Overview

This page provides you with answers to common questions about the new network funding model.

History and rationale

• UCSF’s Strategic Plan calls for improvements in infrastructure, including the support of information technology. Over the past two decades, researchers, administrators, instructors and students have come to rely on UCSF data network infrastructure as a strategic resource that supports effective communication, research, patient care, instruction and collaboration.
• Similar to many other academic institutions, UCSF’s data network was built in many stages over a number of years. As a result, portions of the critical equipment in UCSF’s data network need to be upgraded or replaced annually.
• Reliable sources of revenue are needed to enable the replacement of highly critical but aging network equipment. Not replacing this equipment puts at risk UCSF’s ability to carry out our core mission and maintain our leadership in education, research and patient care.

• The UCSF data network provides the backbone of UCSF’s electronic information flow. Almost all electronic communications, ranging from administrative systems to email and connection with the internet, rely on and make use of UCSF’s data network. The network carries and routes electronic traffic within and beyond UCSF.
• The network consists of (1) wiring within and between buildings and sites and links to approximately 200 off-campus sites in San Francisco and (2) equipment that routes the traffic from the network to individual devices, such as PCs, servers and printers. The physical network ends at either the Ethernet plug to which a device is connected or the wireless access point providing wireless access to the network.
• Each device on the network has an Internet Protocol (IP) address, which identifies that device to the rest of UCSF and beyond; network routers ensure that information is delivered to the appropriate address via the best electronic route.
• The data recharge pays for the maintenance and replacement of thousands of pieces of network equipment that support the appropriate routing and delivery of data. The network does not include the PCs, servers, printers and other devices that are connected to it; therefore, the network recharge does not include support of these devices as might be provided by a department’s Computer Support Coordinator (CSC) or other departmental IT staff.

• Since its beginnings in the late 1980s, UCSF’s data network has been funded primarily by the Chancellor’s Office, with resources used to create and expand the network. Most importantly, however, the replacement of equipment has never been funded systematically. While industry and University of California standards suggest that critical network equipment should be replaced every three to five years, a portion of UCSF’s core network equipment is older, out of warranty and no longer supported by the manufacturer. Even equipment in newer sites, such as Mission Bay, is in need of being replaced.
• The Chancellor’s Office currently subsidizes the data network and will continue to subsidize it. These funds are used to support a variety of costs including personnel, licenses, costs associated with connection to the internet and very limited equipment replacement. Despite this ongoing support by the Chancellor’s Office, additional funding is needed to provide for appropriate replacement of critical network equipment.
• The Chancellor’s Office has also invested in other strategic IT initiatives, which include but are not limited to:
  • Academic administrative systems (Cayuse/Grants.gov, CHR, Academic Advancement)
  • Research support systems (MyResearch and the Integrated Data Repository)
  • The data center
  • MyAccess (reduced sign-on)

• In September 2007, Chancellor Bishop commissioned the Data and Voice Services Advisory Committee (DVSAC) to recommend “a strategic approach and methodology to fund UCSF’s escalating demand for voice and data services over the next decade,” while considering the needs and requirements of UCSF faculty, staff and students and the ability of UCSF’s schools, departments, ORUs and other units to allocate revenues to these services. DVSAC’s membership included senior faculty and administrators, with representation from all schools and major Campus locations.
• Over a nine-month period, DVSAC studied background information about (1) current and projected use and costs of voice and data services and (2) possible sources of revenue and methods used by other UC campuses and peer institutions to support these services.
• DVSAC concluded that achieving a reliable state-of-the-art network would require roughly doubling our current level of investment from about $9 million to approximately $18 million per year. DVSAC recommended that the additional revenue needed to fund the gap be derived from a recharge. After exploring various charging models, DVSAC unanimously agreed to recommend to the Chancellor’s Executive Committee a recharge for data network services using a Percent FTE (per employee) funding methodology.
• In June 2008, the Chancellor’s Executive Committee agreed in principle with DVSAC’s recommendation and appointed the Data Network Recharge Committee (DNRC) to specify the methods, timing and amount of the recharge. After five months of deliberations, the DNRC made a number of specific recommendations to the Chancellor’s Executive Committee, which referred the recommendations to the Chancellor’s Executive Budget Committee for consideration and decisions.
• In March 2009, the Chancellor’s Executive Budget Committee agreed with the DNRC recommendations and decided that a recharge of $35 per month per full-time-equivalent Campus employee would begin November 1, 2009. Subsequent increases have been reviewed and approved by the DVSAC and the Budget Office.

