Friday, September 6, 2024
Members of the Hood County Commissioners Court engaged in a lively discussion last week regarding the potential implementation of a daily reporting process for IT personnel.
Although no formal motion was made regarding the agenda item, county officials engaged in a 30-minute discussion that showcased opposing viewpoints on transparency and operational efficiency.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Dave Eagle opened the discussion by highlighting the importance of tracking time, as he said it was essential for accurate billing and quality control.
“I'm in the dark a lot with the IT department,” he said. “I'll confess, I don't know that much about how the IT department operates. I mean, I know they keep our computers going, and all that kind of stuff, but for me, I need some benchmarks. I need quality control points, and I think we need to do diligence to understand exactly what's going on with employees in the department on a daily basis.”
Eagle recommended exploring resources like the DataPine website to understand the benefits of IT analytics better. He mentioned several advantages of interactive reporting, including enhanced decision-making, improved productivity and reduced costs, stating that these tools could help streamline processes and foster greater confidence in the department's operations.
“Running an IT department is no easy feat, and I think (IT Chief Information Officer) Drew (Wiederkehr) can testify to that,” Eagle said. “There are countless things to consider on a daily basis, not to mention long term initiatives to focus on ... There's plenty of other material to read about this, about taking more care in what you're doing on a daily basis or an hourly basis to give us some sort of data points to work from when we're looking at budgets."
In response to Eagle, Wiederkehr stated that the IT department utilizes a ticketing system that allows him to print reports on the number of tickets, response times, and the departments where most time is spent. He expressed his willingness to provide these reports if the court deems them useful.
Hood County Judge Ron Massingill noted the challenges faced by both Parker County and the city of Granbury after experiencing a network hack, where they each suffered financial losses and significant downtime in their systems.
He explained that during a similar hacking attempt on the county’s systems, both Wiederkehr and Assistant Chief of Information Technology Owen Curnutt quickly detected the threat — preventing any data loss and sparing the county from a significant financial burden.
“We had Homeland Security here, the FBI here ... and those people were so laudatory in their praise about our IT department,” Massingill said. “These guys immediately picked up on it and saved this county millions of dollars. We never lost one bit of information, and never had to hire any outside people. They did such a marvelous job where everybody else around us, it cost them millions of dollars.”
Massingill praised the IT team's responsiveness, recounting instances where he reached out to them in the middle of the night for urgent issues, and said they always delivered.
"They've never let me down,” he said. “I have the highest praise for these people, and I have never had any complaint about anybody in this department.”
He also expressed pride in the work of the IT department, stating, “If it’s not broken, why are we trying to fix something by putting another requirement in?”
“We're trying to improve on something that I was so proud of. I mean, we were all under a cloak of certain secrecy that we couldn't say anything, but these guys did a marvelous job,” Massingill continued, resulting in a round of applause from the public. “I'm proud of our employees, and I think they do one great job and I'm against putting another something on for them to do ... I don't think this is necessary. I don't think we should be creating another job for IT department when they've done such a fabulous job for Hood County.”
Precinct 2 Commissioner Nannette Samuelson also shared her extensive background in IT, noting that throughout her 30-plus years in the field, it was common to track the time spent on various projects like coding and troubleshooting. She emphasized that many software programs exist specifically for IT time reporting, making it a common procedure across departments.
“There's a saying that what gets measured gets done," Samuelson said. “This is also a management tool for Drew to be able to develop his employees. ‘You had this amount of time spent on this. Was there something I could have helped you with?' As a manager, director, supervisor, when I was on the other side of the timekeeping, I used those documents to help me develop my staff; that's why there's so many uses for this. It's just a normal process that every IT department does. It's not anything that's out of the ordinary."
She went on to explain that if timekeeping were not widely practiced, there wouldn’t be a dedicated software to provide this service.
“This is just a way for two things,” Samuelson said. “To help Drew manage and develop his staff, and also ensure that we as the court are spending our dollars correctly. It's just another way to be fiduciary responsible for the tax dollars.”
Precinct 1 Commissioner Kevin Andrews told Wiederkehr he appreciates his efforts to save the county money. He also questioned if there was a way to track the time spent on individual support tickets without making the process burdensome.
Wiederkehr said he is open to providing the reports, as long as the IT department can continue utilizing its current system.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Jack Wilson emphasized there are certain activities within IT that cannot be publicly disclosed for security reasons. He also expressed concern about departments utilizing micromanaging tactics to lead their teams.
"Are we going to start having road ops do a ticket every time they go to fix a pothole?” Wilson asked. “Because that's where we're headed."
During public comments, Hood County resident Brad Yarborough raised a question about the employment status of IT staff. Once Wiederkehr confirmed there are only three hourly employees, Yarborough argued that implementing a time clock for the salaried employees is unnecessary.
"To me, this is just micromanaging something the court doesn't need to do,” he said. “Dave talks about trying to save money and whatnot ... If you're that concerned about money, then why isn't every department having to turn in timesheets? To me, this is just your way of trying to control everything in this county, starting with IT. I would not recommend doing this because again, if you ask any IT guy, it's just a waste of their time."
“I’m an IT guy,” Samuelson added.
“I’ve been in IT for over 20 years,” Yarborough said. “It’s a huge waste of time ... If you’re going to do it just for IT, you need to do it for everybody.”
Hood County resident Harold Granek referenced his prior experience as a retinal specialist, noting that sometimes the end results matter more than the hours logged.
"I was in a profession where I fixed eyes, specifically, and there was one retina person who said, ‘Well, he would spend more than two hours fixing an eye,’” Granek said. “The difference between his results and mine was at a much higher successful rate and doctors tended to refer to me because I got success — that's the key in IT. You want to know what the result is. If I spent just two hours and quit, but I spent two-and-a-half hours and fixed the eye, that's what mattered to people.
“If Drew found it useful to have this accounting, I'd say go with it. Otherwise, it strikes me as additional paperwork that will take time and therefore in some sense, costs the county money. What we want from IT is the result, and we're getting results with them without this accounting process. Unless Drew found that useful, I would think that we should continue what we're doing and get good results.”
Eagle then posed a question to Wiederkehr, asking if he could tell the court exactly what his hourly employees do during their 40 hours on a daily basis.
“Is that what you want me to do?” Wiederkehr asked. “Yes, I can do that.”
“But you couldn't do it right now, right?” Eagle asked.
“I can,” Wiederkehr said. “Everything is tracked on the ticket system.”
"Everything is tracked on a ticket by employee when they come in, and when they leave, so you can give us a time sheet for each employee?” Eagle asked.
“Is that what you want? Yes,” Wiederkehr responded.
“That's not what I asked you,” Eagle said. “I asked you, ‘Is it something that can be done with what you’ve got right now?’”
“Yes. That's all I'm saying,” Wiederkehr said. “I can do a report if that's what you want.”
“I've learned everything I need to learn today,” Eagle said.
Samuelson expressed that if there’s an existing report, it should be shared with the court. She later clarified that they mainly need a summary by person, day, or week. Wiederkehr said he can deliver whatever frequency the court prefers.
Following more discussion, Andrews remarked that the IT department can build on the information they already have and questioned the necessity of a formal motion. Finally, Massingill suggested for Wiederkehr to send any reports that are currently available, and the court will provide feedback if any additional information was needed.
