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Running head: HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

How can the IT Services Department Employee Termination Process be improved in terms of timeliness of disconnects and service status notification?

Dolores C. Alexander

University of Colorado at Denver

Instructional Design & Learning Technology - Adult Education

IT 6720 - Action Research Instructor: Dr. Laura Summers Fall, 2010

HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

Introduction Ron Tillotson said, Organizations have more to fear from lack of quality internal customer service than from any level of external customer service. This fear is one that sould spur into action and not one that would freeze one into inaction. Why fear? John Wood answers this question when he said, The purpose of a business is to create a mutually beneficial relationship between itself and those that it serves. When it does that well, it will be around tomorrow to do it some more. No one delights in uncertainty about anything and when it comes to service disconnects there is no exception. Departments within the University need to know what services are in use, by whom and whether it is necessary. When they have determined that a service is not needed, they need it cancelled immediately. Finding out six months down the road that they are being billed for a service that they had cancelled months earlier is a major source of frustration. It behoves, the IT Department who are stewards of a number of services to make things as certain as possible by giving feedback to its customers about the status of their disconnect requests. My name is Dolores Alexander and I am a 1st year student in the School of Education and Human Development Masters Program at the University of

HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

Colorado Denver. I am pursuing a Master of Arts degree in Information and Learning Technologies - Instructional Design and Adult Learning. I currently work as a Technician/Customer Service Representative with the University of Colorado Health Science Center based in Aurora, Colorado. My job includes distribution of Paging devices to faculty and staff of the University and Affiliates. This research is being completed as a requirement for my Masters Program. For this paper, I play the role of primary investigator of a problem situation that the department is currently experiencing. This research will benefit the IT Services Department, by providing documentation of the processes that will enable management to see what is working and what is not. This in turn will highlight areas that needs to be changed. Without this investigation, the department will be hitting in the dark and missing their target. The result being wasted effort with little or nothing accomplished.

Problem Statement
The IT Department comprise of a number of groups namely Network, Enterprise Computing, Email, Help Desk, Workstation Support, Customer Service and Telecommunications (Telecom). These groups provide a range of services to employees in various departments throughout the Anschutz Medical Campus and the Denver Campuses. These services include the supply of Paging devices, Telephones, File Server Accounts for data storage and access, Print Server Accounts for network printing, Personal Billing Numbers for long distance calling and or

HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED Calling Cards, and Email Accounts. The services provided are paid for by the employees department. When an employees employment is concluded with a specific department, the Human Resource Department notifies the IT Services Department about their status. The services in use by that employee must be disconnected or transferred in a timely and efficient manner with proper notification given. The problems that are being experienced, and that affects all department groups are that the services are not being disconnected promptly and the notification reporting is either not clear or not being done. In addition, management would like to have the disconnect processes documented.

Purpose and Intended Audience This purpose of this research is to document the current process and identify what is working and what is not. The area of concern being the timeliness of disconnects of services and the notification of service status to persons requesting the termination of service. The Audience/participants for this research are staff members of key groups within the IT Department. Primarily staff within Finance, Customer Service , Telecom, Application Support, Web Support, Human Resource, Billing, and Enterprise Computing among others. Participants comprise of staff members involved with performing disconnects as well as those whose involvement could help shape the outcome of the research. These are the stakeholders of this research paper and will be the ones reading this report. In addition two of them will be performing my peer review.

Research Question

HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED The Manager of the Finance Department where I worked in the IT Services Department was in the process of overhauling the Termination Process. As such, the need for a project to work on was a timely one. The question How can the IT Services Departments Employee Termination Process be made more efficient in terms of timeliness of disconnects and service status notification? was needing to be reevaluated. The new process in Figure 2b was just being rolled out, so this investigation was launched to see if it would improve the process. So the question related well to what was happening in the department at the time.

Context of Study
The IT Department is an arm of the University of Colorado at Denver whose goal is to provide technology services that will enable faculty, staff and students to be successful, and at the same time, accomplish the mission of the University. This department is aimed at providing services that are customer focused, reliable, sustainable and secure (Wishon, 2010). This department provides all the technical and telecommunication needs of the Anschulz Medical Campus (AMC) and the Denver Campus. The Termination process have been in existence for a number of years and several changes have taken place with it. The most recent change is indicated with Process 2b. This change came about as a result of the Domain change that had taken place. The previous Process 2a could no longer be supported. As such, the Forms used had to be redesigned to facilitate the Domain change as well as be updated to take into account preexisting problems with the previous forms. Management was needing to document the process to see if the it will create a better experience for users and determine if something else needs to be done.

HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

Methodology
Overview This report was completed using the Action Research Methodology. Action Research (AR) is a collaborative approach to inquiry or investigation that provides people with the means to take systematic action to resolve specific problems (Stringer, 2007). It is a process used by organizations to focus on a particular problem to identify what can be improved. It involves participants from all levels who are affected by the situation or whose involvement could affect the outcome of the process (Stringer, 2007). These individuals are called stakeholders. Underlying this type of research is the idea that people can work together in creating solutions to their own problems. Stringer points out that AR has four (4) basic characteristics. It is democratic, equitable, liberating and enhancing. The method used as it relates to data collection and analysis of the data, method/schedule changes, impact assessment and rigor are discussed in this section. Method The Action Research Inquiry method required the identification of a question or problem to solve, the selection of participants at all levels who can affect the outcome of the study and collecting data from them using various research fact finding methods. Analyzing the data collected and coming up with solutions to the problem is a final step in the process.

HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED For this research the question that I have identified with the Finance Manager of the IT Department is how can the IT Departments Employee Termination Process be improved in terms of timeliness of disconnects and service status notification? Eleven (11) stakeholders were initially identified, and 3 more were added as the research process convened. Stakeholders included representatives from Customer Service, Managers/Supervisors, Application Support and Technicians/Staff members who perform the actual services and those whose influence could affect the outcome of the study.

