Nomination:
Outstanding Service Excellence
Student Improvement Process Initiative Award
Nominee Information
Improvement Initiative’s Name: Student Dashboard and Panther Answer
Enrollment Services and Information Systems and Technology (IS&T)
Process Leader: Winnie Tsang-Kosma and Jaro Klc
How many members are on the team? 20+
Phone Number of Individual responsible for this Initiative (e.g. 555-555-5555):
(404) 413-2267, (404) 413-4744
Email Address of Individual responsible for this Initiative (e.g. jdoe@example.com):
wkosma@gsu.edu, jklc@gsu.edu
Institution: Georgia State University
Photos of the Nominee
Upload a photo of the nominee in action:
Upload a portrait of the nominee
Nominee’s Supervisor Information
Name: Shari Piotrowski (Enrollment Services), and John Bandy (Information Systems and
Technology)
Phone Number (e.g. 555-555-5555):
404-413-2600, 404-413-4600
E-mail Address (e.g. jdoe@example.com):
spiotrowski@gsu.edu, jbandy@gsu.edu
Nomination Description
Student Dashboard and Panther Answers
Providing Timely Solutions to Student Registration Barriers
Project Team:
• Enrollment Services
• Information Systems and Technology (IS&T)
OVERVIEW
Georgia State University’s (GSU) Enrollment Services provides comprehensive services
and advice to GSU’s 32,000 students annually. As Georgia State’s enrollment grows each
semester, the unit is increasingly presented with the challenge of providing timely
answers to the plethora of questions students have concerning their enrollment at the
university.
The Enrollment Services unit (http://enrollment.gsu.edu/about-us) is comprised of 11
major service areas, which include the offices of the registrar, financial aid, student
accounts, academic advisement, undergraduate and graduate admissions and more
Within the Registrar’s Office, the Enrollment Service Center provides assistance to
students with questions or concerns they have concerning their financial aid, student
account, registering for classes or with general questions concerning the enrollment
process as a whole.
GSU’s Information Systems and Technology (IS&T) provides consultation and technical
support to Enrollment Services related to their campus technology needs. IS&T
(http://technology.gsu.edu/) helped to develop, design and implement the solution for
the Student Dashboard and implemented the login authentication for Panther Answer.
THE CHALLENGE
GSU’s Enrollment Service Center (ESC) was receiving approximately 20,000 student
email messages, while assisting some 67,000 students in-person and answering 112,000
phone calls annually. During peak registration periods, one of the most challenging
issues was managing the number of email requests received, while assisting students inperson and on the phone. The ESC received thousands of email messages from students
inquiring about the status of their financial aid, student account, registration, and
seeking enrollment advice and requesting assistance.
Due to the high number of walk-in inquiries and phone calls received during peak times,
the Enrollment Services Center staff members were not able to respond to the emails in
a timely manner.
With limited staff (approximately 22) compared to the number of students requiring
assistance, it could take several days for a student’s email to be answered. In addition,
the time to respond and resolve email requests took longer, as many emails contained
multiple questions, requiring detailed written explanations to be provided. Often,
students have subsequently called or came in to have the answer provided, meaning
duplicate work for the staff.
In order to meet student demand, staff frequently worked overtime and on weekends
to provide assistance via email.
Realizing the need to address the high volume of inquiries and ability to respond to all
inquiries in a timely manner, Enrollment Services decided to take an aggressive
approach to this urgent need. The charge was to implement a solution within four
months, by the start of Fall Semester 2013.
THE SOLUTION
Enrollment Services began searching for a solution to assist students in obtaining
important information to register and resolve their enrollment issues in a more timely
manner to maintain their class schedules as financial aid and payment deadlines
occurred.
Enrollment Services soon collaborated with Information Systems and Technology to
work on designing a solution that would help students obtain answers to their most
frequently asked questions when they need it the most.
