CSS IT success story.docx - UC Berkeley Campus Shared Services

CSS IT: delivering on the promise of administrative excellence
When various stakeholders across
campus--including leadership, faculty,
staff, and students--came together to
define Campus Shared Services
(CSS), solution-focused Information
Technology (IT) support featured
prominently in those discussions. On
January 17, 2013—thanks to extensive
campus collaboration and the hard
work of many process design groups—
CSS IT began supporting more than
3,700 staff in the Chancellor’s Office and several units reporting to the Vice Chancellor for
Administration and Finance (VCAF) and the Chief Information Officer, as well as staff in groups
formerly supported by Department Onsite Computer Support (DOCS), which prior to CSS IT
provided onsite support to some units.
After almost four months in operation, CSS IT is earning high marks across campus, and our
talented staff is benefitting from collaborating with a team of peers.
th
The new 4 Street location has many collaborative work spaces that inspire innovative
thinking and problem solving.
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A winning combination of skills and service
The CSS IT team includes both reassigned campus IT professionals and new employees-all of whom underwent a rigorous training that focused on new processes, systems, and
services. According to Jerry Yerardi, Director of CSS IT, the staff also has a deep dedication to
providing the best service to our campus. “We are extremely proud of how quickly the CSS IT
team adapted to these changes, learning the new skills required for their jobs.” He attributes his
team’s commitment to providing great service as a strong motivator to work together to resolve
requests as quickly as possible. And based on feedback to date, CSS IT has the winning
combination of both skill and service.
CSS IT is achieving high marks in satisfaction surveys and a lot of positive, personalized feedback.
To ensure an unbiased assessment of CSS IT service, Yerardi works with the highly
respected Help Desk Institute (HDI-http://www.thinkhdi.com/ ) in collecting and analyzing CSS
IT satisfaction survey data. HDI, the leading professional association for technical service and
support, provides Yerardi with regular data that he aggregates into a dashboard-style report that
is shared with his team, CSS leadership, and VCAF John Wilton.
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Anonymous data is one of two important vehicles for getting campus feedback. Anyone
who completes the online survey can also provide comments via email.
A community of IT professionals sharing expertise
According to Barinder Dhillon-Flanagan, Deputy Director of CSS IT, the opportunities for
teamwork among IT staff at the 4th Street location have greatly contributed to the early success
of CSS IT. Bringing together IT professionals in one
centralized location offers a forum for collaboration that
was just not available previously.
“It’s exciting to see how this change is creating a
community for talented IT professionals who are serving
the campus. Whether collaborating on-the-spot or in a
team meeting, I constantly see the team working together
and comparing information, solving issues faster than they
could have on their own,” said Dhillon-Flanagan. She
added that the design of the 4th Street location features
CSS IT’s Jeff Gill (right) and CSS HR’s Jason Durant
problem-solve through cross-functional collaboration.
collaborative work spaces to foster a sharing of ideas and
expertise.
Collaboration also extends to problem-solving with IT colleagues on the main campus.
Recently, Jimmy Morales, a member of the dedicated CSS IT Macintosh service team,
encouraged the Retirement Center to take advantage of bulk ordering to replace its aging stock
of Macintosh computers. 1 Dedicated to developing programs and services that contribute to the
well-being and creativity of retirees, the Retirement Center also offers a premier pre-retirement
planning program for active employees.
Morales’ advice also highlights the advantage of using BearBuy, UC Berkeley’s online
procurement system and another Operational Excellence project that shares the goals of
producing savings, increasing efficiency and effectiveness, and creating a culture of continuous
improvement. Bulk ordering through BearBuy not only saved the department money, but also
allowed for the kind of standardization that helps the CSS IT team consistently provide excellent
1
This case example first appeared in iNews, http://inews.berkeley.edu/articles/MarchApril2013/RetirementCenter.
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service. (And Procure-to-Pay reporting, another Operational Excellence project, allows
departments to analyze how much of their purchasing is “on contract” – and therefore costeffective).
The new equipment was expeditiously installed, but the new computers were initially unable
to connect with the Retirement Center’s database, which is accessed via a virtual server in
Information Services and Technology (IST)’s data center. Morales successfully collaborated
with Christy Weber from IST’s Endpoint Engineering and Infrastructure (EEI) team in finding a
solution that enabled the new computers to connect flawlessly to the database.
According to Jimmy, front line technical
support is about more than solving the immediate
technical issues, “Developing a rapport with the
person I’m assisting and cultivating a better
understanding of their systems are just as
important in providing exemplary service. This is
crucial when unforeseen issues arise."
By working in collaboration and openly
CSS IT’s Jimmy Morales and IST’s Christy Weber join forces
to restore connectivity to The Retirement Center.
sharing information, CSS front line technicians and IST’s backend specialists can resolve any
issues that may arise faster than they would by working in isolation. The Retirement Center’s
Project Manager, Summer Scanlan, appreciated the team’s shared commitment to finding a
solution. “They worked tirelessly,” said Scanlan. “Everyone at the Retirement Center
appreciated their perseverance.” For the Retirement Center, this means being able to serve
their community without being distracted by the underlying technology.”
A deep commitment to solution-focused service
So what is “secret sauce” that makes the IT team so successful after a relatively brief time
operating in a shared services environment? Dhillon-Flanagan (pictured below with Yerardi)
states without hesitation, “it’s the people and their extraordinary commitment to solution-focused
service.” When asked to name a team member who exemplifies these values, Dhillon-Flanagan
immediately identified Amit Singh, who supervises the End User Device Support team (EUDS).
