2014 Spring Newsletter

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wherenecessary. We’vegonea step further and implementeda “beta” team. Beta is tech talk for “this application isgoing tobreakwhenyou try touse it”. We sendout thebeta teamwith the tablet know- ing stuff is going tobreak. They feel important because they aredoing something important andwe get great feedback tomake theprocessbetter. Thehumornotwithstanding, staff performancehasbeenexceptional. AndKen couldnot beprouder. We’ve shownour FieldWorkTrackingandDeskTopReview PowerPoint tohundreds andhundreds of people. Andyouknow thebest part…It’snot smokeandmirrors. It’snot embellished. It’sREAL. Yes itwashard, yes itwas time consuming. It cost someadditionalmoneyon the front endbut you sometimeshave to spend to save. Time for another aside. Forme themost annoying continuingexpense was the tablets. Youwill shakeyourhead indisbelief at someof theexcuses staff comesupwith to explainhow the tablet glass got cracked. Donot believe them - -unless youarebuyingused tablets. Turnsout, someof theearly tabletsdidhave some issues despiteour staff treating them like they cameout of aPezdispenser. Right nowwearedown to 12 staffmembers. Andourproduction isoff the charts. And thework is managed . Weknowwhereweare,what’sbeingdoneandwhat needs tobedone. Weare in full com- pliancewith the statutesand looking forward to future tablet implementations. Formore information, visit ftp://ftp.leepa.org/Presentations/ anddownload the full presentationcompletewith screenshots and statistics (note: thepresentation is 111MBand I’m told ifmore thanoneof you try todownload it at a time, ourwebsitewill crash). Finally,wehave someunfinishedbusiness. Truthbe told,wehaven’t totallydiscarded theoldprocess. Wehaveone fieldperson left that isn’t required touse the tablet…andonhisdesk remains the last stackof paper field cards. Forposterityand topreserve the link toour storiedpast,weprinted the last batchout and toldhimhe can’t retireuntil he finishes getting through them. He’s like84and still workingon them…true story. Well, I thinkyou’ve likelyhadenoughofmeand changebeing inevitableandall, in themiddleofme composing thisbest seller I’m told I’mnot a real techguy so they’vemademeChiefDeputy (ohplease BrerFox,whatever youdo, pleasedon't throwme into thebriarpatch…). Last t rue story. Withmuchappreciation to staff for the fodder ofmyquips and thankyou, theaudience for allowingus to shareour story. “Technology isa reallygreat thingbut it is important to “hiregood peopleandget out of theway”asKen likes to say. ”

ArticleContributor: JamesA. Sherron, CFE

ChiefDeputy, fka ITandDataServicesAdmin

sherronj@leepa.org

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Spring2014Newsletterof theFCIAAO