October Minutes

ITAC MEETING MINUTES
October 15, 2009

Attendees: Gloria McNeill, Robert Michaud, Vass Johnson,  Dr. Marc Hoit, John Killebrew, Darryl McGraw, Teresa Justice

Wake County: Sean Fiene, Lib Wanner, Bill Scanlon
Due to work schedules Reginald Brown, Niamh Darcy and Hank Cox could not attend the meeting.

The meeting began at 9:05 a.m.

Lib Wanner welcomed everyone to the meeting and ensured that all members had received the proper documentation. Lib then introduced the group to Bill Scanlon, IT Manager for Applied Technologies, and Sean Fiene, IT Program Assistant.

Overview of Online Meeting Tool Exploration
Sean Fiene opened the presentation with discussions of what Web conferencing is and why the County is looking into a Web conferencing application. The presentation moved onto what applications are currently being looked at, and various members of the committee offered other applications, which will be added to the list of possible solutions. These suggestions included Adobe Connect and Wimba. Many of the members of the committee had experienced these tools within their work environment. While reviewing what features are important when reviewing Web conferencing applications, the topic of video conferencing charges arose. Lib asked the group if any charged fees for the use of the service, and the general consensus was that it would be a disincentive to use the service if this was done.

Sean then discussed with the group the methods of determining which application will work best for the County. A weighted matrix was used to display features/options and other variables, and a  recommendation was given by Dr. Marc Hoit to include a field for “ease of use” of the application. Lib discussed that the IS Department may establish a customer focus group to assist in finding the most user-friendly application. Gloria McNeill indicated that one of her co-workers recently performed a thorough evaluation of various Web conferencing tools and that she would send the information to Sean.

It was then discussed at the closing of the presentation to have Sean present a follow-up in the coming months of what information was discovered for the County’s Web conferencing solution.

High-Level Employee Communication Plan for New Payroll System
Bill Scanlon opened the presentation with a brief explanation of the changes employees will encounter when the new payroll system is deployed and how, why and what will be communicated to the employees. Bill indicated that, initially, the general messages to be given would follow the communication principles of who, what, when, where, how and why, and that more specific information would be provided as the time of the change got closer. Dr. Marc Hoit asked about the timesheet-entering process, and Bill explained both the current process and what the new system will entail.  It was noted that electronic time entry can become a burden for employees who don’t sit in front of a computer.

Bill asked the group for their thoughts on how to handle the situation where the exact deployment date has not yet been set. He indicated that the current approach was to indicate no sooner than a specific month and provide a longer more general timeframe, such as spring or summer. The group thought that approach would be fine and emphasized the importance of providing more information as things became more certain. Robert Michaud suggested creating an FAQ section on the employee website. Darryl McGraw stated that, through experience in changes such as this, the representatives in each department who handle payroll must have proper training in order to answer questions of other employees within each department. Dr. Marc Hoit suggested tapping into the “underground” information pipeline in addition to the HR representatives to get information out. He also asked if any other application were going to be introduced to help employees with budgeting, such as a paycheck projection tool. Bill Scanlon said that they are looking into different options to aid employees with the payroll changes.

Review of Possible Meeting Topics for FY 10
Lib ensured that all members were comfortable with the proposed topics for FY 10 and asked if the members would agree to move the December topic to November. All members agreed, and the topics were moved to the appropriate month.

Other Business
No new business to report.

The ITAC members thanked Bill Scanlon and Sean Fiene for their presentations, and Lib Wanner thanked the group for their input and participation.

Meeting adjourned at 9:55 a.m.