The Learning Lab experience is supported by both asynchronous and synchronous components. Each part includes a set of resources, an asynchronous discussion, and an interactive live session, all of which culminate in the development of a project to apply learning to local and specific contexts in support of the learning objectives.
Schedule
Part 1: Higher Education Funding Sources and Budget Cycles
September 10 | 12:00–1:30 p.m. ET
In Part 1, we’ll explore the importance of starting with the foundational elements of budgets and funding so that IT leaders can develop strategy and manage funding challenges and opportunities. Higher education has specific funding sources and cycles that are important to be aware of. It is also valuable to learn about the tools for benchmarking an institution against its peers and how doing so supports a division's financial case.
Learning Goals:
- Understand higher education budget cycles.
- Understand higher education funding sources and expenses at your own institution.
- Identify how to leverage benchmarking and use data from institutional peers to inform and support your budget planning.
Part 2: Working with Operational Budgets and Managing Funding Reductions
September 16 | 12:00–1:30 p.m. ET
In Part 2, we’ll review how IT leaders use an operational budget to support institutional IT expenses and how the “bread and butter” plan keeps things running. Learning how to create, execute and adapt this budget is an important skill for all IT leaders. Particularly during lean years, leaders will have to make difficult decisions to keep the operation going and we’ll prepare you to do that.
Learning Goals:
- Understand how operational budgets are created and executed.
- Analyze your institutional budget and discuss potential challenges such as budget cuts:
- Practice the decision process for making operational budget reductions; and
- Learn how to effectively manage budget reductions including communication strategies, mitigation, and negotiation.
- Discover common operational budgeting pitfalls and how to avoid them, such as encumbrances, run rates, one time allocations, and bad estimations.
Part 3: Financial Planning and Strategy Implementation, Part 1
September 19 | 12:00–1:30 p.m. ET
In an ever-evolving technological landscape, the ability to articulate a compelling business case for change is crucial. In Part 3, we’ll explore key components of a robust business case, including problem identification, solutions analysis, cost-benefit considerations, and risk assessment. We’ll also focus on how to align proposed changes with organizational goals and effectively communicate and advocate for these proposals to key stakeholders.
Learning Goals:
- Understand how to identify potential opportunities for change and all the components of the change case.
- Practice presenting a business case to support a change to technology and/or business processes that impact budget (i.e., managing a campus governance committee).
- Evaluate Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) within your organization.
- Create a narrative to support funding requests, such as communicating the return on an investment via storytelling (i.e., communicating the value of investment–connected to your institution’s strategy).
Part 4: Financial Planning and Strategy Implementation, Part 2
September 24 | 12:00–1:30 p.m. ET
A significant emphasis for Part 4 of the course is on strategic technology planning. Participants will learn how to leverage budgeting insights and employ industry-related tools to guide their IT planning processes. Participants will explore comprehensive frameworks for creating a technology roadmap that outlines a clear vision for 3-5 years, including associated budgets (current, short-term, long-term).
Learning Goals:
- Leverage budgeting insights and available industry-related tools to guide IT planning, roadmap development, and proactively support budget cycles.
- Learn how to develop solutions to budget-related changes.
- Explore frameworks to create a strategic technology roadmap, laying out the potential for 3-5 years and related budgets (current, short-term, long-term).
- Explore the use of an endowment-like model to support your replacement and refreshment strategy.
Lab Project
Participants will apply their learning from the lab to a project that incorporates each of the parts. The project includes the following elements, customized to your local context.
- Get familiar with your own institution’s budget and benchmark against peer institutions.
- Work with a sample IT budget in which you will need to make budget reductions. Those budget reductions will need to be communicated, negotiated, and mitigated.
- Develop a lite business case and develop a pitch to support that business and the case for change.
- Develop a 3-5 year, high-level technology roadmap for your related IT unit.