e-Monash within the Greater Monash: an IT Perspective

Discussion Paper

Alan McMeekin
Information Technology Services
6 February 2000

Introduction

Much has been written about how IT has altered the way business is transacted in some fields of enterprise or about the potential it has to make dramatic changes. The term e-business has been coined to describe the use of IT and how it might affect a number of aspects of the value chain of an organisation. The higher education industry has also received its share of commentary about how IT might help create an environment where many of the teaching, learning and administrative operations and interactions occur electronically rather than in the more traditional modes.

The term e-Monash has been used to describe how this changed mode of operation may apply to our Monash environment, and this brief paper is intended to place e-business into the Monash context. The term relates to many different aspects of the University’s operating procedures, and potentially relates to most functional areas, both academic and administrative. The potential impact of IT and the electronic world and the changes they bring will vary over time, as developing technologies make new products and services possible.

The concept of e-Monash embraces IT systems and applications that are important to several other University goals, including globalisation, flexible learning and teaching, and providing students and staff with higher standards of service. There is no simple product that can be purchased "off the shelf", rather, implementing e-Monash will require the University to be vigilant with current trends in technology and technology management and how these might apply to our key institutional goals.

The real challenge is to identify when and where those opportunities will realise the best return in our own environment, and to develop the organisational structures and skills to realise benefits. A University IT Strategic Plan, which is currently in progress, will define a comprehensive list of functions and operations which might be included under the banner of e-business. IT governance will also be reviewed at this time. In the interests of promoting discussion about e-Monash and to continue the momentum of innovative development of IT systems at Monash, it will be useful to consider a preliminary view of these issues.

Recent success in IT developments

The management of an IT applications environment is an important subset of IT governance and has a great deal to bear on achieving successful outcomes. Recent IT developments at Monash have experienced considerable success, due to a number of factors:

• The ability to segment the issue into manageable units;
• Strong support by senior management;
• Effective oversight by key stakeholders. A steering committee is essential to clear any impediments to the success of the project, and to support the project team;
• The establishment of multidisciplinary project teams involving staff from business and technical areas, as well as sources external to the University. No individual members of staff nor single functional area for that matter, possess all the skills necessary to ensure success;
• Effective change management strategies, including communications with reference communities and staff training;
• Adoption of rigorous project management methodologies;
• The provision of adequate resourcing and adoption of realistic schedules.

The scope of e-Monash

There is no single "off the shelf" e-business solution that will meet the needs of Monash. Arguably the best strategy is to develop and introduce solutions for key targeted aspects of the University’s value chain. But before considering these target areas, it is useful first to look at University strategies and general trends in society that are of fundamental significance to Monash. Of particular relevance are:

How should we dissect our own value chain to identify e-business opportunities? There are a number of areas for possible development under the banner of e-Monash. This list is by no means complete:

• Development of course content
  An opportunity exists to adopt a software program which provides a template to assist academics develop online subject materials. There is also an opportunity to introduce a professional publishing environment where materials can be prepared in a single format for delivery in various media: print, CD or online. Either environment requires the definition of quality standards.
  
  The Instructional Management System (IMS) initiative offers possibilities for sharing course content and credit transfer through the electronic coupling of student record systems and courseware delivery systems.
  
• Library style information services
  The University Library is well advanced in developing and delivering a range of electronic services. Ongoing development is required.
  
• Monash’s public web site
  The Monash web site is the public face of the University, and its content and style of presentation should be managed from a marketing perspective. While it has been the case in the past, and still is, the public web site (www.monash.edu.au) should not be the primary source of information for our staff and students. This role should be taken on by the my.monash portal, with appropriate linkages to (www.monash.edu.au).
  
• Document production, electronic publishing and integrated document management
  The trend towards online delivery of official documents, information and other materials presents the need to have systems in place for the preparation, updating and management of large documents. Critical issues for consideration include multiple authors, multiple delivery media, scalability, currency, accuracy, workflow and version control.
  
• University records management, document imaging and archival system
  A records management, imaging and archival system needs to be considered for adoption across the University for official University records.
  
• Student and staff self service for administrative purposes Online transactional services empower staff and students to input, update and interrogate their own personal details held on University data bases. This offers dual benefits, improved services to students and reduced cost overheads to the University in providing those services. Wherever it is appropriate, students should have reporting and/or transactional access to a wide range of university administrative systems. SAP is well placed in this respect and both SAP and Callista systems offer "employee self service" web based interfaces.
  
• e-Commerce
  The term e-commerce is a subset of e-business, and includes such things as business to business transactions as well as retail services. The Gartner Group forecast that worldwide business to business transactions will grow from $145 billion in 1999 to $7.29 trillion in 2004. By 2004, it will represent 7 percent of the forecasted $105 trillion total global sales transactions. In our context, there are several opportunities for development, involving:
  
• Purchasing: ordering and payment of high volume items can be effected electronically, realising savings and better service;
  
• Retailing: a wide range of goods and services can be sold online to the public, enrolled students and staff;
  
• Course fee payments.
  
