Technology Services
Feedback Responses
Posted on 04/11/2016
January through April 2016
COMMENT: I think the communication is outstanding and I am looking forward to professional growth within the department!
RESPONSE: Thank you for your feedback! I hope you will take some time to consider our new professional development opportunities.
CONCERN: Still no big changes, still taking wait and see attitude.
RESPONSE: Understood. I encourage you to do whatever you can to support Fresno State, our organization, and your colleagues as we go through this transition together as a team.
CONCERN: I appreciate the CIO's ideas. I am looking forward the improved changes in Communication, Architecture, and Innovation. If these ideas and changes were implemented a long time ago, many of us would be more happy with our careers here at Fresno State. When will the equity adjustments version 2 be taking place?
RESPONSE: Thank you for your feedback. I look forward to your support as we move through our transitions. The President announced his Equity 2 initiative on November 16, 2015.
CONCERN: The Eduroam wifi system is confusing and frustrating. The deployment should have been a lot smoother. It did not seem ready and seems half baked. There is no plan on how to deal with users when their passwords expire. Faculty are complaining about the bad timing, and how they do not read emails during their break. Not much time or effort was actually spent on completely understanding how end-users interact and use the wifi system.
RESPONSE: I appreciate your feedback and apologize for the frustration this caused to the end users you support. We are working on continuously improving our services and our service management processes. I encourage you to actively engage with others to help us with our service improvement efforts.
CONCERN: Too many Zombies around here. Must be the water, they just walk around bumping into each other. There heads arent filled with ideas or solutions, but filled with what team is going to make it to the superbowl. Cloudy thought processes to be honest, I mean we all have those days, but not all at the same time!
RESPONSE: Have you been watching this season’s The Walking Dead? The emphasis has shifted from the zombies to the various storylines. At least it still loosely connected to the comic book series. I sure hope our technology team can be “alive” on an everyday basis.
CONCERN: As new CIO, hes is doing great by working together with all the techs. and adminstrators sharing Ideas. He is going in the right direction.
RESPONSE: Thank you! The President has a lot of high hopes for our technology team.
CONCERN: I think it is great news that TILT will be joining the group! Hoping that how they now support Faculty (with training and support), will be expanded to help staff (mostly for training, but also some support... with PeopleSoft, email, Blackboard, etc.)
RESPONSE: Thank you for your enthusiasm. Our new combined Service Desk will play a key role in providing high-quality support to the campus. We see the need for better training and are working on a plan and approach, and we welcome ideas on how to do this area better.
CONCERN: I believe that the changes that have been implemented and the one on the drawing board are all in the best interest of the campus community (User).
RESPONSE: Thank you. I think so, too, based on what I have heard from our campus community and from our technology team. Now, let’s make it happen!
CONCERN: Knowing that TILT is going to be part of TS, makes me assume that the Technology Service Desk will play a bigger role on the support side. I honestly feel nervous about having more responsibilities on Blackboard application. The helpdesk is first level support, but without admin access we don't do much. We go by the documentation tilt has on their site and still we don't fully understand it because we cannot follow along. We receive a lot of request that we cannot anything to resolve customers’ issues.
RESPONSE: Thank you for this insight and feedback. I hear this, too, and Mike Pronovost, Brent Auernheimer, and I are working on a few ideas on how to better support Blackboard. If you have some ideas, please share with Mike, Brent, or me.
CONCERN: Doesnt matter how anyone feels, management does what ever they want without regard to their employees anyway, so why waste your time and ours with a survey?
RESPONSE: I am sorry that you feel this way, but I appreciate that you took the time to share your frustration and feedback. Would you mind meeting with me, so that I can understand how you feel and some ideas you may have?
CONCERN: We need a procedure to handle threating situations. What should the Technology Service Desk do if a walk-in make us feel threaten? In the pass we had a procedure which was "call the police and ask for form 5150", but that is no longer a procedure because the threatening person might know the meaning of 5150. Having a procedure would make me us feel relieved.
