Report made to Syracuse school board on information technology

SCSD Information TechnologyBoard Summary Presentation

December 8, 2011

Confidential

Tel: (703) 548-0855 Fax: (703) 683-4707

211 N. Union St. Suite 100 Alexandria, VA 22314

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SCSD Information Technology

Agenda

• Project Approach

• Project Findings

• Schoolhouse Recommendations

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Project Approach

Summary of Critical Issues

• What information technology and system assets are deployed across the Syracuse City School District?

• What resources – human and financial – support those assets?

• How effectively do these assets and resources serve key stakeholders across the District, especially students, teachers and parents?

• How strong is the fit between new District priorities and current practice?

• Based upon project findings, what changes, if any, should the District make to current practice or plans?

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Project Approach

Strands of Work

• Review of Historical Financial Data

• Review of Internal Operating Data

• Interviews with Key Managers and Staff

Source: Schoolhouse Partners Project Proposal

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Project Approach

Individuals Interviewed

• Anita Murphy, Former Deputy Superintendent for Information & Technology

• Mary Ellen Killenbec, Director of Technology• Michael Schmidt, Director of Evaluation, Assessment & Planning

• Susan Bridenbecker, Director of Information Systems• Kelly Carley, Systems Consultant Student Information• Kelly Malone, Coordinator of Testing• Evelyn Wightman, Systems Analyst Business Information

• Andrew Cramer, Manager of Operations & Programming• Vladimiro Hart-Zavoli, Help Desk Operator• Laurie LeFever, Educational Technology Specialist• Victor Montanez, Manager, Hardware Support• Tom Smelski, Manager, Telecommunications• Patty Vilello, Library Media Specialist

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Agenda




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Key Findings

Technology

• SCSD manages a sophisticated, diverse network of information technology assets, systems and data, primarily in four central facilities (Central Tech, Danforth, BOVA, and Beard) and the various school buildings

• For basic connectivity, the district relies on an internally managed telecommunications network, comprised mainly of digital assets, including VOIP phones (augmented by analog phones), enabled by a series of call management servers, routers and switches to connect ~14,000 devices to the network. Most basic network functions occur at Central Tech and are backed up fully at the Danforth facility. Stability and up-time for the network are reported to be excellent

• Internet access exists at all school and district facilities, usually over wireless networks, and is provisioned centrally at Central Tech. There is some frustration with wireless network signal strength in the school buildings

• Data inbound to the network passes through a secure firewall, virus detection, and a content filter prior to access by internal users

• Most computer and electronic equipment reside in school buildings. Computer assets across PC and Apple platforms are found in computer labs, usually tied to school media centers, and in classrooms. Each computer is imprinted with a standard software and operating system “image” prior to use – one image exists for each platform, Apple and PC

• Over time some provision of technology into the schools has been a direct result of success obtaining E-Rate government funds. Two recent grant cycles resulted in technology upgrades in ~32 buildings over past 7 years. In current application, SCSD has made it a stated goal to establish wireless networks in all schools and place a networked computer in all classrooms, something not possible thus far due to funding constraints and/or other priorities

• There is broad consensus that not enough technology reaches children in classrooms. Currently, there are about ~16,500 technology assets across the District and ~75% reside in school buildings. Among these are ~7,000 computers, including tablets, implying a school-based computer for approximately every three students

• Beyond computers, there are many other types of electronic equipment in the schools, most maintained by district staff

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Key Findings

Technology, continued, and Systems

• Network command and control for the districts resides at the Network Operations Center (NOC), located at Central Tech. This is a restricted-access, climate controlled room filled with rack mounted servers and related equipment (such as un-interrupted power supply devices, tape back-up “robot”, etc.). The NOC has dedicated HVAC and backup generator

• There are ~120 servers in the NOC hosting most of the systems central to the district, although several are not currently in use. Most of these are ~7 years old, although a refresh has been written into the current E-Rate proposal. Management reports network stability as solid and cites current capacity bottleneck as outbound internet bandwidth (100mg), which frequently saturates during mid-day hours

