and recommends actions, in coordination with requirements of other areas such as personal conduct regulations, business standards, and risk management assessments. Areas of significant recent policy concern include: accessible technology, electronic evidence, offsite hosting, privacy awareness, security standards, and service sourcing. When existing regulations do not sufficiently address campus technology support needs, SPP initiates policy reviews and updates, both at campus and University-wide levels. See the Security, Privacy and Policy Top ten requests for assistance web page.
Technology Program Office (TPO)
The TPO plans, fosters, and coordinates IT projects that serve the needs of the campus community; coordinates the campus IT governance-related committees and processes; provides expert project management for campuswide technology implementations; and communicates how IT supports the campus mission. To accomplish these objectives, the TPO comprises three units with specific areas of focus.
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TPO–Program provides direct support to the CIO and manages the coordination and support of IT governance on the campus. The IT governance body currently includes the Campus Technology Council (CTC), the Information Technology Architecture Committee (ITAC), and the Campus Information Security and Privacy Committee (CISPC). The responsibilities of these committees include setting IT strategy, advising on IT investments, and establishing IT policy. The TPO–Program unit coordinates the efforts of these groups, including management of the annual IT Funding Request process which serves to allocate IT Bank funds to strategic campus technology initiatives.
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TPO–Project serves as a central project management resource for the effective and efficient management of IT projects on the UC Berkeley campus. This unit is responsible for providing standards for the campus in project management methodology and project management tools. TPO–Project offers consulting services to the campus in analysis and management of IT projects.
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TPO–Communications provides services to facilitate communication and information sharing among the campus IT consumers, providers, and strategic planners, as well as internal communications–related services for the OCIO. Services provided for the benefit of the campus IT community include iNews, a collection of IT news channels available in HTML, RSS, and email formats; Berkeley Computing and Communications (BC&C), a semiannual newsletter published in print and online; and the Campuswide IT Events calendar, an instance of the UC Berkeley Calendar Network that is dedicated to the purpose of communicating campus IT events.
See the Technology Program Office website for more information and resources.
Moving forward
With the OCIO structure in place, over the past two years I have been able to work to accomplish a variety of goals including:
- Establishment of the Campus Technology Council (CTC), a campuswide governance body. The CTC comprises ten Associate CIOs representing different campus constituencies, and two representatives from the Academic Senate: the Chair of CAPRA and the Chair of COR. The CTC is charged with developing and maintaining the campus IT Strategic Plan, and advising the CIO on issues of IT investment, architecture, and policy.
- Development of the IT Funding Request Process (ITFR). The ITFR is an activity-based, integrated part of the annual campus budget process. Under this process, IT requests are evaluated and prioritized by the CTC and recommendations are made to me. The CTC's annual review of IT funding requests allows for discussion, with broad campus input represented by the Associate CIOs, about which funding requests can best benefit the campus as a whole. Over time, this process will result in a more comprehensive view of campus IT priorities, a view against which funding decisions that will maximize UC Berkeley's IT investment can be made.
- Creation of the IT Bank and IT Loan Pool. One of the outcomes of the first ITFR (for the 2007–08 budget) was the creation, by the Chancellor, of an IT Bank, which was established with temporary funding in FY 2007–08 to support the campus's top IT initiatives. In the second year of the ITFR, an IT Loan Pool was created and funded by the Chancellor. The purpose of the Loan Pool is to offer bridge funding for initiatives that aim to realize permanent long-term efficiencies but need short-term investment in order to do so. Recipients of IT Loan Pool funding are expected to repay the loan according to terms identified in the ITFR.
- Rollout of the Career Compass Job Standards. The Technology Staff Development Office partnered with the Career Compass team in central HR to plan and coordinate the rollout of the new IT job families. With representatives from the CTC and designated subject matter experts across campus, the group developed a plan to provide campus IT managers with ongoing support and training on the mapping of positions into job families.
- Publication of Project Management Standards and Tools. In summer 2008, the TPO published the campus's first ever standards for project management methodology, along with report forms and instructions. The primary objective of using a project management methodology is to maximize the benefits of IT project investment and to minimize risk. Currently, the TPO is working with recipients of IT Bank funding to implement these project-management standards this fiscal year.
Looking forward, in addition to refreshing the campus IT Strategic Plan, I see a number of priorities on the horizon for the OCIO including
- furthering progress on activity-based budgeting with campus units,
- implementing process and policy change related to the technology aspects of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, and
- expanding the technology staff development effort, including continuing the Information Technology Leadership Program (ITLP) in partnership with MIT, Stanford, and the University of Chicago.
The CIO's office will also work with the senior campus leadership on the new systemwide accountability effort (see http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/accountability/), and with the CIOs of the UC system to design new frameworks to foster increased sharing of cyberinfrastructure and applications between campuses. If you have questions about the CIO role or the OCIO and the units that comprise it, please feel free to email me at
Notes
[1] For more information about the IT Strategic Planning Process, see the Campuswide Information Technology Strategic Plan website.
[2] At the time the report was written, IST was the acronym for the Information Systems and Technology organization. In 2006, the IST organization was restructured and given a new name, Information Services and Technology (IST).