Data Collection To accomplish this research I used a combination of three data gathering techniques. They were interviews, observations and an online Google Survey Document. I later incorporated information gathered from email and verbal communications with stakeholders. This was used for the purpose of clarifying and getting answers for questions that I had and for addressing new discoveries made during the research process. To prepare for this, I, with in-put from the manager who gave me this assignment, identified eleven stakeholders. I contacted stakeholders and informed them about what I was doing and the department Manager I was coordinating this with. I informed them that I would like to set up a time to interview them sometime soon to obtain some information about the issue. I then put together the Consent Form that I used with the stakeholders I interviewed. The Consent Form gave general details about the purpose of the research and outlines the boundaries within which it would be conducted. See Appendix 1C. For each interview, I explained the specifics of the research and solicit questions from the individuals before asking them to sign the

HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED form indicating their agreement with the proceedings. As the principal investigator, I would also sign acknowledging the proceedings and my commitment to abide with the contents thereof. The next step was the data collection process. I set up the interview appointments and used the first two interviews as a pilot test. During the interviews I took notes and omitted doing the recording that I thought would be a good idea. My first interviewee was not comfortable with the recording so I did not bother to use it during any of the other interviews. The task was a bit slower, but not difficult. After note taking was completed, I typed the questions and responses and gave it back to the individuals to review to ensure that I got a true picture of what it is they had said. I then used the updated/corrected version for the data analysis phase. During the interviewing process, I created the online Google Survey Document for those who could not schedule a time to interview and extended the data collection for an additional week to facilitate stakeholders schedules. This document was a slightly modified version of the Interview Questions for online purposes. See Appendix 1B. I opened up the online questionnaire and emailed the stakeholders I did not interview an invitation to participate. Click here to view the online questionnaire. Data Analysis To analyze and interpret the data collected, I used the Problem Analysis Antecedents (causes) and Consequences (effects) approach. The antecedents being the existing elements that led to the problem and the consequences derived from those problems. Here are the elements at work in this analysis.

HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

This mapping helped in identifying what the key causes and effects are. Another method I used was to group all the responses of the questions together. This list enabled me to get a better idea of what the prominent issues were. For example, in answer to questions 7, what do you think is working well? Why? I got a mix of responses ranging from the Termination Process not serving a purpose to the Termination Process is working well. Assessment of the impact This facts and ideas obtained from this research will enable the department heads to get a concise understanding of the elements at play with the Termination Process. This would help them to determine where changes need to happen. The long run benefit would be a more efficient and smooth process. As the principal investigator, I was surprised by the willingness of persons to talk openly about the situation and made time in their schedules to do so. Through the pilot interviews, I discovered that I unknowingly duplicated one of the questions by saying it in different words and had to omit it. When I learned from reading the text that I needed to get some background

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED information of the problem, Stringer (2007), I replaced the 1st question with another question to capture some background information. (Appendix 1A). I also came to the awareness that folks were comfortable with note taking and did not do any recording as planned. I learned that note taking could be a little time consuming. I later had to type out what was said and give to the interviewee to see if it accurately portrayed their thoughts and ideas which was also time consuming. Overall, I thought that the method of interviewing was an excellent means of gathering detailed information. The online questionnaire was attempted by 29% of the stakeholders which I think was quite reasonable. The method was great in that it met the needs of those needing to fit this into their schedules, but it was not a great choice to capture details. The one on one contact with the interviews provided much more details and insight. Rigor Check Stringer (2007) noted that, Rigor in Action Research is based on checks to ensure that the outcomes of the research is trustworthy (p, 57). The inquiry was conducted as outlined in the text. The interviews have been documented and the Consent Forms signed by interview participants. The instruments used such as the interview questions, online survey document, consent form and other forms used are included in the Appendix. In the area of transferability, Stinger also noted that, Action Research outcomes apply only to the particular people and places that were part of the study. That does not mean, however, that nothing in the study is applicable to others (p. 59). The situations and outcomes of the inquiry is unique to the IT Department and may not apply in most context. Each researcher would need to examine their situation to see what can be applied. With regards to dependability and confirmability, the data collected have been documented and can be verified by participants.

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

Literature Review
Overview The area my research topic is focused on is customer notifications. In reviewing the literature, it was difficult to find specific research work on this topic. I searched many sites on the Internet, online business databases and journals through the Auraria Library. I searched using a number of search criteria that includes better customer service, customer feedback solutions, in-house customer feedback, technical solutions in customer service/care, giving customer notifications, business communication with customers, and customer request feedback among others. The research work that I found had to do with customer loyalty and customer satisfaction from customers who are outside the organization. Though this is important in an open market system, it is not specific to the IT Services Department. Why? Because the Departments of the University does not have a choice when it comes to who provide the needed technical services. The IT Services Departments customers and stakeholders are internal. If the staff requires technical service in the area of server access, phone, paging, network installations, etc., the IT Department provides it. Thus, they have a monopoly in this aspect. Massey, Mitzi and Montoya (2010) expressed this thought in the most succinct way: Unlike classic market-based customerservice provider relationships where the customer can switch service providers, in an organizational context, the employee (i.e., the internal customer) does not have a choice of IT Services providers. Trust matters in the internal service provider context because past research clearly shows a strong positive link between employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and business performance. (p. 3).

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED Since establishing and maintaining trust with prompt service and providing feedback is vital for the continued success of any business, non-profit or otherwise, I have put together the following understandings and explanations of the literature regarding the importance of listening to customers, involving participants in finding solutions, and finding the right solutions.

Literature Review Findings The materials reviewed heavily supports the idea of listening to customer feedback whether positive or negative. Through this mechanism businesses have fine-tuned their product offering and processes leading to better efficiency, increased profit and market share. Listening to ones customers can be looked at as the thermostat of business profitability. Hoff (2010) provided a list of reasons why he saw monitoring and utilizing customer feedback as beneficial. They include the following. It helps you make sound business improving decisions thereby helping to build, retain, and increase business' customer base. It taps the thoughts and opinions of your most valuable asset - YOUR customers. Increase customer loyalty and view your business from your customer's perspective. (p. 1)

Gates, the CEO of Microsoft had a number of advice, insights and understanding to share about the customer feedback issue. Gates (2001) advised businesses to: Create a system for effectively soliciting customer feedback, and then put that system to work. Boeing uses extensive customer involvement when developing new jetliner models. United Airlines that influenced the design of both the 767 and the 777, and British Airways Eastern Airlines participated in developing of