• The building housing the NOC is currently under a major construction renovation project to last through much of the next year – this creates risk for SCSD that should be managed carefully

Systems:

• Most of the District’s main systems are housed in the NOC, about 43 applications in all. Broadly speaking, these range from back-end systems such as call management software to “middleware” applications such as Moodle for course management to student- and teacher-facing systems, such as Read Naturally & Teachscape

• Among these applications are ~15,000 e-mail accounts through Exchange, computer/user settings through Active Directory and the management of user-specific virtual memory drives. These applications, in particular, are vulnerable to problems encountered at the NOC

• SCSD maintains a district website that generates ~3.7 million page views per year. The site contains descriptive information about the district, communications from the Superintendent, news and current events, links to helpful resources, including social media sites, and a modest amount of interactive content. The site is standard, providing helpful resources through conventional media. It could be more interactive and powerful

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Key Findings

Systems, continued

• SCSD relies heavily upon two commercial software solutions: E-School (student information) & PeopleSoft (enterprise)

• The E-School solution provides student information across the district, inclusive of staff, parents and students themselves. Functionality includes lesson development, grade reporting, attendance, discipline, student contact management, reporting, communication, compliance, etc. It is used daily by a broad cross-section of the SCSD community, including parents

• There was a profound issue with the management of user rights in the E-School system where almost 1,000 teachers had access to student information they should not have access to, requiring immediate remedy. The matter was brought to the attention of district leadership, including Superintendent, Chief of Staff, Chief Financial Officer, and IT Management. At their direction, the district is attempting to respond and is currently in process to a solution. This should remain a Superintendent priority until it is fully resolved

• The PeopleSoft solution provides an “enterprise” solution offering HR & Finance functionality. To date, implementation of this application has been uneven. Many laud the power of the application. There have been snags and problems. Problems take a long time to solve (~20 days in help ticket system). Several purchased modules have yet to be rolled out. Training has been inadequate. Current staff are inexperienced. More resources are required for support

• SCSD has created a proprietary help desk software application, two in fact. The new one appears to have less analytical power than the prior one, making the Help Desk Manager’s job more difficult to do. In the past year, there were more than 41,000 tickets created in the system, although that number seems overstated since every time a piece of equipment is touched a ticket is created. Response times seem too long from an outsider’s perspective

• The systems team is engaged in several new proprietary development efforts, including several for the City of Syracuse

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Key Findings

The Organization

• Staff members in Information Technology are talented, hard-working people who care about the mission of the district. In addition, they collectively feel a great deal of pride in their department

• By many direct accounts from IT staff members, the former Deputy Superintendent of IT was a strong, charismatic leader who held the esteem and respect of her reports. Her departure leaves a leadership vacuum, one that should be addressed with the new hire

• Currently, the organization is split broadly into Technology and Information Systems. The former contains Hardware Support, Telecommunications Support, the Library Media Specialist group, Educational Technology Specialists, focused on training, the Help Desk and the Operations function. The latter contains Business Information, Student Information, the Print Shop, the Mailroom, the Switchboard, Student Records, the Website and Accountability/Testing

• There are about 97 FTE’s on the current organizational chart, inclusive of the LMS role, 64 exclusive of the LMS role. Apparently, there are also ~7 FTE’s of city staff that “report” to SCSD IT staff, although those relationships are operational, but not legally formal

• There are many managers in the current staffing structure. Average number of direct reports per supervisor is around 5.33, a lower number than we were expecting, implying opportunities for greater efficiency

• Current management philosophy is to run a “soup-to-nuts” operation where all equipment and systems are managed and maintained internally. Reasons cited for this orientation included control and responsiveness. The former seems intuitive, the latter was not clearly in evidence. The costs of such an approach are high levels of staff and expense. The approach should be revisited

