Iowa Communications Network (ICN)
John Gillispie,
Director
Mission Statement:
To provide authorized users the highest quality and technologically
advanced educational, medical, judicial, and governmental
telecommunications services and support the State of Iowa
in achieving economic growth.
Measures:
Is the ICN Reliable?
Order Performance History
ICN Video Success for Sessions
K-12 Schools Benefit from ICN Classrooms
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 Performance
Plan - How we measure our progress
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Strategic
Plan - How we plan for progress
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Performance
Report - How we report our progress
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Department
Home Page - Learn more about this department
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Highlighted Measure:
Percentage of time the network is available
to authorized voice, video, and data users.
DATA SOURCE: Iowa Communications Network, Engineering
Division
Updated 10/16/09 |
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Why
this is important:
Authorized users of the ICN depend on the network to be
reliable and ready for their use. Whether for education,
telemedicine, telejustice, state government operations
an emergency situation, it is imperative the network be
accessible and operational at all times. The ICN continuously
achieves the industry standard of "Five 9's" of reliability
with 99.999% uptime.
What we're doing about this:
The ICN continually evaluates its operations and equipment
to insure the greatest reliability rate possible. Efficient,
organized emergency preparedness and response is crucial
to the network, because it is important to citizens. The
ICN was created, in part, so state government could continue
to function in the event of an emergency. Regular exercises
are conducted by ICN management and their response teams
to simulate "disasters" in which the network could be affected
and to review, coordinate and improve response time.
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Highlighted Measure:
Percentage of customer-requested services installed
by agreed-to due dates.
DATA SOURCE: Iowa Communications Network, Project
Management Center
Updated 10/16/09 |
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Why
this is important:
Customer satisfaction and exceeding expectations
is imperative in the delivery of new voice and
data services to ICN customers. Services need
to be delivered in a timely manner, so Iowa citizens
can be served by state government efficiently
and effectively.
What we're doing about this:
There is a minimum goal to have 95% of projects
completed by set due dates. The ICN monitors
the delivery and reliability of all services
on a daily basis. The information is reviewed
by management bimonthly, and opportunities for
improvement are identified. All projects, no
matter the size, are given the same attention
to timeliness.
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Highlighted Measure:
Percentage of successful video sessions.
DATA SOURCE: Iowa Communications Network, Engineering
Division
Updated 10/16/09 |
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Why
this is important:
Iowa citizens rely on the ICN to communicate across the
miles. Students communicate with teachers, doctors with
patients, and citizens with state government. If a session
is scheduled, Iowans need to be confident it will run as
planned.
What we're doing about this:
The agency monitors all sessions through its Network Operations
Center (NOC). Typically, ICN maintains a high reliability
rate, continually surpassing its goal of a 99.5% session
success rate. The natural disasters of Spring 2008 affected
the use of some ICN video classrooms; however, few ICN sessions
were cancelled and many found new locations from which to
present sessions.
ICN video technical experts perform regular tests, especially
when preparing for international sessions or sessions held
under unusual circumstances. While each classroom is designed
to be customer friendly, sometimes technical problems may
arise. Each ICN classroom has a fiber phone which connects
users directly to the NOC in case of technical problems.
The NOC addresses the problem over the phone with the user
and gets the situation corrected.
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Highlighted Measure:
Number of hours the ICN classrooms are used by
Iowa's secondary schools.
DATA SOURCE: Iowa Communications Network, Engineering
Division
Updated 10/16/09 |
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Why
this is important:
A core function of the Iowa Communications Network (ICN)
is to help provide educational access to all Iowans in a
cost-effective way. Part of that function is the goal of
bringing equal educational opportunities to K-12 students
located in rural and underserved areas.
What we're doing about this:
The ICN constantly looks for ways to serve Iowa learners.
As a deliverer of distance learning programming, the ICN
is pleased to work with its partners in government and education
to bring new educational opportunities to students of all
ages, options for helping with teacher shortages, and creative
use of video technology in the classroom. Advances at ICN
in Video over IP (Internet Protocol) make it possible for
more students and schools to receive more benefits from
videoconferencing.
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