RESPONSE: Thank you for the feedback. I will ask Mike Pronovost to look into this and work with the Service Desk team to plan for these types of situations.
CONCERN: Wow!, the All Hands Meeting was the best TS meeting I have been to in a long time! Refreshing - I love the text and display questions using PollEV.com. It allows us to really ask questions efficiently, and get concerns out that we may be holding back. Good Job Orlando.
RESPONSE: Thank you very much for your encouraging note. Meetings can be challenging, and I do not want our meetings to feel like a waste of time. It is difficult to balance the right amount of information with the right amount of discussion/activity, especially since different people have different preferences. Please do let me know if there are certain aspects that I can improve with the presentation, questions, discussions, and activities.
CONCERN: What is DSG's role in the future and why does it need a manager when it has a lead?
RESPONSE: Great question. While we are still working on the transition and details, which of course your feedback and ideas is more than welcome, the end-user services that the DSG team provides is very important to our campus community and end users. I would like to see our DSG team be able to focus on the services that are most important for our campus. If we move forward in bringing in a new MPP role to oversee this area, we will empower this role with the authority and autonomy needed to move us toward this new vision of proactive, continuously improving services for our organization.
CONCERN: I think the management is doing a wonderful job keeping us informed and included in this process of change. Thank you so much!
RESPONSE: Thank you very much for your feedback. Please do let us know if there is something we can try to improve.
CONCERN: I am very pleased with the changes announced. / / We needed fresh ideas and innovation. / / Thank you Orlando for the great work you are doing! / /
RESPONSE: Thank you! Please let me know if you would like to lead any initiatives for innovating our processes or services, and I will work with you on how to support you.
CONCERN: It would be nice to have these meetings in a different location next time so that everyone can see the screen and better understand what is being discussed. Also, the noise from the kitchen was distracting.
RESPONSE: Thank you for your feedback. I thought the Vintage Room provided a warm and inviting space for dialog, but I understand the structural beams caused issues with seeing me and the screen and hearing me. I want you to know that I heard you, and I will be moving our next All-Hands meeting to a different location.
CONCERN: I am hoping that if Performance Evaluations are going to be used for In-Range-Progressions or in evaluating if "Promotion" is warranted in the future, that they will change from just coping from last years and changing the dates. If Performance Evaluations are to mean something, they must have plans on how the employee can improve and what would be needed earn Outstanding in each category. /
RESPONSE: Thank you for your feedback and caring about our performance appraisal process. I agree that performance reviews should mean something, and I will work with our leadership team to slowly make this a better and more meaningful process. Each performance appraisal should have a set of meaningful goals for the upcoming year, goals that can help each of us to improve in each area. My expectation of an “Outstanding” rating (or whatever is the highest rating on our future appraisal forms) means that the person being appraised is consistently and almost-always going above and beyond and exceeding expectations in a specific area, and that there is nothing more or better the person can do in that specific area. I do want to remind our technology team that employee and manager-initiated IRPs require us to show HR that an employee’s job responsibilities have grown noticeably in areas of scope and complexity in order for an IRP to be approved. A performance appraisal is then used as an indicator and as supporting documentation for reviewing and possibly revising a job description, but it in itself is not solely used in an IRP request.
CONCERN: I know that there is limited budget, and would like to see us get our staffing back up to where people are not required to "cover" for 2-3 positions, before creating new positions.
RESPONSE: I appreciate your concern and value your feedback. I am regularly asking our leadership team to prioritize our needs, vacancies, and open positions as we allocate our resources. I am also asking our leadership team to consider why we are doing something the way we are and whether there is a better or different way to do something, all while considering the greater good of Fresno State.
CONCERN: Will the work load disparity of liaisons and DSG members be addressed? / Tickets closed in the last month according to Cherwell. Obviously tickets don't represent the amount of work done, but how else are we supposed to record what they do?
