Leadership
The Division of Information & Instructional Technology comprises of customer service-oriented professionals dedicated to the integration and implementation of technology across DeKalb County School District. Our goal is to expand the walls of the classroom by providing access to information and programs anytime, anywhere for anyone in a 21st century learning environment. Our job is to facilitate unique collaborative partnerships between our customers – students, teachers, staff, parents and the community. The results are improved student achievement and optimum business processes, to establish and maintain a technology-rich teaching and learning environment where students and staff develop 21st century skills to be successful citizens in a global community.
Technical & Support Services
Our primary goal is customer service. We are continuously seeking new and innovative ways to improve the customer service model, and reduce the time to resolution for end user issues.
Tasks include:
- Setting closed call objectives to align with balanced scorecard objectives
- Coordinating training and monthly meetings for all Information Technology Technicians (ITTs)
- Working on various technology committees
- Assisting with our community’s RFP process for technology
- Negotiating with vendors
- Maintaining safety for Information Technology employees
- Ensuring Information Technology facility is a showcase of technology
Information & Innovation
The Office of Information and Innovation leverages the synergy of educational technology, student information and the virtual learning to support district strategic goals, stimulate innovation, and partner with stakeholders to make informed decisions that support student success.
The most vital responsibility of the Office of Information and Innovation assists the Chief Information Officer in ensuring compliance with established goals and strategic planning by maintaining organizational technological strategy, defining the requirements for new technology implementations, and communicating them to key business stakeholders.
The Department of Information and Innovation seamlessly works with executive leadership, builds strong collaborative relationships, and plays a vital role in facilitating executive decisions regarding technology, innovation, and information in the DeKalb County School District.
Our vision is to ensure all staff and students can participate in engaging and relevant learning experiences using current and innovative technology tools and digital resources.
This includes a focus on promoting awareness, facilitating integration, and encouraging expansion of 21st century skills and learning.
Ultimately, these departments join the rest of the Division of Information and Instructional Technology to model and support equitable access to a future-ready learning environment for all students.
Applications and Data Governance
With a deep expertise in data governance, technology integration, and operational efficiency, we ensure educators and administrators have secure, reliable, and actionable data to drive informed decision-making.
Project Management
The goal of the PMO is to ensure successful planning, implementation and closing of all projects, so that they remain within scope, are completed on or ahead of schedule, and remain with or below budget. Lessons learned are created as part of the conclusion of projects as a means for improving future projects. Our projects can run the gamut of large, multimillion dollar capital improvement and district-wide projects to small local school implementations. Most projects are funded by SPLOST, federal and state funding sources, and state and local grants.
The PMO follows the Project Management Institute (PMI) standard body of knowledge to manage projects throughout their life cycle. These are standards, processes and procedures to manage projects to ensure measureable success of the projects. How do we measure this success? We measure our success formatively by projects completing on time and within scope and budget. In summary, we measure project success by customer satisfaction.
Student Information Systems
The Student Information Systems (SIS) department collects, manages, and uses student information data for mandated state and federal data collections. We are also responsible for business and student physical records.
Infinite Campus is the application used to collect, maintain and report this data. We provide training and support for school and district personnel on this application. The Infinite Campus Portal is used by parents and students to see current grade book information on their assignments, average grade, and attendance.
Telecommunications
We are comprised of Enterprise Servers, Desktop Services, Telecommunications, Physical Security and Infrastructure and Security – all working together to provide world-class solutions and services to meet the District’s technology needs.
- The Enterprise Servers Unit provides the support for Enterprise Servers and Applications. This includes support of the financial and human resource systems along with ensuring state of the art virus protection is deployed.
- The Desktop Services unit provides support via installation and maintenance of District standard Desktop computers and mobile devices along with licensed and approved district software.
- The Telecommunication’s unit is responsible for the maintenance and support of over 13,000+ phone lines and also supports the DCSD cellular phones.
- The Physical Security unit provides support for all of the DCSD alarm systems, 250 security doors, and over 5,300 security cameras district wide.
Technical & Support Services
Student Information Systems Scheduling
Applications Development
Our software engineers do not provide direct technical support for the Infinite Campus applications. Their primary responsibility is to provide the interface support needed to develop peripheral applications utilizing the data maintained in the Infinite Campus data base. The majority of these applications, such as Textbook Management, Safe School Reporting, College and Career Readiness Performance Index (CCRPI), School Choice Registration and Lottery Options, Standardized Tests updates, interfaces to other packages such as TieNet, Clever, McGraw Hill Online Resources, etc. are maintained on an in-house-developed website.
Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP)
The ERP System used by the DeKalb County School District is a vendor package – Total Educational Resource Management System (TERMS), owned and supported by Educational Data Resources (EDR), previously CrossPointe. Applications supported are human resources management and payroll, financial/management accounting (payables, general ledger, cash management, cost management, purchasing), and supply chain management.
The software engineers supporting this package are responsible for installing quarterly releases from the vendor, implementing and supporting custom code merged in the vendor’s package to meet the specific needs of the District, as well as develop custom interfaces to other personnel entities to support Life Insurance, State Reporting on certified staff, New Hires data, etc.
IT Business Operations
Daily collaboration is executed with division/department heads, managers, supervisors, and vendors to ensure the efficient implementation of business operations and the alignment to technology goals, policies, and procedures.
The Business Operations office ensures the professional development of the staff, keeps abreast of developments and innovations related to the business operations of information technology, and ensures that staff members have access to professional growth opportunities.
Desktop Support
Instructional Technology
Network Services
The Enterprise Systems unit provides support, installation, and maintenance of district-wide of servers and systems.
This includes virtual and physical server environments, user provisioning, Active Directory, Office 365, wireless, AS400, Security Camera infrastructure, GreenPrint initiative, online testing, etc.
The Enterprise Systems unit also maintain the virus and malware protection on all district-owned devices.
Enterprise Systems maintains the Network Operations Center that monitors all critical servers and systems, as well as the data centers across the district.
Student Information Systems
We also manage the assignment of all student GTIDs through the GUIDE application.
Enterprise Systems
The Enterprise Systems unit provides support, installation, and maintenance of district-wide of servers and systems.
This includes virtual and physical server environments, user provisioning, Active Directory, Office 365, wireless, AS400, Security Camera infrastructure, GreenPrint initiative, online testing, etc.
The Enterprise Systems unit also maintain the virus and malware protection on all district-owned devices.
Enterprise Systems maintains the Network Operations Center that monitors all critical servers and systems, as well as the data centers across the district.
Information and Network Security
- Develop policies, standards, and procedures required for the protection of confidential information.
- Increase student, faculty, staff, and community awareness of information security through training and communication.
- Identify and mitigate risks to the security of information and systems.
- Define security requirements, establish baselines, and measure compliance based on applicable laws, regulations, and leveraging industry best practices.
- Consult with District users and departments to investigate security issues and evaluate products and processes.
- Collaborate with key stakeholders and leadership to utilize external resources and leverage technical staff to develop DeKalb County School District’s information security strategy and architecture.
- Ensure incident response and disaster recovery plans are developed, implemented, routinely tested, and continuously refined.
- Respond to and recover from disruptive and destructive information security events.