University Times

Pitt's Computing and Information Services (CIS) office facilities and staff are spread among nine Pittsburgh campus sites and at RIDC Industrial Park in O'Hara Township.

But this summer, CIS will acquire a single "virtual front door," as it's being called — a central Help Desk through which people will be able to seek assistance with their computing and telecommunications needs.

In the past, Pitt personnel who needed help installing new software, say, or hooking into a computer network would be referred to one CIS office. Reports of malfunctioning Audix voice-mail accounts would go to another CIS unit.

"Because we're located in a number of different buildings, there is no front door, if you will, to our organization," said Paul Stieman, associate vice chancellor for CIS. "Many of our customers don't know where to go when they have questions or problems. So we're building a virtual front door, a central Help Desk." Not that there will be a real door or desk. But students, faculty and staff will be able to direct inquiries, and report problems, to a central CIS phone number and e-mail address.

CIS will announce the number and address this summer. "Our aim is to have the system up and running prior to the fall term," Stieman said.

At any given time, eight full-time CIS staff members will be assigned to the Help Desk, Stieman said. "We'll try to minimize the use of recorded messages. Except in rare cases, people who call the Help Desk number will talk to a real human, and they won't have to be kept waiting on hold. The goal will be to answer 80-plus percent of telephone inquiries on the spot, before the conversation is over. With the e-mail inquiries, we'll get back to people as quickly as possible, hopefully by the next day." Customers also will have two other options under the Help Desk system: taking their questions to staff at CIS sites such as the student computing labs and the PC Center in Bellefield Hall, and tapping into CIS's planned World Wide Web site.

"Some people like to walk into a physical office or building and ask their questions in person. [CIS] facilities like the PC Center will act as outposts of the Help Desk," Stieman said.

Customers who prefer to look up answers themselves will be able to do so through the CIS web-site, which will contain much of the same information that CIS staff employ in solving computer-related problems. Through the web-site, CIS customers with access to the World Wide Web will be able to get help 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world.

For most of the University community, the new Help Desk will be the most obvious result of the recent reorganization of CIS's 288 full-time staff and approximately 120 part-time student employees.

This month, CIS replaced its five-division structure with a system that's aimed at eliminating duplicated services while better reflecting CIS's mission and services, according to Stieman. The administrators and staff remain the same, as does CIS's current, annual budget of $12.6 million. The reorganization entailed no layoffs or new hirings, Stieman said. But some duties and personnel were shifted around. And the name changes of CIS units were not merely cosmetic, he emphasized.

Under the old structure, for example, CIS used to have separate divisions of Academic Computing (directed by Daniel Temple) and Administrative Information Systems (directed by Bruno LaCaria). But increasingly, the line between academic and administrative computing has blurred at Pitt in recent years, Stieman noted.

Under the new structure, Temple is CIS director for Planning and Advanced Technologies, a new unit that focuses on strategic planning, prototype projects and advanced technology. LaCaria is CIS director for Information Systems, which handles database and security services, security and quality compliance, and production services, among other duties.

The three other CIS directors are Warren Fugate (Systems and Networks), Bruce Hutchison (Telecommunications) and Jinx Walton (Support Services).

"Even the use of the term 'CIS director' has significance, because it emphasizes the unity among the five new areas," Stieman said.

In drafting the reorganization plan, the CIS administration solicited comments and suggestions from CIS personnel, as well as from focus groups of faculty, staff and students, the associate vice chancellor said.

"Instead of sticking with the same old names and job assignments, we turned it around and asked: How does our administrative structure reflect the current mission of CIS? Why are we doing things in a particular way? Is it just because we've always done it this way? Can we do our jobs any better?" Jerome Cochran, interim vice chancellor for Business, and Provost James Maher approved the CIS reorganization in late April.

— Bruce Steele