The solution was twofold:
1.) To provide a Student Dashboard that allows students to immediately view their
enrollment profile including academics, student accounts, and financial aid information
in one location online through GSU’s campus portal – Panther Access to Web Services
(PAWS).
2.) To provide Panther Answer (http://gsu.parature.com), a comprehensive enrollment
knowledge base and customer relations management (CRM) system that allows
students to search for answers to frequently-asked enrollment questions and submit a
help request if their question is not answered, and for staff in the Enrollment Services
Center to have key student data at their fingertips to better assist each student
http://registrar.gsu.edu/assistance/
Implementing the Student Dashboard and Panther Answer knowledge base and CRM
was a major undertaking as it required the cooperation of multiple departments
including all of Enrollment Services (Undergraduate Studies, Student Advisement
Center, Financial Aid, Student Accounts, Registrar’s Office, etc.), IS&T, and the
Banner/PAWs Office.
IS&T engineers worked with the technology vendor, Ellucian consultants, to design and
build the solution for the dashboard which included writing the code and integrating it
with the PAWS campus portal and with GSU’s Banner student record system. While on
the dashboard or on key university web pages, students can simply click on the Panther
Answer icon to access the knowledge base to ask any questions they currently have.
With approximately 760 articles with detailed information, including tutorial and videos,
students can easily obtain answers to questions while they are conducting business on
PAWS. If a question cannot be answered after viewing their detailed, specific account
information on the dashboard and posing the question on Panther Answer, students can
submit a ticket for assistance.. IS&T programmed the authentication allowing students
to login with their campus identification number and password. The knowledge base
and CRM were developed with the Parature corporation.
Panther Answer was promoted to students with a campaign that included, posters on
campus, bookmarks, direct email, announcements online via the Enrollment Services’
websites and was also promoted through INCEPT new student orientation. In addition if
a student came in, they received the Panther Answer bookmark were given to them to
remind them of the service for their future needs.
BENEFITS AND RESULTS
Starting July 2013, the Enrollment Service Center email was changed to an auto-reply
informing students of the new services and instructing them to visit Panther Answer,
where they could find the answer to their questions or submit a help request. Since the
launch, service requests declined from 8,825 emails to 1,416 Panther Answer help
requests, making a near 85% decrease in online requests.
From August 2013 to June 2014, the Panther Answer knowledge base received between
7,000-10,000-visits per month. Since the launch of the dashboard and Panther Answer,
we have realized significant improvement in services to students, particularly during
peak times. During our first August peak, 10 percent less students needed assistance by
phone. In-person, 17.5% less needed assistance and wait times decreased by 3 minutes
while increasing our time spending with each student by 1.5 minutes. There were 90%
less emails compared to tickets requests. We continued to see improvements during
our January peak as well. There was a decrease of 15.9% in those seeking assistance by
phone and we had 8.8% less abandoned calls. In person assistance continued to
decrease as well, with 8.5% less needing assistance compared to the year before and
decreasing wait time by 6 minutes while increasing quality time spent with students by
2 minutes each. Web requests continued to decline with 47% less than emails received
the year before. With the decrease in volume, staff are able to spend more time with
students on the phone to ensure more through answers.
The primary benefit of the new Student Dashboard is that it provides a significant
customer service enhancement and process improvement by offering succinct
enrollment information at students’ fingertips. Immediately when a student logs in to
the campus PAWS portal, the Student Dashboard is the first item that appears. With the
dashboard, students no longer get confused about where to navigate in PAWS for
information. The dashboard also offers ease of navigation to related Banner self-service
and Enrollment Services’ links.
In the past, students needed to search for information and may click 10 or more links to
find needed information and would often say “Oh, I didn’t know I had these holds.”
Now, if a student has an outstanding financial aid requirement, a registration hold, or a
missing document, the dashboard shows an alert and provides information on how a
student can resolve the issue immediately (see image below).
