Brewer questions training for system upgrades and vendor knowledge transfer
Brewer raises concerns about training for low-level upgrades and whether city agencies get adequate knowledge from outside contractors. Gelobter acknowledges the managed service model means OTI doesn't have hands on the wheel but says they need to look at oversight, approvals, and change management. She notes pros and cons of the managed service approach.
changes would you have made for people who were
dealing with this low-level upgrade.
Would there have been some training that would have been appropriate?
Obviously, you'll be looking at it, seeing if that's what should have taken place.
But I think I was worried when you have an outside contractor, like I said in my opening remarks, they tend to take over my way or the highway.
People don't get the knowledge that they should as individuals, city agencies.
You know the issue.
I've been talking about this for the last 25 years.
My question is, what is the training?
Should it change?
Maybe it would have been a different situation if people had more information.
Thank you for the question.
And I think it is a really thoughtful area that we need to contemplate.
So today, the contract is with Motorola.
It is a managed service.
They are the responsible party.
They are responsible for change management, for release management, for uptime, for triaging issues, for all of that.
There is an upside to having an external third-party managed service in that
in that if somebody goes on vacation or that there is a...
They can come from Chicago and handle the problem.
Exactly.
That there is a robust system in place across the board.
What it does mean, however, is that we don't have our hands on the wheel.
And so that's not to say, to be clear, that...
We do not need to look at oversight and approvals in the change management process and how things actually do get tested and rolled out and communicated.
But there is a balance to be struck.
There's pros and cons across the board, and we will look at...
No matter what the right answer should be going forward.