Purpose
The ITaaS Systems Engineering Services (SES) provides VCCS colleges and agencies the opportunity to supplement their IT staff with one or more experienced systems engineers who possess the expertise and will provide the services of a system engineer. The system engineers provide these services to multiple colleges or agencies to support their needs and are not intended to be full-time employees of the college or agency. The system engineers will provide onsite and remote systems infrastructure engineering and day-to-day management of systems infrastructure including server hardware, server operating systems, storage systems, active directory, office 365, VCCS IaaS systems, and backup systems.
Having a skilled individual dedicated to this position will lower IT risk while allowing current staff to take leave or work on special projects without impacting IT operations. This MOU allows individual colleges to benefit from the services of a system engineer without incurring the high costs associated with hiring and retaining a full-tine qualified system engineer. While the focus is on providing the system engineering services outlined, the goal is to continually seek out additional opportunities to increase productivity and reduce costs. Upon agreement, the System Office will provide the following system engineering support services to the college.
Problem
Many VCCS agencies find it difficult, if not impossible, to find individuals in their service regions that have the necessary skillsets and experience required to support the infrastructure in VCCS’s higher ed Information Technology environment. The expenses normally associated with recruiting, training, and maintaining a highly skilled system engineer are cost prohibitive for most VCCS agencies even when the right resource is identified. Then the larger question becomes whether a college needs this type of position on a full-time basis, and whether the college can afford to hire and retain such a resource.
Once an individual with these skills is identified the VCCS can benefit from using them at multiple colleges or agencies because the needs are often similar, and the skillset is so specialized.
Solution
ITaaS offers a system engineer as a service whereby the college or agency can obtain from the VCCS System Office the services of a trained and experienced system engineer at a fractional cost of a full-time system engineer. The changing nature of provisioning technology resources provides an opportunity for colleges to share in the cost, recruitment and retention of high-level technology talent by leveraging a shared services or consortia type model, developed among all interested parties. This new model is more of a center-led approach that is designed to create a greater sense of shared responsibility and team identity among participants. The goal of the center-led approach is to have strategy development in a centralized group, while IT leadership at all levels and locations executes the strategy. The following chart attempts to capture the roles and responsibilities of each party using this model.
Roles and Responsibilities
VCCS System Office agrees to:
|
Responsibility/Activity
|
Responsible Staff
|
|
Ensure all objectives and deliverables outlined in this MOU are provided.
|
Manager Enterprise Systems Engineering
|
|
Coordinate activities for the ITaaS system engineer in relation to college needs.
|
Manager Enterprise Systems Engineering
|
|
Conduct administrative system needs for IT including all servers and storage.
|
ITaaS System Engineer
|
|
Participate in meetings as needed.
|
Manager Enterprise Systems Engineering
ITaaS System Engineer
Other ITS resources as needed
|
Shared Services Center agrees to:
|
Responsibility/Activity
|
Responsible Staff
|
|
Provide cooperation and assistance in identifying requirements, solutions, and issues impacting college servers and storage
|
SSC Personnel
|
|
Provide office space and any equipment needed to work onsite.
|
SSC Leadership
|
|
Provide direction for the day-to-day activities of the ITaaS system engineer.
|
SSC Leadership
|
|
Institute and maintain an open line of communication with System Office ITS personnel.
|
SSC Leadership and designated point of contact
|
|
Notify the VCCS CIO of any problems related to the prompt delivery of services.
|
SSC Leadership
|
Specific Deliverables by System Engineer
Staff resources are not allocated to the individual organizations. The primary focus is on delivering the necessary personnel effort to achieve the stated objectives and to meet the related deliverables:
|
Objectives
|
Deliverable
|
|
Maintain a robust systems infrastructure that meets the instructional and administrative needs of faculty, staff and students in accordance with the approved IT standards, policies and guidelines.
|
Design, implement, upgrade, patch, and manage college systems infrastructure according to CIO/CTO directives.
Onboard all systems infrastructure equipment into the VCCS PRTG monitoring system.
|
|
Ensure that inter-campus PC, Server, and other system updates are implemented to minimize impact on WAN bandwidth usage.
|
Implement patch management, system administration, and image deployment processes that minimize WAN bandwidth usage.
|
|
Maintain a robust and stable email and collaboration infrastructure.
|
Manage, administer, provision, monitor, and deploy Office 365 email, teams, and OneDrive services.