Providing enrollment data in one place sets the system apart. The dashboard works
hand-in-hand with the knowledge base that includes a CRM. Having student data within
the CRM, staff in enrollment services offices can also quickly view the same information
the student sees. Sometimes students ask for help for one issue, not realizing there are
multiple things preventing them from enrolling. With the dashboard, staff can offer
more comprehensive advisement in a more complete way.
Another benefit is that the CRM tracks a students’ request and provides needed
documentation, allowing the students and any staff in Enrollment Services to see the
history of what was done to resolve a student’s issue. If a student forgets what is told to
them, they can view their resolved tickets to have the answer again. While a request is
open, the student can track the status, eliminating the need for them to call or come in
with a duplicate inquiry. In the past, not all notes staff made regarding a student’s
status could be seen by staff in a different area. For example, notes made by the
Registrar’s Office could not always be seen by Financial Aid, as they each used different
systems for managing certain student information. Now any person in Enrollment
Services can see the history of assistance that was provided to a student. . In addition in
the past, if a student had a multi-part question, staff would be required to go through
multiple screens and piece the story together. With the dashboard and Panther Answer,
staff only need to look in one location.
With Panther Answer, students are encouraged to look for self-service, and as a part of
that, students can also write a question they would like to see added to Panther Answer.
This allows the system to continually grow.
The Student Dashboard is an initiative that supports the university’s strategic goal to
increase student success by providing students their full enrollment profile.
Enrollment staff have commented that students are becoming experts at using the
dashboard and that the services help to bridge the gap in addressing enrollment issues a
large institution such as Georgia State encounters.
Describe how this nominee's actions/accomplishments go above and beyond normal
job duties.
Enrollment Services and IS&T went beyond the call of duty in many ways.
Enrollment Services and IS&T worked tirelessly to implement Panther Answer and the
Student Dashboard. Online requests have been reduced by nearly 85%.
These results also meet the new criteria in facilitating internal customers' ability to
provide improved service to their own customers. Several departments within
Enrollment Services now provide improved service to their customers.
IS&T programmed over 900 lines of HTML code to implement the dashboard system.
The teams went above the call of duty in every aspect - planning, development, testing
and implementation. The ambitious project was rolled out in 4 months.
Thorough testing was also completed within the various service areas to ensure
properly working functionality.
The project philosophy is based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It focuses on providing
students with information directly related to their enrollment profile such as holds,
financial aid status, account balance, representing the more basic needs that students
have. The Student Dashboard and Panther Answers will provide students with
resources to fulfill their basic academic needs so they can focus and spend their energy
on academic success.
Nominator’s Information
First Name: Kenya
Last Name: Johnson
Phone Number (e.g. 555-555-5555):
404-413-4302
E-mail Address (e.g. jdoe@example.com):
Kenya@gsu.edu
Nomination: Service Excellence Award – Team
Team Name: Information Systems and Technology Marketing and Multimedia
Communication
How many members are on the team? 7
Team Leader: Cassie Wilcox
Team Leader Phone Number: 404-413-4702
Team Leader Email Address: cassie@gsu.edu
Institution: Georgia State University
Team’s Supervisor Information
Name: Sallie Wright
Phone: 404-413-4510
Email: salliewright@gsu.edu
Marketing and Multimedia Communication Team
Providing Comprehensive and Timely Support for Key Technology Initiatives
Overview
IS&T’s Marketing and Multimedia Communications Team (MMC) provides support to
Georgia State University’s centralized technology division, Information Systems and
Technology (IS&T). Each year, MMC supports more than 50 major technology projects
and dozens of other campus technology initiatives. The core team includes seven fulltime staff and several student assistants. The services MMC provides include public
relations, marketing, professional writing, website design, graphic design, video
production and event coordination.
The MMC team is the only group within IS&T that plays a central role in nearly all
technology projects. Because of this, many of the projects occur simultaneously and
require work for multiple projects to be completed in parallel. Some of the major
projects completed this year include essential technology training catalogs for fall 2013
and spring 2014 semesters, an important ethics video used throughout the university
system and an enhanced technology annual report supporting the university’s
centennial anniversary.
