"Increasing Services While Decreasing Cost"
Over the past few years, the Technology Services Department has been working to lower the City’s operations costs by analyzing the current business processes and applying the best technology practices. The Technology Services Department has been utilizing technology to reduce operation, paper, and energy costs while increasing the services available to our direct and indirect customers.
The Technology Services Department is responsible for voice services including the computer hardware and software used by the City. The Technology Services Department assists other City Departments in evaluating, selecting and implementing computer systems and applications to increase their efficiency. The Technology Systems Department has four core areas of responsibility: Online Services, Computer and Network Support, Application Support and Training, and Telecommunications.
Online Services
Online services decrease phone calls and visits to various departments allowing more efficient services for our residents.
- Residents now have the ability to inquire about their utility bills online. By the end of 2009, residents will be able to pay their utility bills online by credit or debit card.
- Do you do business with the city? Vendors also have an online service available allowing them to see the status of their payments.
- A new video on demand system was implemented on the City’s website to allow visitors to view City Cable 15 programming online.
- QuickTime VR (Virtual Reality) was added to our Parks and Recreation Rental Opportunities pages allowing potential renters to view the different facilities available in “virtual reality.”
- Employees can use the online services to review their employment information.
- The Technology Services Department supports an intranet based on Microsoft SharePoint Services. The Intranet is the central point for employees and departments to share information to improve coordination and communication. The Intranet has reduced the amount of paper the City consumes by making it easier to distribute documents though a centralized easy to use portal.
Computer and Network Support
The City replaced its mainframe computer with several redundant servers increasing enterprise application availablity and performance. To further increase server utilization, Technology Services Department virtualized several servers increasing server availability and data protection. Virtualized servers also decrease our operating costs by reducing our energy needs.
The City’s technology plan allows Technology Services to cost effectively replace older and slower machines with new technology. Employees spend less time waiting on applications to run and more time to assists our residents.
Application Support and Training
The Technology Services Department maintains a helpdesk to support City employees with technology issues. The helpdesk can be reached via telephone or email. Most issues are resolved within minutes of being received. Technology Services Department staff has the ability to remotely view the callers screen and assist in resolving their issue without actually visiting their desk. This is critical when services over 15 locations. Remote access increases our availability time to resolve more issues and increase our response time.
The Technology Services Department also provides in-house training for City employees on how to use computers and software packages. Training is conducted on a monthly basis to improve and refresh the City staff skills to increase their efficiency. Having an employee training program increases their abilities to do more with less. In addition to training employees, the Technology Services Department staff attends training to improve their skills and be subject matter experts on our core areas of responsibility.
Telecommunications
The Technology Services Department maintains the City’s phone network. A Voice Over IP (VoIP) telephone system, including voicemails and greetings, replaced the old traditional PBX system in 2003. The VoIP system decreases the need for network cables, and makes it easier to do Move Adds and Changes.
The City’s cell phones are also managed by the Technology Services Department. Cells phones are issued to key City employees to improve communications. Cell phone bills are closely monitored to ensure costs are within and under budget allowances.
“We exist to support all business initiatives for the betterment of the city”
