Hot Springs Village POA IT Manager William Rainwater updated the Board at the Retreat on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. He explained who the IT Department is, what it does, its projects, and its accomplishments, and provided a small glimpse into the future.
Who is the IT Department?
The HSVPOA IT Department comprises four people with a combined experience of 115 years, supporting over 470 people. Rainwater said he has 35 years of IT experience, and Reed has around 40 years. “That is almost unheard of in IT, to have that many years of experience,” stressed Rainwater. The IT staff consists of:
- Will Rainwater, IT Manager
- Chris Hogue, Systems Administrator – Rainwater said Hogue is a guru of everything IT.
- Donna Reed, IT Software Support Specialist- Reed was integral to the Northstar Project.
- John McCaleb, IT Support Specialist
What Does the IT Department Do?
- PC Deployment/Support/Maintenance
- Network Support/Maintenance/Administration
- Point-of-sale Network Administration/Support (golf shops, tennis, fitness, pickleball, administration building)
- POA Management Software/Gate Software/Hardware Support
- Information Security Support/Security Awareness Program Development/ Deployment/Training
- “Other Duties As Assigned”
2023 -2024 IT Projects
- Utility Billing Software implementation – completed April 2023
- Assisted the Police Department with a new 911 Computer-Aided Dispatch system, which was completed in March 2024. Chris Hogue spearheaded this.
- They began working on implementing NorthStar POA Management Software in January 2022 and went live on February 1, 2024. Rainwater said there have been some issues, but they were expected, and they are making a lot of progress and working through them.
IT Accomplishments
- Under budget by $500,000 for fiscal year 2023. “In 2023, I had a budget of $7 M, and it turned out that we didn’t need that.”
- Reduced 2024 budget by between $400,000 and $500,000.
- Rainwater constantly reduces costs by finding alternatives or lower-cost solutions than predecessors. He is confident he can continue to find more ways to cut costs. He said, “My self-imposed mandate is to find cost savings where we can.”
2024 and Beyond for the IT Department
“Hopefully, we will be on an even keel within the next month. After that, we’ve got some network infrastructure equipment we need to replace. I am fully expecting to come in under budget on that.
Rainwater will also work with the Golf Department to improve tracking mechanisms for the Stay and Play packages, giving the POA more data about the Stay and Play customers.
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What Northstar bugs were expected as stated in this report?
Did it get rolled out to soon? What does each fix cost the POA in dollars now since this sytem went live?
Is the POA IT Dept responsible for implementing “patches” to the lottery and tee time reservation system?
Are there issues with just the members lottery and tee time reservations and/or Stay and Play as well?