• Five charging methods were considered: Data Outlet (Port), IP address, Bandwidth, Percent FTE and Fee-for-Service. The Percent FTE model was judged to be the fairest and least costly to implement administratively and technically.

• The data network recharge took effect on November 1, 2009, based on October month-end payroll.
• The recharge rate is reviewed periodically by the Data Network Recharge Committee and by the Chancellor’s Executive Budget Committee for assessment of possible changes to be effective the following year. Any future changes are likely to be implemented on a fiscal year basis, i.e., starting on July 1.

Current considerations

• The Data Network Recharge Committee is responsible for (1) reviewing data network recharge rates and rate development methodologies annually; (2) recommending approval of the developed rate structure; (3) defining the type and level of network services to be delivered; (4) establishing the principles and standards by which service center performance are measured; and (5) monitoring data network recharge implementation.

• The recharge rate applies to Campus only; it does not apply to UCSF Medical Center. FY24 rates are $40.00 per month for faculty, staff, GME trainees, students, and affiliates.
• Campus accounts will be charged proportionate to the percent effort each employee is paid by each project.
• Portions of the network equipment are replaced annually, with the most critical being replaced first. The Data Network Recharge Committee regularly assesses assumptions and financial requirements associated with the cost of this investment.

• The network recharge rate is reassessed each year. Beginning fiscal year 2024 (effective 8/1/2023) the network recharge rate will be the same for faculty, staff, students, GME trainees, and affiliates.

• UCLA, UCSD, UCSC, UCR and UCSB all currently have some form of a recharge to support data network services. The remaining campuses are considering a similar charge.

• The Chancellor has limited discretionary funds. The Chancellor’s Office funding accounts for only 5 percent of the overall Campus budget, and no more than half of this amount is discretionary. A significant portion of the Chancellor’s discretionary funds is used for expenses that were previously, but are no longer, funded by the State, such as utilities, operations and maintenance of the new buildings at Mission Bay and increased insurance costs that can’t be directly charged to federal funds. Given the requirements for these and other pressing investments, the Chancellor’s Office is not able to increase its current level of investment in the network.

To whom does the recharge apply?

• The recharge is applied to all persons (faculty and staff) who are paid through the Campus payroll system; students; and Campus affiliates. 
• The recharge will be applied only to the Campus-funded portion of an employee’s pay plan; that is, for staff or faculty who receive part of their salary directly from a non-Campus payroll funding source (e.g., the Medical Center, the VA, other affiliates), only the portion paid through Campus will be subject to the recharge.

• No. However, the Medical Center does rely on the Campus network (e.g., for connectivity to the internet), and the Medical Center pays an annual fee to the Campus for services. Personnel employed and paid by the UCSF Medical Center are not subject to the recharge.

• Yes. Every employee benefits from UCSF’s data network and associated services.

• Yes. All UCSF networks are in one way or another supported by the Campus network, and therefore all Campus employees using those networks are subject to the recharge.

• No. All Campus employees are subject to the recharge unless specifically excluded.

Methods used

• The data network fee is applied according to the percent time that an employee is paid by a particular funding source. For example, campus employee May Smith is paid on three different funds, with the $40 allocated each month according to the percent time she is on each source:

May Smith 20% dpa/fund X $40/mo. = $8.00/mo.

May Smith 40% dpa/fund X $40/mo. = $16.00/mo.

May Smith 40% dpa/fund X $40/mo. = $16.00/mo.

