DTS Awards for Excellence
We are pleased to announce the winners of this year’s DTS Awards for Excellence. The awards are given to individuals and teams that perform outstanding work for the entire year. The employees were presented with award letters and plaques at the May 14th IT Directors Meeting. Congratulations to the following outstanding employees!
Susan Barker has been recognized with the Leadership Award for Excellence. She is a Technical Support Supervisor in the Metro Region, Campus A and is located at DWS. Susan has created valuable relationships at all levels of the organization and has been a bridge builder between DTS and her business customer. She has committed herself to providing the highest level of customer service possible. She brings to the job the things she has learned as a support person and a project manager, making her an effective leader for her team. The following are examples of Susan’s effective leadership:
- At the time Susan supervised the desktop support staff at DHS, DWS needed a desktop support supervisor. Susan willingly supervised both groups for a number of months and did an exceptional job leading approximately 30 employees.
- She led the way in her efforts to get business leaders at DWS to buy into the idea of using Remedy. She facilitated the Remedy training for customers who under her direction learned the importance of using Remedy.
- When there was difficulty getting Content Manger to work at DWS, Susan organized efforts getting different DTS groups to resolve major issues even though the system wasn’t her responsibility.
- She is good at using all the tools available to her to assist her in managing workloads and moving people where they will be the best utilized and most effective.
- She’s a person you never have to ask twice to do something.
The Employee Gateway Team has been recognized with the Innovation and Efficiency Award for Excellence. Members of the team that have exhibited outstanding performance are Brent Cleverly, Dan Olsen, Jolet Olsen, and Gerry Satterlee. The Employee Gateway was a very ambitious project and its success hinged on critical collaboration and coordination between multiple state agencies, outside collateral agencies, DTS management and developers, and DHRM project leaders and content experts. As written in the nomination, the efficiency, professionalism, and quality outcome of this team should be a model to see how a cross functional/agency team can succeed when members are focused on a successful outcome rather than individual success. The following are examples from the nomination of the team’s excellent work:
- Brent and Jolet organized and worked to add clarity to the team, clear pathways, prioritize workloads, and champion the project. They were involved in the development of the layout and content. They were both involved in every step of the project.
- Gerry ran a very efficient project, organizing the group to ensure successful completion. His attention to detail and ability to relay technical information in laymen terms made it possible for the business owners and developers to work together with ease.
- Dan was a new DTS employee at the time of the project start, and this was his first assignment. He performed an excellent job on the project, and his technical skills were second only to his people skills as he worked to help the content owners understand the technical requirements of the gateway.
Several additional DTS employees were nominated for the Awards. We appreciate their hard work and congratulate them on their nominations.
- Bart Purser - Technical Support Specialist Supervisor at Tax Commission
- Benjamin Goodrich - Technical Support Specialist at DOH
- Steve Wilkins - IT Analyst III at UDOT
- Greg Mead - IT Director at DNR
- Dave Fletcher - Chief Technology Officer
- Michael Shumway - IT Analyst III at Tax Commission
Please join me in recognizing and congratulating all of these outstanding employees!
Employee Kudos
Rob Wall and his team at DWS recently assisted a customer with setting up wireless access for attendees during a training session. The following was received from a very happy customer.
“Thank you so much for your awesome help. You guys were all so nice to make sure everyone was happy. They were very impressed with the internet connections and we didn't have any of the usual bumps off the service that everyone usually complains about…you actually provided better service than most of the expensive hotels we usually go to…
Great job. Big appreciation.”
-Patrice Godfrey
Utah State Office of Education
Additionally, we received the following letter recognizing Radio Shop employee Trevor Pollock for his excellent work in assisting SUU in Cedar City with the commencement ceremonies:
“On behalf of Southern Utah University’s Public Safety office, I would like to extend our thanks to Trevor Pollock from the State Radio Shop in Cedar City for helping with this year’s commencement ceremonies. As you are aware, commencement brings thousands of people to campus each year, and our job to ensure the safety of those attending this event would be extremely difficult without the help from various agencies.
We appreciate the working relationship we have with your department and look forward to working with you again in the future.
Again, thank you for helping to make this year’s commencement a success.”
-Chief Rick Brown
SUU DPS
These employees and their teams have gone above and beyond to accommodate Ms. Godfrey and Chief Brown. Thank you for the exemplary customer service.
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Please procure (through Remedy) all FY2009 IT goods and services by May 31, 2009 to guarantee proper year end accuracy. Please remember that an Agency must receive the item by June 30, 2009, the invoice must be delivered or confirmation of receipt to DTS procurement, payment made, and the item included in the billing system by July 15, 2009.