Supporting the Effort to Improve Digital Literacy
One of the team’s most successful projects this past year was the technology training
catalog. The catalog includes a listing of in-person technology courses for faculty, staff
and students. While offering general IT training might appear inconsequential, providing
employees with meaningful professional development during times of reduced budgets
can increase morale in addition to produce a more knowledgeable and trained staff. All
of the training courses are free of charge for employees and students.
Recognizing the demand for in-person classes, for fall 2013 and spring 2014, the team
decided to produce a printed training catalog to jumpstart the course offerings.
Instead of sending just an email announcement, something tangible such as a printed
catalog encourages people to take the time to explore what is possible and to consider
trying something new. In the past, the team relied solely on online and email marketing
for advertising technology courses.
Producing and distributing a printed catalog would require more resources, time and
manpower. The MMC team took on the responsibility with no hesitation and put in the
extra effort to ensure success. The team worked closely with the training staff to
produce and market the catalog.
The MMC team printed 5,000 catalogs for distribution to faculty, staff and many student
offices. More than 650 individuals registered for courses for fall and spring. Of those
who attended approximately 45% were staff, 35% students and 20% were faculty. In
prior years, the attendance was significantly lower and classes frequently canceled or
had only one or two people to register. Prior to fall 2013, only a narrow range of video,
audio, and photo editing classes were offered, and these were delivered mostly by
student staff. Now with the printed catalog, increased marketing and revamped course
offerings, rarely are classes canceled and many times, there is a waiting list, when that
never occurred in the past.
The success of the training catalog (http://issuu.com/gsutech/docs/fall2013exchangecatalog) was in part attributed to the MMC for the team’s support in bringing
the catalog to fruition from conception to delivery to marketing.
A survey conducted to get feedback from trainees indicated an 8.1 out of a 9 rating.
The training program also generated a tremendous amount of good will and publicity
for the instructional design work and training staff. This training-related attention has
supported arguments for the improvement and expansion of facilities and of our faculty
support services.
The team’s efforts continue to help students, faculty, and staff develop the kinds of
digital fluency they need to succeed as teachers, student, and researchers. Skills
developed in training classes also help encourage the kinds of digitally mediated
collaborations necessary to thrive in today's workplaces and digitally mediated public
arenas.
Cross-Institutional Training to Meet Statewide Compliance Standards
The University System of Georgia (USG) Ethics Policy Refresher Course
Another important project completed was a video to accompany the USG’s Refresher
Ethics course. In addition to the work the team does internally for IS&T, the team also
allocates time and resources to support systemwide initiatives. When the Board of
Regents (BoR) needed assistance creating a course that would provide required
refresher training in ethics to all University System of Georgia (USG) employees, they
contracted IS&T to help create the course. Our instructional designers and multimedia
developers worked with the USG to take a new approach to the refresher course,
simplifying the course’s structure and post-curriculum assessment as well as producing
an eleven-minute video that covers this year’s ethical topics through a series of simple
scenarios.
The course has been tested with other universities and was released to all USG
employees. The team received much positive feedback from participating in the project
and the video has received more than 78,000 views.
BoR Ethic’s Video
http://vimeo.com/74968223
The team has also produced numerous other videos this past year including a CampusID
video and Edublog video. The CampusID video has received more than 33,000 views and
the Edublog video has received over 19,000 views.
Activate Your CampusID
https://vimeo.com/84688436
Sites @ GSU video (Edublog)
https://vimeo.com/77559875
Documentation of Technology Services
This past year, the team produced dozens of documentation for technology services.
The team created a Year in Review (YIR) publication highlighting technology initiatives
and showcasing 100 years of technology in support of Georgia State’s centennial year as
an institution. Within a few months, the small team wrote more than 40 articles,
conducted dozens of interviews and organized dozens of photo sessions with nearly 200
employees. The team went above and beyond the call of duty by doing extensive
research about the institution and spent nights and weekends to complete the
publication in fall of 2013. The YIR also demonstrates the use of technology in support
of GSU’s Strategic Plan.
