Brief History of ITS

In 1996 a review of information technology and communications at Monash, instituted by the then Vice-Chancellor Professor Mal Logan, recommended the establishment of an integrated IT organisational structure under a new senior management position. In 1997 the search for a director for the integrated IT division was undertaken.

In early 1998, Alan McMeekin from the University of Southern Queensland was appointed Executive Director, ITS Division, commencing at the end of June.

In June 1998 a retreat at Mt Eliza Business School for senior and middle managers (heads of regions) of the ITS Division examined the University's plans for the future, identified major areas of activity for the Division in the next two years arising from these plans, and identified issues internal to the new Division together with strategies for addressing these issues.

In July Alan McMeekin announced a proposed four column basic divisional structure and called for submissions from all ITS staff regarding how the activities of the Division could best be formed under the new management structure. There was an open door policy for all managers to discuss any issue.

In August submissions were received, collated and re-circulated to all ITS staff. The following activities were undertaken to action established goals:

• A further retreat for senior and middle managers was held. It identified the products, services, roles and responsibilities of the Division and the issues associated with matching these to an integrated structure for the Division, including those raised in the submissions from staff. The team began to define a vision for ITS and its relationship to the Monash plan of leading the way, and to address the practical implications.
• The senior mangement team, the Directors' Group, began meeting on a weekly basis to raise and consider major issues affecting the Division, to review policies put forward for consideration, and to address items requiring resolution. A major focus of the initial meetings was to refine the structure of the Division in terms of staff, their roles and reporting lines.

In September a third retreat was held to finalise the structure of the Division and to refine the broad strategy for its introduction. Cultural issues associated with the old and new structures were identified. Alan McMeekin announced the implementation of the restructure would be done as a formal launching within a period of weeks. Discussions were held between managers and individual staff on the restructuring of the Division. The movement of staff to new locations and positions began. The first ITS website was established.

Foreshadowing major new projects for the new organisation, during this period the IAS contract with SAP for the new administrative systems for the University was signed. Also a conference on flexible learning and teaching (FLT), and new information technology, was held on the Clayton campus. In one of the keynote addresses at the conference, Alan McMeekin talked on the implications of FLT for IT organisation and methodologies at Monash. Other projects already under way included the Y2K Project, the Monash Messaging System, and the ATM network rollout.

In October staff restructuring continued, particularly with personnel moving to the Science and Technology Park to join the IAS team.

Official launch of ITS, November 1998

Just before lunch on Cup Day Alan McMeekin welcomed everyone to the launch, especially staff who had travelled from remote campuses to the "landmark event". As the MC he first introduced Professor Peter Darvall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development) to officially launch the Division, followed by Professor Alan Lindsay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Planning) and Mr John Julian, IAS Project Director.

Prof Darvall read a poem of his own, "The Launch", as a nautical preamble to the proceedings. He gave a brief history of IT organisations within Monash, and continuing the nautical allusions, he outlined problems for the future, and formally launched "the ship IT Services".

Prof Lindsay discussed a prior policy lag behind practice in the IT area, leading to problems for decision makers regarding budgets and other areas, that had been addressed by the Learning and Teaching Operational Plan (LTOP), and also discussed the ITS role in FLT.

John Julian expressed the view that the IAS project was a necessary "re-stumping of the house" in order to have the administrative support that FLT and other major initiatives required. He noted:

• that it would result in all major Monash databases going over to the ORACLE platform,
• that it was largely being done by Monash staff with only minor reliance on consultancies.

Alan McMeekin concluded proceedings by summarising the key issues for ITS in 1999 and the nature of the ITS vision. He emphasised the strong support he had had from all managers and staff in ITS, and also from the Vice-Chancellor and other senior management of the University.

At the conclusion of the formal part of the launch, the staff of the Division enjoyed a celebratory lunch and watched the Melbourne Cup race.

Over the following summer and throughout 1999 appointments were made at all levels of the organisation to bed in the new structure. All major projects proceeded as planned, notably the successful implementation of SAP in time for the new financial year. The first payroll was run on the new system at the end of June. In July the first portal for the FLT project was launched at the start of second semester.