MERIT Awards
Within the Office of Information Technology (OIT) it is important to recognize and celebrate successes in information technology that model our enterprise focus in delivering information technology services to state government and the citizens of Maine To that end it is once again time to nominate those teams and individuals who exemplify the standards we wish to hold ourselves to by successfully delivering information technology benefiting the agency business environment and/or services to the citizens of Maine .
The Maine Excellence Recognition in Information Technology (MERIT) Team Award acknowledges the value and importance of multidisciplinary teamwork. The CIO and the IT Executive Committee appreciate such teamwork which is vital to advancing citizen service, information sharing, and good government.
The Individual MERIT award recognizes outstanding leadership by an individual who has gone above and beyond in their respective technological area whether the outcome is a service, a product or a dramatic increase in job satisfaction due to this person's contribution.
Deadline:
Nominations must be submitted in electronic form and be received no later than 9/10/07.
Awards Presentation:
Winners will be notified by the Award Team and awards will be presented at the Maine Digital Government Summit on October 18, 2007.
2006 Merit Award Winners:
MERIT Team Award:
Exchange Consolidation Technical Team
Terry Kenniston, Sandra Saunders, Lori Blier, Maureen Tuttle
The Exchange Consolidation Technical Team was drafted to build and deploy an Enterprise Exchange Email system capable of absorbing 8 distinct implementations that existed previously and to do so using a collaborative enterprise approach that did not lend itself to the project's one year deadline. The group managed this success in an uncertain reorganization environment that required they stay focused on the task at hand despite incredible distraction. The resulting email system serves some 13,000 users and is administered with a fraction of the staff. Aside from the technical accomplishment the team deserves kudos for approaching this tremendous task with a positive attitude and professionalism that carried them through. The consolidation has allowed the State to dramatically decrease the number of technical personnel dedicated to serving email. Many agencies have seen the functionality of their email systems increase significantly. The Team proved that a collaborative technical approach is an effective means of solving enterprise problems.
MERIT Individual Award:
Dave Packard, AITD - Department of Corrections
Dave Packard received the Individual MERIT award for his outstanding work with the Coris project as well his leadership skills. The Coris project includes many modules that deal with inmate sentencing and personal information, a new inmate phone system and a financial component. Coris has proven so successful that other State's and counties have incorporated aspects of functionality. In the future this will provide information sharing between many agencies across the state. Personal comments received in support of Dave's nomination included glowing remarks such as; “he's not only a true professional but a real “gentleman” with a great sense of humor and he has tirelessly, without complaint, worked on many new projects for Corrections and he is considered a privilege to work with”.