RESPONSE: Thank you for taking the time to write about the workload of our IT Liaisons and DSG teams. I have heard from others the concern about the possible uneven balance of work for our technology teams. While Cherwell is not the best indicator of amount of work completed, especially since we don’t all use Cherwell in the same manner, it does help us start to observe and learn more about what we do. I am working closely with Jim Michael on a future vision and strategy for our Client Services teams.
CONCERN: Sounds good! I'm in! / / The Innovation Center is a great idea, and I like being proactive about our work. I worry though that we may have an unrealistic idea about "where we are" currently. I feel that I am swamped and cannot imagine how I will push through the backlog that I have and into being proactive. / / That said, I try to make strides daily to be proactive or at least try and lay some infrastructure down to help my future self.
RESPONSE: Thank you for your support! I know I am asking a great amount for us to all work with excellence (not to say that many of us are not already doing so). It will take us a while to get to this state of being proactive and continuously improving in all areas, but there are some quick wins that we can achieve to start moving toward this new future. I also realize we need “keep the trains running on time” and commit to working with the leadership team to know how we can better use our resources to support our teams with where are currently are now.
CONCERN: Orlando did an excellent job at outling the changes and new roles. It would be a good idea to continue communicating and not just assume that a one time All Hands Meeting has explained everything. / / / /
RESPONSE: Thank you! Moving beyond the announcements, we now need to work together as a team to move through these transitions. Let’s all remember that we will all need to support each other, as we go through the “endings,” the “neutral zone,” and the “new beginnings.” Some of us never got the opportunity to properly go through our endings in past transitions, and it is obvious we need to take care of some past concerns while focusing forward. I hope to continue proving various means of communication, including my weekly email updates, open walk-in hours, scheduled meetings, all-hands meetings, feedback forums, the transition monitoring team, and monthly informal gatherings.
CONCERN: I am nervous and yet excited of the new changes. There has been many management changes in the past and none in which have gone into fruition. I want to believe that the change will be positive and beneficial for the department as a whole. There are many who have already felt the changes in the past and it has imprinted on us and has left a bitter taste. There were many whom have retired and/or left the university due to this. I do feel positive about this and have I believe the right leadership style is now. Like purifying gold, we must place it in the flames. I love the visual translations of our emotions (displayed on the PowerPoint slides) and just trying to conceptualize it is difficult, but the diagram explained greatly of how each individual in each stages goes through. The process of acceptance is the stage I am in, but slightly still gripping on the past is never easily forgotten. We are not machines, but must remedy them everyday. Sometimes I feel lost at times due to this very nature. How can we become insensitive to those whom we can not tolerate because of lack of skill or experience? I asked and figured out that, it is the very essence of my work that has caused me to be calloused to those around me. We lose the human and organic feel that we are all different and that acceptance comes with a cost. I am not a machine, but a human being just trying to find my way in the world. Searching for meaning and purpose. For the purity of goodness. Like a moth to a flame, I attract to it, not expecting to be burnt by it.
RESPONSE: I really appreciate you taking the time to write. You are asking some really good questions, and it is clear to me that you are trying to process some complex feelings, thoughts, and emotions. I am aware that we had some very negative experiences with past leadership and changes affecting our technology organization. We need to build trust, and our people need to start working together as a coherent and functioning team to really move forward with this new vision. We need to hold each other accountable. We need to ask the hard questions and be willing to consider differing views and think about what’s best for Fresno State. Most importantly, we need to consider and care for our people, as you have mentioned, since we are not machines or cogs in a machine. If you are willing, I would love to hear more about your ideas and where you can help motivate and care for our people.
CONCERN: I am on board with the changes, and our direction towards innovation and teamwork. However, I have strong concerns regarding pay equity and reclassifications.
RESPONSE: Thank you for your feedback. Please do support your colleagues in any way you can as we move through this time of transition together. I would appreciate learning more about your concerns regarding pay equity and classifications, if you are willing to meet with me.
CONCERN: How will DiscoverE/TILT tablet distribution and support be handled? Will the DiscoverE hub be equipped to fully support tablets meeting all campus', asset management, policies for security, and MDM requirements? Can there be a more efficient and effective way to have consistency with distributing tablets to faculty in a timely manner?
