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Beyond the Institution:

Building an IT Consortium

“The ability to truly collaborate is one of theGreatest challenges facing higher education today.”

-- Brian L. Hawkins, 2001

Why Not Collaborate?

Concerns About: Peer Knowledge Peer Trust Not Invented Here Knowledge = Power Too Busy!

Who Collaborates?

Why Start a Consortium?

Learn from peers…stay competitive

TBS Roundtable 2005 Conference at Georgetown University

Why Start a Consortium?

Share Work Curriculum Integration Central IT Strategic Planning or New Focus ROI Laptop Initiatives New Construction Membership /

Communications Reduce cost, maximize

benefit! TBS Roundtable 2004 Carlson School of Management

Why Start a Consortium?

Benchmark… gauge your level of

innovation

2005 TBS Roundtable Survey data

11 8 31 43

12 13 44 24

9 26 29 16 4

6 12 17 35 13

4 15 22 32 10

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

5 = most important

Faculty/staffsatisfaction

Student satisfaction

Financial savings

IT Solutions

IT Support

ROI: Importance of Measure

1

2

3

4

5

Why Start a Consortium? Have fun! Enrich your worklife

TBS Roundtable 2005 Conference at Georgetown University

Creating an IT Consortium Campus IT Leaders (CITL)

What is CITL? Campus IT Leaders (CITL)

One representative from each unit on campus Meets monthly Organized by the CIO’s office Exchange of ideas, projects, concerns

Chief Information Officer

Why do we meet?

Highly decentralized university Communication Idea exchange Policy development

Constrained resources require more efficiency

Professional development and networking

How is this effective?

Championed by the campus CIO Campus IT leader acceptance Meets monthly Campus legitimacy and authority

Stewards of campus IT policy

Challenges

Building/maintaining campus trust Not a grassroots effort

Buy-in Trust Topics

Varied priority for participation by individual units

UW-Eau Claire UW-La Crosse UW-Oshkosh UW-Parkside

Graduate Consortium

UW-Eau Claire UW-River Falls UW-Superior

Undergraduate Alliance

UW-Superior

UW-River Falls

Why was the Consortium formed? To offer courses more frequently To provide a wider variety of courses To pool subject matter expertise from

many individuals

How is this effective?

Students can move through the program more quickly

The course load is spread across the faculty of four campuses

Students work with faculty and students from a wider variety of locations and backgrounds

Challenges Building trust between campuses Building trust between individuals

teaching same subject matter Varied priority for participation by

individual units Technical support Administration

Future Direction

AACSB accreditation for MBA Consortium Degree

Expand Undergrad Alliance More Summer courses Youth Options for High School students Possibly more schools No plans for wholly on-line BBA

What is the TBS Roundtable?

A professional association A learning opportunity A peer group A group of friends A thriving and growing community A lot of work!

Arizona State UniversityBaylor UniversityBowling Green State UniversityCentral Missouri State UniversityCollege of William and MaryColorado State UniversityEastern Carolina UniversityEastern Michigan UniversityEmory UniversityGeorgetown UniversityGeorgia Tech UniversityHEC Montreal [CA]Hofstra UniversityIllinois State UniversityIndiana UniversityKennesaw State UniversityLehigh UniversityMiami UniversityMiddle Tennessee State UniversityMontclair State UniversityNew York UniversityPenn State UniversityQueen's School of Business [CA]Shippensburg University of PennsylvanniaSouthern Illinois UniversitySt. Louis UniversitySyracuse UniversityTulane UniversityUniversity of Arizona, TucsonUniversity of ArkansasUniversity of British Columbia [CA]

Current TBSr MembershipUniversity of California IrvineUniversity of California Los AngelesUniversity of ColoradoUniversity of FloridaUniversity of GeorgiaUniversity of HoustonUniversity of Iowa, Iowa CityUniversity of London [UK]University of Minnesota DuluthUniversity of Minnesota Twin CitiesUniversity of MississippiUniversity of Missouri ColumbiaUniversity of Missouri Kansas CityUniversity of MontanaUniversity of New HampshireUniversity of New MexicoUniversity of Northern ColoradoUniversity of Northern FloridaUniversity of Notre DameUniversity of PittsburghUniversity of RichmondUniversity of TennesseeUniversity of VermontUniversity of VirginiaUniversity of Wisconsin Eau ClaireUniversity of Wisconsin, MadisonWake Forest UniversityWashington and Lee UniversityWashington University West Virginia University

Why start the TBS Roundtable?

Learn what peers are doing Broaden your perspective Deepen your understanding Reduce costs Corroborate your beliefs Substantiate your claims

How did it get started?

Some Challenges

Managing the Distance Motivating the Members Maintaining Continuity Overcoming Inertia Developing Momentum

Activities 2006

EDUCAUSE Midwest Conference

AACSB & EFMD Annual Conference

3rd Annual TBS Roundtable survey of Business Schools

3rd Annual TBS Roundtable conference

EDUCAUSE Annual Conference

Technology in Business Schools (TBS) Roundtable

Mission:To meet the unique IT challenges in business schools by fostering collaboration among business school technologyleaders.

Goals:To improve the overall quality of our schools’ information technology effortsTo develop and share best practicesTo foster greater collaboration among peersTo engage in projects of mutual interest

Contact Information:TBS Roundtable Web site:

http://www.tbsroundtable.orgDon Krueger, Chair

dkrueger@d.umn.edu

How do you get there from here? What stage are you at?

1Source: The Iowa Empowerment Board

Communication Exchange information

Contribution Informal support

Coordination Deliberate joint effort

Cooperation Plan together

Collaboration Solve broader issues

A Model for Starting a Technology Consortium

Step 1: Do Your Homework

Step 2: Develop a Plan

Step 3: Announce the Group

Step 4: Determine Next Steps

How do you get there from here?

Email, instant messaging, phone calls,and conferences

How do you get there from here?

How do you get there from here?

Some Possible Pitfalls

Time commitment Conflict among members Ownership of work must be:

Explicit – what is needed? when? Discrete – one person responsible for each work

item Uneven work quality Givers and Takers

Summary

Many reasons to form an IT consortium Must overcome issues of trust, power

and commitment Four practical steps you can take to

form your own consortium Many resources (technical and written)

are available

Share your collaboration stories!

Questions?

Step 1: Do Your Homework

• Why do you want to collaborate?

• Does a consortium already exist?

• If not, is there interest in having one? •Birds of a Feather• Attending a seminar sponsored by your accreditation organization• Pilot Survey• Cold calling

• Is there a need and do you want to take this on?

Step 2: Develop a Plan

• Develop a Mission Statement

• Find a group of individuals that share your interest and want to help

• Discuss/Revise Mission Statement• Are there other groups you want to work with,

e.g., the accrediting body or EDUCAUSE• How will you communicate?

• Frequency? Tools? Leadership?• Time commitment – approval of your leadership• Other?

Step 3: Announce the Group

• Determine the method for announcing the group’s formation

• Ideally, address one of the issues your group is facing and present some solutions at a conference• Prepare a Press Release and submit it to EDUCAUSE, the accrediting body, …• Begin immediately generating a database of interested parties

• Have a postcard-sized information card for people to take home with them

Step 4: Determine Next Steps

• Do you…

• Conduct your own conferences?• Incorporate your fledgling organization into another?• How will you fund the organization?• Will you become a legal entity or keep informal?• Who will hold what offices?