INSIDE OKDHS - IT CONSOLIDATION 

Director James Randell: Good morning, everyone. 

Audience: Good morning. 

Dir. Randell: Well, thanks for joining us. For those of you who don't know me, my name is James Randell and I serve as Division Director for Data Services within the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. 

No Audio: Sarjoo Shah, Business Segment Director OSF/ISD

Director Sarjoo Shah: OSF is the Office of State Finance. It is soon to be renamed to the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. ISD is the Information Services Division within the Office of State Finance. House Bill 1304 which was passed about two years ago mandated that all state agencies' IT staff will report to the State CIO, Alex Pettit. So, right now what DHS is undergoing through is the transfer of personnel to OSF. What this means is that the staff will continue to do the same job as they are except the reporting structure at the top changes to Alex Pettit, through me. 

No Audio: James Randell, Division Director Data Services Division OKDHS

Dir. Randell: The one thing we want to let everybody know is that you're still going to be reporting to the same person. You're still going to be reporting or supporting the same application that you do today. And you're really not going to see any significant changes in your day-to-day activities. Now, that will change over time whenever we, OKDHS and ISD, decides to do what's called a transformation of service. So, right now we're doing that for mainframe consolidation. So, there is going to be a small group of people who are going to work on a collaborative project with those already at ISD. So, their day-to-day activities will change slightly, but the lion's share of everybody is going to be doing the same thing. They won't notice any difference. 

Dir. Shah: Well, the streamlining goal is to save money. That money can be used in other initiatives. The other advantage is that most agencies do not have the funding to create depth in skill sets. So, you have one or two people who know how to do a particular IT function. What this consolidation allows is that it allows for more depth. Thus, if a person goes on vacation or is sick, we have the ability to cover that function without any disruption of service. 

Dir. Randell: The number one challenge is just change, how that creates anxiety among people. So, as leadership, it's really our job to help give them the comfort that they need. You know, this is people's livelihood that they're concerned about. So, we've tried really hard to just reiterate, over and over again, that everybody's going to be fine, that you're a valued asset, and you're not really going to see much difference. 

Dir. Shah: For the employees there is going to be some anxiety and panic, I think, because it is a new organization. But, we just had a meeting where two Cabinet Secretaries assured them that they are not going to be abandoned. ISD cares for their skills and we're going to do the best we can to make sure that their transition is seamless and productive. 

Dir. Randell: Our single point of problem resolution today is our Help Desk which is down in Norman - our OU Help Desk. We contract those services through the University of Oklahoma. It's a great service. That service is not going to change. So, any problems that need to be solved immediately, the users are to pick up the phone and call the OU Help Desk just like they do today. So, it's really irrelevant as to who the DSD employee is - who pays their paycheck, OU is still going to be there for them. We're still going to log a ticket for them, and we're still going to assign someone to help them through their issue tomorrow just like we do today. 

Dir. Shah: We are transferring the staff so that we can learn about DHS systems and IT. At some point then, that allows us to propose a solution that might be cheaper for OKDHS in the long run. So, at this time the staff transfer, but nothing changes for the staff. Nothing should really change. The people are still the same. They will be in the same roles; they will still have the same email and contact info. They can still be reached just as before.
 
Dir. Randell: We do have some field liaisons because a lot of our folks are out in the field next to our customers. We actually have a unit within Data Services called CRS. It's our customer branch, our extension out to the field. Oddly enough, that is a unit that we're actually going to retain within the agency. Okay, so, a lot of the Business Analysts are going to stay DHS employees. They're not going to be ISD employees because it's important that those people go out and work with the customers and understand what the requirements are from a business perspective. And then, that CRS unit will bring that back to ISD and say, "Here are our business requirements. Now, you go implement them using an IT solution." 

Dir. Shah: I would like to say that I worked for OKDHS for 10 years. OKDHS's mission is very near and dear to me. I understand it. I know the people; I understand their mission and goals. It is my intent to either continue the current service level or exceed it. 

Dir. Randell: One of the things, I want to encourage everybody, is that we have an opportunity to really increase the service for IT for DHS through the synergies that are to be gained by having a larger pool of IT resources for OKDHS to draw upon. So, once that starts to mature and come to fruition, I think we're going to see some really... a lot of agility within IT for OKDHS that we have never seen in the past.