Elevating Our Service

Selfless Service, Excellence

Technology Services has elevated its service delivery while aligning its strategic goals with Texas A&M's core values of service, respect and integrity. By delivering enterprise-class solutions that enhance scalability, security and support, Technology Services is improving operational efficiency and fostering a culture of excellence and accountability.

Technology Services' Strategic Drive to Enterprise-Class Products and Support

Over the past year, Technology Services has dedicated itself to building and delivering enterprise-class technology services — solutions designed to meet the high standards of scalability, reliability, security and comprehensive support that Texas A&M University requires. This approach ensures that every department benefits from "enterprise class" technology products and services. By operating IT at scale, the division provides a consistent, high-quality experience across the university while advancing Texas A&M's strategic goals and maintaining a competitive edge.

Unification and Scale

Technology Services continued unifying core operational platforms, with the multi-year VoIP phone service project set for completion by Summer 2025, yielding substantial cost savings. A key part of this project was decommissioning the Broadsoft platform, saving an estimated $300,000. In addition, departments have saved over $500,000 per year by removing unneeded phone lines as part of this effort. To enhance security and save time, Technology Services has standardized the tools used to manage university-issued devices. Previously, each department managed its own software and configurations. Now, with an enterprise-wide solution, Technology Services can streamline tasks like applying patches and security updates across all devices in a single step. This also ensures that support staff can provide better assistance since all campus devices share a uniform process. Looking ahead, Technology Services aims to offer pre-installed management software on devices sold through the central TechHub store, further simplifying the experience for users and reducing time technicians spend managing devices.

Resource Management

Efficiencies were gained through the expansion of ScheduleSource. Used at Texas A&M's Help Desk Central (HDC) for over seven years, ScheduleSource now supports ten teams and 360+ accounts, including Student Affairs. It enhances workforce management with features like attendance tracking, forecasting, scheduling and metrics reporting, helping align staffing with operational goals and student work-life balance.

Technology Services also migrated room scheduling at Texas A&M Health from Room Traq to Ad Astra. This platform optimizes room utilization, reduces scheduling conflicts and provides real-time availability and data analytics for better resource planning. It now manages 210 rooms for Texas A&M Health.

Other key projects include expanding Rubrik centralized storage and securing a collective PollEverywhere agreement.

The division's ongoing commitment to enterprise-class technology services has driven improvements in operational efficiency and resource management at Texas A&M. By unifying platforms like VoIP, device management and room scheduling, Technology Services is enhancing user experiences and achieving time and cost savings. Looking ahead, the division will continue to offer enterprise-class services and streamline processes to meet the evolving needs of the university.

IT Governance: Promoting Collaboration and Fast-Tracking Innovation

Restructured last year, the university-wide Information Technology (IT) governance committees bring efficiency and unity to managing technology and related activities. The updated framework fosters collaboration and transparency while addressing the complex, enterprise-class needs of the organization. The updated structure ensures alignment of IT funding and project prioritization with the university's strategic goals. Since its initiation, the committees have met regularly to discuss academic, research and emerging technologies, as well as data governance. Members range from administrators, to faculty, to executives providing a broad range of perspectives on each committee.

The Health Technologies Committee (HTC) reflects the active advantages of the IT governance committees. A recent restructuring increased the participation of senior employees, improving problem identification and awareness, enhancing communication and expediting decision-making. These benefits resulted in the Health Technology Committee's ability to quickly address several improvement opportunities that were highlighted by a recent audit.

Notably, the committee developed a shared hardware management policy for the organization, improved the accuracy of inventory cataloging and tracking and defined clearer strategies for maintenance and replacement of inactive or aging equipment, keeping data preservation top-of-mind. Many of the systems developed by the Health Technologies Committee for these projects are expected to be replicated across the university community.

As the university looks to 2025 and beyond, the governance framework ensures that technology management can adapt and grow along with the university. With simplified decision-making, the governance committees can ensure that IT services and tools meet the needs of all Texas A&M University groups well into the future.

Elevating Customer Service in Technology

Technology Services is making significant strides to improve service delivery for students, faculty and staff through the implementation of a unified customer service portal powered by TeamDynamix. This IT service management tool centralizes support processes, enabling campus members to access a single platform for all technical assistance needs. The platform offers features like easy request submission, a comprehensive Knowledge Base, browsing IT services and ticket status tracking — all in one location. By consolidating 17 disparate systems, TeamDynamix improves accessibility and issue resolution, allowing Technology Services to monitor global response times and identify major pain points.

In 2024, the multi-year Information Technology Experience Transformation (ITxT) project had notable successes, including a successful soft launch of the platform, the establishment of its support model, technician training and the ticketing tool going live.

In addition to the implementation of TeamDynamix, Technology Services is actively engaged in various initiatives aimed at elevating the support experience.

• Help Desk Central now handles night and weekend support for the Texas A&M School of Law, The Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) and Texas A&M University Division of Student Affairs (DSA) ensuring that campus members can reach a live person rather than navigating voicemail, facilitating immediate issue resolution or proper escalation.
• Technology Services hosts resource tables in campus buildings throughout each semester, demonstrating a commitment to providing information on available technology resources and offering on-the-spot technical support.

By fostering these connections and enhancing the overall service experience, Technology Services is dedicated to creating a supportive and efficient environment that meets the diverse needs of the university community.

Equipment Updates Refresh Classrooms and Learning Experiences

Maintaining state-of-the-art technology is essential for a university dedicated to providing high-quality education and promoting excellence in research. Technology Services — University Audio Visual Services (UAVS) has achieved another successful year of classroom upgrades. By aligning with a structured service strategy, design and transition framework, UAVS upgraded, refreshed and standardized 80 classrooms across Texas A&M University and Texas A&M Health.

This work helps ensure the continuous operation of audio visual equipment, as well as ongoing service improvement and access to the latest technologies. In the last year, we completed over $2.2 million of upgrades on the main campus and over $1.6 million of upgrades throughout Texas A&M Health. These upgrades included:

• 47 College Station spaces completed for $1,305,313.06.
• 14 Higher Education Center McAllen spaces completed for $930,304.77.
• 19 Health spaces completed for $1,622,231.94.
• 37 conference rooms updated throughout Texas A&M and Texas A&M Health.

The UAVS team continues supporting excellence in learning and research by seeking and implementing advanced audio visual resources.

TechHub Simplifies Tech Purchases, Saves $1.95M

Since its implementation began in January, TechHub, Texas A&M's website developed for centralized technology purchasing and procurement, has made it easier for departments to purchase essential computer equipment. The program was designed to not only simplify the purchase process but also reduce costs, decrease delivery times and improve the user experience.

In less than a year, the TechHub team has delivered on these goals, with:

• More than $1.9 million saved by colleges and units through purchasing at scale
• 92% of orders are delivered within five days of the request
• Streamlined ordering and delivery with 1,455 computers and 3,127 accessories, with 2,825 labor hours saved

In addition, TechHub is anticipated to expedite resolution of support issues, as team members are more experienced with finite equipment options.

In 2025 and beyond, the cost-savings of TechHub are expected to continue as the program expands. Planned goals for the coming years include increasing the percentage of TechHub purchases from Colleges and Units, expanding TechHub to other Texas A&M University System Members and building a device lifecycle management program. This progress will further capitalize on the budget and labor savings of the TechHub program.