Your TASSCC 2020 Breakdown: Every session in 250 words or less

DAY ONE – MONDAY, AUG. 10

Welcome Comments and DIR Update (112 Words)

Lisa Petoskey, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
Amanda Crawford, Texas Department of Information Resources

Lisa kicked off the 43^rd annual – but first-ever virtual – TASSCC Conference, welcoming all attendees and sharing insights on the theme: Transforming Your Vision. Surprisingly, the theme was established pre-COVID and just coincidentally become even more relevant because of COVID.

Amanda took over for updates on the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR). DIR:

• Is working on a broad transformation of texas.gov so more services will be delivered to Texans through a single portal.
• Is creating a mobile app, Texas by Texas (TxT), to provide a single touchpoint to interact with state government agencies.
• Produced a roadmap for transforming its technology vision through the 2020 – 2024 State Strategic Plan for information resources management.

Designing Your Digital Future (249 Words)

Erik Qualman, Equalman Studios

Erik presented his five “STAMP” habits for digital leaders, calling audience members to pick one habit they’re already the strongest in to focus on into the future:

• SIMPLE: Success is the result of simplification and focus.

Make a not-to-do list. Take your current to-do list and make that a not-to-do list. Take three items off your not-to-do list and focus on accomplishing those three

• TRUE: Be true to your passion.

Choose one word you want people to think of when they hear your name, and put it into this sentence format: To ___ so that ___. For example, Erik’s word is “empower,” and his sentence is “To entertain, educate, and empower people to live their best life so that they can inspire others to do the same.”

• ACT: Nothing happens without action, so take the first step.

When you make a mistake, follow these steps: (1) Recognize that you made a mistake, (2) Create a plan of action to fix it, and (3) follow-through with that plan.

• MAP: Goals and visions are needed to get where you want to be.

Be firm in your destination, flexible on your path.

• PEOPLE: Success doesn’t happen alone.

Take three minutes each day to “post it forward,” or share other people’s content to network before you need to network.

With digital trends constantly changing, Erik says incorporating just one of these habits in your day-to-day will not only maximize your impact on the world right now but also in the digital decades ahead.

Delivering Digital Transformation through Robotic Process Automation (201 Words)

Tara Williams, Oklahoma Department of Human Services
David Brandon, Texas Attorney General Child Support Division
Jim Walker, UiPath
Paul Graeber, UiPath

Since COVID-19 hit the U.S., there’s been an increase in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) usage. In fact, the DIR’s Texas Strategic Plan Goal #3 includes:

• Exploring and prioritizing business process automation.
• Initiating tests for artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.

While there’s a misconception that bots take jobs away, the panelists refute that. Jim explains that bots serve to take on the individual, mundane, data-entry tasks so employees can focus on bigger things.

Both Tara and David have incorporated bots in their agencies and seen the benefits. Before, a lot of Tara’s staff had administrative tasks that took up a large portion of the day. And David’s division realized the need for bots when its IT director said, “We have too many emails and chats coming in from constituents. We can’t keep up with it.”

The solution? RPA.

The benefits were clear from the start. Tara said while it used to take 60+ hours per week to run payroll and leave data records, the bot can do it in an hour and a half. In David’s case, the bot is now responding to 50% of emails and chats without the need for manual intervention which is taking a significant load away from employees.

Killing the VPN: Extending the Operational Reach and Access of Today’s Remote Workforce (151 Words)

Jack Koons, Unisys Corporation

Most organizations are built on a mindset of, “I need to protect my infrastructure.” However, Jack argues that’s not where our time, money, or strategy should be spent. Instead, we need to protect the data.

Infrastructure can’t be trusted. The Internet has become an operationalized, contested environment. Yet there are still security models and strategies being built based on the notion that infrastructure can be controlled and/or protected.

And that’s the issue of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). Jack says if someone pops your VPN – which is relatively easy to do, then that external user has an entrée into your entire enterprise.

All the time, money, and strategy put into the perimeter defense needs to be pushed to a granular level and given to the data, so that the data pack itself is now providing for its own security – just like how a warship and an aircraft provides for its own security.

Texas Enterprise Identity Platform (141 Words)

Jeremy Wilson, Texas Department of Information Resources
Bharane Balasubramanian, Deloitte & Touche, LLP

A new mobile app, Texas by Texas (Txt), will serve as a digital government assistant for Texans, providing an easier, faster, and more secure way for them to interact with state agencies.

The app will make interactions between citizens and the state government much more seamless as a single identity is established, granting access to agencies in a centralized location versus visiting each individual website.

TxT Digital Identity Solution enables a wide range of strong risk-based access controls for constituents and public sector staff. Its key features include:

• Risk-based authentication.
• User onboarding, identity proofing, and user dashboard.
• User management.

