Mission Statement & Guiding Principles

Information Technology Mission Statement & Guiding Principles Fall 2006

Mission Statement

Our mission is to effectively develop, promote, facilitate and ease the flow of information within the City organization and between the City and its customers through the use of technology and creation of timely information content.

This mission will be accomplished by:

• Facilitating communication between the City, its employees, and the community that is open, honest, proactive and interactive in nature.
• Providing reliable, timely, innovative, and cost-effective information systems solutions to the City organization so that the needs of both internal and external customers are successfully met.
• Supplying infrastructure and services that enable reliable, secure, efficient, cost-effective and appropriately integrated voice, data, wireless, and video communications.
• Providing leadership, direction, and support in the organization-wide planning and coordination of communication and technology services.
• Application of technology solutions (i.e. geographic information system (GIS), Internet web, applications) that effectively support the organization's general operations and policy development efforts.
• Developing a funding strategy to ensure a continuous and stable funding base commensurate with the central role of technology with the City of El Paso priorities.

• Customer Service Orientation: Our relationships with customers and their satisfaction with our services are of paramount importance to us. As such, they should always be treated with the highest level of respect and attention. Our employees consistently strive to do more than what is required.
• Partnership: We always strive to understand our customer's problems and their business objectives. We believe in joint ownership of both problems and solutions with our customers.
• Positive Attitude: We strive to maintain a positive attitude at all times when interacting with our customers. We will convey a genuine sense of caring, helpfulness, courtesy, and patience in dealing with our customers and with each other. Our work is about creating positive outcomes and successes for our customers.
• Honesty and Integrity: In order to maintain the confidence and respect of our customers and fellow employees, we must conduct ourselves with a high degree of honesty, integrity, and accountability with both our customers and peers.
• Supportive Environment: We will foster a healthy work environment where it is safe to say, "I don't know", to make mistakes, learn from them, and document the results so that we all can use them as a learning experience and as tools to expand our knowledge and capabilities.
• Open Communication: Our performance and success depends upon how well we communicate with both our customers and each other. As such, we will strive to:
• Be responsive to initial contacts or requests;
• Clarify and ensure we understand what is being communicated;
• Practice good listening skills;
• Avoid using unnecessary technical jargon that may confuse others;
• Stay attuned to our customers' knowledge and understanding; and
• Keep customers and each other informed about our work.
• Continuous Learning and Improvement: We believe that our employees should be given the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge, and to freely share these with their customers and each other. At the same time we expect our employees to learn from customers - their business, perspectives, observations, and expertise. It is our belief that through mutual understanding and respect superior customer service will be provided.
• Teamwork: In order to succeed, the IT department requires talent from many individuals. Emphasis is placed on interaction among coworkers regardless of position to achieve a collegial environment and support within the department. Exhibiting a positive and cooperative attitude is of high value and is encouraged.