Novell to Microsoft Conversion Completed at Numerous Centers During the Last Two WeeksDuring the week ending March 14, 2014, Fine Arts and Instructional Technology departments were scheduled to be converted. Due to conflicts revealed during the software discovery phase of the Fine Arts department, they rescheduled their conversion to Monday, March 24th. However, Instructional Technology was converted on March 13 and 14th. Shares and groups were created by the Network Management Operations (NMO) team to facilitate ease of access and data organization. Although the week ending March 21, 2014 was Spring Break, The NMO and Device Imaging and Integration (DII) teams used the time as an opportunity to convert the staff in the Maintenance, Operations, and Facilities Departments the first half of the week, and the Security and the Police Departments the latter half of the week. Monday, March 24th, 2014, the DII team will be in the field supporting the converted departments which were completed over Spring Break. Anthony Melton and Carol Billingsley will work with Maintenance, Operations, and Facilities to ensure users were functioning after coming back from Spring Break. Larry Barrios will work with Security and Derly Buentello will support Instructional Technology and Lillie Swearingen, Dan Serwinek, and Josh Zhang will convert Fine Arts, Federal Programs and Testing early March 24th. The NMO and DII teams show their commitment to the project as evidenced in the latest schedule. Click here to view pictures as DII staff worked, and here to see the Technology Service Repair staff extending a hand to help the DII team over spring break.

Mobile Device Management (MDM) Implementation and Delivery is 97% CompleteClick here to see the latest schedule of the Mobile Device Management (MDM) implementation, which is at almost 98% complete! An analysis of what it will take to deliver the remaining 2% of the devices will be assessed next week.

Testing the New Apple Token Program and Providing Feedback to AppleIpads for the Speech Pathologist are being tested to make sure the new Apple token program is working. Apple asked CyFair ISD to help them test this new token feature and provide feedback. Derly Buentello and Nancy Grella enrolled the iPads and tried out the new steps of some of the Speech Pathologists Ipads and Apple supported the effort on their side. Apple wanted to make sure that the Ipads were communicating as designed. One thing that Apple needs Cyfair to do is use our Domain Name email addresses as the Apple ID for the VPP Token program. Derly and Nancy are working closely with the Speech Pathologists who are assigned to ISC. They will finish testing and will continue with the delivery of the remaining iPads.

Training by Apple’s Senior Manager of Major Accounts to Determine a Better Means of Deploying Apple iPad TabletsOwens elementary school now has all the tablets enrolled and is using the Apple configurator. Nancy Gruella continued to work with Katrina Willard to make sure she was comfortable with managing the iPads at her school. The process has been documented and will be fine-tuned to show and answer the questions Katrina had during Nancy’s last visit.

Recommendation for iSupport is Approaching As Product Price Negotiations Begin Frankie Jackson worked with Joshua Gordon, the iSupport Account Executive, to negotiate the proposed purchase and annual maintenance costs of the iSupport product suite. She was able to get the purchase cost reduced by 31% by explaining the

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education market’s funding structure and purchasing requirements, and making a commitment to share information about the advantages of their product with other school districts in the State and Nation. She also negotiated a capped annual support cost over a five-year period. Jennifer Miller and Kim Bowlin also talked to iSupport about their procurement process in an effort to start the purchase of the product suite, once the recommendation is approved.

Evaluation of iSupport as a Potential New Service Request Management System To assure customer engagement and involvement, on March 11, 2014, Jennifer Miller offered three iSupport sessions in an open house with campus Technology Assistants (TAs), Instructional Technology staff, and Technology Services department staff. During the open house, she demonstrated the iSupport system, discussed the advantages of iSupport, and answered questions. This provided a great opportunity for Technology team members to review and test the iSupport software. The TAs provided many suggestions, which are currently being reviewed. The Instructional Technology specialists were also shown the system to receive their input and suggestions for training. Demonstration assistance was provided by Karey Hoyt. Review and analysis of the product, including the survey component, reporting component, and its customization ability continue to be refined. Assistance was provided by iSupport to enable more documentation for additional explanation. Throughout the week, rules were enhanced to provide information at a glance. A change to the system allowed for service request types to display specific data points. This feature was easily modified and implemented over a weekend with the goal to enhance and uncomplicate the customer experience. Currently, Jennifer Miller is continuing to work closely with Karey Hoyt and Paula Ross from the NMO Team and Kim Bowlin from the AAS Team to proceed to the next steps and to evaluate the server needs and purchasing procedures. Click here to review our overall progress in this project.

