Reward and Recognition
Remtulla Gets Accredited
Farah Remtulla enjoys a major career milestone and is quite happy about it.
Who spent two-and-a-half hours last month with her office door shut, lights lowered, answering essay questions over an audio conference?
Why, it was Farah Remtulla, the IT Service Management Specialist for the PMO!
APMG-International is the official accreditor of ITIL examinations (among others). APMG accredits training organizations, trainers and training materials and certifies examination candidates through a variety of methods. They have standards for organizational management systems, course materials and trainers, all incorporating product specific requirements that are used globally by the assessing panel to ensure that a consistent standard is applied. The APMG annual assessment involves an interview, a visit to a training center OR the trainer is video-recorded while teaching a course.
Congratulations to Farah, who gained the prestigious APMG-International accreditation for her delivery of the foundational and intermediate ITIL courses.
- Marisa Benson, Director, PMO
Several OIT Employees Complete Learning Services Program
Mentee Mary Kinney (2nd from right) surrounded by Mentors Eric Logan, Jay Flanagan, and Marisa Benson.
The Learning Services Department fulfills the mission of Emory University by offering a variety of learning opportunities, including open enrollment courses, customized workshops, performance consulting and facilitation services. While most courses are specifically targeted to University staff and faculty, employees of Emory Healthcare are also invited to participate in those classes that meet their personal and professional development needs.
Class enrollment is limited to ensure the effectiveness of the learning sessions. This also allows the instructors to give significant attention to each participant's needs.
The recent Learning Services Graduation Program featured several OIT employees who completed the coursework.
Manager in Development Program (MDP): Paul Barrett (Enterprise Applications), Jon Helsel (Enterprise Applications), Michael Politiinsky (Enterprise Services)
Mentors: Marisa Benson (PMO - mentored Mary Kinney), Jay Flanagan (Infrastructure - mentored Thomas Manns), Eric Logan (Academic Technology Services - mentored Derrick Merritt)
Mentees: Mary Kinney (Enterprise Services)
Learn more about what Learning Services has to offer at http://www.learningservices.emory.edu/.
High Five: Peter Day Leads The Way
The Woodruff Library gets Shibbolized!
In an outstanding example of how it often takes real-time collaboration to achieve significant user acceptance of our services, Peter Day (Integration) recently received a sterling review from the Woodruff Library in regards to their use of Shibboleth.
The library had started using the Shibboleth single sign-on tool and had grown frustrated with implementation, having endured several false starts. In the end, the library staff needed hands-on experience with Shibboleth. They got into a screen sharing session with Peter and some Ex Libris (a vendor that provides powerful library automation tools) folks, with Michael Mitchell (of the library staff) driving. There was a moment of clarity and now Woodruff is successfully using the tool.
When asked about the key to success, Peter noted that they had all the experts working together: UTS, Library, and Ex Libris. They utilized a voice bridge and shared desktop to ensure no instruction was misconstrued. Mike became more comfortable with Shibboleth as the result of the hands-on work. In general to be successful, the customer must be willing to take the time to work with us and be responsive.
I have experienced it many times — once recently with RSPH in configuring their Linux hosts to do LDAP. Back-and-forth email is old hat — we need real-time collaboration to get things done today.
Thanks again to Peter for going the extra mile.
- John Ellis, Director, Integration