CHALLENGE
A local government agency purchased a package including a Local Area Network
(LAN), a series of workstations, an office suite of software and a proprietary system for
operating a housing authority from an out-of-state vendor. Training and on-going support was
only offered separately at a significant additional expense to the agency. Feeling that they
had already been burned once by that vendor, the agency distributed an RFP seeking another
source of support. In conjunction with another consulting firm that was familiar with
government relations, MCS won a contract to provide all system training and network support
to the agency for a year.
SERVICE
Initial training of agency personnel needed to go back to basic computer literacy and
computer acceptance to address early misconceptions and fears stemming from the
relationship with the earlier vendor. General computer skills were then enhanced with training
in the available word processing and spreadsheet software that had been provided with the
network. Training stressed process understanding and the ability to find "workarounds" in
order to build greater confidence in the system
Concurrently with the initial training and working with agency descriptions of manual
processes, MCS personnel also performed system forensics on the proprietary system in order
to develop a basic training program for that system. With the thorough groundwork in
computer skills, the agency personnel then assisted in expanding the knowledge base in the
proprietary system and developing a more comprehensive training program for new hires.
RESULTS
Within the period of the contract, agency personnel progressed from being computer
fearful to being sufficiently skillful that they were able to assume all responsibility for network
administration and system training.
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