And its core capabilities include:

• Risk-based multi-factor authentication (MFA)
• Single sign-on
• Identity gateway

The TxT Digital Identity Solution’s top goal is security, especially since the app will also be used by both constituents and state employees for services like driver’s license renewals.

Transforming a Tech Culture with Strategic Service (204 Words)

Aleyda Cantu-Lee, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi
Michelle Singh, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Launching the discussion, Michelle asked, “What do people think of when they hear the words Information Technology (IT)?” The audience’s answers included help desk, computers, and applications.

But IT is a lot more than tech support. To combat this stereotype, Aleyda and Michelle share how to transform the view of IT as “just tech support” to strategic partner in digital solutions.

Their key to doing so is strategic service, which they define as “partnering with stakeholders to deliver digital solutions and services that achieve short-term wins and set foundations for long-term goal achievement and positive business impact.”

The first step to becoming more strategic-focused is to stop talking about technology. Instead, focus conversations on the purpose, function, and goals behind the technology.

Aleyda and Michelle’s first steps toward strategic service include:

• Know your group’s service catalog.
• Leverage each other’s strengths and knowledge within your IT organization.
• Find a seat at the table or bring your own chair, meaning if you’re not invited to application or system conversations then invite yourself.
• Utilize different governance groups.
• Learn about the business because IT impacts everything.
• Tell your story, meaning tell others what the impact of IT being involved from the onset does to positively impact the business.

Decision Dichotomy: Five Opportunities to Take the Road Less Traveled (247 Words)

Kristen Cox, Utah Governor’s Office of Management and Budget

Quoting Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” Kristen presents five opportunities to take the road less traveled:

• Solve or shift the problem?

There are usually two sides to every issue. Kristen’s example is COVID-19’s responses: One group wants to protect public health; one wants to protect the economy.

While it’s easiest to shift the problem to the other side, leaders can take the road less traveled by committing to meet the needs of all stakeholders.

• Achieve a goal or react to the problem?

Many organizations settle for marginal improvements because they react to problems instead of focusing on its goals. When you set a goal to achieve something that doesn’t yet exist, you create a gap – an unknown area where innovation can take place.

• Forecast the future, or manage and adapt to the present?

You can either forecast your future or create it. While leaders often rely on forecasts to “play it safe,” Kristen points out that they constantly change. So rather than relying on them for decisions, rely on your own ability to change the current reality.

• Change others or change ourselves?

Leaders should – but often don’t – assess how well they’re doing their job before putting a problem onto other people. However, leaders gain credibility and influence when they commit to make change and deliver results first. And then, by default, it’s easier to expect change from others.

• Accept or inquire?

People generally accept experts’ words without question, but Kristen encourages leaders to be curious and know it’s OK to inquire respectfully. Leadership is about exposing all the alternatives.

DAY TWO – TUESDAY, AUG. 11

State of TASSCC Business Meeting (107 Words)

Anh Selissen, Texas Department of Transportation

Anh kicked off the second day of TASSCC 2020 with an overview of the organization and its upcoming events.

TASSCC’s vision is “Excellent and innovative public sector IT services in Texas” with goals to advance education, provide networking opportunities, and provide a forum for leadership collaboration and discussions.

Its areas of focus for 2020 include increasing technology at conferences, increasing networking opportunities, and increasing engagement with agencies and higher education institutions.

TASSCC’s 2021 Annual Conference will be held Aug. 8 – 11, 2021 at the Moody Gardens Hotel, and the 2022 Annual Conference will be held July 31 – Aug. 3, 2022 at the La Cantera Resort & Spa.

If Data is the New Oil, Why Aren’t We All Rich? (186 Words)

Joe DosSantos, Qlik

As Chief Data Officer, Joe’s job is to get the right data into the right hands so it can be used effectively to drive some value for Qlik. Data is used to create analytics, analytics are used to form insights, and those insights drive businesses’ behavior.

Joe says even though data is the foundation of the new economy, the majority of data out there is not being used. And there are three main reasons why:

• Unclear Inventory: People don’t know what data is available to them.
• Unwieldly Security: When you actually find the data you need, there’s always someone who says you can’t have it.
• Cumbersome Pipelines: If you find something that you need and point to it, usually someone in IT needs to build a pipeline to be able to grab that data.

When resolving the issue of data availability, Joe says we can look to retail to model a digital marketplace with features like:

• Thoughtful distribution of sensitive material, mimicking how certain medications are only available through the pharmacy.
• Products available at scale in one place.
• Experts create value from raw goods.
• Convenient, self-service.