The eFinance 5.0 Conversion Was Successfully Completed During Spring Break!The weekly project status conference call with SunGard was held Tuesday, March 11, 2014. The call report can be viewed here. The project status and the readiness for completion were discussed. SunGard’s Project Manager Lisa Horvath, concluded that the preparation for the eFinance 5.0 conversion was complete and Cy Fair was ready to move ahead to the final conversion. Tracey Mickey, the SunGard conversion specialist, evaluated the conversion schedule and concluded that it was a well-planned schedule.

During the week ending March 14, 2014, the final conversion of the Cy Fair Finance System from version 4.3 to 5.0 was successfully completed! The 4.3 version ran on an IBM Informix database and an older IBM processor server. The 5.0 version is the latest version and it runs on a HP Proliant server with Microsoft SQL as the database engine. The finance systems shutdown at 4:30 pm on Friday, March 3, 2014 and the data migration and conversion began. The final conversion schedule can be viewed here. The conversion was completed Tuesday morning, March 18, 2014. There were only two issues to discuss: 1) scripting the replication of changes to all six application servers and 2) the conversion of the Cognos reports to the new system. Lisa congratulated the team on a successful conversion. The eFinancePlus 5.0 overview document can be viewed here. This manual will assist user in logging into the system and learn to maneuver through the new system.

After the conversion, the Information Services and Application (ISA) team checked the system to ensure that all data converted successfully and the system was performing optimally. Mable Isle, Director of Finance for Cy Fair ISD, started running balance sheets in the new system to verify against ending balance sheets from the old version to assure data integrity. On Thursday March 20, 2014, Mark Flores, Director of Payroll and Insurance, had his staff process the payroll in the new system.

Although the week ending March 21, 2014, was Spring Break, there was no break in the conversion effort. Eric May and T Traweek completed the system conversion Monday March 17, 2014, at 10:30 am, approximately five hours ahead of schedule. T worked all weekend to ensure that the conversion went smoothly and correctly. The announcement can be viewed here. Mable Isle had the honor of being the first person to log into the new system. The team worked through small problems, such as configuration issues to prepare the system for its mass release. The completed project plan can be viewed here. Karen Smith, Assistant Superintendent of Finance, has arranged for additional training that will enable Cy Fair to maximize the full potential of the new system. These trainings will take place in April. On Thursday March 20, 2014, Mark Flores and his payroll team successfully ran payroll on the new system. There were small hurdles that arose and T Traweek and Eric May quickly address and resolved these issues.The Financial Management Systems upgrade was a large project and precision was critical as it dealt with the district's financial

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information. The ISA conversion team, led by John Crumbley and Eric May, worked hard to ensure that the project completed successfully. The senior programmers on the team, T Traweek, Richard Crishock, and Donna VanHooser worked many long hours to make the programs and reports function properly in the new system. The team’s Technical Assistant, Tammie Bartkowiak, had to convert every person’s account from the old system to the new system; there were 907 user accounts that had to be individually converted. Dorothy Tong and Neetha Chada, Senior Programmers with ISA, had to convert their ‘web-programs’ to interface with the new system as well. Rodney White supported the team with his expert knowledge of Microsoft SQL Server. It was a tremendous team effort that would not have been possible without the support of Frankie Jackson, Karen Smith and Stuart Snow. ISA wishes to extend its gratitude to them for their support of the team and this project.

Disaster Recovery Preparedness and Business Continuity Planning (eSchoolPlus Student Information Systems)The Information Services and Applications (ISA) Operations Manager, Rodney White, worked with the SunGard Disaster Recovery Team to stage a disaster recovery exercise. The eSchoolPlus database is now online and available through the SunGard Disaster Recovery (DR) Cloud. Rodney is validating the data and implementing emergency printing services. It is critical for business continuity that we exercise the disaster recovery plan. In response to the delayed schedule from SunGard in staging the disaster recovery exercise, SunGard organized a conference call for Wednesday March 26, 2014 to address their disaster recovery service.

