We established the first SJSU IT Sparta Awards, given to one team and one individual each year, to recognize those staff members who serve our campus with distinction and work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep SJSU amazing. They bring out the best in each other through a collaborative spirit, a commitment to innovations, and everyday leadership. They provide consistent and exceptional service, whether working with students or building something with a campus department.

Every department in your SJSU IT Division has the opportunity to nominate employees and department directors submit their selections directly to me. I then work with an IT peer consultation group, consisting of employees from many departments, to choose the most outstanding project, program, team, or individual to win the award. The selection process is designed to raise up our employees, increasing the visibility of staff members who come to work every day and get it done.

Team Winner
The inaugural Team Award went to Leon Nguyen, Ryan Campbell, and Jocelyn Tom for their work supporting the Digital Transformation of SJSU through the implementation of OnBase and DocuSign. This team works with many departments on campus to migrate old paper records and paper processes to digital workflows, making them more efficient and more accurate.

As of February 2019, the team had digitized 2.9 million documents — enough to pile up to a 90-story building — in OnBase, a digital document storage system. Digital documentation solves many problems, especially for an organization like SJSU. Digital documents prevent the creation of over 11,000 student folders per year, don’t require storage, and are much more easily indexed and searched. They don’t get misplaced and they’re instantly verified and secured. For new forms requiring signatures, campus uses DocuSign, a digital paperwork signing platform. As of February 2019, an average of 5,300 digital documents received 6,820 digital signatures. Using DocuSign greatly speeds up campus’ paperwork process. The paper trail is transparent and accountable, signatures can be done virtually from anywhere, and nothing gets lost in the shuffle across campus.

Individual Winner
Devona Williams’ work building proactive solutions for the Division led to her recognition as the winner of this year’s Individual Award. Her innovations have improved the Instructional and Meeting Space team’s productivity, raising the bar for service on campus.

Devona created an app to help to consolidate department processes and provide at-a-glance reference for room inventory, location, and information. She also implemented new software to reduce paper workflows. Then, after reinventing how IMS worked digitally, she moved to optimize the department’s workspace with more organization, better flow, and a facelift. These improvements have made a tangible difference and brought out the best in the IMS team. Devona took self-initiative, without being prompted to work on any of these projects. She saw how she could improve her department and got to work.

Presidential Recognition
In March, university President Mary Papazian presented the Sparta Award winners with plaques commemorating their achievement. These plaques are now on display on the Computer Center’s Hall of Fame Wall. Please come by and take a look. And, if you’re an SJSU staff member, don’t forget to contact IT and nominated your individual or team awards for 2019 when submissions open.

Thank you,
Bob Lim