CSS All Hands January 28, 2010 Discussion Questions

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?

1. Centralizing purchasing and management of computer hardware (Chris Lavallee and Chuck King)
   1. Should MIT centralize the purchasing of computer hardware?
   2. Should the centralized purchasing include deployment and other services (i.e. data transfer)?
   3. On which population(s) of MIT should this centralization be focused?
   4. 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...]

1. What, if anything, is the role of AUX in removing pain points in using MIT enterprise systems?
   1. Should Usability be a required element of design?
   2. Should educational materials (e.g., documentation and training) be required?
   3. Should the business have overall responsibility and ownership and solely engage IS&T to apply technology to meet their business needs? <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face
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2. If MIT decides to decustomize our enterprise applications, should AUX focus on training and documentation efforts on:
   1. MIT specific applications
   2. desktop applications
   3. other

My questions (Barbara) are a bit less specific but prompted by my reading and thinking about the IT @ MIT Task Force report:

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-->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?

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-->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?

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