Disaster Recovery Preparedness and Business Continuity Planning (eFinancePlus Management Systems)Now that the Finance system conversion is complete, the Information Services and Applications (ISA) team will work with SunGard to perform an emergency disaster recovery drill for the finance system. SunGard has already begun backing up the finance database in preparation for this test.

SunGard eSchoolPlus Student Information Systems Expansion and StabilizationThe purchase orders to expand the eSchoolPlus Student Information Systems have been completed, approved and sent to SunGard. They have ordered the equipment. Once they receive the equipment, they will build and configure it at their location. Once that phase is complete, they will ship it to Cy Fair where a technician will meet it here and install it in our datacenter and begin the data migration. The plan can be viewed here.

SunGard eSchoolPlus Student Information SystemThe ISA eSchoolPlus team will be attending TSUN (Texas SunGard User Network) Conference on the week of March 24, 2014. They will have the opportunity to network with other school districts using SunGard’s eSchoolPlus as well as with Sungard personnel. We are excited about this opportunity and look forward to them sharing their experiences and what they have learned.

Supporting the Human Resource DepartmentTuesday March 11, 2014, John Crumbley and Eric May supported the Human Resource Department my joining Chairita Franklin, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, and her team to evaluate a software package, Netchemia that would enhance Cy Fair’s recruiting and onboarding of new employees. John and Eric discussed how the solution could be integrated with the SunGard eFinancePlus Human Resource module.

Hayes TIPWeb Technology Asset Tracking Implementation Status The new TIPWeb IT system is now live. Click here to view pictures and videos of the new Hayes TIPWeb technology asset tracking in action at Campbell middle school. All of the Technology Assistants (TAs) and service technicians have been trained and are now able to use the new inventory system. Many of the TAs are already using the system and have started inputting room numbers to prepare for the upcoming inventory count in the Spring. Over half of the users have already picked up the bluetooth scanners to start scanning the equipment at their schools. The TAs are scheduled to complete their inventories by April 14th. The next priority will be to make a decision on what type of device will be used to integrate with the wireless scanners. This same device will also be used to integrate with the new service request tracking system. We have seen the first of our demo models for a possible communications device. Leonard Chance is working with the CCC and the DII teams to quickly evaluate the devices. A decision on the device will be made soon. Once decided, TAs will have the tools they need to be efficient in their jobs.

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Board of Trustees Approve Vendors for E-Rate Funding Reimbursement Filing and Bond Planning on March 13, 2014The Board of Trustees awarded 10 bids to 12 technology vendors on Thursday, March 13th, 2014. Click here to view a summary of the bids and vendors that were approved. Upon approval, Frankie Jackson and Fred Brenz moved into the next step of the process for filing 2014-2015 e-rate funding reimbursements through the Schools and Library Division (SLD). The deadline for filing is March 26, 2014 so this required Frankie and Fred to move quickly to get contracts from these 12 vendors. Because of the short timeframe and uncertainty of funds being available through e-rate and/or the May 2014 bond funds, Frankie worked with Marney Sims, our district’s General Counsel, to develop a “contract rider” to protect the district from being obligated to purchase any services from the 12 vendors. Additionally, Fred and Frankie worked with Education Partners Solution (EPS), our e-rate partner, and the 12 vendors, to acquire contracts, which were needed for the e-rate filing. Frankie also worked with the 12 vendors to get the contract riders signed, in less than two days. Many vendors had to work through their legal departments and get signatures at the highest level in their companies. She then transferred all contracts and contract riders to ESC12.net, our e-rate filing partner, to start the e-rate “471” filing process, which was due on Friday, March 21, 2014. Click here to view a summary of the RFPs, contract status, vendors, and costs awarded.

