Departmental Computing Coordinators

Departmental Computing Coordinators (DCCs) are computer support people within many departments on campus. Usually the DCC has many functions within their department, of which computer support is a fraction of their daily tasks.

The DCC Program

CIS encourages departments to appoint a DCC to help provide more individualized support in the departmental environments. The purpose of this program is to recognize the important role local Coordinators play and to help them do their job. The role of a DCC depends upon the skills and specialization of the Coordinator involved, the needs of the individual department and the time that the appointed Coordinator has available to devote to the task. A Coordinator might act in one or more of the following capacities:

• Sharing information about campus computing directions, activities and opportunities with other members of the department.
• Planning or assisting in planning departmental computing directions to meet existing and expected computing needs.
• Implementing new systems and applications and upgrading existing facilities (e.g., hardware installation and maintenance, programming, software installation, hardware and software upgrades).
• Training and supporting departmental users (including writing documentation).
• Administering shared systems such as network servers and printers.

Services for DCCs

CIS recognizes the important role local Coordinators play and our goal is to help them do their job. The intent is to encourage interaction among DCCs for the exchange of ideas and problem-solving strategies, to provide a forum in which DCCs can discuss computing issues and trends, to provide timely information about campus computing activities, services and directions, and to make special services available to them.

Examples of some of the services CIS offers to the DCCs are:

• Monthly meetings to provide an occasion for getting to know other DCCs, to exchange ideas and questions, and to hear speakers address relevant computing topics and/or issues. Meetings are held on the 2nd Wednesday of every month.
• An electronic conference to share information among DCCs and with CIS staff.
• Priority service from CIS in addressing problems. CIS recognizes that DCCs will be resolving problems for others, and to assist DCCs in doing this will give priority to resolving DCC questions over individual users' problems.
• DCC Info Page, a web page tailored to the needs of the DCCs. The web page includes links to local documentation, information specific to the DCCs and links to support resources outside of Brown.
• Specialized training courses covering topics ranging from trouble-shooting computer problems to new products and technologies.
• Early access to new services and systems before they are generally released on campus by CIS. Involving Coordinators in testing helps DCCs to anticipate usage within their departments and to learn in advance about new services. At the same time it helps CIS uncover unforeseen problems before release.

Contact Information

The DCC program is currently run by a steering committee of seven DCCs from various disciplines across campus and a CIS liaison. If you would like more information on this program, please contact the DCC liaison (DCC_Liaison@brown.edu).