Below are the questions (with facilitators) we will discuss at the January All Hands meeting. These discussions will be scribed and input used for future CSS planning and where appropriate, IS&T responses to various Task Force recommendations that evolved as part of the Institute wide cost savings initiatives.
1. Centralizing purchasing and management of computer software (Patricia Sheppard)* What role should IS&T play in purchasing software for the community?
- What role should VFP (Procurement) play?
- What does management of software mean?
- Who are the decision makers when it comes to acquisition? Support?
- Who are the negotiators of terms and conditions?
- Where should the role of vendor management reside?
2. Centralizing purchasing and management of computer hardware (Chris Lavallee and Chuck King)
- Should MIT centralize the purchasing of computer hardware?
- Should the centralized purchasing include deployment and other services (i.e. data transfer)?
- On which population(s) of MIT should this centralization be focused?
- Should the centralization only offer a limited number of options or offer unlimited choices available for purchase?
[Although I'm not sure that these two topics are at the right level of abstraction, it appears that we need additional topics...]
3. What, if anything, is the role of AUX in removing pain points in using MIT enterprise systems?
4. Is the implementation of AUX (e.g., Usability, Accessibility, Training, Docs) recommendations something CSS wants to require going forward?
- If so, how do we envision requiring these elements in MIT enterprise applications?
- Should the business (e.g., non-IS&T) have overall responsibility and ownership and solely engage IS&T to apply technology to meet their business needs?
5. What are the biggest technical pain points you experience or see clients experience with the products/services we support?
6. If MIT decides to decustomize our enterprise applications, where should AUX focus our training and documentation efforts:
- MIT specific applications
- Desktop applications
- other
7. If you could name one thing that IS&T could do to improve the quality of technical support we are able to provide, what would it be and why?
8. When considering different sourcing models what do you think are the key considerations for determining whether certain work should be done internally vs. by an outside organization?
9. Where does the work of CSS overlap with the academic mission of MIT?
- Does IS&T/CSS clearly identify the computing environment we set up for the students as part of our mission?
- Are there opportunities in this realm that we are missing?