Vision for a Collaborative Shared Service Organization for Higher Education

Michael Hrybyk President/CEO, BCNET Michael.Hrybyk@bc.net

Dean Crawford Manager, IT Shared Services

Dean.Crawford@bc.net

Topics

•  Shared services models •  Organizational structure •  Service development •  Issues •  Offered Services

Thesis

•  Can IT Services be shared across institutions? –  Yes, but be mindful of history

•  What is the best model? –  Decentralized and distributed

•  Which services? –  IT, Networks, Core Applications, Middleware, Procurement

•  Which organization? –  Non-profit stakeholder

•  What scope? –  Provincial higher ed focus, but integration across sectors

and within hierarchies

Caveats

•  Lack of empirical data •  No theory or accepted best practices •  Limited examples

Shared Services Goals

•  Save $$$ •  Increase value, functionality, productivity, … •  Decrease overhead •  Minimize complexity •  Foster innovation

Measurement

•  Save $$$ •  Straightforward •  Increase value, functionality, productivity, …

–  Difficult to assess •  Decrease overhead

–  Headcount, hierarchy levels •  Minimize complexity

–  Order –  Network measures

•  Foster innovation –  Number of new services

•  Overall –  Outside of dollar savings, difficult to asses

What is the best model?

•  Underlying culture of the population being serviced •  Higher education

–  Independence of instructors –  Primacy of academic freedom –  Teaching, Research, Community Service –  Collegial governance –  Decentralized –  Influence of individual departments and faculties

•  What will work in this environment across institutions? –  IT services within generalize to across –  Like the Internet, a meta-IT group/service

Models and Centralization

Least Most

Buying Club

Service Bureau

Integrator Cooperative

Models

•  Buying Club –  Purchasing only (CAUBO)

•  Cooperative –  Members provide services to each other –  Other services purchased as a buying club

•  Integrator –  Buys services, assembles them –  Provides integrated face to institutions –  Low overheads, no direct service

•  Service bureau –  IT personnel and equipment in a single organization –  Monolithic provider of services

Cooperative Model in Higher Education

•  Fits the culture –  Decentralized –  Values innovation at the edge –  Autonomy of institutions –  History of collaboration in teaching and research –  Emphasis on leadership roles of particular institutions

•  Like the Internet –  Increases interconnections –  No central operator or “ask the oracle”

•  Maybe even like facebook •  Primacy of coordinated small groups

BCNET as a Cooperative

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BCNET Service Model

Which Services?

•  Need governance and a selection process •  Given a cooperative organizational model, which

services? •  Purchasing

–  Procurement of HW/SW •  Services

–  Networks –  IT Infrastructure (Compute and Storage) –  Middleware (Identity Management, Security, DB Support, Web

Servers, Email, …) –  Essential Applications (Finance, SIS, HR, Dev, LMS, …)

•  Basically, services any internal IT group provides –  Meta-IT using the coop model

Shared Service Design

•  Centralized –  Provided by a member or third party for other members –  Subsumes local services

•  Mixed –  Coordinated by a lead member or third party –  Local (frequently used data and apps, caching) –  Remote (backup, less frequently used data and apps) –  Model of modern content delivery networks

•  Both require adequate and rich network interconnections •  Logically separate the notion of a service operator and

facilities host for each service type

Cooperative Model Outcomes

•  Cost effective –  Buying club –  Procured HW/SW basis for services –  Leverage of lead institutions capabilities for lower overhead –  Option of third party services

•  Added Value –  Innovation at the edge –  Diversity of services possible –  Quick turn-up of new services

•  Issues –  No enforced take-rate due to lack of command-and-control –  Coordination overhead (committees, meetings, …)

Let’s review

•  It is possible to create shared IT services –  Must be done carefully to avoid monopoly effect

•  Use the cooperative model –  Service operator, facilities host –  Third parties –  Buying club –  Overall coordination

•  Services –  Include local and central approaches –  Leverage member expertise and facilities –  Networks, Infrastructure, Middleware, Core Apps

•  What is the best organizational structure?

