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May 30, 2025

Bi-Weekly Status Reports

Status Report

Reporting Period: May 10–May 30, 2025

Project Overview

During this reporting period, the CSN - Service Model & Infrastructure Strategy Assessment project made substantial progress on the major mid-phase activities. The focus was on collaborative working sessions with CSN stakeholders to advance scorecard development, IT staffing and infrastructure planning, and risk assessments for the Grey Matter platform. The team executed a series of targeted workshops and completed foundational analysis tasks, setting up the next round of deliverables and final recommendations.

What Has Been Accomplished So Far

Key Achievements and Goals:

  • Successfully coordinated and completed a full set of working sessions with CSN covering:

    • IT Staffing Evaluation

    • Service Delivery Criteria

    • Finance and HR Strategy

    • Infrastructure Roadmapping

    • Grey Matter insights and recommendations

  • Finalized summaries for leadership 1:1 interviews and synthesized Day 1 ThinkSpace findings for internal and microsite sharing.

  • Launched or advanced benchmarking and scorecard development based on new data inputs.

  • Established clear next steps for report drafting and deliverable integration across teams.

Status Report:

  • In Progress

    • Grey Matter Insights Risk Assessment: Ongoing document review and recommendations; meeting recordings, transcripts, and presentations reviewed with further action to develop specific recommendations (Grey Matter insights).

    • Scorecard Development & Benchmarking: Draft scorecards are being refined following the working sessions; team is tailing benchmarking data ahead of full recommendations (Scorecard Development, Data Analysis & Benchmarking).

    • IT Staffing & Network Recommendations Development: Salary and cost research compiled; recommendations are being developed on insourcing vs. outsourcing and cost projections (IT Staffing & Network Strategy Recommendations).

    • Governance Framework Planning: Internal structure for governance recommendations established; work is proceeding on drafting content (High-Level IT Governance Framework Recommendation).

  • Completed

    • All Scheduled Working Sessions: IT Staffing, Service Delivery, Finance & HR, Infrastructure, and Grey Matter workshops completed, with recaps distributed (05-28-25 Scorecard Development – IT Staffing - Agenda & Recap).

    • Leadership Interview Summary: Completed synthesis and validation of 1:1 leadership feedback (Document Leadership Interviews 1:1).

    • In-Person ThinkSpace Memo: Final Day 1 summary posted for internal and microsite use (Google DocCSN: Faculty & Staff IT/OTS ThinkSpace 5.8.25 ).

    • Session Scheduling & Coordination: All stakeholder sessions coordinated in close partnership with CSN, enabling full attendance.

    • Infrastructure Working Session Scheduled/Completed: Meeting held with key CSN infrastructure staff to clarify current assets and plan replacement strategy (Schedule working session with Infrastructure team).

    • All Scorecard, IT, HR, and Infrastructure Workshops: Confirmed as held on time, criteria and inputs documented.

What's Upcoming

  • Grey Matter Working Session: Scheduled for June 4 to finalize strategic path options for Grey Matter.

  • Drafting Final Recommendations: Pulling together benchmarking, salary research, and scorecard data to build Phase 2 deliverables.

  • Scorecard and Benchmarking Deliverables: Initial drafts and reviews are planned for June, aligning with SOW requirements.

  • Governance Model Development: Draft integration into IT staffing and service delivery recommendation package.

  • Ongoing Recap Sharing: Recaps and recordings of key workshops to be distributed to all stakeholders.

Concerns and Blockers

  • Status Clarity on Infrastructure Specialist Need: The urgent task for an infrastructure specialist was put on hold, as current scope may not require immediate external sourcing. Needs monitoring in case this changes (Infrastructure as a service need).

  • Pending Confirmation for Some Session Outputs: Certain workshop summaries/recaps still in draft and awaiting final posting.

Decisions Needed

  • No decisions needed at this time.

Overall Status

Momentum is strong and collaboration with CSN stakeholders is high. The project is on track with working session goals and deliverable preparation, but upcoming weeks will be critical for synthesizing findings into reports and managing resource bandwidth as deadlines approach. No major risks to delivery timelines have materialized, though continued clarity on pending decisions and proactive follow-up on blockers will ensure forward progress.