Year in Review - http://issuu.com/gsutech/docs/year_in_review_complete
The team also developed an essential technology Quick Start Guide (attached) used in
hundreds of classrooms this fall.
These projects highlight just a few of the countless number of projects the team
supports each year.
Nominator’s Information
First Name: Kenya
Last Name: Johnson
Phone Number (e.g. 555-555-5555):
404-413-4302
E-mail Address (e.g. jdoe@example.com):
Kenya@gsu.edu
16 | YEAR IN REVIEW
The Technology That Helped Make History at Georgia State
In Georgia State’s centennial year, we provide a look back at a few of the milestones in computing technology that helped the university ensure its place as a leading education
and research institution.
1959
1968
1976
1985
William Wells is
hired as Georgia
State’s first Director
of Computer and
Data Processing.
Georgia State’s first
hands-on computer
course is taught at the
Computer Center.
Georgia State
purchases its first
minicomputer, an
INTERDATA 8/32, the
same model computer
used to process CGI for
the 1982 movie Tron.
Novell NetWare servers
begin to appear on
campus, allowing offices to
share printers and files.
Using computer
terminals connected
directly to a mainframe.
Several students
interact simultaneously
with a computer for the
first time.
On campus, the
INTERDATA 8/32
handles long FORTRAN
compute-bound jobs.
Local area networks are
spreading, at first using
diverse technologies but
eventually standardizing on
Ethernet, still used today.
1960
1975
1982
1987
Georgia State creates
an on-campus computer
center, in the School of
Business Administration,
to operate its new IBM
305 RAMAC.
The registration process
is computerized, as
networked computers
begin maintaining
databases of class rolls
and printing schedules.
The university’s first
computer lab opens.
The lab features
seven IBM PCs with
5.25” floppy drives,
and no hard drives.
The Computer Center
offers training to users
of IBM PROFS Notes,
the university’s first
email system.
The computer is the first
commercial mainframe
to use magnetic disk
storage. Accounting 408
is the first course taught
using the new
computing power.
Students register using
pencils and ScanTron
sheets.
The same year, the
Computer Center
discontinues the use
of card readers.
Training classes in
word processing
software and laser
printing tools are also
popular, as personal
computer workstations
spread accross
Georgia State.
INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY | 17
1991
1999
2004
2010
Georgia State
University joins the
Internet and becomes
an Internet Service
Provider to the Georgia
State community for the
next decade via banks
of dial-up modems.
The university
adopts WebCT as its
first campuswide
online learning
management system.
CatChat wireless
network officially
launches campuswide,
covering every building
on campus, as well as
the student plaza.
The same year
Apple releases the
iPad, 400 students
in the university’s
Freshman Learning
Communities (FLCs)
are equipped with
iPads and Flip
Video Camcorders
to pilot the devices
for learning.
1994
2002
2009
2012
The Digital Aquarium
open-access
multimedia lab opens
to offer all students
on-campus access to
high-end video, 3-D
modeling and audio
production equipment
and software,
including a
professional quality
recording studio.
Georgia State is the
first university in the
state of Georgia to
migrate student email
to Microsoft’s
cloud-based
Live@edu platform.
The VELA research
computing system is
introduced to provide
high-performance,
interactive computing.
Among other research,
VELA is used to model
concepts and produce
simulations for
explorations in the
fields of chemistry,
physics, biology, and
neuroscience.
A cross organizational
team at Georgia State
University leads work
on GALILEO, the online
system that will link all
of Georgia's university,
K-12, and public
libraries online, with
system-wide searching
and easier inter-library
loan of books.
The University
System of Georgia
will later adopt
WebCT systemwide,
before eventually
switching to
Desire2Learn in 2013.