Phonoscope Fiber Reconstruction Project ContinuesThe Enterprise Communications Network (ECN) team continues to work with Phonoscope in the fiber reconstruction project. Thomas Hollister, Oscar Villar, and MCA are coordinating with Phonoscope in the fiber movements within the district. The latest project scope and current status is available here. Phonoscope has been finding many bad fiber cables within the strands being moved. In a process of better preparing the fibers for district use, Phonoscope decided to completely replace sections of fibers instead of simply resplicing damaged areas. This will add time onto the current project. It is looking as though Phonoscope will continue working through April now to complete this project. We are not in a specific push to utilize this fiber immediately, so the small delay in the project timeline will work out fine. Phonoscope will begin to forward to the district, all fiber tests showing that the sites are completed. They will work through by each hub site and all attached locations.

Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) with Aruba’s Proof of Concept (POC) ClearPass SolutionProgress continues in setting forth a plan to complete the Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) using Aruba’s Proof of Concept (POC) ClearPass solution. The Enterprise Communication Networks (ECN) team continued design meetings with Aruba Networks and Layer 3 engineers to finalize the controller configurations and test the configurations operational capability at a school location from each controller. Testing on the 16 controllers is complete. The team is testing the network’s Group Policy Object (GPO) from the Aruba ClearPass solution for all district devices. Changes to the “skins” or screens that the users will see when they try to attach to our network are being refined. The draft screens can be seen in the Aruba POC project plan as shown on page four. The ECN team is preparing a roll out to the schools which is scheduled to begin March 24, 2014. Once the team has the GPO confirmed in the device imaging and integration system, schools will be notified to start connecting to the new BYOT system.

Updates to the District’s Technology Plan Are UnderwayFrankie Jackson and Becky Cook met on Tuesday, March 11, 2014 to update the technology plan. They were side-tracked because inputs for the student handbook were due on March 14, 2014. They moved this to a higher priority and spent time reviewing the student handbook, then sent the updates to the office of Student Services. They did review the current technology plan structure and laid out the responsibilities for what is left to be done. They plan to use the Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) inputs for technology to support the ePlan in preparation for e-rate filing for 2014-2015. They are planning to submit the updated technology plan by March 30, 2014 to ensure the plan is reviewed and approved by the Texas Education Agency before July 1, 2014, which is needed for e-rate filing purposes.

Frankie spent a significant amount of time during Spring Break reviewing technology plans from across the State and Nation. Additionally she acquired some very useful information at the National CoSN conference, by talking to other CTOs and attending various conference sessions on technology visioning and planning. She plans to reference this new information in our plan. Updating the plan must be a priority for the week of March 24, 2014.

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Board of Trustees Voted and Approved to Call for a Bond Election on May 10, 2014On February 27, 2014, the Board of Trustees voted and approved to call for a Bond election on May 10, 2014. All technology recommendations for priority 1 are scheduled to be included in the Bond, which can be reviewed here. On March 13, 2014, the Board of Trustees also approved the bids and vendors needed to start the technology infrastructure design as shown here. Frankie Jackson and Fred Brenz are working the week of March 24, 2014 to finalize contracts, acquire contract signatures, and apply for federal e-Rate funding, through the Federal Schools and Library Division (SLD) program. In order for our e-rate application to be considered, we must have executed contracts in place before March 26, 2014. If successful, depending on e-rate funding availability, we stand to receive significant funding reimbursements. Additionally, the contracts will provide the opportunity to implement preliminary design work prior to the passage of the bond election, so that on May 11th, we can begin implementing the technology improvements. Click here to see the technology infrastructure Bond recommendations with the vendors selected that supports each Bond recommendation. Click here to view the Bond planning schedule between now and May 10, 2014.

E-Mail Selection Committee Working Through the Evaluation Process for a Novell Groupwise E-Mail ReplacementThe E-mail evaluation progresses with committee members continuing to evaluate the features offered in both Microsoft 365 and Google live e-mail accounts. Google sent the committee a series of informational emails offering product features to exercise. These exercises included basic email functionality, calendaring, chat, Google drive, vault, and administrative functions such as ediscovery. In turn, Microsoft has offered an onsite Microsoft Experience Center (MEC) training on March 25, 2014. This is an exclusive two hour session offered for CFISD with a hands-on opportunity to explore email functionality and a chance to learn about additional productivity tools and technologies that Microsoft offers.

