The annual publishing of metrics continues, and you have never let me down. StateScoop had a great article last January where I was asked, 'How can one tell if someone is doing a ‘good job’ in their job?' I stated, 'the answer is simple and found in numbers'. If you are a regular reader, you probably guessed that would be my answer. Data brings context. It facilitates logical thought by making connections from various distinct data points that, when organized, provide meaningful insight. An insight that allows an organization to objectively evaluate available data points to make more informed decisions. The positive effects of Consolidation began our journey of greater customer service. Enhanced efficiencies have been demonstrated utilizing various reporting mechanisms which include in-depth cost-benefit analysis, routine performance metrics, and customer surveys.

Metrics

Metrics remove subjectivity, as I quoted from an old blog,'Without data it’s just your opinion'. Metrics provide the information necessary to objectively target areas of improvement and celebrate areas of success. Internal users can retrieve dozens of custom reports from our Reporting Services site.

If there is a need for access to these reports, please fill out a service request.

2022 Incident and Service Requests

Consolidation began the improvement we are seeing every year in reducing our time to resolve both Incidents and Service Requests. It has led to process improvements that increase customer service resolution time; however, we are also seeing another interesting trend, the reduction in the total number of requests which is an even better outcome for our customers. This could possibly be the result of our continued focus on self-service and the steady maturation of the change management process. Time and additional analysis will confirm, but in the meantime, we will continue our current focus and see if the trend continues.

2022 Change Requests

The objective of change management is to ensure that our services use standard procedures for handling all IT changes. IT changes can encompass hardware, software, or both, and we manage changes such as these to minimize a negative impact or related incidents that could manifest in other service offerings. The OCIO’s change success rate in 2022 was 99.1% exceeding 2021 by 2.3%. This was an area we targeted for process improvement, and the numbers show it made a difference. The changes that failed did not have a serious impact on services or had no impact at all, but we must continue to be diligent in our planning, execution, and documentation.

2022 Survey Results

For the last few years, the OCIO has utilized a customer feedback survey to collect data which we analyze to improve our customer service. Collecting this data gives us an objective reference to measure our service delivery and provides the information necessary to make improvements. Using this actionable data, we adjust our activities to meet those needs. The highest possible score is a 5.0 and our goal is to average 4.5 on Overall Satisfaction. While we met our goal. we have identified two areas of focus. The first is a focus on the Service Portal Experience. We have a project underway and already many of the State Agencies are providing feedback, and along with the OCIO changing their parts of the portal that need improvement. You will see more on this effort in the future as improvements are made. The second area of improvement has always been one of our highest areas of focus which is Time to Resolve. We have always placed a high level of focus on rapid resolution of issues through process improvement. Now we are bringing in process automation to ensure we continue to resolve issues in a more timely and accurate manner. One example of recent improvements is our work on automation of on-boarding and off-boarding of teammates.

Below are the specific categories and scores:

Availability and Reliability

The OCIO infrastructure team continues analyzing and improving all areas of availability. The data below definitely reflects positively on their efforts, a large undertaking when 73 agencies, boards, and commissions’ infrastructure is supported. Literally thousands of opportunities for failure. The team’s Dual Data Center strategy undoubtedly assists in limiting the duration of an outage by routing traffic to the alternate Data Center allowing for successful diagnostics and possible replacement when necessary.

Below are the availability metrics for our key Enterprise Applications:

What’s Next - 2023 Strategic Goals

The Continuation of Service Optimization and Innovation:

• Digital Transformation - Aligning technology to solve business problems and deliver outstanding customer experiences
• Kronos transition to UKG Dimensions cloud solution
• Microsoft OCIO SharePoint 2013 migrations to cloud
• Service Portal enhancements
• Smart cloud — adopting platforms and solutions that lower total cost of ownership
• Streamlined experience for Nebraska with standard B2C (Business-to-consumer) offering
• Continue recruitment and cross training creating depth of talent and enhanced ability to respond to workforce needs
• Maintain the 5-year reduction in time to resolve requests via automation/self-service

Congratulations to the OCIO staff on achieving the highest availability numbers recorded, the highest customer service ratings since our first survey and multiple process improvement efforts and successful projects across the State. You have once again met our customers’ expectations, and this once again confirms your dedication to customer service.

As always, I appreciate your efforts to provide quality services to the State and the Citizens of Nebraska!

Ed Toner