In the beginning of August, eight meetings were held with Office of Technology Services (OTS) and Office of Telecommunications Management (OTM) employees to present the detailed organizational charts for the various OTS units. The functions and structure of each unit was described as well as the process that will be used to transition existing OTS employees to the new structure. Many of the questions posed and the answers provided during those meetings are listed below.
Are there enough positions in the new structure for all current Office of Technology Services (OTS) employees?
Yes.
How is the Office of Telecommunications (OTM) related to OTS?
The Office of Telecommunications is under the State Chief Information Office as specified in Act 712 of the 2014 Regular Session. OTM is effectively a subsidiary of OTS.
What is the significance of the different colored boxes? What is the number in parentheses in each of the green boxes?
In general, blue boxes are positions with supervisory responsibilities that will be posted as vacancies and competitively filled from the existing pool of OTS employees which includes OTM. The blue boxes represent a single position. Green boxes are a roll-up of multiple positions with the number in parentheses indicating the approximate number of people/positions that exist in that spot in the structure. The majority of the positions represented by green boxes will not be posted as vacancies; people will be walked over to these positions. There are a few exceptions to this. The positions represented by green boxes in the Office of Operations and the Strategy, Planning, and Administration section are entirely new positions and will be posted as vacancies to be competitively filled from the pool of OTS employees which includes OTM.
What is the timeline for all of the job postings?
Postings for the top level positions in the org will be posted first and will generally occur in the latter part of August. The next level of postings will occur after the top level positions have been filled since the people that secure these positions will help interview for the supervisors that will be selected for their respective sections.
Who will conduct the interviews?
The interviews for the top level positions in the organization will be conducted by the Chief Information Officer, the Division of Administration’s Director of Human Services, and three representatives from departments and agencies in the scope of consolidation.
Interviews for the supervisory positions will likely be led by the person hired into the top level position for each unit.
How long will the transition to the new structure take?
OTS management seeks to complete the transition before the end of the 2014 calendar year. For the units with an interim versus a final structure, this timeline reflects the expected time to transition to the interim structure. We anticipate that it may take several years to transition to the final structure for those units.
You mentioned competitively filling the supervisory positions within the interim structure for Applications & Data Management. Will this process be eventually repeated to transition to the final structure?
OTS management is focused on transitioning to the interim structure. Over time it will be determined whether or not a similar process will be necessary to transition to the proposed final structure.
We heard that two types of job postings will occur. What does that mean?
The two types of job postings that will occur are: business reorganization postings and regular vacancies. Postings associated with the business reorganization of OTS will be limited to the current pool of OTS employees including OTM; information within the posting will designate it as one associated with the reorganization. Over the last several months, OTS has lost several people due to normal attrition (e.g., retirements, separations, etc) which has resulted in a few vacancies within OTS which OTS would like to fill. Postings associated with actual vacancies will not be limited to the current pool of OTS employees.
Will the people who compete and are selected for a top level or supervisory position in the new structure need to serve a probationary period?
Generally we do not anticipate a probationary period for positions associated with the business reorganization process. However, if it is deemed necessary to establish a probationary period for any particular position, it will be stated in the job posting.
Why are job titles not shown on the organizational chart?
OTS is conducting an internal job study and will be proposing new job titles to Civil Service for approval. The new job titles aim to give a broader range of levels within job series and remove some supervisory requirements to allow additional flexibility within the overall organizational structure while helping ensure employees maintain their TS level. Since it is anticipated that many job titles will be changed they are not represented on the organizational charts at this time.
We learned that many job titles will be changing. What is the timeline for the re-titling process? Will IT titles for people outside of OTS change as well?
OTS aims to make recommendations to Civil Service by September/October. We hope the re-title process will occur in conjunction with the transition process. We do not anticipate that the titles for IT staff located outside OTS (i.e., in agencies outside the scope of consolidation) to change.
You stated that there must be an 8:1 ratio of employees to supervisors. This is effectively a “lower limit” ratio. Is there an upper limit ratio?
No. The ratio within a given area will likely be determined by function. When it makes sense to do so, some functional areas may eventually have a higher ratio (e.g., Help Desk Support).
You mentioned the organizational chart introduced “matrix reporting” relationships. What do you mean by that?
Some positions on the organizational chart may ultimately support projects and processes across multiple supervisors. For example, there are 8 positions shown in the Strategy, Planning, and Administration unit that report to a TS 318 position in the unit. This pool of 8 people will support the efforts of the entire unit, not just those associated with the TS 318 level supervisor.
How will OTS be funded?
OTS will not receive a general appropriations budget. OTS will be a complete cost-recovery agency and will use rate-based lines of services just like OTM does today.
Will OTS use capital outlay funding?
No.
What determines whether or not the Project & Portfolio Management Office (PPMO) becomes involved with a project?
