DeKALB | NIU subscribed to an extended maintenance program for its information technology equipment rather than replacing the out-of-date systems, potentially causing the IT department to increase its debt.

NIU was unable to spend the money required to purchase new IT equipment partially because the state budget impasse, which set back the disbursement of state funding, said Brett Coryell, associate vice president of the IT department, during a Board of Trustees Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee meeting that took place at 12:30 p.m. Thursday in Altgeld Hall, Room 315.

NIU signed the extended maintenance program. This program will provide services to maintain old equipment. As a result, Coryell said NIU is on track to spend more money now than it would if it were to buy new equipment altogether.

“IT underpins everything we do everyday; the real challenge is the current fiscal environment and how we manage IT through that,” said Alan Phillips, vice president for administration and finance.

Program Prioritization

Funding of the IT department was discussed by task forces during program prioritization, which began in 2014. The process uses task forces to create reports that review 223 academic programs and 236 administrative programs to influence the allocation of university funds. The reports were based on narratives submitted by program leaders in November.

Task Force reports from May show the department has not received much support in the past as branches of the department, such as Application Development and Hosting, were placed in the reduced funding category.

The Administrative Task Force reports called for a “systematic evaluation” of many IT support functions, but said the task force did “not have sufficient information or expertise to specify what configuration the university’s IT support should have.”

“We cannot update equipment, therefore we cannot update software because we don’t have a budget to update it, which means that we’re exposed,” Trustee Member Wheeler Coleman said.

Coryell said he plans on updating the department while spending as little money as possible by taking small steps over the next four years, such as moving the database system to the Cloud, which allows data to be saved and accessed over the internet. This would not only support a faster network but would also protect the system’s infrastructure.

IT Goals

Coryell said the efficiency of IT can be broken down into the three tiers of a pyramid. Like many standard pyramids, the bottom is just the foundation; the basics.

IT departments are responsible for the hardware, software and networking of computers. The departments are responsible for servicing its audience and in doing so in a timely manner.

“At the bottom level, IT is a reliable provider, and that’s the level that central IT is at right now,” Coryell said.

The middle tier of the pyramid shows where IT can go and the next step the department can strive for. This tier describes an IT department as a utility that will help businesses and provide a service to its community members.

At the top of the pyramid is a long term goal that identifies IT as a peer that can help students, staff and businesses to build a future. In an industry that is ever changing, individual departments seek funding to reach this goal, but NIU’s department has fallen short financially as was pointed out by several trustee members at the meeting.

With Coryell telling the board exactly what he planned to do and how he would do it, the question of how his plan would be funded came up again.

“IT is changing,” Coryell said. “It needs to change as support for all of the changing business processes and academic functions that we have on campus.”