• While we found no evidence of federal education funds being used inappropriately, there are currently no reporting mechanisms to track district time investments on City projects. This creates risk for SCSD to use government funds in ways contrary to their purpose. Time on non-school district projects needs to be rigorously tracked to ensure effective compliance with laws and regulatory restrictions

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Key Findings

The Organization, continued

• The District employs a large programming staff that builds proprietary systems, maintains current systems, supports City projects and responds to service requests through the SCSD Help Desk system. Among these projects, the staff appears to be a bit overwhelmed by the PeopleSoft implementation. Help Desk tickets take almost 20 days, on average, to resolve. Staff seem frustrated and users are reportedly frustrated with progress

• A staff of 2 FTE’s, reporting to the Director of Information Systems, manages the Student Records function, charged with maintenance of more than 450,000 student records, including health and educational files, across digital, paper and microfiche storage platforms

• An effort, Project “Big” is underway to implement a commercial IBM document storage, routing and management system to digitize the way these records are maintained with a goal to bring more powerful tools to this function. Several we spoke with expressed concern that the solution chosen was overly complex to implement and will be very challenging and costly to support. They also express frustration at lack of implementation progress to date. This project should be revisited for its ongoing viability. We are concerned it may not be in the District’s best interest, given more simple, affordable solutions available in the marketplace

• There are two staff members in the Accountability & Testing function, one that handles a large volume of test scoring and reporting across the district, including compliance with several New York state data requirements. We find the term “compliance” fits the function’s activities better than “accountability.” Through no fault of the individuals staffed there, there is enormous energy in reporting against external mandates, very little activity on data-driven decision-making to improve district performance. This function should be re-envisioned following the hire of the new Chief Accountability Officer. Until that happens, current posted positions should remain unfilled

• A manager and two clerical support staff work with the school-based personnel in the Library Media Specialist (LMS) function. LMS staff in the schools provide front-line technical support and training for technology in the schools. District staff facilitate their efforts, including placing orders requested by the LMS staff. This last practice should be reviewed in search of greater efficiency and faster turnaround of ordered materials

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Key Findings


• Working closely with the LMS staff, the Educational Technology Specialists (2 FTE’s) are SCSD’s primary technology training resources. Between them, they conduct more than 400 training sessions per year and work on special projects such as the current Virtual High School initiative, an effort they are keen to see progress. This is an important function with lean very staffing in our judgment. It might make sense to consider more resources/positions as resources allow

• Another high importance, low headcount function is Operations, which manages the NOC very effectively with 2 FTE’s. The manager of that department also has responsibility for the City’s NOC and a staff member there

• A single individual manages the Help Desk and routes or resolves a majority of the ticket throughput on that system. While a bit frustrated by the latest software vintage, he appears to be a real asset to the district in his knowledge, skills and energy

• The Telecommunications Support department consists of 12 staff members led by an experienced manager with ~30 years in the District. They are responsible for all telecom and network issues in the district and resolve about half of all help desk tickets created in the system

• Hardware Support consists of 9 staff members and a manager. They are charged with maintaining all computer hardware equipment in the district, even those under warranty, with a few exceptions (e.g., tablets). They also maintain much of the electrical hardware for the district and serve as brokers to service the equipment they don’t directly support

• There are six staff members and a manager in the Print Shop, a function that reports into the Manager of Student Information. This functions executes all central printing jobs requested by District staff members. There are currently no restrictions placed on demand for this function, nor are there budgetary implications for those requesting services. All costs are borne centrally by the Print Shop cost center. About 15% of the demand placed on the shop comes from the City. There are likely opportunities to generate greater economies by tightening controls in this function

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Key Findings


• The mailroom and the switchboard also report through the Manager of Student Information, though it is unclear why. Each function is staffed with 1 FTE. As with the Print Shop, there appear to be opportunities associated with more tightly controlling demand placed upon the mailroom