Organizational Hierarchy

Least Hierarchical

Most Hierarchical

Consortium Government For Profit Corp

Non-Profit Corp Stakeholder

Organizational Models •  Which model will

–  Best fit the culture –  Provide the optimal outcomes

•  Consortium –  Unincorporated –  Loose affiliation of institutions organized under a lead institution

•  Non-Profit Stakeholder –  Incorporated –  Member controlled –  Member elected board

•  For Profit Corporation –  Shareholders possibly independent from institutions –  Shareholder controlled –  Profits not retained by members –  Likely small board –  Likely central staff and strong management

•  Government –  Services provided by ministries or crown corporations –  Potentially high overheads

Governance and BCNET

We are a federally incorporated, not-for-profit organization (under the Canada Corporations Act Part II)

Universities & Institutes

Colleges

Core Founding

Research & Other

Higher Ed

Membership Classes

Five Membership Classes

•  Classes reflect our membership

•  Each membership class is assigned:

–  A designated number of seats on the BCNET Board

–  A designated number of votes at AGM

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23 Directors

of the Board

CORE

FOUNDING

UNIVERSITIES & INSTITUTES

COLLEGES

RESEARCH & OTHER

HIGHER ED

AT LARGE

Our Board of Directors

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Overview Purpose

•  Clearly defined terms of reference approved annually by the Board

•  Membership representing the breadth of institutional interest as well as skills, experience, and domain knowledge

•  Comprised of working groups that steer projects

•  Report to Board •  Steer service development •  Standing committees cannot be

disbanded •  Other committees may be

created and changed, as needed

•  Services Committees

BCNET Committee Structure

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Committees

Service Development and Operation •  Procurement Development

–  Suggestion and Selection – top-down or bottom-up –  Common procurement policies –  Oversight by member procurement officers

•  Service Development –  Structured planning process –  Steps

•  Suggestion and Selection – top-down or bottom-up •  Service plan •  Pilot •  Implementation •  Operation •  Evaluation •  End-of-life

–  Use of governance structure (committees and WGs)

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Service Development Process

Services Vision 26

Procurement Development Process

Organizational Issues

•  Coordination complexity and cost –  Need to minimize but provide support –  Effective use of collaboration tools

•  Decision pipeline length and complexity –  But builtin market research –  Take rate can be predicted

What scope?

•  Assuming a non-profit stakeholder organization of members

•  Sector –  Only post-secondary? –  What about government, k-12, tech industry, health, …

•  Level – responsibility for services –  Campus –  Regional –  National –  International

Sectoral issues

•  Government –  Sometimes government procurements and service offerings do not

match higher ed requirements –  Corporate enterprise licenses vs. students/faculty –  Security vs. openness –  Complex requirements vs. innovation

•  Collaborate with Health, K-12, … –  Requirements are often different –  Especially at the core applications level –  Even network needs are different

•  Conclusion: remain focused on higher education, but look to cooperate where there is mutual advantage. –  Example: government travel rates –  Some MSAs

Macro Level of Service •  Campus

–  Unique campus needs –  Customization of core applications

•  Provincial –  Artifact of provincial responsibility for Higher Education (See UK/JANET for

national approach) –  Need for regional computing/storage facilities as local caches –  Integrated network –  Identity and roaming – value proposition is largely local/regional –  Contractual issues tractable

•  National/International –  Large common procurements and third party services

•  Internet2 NET+ –  Coordinator of provincial organizations for service delivery

•  Channel partners –  Difficulty of legal/contractual agreements

•  Role for all levels –  Need for cooperation

•  Expanded portfolio and mission –  HEITBC, BCCampus, …

•  Network –  Integrated Post-Secondary Network

•  IT Services –  Infrastructure/xAAS/IM/Security

•  Procurement –  HW/SW/Services

•  Enterprise Systems –  LMS/ERP

•  Communications and Collaboration

Developments

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•  Funding model •  Service (and staffing) model •  Conflicts

–  Large v Small –  Rural/Remote v Urban –  Research v Teaching –  Community v within-the-gates –  Add value vs decrease costs

•  Relationship to government (ASDT)

Issues

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A Collaborative Approach/Vision

•  Shared Services can be successfully implemented, mindful of history

•  Using a decentralized cooperative model •  For a wide range of services, including

–  Networks –  IT Infrastructure –  Middleware –  Core Applications (ERPs, …)

•  Under a non-profit stakeholder organization •  With a well defined emphasis on post-secondary •  Working within national and international efforts

NETWORK SERVICES

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Advanced Network

•  High-speed, high-capacity 10-Gigabit fibre optic network

•  Spans 2,029 kilometers across B.C.