Next steps include: 1) make arrangements to visit a school district using Google and a school district using Microsoft e-mail; 2) participate in the online evaluation and summarize opinions, 3) finalize the cost comparison, and 4) make a recommendation if possible by March 31, 2014.

Frankie Jackson Represents Texas Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) at the CoSN Conference March 19-22, 201Serving as the chair of the Texas K-12 Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Council, Frankie was provided an opportunity to be sponsored at the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) 2014 Annual Conference. This conference is designed for technology education leaders to better understand their changing roles in creating the new face of learning. The theme of the conference was: Continuously Connected…in our hyper-connected world, people are always on, collaborating, communicating, and creating. The common thread throughout the conference was that educators are tasked with harnessing the energy and connection to develop the next generation of critical, thoughtful thinkers. Most of the sessions focused on exploring how school systems can create a digital learning ecosystem to challenge and inspire their students, encourage innovation, and deepen learning. Frankie was privileged to have the opportunity to attend the conference with all expenses paid for by the Texas K-12 CTO Council. It was a career highlight to represent the state of Texas as their chair and to be recognized with the CETL certification! A summary of conference highlights is provided here.

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Technology Transformation Team (T3) Leadership MeetingThe Technology Leadership team met on Monday, March 10, 2014. Highlights of the meeting included leadership discussions about appreciating staff for their hard work with Praise, Raise, and Amaze! They also finalized the Technology Services’ organizational values, which are now available here. Additionally, they discussed the format of the Technology Transformation Tactical Team (T4) meetings that were scheduled for March 12th and 13th. Frankie asked that the meetings be comprised of reviewing each team’s goals in the SMART goal format, including key performance indicators and key processes. The full meeting notes for the T3 meeting can be viewed here.

Technology Transformation Tactical Team (T4) Meetings Technology Transformation Tactical Team (T4) meetings were conducted on March 12th and 13th. Due to scheduling conflicts, Larry’s Device Integration and Imaging (DII) meeting was cancelled. The format of the T4 meetings included defining each team’s goals in the SMART goal format, setting key performance indicators for measuring each goal, and identifying each team’s key processes. A draft of each team’s SMART goals is shown here. This will continue to be an area of focus in the T4

meetings in the upcoming week. Each team’s project status is provided in the following.

Jay’s Acquisition, Assets and Sustainability team Paula’s Network Management Operations team Fred’s Enterprise Communication Networks teamJennifer’s - Customer Care Center team John’s Information Services and Applications team

Technology Leadership and Communication Website UpdatedFrankie updated the Technology Leadership and Communication website over spring break. The following improvements were made. Continuous updates will be made through the year that will reflect the progress of building a world-class quality K-12 Technology Services system.

Organizational Profile to include our teams and customersUpdated Technology Services organization charts to include recent organizational changesLeadership to include our vision, mission, values, and purposeStrategic Planning to include our SMART Goals and a placeholder for our Technology Long-Range Plan Showing a roadmap for the Performance Excellence Program (PEP) Level 5 - Optimized Organization

Voice of the Customer (VOC) Technology Assistants (TA) Meeting - April 9, 2014 Our next Voice of the Customer Technology Assistants meeting will be held on April 9, 2014. Requests for the meeting can be entered here.

Technology Services Staff RecognizedRead about Technology Services employees that are recognized for “Finding A Way” in providing EXTRAORDINARY technology service, which included for this week are: Jennifer Miller, T Traweek, John Crumbley, Eric May, Dorothy Tong, Neetha Chada, Rich Crishock, and Chance Leonard. Also, click here to read about staff that received a “thank you” because their team greatly appreciated their work.

