Author: Patrick Chinn

A draft version of the User Support Services (USS) recommendation report was shared with the Transform IT Steering Committee, and on Thursday, May 2, they met with Jessie Minton, chief information officer, to discuss the recommendations. After a presentation on the report by the CIO and a question-and-answer session, the steering committee gave its support to move the recommendations in the report forward to implementation.

During the month of May, Minton will present the USS report recommendations at a town hall, the IT Steering Committee meeting, a meeting of the deans, senior leadership team, and other gatherings at the university. In advance of these meetings, project staff are working to finalize the USS recommendation report, which will be announced broadly to the university and published on this site.

The User Support Services (USS) Analysis project team is on track to produce a draft version of recommendations by Friday, April 12. That draft will be delivered to Jessie Minton, chief information officer, for review and revision before it goes to the Transform IT Steering Committee.

The User Support Services Analysis project further rationalizes IT services offered to campus. The project team and four working groups are analyzing and developing a delivery model for helpdesk and desktop services and locations, computer lab management, knowledge management, and accounts and access management.

The first step in thise USS project began in February with the collection of additional data about the current state of service delivery. That information supplemented the data that’s already been published in the Campus Engagement Report. For each of these areas, the project determined how these services are currently delivered, and they are developing a recommendation for a campus-wide service delivery model.

The User Support Services Analysis project teams have worked through three steps of a five step process in its project. During the week of March 18, the groups begin developing proposed recommendations on support hours, support channels, and required staffing.

Earlier in the project, the four teams identified which services are part of each group, proposing service level type for each of those services, and then developing suggested support tiers.

The teams are one week behind the original schedule due to the university’s snow days in late February. The project’s report and recommendations will likely arrive one week later than originally scheduled due the closures, however, the project managers are working to compress the schedule, and the teams will deliver key recommendations to the CIO in time for Transform IT Steering Committee review in April.

On February 11, members of the User Support Services project teams began surveys on computer lab management and knowledge management. More information will also be gathered on accounts and access management services.

The fourth team, which is working on helpdesk and desktop services, reviewed the data from the Campus Engagement Report and determined they had sufficient information to proceed without gathering more detail. (Edited on Feb. 20, 2019 at 2:10pm to update the status of USS project surveys.)

On Wednesday, February 6, Jessie Minton, chief information officer, kicked off the next Transform IT project: User Support Services Analysis. This project will further rationalize IT services offered to campus and provide a report to be delivered to the Chief Information Officer, Transform IT Steering Committee, and IT Steering Committee. This effort includes analyzing and recommending a delivery model for helpdesk and desktop services and locations, computer lab management, knowledge management, and accounts and access management.

The first step in the User Support Services (USS) Analysis project is to gather additional data about the current state of service delivery. That information will help supplement the data that’s already been published in the Campus Engagement Report. For each of these areas, the project will determine how these services are currently delivered and develop a recommendation for a campus-wide service delivery model. To help accomplish this work, the project team has assembled focus groups for each of these four areas. Members of the focus groups, who were drawn from units across campus, will examine core, common, and unique services in each of their areas to guide the recommendations.

The project has a tight timeline: it aims to deliver recommendations to the Transform IT Steering Committee by the end of April 2019.

The User Support Services project charter will be approved and posted on this site soon.