Without a clear plan of where they were going, the Physical Plant started to computerize its operations without knowing how much it would cost.

NIU already has paid about $140,000 in hardware and software for a computer system that isn’t totally up and running.

A quick check of NIU documents and interviews shows NIU didn’t have an idea of what the computers should do nor how much it would cost.

NIU embarked on updating the computer system in parts four years ago. Each purchase was less than $25,000 a pop, thus avoiding Board of Regents review for the individual purchases and approval for the entire project as a whole.

NIU maintains no laws were broken and there was not a conscious effort to buy the system in pieces, although there is room for criticism in the long-range planning of the computer system.

Updating the computers started in 1982 when the Physical Plant made its intentions official. Since then, NIU passed up store-made models and opted to start from scratch. As time wore on, NIU discovered it needed more money for what it wanted the computers to do, while adding more duties to the computers.

Contracts originally were signed with an Iowa firm to write the software. Hardware—the actual computers—were bought without bids to run the software. Bids for computers and professional services, such as a company designing the software, are not required by state law.

NIU’s old computer system was inadequate because it only kept track of which department to bill for work. The new system will keep track of billing and project status, including when something should be replaced, said James Bryant, manager of administrative services.

Plant officials who would speak with The Northern Star said it is taking longer than expected to get the system online, but were reluctant to say personnel jumped without knowing exactly what they wanted to do.

“I don’t know. I don’t have a crystal ball,” Bryant said on if plant personnel wasn’t looking down the line far enough when starting the project.

Those running the Physical Plant are “not in the business of putting up computer systems,” Bryant said. “That’s the computer center’s business and they were not directly involved in pursuing this.”

The plant went to the Administrative Information Services, NIU’s computer arm, for help in updating its computer system in 1982. The plant wanted the in-house computer division to conduct a study in order to either purchase or create a computer system that would allow personnel to keep track of repairs and not just bill NIU divisions for those repairs.

Help never came because the request never made it up the priority list, NIU records show.

So the Physical Plant set off on its own, Bryant said. Plant employees studied programs that could be bought from stores and modified for use at NIU.

Off-the-shelf models usually start at $2,000 and increase dramatically, Bryant said. NIU decided not to go with a store-made model because the programs are fitted toward a business use. Bryant said although the Physical Plant runs like a business in many senses, the programs did not have the nuances needed in a university atmosphere, like keeping track of office keys.

Additionally, Bryant said modifying off-the-shelf models sometimes “cause more headaches than they’re worth” because modifications are difficult and often expensive.

After deciding to stay away from the off-the-shelf programs, plant personnel studied computer systems at different schools. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was one of many schools visited between three and four years ago.

Sources speaking on the condition of anonymity said officials at the U of I were willing to cut a deal with NIU. The deal, although talked about but never pursued, was supposed to have given NIU a copy of the program for next to nothing.

Bryant said although people went to the U of I and met with officials, there was never a free program offered, although the U of I was willing to help. Bryant said he did not know why it was not pursued.

However, even if an arrangement was pursued, it would have been a bad investment because by the time NIU would have had the system up and running,it would have been outdated. Additionally, it would have cost NIU about $70,000 to modify the system because the U of I hardware is better than NIU’s, Bryant said.

Officials at the U of I could not remember specifics of the meeting.

After passing on off-the-shelf systems and getting an idea of what NIU needed by visiting the other schools, NIU signed a contract with Engineering Management Operations of Iowa City in 1988 to design a computer system that would allow the plant to manage maintenance work instead of just fixing broken units.

That contract for $12,855 was the first in a series of six with EMO stretching until January of this year. EMO was supposed to create a software to fit the school’s needs in scheduling repairs to prevent something from breaking instead of waiting for something to break, NIU records show. Almost $5,800 of the price was for the consulting service at $34 an hour.

In December, 1988, NIU paid EMO $7,100 for another copy of the software and added the NIU motor pool to the computer project, NIU records show. The hourly consulting rate stayed the same with this contract and was $5,100 of the total.

NIU paid another $23,475 in August, 1989, for six more copies of the software while adding to the computers a program that would keep track of work requested and jobs completed. Consulting services rose to $43 an hour and training was at $43 an hour. Together, the consulting and training was $5,375, NIU records show.

NIU paid EMO another $4,500 in November, 1989, to enter data collected needed to run the software which was bought with the first contract.

Bryant said plant personnel and students entered some of the data but were going too slowly and there was too much human error.

The November, 1989, contract was amended the following June to enable EMO to train personnel and enter more data, boosting the price another $7,000.

Throughout 1990, NIU bought about $70,000 worth of hardware from seven different vendors.

Last January, another contract was signed with EMO for $41,000 for such things as more consulting and training and to add NIU’s Materials Distribution Center to the software’s capabilities.

That contract was the only one given to the Board of Regents for approval because Regent’s require approval of purchases more than $25,000.

Bryant said signing more than one contract is not unusual when putting together a computer system because computer technology changes so rapidly. “Everything was approved through the proper channels. We didn’t hear any negative comments about it,” he said.

Norden Gilbert, NIU’s assistant legal counsel, also said it is not uncommon for a project to be undertaken and later discover that more money and equipment are necessary.

Although by looking at the contracts signed by EMO and NIU one can see how the computer system’s function gradually increased, Bryant said he doesn’t know when and in what order the added features were first discussed.

It’s fuzzy when the features were decided to be tacked onto the project because of personnel changes and job turnover in the Physical Plant and the divisions added to the computer system, Bryant said.