A Note From Bill...
OMR Project
New Stadium
IT Services Carts
Halloween Party
Massage Days
October Town Hall
Survey
Staff Profile
Staff Happenings
Tech Sessions
Tech Training Classes
IT Employment Opportunities at Stanford
Quote of the Week

Past Issues

Which film would you like to see at the IT Services Halloween party?

Rocky Horror Picture Show
Shaun of the Dead

Results from last issue's survey question: What movie would you like to see at the IT Services Halloween gathering?

Please see the Halloween Party article for details.

Dodi "Snake" Lota is a CRC consultant at the Clark Center.

 

 

How would you describe your current job responsibilities?

I represent CRC in providing general desktop, server, and network support for the James H. Clark Center.

Which aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?

The best part of this job has always been the face-to-face interaction with the people we support. In a place like the Clark Center, people eventually begin to treat you as a member of their lab because they forget you do not know anything about their research and start explaining the scientific details and address you by your first name. It is also very rewarding when you can win the trust and respect of someone who had been jaded by a bad computer support experience in the past.

What did you do before you came to Stanford?

I grew up just north of Baltimore, Maryland and I lived there through college. After various incarnations in Maryland as a bus boy, bay shuttle crew member, office grunt, medical spell checker, dictionary software support rep, and off-season beach rat, I finally had my first job with benefits as a computer tech with the Office of Development at Stanford.

After four years here, I hopped on the high tech start-up bandwagon. That involved playing foosball in the Foster City headquarters, a 3,000 mile drive to Northern Virginia, foosball in that office, doors closing, then driving the 3,000 miles back to Northern California in 2001 after being offered a position with ITSS/CRC.

What do you like to do when you're not at work?

I love spending time with my son and daughter. That's what it's all about for me.

What is your favorite movie, book, song?

Escape from New York has been a perennial movie favorite ever since I was young. My favorite book is anything my son is excited to read to me before bed. My favorite song is Watershed by the Indigo Girls—partly because it is one of the only songs I can play on the guitar.

Comings and Goings

Bill Johnson has joined the Networking Systems team as the Senior Backbone Network Specialist. Bill comes to Stanford from Wayne State University in Detroit where he worked for the past five years as their network systems administrator. He is located in Pine Hall 127. He is very excited to be here and looking forward to working with everyone.

- Kelly Dang
Shared Communication Services; Networking Systems

I'm thrilled to announce the upcoming arrival of Ammy Hill to my group. Ammy has accepted the Campus Readiness Specialist position in IT Services and will join us on October 9.

Many of you may already know Ammy as she was a former member of ITSS and, as of late, has been working in Administrative Systems where she has been providing client support and campus readiness assistance on projects in the areas of PeopleSoft HR and Student Systems, Workflow, E-Protocols, and many others. Ammy will get right to work on several of our key IT Services initiatives. She will be reporting directly to me and will have an office in Spruce Hall.

- Jim Knox
Client Support; Documentation, Training, Licensing, and Campus Readiness

PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) hosted an invitational artist's reception and exhibit of photography by the students and faculty of West Valley College on September 19, 2006.

Leah Sze, of IT Services Order Management, was a selected exhibitor for this event and on display was her black and white photograph of a Carmel, California ranch house.

Leah's photograph will continue to be part of the current exhibit at PARC through the end of September and in October, it will be displayed in the lobby of Forsythe Hall.

- Karen Cox
Shared Communication Services; Order Management

The following people have joined Information Technology Services. Welcome!

• William Johnson, Networking
• Jacob Pierce, Computer Resource Consulting

its in bits welcomes more detailed employee news submissions from all staff. Please submit to itsinbits-submissions@lists.stanford.edu

Tech Briefings: None this week

Check the Tech Briefings home page for specials and last-minute additions.

Tech Express: None this week

Check the Tech Express home page for future sessions and to subscribe to the mailing list.

Upcoming Tech Training classes of interest to IT Services staff.

