1	Buy, Build or Borrow? Planning for Support in the New Open Environment Scott E. Siddall – Denison University Randy J. Stiles – Colorado College
2	Goals To facilitate but not to convince Discussion not presentation But not without structure
3	The Core Issue: Price ≠ Cost “You can’t beat the purchase price of open-source products: free. But the real costs of adopting such a package are harder to measure – some assembly is required, to say the least. Installing open-source software and customizing it to a college’s needs can keep the institution’s programmers busy for weeks, months, or more.” “5 Challenges for Open Source” Chronicle of Higher Education September 24, 2004
4	Today’s session Introductions – 10 minutes Open poll – 15 minutes Plenary discussion – 20 minutes Group discussion – 20 minutes Report out – 20 minutes Notes from the session will be emailed – please sign the attendee list legibly
5	Introductions Name Institution How large is your IT staff in FTE?
6	SAC attendees
7	Open Poll What are your goals for today’s session? What open source products are you using today? What open source products are you actively planning to use in the future (committed resources and a timeline)? Does your IT staff support or develop open source software on institutional time? On their own time?
8	Some Support Issues Who provides the support? IT staff? A listserv? A contractor? Support = documentation, training, help desk? Save on licensing – do you invest that to extend staff expertise? Accountability, quality assurance? Integration: authentication, branding, data channels to campus portal and admin systems Open source success is based on motivated individuals. Can institutions behave similarly? Is the relationship between your source of support and SW developers important?
9	Plenary Discussion How do you plan to provide support – buy, build, or borrow? How much do you estimate that support will cost in FTEs/dollars?
10	Group Discussions by # of IT staff Each group appoints a reporter. For colleges and universities our size, what are we planning to do for open-source support? How will you succeed? Give specific examples and suggest best practices. What criteria do you use to assess your institution’s readiness for open source projects? In the broadest possible terms, what do you believe is required, preferred or optional for success with open source applications?
11	Group Reports Five minute overview from each group PLEASE: Fill out the survey form! It’s anonymous Your responses will contribute to a benchmark on institutional readiness for open source
12	"Return to home" Return to home