• Across all projects in 2011, approximately 8.5 FTE’s of IT staff have been invested in support of City projects. This includes initial consolidation coordination, implementation of the “BAS” System, initial PeopleSoft implementation preparation, infrastructure for VOIP phone systems in three City buildings, and Print Shop volume. These investments exceed resources contributed by the City ($40k) to cover such efforts

• Despite a preponderance of metrics and accomplishments, we perceived a gap in the department’s accountability to its customers. There were no published goals for response times on service requests (beyond emergencies = asap), no clear tracking of Key Performance Indicators as a measure of department real-time performance, no standing management meetings or reports. We also detected a lack of service orientation between the department and the staff, teachers and students its serves. This would be best illuminated further by a short survey of end users (planned)

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Key Findings

Resource Allocation

• Because of limitations created in migration in financial systems, there are constraints into views of capital spending and fixed asset depreciation for these functions. There is also complexity: asset data live in two platforms presently, AS400 and PeopleSoft

• In 2012, the budget for Information Technology is ~$20 million, including more than $8mm in wages and benefits across the various departments. This number includes the salaries for the 33 LMS staff positions

• Since 2009, spending on technology has essentially doubled, up from ~$10mm in 2009. This represents a compound annual spending growth rate of ~26%, far outstripping enrollment or budget growth

• This translates to approximately $1,000 per student in the current year budget, more than the cost of a laptop for every student, including internet access

• This also corresponds to almost 5% of all SCSD operating expenses in the current budget year

• This growth is to a large extent driven by major implementation efforts for several large system projects: Special Education, E-School, PeopleSoft. Still, the growth is dramatic and difficult to justify, especially going forward

• Growth has come across multiple categories: staffing, maintenance contracts on commercial software, contracted services on implementation projects, equipment (including leases and repairs), data access subscriptions, even supplies

• Support from vendors and the correspondent scale in vendor contracts has been an important driver of the growth, especially in maintenance, subscriptions, and contracted services.

• IBM, Oracle, Xerox, and TeachScape have been large vendors to SCSD in the past year. SCSD also receives significant support from BOCES operations, especially in the assessment and compliance spaces

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Agenda




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Resource Re-Allocation Recommendations

Recommended areas for reallocation towards District priorities:

Use Vendors for Repair of Warranty Equipment

Match City Supportswith Revenues

Tighten Controls on Print Shop, Mailroom

Eliminate Certain Admin/Field Positions

Eliminate Excessive Management Positions

Various Smaller Opportunities

Rationale Opportunity

SCSD and the City develop a plan to consolidate operations, as appropriate, that aligns investments with resources

$475K – $700k

Send equipment under warranty out to vendors for repair and reallocate current staff

$225K

Manage demand lower by establishing guidelines for use, “charging” district departments for use of services

$430K - $500K

Certain positions can be eliminated to gain greater efficiency$250K

Certain positions can be combined and/or eliminated to gain greater efficiency

$320K - $400K

1. Create lower demands on programming staff2. Consolidate certain software applications3. Reduce the supply budget

$270K - $370K

Total Annual Savings: $2mm - $2.45mm

Source: Schoolhouse Partners Analysis

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Matching City Support With Revenues

Staff Resources in Full-Time Equivalents (FTE) (annualized)

Costs are determined by 2011 unaudited wage & benefit data aggregated by department and averaged so as not single out individuals. Rates were $88k/FTE for Information Systems, $63k/FTE for Print Shop, $71k/FTE for Hardware & $73k/FTE for Telcom & $100k for “Other”management time.

Source: SCSD CDP Documents, Department Manager Interviews

• SCSD currently invests approximately $700k annually in staffing support for City projects. For this effort, SCSD received revenues of $40k from the City (see below for labor rates applied)

• This was part of a consolidation pilot being jointly explored by the City and SCSD• It is recommended that SCSD and the City develop a plan for consolidated

operations going forward, as appropriate• This plan should align planned investments with available resources

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Outsourcing Certain Hardware Support

Costs are determined by 2011 unaudited wage & benefit data aggregated by department and averaged so as not single out individuals. Rates were $88k/FTE for Information Systems, $63k/FTE for Print Shop, $71k/FTE for Hardware & $73k/FTE for Telcom & $100k for “Other” management time.


