LITS staff at the All-Hands Meeting on December 16.

On December 16, Enterprise CIO and Senior VP Rich Mendola held the first of a series of LITS all-hands meetings in the WHSCAB Auditorium. With over 350 employees in attendance or watching remotely, Mendola reviewed the division’s current progress against its FY15 objectives, gave a few updates regarding upcoming and ongoing activities, and framed the LITS strategy for FY15 and beyond. Following the presentation, Mendola answered questions from the audience and emailed responses to previously submitted written questions to the entire organization.

The key themes of the LITS FY15 objectives were risk reduction, process improvement, innovation, and workforce development. Mendola discussed network stabilization as a major focus of the risk-reduction effort, listed the PS financials upgrade among several process improvements, named the business intelligence project as just one example of innovation, and announced a comprehensive compensation review for LITS.

“The better we are at operational excellence, the more credible our input will be,” said Rich Mendola.

In speaking of the next phase of Emory’s strategic planning process, Mendola noted, “The better we are at operational excellence, the more credible our input will be.” To this end, Rich listed four “musts” for the division:

• The network and other components of our IT infrastructure must be sufficiently reliable
• Our core systems, processes and expenditures must add value to the institution
• Projects must meet their objectives and be delivered in a timeframe that meets agreed upon expectations
• Customers must be able to place their trust in the quality and safety of Emory’s data and information resources

To support these aims, Mendola suggested the possibility of an improved funding model that would make LITS income more fungible, freeing it to be used more effectively in the areas of highest strategic importance. If Emory leadership accepts this plan, it will be “the single most significant financial event that has happened to the organization in the last eight years,” said Mendola.

Rich also expressed the importance of cultivating workforce excellence through hiring, staff development, and the provision of structure, processes and tools.

Staff should expect to see more communication in the coming months regarding the objectives presented in the meeting, including updates from leadership in this newsletter.