2005-2009 Glacier Park INC East Glacier Park, MT
IT Director
· Windows NT 4.0/2K/2K3/2K8 servers NT4.0/2K/XP Workstations
· Ironport, Firewalls, Routers, Switches, DSLAM, Telecom Key and PBX systems
· Exchange 2K, SQL, WEB Servers
Duties: Management of small network covering 8 properties both US and Canada, Manage Servers for PMP, POS and file servers. Management of all low voltage equipment including , PBX, Key Systems, surveillance systems and door entry security. Including web development, scripts, graphic art, logos. Database management of Active directory, Exchange, MS SQL, Radius and PMP. Hardware managed include PBX, Routers, Switches, Spam Filters, Firewalls, T1, Metro, Frame and voicemail.
In June of 2005 I was offered a position replacing the IT Director at Glacier Park INC in North West Montana managing 2 employees and 75 PC’s. Downsizing from the 1000+ PC managed at CenturyTel. I packed up and moved to Kalispell Montana. My new position required that I spend the summer in East Glacier Montana and the Winter In Columbia Falls Montana. I quickly found that most of my work load was remoted out of Columbia Falls and that it took longer to do my work from East Glacier than from Columbia Falls.
I am an economist and a start up organizer so I got to basics I was determined to see what I had to work with. I scanned the network and determined that there were over 200 PC’s not 75. That equated to $125,000 in missed Microsoft Licenses. I questioned my supervisor and found that my supervisor was aware of the shortfall but that I was not to worry about it as that only pertained to PC’s with Microsoft Office. I found that my supervisors statement was not accurate. I did my best to increase the budget each year to bring Microsoft Licensing compliant but hit budget roadblocks and could only purchase 8-10 licenses a year. Determined to keep track of what PC inventory I had to work with I created a web based inventory system that kept track of licenses, serial numbers, IP, location and notes.
In 2006 we took full control of our online website and created a site that could be modified by more than just the IT staff or subcontractor.
In Checking I found that the network that Glacier Park INC was using was very latent (slow IP response) caused by use of IP over satellite systems. I also found that Citrix and non-y2k compliant PC’s were slowing the network. Finding that Windows Terminal Services was not as affected and that transfer by HTTP-browsing was even better I began retiring Citrix and using Terminal Servers which would save $10,000 in Citrix costs per year and began moving as many applications as I could to a web based platform.
I had an employee that spent a substantial amount of time resetting a HR access database and found that it was being accessed by more users than Microsoft recommended causing file locking issues. It was moved to a SQL server and the next year was moved to a web based system. I was instrumental in the redesign of the in house HR web system and the incorporation of the online hiring system which included tracking each change request so that if there was any question the person that made the change could be contacted. This tracking did not sit well with the HR manager but was very beneficial for legal reasons.
In the fall of 2006 a complete phone system audit was performed. I removed unused phone lines and discovery of billing circuits that were never reported to IT. That changed the telecom expense for 2007 by reducing the cost $109,000. Along with a pursuit of $10,000 in refunds from Verizon. I was also able to find discount lines to call from PBX to PBX within the park and cut another $10,000 in long distance fees. I was required to sit in an audit to explain a $129,000 savings for 2007. My supervisor was not pleased that I was in a VIAD (parent company) Audit and that the expenses had been ongoing for years without being spotted. It did not look good for my supervisor.
Along with the telephone audit I found that a technician must be on site to work on each of the 6 PBX’s. A simple change could result in 6 hours of driving to make a 10 minute change. I found unused modems and began hooking them up to the PBX so that I could dial in and make changes without making a trip onsite. Interesting that I found that the AVAYA PBX had been installed many years before yet many features were not being used. I implemented music on hold, Automated Attendant (press 1 for, press 2 for, press 3 for), Call forwarding when closed, ARS (Automatic Route Selection) just to name a few. Eventually we found that it was better to do serial over IP and added options that were faster than modems to speed access to the PBX.
As I sat in Staff meeting mentioning that we could be filling more rooms if we sold online my supervisor would shoot down the idea saying that it would upset other sales. In 2007 my supervisor came to me and said that it was mandated that Glacier Park INC have online sales. We dropped everything and coded for online sales. I had projected very conservatively that the first year we would have $35,000 to $50,000 in online sales. We had a little over $1,000,000 in online sales in 2007. This savings translated into a call center savings of over $80,000. My supervisor was not happy that the system ran so well and saved so much and was against the whole idea.
In 2007 was the first year in many that Glacier Park had stayed within the budget guidelines. They had made a $23,000,000 budget with $300,000 to spare. It takes $3 in income to pay for $1 expense. Had the IT department ignored the telecom savings of $129,000 and the labor savings from the call center of $80,000 or $209,000 total. Glacier Park INC would have had to generate $627,000 more revenue missing the budget mark of $23million by over $300,000. The IT department literally save the budget in 2007. Did I mention that because the budget was met that upper management would get a bonus? I had now crossed over the line with my supervisor and my supervisor gave me a bad review and would not grant me my bonus. I kept quiet as I did not want to provoke my supervisor more.
I thought in 2008 I could smooth the issues out but my supervisor was on a vengeful direction. I did not see it coming. I was in meetings 9 times that I documented where I discussed upgrades mandated by the parent company and was told not to interrupt the business flow during peak season. This upgrade had to be scheduled with a subcontractor. While out of season my supervisor relocated to Phoenix and told me not to do the upgrade. Then out of the blue my supervisor called, said I had lied and was without reason. I found out later that my supervisor had gotten into trouble over the issue and I was made the fall guy.
I went back to work for myself. Did I mention that the online booking in 2008 did $11,000,000 yes $11 million.