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED the 757. As a result, the airlines were able to tailor the planes to their specific needs and preferences. Heeding customer feedback is critical to success in any business, especially a dynamic, fast-moving industry such as ours. Despite Microsoft's desire to look beyond customer input, 80 percent of the improvements in products like Windows result from customer feedback. Log and evaluating all service requests, customer suggestions, and product complaints. (p. 1). The idea behind these observations, is to improve feedback mechanisms and act on them because they go a long way in helping to identify problem situation so that they can be corrected early. This in turn, have a strong positive effect on profits. Another area that this literature review explained in the area of customer feedback had to do with involving customers in the design of their work environment. Kamaswamy & Gouillart (2010) noted that the key to improving the experience and influence of individuals/stakeholders in designing any aspect of their work environment or process is to involve people at all levels. This enables stakeholders to play a central role in determining how they interact with each other (p.5). It is an idea called co-creation, which enhances the experience for everyone. Stinger (2007) also noted that, Within business and Industry and the professions it is now widely recognized that participatory approaches to treatment, teaching and management are much more effective ways of accomplishing productive and effective outcomes (p. 27). The review also revealed that many Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Application have been designed to assist with managing and accelerating services. These applications may be either hosted or on-premise. Business-Software.com (2010) pointed out that

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED hosted CRM solutions are not in-house and are based on a pay as you go system, which initially appears to deliver a fast return. However, in the long run it can be more expensive. On-premise CRM are licensed, on-site or in-house programs. Companies would have full control of the installation and management of the entire system and are able to streamline it as needed. A few of these are Aplicor, Netsuit, Microsoft Dynamics, RightNow, Salesforce, CommitCRM and Sage ACT!. Here is a CRM Comparison Chart of five (5) popular CRMs. Click on this link: http://www.crm-compare.com/. I have put together Figure 1a which compares three CRMs Aplicor, CommitCRM and RightNow as they fall into one or more of these industries Government, Not for Profit, Technology, Higher Education and Telecommunications that the IT Services Department belongs to.

Product Name Subscription Pricing Estimate Customer Service key features

Aplicor $89.00 per user per month Ticket/Case/Inciden t management Email to case creation Routing Escalation Knowledgebase Customer Surveys Self Service Portal

CommitCRM Perpetual license starting at $249 Support svcs Managed svcs (MSP) Customer support call & on-site visits Maintenance svcs Track customer assets Bill customer for labor, expenses, products &

Rightnow $100.00 per user per month Ticket/Case/Incide nt mgmt Email to case Creation Routing Escalation Knowledgebase Customer surveys web & voice self Exchange, Outlook, Blackberry, Wireless Account mgmt Contact mgmt Opportunity mgmt Sales Analytics

Groupware Integration Sales Force Automation key features

Exchange, Outlook, Microsoft Office Blackberry, programs Wireless Quickbooks Web interface Account mgmt Service contract Contact mgmt mgmt Opportunity mgmt Outsourcing of IT Competitive Intelligence

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED Product Name Industry Solutions Aplicor Government, Not for Profit, Financial svcs, Technology, Professional svcs, Retail Integrated Enterprise Resource Planning www.aplicor.com CommitCRM Information technology Rightnow Public sector, Financial services, High Tech, Higher Education, Retail Telecommunication

Other Software Modules Website Figure 1a

n/a

.com

www.rightnow.com

Looking at the Sales and Customer Service key features, they all have a lot to offer in the areas of Account Management, Contract Management, Service Contract Management among others. In the area of Customer Service, some of the keys key features are Ticket/Case/Incident Management, Case Routing Customer Surveys, Web and Voice Self Service, etc. Aplicor and RightNow are both similar with the exception of a few features like Data Warehousing that is missing with RightNow but present with Aplicor. CommitCRM is primarily focused on the Information Technology Industry and offers features like Service Contract Management, Support Services, and Customer Billing. They all allow for integration of some of the applications that the IT Department uses, for example, Exchange and Microsoft Office programs. The cost for Aplicor can run around $89.00 per month per user, while RightNow can run around $100.00 per month. CommitCRM has a perpetual license that starts at $249 with a minimum number of users required. Aplicor.com (2010) noted that their customer service products help grow profitable customer relationship, measuring relationship value and treating different customers differently (p. 1). RightNow.com (2010) mentioned that their product deliver positive customer experience across all channels to maintain customer loyalty and build stronger brands (p. 1).

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED CommitCRMCRM (2010) emphasized that they offer the most reliable, robust and easy to use solutions with the tools needed to excel in todays market (p. 1). A recent trend seen is a move towards web based CRMs. Harding (1998) in Software Magazine noted the following: Web-based customer relationship management (CRM) systems fall into an evolving category of software, tools, and services designed to manage customer satisfaction, control the cost of creating and maintaining information, integrate desperate islands of information such as Web Sites, knowledge bases, and call tracking systems, and control the cost and service quality of customer service representatives in call centers (p. 56). There are a number of these web-based products available that includes, netDialog, NEware, Motive Communications and Silknet Software to name a few. I think that the idea of listening to customers is a key element. Customers are quick to tell when things are going right and even quicker when they are going wrong. By businesses taking advantage of this, they are better able to gage customers perception of them and capitalize on that. Involving participants in finding solutions is revolutionary. It is no longer a me and my business world, but a collaborative world if it means better for all concerned. Finding the right solution in a world where there are so many options is a challenge. With so many CRMs (Customer Relations Management) software that offers a gamut of modules one have to guard against getting what one cannot use or would seldom use. An old adage says, there are many ways to skin a cat! When it comes to technology, there are many ways to solve a problem. However, with this economic crunch, business need to come up with their own creative ways of solving their problems it at all possible.

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED After completing this research, the question that comes to mind in determining the solution is what does one want to achieve in the long run. This would allow one to make the right choices today as it will lay a foundation for the future. The gap that I noticed in the Literature Review was that the solutions appear to be a one size fits all package. Going forward, the elements talked about in this literature about listening to customers and involving stakeholders in the solution process will help steer the direction of the business. Finding solutions that a practical, economical and effective will help keep decisions within budgetary limits.

RESEARCH FINDINGS The findings from this research brought to light a number of things concerning what was done in years past as well as what is going on currently. Time, technology and individuals needs have since been changed; requiring a reevaluation of the process. This researched solicited response from a total of 14 Stakeholders. I had interviews with 42% (See Interview Questions in Appendix 1A), 29% completed the online survey (See Survey Questions in Appendix 1B) and the remaining 29% did not participate with the interviews or the questionnaire method. A number of questions were not answered by one or more persons because they were irrelevant to the individual since they did not perform the task being asked about.

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

From the interviews and online survey the following things surfaced. The responses to the eleven (11) interview questions varied widely among respondents. Because of this variance, and the fact that the percentage of respondents who held an opinion was not a key issue of this review, but rather the ideas that was brought up and what light was shared, I have included a Summary of Research Findings section that summarizes the salient points discovered by the research into categories. It includes the processes that have been identified, decisions trees and problems noted by stakeholders. To compile this section, in addition to the interviews and online survey, I included documents provided by stakeholders as well as email, phone and one on one communication held with stakeholders to answer questions and to clarify processes. Other issues were also discovered with the current Service Termination Request Form while this report was underway and I was asked to add it in the documentation.

