The administrative Services department breaks down into three functional areas: a general administrative services team, a financial services team, and the IT planning, procurement and project management team (P3/M).
Administrative Services
General Administrative Services
The Administrative Services team handles the general administrative tasks for the Grand Forks site including the reception desk, meeting room setup, mail, travel booking, facility issues, and departmental data entry/file management.
Financial Services
The Financial Services team oversees all the CTS financial transactions and maintenance in areas including general ledger accounting, accounts payable and accounts receivable, asset management, financial reporting, budgeting, and internal financial controls. Overall, the Financial Services team prepares and manages an annual budget in excess of $30 million.
P3/M
P3/M is responsible for issuing the mandated IT strategic planning and annual reports, overseeing all CTS procurement, and performing all Level 3 & 4 procurements for the organization. We also manage some of the most complex projects and perform Large Project Oversight as mandated in N.D.C.C.
IT Planning
The focus of this team is assisting NDUS and all institutions with developing a strategic IT plan and publishing required reports. We utilize good business analyst practices and support the rest of the organization with templates and training. We also worked in collaboration with the State of ND’s Information Technology department on the mandated biennial Statewide IT Strategic Plan by implementing a Statewide IT Dashboard. The dashboard provides current initiatives entered by campuses and CTS. The purpose of the dashboard is for stakeholders to view at any time, up-to-date initiatives that are happening around the state.
Procurement
The procurement team supports both CTS and the institutions with their IT purchases. We provide several centralized contracts that any institution can use. We also help research software and participate in state and national procurements collaborating with the State Procurement Office and the Midwest Higher Education Compact. This area is also responsible for ensuring CTS maintains compliance with all software licensing agreements.
Project Management
The project management team leads by example. They manage some of the most complex projects in the organization, many of them affecting multiple institutions. They also serve as mentors for others in the organization who are managing the multitude of projects going on in the organization. This area is also responsible for performing Large Project Oversight as mandated by N.D.C.C.