There are no set criteria (e.g., a dollar threshold) that has been established to dictate whether the PPMO will be involve in a particular initiative. In general, high dollar and/or high risk projects will result in PPMO involvement. The PPMO may also become involved with smaller projects that are deemed critically important and/or have high visibility.
What if conflicts arise between a plan of the Chief Data Officer and a plan of the Chief Security Officer?
The Chief Data Officer and the Chief Security Officer ultimately report to the Chief Information Officer; the Chief Information Office will mediate any differences of opinion and plans if such a situation arises.
What if there are not enough people to cover the workload in a section after the transition to the new structure is achieved?
The staffing levels proposed in each section will be fluid, and OTS management will continually assess staffing levels within each section. We fully expect that the actual number of staff within each section may change over the course of time. Management is prepared to shift staff and resources as necessary to ensure all areas are adequately covered.
I heard that all job appointments are being eliminated or eliminated within a year. Is this true?
No, OTS management does not plan to eliminate job appointments.
Where can I find job descriptions for every position?
Currently there are no published job descriptions for every position. You can read the general overview of the key functions that would be managed in each of the various units online.
I currently support several different functions for an organization. Some of the functions I support fall into one unit (e.g., End User Computing) while other functions fall into a different unit (e.g., Data Center Operations). How will OTS management determine which unit I “walk over” to?
Attempts will be made to align employee’s functional area with their goals, but ultimately the determination will be made based on the needs within OTS.
I do network support. Where will I be placed in the OTS structure since OTM has not yet been consolidated into OTS?
Individuals primarily doing network support will likely be placed in the End User Computing unit in the transition process and will be integrated with OTM staff when OTM is consolidated into OTS through legislation in the 2015 session.
I am detailed into a position currently. What will happen to my detail during the transition?
All Civil Service rules governing the transfer of people in detailed positions to another position will apply.
Will there be remote supervision? Will all employees of the same unit be located together?
OTS management will co-locate staff by function and space availability when it is appropriate and beneficial to do so. However, co-location will not always be appropriate or possible. It is possible that some supervisors will not be co-located with all of the people that they supervise.
We have more people in our organization that do a particular function than the org chart shows. Will some people lose their job or have to do a different job?
We do not anticipate that any one will lose their job during the transition process. The number of positions depicted on the organization chart represents the approximate number of people we anticipate supporting each function, but the exact number of positions is fluid and may be adjusted as necessary.
The Chief Security Officer (CSO) does not have any direct reports on the organizational chart, and I do not see any other positions on the organization chart dedicated to security. Will there be any employees dedicated to security?
Yes. The role of the CSO is to identify, develop, and recommend security policies and procedures to the CIO to help mitigate risk within OTS. The implementation and direct oversight of security will be handled by technical experts appointed within the various functional areas. This model ensures that security is a constant and integrated part of all services and functions within OTS.
I work in a high capacity printing shop currently. Where is high capacity printing on the organization chart?
High capacity printing is not depicted on the current drafts. OTS management will be adding a high capacity printing group to the Data Center Operations unit.
Is the transition to the new structure a paperwork transaction or a physical move?
For some individuals the transition will be a paperwork process while other employees will physically move. People who provide direct server hardware support within the Data Center Operations unit may be physically located at one of the primary data centers, whereas people that support departmental specific applications will likely physically remain at their current location. Whether or not particular individuals physically move will depend on a number of factors such as the type of work they do and whether or not it makes sense for people to co-locate by each particular function.
Will telecommuting be supported?
Yes. The approval for telecommutingwill be a determination made by supervisors on an individual basis. Approval for telecommuting will be tied to the needs of OTS and will be continually monitored and evaluated.
Where is contractor support on the organization chart?
Contractor support is not shown on the organization chart. This does not mean that contractor support will be eliminated. The organization chart represents OTS employees only.
Will contracts be done to augment Level 1 help desk support like OTM does currently?
OTS will consider using contract support to augment services like 24-hour a day helpdesk support.
Will the software currently used by any particular agency’s helpdesk be used at the enterprise level?
Due to the scope of needs for IT Service Management (ITSM) with OTS, we are creating a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a complete ITSM tool/platform. The resulting award from that RFP will dictate the platform leveraged by the enterprise helpdesk.
Who will do Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and Invitations to Bid (ITBs)?
Most RFPs related to IT services will be completed by staff in the Office of Operations. At times such tasks will also be executed by or in conjunction with the Project and Portfolio Management Office.
What are the four Governance Boards that were mentioned? Will every agency be represented on each of the boards?
The four boards are the Enterprise IT Services Board, the Enterprise Technology Governance Board, the Enterprise Data Governance Board, and the Enterprise Information Security Governance Board. Board membership will range from 5 to 9 appointed members per board. Appointees will typically serve at least two years and will be a combination of OTS leadership, agency membership from the organizations within the scope of consolidation, and a finance and/or audit member. Detailed information regarding the governance boards, including membership, will be disseminated in the future.