100 wireless access
points make up the
initial network, growing
to over 2,000 access
points today.
As the change is
made, the new email
system is termed
PantherMail.
Quickstart Guide
for classrooms with:
START
Touch the red system
power button, on the
touch panel, to turn the
audio-visual system on.
Touchpanel PC screen
PC
Blu-ray, DVD and CD player
Document camera
TOUCHPANEL
SCREEN
Temporarily blank the projected image
Choose what you want to project here
Shut down the
projector and
touchpanel
(before you leave)
The screen may be blank
if it’s in sleep mode. Tap
the screen to wake it.
CLASSROOM
EQUIPMENT
HDMI
VGA
Auxiliary device connections
Ethernet
Mute Microphones
Volume and Mute
You can also connect your laptop or other devices to this classroom
You might need to bring an adapter for your device that fits one of these cables:
Document Camera
Touchpanel
HDMI
Audio and Video
VGA and Audio
Can be used separately.
Audio is 1/8 inch (3.5 mm)
stereo mini plug.
Auxiliary (RCA cables)
Composite Video (Yellow)
Audio Left (White)
Audio Right (Red)
Volume Knob
Touchpanel also has
volume control
RCA cables are not provided. Plug
yours into jacks in the cable cubby.
Blu-Ray Player
Ethernet
Plays Blu-ray, DVD,
and audio CD
Connect to the network
Many laptops have Ethernet ports.
Other devices need adapters.
PC Power Button
!
Please shut down the audio-visual system when finished, because it saves costly projector bulbs.
Please remember to log out of the the computer, too. Your security is important to us.
More detailed instructions at: http://technology.gsu.edu/classroom-equipment
IS&T
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
AND TECHNOLOGY
Classroom Support Hotline:
(404) 413-4321
Digital Classroom B, rev. 1.0
Nomination:
Service Excellence Award - Leadership
Nominee Information
First Name: Sallie
Last Name: Wright
Job Title: Interim Associate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
Phone Number (e.g. 555-555-5555): (404) 413-4510
Email Address (e.g. jdoe@example.com): salliewright@gsu.edu
Institution: Georgia State University
Photos of the Nominee
Nominee’s Supervisor Information
First Name: Phil
Last Name: Ventimiglia
Phone Number (e.g. 555-555-5555): (404) 413-4701
E-mail Address (e.g. jdoe@example.com): pventimiglia@gsu.edu
Nomination Description
Improving the Work Environment
Over the past year, Sallie Wright has worked tenaciously to enhance diversity and
ensure an improved work environment for all staff in order to reduce turnover and
make the organization a great place to work. Prior to her arrival, the department was
experiencing decreases in morale and high staff turnover. There were only a few
employee event and appreciations.
There have been significant enhancements to physical spaces as well as improvements
in policies and services to increase employee morale and productivity. Employee surveys
have led to implementation of additional professional development opportunities, and a
more well-trained and qualified IS&T team.
Through leading comprehensive strategic communications, training and event
coordination, her efforts have helped to significantly increase the visibility and overall
value of our organization’s role within the university.
Efforts to improve the working conditions for the technical staff include:
1.
Streamlined the organizational structure, clarifying roles and eliminating
duplication of efforts, reducing bottlenecks, enabling a nimble, more decisive work
environment.
2.
Reallocated positions to areas where gaps existed including information security
and research.
3.
Formed a Rewards and Recognition committee comprised of non-management
employees to identify and implement ways to improve the working environment
through staff functions, etc.
4.
Built a break room in key area where there has never been such and replaced
furniture in existing break rooms.
5.
Provided purified water fountains for IS&T break and conference rooms across the
division.
6.
Increased internal and external communications by:
•
Created a master calendar for IS&T internal and external, spreading workshops,
information sharing, technology roadmaps, and employee meetings across 12 months
•
All hands meetings with IS&T staff to share projects, and network
•
Technology roadmap meetings with various technology providers for the
centralized and decentralized IT organizations
•
Cyber infrastructure day for researchers and IT professionals who support
researchers/research
•
Cybersecurity day for IT professionals across campus
•
Implementing online technology status page for communicating issues
associated with outages/downtime.
