Mariciopa Community Colleges
League for Innovation in the Community College
2006-2007 Innovation Awards Program
Innovation
of the Year
Nomination
In
February 2006, The
In March of 2006, KC Hundere
and George Martinez accepted an invitation
to present the program to attendees of the TechEd Conference in
Continuing to refine the computer build program, OIT has started to employ student workers to do much of the actual construction. Initial builds for fall of 2006 were very successful. This resulted in further cost savings, and opened an avenue of discussion with departments that teach computer repair to integrate classroom instruction with practical experience working in the Office of Information Technology.
Innovation
Nominated by:
Connie
connie.sherman@gcmail.maricopa.edu
623.845.3451
Executive
Summary:
This innovation addresses academic institutions’ need to manage obsolescence in technology by proactively applying principles of good stewardship. This innovation is built upon replicable processes that dramatically can extend the lifespan of computers, maximize budget dollars, and establish best practices for technology departments, while enhancing equity among users.
Innovation
Creators:
The Glendale
College
Information Services (GCIS) Team is comprised of four technology
departments that function together through a collaborative partnership.
The
mission of the GCIS Team is to constantly improve and enrich technology
for
students and employees at Glendale
Community College. The GCIS
Team consists of the following departments and leadership:
KC
Hundere, Director Office of Information Technology
Jim Daugherty,
Debbie Krumtinger, Director Training & Employee
Development
Sue Murry, Director Instructional Computing
Innovation Criteria Description:
1. Collaboration - Value Excellence
As an evolution of processes – some as many as 10 years old - the GCIS Team designed, developed and implemented the Computer Build Project and Workstation Upgrade Process (WUP) in 2002 with each department contributing from their area of expertise. They continue to work as a cohesive team to support and sustain this innovation as a part of their best practices and standard operating procedures.
2. Creativity – Value Excellence
3. Quality
- Value Education
4. Cost
Effectiveness – Value
Responsibility
5. Efficiency – Value Responsibility
6. Timeliness – Value Excellence
Information technology groups in colleges and
universities
face greater pressure than ever to demonstrate accountability,
efficiency and
bottom-line return on their investment (
The point of integration converges where the first solution, called the Computer Build Project, initiated in 2005, internally generates a product that feeds into the second solution, called the Workstation Upgrade Process (WUP). Through a competitive bid process, computer parts are acquired and assembled in-house by trained technicians, who take great pride in their creations and have a level of understanding for these machines far beyond a purchased workstation. During this intensive preparation period, central processing units (CPUs) have current software images installed and are then placed into a rotation cycle for either administrative or academic use through the Workstation Upgrade Process.
The Employee Workstation Upgrade Process (EWUP) provides computers, ancillaries, software, and training to new employees and upgrades to others. As an outgrowth of a project started in 1996 for employee desktop replacement, the EWUP provides approximately one-fourth of all 600 employees with an upgrade or new computer each year. Specifically, some GCC employees get new workstations as often as every 24 months, others stretch the usefulness of their workstations by adding memory over time, and still others receive workstations through the in-house refurbishment process. The ability to sustain the EWUP’s generous benefits stems from a single philosophy: in a consultative process with each user, the college provides the exact new computer components essential to performing the tasks at hand, thereby customizing each unit to an employee’s need for maximum performance and efficiency.
This multi-step, multi-tiered approach to computer renewal also includes a training component, closely aligning an employee’s need for appropriate tools with a very personal way of continually upgrading their knowledge and skills. Through consultation and evaluation, training courses are recommended, or in many cases one-on-one sessions are conducted to deliver precisely the skills needed. Significantly, the EWUP provides a platform for important intangibles: measuring IT service quality, and educating users about the nature of technology renewal (Fleit, 1994). Funding has been simplified to a single, annual budget item that is endorsed by the institution’s technology governance committees through a comprehensive evaluation and expectations process. Thus, in multiple dimensions and at many levels of the organization, the EWUP has proven to be one of GCC’s greatest “success stories.”
The closely related companion solution to the EWUP is the Academic Workstation Upgrade Process, or AWUP. This Process addresses the specific technology renewal and unique configuration needs of academic workstations in classrooms and labs across the GCC campus. Future plans include building these workstations with the aid of student interns in order to provide students with growth opportunities that maintain a learner-centered focus on the development of academic technology spaces.
Like the EWUP, the AWUP has enjoyed a long-term
institutional commitment from GCC and has resulted in substantial cost
savings
each year. Both the
AWUP and EWUP enjoy an exemplary reputation for meeting the needs of
the entire
college community. GCC has long realized
the importance of technology renewal, and both these programs are
blessed with
the confidence of the organization, having annual standing budget lines
as the
number one and two capital equipment priorities recommended every year
by the
college’s Capital Request Committee (CRC).
7. Replication – Value
Excellence
8. Learning – Value
Education
In addition to conserving parts and equipment through the assembly-line style Computer Build Project, precious budget dollars, normally paid to retailer mark-up, are saved for other technology purchase priorities. More benefits are realized as the computer products flow into the EWUP and AWUP placement processes. These benefits include empowering current employees to determine when to request new systems; simplifying the fulfillment of new employees’ computer needs without requiring the hiring department to budget for them; providing built-in re-use and refurbishment of salvageable, solid equipment; and educating employees about the College-wide interdependence of shared technology resources.
The tremendous successes of both the Computer Build Project and the Workstation Upgrade Process are stories that need to be told so that other colleges and universities can benefit from this integrated approach and adapt these powerful ideas to their respective campus realities.
References:
Capital
Request Committee Recommendation: 2005-06. 2004. Campus Technology
Committee,
Fleit,
L. 1994. Self-Assessment for Campus Information Technology. Association
for
Managing and Using Information Technology in Higher Education (CAUSE)
Professional Paper Series #12.