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CANARIE, Canada’s Advanced Research & Innovation Network

Advanced Network

Services •  No need to traverse the

commercial Internet •  Unlimited access to

information service providers •  Unlimited access to Google,

Amazon, Microsoft and other “peers”

•  Unlimited VLANs across BCNET

•  Includes full IX service

Fees

•  Fees: $2000/mo per site + last mile costs

•  Access to the entire BCNET and CANARIE national network

•  Does not include Internet transit service

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Internet Buying Club Faster Internet & Lower Costs

BCNET bulk-buys and aggregates commercial Internet service

–  Increased Internet capacity –  Peering diverts traffic from

commercial providers by as much as 40%

–  Low rates

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Cost-Cutting Peering

•  Peering connections at Seattle Internet Exchange (SIX)

•  Gateway to organizations like Google, Amazon

•  CANARIE content peering service

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British Columbia Internet Exchanges

Open, Network Neutral

•  Networks can interconnect, peer locally, and access a marketplace to buy and sell services.

Six IX Locations

•  Vancouver •  Surrey •  Victoria •  Kelowna •  Kamloops •  Prince George

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Reduces Internet Costs for Members

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Cost-Effective, Market-Leading

Network Services

Peering Amongst Participants

Optimizes data traffic

PROCUREMENT SERVICES

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Small Fee for all Procurements

Pro

cure

men

t Equipment P

rocu

rem

ent Software

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Members can select to opt into procurements on an individual basis.

Software Licensing and Management

Long View MSA •  License Management for

Members (Online Portal) •  Negotiates with vendors for

best pricing. •  $1.6 Million in savings to date

Software Titles

•  Adobe – Creative Cloud & Acrobat.

•  Veeam – Data Protection. •  SailPoint – Identify Management. •  Microsoft •  Quest

In Progress •  VMWare •  RedHat

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Hardware VAR

Long View MSA •  Predefined and set markup for

all purchases •  Any hardware can be bought

though this agreement •  BCNET will issue direct to

manufacturer RFP`s which will leverage this agreement

Current Hardware

•  Edge Switches (Cisco, Juniper)

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Upcoming Hardware

•  Core Switches •  Servers •  Wireless Routers

Equipment Procurement: NetApp Storage

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•  Master Service Agreement •  Purchase storage equipment from a

pre-negotiated price list •  Up to 70% off list price •  Significant cost savings to date. •  Over 12 Institutions participating

Desktop and Laptop Computers Vendor MSA •  Microserve/Dell •  Value add services

available: warehousing, disk imaging, box-free deliveries, MSI for unattended installs, disk wiping and computer pickup

Features   BCNET standard

configuration machines can be warehoused in Victoria, Vancouver, Prince George, Kelowna and Kamloops

  A Web Portal allows configuration changes to standard machines

  Staff, Students and Alumni to also purchase under this MSA

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IT SERVICES

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Unlimited use of the service for $1,500 annually, plus an actual usage fee

Cloud Video Conferencing

Virtual Router Service

•  Cloud-based, carrier grade, high-performance router

•  Connects institution’s network to advanced network

•  Removes financial barriers for small institutions

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$1,000 installation fee plus a monthly fee of $900

DATA-SAFE •  Online, fully managed, fast

safe and secure •  Secondary back-up service •  Stores data in B.C. & outside

the earthquake zone

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Space is purchased in 10TB blocks with an annual cost of

  $290 per TB for Core Members   $362 per TB for Non-Core Members   $435 per TB for R&E Affiliate Members

NetFlow

•  Real-time network traffic analyzer & monitoring solution

•  Enhances network visibility, security, reliability & resiliency

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Currently available for core members only, at no cost.

Services Development and Future Services

Email as a Shared Service

Virtual Machine Service Drop Box Service Digital Signage

Service

HD Video Service for Distance

Teaching and Learning

Intrusion Protection

Service

Shared Web Survey and Web Scheduling Tools

24/7 NOC Service

Core Switch RFP Server RFP Wireless Router RFP

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Thank You! Q&A

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