Primer enfrentamiento: la Querella de las Investiduras (1075-1122)

Model, providing a robust infrastructure and delivering essential educational applications.

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

OUR MISSION

• To provide information technology leadership, products, and services to the FCPS Community.

• To manage divisionwide information resources, ensuring security and integrity to the FCPS Community in support of learning for all students.

OUR VISION

• To become the model for effective and efficient client-centered services and products so that we are the premier information and technology services provider for teaching and learning.

• To create a totally connected community where technology is available when and where it is needed, and is appropriate to the needs of the FCPS Community.

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT: IT PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING The Chief Information Officer (CIO) provides support to the Superintendent and Leadership Team, vision and direction to the Department of Information Technology staff, and serves as a liaison between the School Board and Information Technology. Program Management and Planning staff ensure the efficiency and cost effectiveness of IT initiatives by overseeing the IT baseline budget; by providing departmental financial planning and support; by managing IT centrally managed funds, including school copiers, non-capital replacement equipment, and grants funds; through managing all technology contracts, including hardware and maintenance, IT professional and telecommunications services, and instructional and administrative software licenses; and also by placing procurement orders in support of financial and contractual agreements.

In addition, this office manages many divisionwide programs; including the technology plan budget,

telecommunications, replacement equipment, and lease agreements, as well as service contracts for copiers. This program responds to and complies with federal and state mandates. This includes the federal E-rate program and the submission of the Fairfax County Public Schools annual Technology Plan to the Virginia Department of Education.

OFFICE OF ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SERVICES AND ASSESSMENT

The Office of Enterprise Information Services and Assessment (EISA) provides operational support for over 150 major information systems covering all aspects of school division operations (student information, libraries, transportation, food services, human resources, payroll, facilities planning, finance, special education, and instructional management). These systems are essential to the functioning of the school division. This office also supports the implementation of new systems to advance the capabilities of the school division (e.g., FCPS eCART, iSIS). In addition to electronic records, the office maintains paper records (e.g., transcripts) required by the Library of Virginia and destroys paper student records not required by law. This office designs, acquires, and distributes paper forms required by the school division. Furthermore, the office maintains, certifies, and reports student information and ensures that FCPS is in compliance with federal and state law.

In addition, this office supports technology planning, architecture, assessment, and piloting of new and emerging information technology systems, products and services for schools, administrative sites, and other FCPS facilities. A fully functional lab test environment is maintained for the identification, evaluation, and assessment of new and emerging technologies; determining the relevance of new technologies for FCPS; and integrating new technologies into the FCPS information technology environment and leading in providing business case justifications, modeling, and planning advice for major information technology initiatives. A major initiative of the office is Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). The objectives of this initiative are to enable sharing of information and services among our mission critical systems; eliminate dependency on obsolete, legacy systems; and automate work processes.

OFFICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS

The Office of Information Technology Operations (ITO) is responsible for providing design, installation, operation, maintenance, and repair services for all parts of the FCPS information technology infrastructure. Responsibilities include configuring and operating the FCPS wide area network, 240 local area networks, wireless networks, fire and security systems, voice systems, public address systems, and cable television (CATV) systems.

Additional responsibilities include the 24/7/365 Network Operating Center with all the enterprise systems, including our Microsoft Exchange e-mail system, Internet and Intranet servers. ITO is also responsible for the hardware break/fix for computers, printers, audiovisual equipment, telephones, network switches, wireless access points, and projectors. This office provides data security and integrity and is responsible for security policies, and procedures. In addition, ITO provides enterprise CD duplication and oversees the copier program for FCPS. This includes annual copier replacement activities, facilitating and escalating maintenance and repair issues with appropriate vendors, and performing ongoing analysis of copier needs at schools and administrative sites.

OFFICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT SERVICES

As the customer-facing side of the organization, the Office of IT Support Services (ITSS) is responsible for managing the customer service function for the department. ITSS proactively and responsively delivers cutting-edge IT products, services and support to schools, administrative offices and the larger FCPS community and target audiences. The broad range of services and support include the IT Service Desk, which provides the single point of contact for customers to request IT services, support and information; on-site technology support specialists in the schools and administrative offices; support for systemwide software applications; a full service project

management office; and state-of-the-art media, production and computer training services which are integral to the instructional, staff development, and public information programs in FCPS.

INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT AND SERVICE MODEL

Fairfax County Public Schools has built a standard, consistent approach in providing technology support and services to ensure that technology is adding value to the overall goals of FCPS. The focus is to create and maintain an environment where technology is effectively used and integrated into the classroom instruction and in the day-to-day operations of school business processes.

As part of its IT-Continual Service Improvement Initiative (IT-CSI), FCPS continues to align its service and support approach with best practices identified in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), the most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world. ITIL promotes continuous process improvements and developing repeatable, documented and measurable processes to maximize efficiencies and improve customer satisfaction. The integrated technology support and services model focuses on ensuring customers have access to the appropriate services to meet their business needs.

The FCPS technology support model is based on a collaborative and integrated team approach, which includes several entities that provide focused, direct technology support to every school, center, and administrative office in FCPS.

IT Service Desk

The IT Service Desk is the single point of contact for customers to request IT services, support, and information.

The IT Service Desk facilitates the rapid resolution of issues resulting from technology failures in order to minimize any downtime and impact to instructional and administrative operations. They record and track incidents and requests for service, process requests based on agreed upon and documented business rules and service levels, and keep customers informed of request status and progress. The IT Service Desk makes recommendations for continuous service and support improvements.

The IT Service Desk includes a self- service technology portal which provides customers on-line capability to submit requests for support or information and to view the status of any request at any time. It also includes an

actionable IT Service Catalog which provides customers insight into and easy access to request any one of more than 230 advertised IT services.

