Paying IT Forward

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2014

In the fall of 2011, ISAC and CoStar were approached by Emmet County seeking advice on the replacement of aging servers. CoStar decided to approach ICIT to see if they would be interested in sending a team of County IT professionals to Emmet County to do a technology assessment. With the funding being provided by CoStar, the ICIT Board approved the project. A team was formed with representatives from Worth, Hardin, Sioux, Marshall, and Dickinson Counties. The team visited with Emmet County prior to the on-site visit to define the scope of the project. The team arrived on December 7 and met with department heads and Board members to kick-off the project. The Tech Team visited with every department individually, gathered network information, reviewed financial records, and evaluated the physical structure of the network. After working well into the night, the team met again the next morning to finish entering their findings. A summary presentation was then given to the department heads and Board members. Three weeks after the visit the final report was presented to Emmet County. The final report contained detailed findings and resolutions in addition to a 2 phase plan addressing the Counties need to replace aging servers and infrastructure. The County was also informed that they could continue to contact the team for further support, which has been provided by ICIT. The evaluation of Emmet County was a huge success, so ICIT made the decision to take this "beta" program and offer it to the rest of the Counties in Iowa.