Chapter 9:
Information Services
- Chapter Contents:
- Introduction
- A. Organization
- B. Technology Infrastructure
- C. Instructional Technology
- D. Educational Administration Technology
- E. Operations Technology
E. OPERATIONS TECHNOLOGY
The Facility Maintenance Operations Data Services Department is located at the facility on McCarty Avenue. The Data Services Department is responsible for supporting the technology requirements for the various departments within Facilities Maintenance and Operations. These responsibilities include requisitions, budgeting, work order tracking, help desk, accounting, grounds information, paging system, warehouse inventory, fleet maintenance, HISD police applications, Edulog, MPAC system, Facility Maintenance and Operations technology infrastructure, and other projects as required.
Several departments within the district write custom programs to retrieve information from the various computer systems. Exhibit 9-28 shows the departments and the general types of information they produce. Users have limited ability to independently access and manipulate data needed to evaluate performance and make decisions.
Exhibit 9-28 Source: Team analysis
Examples of Departments and Report Types
Department Information Types FMO Data Services Work Order Tracking Project Tracking IT Applications Inventory Student Data Accounting Reporting Fund Balances Budgets Special Projects/Grants
FINDING
The district has attempted to purchase a high-quality system to improve the operating efficiency of FMO. The system that was chosen was MPAC, which is highly regarded by industry. It is used for inventory management, work order tracking, project tracking, maintenance requests, purchase requisitions, and fleet management.
According to the Data Services Department, MPAC performs some functions well and others poorly. The positive aspects of MPAC are:
The unfavorable characteristics of MPAC are:
- Uniform screen formats;
- Quick screen refreshes due to text-based interface;
- Data integration with project and work-order tracking; and
- Useful warehouse statistics.
The way in which MPAC is used and supported is different than many other systems in the district due to its implementation beginning before the development of the technology infrastructure plan. It was decided that certain modifications were necessary for MPAC to function optimally in HISD's environment. For example, it was necessary to write an interface to the MSA (financial) system to have the ability to encumber funds. This has led to the ability to respond to repair requests almost immediately since funds can be encumbered on-line. The MPAC system has brought significant improvements in many areas over the previous operating environment.
- Certain keyboard keys imbed hidden characters in the text that cause printing problems. (Some offices have developed covers for areas of the keyboard that cause this problem.)
- All changes must be made by the MPAC vendor, TSW, because HISD does not own the source code. (The code is in escrow should TSW cease to exist.)
- Standard reports were not useful to HISD, so the Data Services Department developed over 600 ad hoc reports to replace MPAC's standard reports.
- Once work orders are assigned to person or department, someone in that department must manually query MPAC to actually receive the work order. This makes it a two-step process rather than the information dynamically appearing on the assigned person's workstation.
- The fleet management implementation and use of MPAC is not effective. See Chapter 11, Transportation, for more detail.
Since MPAC is used by several departments, several opinions of its use and capabilities exist. One consensus opinion was that MPAC is a high-quality system. However, the perception of its implementation and use varied among departments. In some areas, such as warehousing, it appears to be functioning very well. In the Transportation Department, it is not providing adequate functionality.
The Financial System design specifications include overlaps with the MPAC system functions such as warehousing, inventory tracking, and procurement. No cost analysis has been performed to determine the benefit of replacing some functions currently performed by MPAC with the new financial system.
Recommendation 176:
Perform a cost benefit analysis to determine whether warehousing, inventory, project tracking, fleet management, and time-tracking modules should be included in the financial systems.
Specifically, the use of MPAC should be re-evaluated in light of the current technology environment and proposed organizational structure.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMING
1. The committee in charge of the financial system RFP finalizes and distributes the current RFP. January 1997 2. The committee in charge of the financial system RFP compares software capabilities with district needs. This includes considering the MPAC system functions. FMO Data Services is included in the discussions about MPAC. The committee also develops a data model to be used by the system. June 1997 3. The committee completes a detailed cost/benefit analysis with the top software candidate to determine which functions should be included in the final system. July 1997 FISCAL IMPACT
Performing a cost benefit analysis can be accomplished without additional cost to the district.
FINDING
The FMO Data Services department is developing a time-tracking system. The project was started in 1992. Currently, four people work on the system part-time. They are still gathering information from users in various departments as well as the Payroll Department. Although significant effort has been put into the development of this system, an integrated time-tracking system is part of a new human resources/payroll package.
Recommendation 177:
FMO Data Services should stop development efforts on its time-tracking system and include the function of the new Human Resources/Payroll system.
Since the new system will include its own time-tracking system, no interfaces will have to be developed for human resources/payroll, and the software vendor will support the system.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMING
1. The FMO Data Services Department stops developing its time-tracking system. January 1997 FISCAL IMPACT
Two of the four positions dedicated part-time can be eliminated at an average salary plus benefits of $35,000 annually.
Recommendation 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 Stop development of time tracking system $70,000 $70,000 $70,000 $70,000 $70,000
FINDING
The district has modified the Stores module of MPAC so extensively that it cannot upgrade to the latest version of MPAC that is released annually. HISD decided to modify MPAC rather than change its own internal processes so that MPAC could be used by the district. However, since the district does not own the source code for MPAC, HISD would have to pay a substantial amount for the modifications to the newest versions of MPAC, in addition to the yearly maintenance fee of $71,000 that is already being paid. HISD is now three versions behind the latest version of MPAC.
Recommendation 178:
Modify processes to conform to the latest version of MPAC as much as possible.
The district should examine the processes supported by the latest version of MPAC and modify its processes to conform to MPAC. This recommendation will cause fewer changes to be made to MPAC and allow the district to take advantage of better support and the annual software upgrades that are already included in the yearly contract.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMING
1. FMO Data Services reviews the functionality of the latest MPAC system. The processes in HISD are compared to MPAC's processes. January 1997 2. A committee is formed to determine how processes could be modified to integrate as seamlessly as possible with MPAC. The committee is comprised of the directors of all affected departments. March 1997 3. The committee develops an implementation plan to modify the necessary processes in concert with installing the latest version of MPAC. April 1997 4. Install the latest version of MPAC. December 1997 FISCAL IMPACT
The cost for upgrades is included in the yearly maintenance charge paid by HISD. Implementation may require some minor modifications which would be an additional cost. The benefits would be increased efficiency through more effective use of the software.
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