Four campus information technology programs are to be consolidated into one centralized department, Information Technology Services, to increase efficiency and expand service.

The organizations planned to be consolidated on July 1 are Academic Information Technologies, Administrative Technology Services, the Instructional Technology Center and Telecommunications.

The move was not done as a cost-saving measure, and the budget of the new department should be about the same as the current fragmented departments, said Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance.

“The goal is to provide better IT services to the campus and do it in a more coordinated way,” he said.

Jim Davis, chief information officer and head of the new department, said because of the lack of additional resources, increasing efficiency was the only way to expand services.

“We knew that there wouldn’t be any additional resources to put into it from Iowa State, especially not in the near term with the budgets we’re dealing with,” he said.

Although the combination is planned to be finalized next month, Davis said it could take about a year to work out all the details of the merger such as branding, logos and completing paperwork.

The creation of a new department was recommended by a study on campus tech support done last December. Davis said the merger was proposed to allow campus IT services to more effectively utilize resources and potentially expand services.

In addition to increasing operating efficiency, Davis said the merger could also increase the ability of tech support staff to respond to and prioritize the various needs of people on campus.

“We can do that in a fairly uniform and transparent way, having the groups together,” he said.

Davis said support staff from individual colleges would not be included in the merger.

“We’re not talking about pulling in the college and unit IT support folks as part of central IT,” he said. “They provide very specialized support. This consolidation is really focused on the central IT organizations.”

Madden said the new department should be able to better coordinate the use of various technology on campus.

He added the combination is in-line with Iowa State’s five-year strategic plan, which calls for a focus on technology.

“Iowa State University’s full name is Iowa State University of Science and Technology,” he said.

Davis said the consolidation should not result in any staff losing their jobs.

“The needs are so great there’ll be a place for everybody in the organization,” he said.

Madden said the combination could be an important step toward consolidating technology access on campus.

He said a goal is to expand wireless access to all of campus and potentially parts of Ames.