WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2021 - IT CAN’T BE DONE - PART III

 WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2021 -  IT CAN’T BE DONE - PART III

This week I’ve been looking at the Mission Change at Dakota State College.  And, a comment.  This campus was Dakota State College until 1989 when it became Dakota State University!!

By 1990, I had a doctorate, the college had become a university, and things were rolling along.  It seemed like we were always in the hiring mode.  We were adding students, our numbers were growing, and covering three (or four) different classes) was getting harder to do but now we were getting some multiple sections which helped the preparation.  

I stepped down as Dean of the College of Business and Information Systems in 1990.  (Actually, I had a minor conflict with the Academic Vice President over wanting to help some transfer students, and he suggested (urged, mandated) that I step down.  

I had been on a 12 month contract - so again, my wife was worried about our income (she was doing some work at the Interlakes Community Action Agency), and my check would stop in June.  So, I hustled and called a friend at Citibank in Sioux Falls, SD.  Thus started a great experience for me - and for my students - and for out alumni.

To this point I had been a teacher - an academic.  I taught computing, I didn’t do it!!!  (There is an old expression - “those who can - do; those who can’t - teach”!!)

I got put on a team in the accounts receivable group.  The project was to create a third backup system. At this point in time, the Citibank credit card data was stored in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and in The Lakes, Nevada (a suburb of Las Vegas).  If a tornado took out the South Dakota processing/data center, all the data was stored in Nevada, and if an earthquake took out the Nevada data center, it was stored in South Dakota.  But, what if something happened to both of the data centers?  We credited backup files in New Jersey.  There were all kinds of JCL, security, data naming conventions, and processing.  There were implications across other product lines.  Could customer service access these other files if needed?  Could collections use the data and would it be exactly the same as the other two sites.  

Not only doing the analysis, design, development and implementation (that is, the things I taught in Systems Analysis and Design class), but working with people in multiple sites.  We had weekly status meetings with data center management, group leads, and others.  

And (whew), our project worked.  I also learned about the whole batch process environment at Citibank’s Credit Card processing.  The daily run, the billing, the online files that were created, the feeds for collections, customer service, the weekly runs, the monthly runs, the reconciliation processes.  AND … everything had to be accurate.  This was a multimillion dollar company that was under various watchdog agencies.  Fraud was NOT allowed.  (Note, batch systems are almost always more secure than online systems.)

One story that came out of this first summer was communication.  My team got a memo from a manager with three paragraphs - the first paragraph said “this is a good project”; the second paragraph said “we have some concerns”; and the third paragraph said “scrap this project”.  Note it was not in the easy language I just used but with nice vague language that had three distinct opinions in the memo.  

I returned to Citibank for twelve summers.  There were many DSU alumni in the Credit Card processing group - many that I had mentored during their four years at DSU.  In addition, I got to be an extension of the Citibank Human Resources group.  (Under the radar, I would be asked about hiring person A or person B and I would give my candid opinion to my HR person).  I also supervised the Dakota State (and other) interns and coached them for their final presentation.  

I worked one summer in statistical analysis - were the many processes taking longer with more accounts?  How might one speed up the processes?  (Such as when would Citibank need larger and faster computer systems and/or faster storage and data transfer?)  

And, I learned - really learned operating systems and job control language.  I even got to be part of a rollout to a new operating environment - and got sent to Las Vegas to teach the crew there.  Another time, I was sent to Jacksonville Florida to do some training.  

One summer they hired a class load of new employees and I was their trainer.  We did a lot of COBOL and JCL and systems.  (And, nobody complained about their grades!!!) 

I even got to code.  I coded a small process in a collections unit module - following the specifications given by systems analysts.  I sat in on review meetings, I knew most of the people on the floors and made good friends.  That might still be in production - using the concept “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.  

I also commuted from Madison to Sioux Falls - and then spent an hour down and an hour back every day with interns and former students on their commute.  (Much better than driving alone).  In particular was my time spent with Jerry and Laree (that resulted in being Godfather to their son).

*****

Takeaways:

For my academic colleagues:  I firmly believe in getting real world experiences.  Academic institutions have sabbatical programs where every seven years (or so), a professor should take time off to “catch up” to the changes in the field.  For example, a medical doctor needs to keep on the best trends and processes for assisting patients.  A hundred years ago, maybe the best process was to have leeches suck blood - that is NOT used today, but a doctor who was trained in the process might still use it.  

Keep up, get out in the field.  Marketing professors - go work at a marketing company (like Cecelia W); Accountants - go work for an accounting company.  

In my case, they paid me almost as good as Dakota State, my wife was happy, and I was learning and growing - not just teaching some summer class.

For me, the change of pace was amazing.  For the first month (late May to late June), I didn’t want to see any students ever again (okay- that is hyperbole).  But by mid-summer, my brain was working on new ideas for my courses - techniques that I should bring into class.  And by early August I was salivating to get back in the classroom again - all refreshed.

And, back on campus in the fall, I had new stories from the “real world” to share; I had new ideas to try out.  My teaching benefited greatly from my Citibank summers!!! 

HOW ABOUT YOU?  Do you take some time out to refresh your batteries? Many Americans don’t even take their allocated vacations.  Get away from your regular environment - maybe like some people do when they go to retreat houses and pray and m for a week.  All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.  This wasn’t really play, but it was definitely time off!!

LOVE WINS!!!

Karen