Rena Rogers, IS/ Communication Director came before the county board on April 22 with three requests.
Rogers’ first asked the board to approve spending $899.10 ($179.82 per person) to purchase an eLearning license from a State of Minnesota Master Contract. The contract will run one year and provide more than 3,000 online classes for her and her staff covering IT, business, and end user topics, as well as provide access to thousands of IT reference books.
“IT departments have an almost continuous need for training to keep pace with technology changes. The cost for a 3-5 day training class including travel expenses, for one individual can easily exceed $5,000,” Rogers said.
In addition to cost savings associated with staying at home, Rogers said she and her staff can learn at their own pace as well as receive training for new projects.
“This could provide training options for customer service, project management, communications and other ‘soft skills’ that would likely not be a training option any other way due to priority for technical training,” said Rogers.
Second on her list was a request for $9,752.24 to purchase 10 workstations and two laptops at a cost of $2,649.58.
“Work stations are replaced on a four-year schedule,” said Rogers, adding that 10 workstations are scheduled for replacement this year. The laptops are needed for fieldwork for the GIS and radio departments, she said, adding that the old computers will be recycled through PC’s for People.
Last but not least, Rogers asked that a new central server room, co-located with the IT staff, be built at a cost of $31,943.42.
The project will include converting the current supply room into an up-todate server room. Benefits of this move include significantly enhancing the physical security of IT assets, increasing the operational efficiency by locating the equipment by the IT staff, significantly improving environmental controls by limiting traffic in the server room (less dust, temperature control, accidental contact, etc.) which improves system reliability, and the new space will create an operational foundation that can be expanded in a predictable and supportable way, said Rogers.
Brian Silence, county maintenance director, had already put the project out for bids. Construction costs total $11,395 while switches, panels and cables cost $20,548.42.
As part of the move, said Rogers, cables will be replaced and equipment no longer used will be removed, “providing us with a clearer picture of our assets and configuration. This new environment provides a much better starting point for moving forward with other infrastructure improvement projects.”
The move will also be a pro-active step to reducing the complexity of the system and lessening the probability of power outages in the future, she said.
“We were able to acquire, at no cost, server racks and power strips from the State of Minnesota. They were surplus items from their recent data center relocation projects. Purchasing this equipment now would cost $8,400. The availability of this equipment allows us to repurpose our current equipment in other county facilities as we expand our network to those buildings,” Rogers said.
The board approved Rogers’ three requests. Preconstruction on the server room will begin April 30, construction on May 10, and the project is scheduled for completion on June 30. The money for the server room will come out of the Building Fund and from the Data Processing Capital Fund.
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