• Smart cards
  Smart cards provide opportunities to improve security arrangements for access control to buildings and IT facilities, to enhance retailing services for low valued items, and to enhance general services to students such as printing, and photocopying and vending machines. However, the issue of privacy needs to be handled sensitively.
  
• Delivery of electronic services to students and staff
  The my.monash portal takes on a "director" role and provides students and staff with a standard interface to a wide range of electronic services, in effect providing a single point of contact, a shop front to e-Monash. This system is now available for general use within the community, but its implementation should be carefully planned in conjunction with other services.
  
• Electronic based support services
  Special systems need to be developed to complement online delivery of services. These include such services as call centres for personalised counselling and advisory services, and self-help web based knowledge bases.
  
• Strategic and targeted developments
  There will be circumstances where the University will wish to offer a set of services defined above to meet a particular strategic purpose, e.g. the proposed joint development between BusEco and FIT, also the Southern Africa campus development. Each of these should be identified as a separate project, with linkages and interfaces to the above mentioned services.
  
  It may also be beneficial to use a strategic development to "kickstart" any of these functional systems, which may be introduced subsequently to the Greater Monash.

Structure and management of e-Monash

The e-Monash initiative could be regarded as a program as it encompasses a wide range of issues affecting many components of the University’s operations. Initially the e-Monash program will consist of a number of development projects, where a project is defined as being a unique event with a specific outcome(s), with defined start/end dates. Once a project is complete its operation needs to be included into the mainstream operations of the University, which generally means that responsibility is transferred from the development team to one or more organisational units.

When considering the best management structure for the e-Monash program, one needs to recognise

• That each project can be complex, has many stakeholders and requires a major investment of funds and human resources;
  
• That organisational change is usually involved to a significant degree, involving cultural change, changes in systems and procedures, and the need to develop skills of staff and students;
  
• That existing University policies are usually affected or new ones required
  
• That projects are interdependent;
  
• That different parts of the organisation will be responsible for the various functions that comprise e-Monash.

It is proposed that a suitable management structure would need to recognise three important aspects: overall governance, development phases and operational phases:

• Overall governance of the program might be undertaken by an e-Monash Executive Steering Committee.
  
  The role of such an e-Monash Executive Steering Committee will be principally to prioritise the relative importance of individual projects, to allocate funds, and to clear any roadblocks to a successful conclusion.
  
• During the development phase
  The development phase will have a strong project orientation, designed to focus resources to achieve a production version of the required outcomes. The development of each key service will typically require a number of important project roles to be established:
  
• Project Sponsor: Each project should have a project sponsor. This is typically the senior manager whose portfolio includes operational responsibility for the outcomes.
  
• Project Steering Committee: Each major project in the e-Monash program will have a steering committee, chaired by the senior manager whose portfolio includes operational responsibility for the outcomes, or his/her representative. Membership will consist of senior managers representing the key stakeholders. The project steering committee will disband once the project outcomes are achieved.
  
• Project Team: A multidisciplinary project team, lead by a project manager, will usually be a key element of each project, with membership drawn from staff employed in IT and business roles within Monash, and/or external sources.
  
• Reference Group or User Group: This is important as it provides an opportunity for interested stakeholders to contribute.
  
• The production phase, post initial development and implementation
  To improve accountability, specific line managers should be assigned responsibility for components of the service. Business practices should be changed wherever possible to improve services and to reduce overheads. There is an important ongoing role for a reference/user group, and multidisciplinary teams to enhance and upgrade the service.

Recommendations

Given the complexity of the e-Monash concept, and the widespread impact on the University’s academic and administrative operations, and since e-business will be critical to our future, it is recommended that:

1. An e-Monash Program Executive Steering Committee be constituted to oversight the development e-business systems at Monash. Membership might include one or more representatives of the Vice Chancellor’s Group. There is a strong argument that an e-Monash Program Director should be appointed.
   
2. UNITAC continue to be the University Committee which is responsible for approving University IT policy, including Web and e-business related matters.
   
3. That each development project within the e-Monash program be structured to include:
   
• a project sponsor;
• a project steering committee;
• a project manager experienced in formal project management methods;
• a multidisciplinary project team (internally and/or externally sourced);
• a reference/user group.

Currently approved and funded development projects include:

• my.monash portal;
• IAS employee self service;
• Joint development courseware for BusEco and FIT.

Future development projects might include:

• Records management, document imaging and archival systems;
• Smart cards;
• Electronic based support services;
• e-commerce;
• Document production, electronic publishing and integrated document management;
• Development of course content.
4. That relevant senior managers be required to review business practices and to ensure that each production system within e-Monash is structured to include:
   
• A line manager responsible for the operation of each system and its ongoing development;
  
• a reference/user group;
  
• a multidisciplinary production/development team (internally and/or externally sourced).

Existing production systems within the e-Monash program include:

• University public web site;
  
• Library information services.
  
5. That consideration be given as to how institutional projects and opportunities of strategic importance can be used to trial new electronic based systems that can be mainstreamed subsequently into an e-Monash.