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Frankie Jackson’s Meetings and Conferences Conducted During March 10th through March 14th, 2014● Monday, March 10, 2014 – Committee of the Whole Review● Monday, March 10, 2014 – T3 Meeting with Technology Leadership● Monday, March 10, 2014 – Committee of the Whole Meeting● Tuesday, March 11, 2014 – Department Meeting, Stuart Snow● Tuesday, March 11, 2014 – Gartner, Jani Rundall, Larry Barrios, Fred Brenz, John Crumbley, Paula Ross, Becky Cook● Tuesday, March 11, 2014 – Technology Plan Review and Student Handbook Review with Becky Cook● Tuesday, March 11, 2014 – Long Range Planning Committee Meeting● Wednesday, March 12, 2014 – IBM Personalized Learning, Stan Bilski, Alex Kaplan, Linda Macias● Wednesday, March 12, 2014 – Lenovo, Patrick Dougal● Wednesday, March 12, 2014 – T4 Meetings: Larry Barrios – DII, Jennifer Miller - CCC● Thursday, March 13, 2014 – T4 Meetings: Paula Ross– NMO, Jay Johnson– AAS, Fred Brenz– ECN, John Crumbley– ISA● Thursday, March 13, 2014 - Instructional Software Needs 2014-15 Budget - Becky Cook, Mary Jadloski, Linda Macias,

Patrice Lange, Karen Smith, Melissa McAnear● Thursday, March 13, 2014 – Board Meeting● Friday, March 14, 2014 - Weekly Planning and Closing

Spring Break March 17th through March 21st, 2014● Tuesday, March 18, 2014 through Saturday, March 22, 2014 - CoSN National Conference in Washington, D.C.

Frankie Jackson’s Meetings and Conferences Scheduled During March 24th through March 28th, 2014● Monday, March 24, 2014 - Microsoft EES/CFISD Agreement - Cindi Dawson, Larry Barrios, Paula Ross, Nancy Grella● Monday, March 24, 2014 - Media Cast Meeting, Nicole Ray, Leslie Francis, Stephanie Migl, John Taylor, Fred Brenz,

Becky Cook, Steven Stone● Monday, March 24, 2014 - T3 Meeting with Technology Leadership● Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - Department Meeting, Stuart Snow● Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - eFinancePLUS 5.0 Upgrade Project Status Call, Lisa Horvath, Karen Smith● Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - Lexmark Managed Print, Gaby Herring, Kristine McNutt● Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - Gartner, Jani Rundall, Andrea Parson, Paula Ross● Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - T4 Meetings: Becky Cook, Larry Barrios – DII, Jennifer Miller - CCC● Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - SunGard Application Backup Service, John Crumbley● Thursday, March 27, 2014 - District Leadership Team Meeting● Thursday, March 27, 2014 - T4 Meetings: Paula Ross– NMO, Jay Johnson– AAS, Fred Brenz– ECN, John Crumbley– ISA● Friday, March 28, 2014 - Pro Computing, Michael Kelly● Friday, March 28, 2014 - Weekly Planning and Closing

Customer-Focused Outcomes Increased focused in the analysis of meeting service request response time goals is substantiated by a steady downward trend in the number of overdue service requests. The week of March 10th, 2014 resulted in a department decrease of 39% as compared to the previous week. A 54% decrease resulted in the service requests that were overdue between 5 and 9 days and a decrease of 62% in the number of tickets overdue by 2 days. Additionally, during Spring Break, only 202 service requests were entered while 383 service requests were closed. These closures will provide a nice surprise to many of our customers who have been awaiting resolution to their service requests. We continue to improve our Service Level Agreement, in an effort to provide the best service for our customers as shown here. The summary analysis for the week closing March 21, 2014 is available here.

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Customer Satisfaction OutcomesOur customer satisfaction results is 98%. Positive comments continue to be received and are highlighted here.

Workforce-Focused Outcomes Results from the Technology Services employee well-being survey conducted from March 3rd - 7th, 2014 resulted in an overall average employee satisfaction rating of 96%, which is 6% over our 90% goal. Click here to view the results.

Closing

“A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.” - Jim Watkins

If any information contained in this communication is inaccurate or needs further explanation, feel free to contact Frankie Jackson at FrankieJ.Jackson@cfisd.net. For next week, click here to submit a finding the way, a thank you, or any suggestion for improvement. The process for preparing this document can be viewed here. All information related to this document can be found at www.frankiejackson.net.

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