Information Technology
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The information Technology department for the Tampa Housing Authority manages all network communications, network infrastructure for both main office and properties, software for the agency, company website, customer portals, network security, and staff support. The IT department consists of five staff members:
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 Mike Tepfer, Director of Information Technology |
Our IT Environment
Who We Are - IT Team of 5 Employees
Who We Support - 268 THA Personnel
THA Sites - 21 in the City of Tampa
Data Centers - Main Data Center at Cypress Office & Backup Data Center at Moses White
Information is power! Power to make accurate, quick, educated management decisions for the future direction of the Tampa Housing Authority and its entities in a professional manner.
Our enterprise management systems are cost-effective, investment management, asset management, and property management software solutions.
Yardi is in use by more than 15,000 businesses, corporations, and government agencies, representing more than 5 billion square feet of commercial space and 5 million residential units globally.
Managing a wide-ranging portfolio that includes public housing, mixed-income, and tax credit properties requires tight control of expenditures and up-to-the-minute financial information. It also requires keeping track of contractors and buildings spread over a wide area. Our answer has been a move away from a centralized property/accounting system to a Web-based property management system that keeps track of everything from purchase orders to contractor credentials.
Yardi Software allows users to combine accounting and property management data into a single database. Since the system is Web-based, anyone with access to the Internet can input or receive reports. Our goal is to speed up the reporting process and improve the information provided. In order to do we have been working to eliminate paperwork and replace it with electronic files, especially where purchase orders are concerned.
The IT department has implemented cutting-edge technology over the past several years. Our network uses state-of-art technology, combining cost savings with efficiency, and has room to grow. We are using a traditional high-speed VPN in combination with wireless technology to connect all of our remote sites. This was put into place several years ago and allows THA to deliver a wide range of technologies out to our remote sites. To further reduce communication costs and improve services, we centralized all telephone and faxing services through the main office. This was accomplished by implementing VOIP for telephone service and RightFax centralized fax server for faxes. Cost savings are realized through not only the reduction in equipment and support but also the consolidation of necessary phone circuits for these services.
We have also improved productivity by providing employees with unified messaging with email, voice mail, and fax all within MS Outlook, without leaving their desks. The Phone system is reliable and capable of providing the necessary management reports for tracking customer support which a few years ago was nonexistent. Customer service now sees the calls waiting to be answered, and management can see in real-time who is taking the calls.
Our servers are stable; in particular, the email system is now reliable and more resistant to SPAM and viruses. We receive over 2,000,000 (2 MILLION) emails a month; all are filtered/scanned for SPAM and viruses before delivering to the user. In an effort to provide a stable reliable environment, additional servers were added to the mix.
As we continue to add more technology, it requires more horsepower on the back end. We continually analyze the load on all systems to ensure that we have adequate resources to meet the demand. With the implementation of "site-based management" and additional properties, the IT department has experienced an unforeseen strain. Now half of our user base is located at remote sites and requires additional time traveling between sites. We are still providing top-level support. Data integrity is of up most importance with any information system. In the past, employees had no accountability for the data put into the system, which has changed. I believe THA has the most accurate data it has ever had in the history of the organization.
