February 2011 audit warned of possible personnel shortcomings in OIT

A group of students stands in line at the Neuberger Hall basement computer lab. The line starts in the lab and extends into the hallway. For many students without home printers or computers, Portland State’s computer labs provide a necessary service. Other students are employed in the labs and rely on their job for a source of income.

In the last few weeks, the Office of Information Technology faced an unexpected budget conflict. Speculation from employees and former employees places blame on mismanaged money by administrators. These speculations have yet to be proven.

Whatever the reasons, the reduced hours of supervised service in some student computer labs is a result of the budget shortfall. Additionally, a handful of student workers now need new jobs, while others may face a reduction in hours.

OIT examined its budget and decided to reduce service hours in order to complete the fiscal year within the state’s proposed budget. But the end result was fewer staff and shorter lab hours, all which could disrupt services for students.

The decision came just months after a statewide audit warned PSU that its IT department had a high risk of human resources-related deficiencies.

Conducted by the Oregon University System’s Internal Audit Division, the early 2011 audit looked at the system’s university IT departments based on specific risk definitions: security breaches, system failures, capacity shortages, system changes, outsourcing exposures, economic sustainability, human resource shortcomings, regulatory non-compliance, and IT strategy and governance issues.

“The purpose of the audit was to obtain insight into what are prevalent risks in IT environments,” said Patricia Snopkowski, chief audit executive for OUS.

Analysis of the audit showed that of those risk categories, the IT department at PSU rated in the highest levels of probability or frequency of problems in “human-resource shortcomings, economic sustainability and system implementation, and changes.” These levels showed that problems associated with these categories “will probably occur at least once per year” and could have “disastrous” consequences. The audit defined disastrous as having “significant loss of assets,” and asserted that loss of services “significantly degrades achievement of objectives of capability” and could result in an interruption of service anywhere from one day to one week.

The risks to human resources are connected to both quality and quantity, Snopkowski said.

“This is information to take into consideration when you look at long-term goals,” Snopkowski said.

She explained that the competitive environment in Portland could draw away people experienced in technology from PSU to other jobs. “Recruiting is difficult due to other opportunities,” Snopkowski said. “Getting management levels in IT is very difficult.”

The audit also revealed that PSU raises sustainability risks, meaning the university may face issues keeping up with current, ever-changing technology.

Both sustainability and human-resource shortfalls ranked high on the list of statewide concerns in university IT departments. While PSU works to stay under budget to continue to provide services, it must find long-term solutions to these problems.

The Vanguard received an email following staff cuts and hour changes. The email, sent by Mark Walker, Technology Classrooms and Labs manager, advised OIT employees to refrain from talking to media outlets. “Just making sure the obvious is stated,” the email begins, “no one employed by OIT, including student workers, should be talking to anyone from any media (e.g. Vanguard, Mercury, and Willamette Week.)”

Walker chose not to comment on the email, but Scott Gallagher, director of University Communications, explained the university’s policy regarding employee communication with the media. “The standard procedure across the university is that if there is any media inquiry they go through university communications,” said Gallagher.

“Why he sent that email out was just a reminder…people sometimes say things that they shouldn’t say,” Gallagher added.

OIT, in an announcement of new hours, said that the State of Oregon as a whole had been ordered to enter a hiring freeze after an analysis by the chancellor and governor revealed statewide budget issues. The statewide freeze began in December of 2011 and mandated that all government agencies, including the state university system, could not add any additional human-resources positions unless they are essential to the functioning of state government or if the lack of such a position threatens state citizens’ health or welfare.

“During a midyear budget review of OIT, it was apparent that a couple of departments were in danger of over-spending their annual budget. In reviewing resource and staff allocation, we discovered that cuts could be made without significantly impacting service levels, since there were some spaces and services that had extremely low utilization during certain hours,” Gallagher said.

The changes, he explained, came from students visiting some campus labs more than others.

“For example, the IDSC lab was open on Sundays but usually only had one or two customers per day. At the same time, the library lab was open on Sundays from noon to 11 p.m. and was not at capacity. It just didn’t make sense financially to staff and use energy in both facilities,” Gallagher said.

With the newly adjusted hours, the Help Desk, IDSC lab and Broadway lab will now be closed on weekends. Hours in the Instructional Computer lab and freshman and sophomore inquiry labs will remain the same.