The Staff Engagement Council met Friday, August 3. Our discussion topics included the following.
IT vs. OIT: An Obsolete View
Takeaway:
In the past there was a culture of “us vs. them” between central IT and
distributed IT. We should consider that
we are all IT. We share responsibility and resources. We should act more like a
large community of practice that cooperatively gets things done.
Coordinated
IT Services Unit (CITSU) Joined the Staff of OIT
Takeaway:
CITSU, formerly of Academic Support Resources (ASR), functioned as the administrative helpdesk for ASR. They continue to
fulfill this function; however, they now have joined the staff of OIT. Efficiencies are gained as IT across the
University uses common tools and infrastructure.
PeopleSoft
Upgrade
Takeaway:
The strategy to fill positions for the three-year ERP Upgrade project will be to hire mostly
contractors (75 percent) and some full-time-equivalent (FTE) staff (25 percent). The hiring of FTE staff is
rationalized by accounting for normal FTE attrition that will occur over the
next three years. Staff on the upgrade project will be housed mainly in WBOB
and Williamson Hall.
Expect
Excellence
Takeaway:
Do not accept the status quo. Some processes that were developed in the past (that
were excellent for their time) now need to be updated. IT professionals should
not provide less-than-excellent service because “this is the way that we’ve always done
things.” If there are processes that don’t make sense, question them; see if
you can improve them. A suggestion was made for Scott to create a video asking
all of IT to share their stories of excellence.