• Excel for Science and Engineering, (ITS-1126), Oct 11, 9–4 p.m.
  Unleash the power of Excel's Analysis ToolPak, the add-in that brings advanced, high-powered tools for analysis and charting to your fingertips. Back by popular demand, Shane Devenshire, one of only 40 Microsoft Excel MVPs, is the instructor.
• Project Levels 1 and 2, (ITS-2002), Oct 16 and 20, 9–4 p.m.
  This two-day class covers project management concepts and tools using Microsoft Project 2003. Start a new project, work with tasks, apply lag/lead times and constraints, outline tasks, work with views, assign resources and costs, and shorten the critical path.

Sign up at http://axess.stanford.edu.

Classes with low enrollments may be cancelled one week in advance. More information on courses, registration, and training is available at the Technology Training Services site.

- Leni Silberman
Client Support; Technology Training Services

There were six new job postings for IT Services this week.

Req.#22357: Sr. Unix/Linux Systems Architect, Continuing 100% FTE, Range 4P5, John Freshwaters, manager.

The UNIX/Linux Systems Architect will work in a technical leadership role capacity designing, building, deploying, and maintaining production client systems and solutions. This position requires an individual with significant experience with the Linux (server) operating system.

Req.#22348 - Telecom Technician Leader - 1 year fixed-term 100% FTE, A-40 BU - Rocco Petrunti, manager.

Primarily responsible for leadership in the design, installation, and maintenance of the SL 100 voice, local area network, and cable TV systems. Provide advance technical support for Communication Services and other University departments as required and assure cohesive efforts by internal and external staff in daily operations and complex projects.

Req.#22361: Finance Billing Analyst, Continuing 100% FTE, Range 3P3, Christine Soldahl, manager.

The Billing Analyst will manage and execute monthly pre-billing and billing processes for a variety of account types using the Pinnacle billing system. With other team members, the Billing Analyst will perform accounting quality assurance analysis on all orders before billing services approves fulfilled orders.

Req.# 22380 and #22381: Sr. Storage Administrator, Continuing 100% FTE, Range 4P5, Dan Stillmaker, manager.

The Sr. Storage Administrator installs and maintains a storage system environment while ensuring that it is functional, secure, and as bug free as possible. The focus of this position will be the mid and lower performance range tiers of Stanford University’s SAN and Filer environment, including strategies and application of disaster recovery and data replication (on and off-site data recovery systems).

Req.#22288: Telephone Operator, Continuing 100% FTE, Range A-18 BU, Carolyn Kane, manager.

The Telecom Attendant functions as the voice of Stanford, answering main published phone lines for the University, Stanford Hospital and Clinics, and the Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. The Attendant performs critical call functions, including general information, directory, answer and transfer, paging, after-hours on-call contacts, and code call coordination.

To view the complete listings or to apply for a position, visit the StanfordJobs web site at: jobs.stanford.edu.

There are other open Information Technology positions at Stanford. To see what other opportunities exist on campus, link to the full list of all open IT positions at Stanford

“If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.”

- Frank Clark

A Note From Bill...

In the last issue of its in bits, I introduced my view on the importance of accountability—what it means, and why I think it is so important to improving our clients' satisfaction and their view of our organization. I talked about the idea of a work commitment as a professional promise and the component that most helps us be accountable to such promises: more precision in our language. Today, I'd like to take the next step and talk about the elements of a professional promise that can help us all be more accountable.

To be an accountable person or organization—one that always delivers on commitments—our first step is to be precise in anything we promise. To do this we must be crystal clear on the three elements of any commitment: first, the content; second, the date and time; and third, the conditions of satisfaction.

The first element is, of course, the content. "I'm going to install a computer." "I'm going to write that report." Many times, we think this makes a promise complete. However, what we say, and what our client hears may not be the same. "I'm going to install a Windows computer with MS Office" is better than simply, "I'm going to install a computer." But no matter how detailed a description we may give, we still need two more elements for a real commitment.

