JLMIT – Meeting Summary

 

Meeting Date/Time: 10-21-09 10:00 a.m. -11:30 a.m.

Location: Chinook Building, Mango Room 625

 

Attendees: Janice Evans (KCIT Central), Gary Hocking (DNRP), Roger Kirouac (KCIT Central), Jim Meith (HRD), Behnaz Nelson (IFPTE Local 17), Judy O’Leary (PH), Janet Parks (IFPTE Local 17), Pamela Ruhl (KCIT Central), Betty Sorbo (Teamsters Local 117), Chris Ynzunza (KCIT Central)

 

Agenda

 

·          KCIT Central HelpDesk

·          KCIT Central Operations

·          SharePoint

·          DES

·          DOT

·          CMS IT Reorg Class/Comp

 

Discussion

 

KCIT Central HelpDesk

 

Pamela Ruhl, KCIT Central Project Manager III, described what was happening with the new Help Desk.  She redefined the project into 2 phases.

 

Phase 1 – Single Tool: This is to get all the disparate HelpDesk tools used around the County into one tool.  This phase will be tools replacement only.  The goal is to have this phase complete by for the Executive Branch by Feb. 2010.  Employees are currently attending for the new tools. 

 

Phase 2 Organization: This is where reorg of employees will occur.  This will involve some changes of job classifications and reporting.  Pamela stated that specific staffing has not yet been determined for the new system.  They will generally be drawn from the existing HelpDesk staff.  There are currently about 488 HelpDesk employees.

 

Pamela pointed out that there is currently no existing HelpDesk support classification.  This would be something to seek during the reorg process.  There was debate about this idea as to whether this would represent an improvement in the classification system.  Chris said the current classification system has Desktop Support Specialist and LAN Admin classes, both of whose job duties overlap and incumbents who are often doing the same work.  Any changes to specific or general classifications would necessarily have to go through CMS (Compensation Management Services).  They would be bargained by the unions.

 

There will be 3 HelpDesk tiers in the new system.  Tier 1 will be generalists dealing with a wide range of tasks.  They will be matrixed across different departments as far as moving problems forward for resolution if needed.  Tier 2 and 3 will be subject-matter experts (SME’s) and will be more specifically focused in departments with business knowledge inherent in those departments.  At Tier 3, they will be experts and usually able to solve problems but able to coordinate with other 3rd-party experts if necessary.

 

It was asked about the support staff working on different physical environments.  How would the complexity of those differences be handled?  It was recognized that there are differences in physical infrastructure technology at different locations, as well as in security and other critical processes.  Staff would need to be educated as well as enabled to deal with these differences.

 

Question: How to know whether the new tools are working?  Pamela answered that there will be more performance measures put in place.  There will be month over month measures and thus more ability to gauge the efficacy of HelpDesk practices.

 

Peg asked how there will be adequate staffing for the new system when the current budget situation is causing layoffs and possibly further hiring freezes in the future?  Pamela responded that the Phase 1 is essentially cost neutral.  During Phase 2, it is hoped that there will be savings from labor attrition that has already been underway from the reorg; and some savings from consolidated software and hardware and licenses.  Roger added that there could be repurposed labor savings as well. 

 

Behnaz asked what the Phase 2 timeline is.  Pamela said it will start in Quarter 2 of 2010.  There will be queries made of HelpDesk-related job classes and reporting.  Roger said the reporting matrixing will not be developed until later.  Behnaz asserted that bargaining will be required for many of these activities.

 

There was some discussion about the current morale and customer satisfaction in the existing HelpDesk.  There were different points of view about this.  Roger said it is important to set customers’ expectations about the level of service they can expect given the amount they are spending.  Higher levels of service should have higher costs and these should be spelled out in SLA’s.  There should not be “champagne service on a beer budget.”  The budget will force everyone to be more efficient and reasonable about what can be accomplished.  One desired outcome of the new HelpDesk system is to have Just-in-Time talent that can be brought in only as needed.  Pamela said there needs to be more education and raising perceptions.  Roger said he would go back and double-check the current conditions.

 

Betty asked how the staff would be distributed among the 3 tiers.  It was answered that roughly, 120 employees will go to Tier 1, and the rest will go to either Tier 2 or 3.

 

KCIT Center Operations

 

Most changes have been completed.  There remains an employee reporting change from Operations to Active Directory.  The impacts are being bargained prior to implementing this change.

 

SharePoint

 

Chris reported that the SharePoint vendor had not been able to resolve some problems of connectivity with King County.  Thus, the County is seeking out a new vendor.

 

DES

 

Chris described how all moves have been made for this group for this phase of the reorg.  Peg asked about the tech lead role that was considered lacking.  Chris said that this is still being worked on.  Katie can come and give a report on it at the next JLMIT.

 

DOT

 

Behnaz asked about job duties that might be changing in DOT due to the reorg.  Chris stated that several GIS positions will no longer within Wayne Watanabe’s purview.  Some GIS positions continue to be part of IT while others are not.  Jim described that there are some changes in leadership positions.  The affected Local 17 union will be working through the details of these changes.

 

CMS IT Reorg Class/Comp

 

Peg asked if there are any new PDQ’s for the IT reorg.  There are a few PDQ’s going through CMS; mostly they are not related to IT reorg.  They are reclasses and some may be in IT but are different than the reorg.

 

Miscellaneous

 

It was noticed that DNRP has a new leadership position that has been announced.  Gary responded that yes, a new manager position is being recruited for.  It was questioned whether the current hiring freeze impeded this.  Gary said the hiring freeze will lift as of January 1st, 2010.  So that possibly this position can be filled by then.

 

For the next JLMIT, Chris said they will provide a snapshot of the IT reorg.  This will include where each group is and what they have gotten accomplished, as well as a rollup of outstanding issues.

 

Next Meetings

 

Dec. 16 10:00 am – 11:30 am (Caucus 11:30 am to 12 noon if needed) Yesler Bldg - Bill Ford Conf Room 3rd floor

 

Tentative Agenda for Next Meeting