Business
Services Department
Support
Services Plan 2005 - 2010
Overview
The Business
Services Department of Information Technology provides support for
administrative, financial, and telecommunications activities. Business Services
(BS) is currently organized into four major areas: 1) Telecommunication
Services, 2) Accounting Services, 3) Communications and Web Support, and 4)
Systems Support.
The 4
full-time and 2 part-time staff of the Telecommunications Support Team (TST) of
Business Services is organized to provide help desk and billing support for
telecommunications activities. The Telecommunications Help Desk provides
installation and troubleshooting support for network data connectivity,
cellular, and telephone services, including Voice Over IP telephony. Working
closely with IT Telecommunication and Systems Services (TSS) staff, TST
provides customer service to campus departments, faculty, staff, and students
and schedules TSS staff when repairs and maintenance are necessary.
Telecommunications billing staff provide billing support for all IT services,
including telephone, cellular, data storage, server support, etc.
The
Accounting Services Team (AST) of Business Services consists of primarily
provides centralized accounting support to other IT departments. This
accounting support includes support for accounting, purchasing, accounts
payable, budgeting, and reporting. The AST consists of 4 full-time staff – one
accountant, two accounting associate, seniors, and one office assistant,
senior. The Accounting Services Team works closely with central university
accounting staff to ensure that Information Technology’s PISTOL and other
official financial reports and information are accurate.
One
full-time staff provides design and administration of the IT Web site and
assists IT departments with creating documents and publications, including the
IT Newsletter, for communicating IT products and services. Additionally, one
full-time Systems Programmer, Senior provides application systems and technical
support for the telecommunications billing system.
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Accounting Services
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Telecommunication Help Desk Services
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Telecommunication Billing Services
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Cellular Services
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Blackberry Services
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Services
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Communication
Accounting
Services
The Academic
Plan identifies the challenges that lie ahead for funding the purchase,
maintenance, and support of existing and future technologies. An efficient,
flexible, and accurate accounting system is critical to successfully supporting
IT’s role in addressing Action Item 104 of the Academic Plan and to improving
the availability and usefulness of financial information for managing ongoing
IT operations. Central university accounting reports generated from PISTOL
based on the cash method of accounting are not sufficient. Existing IT
processes and procedures augment PISTOL reports and provide additional
information such as more detailed costs of services. Past internal financial
audits have identified the need for financial reports based on the accrual
method of accounting. Cost reporting needs to be expanded to include
activity-based cost reporting which can be used in determining service fees.
Action Item 1:
Accounting Services. Evaluate alternatives for improving IT accounting
procedures and processes to support accrual-based financial reporting of IT
activities and costs.
Telecommunication
Help Desk Services
Currently,
there are two help desk activities in IT. The Telecommunications Help Desk
supports telecommunications activities while the Client Support Services Help
Desk supports activities related to the computer desktop. Dual help desks can
be confusing to customers. It’s not uncommon for a customer to choose the
telecommunications help desk for computer related questions and the CSS help
desk for a problem with their telephone. Different software systems are used
by each of the help desks to manage activities – Pinnacle Axis and HEAT –
sometimes resulting in poor communication and customer service. Improving the
integration and communication of these two systems would help to improve the
efficiency of help desk activities.
Help desk
support is available only from 8am until 5pm Monday through Friday. Today,
many classes are taught in the evenings and on weekends as well as entirely
online. According to data from the Educause Core Data Survey, the weekly
average number of available help desk hours at doctorial universities is 83.5.
There are opportunities for expanding existing help desk hours and improving
customer service.
With the
convergence of the data, voice, and video networks, it is an ideal time to
evaluate the delivery of help desk services and the structure for providing help
desk support.
Action Item 2:
Telecommunication Help Desk Services. In coordination with Client Support
Services, evaluate existing Help Desk structure and activities for improving
customer service.
Telecommunication
Billing Services
IT relies on
revenue generating activities to supplement state appropriations for providing
IT services to the campus community. Pinnacle Axis is our current
telecommunications billing software. With the changing telecommunication
environment and implementation of new technologies, such as Voice Over IP
telephony, it is imperative to continually review existing systems and access
there ability to meet the demands of these new environments.
Action Item 3:
Telecommunication Billing Services. Evaluate existing billing processes and
procedures relative to current Pinnacle Axis Billing Software for improving
billing services.
Cellular
Services
Currently,
UW faculty, staff, and departments can purchase cellular services at discounted
rates from either Verizon or Cellular One. There is no discounted service plan
available for students. Recent competition in cellular services has resulted
in increased coverage areas and possibilities for new partnerships. A number
of universities have developed unique relationships with cellular companies for
services that have improved services, reduced costs, and increased revenues.
While the use of cell phones is increasing (nearly 3 of 4 18 to 22 year olds
use a cell phone), many schools have sought ways to not only offer financial
incentives to faculty, staff, and students, but also ways to integrate cellular
technology into the learning and campus environment.
Action Item 4:
Cellular Services. Review existing cellular services and evaluate the benefits
of issuing an RFP for improving cellular services for faculty, staff, students,
departments, and affiliates.
Blackberry
Services
During the
Fall 2004, Blackberry services were offered on a limited-basis to select
faculty and staff using the Blackberry redirector service. The redirector
service offers limited connectivity to Microsoft Exchange services as compared
to using the Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) to connect to Exchange. BES
connectivity allows for real-time access of all exchange services, including
email (and attachments) and calendar, as well as Internet connectivity. The
redirector on the other hand, allows for receiving and sending email (not
including attachments) while other Exchange services, such as calendar, can be
transferred to the Blackberry device only when connected directly to your
computer.
Action Item 5: Blackberry Services. Implement BES server
for improving existing BlackBerry service and evaluate expanding BlackBerry
services to faculty, staff, and students.
Services
Changes in
existing technologies as well as numerous new technologies have affected the
fee-based and non-fee-based services provided by IT to the campus community.
In turn, these changes have caused dramatic decreases in some revenue streams,
such as long-distance telephone charges, once relied upon to fund many of IT’s
activities. It is important to carefully examine existing and potential
services, especially fee-based services, in the context of a division-wide
marketing plan for campus constituents such as departments, faculty, staff,
students, alumni, and affiliates.
Action Item 6: IT Services. Evaluate existing services,
identify new service opportunities, and complete a marketing plan.
Communication
Communication
is crucial to understanding customer needs and providing high-quality customer
service. The recent physical move of business services from the Old Main
building to the Ivinson building has been beneficial. Clear procedures and
efficient processes are critical to effective communication for all customers.
Action Item 7: Communication. Evaluate and identify ways to
improve communication to both internal departmental and external campus
customers.
