Mr. Acuff,

This page was built for State Fair. It is a short outside read on the economics and capacity of the College’s current IT delivery model, prepared by CampusWorks + Dynamic Campus from public information.

After voters declined the proposed operating levy increase, the College’s next budget cycles place even greater emphasis on finding flexibility within recurring operations. State Fair’s information systems services agreement with Ellucian has been in its current form since 2017 and includes annual CPI adjustments, making an independent benchmark useful before the next decision point.

Three things caught our attention.

1. Recurring commitments become more important when budget flexibility is constrained. The question is not whether the current Ellucian arrangement costs too much. It is whether the scope, cost, and capacity still align with what the College needs today — and whether leadership has an independent baseline against which to judge that value.
2. Eight years is enough time for both the institution and the operating model to change. Technology, staffing, state policy, student expectations, and College priorities have evolved since 2017. A fresh look can clarify whether the current structure has evolved at the same pace.
3. Reporting and outcomes create costs that do not always appear as contract lines. Institutional effectiveness, finance, and other functional teams may absorb manual work around the systems that support reporting and compliance. Understanding total economics means looking at contracted spend and internal capacity together.

Why State Fair. Why now.

1. The College is planning in a tighter operating environment. That makes predictability, capacity, and recurring cost especially important to understand.
2. The current agreement has a long history and annual cost escalation. An independent benchmark can provide context without assuming that the current price or model is inappropriate.
3. The next decision is still ahead. Looking now gives State Fair time to understand its options before a deadline turns an operating-model question into a contract question.

This is a useful moment to step back because the evaluation is most valuable while important choices are still open — before the next operating model becomes the default.

What you can expect from a Different Perspective evaluation

CampusWorks + Dynamic Campus will provide a complimentary Different Perspective evaluation that will result in a concise, executive-level assessment designed to help you better understand the current IT environment, identify opportunities for improvement, and determine if your current IT managed services model is built for where your institution is headed.

Deliverables include:

• Key observations, findings, and recommendations emerging from the assessment.
• SWOT analysis identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and risks within the current IT environment.
• Quick wins and areas for growth highlighting opportunities for near-term improvement as well as areas requiring longer-term attention.
• High-level strategies and forward-looking options, including a 12–18-month recommendation roadmap to help guide sequencing and next steps.
• Core systems analysis covering the institution’s ERP, SIS, CRM, and related platforms.
• Initial maturity assessment of operational practices, governance, AI maturity, and cybersecurity posture.
• Prioritized themes for improvement or change identifying the areas that warrant the greatest attention, investment, or further exploration.

Before you carry today’s model forward, get a different perspective.

No proposal. No obligation. No requirement to change providers. No commitment of any kind.

Just an independent perspective on what the current model delivers, what the institution needs next, and whether those two things are still aligned.

Why CampusWorks + Dynamic Campus?

Because managed services should evolve with the institution. CampusWorks + Dynamic Campus bring together deep IT and functional expertise to deliver one of higher education’s most comprehensive managed services models. Our integrated approach is designed for today’s financial, operational, workforce, and technology realities — helping institutions extend capacity, reduce risk, strengthen resilience, and improve the way work gets done across the enterprise.

More importantly, we help institutions look beyond the status quo. With expertise that extends well beyond technology alone, we provide the perspective, flexibility, and support needed to choose an operating model aligned with where the institution is headed next.