Total = 100%: $40.00/mo. Thus, May Smith’s funding source that supports 20 percent of her time would be charged $8.00 each month.

• For part-time Campus employees, the charge is proportional to their percent FTE (e.g., someone working 50 percent time would be recharged $20, which is 50 percent of $40).
• An account will be charged according to the number of FTEs charged to the account. For example, if a project budget includes 10 percent of an investigator’s salary, 100 percent of an analyst and 50 percent of a programmer, for a total of 160 percent FTE, the account would be charged $70.40 per month (1.6 X $44).
• More detailed information and training for financial administrators will be offered to clarify the mechanics of the recharge process.

• Basing the recharge on each employee’s percent time on each funding source is scalable and adjustable over time and applies the recharge appropriately according to an employee’s effort, thus making it straightforward to pass proportionate costs to all fund sources including federal contracts and grants.
• In addition, the FTE model is administered relatively easily. The accounting credits and debits for the recharge follow the payroll cost transfers, so no manual intervention is necessary for departments.

• UCSF’s data network has never been included in indirect cost calculations and, because indirect costs are capped, cannot be included in the future. Therefore, the indirect costs that are returned to the Campus do not include funds for the network. The federal government has told UCSF that the cost of the network can and should be included as a direct cost on contract and grant budgets. Facing similar circumstances, many other peer institutions have instituted recharges to support their data networks.

• Yes. The costs of network services should be included as direct costs on all contract and grant applications.

• Yes. The federal government has told UCSF that the network recharge is allowable as a direct charge on contracts and grants.

• The following language has been approved by UCSF’s Office of Budget and Resource Management: “Per review and agreement by our cognizant federal agency, UCSF data network costs are an allowable direct expense. Questions from the sponsoring agency regarding this charge should be directed to the Department of Health and Human Services – Division of Cost Allocation, San Francisco, CA.”

• The default choice is the funding source(s) as shown in the payroll file for an employee; if, however, a department decides that a particular account or fund cannot accept the recharge, for whatever reason, the department needs to provide an alternate account or fund to charge. Departmental administrators can override any account or fund combination and charge an alternate account or fund.
• In most cases, the alternate account will be a departmental discretionary fund, although in the case of departments that have little or no discretionary funds, the account might be a nondepartmental account, such as a school account. More specific information will be forthcoming about the methods to be used to designate alternate accounts.

• Information Technology Services (ITS), which has responsibility for the core UCSF Campus network, is responsible for creating and implementing the mechanics of the recharge. ITS developed the current ITS Recharge System to administer the recharge automatically. 

• The Data Recharge Network Committee and the Chancellor’s Executive Budget Committee will decide how much to invest each year and will authorize the recharge amount for the following year. The recharge amount will be based on a number of factors, including criticality of current equipment upgrades and Campus growth.

• Most likely, no. There will be a need for ongoing investment in the network. It is not anticipated that the need for investment will decline but, rather, that costs will remain stable or increase in the future as new network and user needs are identified.

Benefits and equipment details

• The recharge is intended to provide the additional resources necessary to ensure the future reliability, capacity and security of UCSF’s data network. The main components of UCSF’s current network, particularly the equipment that routes traffic between Campus sites and to and within buildings, need to be upgraded or replaced every five to seven years. The recharge allows routine maintenance and replacement of this equipment. In addition, recharge resources support the implementation of advanced security measures that protect the network and help prevent malicious access to valuable UCSF resources.
• Without this maintenance and replacement, UCSF is at high risk of suffering a major network failure, which would be catastrophic if it occurred at a time of high need for the network (e.g., a week before an NIH proposal-submission deadline). 
• The upgraded UCSF network has significant state-of-the-art features that, for example, greatly improve videoconferencing and telehealth capacity and reliability.

• In order to improve and stabilize the network, it is necessary to adhere to a normal equipment replacement plan (i.e., every five to seven years).

