Information Technology and quality : How is this achieved at the County of San Bernardino? In times past quality service was not important to managers and staff that worked for the County of San Bernardino. However due to the proliferation of corruption and mismanagement taxpayers are demanding more for their dollar. It is a known fact that when local government is run efficiently more people can be put to work. The money saved from this can in turn be used to benefit the local cities. Civic improvements can be made instead of paying for people to sit at home.
To create this quality service information technology needed to be implemented. This where the BAS or (Business Applications and Support) division enters the picture. The mission of BAS is to provide quality computer software support through a customer service oriented methodology. A while back, before ITSD, there were ASU (Automated Systems Unit) analysts who lead and coordinated automation projects.
They would gather up the requests from the different SSG divisions / departments, do a preliminary analysis, write a work order stating the request and / or problem that was to be solved through automation. The work order would then find its way to ISD (Information Services Department) where it would be assigned to a programmer analyst who would do an in-depth analysis with the help of the ASU analyst and define the requirements for the automation project. The programming would begin and soon, a new program was created and deployed. The requests and problems soon began to multiply and expand until it was like a virtual snowstorm of requests, too many for one small unit to keep under control. Help arrived around 1990 in the form of the Automation Project Administrator – the first of the Automation Coordination Specialists gathered together to relieve some of the burden falling on ASU. The Automation Project Administrator soon gathered in a handful of Automation Coordination Specialists who took on much of the job of the initial analysis of automation requests and problem definition.
They met with the users, defined the problem, wrote the initial work order, which then went to ASU to forward to ISD, and often worked with the ISD programmers. The two units, ASU and ACU, found themselves still unable to keep up with the many automation requests, particularly since ASU had years before branched out into computer hardware requisition and maintenance. Then came Information Technology and Support Division (ITSD). ASU and ACU merged into one entity, a small (but growing) and mighty automation division. ASU became Systems Operations and Support (SOS) and ACU became BAS – Business Applications and Support. The BAS Analysts do in-depth analyses of computer software requests, working with the users and their management, write detailed functionality and design specs and work with the programmers to make sure that the final product is what the user requested and will meet the needs of the department.
Support nearly all software applications within SSG, including the TAD Mainframe Benefit Issuance System; GAPS, CWS/CMS and a myriad of PC based applications as well as intranet / internet. A change in technology has occurred in the past, and will continue at increasing rate. What will we use in five short years, in ten years… the future of office automation will be achieved by all of us working together.
This is important in this day and age when quality customer service is the buzzword for all branches of civil service. The attached chart shows what the long-term plan is for the County of San Bernardino. These improvements will enable the line worker to put more people to work and less people on the public dole.