ITAC Allocation Process as of AY 2004-2005
Income from the University IT fee is used to support services
for students through central IT services and a few academic administrative
units and through the schools and colleges. Historically, Information
Technology Services (ITS), the University Libraries, and the Division
of Innovative Instruction and Assessment (DIIA) receive the bulk
of the funds allocated to academic administrative units and the schools/colleges
receive the rest. Over the years, rules for allocation have been
developed. These rules include the following:
(1) Funds have been allocated annually but reconciled over three-year periods -- these three-year periods started in AY1993-96, continued through AY1996-99, AY1999-2002, and AY2002-05, and starting with AY2005-06 reconciliation is being done annually;
(2) Schools/colleges were to receive at least 60% of the funds they generated in each of the three-year periods and now annually; and
(3) Small schools, namely Architecture, Information, Law, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Affairs, and Social Work receive a floor amount because the SCH generated by their students is too small to generate enough funds to support even minimum IT needs.
The allocation process begins with an estimate of the funds
that will be generated in the next academic year by the fee. This
is a conservative amount to avoid overestimating funds available
and thus committing more funds than will be actually generated. The
amount is parsed first to ITS and DIIA based on the commitments made
as fee changes were made over the years.
For each unit, funds are allocated for "infrastructure" and for "special projects". Infrastructure includes uses of funds that are generally recurring, e.g., personnel, while "special projects" includes non-recurring costs, which could be for temporary funding of personnel, equipment, etc. Historically, infrastrcuture allocations have been incremental changes over the previous year's allocation while special projects have been funded based on the Vision Plan proposal and projects proposed therein, but this can change depending on needs as perceived bby the Committee.
The Committee reviews the Vision Plans to understand how each unit proposes to spend its allocation for the coming year. That information is used by the Committee to decide on the magnitude of special project funding. Through discussions by committee members and an iterative process of determining amounts that can be allocated while staying within the constraints noted above, a final allocation is developed.
The proposed allocations are submitted to the Provost for approval by early May so that: allocations can be made to all units by early summer; some equipment can be purchased and put into place before the fall semester begins; and personnel commitments for the coming year can be made.