The second element where precision is extremely important is the date and time for delivery on the promise. This is likely the most common area of misunderstanding. Phrases like "I'll get it to you on Friday" can mean very different things to different people. It's just too easy for us to think that means late Friday is fine, and then of course to think, "Oh, they'll never use it on the weekend," and somehow Friday has become Monday and we think we're meeting a commitment. The client probably needed it for a Friday morning meeting. Even the phrase "close of business" can mean different things to different people. Better to simply remove any room for misunderstanding and be precise. "Thursday, by 3:00 p.m." works much better.

The third key element of a promise or commitment is the conditions of satisfaction. Does setting up a computer include installing any special software or just the operating system? Does it include having network connectivity and public access? In some cases, we have to go as far as writing Service Level Agreements (SLAs), but we can't have an SLA for everything we do at work. Unclear conditions of satisfaction is the graveyard where faulty commitments go to die. We must keep in mind that establishing clear conditions of satisfaction is a separate element for any commitment, and the most likely way to avoid client dissatisfaction.

As I write this, I can't help but feel a little uncomfortable that I'm merely stating the obvious. Still, I've seen too many instances where lack of precision made promises prone to interpretation, resulting in disappointed clients. We need to be as precise as possible when making promises, especially with clients. I sincerely think you'll find that something so obvious has an incredible impact on helping us continue to move IT Services into a premier customer service example to Stanford and all of higher education.

- Bill Clebsch
IT Services

OMR Project

We've sharpened the focus of the Order Management Redesign (OMR) project in the final year with these key areas of project work.

• Finalize design of all process flows (four out of five are already complete).
• Do a comprehensive design review, including an end-to-end "holistic" review.
• Complete development work (Pinnacle, Remedy).
• Build new service teams.
• Plan for operations and post go-live (standards, roles, and responsibilities, etc.).
• Build in ongoing Process Improvement methodologies.
• Testing and training.

I've asked Steve Loving to take the role of lead Project Manager (PM) for the OMR effort. Kathryn Osawa will continue to work as a co-PM , and will focus on the Design Review component in the near term.

We are thankful to the existing project team that includes many of our IT Services staff, as well as a group of talented contractors: Kathryn Osawa, Dee Fisher, Patricia Glover, Kathy Pappas-Kassaras, Ann-Marie Lancaster, and Bruce Campbell. Steve Loving will coordinate the work, the deliverables, and the priorities of all of the contractors.

We will institute a single weekly project status meeting to streamline communication and status reporting. We will now be managing a single project plan and issues list. Most of the other project meetings will be consolidated into the weekly project status meetings to maintain the central focus, and allow more time for small group reviews. Stay tuned as we consolidate mailing lists and meetings.

We're building on some excellent work so far, and we'll focus on quality deliverables, sustainable processes, and clear communication. There are some risks and the scope of the project is formidable, but we're already seeing some great progress and a clear direction for improvement.

We are in the home stretch and will bring the OMR project to conclusion, including implementation of the new Service Desk and Billing service. Watch the web site for more details, and contact me or Steve with any questions or suggestions.

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/its/projects/ordermgmt/

- Jay Kohn
Shared Communication Services

New Stadium

On Saturday, September 16th, Stanford University cut the ribbon and opened the doors to the new Stanford football stadium. This was a huge project, taking 42 weeks to complete. As you can imagine, a critical and key element in making opening day a success was delivering a communications and networking infrastructure that worked without a hitch, and it was up to IT Services to make that happen.

As last year’s football season closed, IT Services staff began to participate in the planning and implementation of the new construction, working closely with the Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation (DAPER). Greg Steiger from the Field Engineering service group was the service consultant on this project. He attended the project meetings and was responsible for making sure all of the telecommunications needs were identified, documented, and submitted for processing from day one.

Erich Snow and Mike Peralta from Facilities Engineering; Jeff Kasson, Gary Swedberg, Jeremy Blanchard, Juan Herrera, Steve Friels, Jay Larson, Dan Fraher, Shawn Corbari, and Jim Finch from Installation and Maintenance; Christina Kaea, Susan Arsenault, and Frances Locke from Order Management; and Steve Tingley from Networking Services, played key roles in deploying services in their area of expertise.