Technology Support Specialist (TSSpec)

The TSSpecs provide on-site technology support and facilitate the delivery of technology solutions in all schools, centers and administrative offices. TSSpecs ensure technology is up and running when needed and is consistently and reliably optimized for use in the classroom and offices. Specific activities include local server administration;

desktop, operating system and network troubleshooting; software and computer installation and consultation; and local support for a wide range of systems and technology operations essential for teaching and learning.

The TSSpecs are part of a collaborative team working closely with School Based Technology Specialists (SBTS) as well as other support partners within and outside of Information Technology to proactively implement, configure and optimize technology, and to ensure all technology concerns are resolved directly or properly escalated and addressed in a timely manner.

Full-time TSSpecs are allocated at high schools and middle schools. Elementary schools are currently staffed with half-time TSSpecs.

School-Based Technology Specialist (SBTS)

The SBTS is focused on providing school sites with technology training and assisting teachers with integrating technology into the curriculum to enhance student learning. All FCPS schools have a full-time equivalent (FTE) SBTS position. This position facilitates the implementation of instructional technology and serves as the technology point-of-contact and liaison between school staff and systemwide technology resources. Additionally, the SBTS provides Level 1 (basic troubleshooting) technology support and works collaboratively with members of the local school technology support team to determine the priorities of technology tasks requiring the services of

information technology support partners.

IT Functional Application Support Team (FASTeam)

The IT FASTeam works closely with the IT Service Desk and Project Management to ensure seamless second-tier application support for enterprise instructional and school administrative software applications. This includes comprehensive application testing, training, documentation, administration, and end user support. This next level of support ensures business process uniformity and continuity.

IT Operations Technicians

ITO technicians are highly skilled in hardware installation, repair, support, and maintenance of information technology equipment. This equipment includes: laptop and desktop computers, servers, network infrastructure, networking equipment, printers, telephone systems, telecommunications, life safety systems (public address, fire alarms, security/intrusion detection), CATV systems, and consumer electronics equipment (audio and video equipment, digital projectors). ITO provides monitoring of FCPS networks and systems, managing the backup and data storage infrastructure, and executing backup and restore services. ITO technicians are certified in specific equipment or have received manufacturer’s training in their respective field of expertise.

INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT - BEST PRACTICES

The best practices, implemented with the integrated technology support model, also include several tools that provide a mechanism for managing and measuring requirements.

A comprehensive ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) compliant service management system that records and tracks computer related requests for support including incidents, problems, changes, and requests for technology services. All incidents and/or requests for support are directly resolved, referred, tracked and/or escalated according to agreed upon business rules and service level agreements. The system provides a mechanism to capture, manage, retain, and redistribute knowledge that might otherwise be lost.

A comprehensive online, self-service IT Service Catalog that provides customers with a view into the services provided by Information Technology, and easy access to request those IT services, information, and support.

Formal agreements known as Operating Level Agreements (OLAs) that define how support entities interact with one another and how timely support is provided to customers. The OLA includes escalation procedures that define a finite amount of time in which support partners respond to one another and the customer. OLAs are the basis for a strong working relationship with support partners, and they establish the parameters, guidelines, and

procedures for working jointly to resolve technology-related issues.

An automated call distribution system provides a number of metrics on inbound and outbound calls, time in queue, and time to resolve calls.

IT CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY

The Department of Information Technology administers a customer satisfaction survey annually. The survey is designed to engage employees in the quality improvement process for IT support. Survey results enable IT to gain an insight on how customers feel about the services offered by the department; to get an in-depth understanding of what services FCPS employees expect from the department; and to identify areas within the department that need improvement as well as those operating at peak performance. IT is proud of its customer service track record and continues to receive high customer satisfaction ratings year after year. The following charts highlight the survey results from the last five years. See Appendix for additional information.

IT INSTRUCTIONAL USE SURVEY

Teachers are surveyed annually on their use of technology. In FY 2013, the Department of Information Technology surveyed all general education and special education classroom teachers, as well as instructional assistants, on their use of technology to support teaching and learning. Based on a 25.2% response rate, 94.7% of those responding indicated they used technology to support teaching and learning on a daily or weekly basis. See Appendix for additional information.

IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVE (IT-CSI)

FCPS Department of Information Technology’s Continual Service Improvement (IT-CSI) program includes a business-driven approach towards the management of IT services. The Department of Information Technology interfaces with all aspects of the school system and is using this approach in order to maximize support for students, teachers, and administrators in schools and centers, staff in the administrative offices, School Board members, parents, and the community. IT-CSI is data driven and ensures that existing processes and procedures are replicable, documented, and evaluated on an ongoing and timely basis.

The IT-CSI initiative is designed to improve IT service and to keep FCPS IT practices aligned with the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). ITIL is an international framework for delivering and managing IT Services.

ITIL addresses all aspects of IT Service Management including Infrastructure Management and Application

Continual Service Improvement. FCPS IT-CSI achieves consistent, repeatable business processes throughout the department, and provides a process for ongoing examination of improvements needed to support and deliver world-class IT services.

As part of its continual service improvement program, IT has aligned a number of its key service delivery processes with industry standard best practices. This includes the IT Service Desk which serves as the single point of contact for customers to access technology services, support and information, and the IT service catalog which provides customers insight into the services offered by IT as well as easy access to request these services. Additionally, IT has an ITIL-compliant service management system (RequestIT) which tracks the lifecycle of service delivery and service support. RequestIT includes a self-service technology request component, available to all FCPS staff, enabling customers to initiate requests for technology service and support. Finally, IT has made significant progress in aligning its software change management, disaster recovery and security management practices with ITIL® best practices.