• There are thousands of devices and other major pieces of equipment that make up the network. Network equipment costs between $5,000 and $250,000 apiece to replace; in addition, a service contract adds approximately 15 percent each year to the cost of each piece of equipment.

• Although it might be tempting to equate home network services (e.g., DSL, cable) with the services provided by UCSF’s network, they differ substantially in speed, reliability, security, service agreements and other features, as follows.
   

Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the amount of data transmitted in a given time. The standard measure of network bandwidth is the number of “bits per second” (bps): Kbps = one thousand bps; Mbps = one million bps; Gbps = one billion bps.

UCSF’s bandwidth ranges from 10 Mbps in the slowest locations to 100 Mbps in many locations, with many other locations supporting our new 1 Gbps standard. In contrast, DSL bandwidth ranges from 128 Kbps to 3 Mbps; basic cable generally supports 5 to 10 Mbps, with speeds up to 30 Mbps (generally a premium service).

Note that actual home internet speed rarely reaches the theoretical maximum, especially for cable connections, which share the connections with others in the same neighborhood. Thus, the lowest speed available in the UCSF network is about the same as the highest speed available in home locations, and in many UCSF locations it is 10 to 100 times faster than premium home internet.

Security: Transmissions within the UCSF network are significantly more secure compared with either DSL or cable. The common neighborhood sharing of cable also makes security, privacy and bandwidth problematic, because multiple homes share a common cable connection – a potential security concern.

Reliability (minimizing down-time): The overall reliability of the Campus network is significantly better than DSL and cable. Because data transmission is not their core service, the reliability of DSL and cable tends to be highly variable. The response time to outages and connection issues of DSL and cable modem providers can vary greatly, especially since reaching the right person on the phone can take significant time. In contrast, the UCSF data network has a dedicated Network Operations Center along with support technicians on call 24/7/365. In addition, UCSF IT has a dedicated Help Desk staff who are closely connected to the network staff.

Service level agreement (SLA): An SLA defines the quality of the services that will be provided and the responsibilities of the provider to maintain the defined quality of service. The UCSF Campus network has an SLA that clearly defines the service that customers can expect from the Campus network. In contrast, DSL and cable services generally do not provide an SLA for their services; the user must accept whatever quality of service is provided short of switching internet providers.

Service coverage: There are multiple ways to connect to the UCSF network and therefore to UCSF’s resources (e.g., email and calendar, research and financial systems, the Library). While on campus, one can connect to the network via an Ethernet plug in any UCSF building and connect via wireless in a number of locations. When away from the university, one can connect securely to the network via VPN over the internet.

In contrast, a home internet connection provides one line into the house. If a customer wants to share this line beyond a single computer, he or she must implement installation of routers or wireless connectivity or both; DSL and cable companies provide essentially no help beyond the single connection.

• Industry and University of California standards suggest that critical network equipment should be replaced every five to seven years. The replacement period for UCSF network equipment varies depending on the criticality of the piece of equipment, with the most critical equipment being replaced in approximately five years and less-critical equipment replaced within seven years.
• “Criticality” is defined based on the number of users a piece of equipment serves. For example, the core inter-Campus network is most critical, since an entire Campus site would be affected if a core inter-Campus router fails. A router that links to the core inter-Campus network and distributes network traffic to an entire building – a “Building Distribution Facility” (BDF) router – would be considered to be less critical than a core inter-Campus router. A router that receives the traffic from the BDF and distributes it to a single floor of a building – an “Intermediate Distribution Facility" (IDF) router – is somewhat less critical, and so on. In general, the most critical pieces of equipment are also the most expensive.

• The Data Network Recharge Committee is charged with overseeing and approving investment in the network on a year-by-year basis. Built into this process is an annual review of expenses to ensure funds were disbursed as allocated and to determine funding needs for the next year.

Contact information

For specific questions regarding the recharge (e.g., specific data network recharge rates or billing processes), please submit an incident ticket in ServiceNow or call UCSF Service/Help Desk at 415-514-4100 to submit your inquiry and assign it to "ITS_BA_RECHARGE_FUNC" group.