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

Summary of Research Findings The purpose of this research was to find out how the IT Services Department Employee Termination Process can be improved with timely disconnects and status notification. Here are the findings which have been grouped and listed by categories and then expanded on. Three Competing Processes Automatic Disconnects Department groups perform their own disconnects Notification Disconnect exceptions Decision making process for disconnects Instructions for disabling accounts Billing and disconnect discrepancy Forms may not be completed promptly Requesting Department is not given choices Duplication of Data Problems identified with new/current form How the process can be improved

Three competing processes Some of the responses did not appear to be specific to the current process indicating that respondents are not clear on which issue belonged to which process. As such, three different

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED termination processes appear to be competing. The first one called Process 2a was in place prior to the Domain change. The second is the current Process 2b that was implemented after the Domain change. The third one appears to be on paper only and might be the current process but have not been fully implemented. Figure 2a, 2b and 2c outlines the processes at play. The previous process started when a Human Resource (HR) Representative completes an online form and submits it. This generated the - UCDenver Employee Check-out Notification (webmaster@ucdenver.edu) see Appendix 2A that was sent to the CSRs mail box. The CSRs would then forward this notification with a Termination Request Note (see Appendix 2C) and Termination Sign Out Checklist (see Appendix 2D) to the Department Administrator. The Department Administrator completes and faxed or emailed the checklist back to the CSR who enters it in an online Termination Form at http://www.uchsc.edu/is/forms/termination/ - No longer available. This Termination Form mirrors the Termination Sign Out Checklist Form creating a duplication of effort. When this Form is submitted, it is unknown what happens after that. The Termination Notification used in this process was last received in the CSRs mailbox on February 16, 2010.

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

Figure 2a

The process currently seen in operation, Process 2b starts when the Human Resource (HR) representative completes an online termination form through Peoplesoft the Human Resource Database System. ***What happens next ?****

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED This is documented as being sent out to the various IT Departments Service groups listed here. Help Desk (Phone service) Accounting (PBN & Calling Cards)

Status Request - location (List of all services on the Service Termination Request Form) Customer Service (Paging device) IT Services Enterprise Computing (Server access) IT Services Telecom (Unified Messaging) IT Services Comm-Team (Data Access).

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

Figure 2b

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED The Lan Admin for each department completes the online Service Termination Request Form located at https://itservices-web.ucdenver.edu/forms/. When this form is submitted, it produces the new notification currently being circulated. It has as its title and source UCDTermination Form, ( Account.Request@ucdenver.edu) - Appendix 2B. Based on the interviews I know for certain that Accounting, CSR and Enterprise Computing (Server) receives this notification. Currently the Accounting group receives both the Termination Notification from HR Appendix 2A and the UCD-Termination Form - Appendix 2A. At this time, it is unknown if the other IT Services groups are receiving both notifications. The form in Appendix 2B have some of the data that is contained in the form in Appendix 2A. However, Appendix 2B contains the services that is specific for the IT group that receives it. For example, on the Appendix 2B Form, the information that the CSR group receives is specific to the Pager number associated with that particular terminated employee and the Appendix 2B Form that the Accounting Department gets will have the Calling Card and PBN information listed only. This information is a breakout of the data filled in by the Lan Admin on the online Service Termination Request Form. Process 2c is documented and appears to have some resemblance to Process 2B except that the steps involving the CSR is missing in practice currently. These Processes are very similar and difficult for to differentiate.

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

Figure 2c

Automatic Disconnects

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED Information gathered revealed that some disconnects are taking place automatically through the Identity Management System (IDM). This includes both email accounts and active directory accounts. As such, individuals do not need to disconnect these on a one on one basis except for special cases where a group or specialty email account needs to be discontinued. These are said to be working well. It was noted by one participant that some disconnects can not be automatically disconnected because of the various options/conditions that needs to be considered.

Department groups perform their own disconnects Each IT Services Department group (other than those being disconnected by the IDM) are responsible for the deactivation of their own services. For example, the IT Services Enterprise Computing group disables server access since this is their line of work; the IT Services Customer Service Representatives, who distributes pagers, are the ones responsible for disconnecting them.

Notification From the information provided by interviewed stakeholders, I learned that top management believes that feedback is critical to the business and the lack thereof is a flaw in the business process. A few of the IT groups currently send feedback on disconnect status to the requesting individual or department when the service is disabled. They are the Server group, the CSRs, Telecom and Accounting to some extent. When the CSRs performs a pager disconnect, 2 copies of the cancellation report is printed and one copy is given to the individual returning the pager or the one requesting the disconnect. The other copy is filed by the CSR. If the request is made via email, then immediate feedback in the form of an email is given when the pagers

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED service is disabled. Again, one copy is filed by the CSR. Telecom pointed out that each time a phone is disconnected the contact person is notified orally that the work is completed. No other information is available for the other groups. A major issue that was brought up is the fact that no feedback is given to requesting department personnel when service is terminated. In addition, the way the Pinnacle database handles disconnects, the status is uncertain until a report is run around the middle of the month.

Disconnect Exceptions Information gathered from both the interview and survey revealed that often employees are not leaving the University but transferring to another department within the University. It is also common practice that pagers are transferred from one employee to another and sometimes the employee might carry the pager with them to another department. In these cases the information needs to be updated and not deactivated. As such, the IT Termination Form with Process 2a could not be used to disconnect Pagers, Servers, Phones or other services. This is because the Form assumes that the service just needs to be deactivated. What is needed instead, is to transfer server location, user name and or billing Speedtype or Cost Center number as the case may be. The latest version of the Service Termination Request Form used with Process 2b and 2c allow for this transfer by allowing the Lan Admin (person completing the Termination Form) to indicate the specifics of the transfer. For example, for phone service, the requester would need to indicating the phone number, the new display name, building, room, jack number, Speedtype (billing number) and if they need to reset the voicemail.

Decision making process for disconnects

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED Question 3 on the data collection documents asked about the decision process one needs to make when processing disconnects. The responses where not very detailed. However, further research revealed the following.

