Council of the Great City Schools

Review of the Information Technology Department

of the Houston Independent School District

Spring 2011
Summary of Review

• Review conducted January 23-26, 2011 at the Superintendent’s request

– Interviewed > 80 district personnel in technology and non-technology district roles,
including 9 Principals…
– Reviewed > 50 documents, policies, plans, financial budgets and reports

• Goals of the Review

– Review and evaluate the organization, leadership and management, and operations of the
district’s Information Technology Department
– Develop recommendations that would help the department achieve greater operational
efficiencies and effectiveness with the Information Technology program

• Reviewers
– Robert Carlson, CGCS
– David Koch, CAO, Los Angeles Unified School District (retired)
– Russell Doupnik, Executive Director, IT, Charleston County Public Schools (retired)
– Deborah Karcher, CIO, Miami-Dade County Public Schools
– Shahryar Khazei, Deputy CIO, Los Angeles Unified School District
– Cary Petersen, Executive Director – Technology, Jefferson County
Public Schools
– Jim Ratchford, CIO, Seattle Public Schools
– Tom Ryan, CIO, Albuquerque Public Schools
– Arnold Viramontes, Chief of Staff, COO, Dallas Independent School District

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CGCS Review Final Report

• Although some commendations, CGCS Final Report notes

many areas in need of improvement

• Final Report organized into two major sections… “Findings and

Observations” and “Recommendations”

• Each section generally structured to address three fundamental

areas

1. Organization

2. Leadership and Management

3. Operations

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Commendations

Findings and Observations

• The information technology function is not “broken” and many

areas appear to be operating effectively

• Mid-Level management staff members appear to be

knowledgeable, skilled and motivated

• New Compliance Officer has improved accountability and

discipline within E-Rate

• Recent changes in reporting relationships of much

of the applications staff has improved communications

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Organization

Findings and Observations

• CIO not a direct report of the Superintendent, CIO job role not well
defined
• Lack of organizational focus on software systems development and
maintenance
• Lack of organizational focus on enterprise systems, applications and
data architecture

Recommendations

• Create cabinet-level CIO position with clearly defined leadership role

and responsibilities
• Revamp organizational structure to make it more effective
• Realign organization to create shared accountability for
architecture, development and maintenance

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Leadership and Management
Findings and Observations
• Decentralized Information technology decisions has led to inequities between
schools, exposed security vulnerabilities, and resulted in higher costs.
• No formalized overall IT governance structure to set priorities and allocate
project resources.
• No top-level portfolio management, project selection based on value, risk, cost
and timeliness.
• Limited and ineffective IT Project Management Office and no standard project
management methodology
• No “Principals Advisory Committee” to help establish technology priorities.
• Minimal commitment to Instructional Technology
Recommendations
• Strengthen decision-making process and controls district-wide
• Involve school leadership
• Develop educational specification for Classroom Instructional
Technologies
• Develop new district Technology Plan focused on district challenges
• A vigorous commitment to Instructional Technology

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Operations

Findings and Observations

• District IT security is a concern…

• No District-wide “Technology refresh” plan
• Service Desk, and Field Operations consumed by recurring,
administrative activities
• IT does not have a comprehensive set of performance measures in
place

Recommendations

• Develop and implement a robust and secure network infrastructure

• Develop and implement a District-wide “Technology refresh” plan
• Revise District policies and regulations to reduce security
risks
• Increase communications, and self-service opportunities for
District users to provide better service at a lower cost

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Where does HISD rate among peer districts?

CGCS 2010 Survey of Key Performance Indicators for IT

• HISD spends $183.38 per student for IT… CGCS median is
$159.40
• HISD Service Desk “first call resolutions” rate is 78%... CGCS
median is 50%
• HISD staffing cost per Service Desk ticket is $37.82… CGCS
median is $15.74
• HISD network bandwidth per student is 0.1 bits per second…
CGCS median is 1.8
• HISD telecommunications services cost per student
is $25.54… CGCS median is $34.71

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Current Activities

Immediate focus on four major areas

1. Organization
– Customer focused
– Effective functional alignment
2. Network Infrastructure
– Foundation for secure accessibility
– IBM analysis
3. Data Integration and Warehouse
– Cross system integration
– Data governance and accountability
– Put data in the hands of the decision makers
4. Migration Strategy
– Total cost of ownership
– Plan move to the next standard

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Next Steps

Plan

1. Completion of IBM analysis and study

2. Alignment of IBM and CGCS recommendations

3. Develop IT action plan on recommendations

4. Update BOE on status

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