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Welcome Ashlynn Mitchell

A familiar face has joined the ICIT team. Former intern Ashlynn Mitchell is now a Business Analyst in the AIS department. Ashlynn interned last fall in the Project Management Office, where she helped implement the Eclipse Project Management System. She then graduated from UW-Whitewater in December with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, and a music minor. She is now back on campus again, this time as a full time employee.

Ashlynn’s duties will include collaborating with ICIT team members, tech liaisons, and other campus representatives in the planning, development, and deployment of new applications, and enhancements to existing applications. Ashlynn’s first day was Monday March 23rd, and she will report to Anand Vangipuram. Please join in welcoming Ashlynn to our team.

Spotlight                                                                                                                                  Ashlynn

office: L1015 | email: MitchellAJ02@uww.edu | phone: 262-472-TBD

What do you do? – explain how you fit into ICIT

  • I will be helping with the reporting and documenting of projects. I will also be the go-between person for IT team members and those outside of IT while implementing some new software.

Something people don’t know about you?

  • I’ve never had one favorite color – I like to use all the colors.

Favorite hobby?

  • I like to garden. I especially like the part where you get to eat.

What was your first job?

  • My first job was teaching piano, which I started doing regularly in 2007.

What’s your favorite piece of technology?

  • The smartphone!  Because I just got one after graduating.

Music genre?

  • I like to listen to many different types of music; I like to play classical piano.

Favorite vacation?

  • My favorite family vacation was going to out west to Yellowstone National Park when I was about 12. It was beautiful! My favorite place I’ve been to, though, is Costa Rica, where I went to a Spanish language school last summer.

Favorite food?

  • I really like food, and I cannot pick a favorite. Pretty much anything like homemade is my favorite. I like to cook.

Least favorite food?

  • Raw sushi.  I think.  I actually don’t know if I’ve had raw sushi, but I can’t get past the idea.  I do not like my meats too rare.  I do like to try new foods though.

Biggest fear?

  •  Heights. By heights, I mean six feet and beyond.
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HP Service Manager Project Update

We are pleased to report that the few mission critical technical issues with HP Service Manager have now been resolved and we are ready to test the production environment.

The Plan:
The server administrators will be transferring data to the production environment this week and I will be finishing the Service Manager training for iCIT through the early part of March (the last training session is scheduled for March 8th). When the training is complete, the helpdesk will enter tickets in both HP Service Manager and MAGIC for a few days to ensure that everything is working correctly (categories, escalations, notifications, etc.).

Providing there are no major issues, ALL tickets will be entered into Service Manager beginning March 15th and entering tickets into Magic will be discontinued. Technicians may continue using Magic through March 30thfor previously entered tickets; however, on March 31st, all tickets in Magic will need to be resolved or transferred into Service Manager.

Modifications Needed:
A service called “Service Manager Modifications” has been created in Service Manager for any modification requests. Requests will be prioritized and tweaks to the system will continue following the go live date.

Other Area Involvement:
Training will be scheduled during the last part of March, early April for the College and Administrative Tech Liaisons who will also be using Service Manager. Once the Tech Liaisons have a good handle of the process and we have worked out any bugs, we will implement the self-service portion of Service Manager to the campus (before the end of the Spring semester).

There will be more information to follow. Please contact Lisa Rowland if you have any thoughts or concerns.

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Project Management With Quickbase

iCIT continues to improve its project management processes. Kent Steinike and Theresa Parker have been collaborating to implement Quickbase software for project requesting. Most of the AIS staff has been trained on Quickbase. The Administrative Systems Steering Committee has been granted access to several Quickbase report views and is developing a project prioritization method. These groups are developing the workflow for the project request and management process, and are working to create a single point of request for all projects. The Quickbase tools will be piloted this spring with a few campus departments before a wider rollout later this year.

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NOC & OTEC Implement Time Tracking

As part of iCIT’s ongoing efforts to implement and improve project managment, several members of NOC and OTEC recently began using time-tracking methods. Time-tracking is a tool that categorizes how employees spend their time on various projects throughout a work week. This provides benefits to both the individuals and the managers in these departments. Those who use time-tracking are able to discover how their time is being used on projects and contribuitng to departmental goals. Time-tracking also enables managers to see how time and personnel resources are being allocated to projects. This allows them to make better decisions, set priorities and improve project planning.

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Project Management Direction

As iCIT continues to improve the way we do business, project management is playing a key role. Greater customer satisfaction, better resource allocations, and effective solutions are all benefits of improved project managment. With this in mind, iCIT is taking a strategic approach to project management.

Kent Steinike, iCIT’s Project Management Officer, is helping iCIT develop a successful project management culture and working with iCIT team members to implement effective project management practices. Part of this initiative includes implementing a comprehensive web-based project management software system which provides complete management, tracking and collaboration platforms.

Continue reading “Project Management Direction”