Figure 3a

Figure 3b

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

Figure 3c

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

Figure 3d

Instructions for disabling accounts Question 4 solicited the instructions one would follow in disconnecting services. Each service have its own disconnect process. Here are the step by step procedures for disabling Server Accounts, PBN and Calling Cards and Pagers. Procedure for disabling Server Accounts 1. The Lan Admin completes the online form at https://itservices-web.ucdenver.edu/forms/ location and submits it. The information pertaining to the server services is sent to an account request folder. 2. A Technician (Alex) pulls it and prints the request. 3. The Tech logs on to the Community Server, and finds the user department. 4. He then goes to the home directory for the terminated individual and clicks the radio button to un-share the home directory. 5. The Tech replies back to the Lan Admin that the Home Directory is disable at the same time the Termination Request is BCC (Blind Carbon Copied) to the Request Status Folder. 6. The Tech moves the form to a Pinnacle disabled folder. 7. The request form is given to the Admin Infrastructure Tech (Tina). 8. A student worker disables service in Pinnacle and replies back to the requestor or Lan Admin that the billing services have been disabled.

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED 9. 30 days later the server record is deleted. Procedures for terminating Calling Cards and Personal Billing Numbers 1. Termination request UCDenver Employee Check-out Notification is received via email from HR and Printed. 2. Log in to Pinnacle and access Billing -> Subscriber -> Subscriber Profile. 3. Select Find and enter last name to search. 4. Select the correct name and click Services from the menu bar on the left of the Subscriber Profile window. (All services for that employee is using is listed here). Procedure for Terminating Personal Billing Numbers (PBNs) at AMC - [303-315 & 303-724 numbers] 1. Once the service is verified, tickets are created in Pinnacle for the service disconnect. 2. A Telecom Tech is notified to remove the PBN from the Switch. 3. The hard copy will be filed. Procedure for Terminating Personal Billing Numbers(Long Distance Access Codes) at DC - [303-352 & 303-556 numbers] 1. Termination request is received via email from HR and Printed. 2. Create a Work Order in AHEC database to cancel service. 3. After 2 days, go in to AHEC database to verify if the Long Distance Access Code has been removed from the switch. 4. When it has been removed, a Work Order is created in Pinnacle to cancel the billing processing. Procedure for Terminating Calling Cards 1. 2. 3. 4. Termination request is received via email from HR and Printed. Log in to Pinnacle and access Billing -> Subscriber -> Subscriber Profile. Select Find and enter last name to search. Select the correct name and click Services from the menu bar on the left of the Subscriber Profile window. (All services for that employee is using is listed here). 5. Once the service is verified, tickets are created in Pinnacle for the disconnect to remove account billing. 6. An email is sent to Quest (Phone Company) to cancel the Calling Card. 7. When completed, the PBN request is put into a folder at - Q://Accounting/AP ITEMS/Termination Form/FY 10-11

Procedure for Pager Cancellation

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED The cancellation/deactivation process must take place in USAMOBILITY using the online MyAccount system (or via telephone with a Usamobilitys Representative) and in our in-house ACCESS database. Process 1 - in USAMOBILITY On USAMOBILITYS Main Menu 1. Select Manage Devices 2. On the Management Tools Menu, select View Devices 3. Click on Click Here to search for specific device. 4. Click on the radio button for Cap code and enter the Cap code number at the back of the pager 5. Select the Device Number that comes up for that Cap code 6. Scroll down the page and select More Options 7. Choose Cancel Device to submit a request to USAMOBILITY to cancel this device Process 2 In-house with ACCESS Database On the ACCESS Pager Forms Menu 1. Select the Deactivate Pager button (See page iv) to display the following. 2. Enter the Deactivation Reason from the dropdown list. [If the physical pager is presented for the return, then select Return. Otherwise, select Lost Pager 3. For Pager Number, enter the number of the pager to be deactivated. (The Cap code that is currently in use for this pager will be displayed along with the user name, billing cycle, account, extension, responsible person, department and campus box) 4. To proceed with deactivation, click on Yes. Clicking No will allow you to enter another pager number 5. Select Close Form to exit

Billing and disconnect discrepancy

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED The research revealed that there are times when the billing of the service might be stopped while the service is not disconnected and vice versa. This results in services being received with no charges or departments being charged when no service is being provided; which implies that requests are falling through the cracks. A key point to note is that Telecom have no way of knowing the reason for the disconnect. Once they receive a request to disconnect a service, they do so. If no request is received, nothing is done.

Forms may not be completed Promptly Sometimes services are not deactivated because the request was not received. For example, if the Lan Admin or Department Administrator forgets to complete the Service Termination Request Form promptly. This results in continued billing of service when the service is not being used. Under Process 2a, pagers at times were not deactivated because of the transferring that may go on behind the scene.

Requesting Departments is not given choices Under the old Process (2a), the requesting person in the department (Supervisor or Lan Admin) were not given a choice as to how to handle services when someone terminates. The new online Service Termination Request Form does provide some options. Requesting parties can now indicate if they want to disconnect, not disconnect, dont know or reassign services.

Duplication of data With the previous process 2a, the CSRs, on receipt of the UCDenver Employee Checkout Notification, would attach a Termination Sign-out Checklist Form and a Termination Request

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED note asking the Lan Admin to complete the form and fax it back to the department. Then they would take that information from the Termination Sign-out Checklist and enter it into an online Termination Form that mirrors the same checklist. (It is unknown at this time what happened to that information when submitted.) If the form indicated to deactivate pager service for a particular device the CSR were told at one time to deactivate it and that was done. This process however, involved duplication of effort that is considered an inefficiency in the process. The new process (2b) allows the HR notification to go to the Lan Admin and having them go online to complete the Service Termination Request Form. When this form is submitted, the system automatically breaks it out by department and sends the information specific for each department to that department. The departments then perform their own disconnects.

Problems identified with current form The current process 2b and 2c, enhances the previous process 2a by providing the Department Administrator or Lan Administrator a list of options when making request. This Form may however need further testing. While this report was being prepared, a few discoveries were made with the current UC Denver IT Services Termination Form and another observation was made by a department user. It was discovered that the Termination Request Form/UC Denver IT Services Termination Forms Comments did not carry over on the UCD-Termination Form Appendix 2B. (This has been fixed). A couple test ran on this form revealed that when the Reassign button was selected for the pager and Calling Cards, the New Speedtype did not accept a valid Speedtype,

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED but instead says Please enter a value between 4 and 8. Generally Speedtypes are either 4 or 8 digits long. So the criteria may need to be revised. Most of the entries on the form are required. This implies that for individual service cancellations, the requestor would need to make an entry for all the services not needed. Currently, customers are not properly informed as to where, when, or how they need to submit termination requests. Currently, request are emailed to different departments, but there is no record of receipt, or when/if the receipt have been processed. Communication with the techs disconnecting the service, the tech removing the charge, and the customer needs to be streamlined. The initial requestor may not have access to submit termination request from our system since access needs to be granted.