• There are currently 10 FTE’s in the Hardware Support department. Of that headcount, 5 FTE’s are dedicated to computer repair

• Department policy currently encourages staff to repair all equipment internally (with some exceptions, like tablets). The department’s manager estimates that team spends 70% of its collective time on repair tickets (vs. installations, moves, etc.)

• Managers cite “control” and “speed” as reasons for this policy. However, with average ticket resolution times of ~14 days, evidence would suggest vendors could address issues more quickly (and potentially more reliably)

• While we could find no reliable warranty schedule on cumulative hardware assets, we assume ~75% of the current installed base is under an active warranty arrangement

• We recommend minimizing district repair operations to those assets & occasions where vendor solutions are not practical. This would likely save ~2.5 staff positions per year, an annual savings of $175k.

• It would also significantly reduce required resources for repair supplies and parts. This would generate an additional $50k in annual savings (~25% of ‘12 budget)

• Note the savings could be significantly higher if the same policies were applied to other forms of electronic equipment, like telecommunications equipment and electrical equipment

• Since those are more sensitive to district operations (e.g., safety equipment like security cameras), we recommend a separate “Make vs. Buy” analyses in those areas, inclusive of 3rd party bids, to determine further opportunities, which could be considerable

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Tightening Demand Controls on Print Shop, Mailroom


• There are currently ~6.5 FTE’s in the Print Shop and 1 FTE in the Mailroom ($483k). Beyond staff cost, in 2012, the District is budgeted to spend $313k on paper and $487k on postage. Total implied spending for 2012 sums to $1.28mm

• Currently there are no mechanisms to control demand for these departments’ services. Anyone can place an order, orders are not regulated or controlled and all costs hit central budgets (vs. the budget of the demand source)

• This leads to excessive use in our judgment, and in the judgment of those we interviewed. Note in the case of print demands, these emerge despite the presence of high speed copiers in all school buildings

• We advocate changing practice to conserve resources:

• Establishing guidelines for acceptable use

• Allocating these expenses to hit the budget responsibility of the individuals ordering services

• Capping budgets at lower levels

• Doing so will save ~$150k annually in paper (~50%), ~$120k in postage (~25%), and result in lower Print Shop headcount by 2.5-3.5 FTE’s, an additional savings of $160k -$225k (range to avoid double-counting with City recommendation)

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Eliminating Certain Field/Admin Positions


• In 2011, the IT Department spent $750k on the following positions: Accounting Clerk – Typist I, Administrative Aide, Console Operator, Information Aide, Messenger/Driver, Typist I and Typist I

• These are productive, hard-working individuals who, as a group, add value to the District’s work. However, in a few instances, we feel there are opportunities to be more efficient:

• There are two positions in the Information Systems group supporting the programmer pool, an unusual arrangement in our experience (~$116k per year)

• An Accounting Clerk – Typist I supports the LMS position in their ordering of library materials. By empowering the LMS’s to order themselves (consistent with department guidelines and budgets), the position could be re-allocated ($70k)

• The IT Department employs a full-time Messenger/Driver to support equipment moves, deliver back-up tapes, etc. This person is busy, but there are higher priorities in our judgment ($68k)

• Re-allocating these positions would save ~$250k/year

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Preliminary: Eliminating Certain Management Positions

• Judging by existing spans of control (5.33 vs. expectation of ~8,0), the department could function smoothly with lower investment in supervisory labor

• Managerial headcount can be reduced by 2 FTE’s and sufficient supervisory capacity would still remain (~$320k)

• As further headcount reductions are made, it may be possible to further reduce management by an additional FTE. Multiple staff currently work together closely (~$80k)

Num

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of D

irect

Rep

orts

, Sta

ff M

embe

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Excludes vacant positions & city staff members. Coordinator of Testing, LMS Manager & Manager – Operations all hold significant non-supervisory responsibilities. Low span of control appropriate for Deputy Superintendent senior management position.

