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ANNUAL REPORT

FY 03

Business Information Technology Services (BITS)

ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT DEPARTMENT

I.          Department Mission

The Business Information Technology Services (BITS) provides planning, implementation, enhancements, maintenance, and technical support to the Business & Finance Division for all its Information Systems needs such that the Departments can best serve our customers: Students, Faculty, Staff and Community. 

II.        Department Goal

Aid the division in communicating their information, via the web.

Timely response to all communiqués indicating hardware and software questions or problems.

Keep abreast of future enhancements to Information Technology Systems and create a Strategic Plan for the division.

Ensure the viability of technology equipment and ensure that advances do not tax this equipment, we inventory and track the usage of the computers in the division and maintain a 3-year rollover of inventory.

To strive towards the above goals, the Staff must be aware of Information Technology Possibilities and Constraints. In that regard we see it as our duty to help train the staff in further understanding of the tools they have available or will need. This training is needed for both BITS staff members and all our customers.

·        Utilize the web to help our customers find the information they need

·        Prompt service to our customers

·        Plan for the future

III.       Department Statement of Outcomes

Emails, phone messages, and discussions with the campus community provide a constant feedback loop to create and attain reports that the campus can successfully utilize to maintain their Departmental Budgets.
By monitoring the general information questions we receive on the division web site (via www@bf.westga.edu), we are able to track what new information is needed on the web site (which is added if possible). Most of the requests we have received are specific to other departments outside this division. These requests were promptly forwarded to the appropriate department so they could respond.

Emails (help@bf.westga.edu), phone messages (4675), and discussions with our customers (the employess of the division) provide a constant feedback loop to help us maintain the divisional computers and prepare for future trends.
 

IV.       Example to Change/Improve a Process –

In discussion with the Purchasing department, it was decided that one of the time consuming processes of notifying the departments on campus, with a paper form sent out via campus mail, of invoices received and seeking permission to pay this invoice.  To simplify the process, and help speed up the process (so we could pay our vendors in a timely fashion) we created a web and email based ‘Approval to Pay’ system.

V.        General Statement of Department Condition:

The deployment of the One Card program has been the major focus of our department this past year. We have also already expanded the system by adding Lab Printing to the One Card.

The new Accounting and Purchasing software package (PeopleSoft) continues to play a major role for a portion of our Department. We continue to examine different processes and we are beginning to test and deploy solutions.

VI.       Departmental Achievements

In FY2003, BITS continued to work with the PeopleSoft Financial ERP product for our Accounting and Purchasing departments.

We have enhanced the financial web applications to aid different parts of campus with their financial information.

To stream line processes and take advantage of electronic processes (and reduce paper waste) we have created an ‘Approval to Pay’ process which emails the appropriate department when an invoice is received in Purchasing.

We have successfully deployed the campus-wide ‘One Card System’ this past year and we are now busy adding new features to it (lab printing). We are in the planning and preparation phase for a debit card that is part of the next step of the One Card System.
In addition to these major projects, the Business and Finance Division utilizes a myriad of specialized software packages to help all of our customers: the students, faculty, visitors, and staff of the campus. These packages, just like the better-known software packages, require on going support, service, and upgrades.

VII.     Staff Productivity

One of the EDP Technicians has continued to passed her exams towards a goal of full MCSE certification.