How the process can be improved

It was clear from the 50% of respondents responding to this question (Question 11) that they felt that things could be fine tuned with some level of automation. The questions one needs to ask at this point is whether the benefit would exceed the effort in this regard. One stakeholders suggested to automate the work flow, but thought that it might prove to be too elaborative for such a small task. Another, thought that centralizing the entire disconnect process would make for easy tracking and reporting. Others thought the process could be linked to Pinnacle. One person noted that the IDM program that disables the account could notify the Lan

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED Admin to follow up with the ISURF. Another noted that rules should be put in place to have the Tech doing the work to indicate when it is done. Another said to have one central place to note all disconnects and have one person from each group follow up, until all groups completed their disconnects and then send feedback to the customer. Automating some aspect of the system was favored by some participants. An examination of the literature review presented some solutions (Figure 1a) that can be costly in terms of licenses fees, support, and ongoing maintenance. It was however, expressed that a simple solution was desired. As such, 2 ideas have been put forward as a means of automating and streamlining the process.

Idea I One of the solutions that was presented was as follows. Using the current Process 2b, provide detailed instructions to the person submitting the termination request to HR. Instructions on where to go (links to web pages) to complete the Service Termination Request. Information on who can submit the request and a brief description of how the different services will be processed. When the user submits the Service Termination Form data, the request should be stored in a database. A nightly script should be run that compares the requested services to the Pinnacle database, or Pager database. Once all services have been confirmed as disconnected, then a report can be automatically emailed back to the requester.

Idea II The IT Services Department are stewards of the services that staff and employees use to complete their jobs at the University. As such, when someone is terminated or transferred, it

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED would be fitting for the department to present to the employees Department Admin or Lan Admin a list of all services that can be identified for that employee and asked that an Action Plan Request be submitted. There are 2 ways this can be done using a manual or an automated process. (Figure 4a or 4b). This solution calls for a special assignment task force of 1 or 2 persons - the Termination Response Unit. This Units will do the following. Manual Process - 4a Identifying what services are in use by the individual that are not automatically disabled. Routes the list of services identified with an Action Plan Request to the Department Admin or Lan Admin. At the same time, storing these services in the tracking database. The Lan Admin or Department Admin would forward the Action Plan to the TRU. On receipt of the action plan, the unit would take the necessary steps to deactivate services. For Phone disconnects a note can be included on the ticket to have Techs return completed tickets to the Unit or notify the unit when the job is done so they can update the tracking database or the Techs can also update the Tracking Database themselves. Alternatively, scripts/programs could be written to compare the various database to see when they are disconnected, update the tracking database with the status of the request and the database can send a nightly report on the status of all such requests.

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

Figure 4a

Figure 4b

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED Automated Process - 4b Identifying what services (in Pinnacle) that are in use by the individual and that are not automatically disabled. Enters or use scripts to capture these services to the database. Send instructions to Lan Admin or Department Admin to go to the Tracking Database to complete the Action Plan, which is an option in that Tracking Database. The Lan Admin or Department Admin would go online and complete the Action Plan. This can also be used to request services online. The TRU views/pulls these request from the Tracking Database and disable services or create tickets to disable services. For Phone disconnects a note can be included on the ticket to have Techs return completed tickets to the Unit or notify the unit when the job is done so they can update the tracking database. The Techs can also update the Tracking Database themselves. Alternatively, scripts/programs could be written to compare the various database to see when they are disconnected, update the tracking database with the status of the request and the database can send a nightly report on the status of all such requests. The idea behind these solutions is to minimize the spreading of the disconnection of services among the various teams because it becomes more difficult to coordinate and track. This would makes the process easier to follow and upkeep. The Termination Response Unit would therefore be cross-trained in the disconnection and updates of all services that are not automatically disabled. The advantages of either of these processes is that the Termination Process becomes more focus by being a one hub process. This means that Communication is between HR and TRU; between TRU and Lan/Dept. Admin; between TRU and Telecom/Network team. This would improve timeliness of disconnects because request go

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED directly to the person performing the disconnect and activating the notification process, and achieving the intentions of this inquiry. In addition it will extend the opportunities to serve customs by providing online access to submit Action Plans Requests (for all services), to track request status, receive timely notifications, get a history of action taken on a particular service number or individual and provide a platform for ad-hoc reporting. Running alongside this task force is a Tracking Database (with Microsoft Access, Oracle or Web 2.0 enabled database). This tracking database would capture the Termination Notification data (via scripting or other programming code) sent from HR in a table called Employee _Term for example. There would also be additional tables for service identified, service status (terminated, transferred, etc.), and notification (what notification was sent, when and to whom). Currently, some groups log these disconnects in a spreadsheet. These can instead be entered or transferred to this Tracking Database.

Implications for Practice

The findings revealed that a new process was in place but it had not been caught on with stakeholders. Some of the issues identified related to former or other processes and not the current one. It was revealed that some departments do give notifications. Namely, the Server group, CSR, Telecom and to some extent Billing. The duplication of data with the CRS was with a former Process 2a. The issue with the departments not given options is also with process 2a. Process 2b have significantly improved on Process 2a. Some training to increase awareness of the current Process 2b, will clarify the process to employees. In the case of billing and disconnect discrepancy, a focused approach with a means of checking the request that comes in against the disconnect status notification, all within the same

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED database, will enable this discrepancies to be caught and corrected promptly. This can be achieved through recommendation Idea II. It was revealed that not all service can be disabled automatically. This means that some aspects can be automated, while others will be performed manually. Department groups performing their own disconnects appear to be working. The only thing is that the work is spread-out and several notification have to be given if more than one service is in use. A centralized process that sends notification 2 days after service is requested can cut down on the number of notifications being sent. Also with this kind of system in place, reminders can be given to Lan Admins if notice was sent and the action plan was not received after a certain period. A key element that would hamper the consolidation of this data, is the fact that within all systems there is not a single identifier that can single-handedly link all services. The implication is that one needs to find alternative ways of linking these applications. For example, through computer programs and scripts. The value of this study is that management have a concise and documented view of the elements and processes at work with the Termination Process. They can see what is working and what is not and why. They are now better able to make decisions on the direction it should go.

