DON SEAWALL, BATAVIA USD 101 SARAH BEYNE, DIGITAL SCHOOLS OTTO MONNIG, DIGITAL SCHOOLS HOSTED OR SELF HOSTED EXPLORE THE OPTIONS 1 © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia 101

UNDERSTANDING HOSTING ALTERNATIVES ASSESSING AND BEST USING DISTRICT RESOURCES (MAKING THE BEST DECISION) KNOWING HOW TO EVALUATE TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES AND RESOURCES OBJECTIVES 2 © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia 101

HOSTING ALTERNATIVES Many options available today  Onsite, Offsite, Cloud  We will compare the two most common  Hosted at district  Hosted elsewhere (SaaS)  No differentiation between mission critical and non-mission critical applications © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia 101 3

WHAT DOES ‘SaaS’ MEAN? HOSTED Elsewhere/SaaS © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia 101 4

TERMS - SaaS SaaS – Software as a Service You rent application access for a monthly fee. Examples: Google Apps Microsoft Office 365 SIS Vendor Digital Schools many others… © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia 101 5

SaaS PARAMETERS VENDOR  PROVIDES the servers, application software and supporting infrastructure offsite at a secure data center. District data is stored at this location as well.  PAYS Power, Network, Licensing and Security costs.  PROVIDES backup and failover protection.  MAINTAINS hardware and UPDATES software.  PROVIDES technical support. DISTRICT pays a fee for service. © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia 101 6

SaaS BENEFITS Fast Deployment and Implementation Lower cost of entry Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Minimizes District’s Ongoing Capital Expenditures Improves Allocation of District IT Staff (now able to focus on the educational mission) © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia 101 7

SaaS BENEFITS Lower Risk Application Expertise available Immediately Secure Power and Network Infrastructure Availability - (secure data backup, failover). Costs are spread among many users. 8 © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia 101

KEY REQUIREMENTS: SaaS Product updates and revisions/schedule Best practices for equipment and services SECURITY Performance Monitoring and Maintenance Timely Back Up and Failover Formalized Change Control Process Current and adequate infrastructure with sufficient staffing. © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia 101 9

What are the Parameters? District / Self Hosted © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

SELF HOSTED/DISTRICT: Definition Application and data are stored at the district’s facility under District supervision and maintenance. District responsible for level 1 and level 2 support. Vendor support available through support agreement. District maintains backups. District updates as necessary. © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

District (Self) Hosted Parameters DISTRICT  PROVIDES the servers and supporting infrastructure offsite at a secure data center. District data is stored at this location as well.  PAYS Power, Network, Licensing and Security costs.  PROVIDES backup and failover protection.  MAINTAINS hardware and UPDATES software.  PROVIDES technical support. VENDOR provides application software (and may collect additional fees) © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

What are our capabilities and environment? Questions a CIO Must ask Up Front District / Self Hosted © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

What is the current state of technology? Do you have a quality infrastructure in place? Is your backup/disaster recovery plan proven? How valuable is your data? How much does a work stoppage cost? How staffed are you? What is the skill level of your staff? What are your needs? Do you have many customization needs? © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia 101 District / Self Hosted 14

DISTRICT SHOULD OFFER & EXPECT Purchase and Maintain Equipment Needed Ensure Equipment Performance Ensure Back ups and fail over protection Coordinate prior to making equipment changes or any modifications (will impact vendor OS) Vendor provides requirements in writing for server set up and process documentation Vendor provides coordinated update and/or “Fix” process © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

FeaturesSaaSSELF HOSTED Subscription FeesYes Up Front Hardware FeesNoYes Up Front Software purchase and/or license fees NoYes Hardware Selection & CostsNoYes System Setup ScheduleMutually agreed implementation timetable Mutually agreed Implementation timetable Trained support and Maintenance Staff YesTraining may be required Support Staff availabilityYes (application dependent) First Level Troubleshooting prior to escalation to vendor Generally handles first levelYes (application dependent) Regular maintenance performed by trained staff Yes

FeaturesSaasSELF HOSTED Regular Software UpdatesVendor responsibilityDistrict responsibility R&D for new products and regulations YesNo Testing costs for new productsVendor responsibilityNA Nightly and snapshots BackupsYesDistrict responsibility Data stored locallyNoYes Offsite BackupApplication DependentDistrict responsibility Service Level AgreementsNegotiated Redundant Systems for Failover Application DependentDistrict responsibility Disaster Recovery Management Application DependentDistrict responsibility

