Page 85 - Superintendent Report 2021-22

In FY22, the IT Division strengthened past successful initiatives to keep up with the changing needs
and increasing demands on technology in and out of the classroom. Building on the initial success
of student 1:1 device deployment in 2021, the IT Technical Operations team refreshed an additional
26,000 Chromebooks to schools to update obsolete and non-working equipment for students.
Additionally, after surveying teachers for desktop versus laptop preference, the department
distributed 9,300 Windows laptops to all schools. The team continues working on school audio
visual and theater updates, repairs, and enhancements. In addition to providing the technology
for new schools opening in the fall, the team offered ongoing school tech support, training, and
augmentation of onsite tech support for schools without school-based technicians. The team also
instituted an improved break-fix process with vendor support to assess/diagnose, repair broken
computers, and return devices to students as quickly as possible.

The primary role of the IT Service Desk is to provide phone technical assistance to schools and
staff. The desk handled over 28,689 calls. In addition, the IT Field Technicians remained busy, taking
over 28,367 onsite school service calls and visits. The Records Management Office processed over
20,000 student records and transcript requests.

The IT Enterprise Applications team continues to respond to the District's changing business and
reporting needs by supporting applications of all sizes and functions - from custom dashboards to
custom apps to supporting enterprise-wide business, operational, and student information systems.
The team wrapped up a custom dashboard for Transportation Department that includes critical
business functions and one for Chromebook tracking that provides detailed analysis for every
student laptop issued. The team led a significant expansion of the Raptor application, implementing
Reunification and Roster Accountability capabilities for the schools.

It was a busy year for PeopleSoft, the District's platform for managing our financial, operations, and
human capital, with an expanded rollout of the Absence Management module District-wide, Database
conversion to Oracle, Budget Module implementation, several COVID-19-related customizations,
and ePerformance tracking.

In TRIRIGA, our facilities work order, inventory, and project tracking system, we performed a platform
update and started work on an application upgrade. Custom applications developed included a
COVID-19 Tracking & Reporting app, Safe Driver Reporting app, a Non-Instructional Employee
Evaluation Application, and updates to the Caring First application.

The IT infrastructure team completed a multi-year enterprise-wide phone system replacement
to allow SIP/VoIP and other state-of-the-art features that have provided unparalleled service,
reliability, and future capabilities. Other key features include eFax capability and E911 emergency
services thoroughly tested at every site. Overall, 27,820 ports and 12,940 phones were replaced.
The infrastructure team also completed server refreshes for FHESC and all middle schools. Other
school enhancements include:
• completing the upgrade of Wireless Access Points at 82 Elementary Schools,
• core router refresh at all sites, and
• upgrading our VMware virtual server environment to the latest version.

As the District’s appetite for bandwidth and connectivity continues to grow for both in-class and
remote teaching and learning, the team has more than doubled the bandwidth capabilities to 120GB,
up from 60GB the previous year. This helps us maintain smooth, reliable connectivity to District
applications, including cloud-based solutions and learning resources on the internet. This year, the
team modified our E-Rate bid for the next four years to allow for increased internet bandwidth,
a WAN/LAN switch upgrade for expanded capacity and speed, next-generation Wireless Access
Points, and data cabinets to accommodate the latest technologies in schools.

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Superintendent Report 2021-22.indd 85
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