Conclusion
The research was done to determine how the IT Services Department Employee Termination Process can be improved in terms of timeliness of disconnects and status notifications. The limitations I was faced with are:

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED Management requiring a simple, and inexpensive solution. Only 50% of respondents made some comment on how to improve the process with not much details so the solution was limited to what was presented. There are many ways to reach a solution, but it depends on what needs to be achieved. The current Process 2b with the recommendation in Idea I is a feasible solution and allow one to get by. Where one needs to go in the future may be the deciding factor. Solutions do not have to be expensive, just practical. Destinationcrm.com, (2010). noted that the top 3 reasons why business turn to CRM are to enhance revenue/grow market share, improve customer satisfaction/loyalty and maintain competitive advantage. Most of these are not the IT Departments primary focus at this time. The IT Services Department is a non-profit, government entity and the focus at this time is customer satisfaction. As mentioned before, being an internal provider, IT Services have the monopoly, so competition is not an issue at this time. The literature review showed a number of government enterprises as well as commercial enterprises using CRM as a solution. CRMs cover a wide range of business areas and features that would enhance any business, if and when it is a financially via solution and the need warrants it. Since the IT Department is already utilizing Pinnacle, Chaps and Outlook for their financial, sales, and customer related business functions as well as have the man-power for Applications Development, there may not a need for an expensive system. The solutions presented can make the Termination Process a simple and efficient one.

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

APPENDIX
1A. Interview Questions

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 1. What IT Group do you work with and what are your responsibilities? - (Pilot test only) 1. What IT Group do you work with and what are your responsibilities? 2. Describe the current process for Terminating server accounts, email accounts, paging services, PBNs? 3. What decisions do you need to make while processing the termination request for server accounts, email accounts, paging services, PBNs? 4. Can you walk me through the process you follow when the termination request is received? 5. What problems do you encounter when completing the ___________________ termination process? 6. How do you handle/work with these problems? 7. What do you think or see as working well? Why? 8. What do you think is not working well? Why? 9. What suggestions do you have to improve what is not working well? 10. What kind of notification do you think should be in place? How often? To whom? (i.e. immediately, once a day, etc.) 11. How can the process be changed to improve/clarify the flow of the notification process? 12. What problems/situations do you encounter when processing Termination Requests for server, email, paging services and PBNs?

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

1B. Online Termination Process Survey Form

TERMINATION PROCESS SURVEY FORM

The purpose of this survey is to review the Termination Process to determine if it can be improved. Please give your honest feedback to these questions or on as many as you can. No personal information is being tracked on this survey. Please indicate which Termination Process you are commenting on. Thanks for your participation. 1. What background information can you share on the Termination Process? (Example, what has been changed over time about this process and where it needs to be). 2. Where does the request to Terminate Service come from? (Example, Department Admin, HR, etc) 3. Give the steps you follow when terminating request for server accounts, email, paging, calling cards, phones, other. Please note what area you are commenting on. (Give instructions). 4. What decisions do you need to make while processing the termination request for the area you work in? (Example, should the service be transferred, etc) 5. What problems do you encounter when completing this termination process? (Situations that come up) 6. How do you handle or work around these problems? (Clarify, call someone). 7. What do you think is working well? Why? (Things that are helpful, useful, etc) 8. What do you think is not working well? Why? (Things you don't like or that causes problems). 9. What suggestions do you have to improve what is not working well? (Any thoughts/ideas) 10. What kind of notification do you think should be in place? To Whom? How often? (On completion, immediately, once a day, etc) 11. How can the notification process be streamlined or clarified? (Your ideas/suggestions) 1C. Research Consent Form
Date: September 17th 2010 2010 Valid for Use Through: October 15,

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

Study Title: How can the IT Services Departments Termination Process be made more efficient with regards to timeliness of disconnects and clarity of the notification process. Principal Investigator: Dolores Alexander HSRC No: n/a Version Date: September 17th 2010 Version No.: 1

You are being asked to be in a research study. This form provides you with information about the study. A member of the research team will describe this study to you and answer all of your questions. Please read the information below and ask questions about anything you dont understand before deciding whether or not to take part. . Why is this study being done? This study plans to learn more about the IT Departments Termination process and determine if the disconnect and notification process can be improved. You are being asked to be in this research study because you are a stakeholder or person who is involved with the termination process or whos influence would affect the outcome of this research. Up to 10 people will participate in the study. What happens if I join this study? If you join the study, the principal investigator will explain to you the purpose of the study, why you were selected to be part of the study and explain your rights as a participant in the study. You will be asked to be part of an interview where you will be asked several questions about the termination process in your area of expertise, including what is currently working and what is not. The interview will be 25 - 30 minutes long. Your honest feedback will be appreciated. What are the possible discomforts or risks? Discomforts you may experience while in this study include sitting for 25 - 30 minutes and the presents of a recording device that will be used for note-taking purposes. There are no physical, emotional or job loss risk involved in this research because the information gathered will be used to document the processes involved and to determine if anything can be done to make it more efficient.

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED What are the possible benefits of the study? This study is designed for the researcher to learn more about the processes that need to take place when a termination request is received and to determine if there might be areas that can be improved. Who is paying for this study? This research will be covered by the employees regular pay and is not funded separately. Will I be paid for being in the study? Will I have to pay for anything? You will not be paid any additional amount for being in this study and you will not have to pay for any material or service. It will not cost you anything to be in this study. Is my participation voluntary? Taking part in this study is voluntary. You have the right to choose not to take part in this study. If you choose to take part, you have the right to stop at any time. If you refuse or decide to withdraw later, you will not lose any benefits or rights to which you are entitled. What happens if I am injured or hurt during the study? There is no risk of physical injury associated with this study. Who do I call if I have questions? The researcher carrying out this study is Dolores Alexander. You may ask any questions you have now. If you have questions later, you may call her office phone at 303-724-0400 or cell phone 303-652-7560. You may have questions about your rights as someone in this study. You can call Dolores Alexander with questions. You can also call the Human Subject Research Committee (HSRC). You can call them at 303-556-4060. Who will see my research information?