Follow best practices and VCCS Standards for email delivery, security, antivirus, anti-phishing, user management, and file management.
Manage and administer the Avanan email security system.
|
|
Use VCCS Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform for all new campus based on-premise IT services requiring servers and/or storage.
|
Deploy new college servers using the VCCS IaaS platform whenever possible.
Establish and execute an IaaS migration plan that moves all applicable college server workloads to the VCCS IaaS platform.
|
|
Ensure that software is currently receiving security patches and updates and is a supported version that meets use requirements.
|
Patch or upgrade systems infrastructure, including server hardware, server operating systems, storage systems, and ensure compliance with VCCS security standards.
Upgrade server operating systems prior to any operating system reaching the end of support.
Review Nessus vulnerability assessments with college ISO and remediate vulnerabilities according to VCCS security standards.
|
|
Provide instructional technology and information technology support for the teaching and learning needs of faculty and students in traditional, hybrid, and online classes.
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Review and respond to support requests, relating to college systems infrastructure, for any instructional or information technology systems.
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Service Level Agreement
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On-Site systems infrastructure installation, upgrade, and maintenance – 2 weeks advance scheduling
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Emergency response during system outages – 4 hours response from time of contact.
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Remote support of server hardware, server operating systems, storage systems, active directory, office 365, VCCS IaaS systems, and backup systems. - Ongoing
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System assessments and best practice review - As requested
Current Anticipated Cost
The total proposed cost for the ITaaS Systems Engineer position includes salaries, benefits, and miscellaneous expenses (travel, training, etc.). The cost to each college is based on the total estimated costs necessary to support the position(s) and assumes that the participation of a minimum of three colleges/agencies is necessary to fully support the position(s). The actual cost could vary depending on the salary offered, timeframe for filling position(s), and sustaining potential state mandated changes in compensation and benefits.
Since the responsibilities per college depenedent on the FTE for the college - Divide the total cost of the resource by the proportion of FTE for the college.
| Participating Colleges |
|
FY25 |
FY26 |
FY27 |
| Blue Ridge |
Group II |
$49,947 |
$51,445 |
$52,989 |
| Central Virginia |
Group II |
$49,947 |
$51,445 |
$52,989 |
| Mountain Gateway |
Group I |
$46,727 |
$48,129 |
$49,573 |
| Danville |
Group I |
$46,727 |
$48,129 |
$49,573 |
| Eastern Shore |
Group I |
$46,727 |
$48,129 |
$49,573 |
| Germanna |
Group III |
$53,167 |
$54,762 |
$56,405 |
| J. Sargeant Reynolds |
Group III |
$53,167 |
$54,762 |
$56,405 |
| BrightPoint |
Group III |
$53,167 |
$54,762 |
$56,405 |
| Laurel Ridge |
Group III |
$53,167 |
$54,762 |
$56,405 |
| Mountain Empire |
Group I |
$46,727 |
$48,129 |
$49,573 |
| New River |
Group II |
$49,947 |
$51,445 |
$52,989 |
| Northern Virginia |
Group VI |
$62,827 |
$64,712 |
$66,653 |
| Patrick & Henry |
Group I |
$46,727 |
$48,129 |
$49,573 |
| Paul D Camp |
Group I |
$46,727 |
$48,129 |
$49,573 |
| Piedmont Virginia |
Group III |
$53,167 |
$54,762 |
$56,405 |
| Rappahannock |
Group I |
$46,727 |
$48,129 |
$49,573 |
| Southside Virginia |
Group II |
$49,947 |
$51,445 |
$52,989 |
| Southwest Virginia |
Group II |
$49,947 |
$51,445 |
$52,989 |
| Virginia Peninsula |
Group III |
$53,167 |
$54,762 |
$56,405 |
| Tidewater |
Group V |
$59,607 |
$61,395 |
$63,237 |
| Virginia Highlands |
Group I |
$46,727 |
$48,129 |
$49,573 |
| Virginia Western |
Group III |
$53,167 |
$54,762 |
$56,405 |
| Wytheville |
Group I |
$46,727 |
$48,129 |
$49,573 |
Timeframe
This MOU and cost is for a three-year agreement and will be subject to renewal in three-year increments thereafter. Renewals will coincide with fiscal years of the VCCS (July to June).