The results from the 2017 Survey of Administrative Services for ITS revealed both disappointing and hopeful trends in satisfaction with ITS services.

Satisfaction with ITS services increased by .1 percent, from an average satisfaction rating of 3.7 percent in 2016 to 3.8 percent in 2017 (see figure 1). In general, responses to the survey questions were consistent between years (see figure 2). These results indicate that, while the perception of ITS service quality has not lost ground, we are going to have to work harder to make progress.

Figure 1 – Overall Satisfaction with ITS Trend

Figure 2 – ITS Staff Satisfaction Trend

Questions listed from left to right:

• ITS staff are courteous
• ITS staff are professional
• ITS staff are knowledgeable
• ITS staff resolve my requests in a timely manner
• ITS staff resolve my requests without errors
• ITS staff provide regular communication about the status of my requests
• When I contact ITS, I have confidence my requests will be resolved to my satisfaction

The survey results do suggest that ITS is making some progress on our continuous improvement efforts (see figure 3). Most of the survey questions related to our priorities for continuous improvement (particularly improved communication) show modest increases in satisfaction.

Figure 3 – ITS Continuous Improvement Satisfaction Trend

Questions listed from left to right:

• I have the right technology tools I need to do my job effectively
• I know how to use the technology I need to do my job effectively
• I have the right level of support to use technology effectively
• I know how to get training when I need to learn new technology
• I know how to find information about the status of technology issues or problems on campus
• ITS keeps me aware of changes to technology that will impact my work

The results of the 2017 survey show that ITS has more work to do. Our key priority over the coming year will be to focus on consistency and accountability in our work. We are planning to make some changes to the design of the ITS Service Portal to make it even more user-friendly and will hold ourselves accountable to communicating consistently and regularly about the status of support requests via the service portal. I encourage you to check on the status of your requests at any time by logging into the Service Portal, selecting Services, and then looking at Ticket Requests.

The year ahead promises to be filled with challenge and opportunity. ITS wishes you a joyful holiday season and we commit to a renewed focus on services, communication, and continuous improvement in 2018.

Chris Gill, ITS

The Offices of Finance and Student Financial Planning would like to thank everyone for taking the time to complete the Survey of Administrative Services in October. We gained valuable feedback to help us maintain and improve the services we provide to faculty and staff.

Our median scores, on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest, were as follows:

Staff are courteous: 4.33
Staff are professional: 4.41
Staff are knowledgeable: 4.41
Staff respond to my inquiries in a timely manner: 4.39
Overall, how satisfied are you with the Finance Department: 4.30

Each of our departments individually scored between 4 and 5 on all survey questions, with the average score coming to 4.31.

In accordance with our continuous improvement plan, we currently have initiatives in place to meet the following service-oriented objectives:

• Ensure our constituents are engaged and informed
• Ensure integrity and transparency
• Process university resources timely and accurately
• Improve service excellence

In addition, we have recently implemented a service standards card to guide our interactions with faculty, staff, and students.

We appreciate all the comments included in the survey. Thank you for the many positive comments, which support our efforts to be prompt, helpful, responsive, and friendly. Also, thank you for providing feedback to help us make improvements in the future. We will especially take note to work on simplifying our processes, ensuring our communications are clear and consistent, and striving to be courteous and professional every day.

Teresa Krejci, Finance and Administration

Two houses located on 26th Street and south of University Avenue will be moved to the Sherman Hill neighborhood on Nov. 14 or Nov. 15 depending on the weather. The moves are anticipated to occur sometime around 10 p.m. Following the relocation of the homes, DeCarlo Demolition will remove the basements and grade the land where the houses once stood.

The homes are being relocated to clear the lots, which will be redeveloped by Nelson Construction into a mixed-use space. Moving the homes involves careful planning and coordination between city officials, Des Moines Police, and MidAmerican Energy. 

—Jolene Schmidt, Facilities Planning and Management

Recently, there has been quite a bit of activity for Drake’s online programs. These past months have been busy as we try to set up a seamless operation between HigherEducation.Com, our Online Program Manager (OPM), and Drake. I know that there are a lot of questions, so hopefully this update will answer most, if not all, of them.  However, if you still have questions regarding the launch or the programs, contact me at christina.trombley@drake.edu.

The launch

The launch will be Monday, Oct. 30. We were hoping for it to be this week, but several critical factors still needed to be worked out, so the date was pushed back. Launching these programs means that the marketing will begin, the application will go live, and HE.com will begin working with potential students. Although later than projected, launching on Oct. 30 is still within a timeframe designed to provide us with a core group of students in the spring.
Kickoff event canceled 

The hurricane in Florida cancelled our efforts for a kickoff event here at the campus.  At this time, there are no plans for HE.com to come to campus for an event. Our time is better spent ensuring our processes are integrated and running smoothly. Several teams at both institutions have been working closely together to make this happen.

Online offerings

The Master of Arts in Communication and the Master of Science in Education–Literacy Education will be the first full programs offered online. English as a Second Language, Talented and Gifted, and Reading/Reading Specialist endorsements will also be offered fully online. The next programs currently scheduled for online are the Master in Public Administration and Data Analytics Leadership, with a few more in the discussion phase.  We are looking at additional opportunities, so if you and your faculty have ideas or suggestions, I would welcome them.

Planning to teach an online course?

Faculty and adjuncts who plan on teaching for online programs are expected to complete two online training modules in Quality Matters: “Evaluating Your Course Design” and “Orienting Your Online Learners.” Faculty and instructors who successfully complete the training will receive a $500 stipend. Seats are limited, so interested faculty and instructors should contact me prior to participation. I am working to set up new sessions, so if you have faculty who would like to participate, please have them contact me by Wednesday, Oct. 25.

Guides and processes

Finally, several operational processes and practices have to be developed. We have plans to develop a Faculty Guide that will provide information regarding working with instructional designers, plans to develop and share tools and worksheets that help with designing online courses, and plans to create student program worksheets to help with advising, just to name a few. All of these will take time, and our number one priority is getting the launch set.

Watch OnCampus for more updates. For questions or additional information, please contact me at christina.trombley@drake.edu.

—Christina Trombley, Online Programming