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED We will do everything we can to keep your records a secret. It cannot be guaranteed. Both the records that identify you and the consent form signed by you may be looked at by others. They are as follows. The principal Investigator. Federal agencies that monitor human subject research Human Subject Research Committee Senior Management of the IT Department. Regulatory officials from the institution where the research is being conducted who want to make sure the research is safe The results from the research may be shared at a meeting. The results from the research may be in published articles. Your name will be kept private when information is presented. All voice recordings will be held in confidence. Recording will not be disclosed to other persons within the IT Department. These will remain on file for 6 months after the documentation process is complete. Agreement to be in this study I have read this paper about the study or it was read to me. I understand the possible risks and benefits of this study. I know that being in this study is voluntary. I choose to be in this study: I will get a copy of this consent form. Signature: Print Name: Date:

Consent form explained by: Print Name:

Date:

Investigator:

Date:

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

2A. UC Denver Employee Check-out Notification

From: UC Denver Employee Check-Out Notification [webmaster@ucdenver.edu] Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 7:56 AM To: Subject: UC Denver Employee Check-Out Notification Item ID205 has been added Employee First Name: John Bloe Employee Middle Initial: Employee Last Name: Employee ID: Position Title: Position Type: Department: Campus Location: Last Day Worked (mm/dd/yyyy): Employee Work Email: Employee Home Email: Eligible for Retirement?: Administrator/Designee Email: Comments: Last Modified 8/2/10 7:55 AM by system Account

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED 2B. UCD-Termination Form From: UCD-Termination Form [Account.Request@ucdenver.edu] Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 2:39 pm To: CSR Subject: Termination Form - John Bloe IT Services Termination Form User InformationFirst Name: Middle Initial: Last Name: Employer: Employee ID: Department: Building: Termination Effective Termination: 08/10/2010 Pager Service Pager unknown Comments-

2C. Signature File for process 2a

Hello <Supervisors name>: Please complete the attached IT Service "Employee Termination" form to your best ability for all employees. It is important that you fill in the birth month, birth day and the last four digits of the employees' social security number. This form may be faxed (303-724-0809), mailed (Campus Box F408), e-mailed (ITS-CSR@ucdenver.edu) or completed over the phone (303-724-0400). If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us. If you have previously completed and sent this form please disregard. Thank you for your cooperation.

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

2D. Termination Sign Out Checklist for Process 2a University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center
IT Services Department, Fitzsimons Campus, 13001 East Colfax Avenue, PO Box 6508, Building 500, Room C4000 Campus Box F408 Downtown Denver Campus School of Nursing School of Pharmacy University Hospitals Aurora, CO 80045 School of Medicine School of Dentistry Graduate School

Termination Sign Out Checklist

First Name: ____________________________ MI: ____ Employee ID #: _________________________________ Birth Month: ____________ Department: ____________________________________ Building: ______________________________________ Email Address: _________________________________ Immediate Supervisor: ___________________________ Supervisor Email: _______________________________ Supervisor Phone: ______________________________ Last Name: ___________________________________ Phone Number: ________________________________ Last (4) SSN: __________________________________ Speed Type #: _________________________________ Room Number: ________________________________ Stargate User ID: ______________________________ Dept Admin/LAN Email: _________________________ Dept. Admin/LAN: ______________________________ Dept Admin/LAN Ext: ___________________________ Is this person leaving UCDHSC or transferring to another department? Leaving UCDHSC Transferring Yes No Mustang,etc) Does this person have an email account that should be terminated? Yes No Yes No Dont know Dont know *If yes, pager number: ___________ CAP Code: *If yes, PBN Dont Does this person have a pager that should be terminated? _____________________ Does this person have a PBN? Yes No Dont know number: ___________ Does this person have a calling card? Yes Is this person a sponsored user? Yes No know Does this person have a RAS account? Yes No Dont know Does this person have a VPN account? YesNo Dont know Dont know Do we need to disconnect any b-jacks? YesNo phones? Yes No No Dont know Dont know Do we need to disconnect any Dont know Dont know Effective Date: _________________ *If yes, which file server? ____________________ (i.e. Porsche, Does this person have an account on an ITS file server? Birth Day: _____________

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

Signature: ___________________________________________ Date: _________________________

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED

3A. Signature File for process 2c

SERVICE TERMINATION SIGNATURE FILE Dear <Department Administrator>, Human Resources just notified IT Services that <employee> <employee ID Number> is being terminated (See below). If <employee> <employee ID number> is NOT being terminated, you are not the right person to discuss this with, or , if you simply have questions, please reply to this e-mail with corrected information or call 4-HELP (303-724-43570 and ask for a Customer Service Representative. We would like to take this opportunity to help you avoid unnecessary charges. You can discontinue charges associated with this outgoing employees account by filling out our online IT Services User Request Form (ISURF) ( http://administration.ucdenver.edu/admin/its/forms/service/). There is also a place to request access to your outgoing employees data. Thank you, IT Services

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED vid=13&hid=8&sid=81d73225-64d0-4888-a8ef-f19007df795a %40sessionmgr15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d %3d#db=buh&AN=4800903 Harding, E. (1998). Customer Service & support takes to the Web. Software Magazine, Vol. 18 Issue 15, p56. Retrieved from

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Hoff, Michelle. (2010). Empowering business by giving consumers a voice. Retrieved from http://www.bizgrader.com/why_bizgrader/index.php Kamaswamy, Venkat. & Gouillart, Francis. (October 2010). Building the Co-Creative Enterprise. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 88 Issue 10, p100-109. Retrieved from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.skyline.ucdenver.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? vid=12&hid=8&sid=81d73225-64d0-4888-a8ef-f19007df795a%40sessionmgr15 Montoya, Mitzi. M., Massey, Anne P., & Khatri, Vijay. (Spring 2010). Connecting IT Services Operations to Service Marketing Practices. Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 26 Issue 4, p65-85, Retrieved from http://0web.ebscohost.com.skyline.ucdenver.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? vid=11&hid=8&sid=81d73225-64d0-4888-a8ef-f19007df795a%40sessionmgr15 Rightnow.com. (2010). Customer Experience Strategies. Retrieved from http://www.rightnow.com/strategy-archive.php Stringer, E.T. (2007). Action Research.- 3rd Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage Publications Inc.

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HOW CAN THE IT SERVICES DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE TERMINATION PROCESS BE IMPROVED Tillotson, Ron. (n. d). Customer Service Quotations. Retrieved from http:businesstrainingworks.com/Customer-Service/Free-Customer-Service-Quotes.html Wood, John. (n. d). Customer Service Quotations. Retrieved from http:businesstrainingworks.com/Customer-Service/Free-Customer-Service-Quotes.html Wishon, A. (2010). Welcome to IT Services. Retrieved from http://www.ucdenver.edu/about/departments/ITS/Pages/welcomeMessage.aspx