RESPONSE: Great questions. I understand this has been a difficult process to coordinate over the past few semesters. While communication was a bit better for Spring 2016, there were still some mishaps and miscommunication. I apologize for this. With the technology side of DISCOVERe officially under my purview starting March 2016, we will have better ability to support our students, faculty, and staff and our technology policies and protocols.
CONCERN: Are the Liaisons "Leads" still asked by management to play this role? It has been a long time since my lead has actively participated in the role and I have understood that the Liaison Leads role has been dissolved. To support that understanding it is approaching two years since my lead has done any work as "Lead" yet he continues to put "Lead" on his email signature so I am confused if they are Leads or not. Can we have a public announcement about the Lead role for the Liaisons if this is still a valid role and if not can someone notify the X Leads that they are no longer a "Lead"? If "Leads" are still a valid role then we need to revisit their function as currently they are not functioning.
RESPONSE: Thank you for taking the time to write and ask for clarification about our IT Liaison lead roles. Yes, our lead roles are still in place (and needed). Jim Michael is assessing the current state of these roles, whether these roles are still needed moving forward, and if so, what the best use of these roles will be in the future. Jim is bringing together various groups of IT Liaisons to discuss various aspects of our services. If you have specific ideas or would like to help, please do not hesitate to reach out to Jim or to me.
CONCERN: I believe that the changes are in the best interest of the campus community to be able to address technology needs in an effective way and customer centered. The transition however needs to be carefully planned in a seamless way, involving all affected parties to avoid confusion. All roles need to be ready to delegate responsibility and make sure all dependencies are addressed when making decisions to implement plans.
RESPONSE: Thank you for your feedback and encouraging words. The change will only be good as our people working together and the transition we plan together. Good and effective communication will be essential. I can’t promise that our change and transition will be seamless or perfect, but our leadership team will work really hard and will make sure we are actively communicating, including a variety of people and teams in the process, gathering feedback consistently, and adjusting our approach and plans, as needed.
CONCERN: The changes and announcements don't really affect Field Ops or Classroom Video Services, But if this will improve our service to the Campus then I'm all for. I am still studying the new Org Chart so let me get back to you on that.
RESPONSE: Thank you for your comments and feedback. I appreciate your support for the changes in our technology organization. I am looking to support us for what’s best for Fresno State. One year from now, I want our organization to be in a position to support Fresno State within our new vision of proactive services and through continuously improvements. The way in which we organize our people, move forward with our processes, and produce results will affect all areas of our technology teams.
CONCERN: Suggestion... Can the Discover-e program be more self sufficient? In other words is there a possibility of the program to handle all related Discover-e tablet hardware, software, training, AD, MDM, security, inventory, and distribution support? This would help alleviate the additional work load required by ITLs, especially in time sensitive role outs. It would also lessen the complexity with ensuring standardization and procedures. It will also lessens the confusion faculty have about where to go for support when tablets are picked up from ITLs, but then are instructed to ask the Discover-e hub for hardware and software needs. Lastly, from my understanding the tablets, specifically the Surface line is not intended as a primary machine for faculty. It is understood that FLP laptops are the faculty primary machines. Discover-e tablets are meant for Discover-e related things.
RESPONSE: You present some very good questions highlighting the challenges of supporting our DISCOVERe initiative in a cohesive and effective manner. DISCOVERe touches many parts of our campus and really is a campus-wide initiative. It is very apparent when we consider the number of people who are involved in the planning and execution of DISCOVERe, starting with the DISCOVERe Task Force, all of its subcommittees, and the teams of people who support the initiative around the campus. Mike Pronovost, and soon our new Project Coordinator, are working closely with our technology teams to continue to improve these different aspects of selection, distribution, software, training, management, and support of DISCOVERe.
CONCERN: They seem to be fine. Keep up the good work!
RESPONSE: Thank you!