John Lehman

EDT646

Assignment #3

Organization of Flatteners

Upon beginning this assignment, I was sure that I knew what the outcome was going to be. I figured that this assignment was going to show us that technology starts much earlier in the business sector than the educational sector. I was surprised to find out that my educational institution selected, which happens to be my district, wasn’t too far behind the business that I looked at. Whereas National City, formally First of America, had slightly more technology used, they still were behind what might have been expected for the business sector. Further research would have to compare the banking institution versus other business sectors to see if this is wide spread.

My education institution that I investigated was Kalamazoo Public Schools. I interview a building principal, Vickie Winfield, who has been in the district for 35 years. I was also able to contribute to the information since I have been in the district for 13 years. Input was also solicited from three different employees in the technology department, which ironically didn’t contribute much to the various dates gathered. I was quite surprised to see the level of technology growth in the district compared to the dates established by Friedman in his book. The district was fairly early in acquiring many of the technological advancements that became available on the market, just not very wide spread throughout the district. I also discovered that my prior viewpoints were based on my perception of technology based on my school alone, which was behind in technology hardware and use. I am at the elementary level, which tends to be lagging in technology. In addition, my recent principal is a little shy when it comes to technology and hasn’t pushed very hard to acquire more or make it a priority.

I interviewed Spring Waltke, who has worked at National City (formally First of America) for 26 years. She has held many different positions over the years and has seen much technological advancement in the banking industry. This was of interest to me because I too worked in the banking industry for seven years while attending school in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I was surprised at the rather late dates of some technology advancements. I had expected the business sector to be far ahead of the educational institutions. Since Spring has only worked in this regional area, it is quite possible that the technological advancements could have occurred early at the higher corporate level, and probably did. However, it still provides a good comparison to my school district.

Looking at the comparison of dates, I found that both institutions acquired stand alone PC computers around the same time. They also increased Internet usage and implemented e-mail at about the same time. The difference that I saw was with the addition of some of the “gadgets”, or the steroids that Friedman discussed in his book. The bank seemed to be slightly ahead with use of video conferencing and using multi-purpose devices. However, in the end I was quite surprised with the number of similarities between the two, instead of any differences. The following timelines will outline what I discovered.

Sequence of Events From Educational Setting		Sequence of Events From Business Setting
Earlier than mid 80’s- Secretaries used typewriters and teachers used mimeographs machines. 1985/86- Secretaries used first PC’s as word processors 1991/92- First Apple II computer labs installed 1990’s (mid)- District installs network and starts infrastructure 1996- Multi-media computers installed using Win 95 1990’s (late)- First e-mail used by employees 1990’s (late)- District’s first website created 1998- Global Reading Challenge used video conf (p. library) 1999- Most Win 95 PC’s hooked up to district Network 1999/00- Internet became widely available/used in classrooms 2000’s (early)- District starts to outsource facilities/custodial jobs in an effort to save money due to large deficits 2001- First mobile wireless labs purchased for schools 2001 (circa)- State funds TTI for teacher laptops/technology 2003- Network space available for file sharing and storage 2003- First SMART Boards purchased for select classrooms	1970 1980 1990 2000 2010	Earlier than mid 80’s- Tellers hand wrote and validated receipts for customers. Phones were used check balances. Mainframe was not accessible from branch level 1980’s- (mid)- PC’s purchased for word processors (not live) 1980’s (mid-late)- “Sharp” machines were purchased and used at branch level for recording deposits. One terminal at each branch to check balances and customer information 1990’s- Supply forecasting reports used to show how much money you could order. This is a possible precursor to computerized supply chaining of money supply in branches 1990’s (mid)- Internet in bank on limited basis for certain dept. 1990’s (late)-First of America beginning to use e-mail 1998- Bank merger with National City 1998- Video conferencing used for meeting after merger 1998/99- Possible file-sharing for some departments 2000- First web-page and online banking after merger 2000’s (early)- Internet used to locate branches for customers 2001/02-Palm Pilots purchased for managerial level 2002/03- Savings Control / IRA work outsourced to India 2003- More janitorial work being outsourced 2003/04- Software “Connections” linked branches and brought Internet to branch level. 2000’s (mid)- Possible wireless at corporate, not regional level

Flattener #1 Information Revolution

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

A/B C D E F G

A= PC’s purchased for word processing (mid 80’s)

B= PC’s purchased for secretaries to use for word processing (mid 80’s)

C= “Sharp” machines for deposit, customer information terminals (mid/late 80’s)

D= First Apple II labs installed in schools (1991/93)

E= Multi-media Win 95 computers purchased for classrooms (1996)

F= PC machines replaces terminals at bank-online available (2003)

G= Computer upgrade occurring at schools (2004)

Flattener #2 Internet Age

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

A/B C D E

A= Internet in the bank at certain offices (mid 90’s)

B= District installs network and infrastructure (mid 90’s)

C= District’s first website created, Internet widely available in classrooms (1999/00)

D= National City’s website and online banking (2000)

E= Software “Connections” linked branches and brought Internet to branch level (2003)

Flattener #3 Work Flow Software

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

A

A= First e-mail being used to connect people in both sectors

No other Work Flow concepts being experienced in either sector

Flattener #4 Open Source Movement

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

No Open Source events recognized or experienced in either sector

Flattener #5 Outsourcing

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

A B C

A= School district starts outsourcing custodial / facilities jobs to save money (early 00’s)

B= National City outsources Savings Control / IRA work to India (2002-03)

C= National City outsourcing more custodial jobs (2003)

Flattener #6 Off-Shoring

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

No Off-Shoring occurring in either sector

Flattener #7 Supply Chaining

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

A

A= Supply forecasting reports to be precursor to computerized monitoring of money

No other Supply Chaining occurring in either sector

Flattener #8 In-sourcing

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

No In-sourcing occurring in either sector

Flattener #9 Informing

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

A B C

A= Credit checks / Credit Bureau accessed online (early 90’s)

B= Internet widely available and growing in use in classrooms (1999-00)

C= National City website and Internet used in call centers to locate branches (early 00’s)

Flattener #10 Steroids

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

A/B C D E F G

A= Bank Merger with National City, Use of Video conferencing begins (1998)

B= Video Conferencing used for Global Reading Challenge at the Public Library (1998)

C= Early forms of file sharing used at National City (1998/99)

D= Palm Pilots purchased and used for managerial levels at bank (2001/02)

E= Wireless mobile labs purchased for schools (2002/03)

F= Network file storage/sharing used, first SMART Boards purchased (2003/04)

G= VoIP not used in either sector (current)

All dates and descriptions shown in orange represent Kalamazoo Public School district.