What Do You Want to Accomplish? Assessing District Resources © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

CURRENT EVALUATION District Size Trends Budget Trend (Up or Down) Who is Making the IT Decisions (Centralized or Decentralized)? Current staffing and skill set Other projects and requirements including timing (current challenges, obsolescence of systems) What capabilities will you need to add for a new application: people and equipment? © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

CASE EXAMPLES System requirements for Student Information System ERP system requirements for a generic integrated financial/payroll and HR solution. © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

POWER SCHOOL IMPLEMENTATION Power School implementation Multiple virtualized servers implemented and maintained with vendor support agreement On going customization to meet customer needs Real time District support performed by District staff © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

POWER SCHOOL IMPLEMENTATION Self hosted Power School implementation Created 2 temporary in house implementation positions Purchased vendor implementation guidance Multiple virtualized servers implemented and maintained Offered in house training programs to staff On going customization to meet customer needs Real time District support performed by District staff © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

CASE EXAMPLE Finance/Payroll/HR System District serving 20,000 students purchases and installs a Financial/Payroll and HR solution: © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia 101 Typical School District #1 Students 20,000 Teaching Staff 1,200 Support Staff 1,600 Frequent Users 24 Intermittent Users 160 Maximum Users (+20%) 221 Concurrent Users (experience) 64 23

CASE EXAMPLE Finance/Payroll/HR System First Year Costs for “Generic” Application: © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia 101 Servers, Licenses and Services Cost 1Web $ 8,500 1Database (SQL 2008) $ 35,000 1Firewall $ 4,000 1Backup Server $ 40,000 Offsite Backups (yearly) $ 6,000 $ 93,500 24

PRICING MODEL Finance/Payroll/HR System SaaS may be billed  Per Student  Per FTE  Per Users  By license fee or subscription fee  Other (e.g. additional fees for services) “Buyer Beware” Know what you are paying for and involve IT. © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

MAKING THE BEST DECISION What is the business of the Technology Division? What is your mission? Are you fulfilling it? For Example:  Enabling education  Providing Technology tools to facilitate learning  Providing 24 hour uptime Are decisions being made that are unbiased and made in the best interests of the District. © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

Can the Vendor Deliver What’s Required? Assessing the Vendor © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

AT THE TABLE: Ownership in the Process Who has a stake in the decision making process? Hosted versus Self Hosted seems to be Technology only…is it? What is the role of the District CBO? What is the role of the Board? It’s the District’s data…who is accountable at the District? © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

BEFORE YOU TALK TO A VENDOR… Are key stakeholders in agreement? Is the IT Department in agreement? Have requirements been defined by the various stakeholders? Is district management committed to change? © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

VENDOR QUESTIONS Where is my data stored? 1. How and where is the data stored? 2. What is the physical location? 3. What is the archive for “old” data? Is Proximity Tied to Performance? If not, in the vendor’s view, what is the rationale? © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

VENDOR QUESTIONS Cont’d Who is responsible for the data?  What are accessibility and security provisions?  Who maintains data?  Who owns the data?  Who is responsible for quality of data being entered? Set for the plan of roles and responsibilities at the outset. Make sure the “Contract” is clear regarding responsibilities Have a lawyer review SLAs carefully © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

VENDOR QUESTIONS Cont’d What is the Disaster Recovery Plan?  What is the plan in the event of power outages?  What in the outage is the vendor’s responsibility?  Is there a failover plan and do you have your own plan to achieve continuity and redundancy? How Secure is the Data?  What are the back up provisions?  How far away is the failover facility?  What are the facility security provisions?  How is unauthorized access prevented © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

VENDOR QUESTIONS Cont’d What happens if the vendor is acquired or goes under?  How is your data protected?  How is it accessible?  Have your provided in the contract for data accessibility in such an event?  Have you defined in writing how quickly your data will be returned to you?  Do you want source code access? © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

CRITERIA TO DISCUSS Implementation: time and training Experience with other implementations Consultant participation Will the software eliminate jobs at the district level? Integration with other software? Contractual review criteria © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

HOW THE VENDOR CAN HELP The Contract Clarity regarding costs Leadership requirements District requirements, processes, procedures Working with YOUR schedules and advance planning Status reporting during implementation Training tests Requirements for measuring ROI © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS © Digital Schools 2011 in collaboration with Don Seawall, Director IT, Batavia