Information technology (IT), leadership and organization (IT)

staffing , and (IT) strategic planning

Muchamad Annaba - 13510147

Survey responses for the title of the highest ranking
Technology administrator beg the as question, “What’s in a
name?” The title for this highest ranking IT administrator
continues to be anything
But consistent or predictable! Of the 933 institutions whose
Data were included in the frozen data set upon which the
analyses in this 2005 summary report are based, 249 unique
titles were report ed (the same number as in last year’s frozen
data set of 890 institutions), reflecting many combinations and
permutations of every level (vice president, assistant/associate
vice president, dean, director, and others).
 The most commonly reported title was in fact CIO (chief
information officer), which was reported either as a unique title
(18.3%) or part of a broader title (17%) for a total of 35.3% of
ALL responses, up from 32.8% last year. Also, this year 41
additional campuses reported that their top IT administrator’s title
is or includes chief technology officer (CTO), an increase of more
than 50% over last year. CIO as a unique title was followed by
director of information technology (4.1%) and vice president for
information technology (3.3%) as the most common titles.
 ALL DR M A BA AA OTHER
V P , Deputy V P , V i c e 2 2 .5 % 3 9 .0 % 1 9 .5 % 1 5 .8 % 2 1 .5 % 1 6 .9 %
C h a n c e llo r, V ic e R e c to r
C IO 2 5 .6 % 3 5 .7 % 2 9 .8 % 2 1 .2 % 1 6 .6 % 2 1 .1 %
CTO 3 .9 % 2 .7 % 3 .8 % 4 .9 % 4 .3 % 3 .5 %
V i c e Provost, A s s i s t a n t or 1 1 .9 % 1 4 .8 % 1 9 .8 % 9 .2 % 6 .7 % 2 .8 %
Associate V i c e
P r o v o s t/V P /V C
Director, D e a n , 3 2 .8 % 6 .0 % 2 6 .3 % 4 6 .2 % 4 4 .2 % 4 8 .6 %
E x e c u tiv e D ir e c to r
Assistant or A s s o c i a t e 0 .8 % 0 .0 % 0 .0 % 1 .6 % 2 .5 % 0 .0 %
D ir e c to r /D e a n
Head, M a n a g e r , O t h e r 2 .6 % 1 .6 % 0 .8 % 1 .1 % 4 .3 % 7 .0 %
 Table 1-1 shows percentages of the various titles1 by Carnegie
classification, 2 to allow for easy comparison across segments of
the higher education community. As shown in the table, the vice
presidential title is most common in research universities (DR),
while director is the dominant title in liberal arts colleges (BA),
associate’s colleges (AA), and institutions in the OTHER
category. In MA institutions, the title of CIO was most often
reported.
 A L L D R M A B A A A OTHER
P r e s id e n t/C h a n c e llo r /C E O 3 0 .7 % 2 8 .0 % 2 6 .3 % 2 9 .3 % 4 2 .3 % 3 0 .3 %
Highest R a n k i n g 2 6 .5 % 3 3 .5 % 3 4 .7 % 3 1 .0 % 1 3 .5 % 1 1 .3 %
Academic O f f i c e r (Provost,
Academic V P , D e a n )
Highest R a n k i n g 2 3 .7 % 2 0 .3 % 1 9 .1 % 1 4 .1 % 3 0 .1 % 4 1 .5 %
A d m in is tr a tiv e O ffic e r
(A d m in is tr a tiv e V P ,
Executive VP)
Highest R a n k i n g Business 1 1 .5 % 4 .4 % 1 3 .7 % 1 7 .4 % 9 .8 % 1 0 .6 %
Officer (Business Officer,
C F O )
S e c o n d -L e v e l A c a d e m ic 0 .9 % 1 .6 % 1 .1 % 0 .5 % 0 .0 % 0 .7 %
O f f i c e r (Assistant o r
A s s o c ia te P r o v o s t/V P )
S e co n d -L e v e l 0 .9 % 1 .1 % 0 .8 % 1 .1 % 0 .6 % 0 .7 %
A d m i n i s t r a t i v e Officer
(Assistant o r A s s o c i a t e
Administrative VP)
Jointly to P r e s i d e n t / 1 .2 % 2 .2 % 1 .1 % 1 .6 % 0 .0 % 0 .7 %
C h a n c e llo r /C E O a n d
Chief A c a d e m i c O f f i c e r
Jointly to C h i e f Academic 2 .5 % 6 .6 % 1 .5 % 2 .2 % 1 .2 % 0 .7 %
Officer a n d Chief
Administrative o r
Financial O f f i c e r
O th e r 2 .4 % 2 .2 % 1 .5 % 2 .7 % 2 .5 % 3 .5 %
 Table 1-2 shows the percentage of top IT leaders reporting to
various officials on their campuses, once again broken out by
Carnegie class. The percentage of IT leaders reporting directly
to the president is significantly higher for associate’s colleges,
while there were no significant differences in the percentage of
IT leaders reporting to the highest ranking academic officer or the
president for DR, MA, and BA institutions. Few respondents
reported that their top IT administrator reports below the level
of the highest ranking academic or administrative officer. BA
schools, however have more top IT officers who report to a
business officer or chief financial officer than to an administrative
or executive vice president.
 The core data survey requested data related to staffing levels, which
we have used to suggest several staffing ratios. Data related to
staffing practices are also reported.
• Staffing Levels
While it is fine to state that a given set of functions reports to the
CIO, perhaps the more interesting question is how each of these
functions is staffed on a comparative basis. The survey requested
data not only for regular fulltime-equivalent (FTE) IT staff but also
for student FTE employees because most IT organizations could
not meet the needs of their campus constituencies without the
skills and talents of the students who serve in a variety of capacities
in IT support.
 While it is not clear whether stable ratios regarding staffing are
possible, part of the CDS effort is to provide benchmarks for
comparison, not just descriptive statistics. Ratio analysis has long
been a standard in examining business performance, and it is
hoped that a variety of key ratios will emerge via the CDS that
allow for effective comparison of IT data.
 In reference to IT planning, the core data survey asked whether
the campus strategic plan includes strategies and directions for IT
and whether the campus has a stand-alone IT strategic plan.
 The number of institutions that involve varying campus
constituents in the development of plan campus IT strategies is
large and growing. Th president’s cabinet/council,
administrative committee, academic/faculty committee, and
technology advisory committee provide advice on IT strategy in
significantly more than half of ALL responding institutions.
Furthermore, there are significant increases in the number of cam
puses reporting president’s cabinet/council
 student committee, academic/faculty committee, and technology
advisory committee usage this year compared with last.

 One trend we are watching is the percentage of campuses that

have and use a trustee committee for advice on IT strategies. This
is the case at more than 25% of doctoral universities. and nearly
that percent of BA schools, but only 8.6% of associate’s colleges
reported using advice from trustees.