As the Account Manager for DAPER, I was invited to participate on opening day and I was able to see fellow ITSers in action. On that Saturday, the IT Services staff who worked on the project were able to see the fruits of their labor as they provided up-to-the-minute field support to Athletics. I observed a team of people who were able to quickly resolve any phone-related problems, accommodate last-minute changes in phone locations or features, and handle on-the-spot requests for new service. It was clear to me, and to the clients, that the overriding goal was to provide the best possible service to DAPER on this important day.

As noted by Frances Locke in a thank you email to staff, “Ray Purpur, Associate Director of Athletics, was all smiles and very ecstatic that the IT Services Team was there for moral and physical support.” Thanks to all for a job well done!

- Meighan McWilliam
Client Support; Client Relations

IT Services Carts

As the University strives to reduce car traffic on campus, IT Services has acquired more carts for staff to use as they move around campus in their work-related tasks.

To comply with University audit requirements regarding the authorized use of University equipment, we will be implementing a procedure for reserving a cart through the Sundial calendar. We have prepared documentation for these new procedures.

All cart drivers have to comply with the provisions of Admin Guide 28.8, including the filing of an annual form linked from the Environmental Health and Safety page about carts.

Notes about using carts:

• Traffic and parking regulations apply when using the carts. Parking tickets are the responsibility of the person who checked out the cart. The University does not reimburse for citations or parking tickets.
• Please use caution in pedestrian areas.
• Please reserve the carts allocated to your specific group. However, if a cart is not available in your group, one may be checked out from an alternate group.
• If you're attending a meeting across campus, your reservation must include roundtrip travel time.

Ensure that the cart is secured whenever it is parked (even for a short period of time).

- Cholada Chenhansa
Administrative Services

Halloween Party

Help pick the Halloween Movie!

Yes, we are in October and that means Halloween! Please join us in Turing Auditorium on October 31st at 3 p.m. for a movie showing complete with popcorn and candy, and extra servings for those in costume.

What movie would that be, you ask? Well, it's up to you! Our two front runners from last week's survey are Rocky Horror Picture Show and Shaun of the Dead—they are the survey question for this issue so be sure to vote!

-The Halloween Committee

Massage Days

We have scheduled two, half-day Massage Days for Fall Quarter.

• Wednesday, October 18: massages offered from 9:00-1:00 p.m.
• Thursday, November 9: massages offered from 12:00-4:00 p.m.

We'll have several massage therapists available for each day. The massage therapists will be stationed in the Cordura Hall Conference Room (in Room 100, just across the street from Jordan Quad) on those days. Each massage session will last approximately 15 minutes.

Be sure to save time on your calendar now. As the dates draw closer, we'll forward more information about how to sign up.

-Nancy, Nilda, & Dani
The Massage Committee

October Town Hall

The next IT Services Town Hall meeting will happen on Tuesday, October 24, from 10:00–12:00. The meeting will take place at Tresidder Union in the Oak Conference rooms. Since this is our first meeting of the new fiscal year, Randy Livingston will be on hand to review Business Affairs directions and to answer questions. The meeting is already listed on your Sundial calendar.

Please let me or your Executive Director know if you have any specific requests for agenda topics.

-Nancy Ware
Planning and Communication

A regular summary of IT business, news about personnel, and pointers to other information of interest to IT Services staff. Coordinated, compiled, and published by the Communication Strategy and Standards Team. its in bits is published on the first and third Wednesday of the month.

Submissions are due by Noon on the Friday before the scheduled issue, to itsinbits-submissions@lists.stanford.edu for consideration. its in bits is distributed via email to its-all-staff@lists.stanford.edu and the new subscription list itsinbits-subscribers@lists.stanford.edu. People outside of IT Services can self-subscribe via majordomo.

The next its in bits will be published on Wednesday, October 18, 2006