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EUDS team members are based in six
“satellite” locations on campus and are
dispatched to provide in-person assistance
on a case-by-case basis. “We were so
excited that Amit sought us out when he
learned about CSS IT,” explains DhillonFlanagan, “and that we were able to offer
him a well-deserved promotion.”
Singh, who has almost 13 years of
experience as an IT professional, spent the
last six years at Cal Recreational Sports,
For Barinder Dhillon-Flanagan and Jerry Yerardi, it’s all about
building a culture of solution-focused service.
where he was “honored to work with a great
manager” and to get a chance to learn about the university and support his unit. “The only thing
that was missing,” says Singh, “was the opportunity to take the next career step since Rec
Sports IT was pretty much a one-person shop.” The opening of CSS IT presented Singh with
just that opportunity.
Singh explained that he kept a watchful eye out for job opportunities at CSS as soon as he
learned about the initial plans more than three years ago. “I immediately felt connected to the
mission of CSS IT since I am deeply passionate about serving people. What I do is a
purposeful job, serving the campus community and making their lives a little better.”
Life at CSS IT is meeting his highest expectations, as he works to build a self-motivated and
high-performance team. “I can’t do it alone,” explains Singh, “so I really count on
communication and collaboration to get the job done.”
Accolades from all corners of the campus
Singh is already achieving his vision for his team. For example, Ben Serrano helped solve
two challenging problems for Wandralee Lindtzie, who serves as Administrative Officer in
Government & Community Relations in Warren Hall. In her email to Singh, Lindtzie commented
on Serrano’s outstanding “display of dedication, perseverance, skill and diplomacy” in
coordinating with the technical team at the UC Office of the President in Sacramento to solve a
remote connectivity problem. She also described how Serrano collaborated with the Cal
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Planning team to resolve a report printing issue. She concluded by stating, “Our entire unit of
the Chancellor’s Office couldn’t be happier. Ben is truly an asset to CSS and to the University,
and I can’t say enough good things about him. Thank you for having such a great team member
working on campus!”
Comparable praise has also been coming in for the CSS IT team that serves senior
leadership. Larry Conrad, UC Berkeley’s new Chief Information Officer, described Calvin
Burnes, as a “great representative of Campus Shared Services.,” after Burnes was dispatched
to help Conrad with his initial computer set-up. Liz Marsh, Conrad’s Chief of Staff, described
service she received from Ayelet Donner as the best she received in her 22+ years on campus,
“with the possible exception of Calvin who helped me when he was part of DOCS.”
Team support: no more than a phone call away
Beth Muramoto is the only computer support technician for The Graduate School of
Education and has been on campus for 15 years. While she really appreciates the IT support
her colleagues have provided during that time, she was effusive in her praise for the CSS IT
team, who has helped her with issues ranging from personal iPhone assistance to an outage in
JAZZEE, the online Graduate Admissions application and review system. She has both
enjoyed working with new colleagues in the Application Support Center (ASC), who assisted
with her unit’s bMail migration, and reconnecting with long-time associates from network IT.
“Back in January, Richard LeBeau helped me set-up bMail to my iPhone, so I could test out
the new application before my unit switched over," said Muramoto. She was also very
appreciative of the support provided by Candy Skinner (who helped her figure out the
departmental account set-up), Noah Bacon, and ASC Supervisor Louis Sui, all of whom “helped
to make sure my unit’s transition to bMail was as trouble-free as possible.”
A glitch in JAZZEE reconnected her with IT colleague, Paul Garnett, who has been on
campus around 13 years providing computer support in a variety of capacities and now provides
telephone support from the CSS IT Service Desk. Garnett earned a perfect score on the CSS IT
Satisfaction Survey for his quick response to her trouble ticket. “After Paul had tested the
system, it turned out that it had been a momentary loss of connectivity and it came back as
quickly as I had reported it, but Paul was understanding and encouraged reporting outages, no
matter how brief…He was thoughtful and generous in his support."
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“Whenever we get a report we start right away to verify whether the issue is system-wide
and if it is we post it to http://systemsstatus.berkeley.edu," said Garnett who explained that
anyone on campus can check this website (operated through Information Services &
Technology) for up-to-date status on maintenance or a system problem.
Since moving to CSS IT, Garnett has been inspired by what he describes as a renewed
attitude towards excellent customer service. “We have great leadership in Jerry and Barinder.
There’s no ‘passing the buck.’ When a problem comes to us, we don’t let go until it’s solved—
even if that means taking the extra steps in finding someone who has the solution.”
A working model for Campus Shared Services
On March 7, CSS began offering Human Resources/Non-Academic Personnel (HR/AP) and
Business & Financial Services (B&FS) to the same
group currently being served by CSS IT. On April
18, the College of Natural Resources and the School
of Biological Sciences will be the first academic units
to be served by CSS – including the addition of
Research Administration.
According to Thera Kalmijn, CSS Chief Operating
Officer, the launch of CSS IT is already creating a
culture of continuous improvement. “We have been
able to model the successes of CSS IT and apply
lessons learned to launch of HR and B&FS
Thera Kalmijn collaborates with Micah Press, a project
consultant who managed the build out of space planning, as
CSS continues to expand its offerings and team resources.
functions. “Going forward,” Kalmijn added, we will
make sure that we continue to get consistent feedback from the campus community and
demonstrate the kind of flexibility we need to make rapid changes to improve service.”
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