•
Publishing a year in review document highlighting organizational
accomplishments
•
Launched social media initiative with Hootsuite in partnership with University
Relations to provide immediate customer feedback through Facebook and Twitter
•
Developed and provided consistent management training program to the
leadership team and others
Sallie has tremendously impacted the overall company morale. In just a year's time, she
has lead the hosting of more than 10 company events including several employee
appreciation events, a customer appreciation, information events for other staff on
campus, training events and research events for faculty. Employees have commented
that the organization has never had events such as these in the past and that they
appreciated being recognized. She also has led fundraising efforts for funding for perks
such as refrigerators in break rooms, microwaves, coffee pots, and other amenities. She
also spearheaded the building of a lactation room for expecting mothers.
In addition to these things, Sallie found the time to mentor women through the
University of Georgia’s Enterprise Information Technology Services Mentor Program.
Other enhancements Sallie has led are:
1.
Changed security review process from a “you can’t do that” to a “here is how
you do that securely” process.
2.
Retained multiple employees who were at risk of leaving through a combination
of small, targeted raises and improvements in work environment.
3.
Made our organization more responsive to customers by encouraging all IS&T
staff to listen to customers, not just route them “account reps”
Because of Sallie's accomplishments, she was recently selected in June 2014 as a finalist
for the Technology Association of Georgia’s Diversity Leadership Awards.
In going beyond the call of duty, Sallie is helping the organization to quantify Georgia
State University’s technology investments in several ways. The primary way we quantify
our technology benefits is through the process of conducting preliminary return on
investment (ROI) calculations for all projects. In addition, she has encouraged post
implementation analyses to ensure accuracy of information. In addition, she has worked
to ensure that our clients also receive an annual one-on-one client review to ensure
alignment between the business unit objectives, and IS&T support and services.
Sallie keeps senior leadership as well as department heads informed about the value of
campus IT services.
In addition, she has led the efforts for multiple customer satisfaction surveys as well as
annual reports and business cases.
She has helped IS&T deliver value through its Office of Project Management’s Time and
Effort reporting system, which determine where all of our labor and efforts are going.
This system, Virtual Project Management Office (vPMO), allows IS&T employees to
capture the amount of time they spend each day against approved IT projects and
match the time against our budget.
In addition, she has supported increasing the department's value through continual
certification and refinement of our Help Center. IS&T’s Help Center uses the best
practice service-management framework called Information Technology Infrastructure
Library (ITIL) to accommodate structured processes for IT incident management,
problem management, change management and configuration management. The goal is
to provide increased responsiveness to customer needs, greater infrastructure stability,
improved communications with customers and the delivery of higher quality services.
Effort will continue on offering more self-service options for technology support,
including Web-based ticket submission, and access to an on-line technical knowledge
base.
In addition to these numerous things, Sallie also has strongly supported IS&T’s effort in
continuing to upgrade its wireless network. She provided strategic advice to our
network teams to identify high-traffic and low-performance areas of the wireless
network, then defined specifications and expanded the network based on their findings.
From previous usage data, network administrators determined that the average student
carries one or two devices with them that have the capability of connecting to the
Internet. Building off this information, Sallie worked to ensure we had equipped our
classrooms with the technology to handle three devices per student, ensuring the
network is able to fulfill service needs as mobile device use continues to increase.
As a result of our wireless upgrades, GSU was featured in a case study by Carousel
Industries. http://www.carouselindustries.com/resource-center/gsu
LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/pub/sallie-wright/9/591/788
Nominator’s Information
First Name: Kenya
Last Name: Johnson
Phone Number (e.g. 555-555-5555):
404-413-4302
E-mail Address (e.g. jdoe@example.com):
Kenya@gsu.edu