*Note: Staff share management responsibility for programmer/analyst pool (11 FTE) & share administrative assistant (1 FTE).Source: CDP Organizational Chart, 10/20/11, Department Management Interviews.

Department Reports per Manager = 5.33 6.4-7.1

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Other Opportunities


• Lowering demands on programming staff (~$100k - $200k per year, estimated): • Avoiding over-complicated solutions (Project “Big” Document Management)• Avoiding unnecessary proprietary systems (Help Desk rewrite)• Fully utilizing vendor support services covered by ongoing

maintenance/subscription agreement (report writing)• Over time, lowering vendor maintenance costs and lowering headcount

• Consolidating certain software applications (~$100k per year, estimated):• District currently utilizes multiple applications to accomplish very similar goals• Fast Forward, READ 180, and Read Naturally are all maintained at the district for

similar purposes• Two of these are reported to generate ~1,000 help ticket requests per year• These can be consolidated to save on maintenance and support costs without

sacrificing learning opportunities for students• Note this might be unpopular in short term if instructional staff have different

favorite applications

• Reduce spending on supplies (~$70k per year):• 2012 supply budget is ~$113k – seems high relative to history and judgment• In past, number has been $40k or below• Should seek to hold the line on past experience

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Other Recommendations

• Immediately complete resolution the E-School user rights issue to ensure that no users have rights to student data beyond the limits of their direct supervision and specific authority. Note this should be the District’s highest technology priority and gain immediate attention. The District should also surface and audit any other similar situations where confidential data are present

• The District should review emergency plans for dealing with construction-related building failures at the ITC location where the NOC is located. Specifically, there should be a back-up and recovery plan for the Exchange email system that does not have current redundancy at the Danforth facility. IT Managers should investigate and confirm the dedicated climate control system for the NOC is connected to the backup generator power supply (couldn’t confirm in interviews)

• The District should increase its investment in support of the PeopleSoft application. Two additional FTE’s, optimally with PeopleSoft and database experience, should be added: one for the finance modules, one for the HR modules. Note these staff could report through those operating units. They needn’t be located in IT. Note also the costs for these investments are included within other savings opportunities cited within this report so do not require incremental cash investment

• SCSD should also expand its footprint in accountability to move beyond testing and compliance to data-driven decision-making and human capital management. The E-School software solution should support this, but classroom data will need to be further aggregated there and user skill will need to rise. This will involve acquisition of talent beyond those currently on the team (including vacant posted positions) and will rest upon leadership skills beyond those currently in evidence. The addition of the new Chief Accountability Officer and the focus of the Superintendent should both be very beneficial to capacity-building here

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Other Recommendations

• District leadership, including the new Chief Accountability Officer, should hold candid discussions with existing staff managers about two key items:

1. Moving from a “soup-to-nuts” operation where everything is managed and controlled internally to a more cost-efficient operations where capabilities of outside resources (especially those contractually encumbered) are fully utilized

2. Becoming more responsive and “customer-”focused. Setting clear responsiveness goals, publishing performance against those goals, and revisiting fundamentals to improve performance. Note it appears likely that improvement to the existing Help Desk software will be critical to this end – the current vintage does not provide sufficient analytical reporting power to support such initiatives

• Project “Big” should be revisited to ensure it is the best available solution for the district going forward, considering future costs of the software (including maintenance), pending implementation costs and internal support costs pending full roll-out. Even if past (sunk) costs are unrecovered, it still may be advisable to move in a different, and less complex direction

• SCSD should organize a “clean up” project to retire un-utilized equipment in the NOC, in the schools, and in staging at Central Tech. These assets should be re-purposed if immediate demand exists for them, sold, salvaged or disposed otherwise. We observed many “spare” items on our interview trips

• Finally, District leadership should establish stronger connections between instructional vision and technology plans

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