Telework in State & Local Government: Security Strategies for the New Reality (Words 180)

Calvin Gurka, BeyondTrust
Chris Rowlands, BeyondTrust
Martha Smith, Texas Facilities Commission

When COVID-19 hit the U.S., the Texas Facilities Commission faced a major issue in transitioning to remote work: 70% of employees had desktops for their primary workstation and the agency had a shortage of extra mobile devices.

As Martha put it, the only solution was to get users teleworking ASAP. Action items to achieve this included getting equipment in users’ hands quickly to enable telework and expand support to the home.

However, when it comes to remote work, security must be a top priority which is why Martha partnered with BeyondTrust for Universal Privilege Management (UPM). BeyondInSight, BeyondTrust’s access management platform, encompasses all three pillars that make up UPM:

• Secure Remote Access: Secure, manage, and audit remote privileged access sessions for vendors, admins, and the service desk.
• Endpoint Privilege Management: Remove excessive end user privileges.
• Privilege Password Management: Discover, manage, audit, and monitor privileged accounts and sessions of all types.

As agencies adjust to the new reality of working remotely, IT leaders will need to protect their remote workforce, and Universal Privilege Management is one key way to do so.

Toward a Paperless Office and Beyond (228 Words)

Michelle Singh, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi
Ed Evans, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Michelle and Ed launched their presentation with the definition of a “form,” which has recently expanded on Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi’s (TAMU – CC) campus. While forms traditionally included documents like academic records, hiring proposals, and applications, the university has realized the need to expand their definition to include things like event registrations, polls, and surveys.

Taking a look into TAMU – CC, they identified up to 566 forms so far, but they know the number is likely much higher.

And while they had a game-plan in place prior to the pandemic to address the university’s forms, the digital transition that followed has helped them identify even more opportunities for a paperless approach.

They found the Laserfiche Digital Transformation Model useful as they planned their approach to a paperless office. Its three steps include:

• Digitize if you (1) spend time scanning and categorizing information, (2) are never sure who has the right version of a document, or (3) spend time shredding sensitive documents.
• Automate if you (1) spend time copying and pasting information into documents, (2) manually key in data from paper into a digital system, or (3) have no visibility into critical processes.
• Transform if you (1) set goals but never check to see if you’ve achieved them, (2) collect data but don’t use it to make decisions, or (3) are ready to integrate and centralize your systems.

Training and Communications: The Glue that Holds IT Together (235 Words)

Maegen Lane, Prairie View A&M University
William Rohrman, Prairie View A&M University

Maegen and William take the audience on a journey of where they were, where they are today, and where they are heading in regards to IT training and communications at Prairie A&M University (PAMU).

• In 2018, IT was distributed with different points of contact across the university.
• In 2019, PAMU refreshed and restructured IT with a shared mission and vision.
• Also in 2019, IT implemented standardized processes and strengthened its communications channels.
• In 2020, IT’s focus turned to team building with gap analyses and needs assessments.

Before PAMU’s IT transformation when its different teams were disconnected across campus, no one knew who to go to for certain software, training, issues, or questions which created a lot of issues.

Today, the teams are more connected and centralized with the same vision and goals in mind. They’ve increased training through creating and providing tutorials for frequently used programs with software that was originally created for online orientation. Further, they created a CustomGuide plan for offering different course topics and online on-demand videos.

Much like the IT team, its training resources also used to be scattered and housed under different department websites. Now, PAMU has a centralized training page which is categorized in a way that is intuitive and easy to use.

Moving forward, PAMU’s IT team is dedicated to starting communications and training at implementation rather than treating it as an afterthought to continuously increase campus engagement.

Check the Gate! To Envision Our Best Future, We Must Begin with Clearing Our Vision from Any Limiting Beliefs (247 Words)

Shayla Rivera, Funny Rocket Scientist Inc.

Awareness of our limiting beliefs helps us make changes that bring success. To demonstrate this, Shayla shared an analogy:

Fleas can jump really high. If a human could jump as relatively high as a flea can, you would be able to jump 52 stories up into the air. But if you put a flea in a closed jar for one or two days, the flea will learn that the height from the bottom of the jar to the lid is its limit. And from that point on, the flea will never jump higher than that – not even when it’s freed from the physical restraints of the jar. In that short timeframe, the flea was conditioned to believe that it can only ever jump as high as the lid.

Shayla tells the audience to be aware of their jars and ask, “What lies might I be believing that limits the way I act and affects the way I feel?”

For example, it used to be a universal fact that the Earth was flat. Because of this, merchants wouldn’t stray too far to avoid falling off the edge of the world. Shayla experienced this same limiting belief. Growing up, she didn’t consider herself intelligent because she was constantly being compared to her older sister who made better grades and excelled. She said because of this limiting belief that she wasn’t intelligent, she didn’t do as well as she could have – just like the merchants who didn’t go too far.