Interviews with Tribal IT Leaders

Q&A With Robert Pollard from this year's Industry Award Winner 8 or less - Blue Lake Rancheria

Robert Pollard
Blue Lake Rancheria - Blue Lake Casino and Hotel
IT Director

Interview Highlights

Q: What can you tell us about your IT Team?

We have a team of five individuals that work harder than any team I’ve ever worked with. Each one of us has gained most of our technical experience outside the casino and tribal government environment, in industries ranging from defense to retail sectors, this has combined into a fresh prospective and we have been able to apply certain external industry best practices within our environment. It’s a 24/7 environment with an array of responsibilities and the team is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure success.
Q: Can you provide us with a snapshot of the areas your team oversees or is involved with?

We are set up as a single IT structure overseeing technology and information for all tribal government functions, tribal gaming and non-gaming economic enterprises. The Blue Lake Rancheria owns one casino property with over 850 slots, three dining venues and a 102-room hotel. Other economic enterprises such as fuel station and grocery, advertising agency, a technology company and gravel company, all help to maintain a diverse economic base. We handle IT for the tribal government, finance and administrative areas and manage the tribal and casino/hotel websites. With such an array of operational responsibilities, my team spends a lot of time on standardizing our efforts so we can work efficiently with a small staff.
Q: What can you tell us about the deployment of mobile device gaming at the Blue Lake Casino & Hotel?

It has felt like a journey on the fast track. We launched as one of the first properties to do this in December of 2010 and quickly learned what worked and what didn’t. We started with a manufacturer at ground level. When we first toured the system, it was basically a slot machine which had no back end support and would not have passed regulatory compliance for deployment here at Blue Lake. Working with the manufacturer we were able to help and advise them in producing a system which would not only pass GLI requirements but also allowed us as operators to function with the NIGC MICS requirements. When we first released the system to guests we quickly discovered issues with the system where the player’s card didn’t match our non-mobile rewards club. We also first released these in the bingo area in a casino where our average guest is 60 years old, and we had some initial “user rejection.” After careful evaluation we decided to open a mobile gaming “lounge” targeting the younger demographic - this helped overcome the perception of new technology, increased ease of use and we could maintain better control with a dedicated wireless access point. We eliminated the dual card system and now players can use one card for mobile and non-mobile gaming. Using the system in relatively contained areas such as Bingo and the Mobile Gaming Lounge allow us to evaluate and troubleshoot for optimal performance.

As you would expect with any new system, issues occur, but we deployed it in a strategic way so that these could be quickly identified and resolved. Our in-house marketing team created a complete mobile gaming platform we call iSino™. The integrated experience guests enjoy with this option is something unique and is going over extremely well. As the system develops, guests will be using the system for far more than mobile gaming – they will book a room, order a drink and schedule or use other property amenities directly from an iPad™ whenever they wish. It’s essentially like walking around with a Class III device that’s tied into our system and has all the capabilities of mobility and real-time convenience.
Q: With such an exciting project in gaming has your team had time to focus on anything else?

A lot of our efforts have been tied up in this project, however we still have had several upgrades in the last year and are looking towards more moving into 2012. With over 20 IT business-critical systems and a mostly virtualized infrastructure we don’t have a choice! In 2012 we will have a big focus on document imaging. Tribal administration wants everything to be paperless so we are looking at streamlining more processes to do so across the organization.

Q: What was the reaction when your team learned that you had been selected as one ofthe recipients of the TribalNet industry award?

Everyone is really excited about winning the award. IT tends to be behind the scenes a lot so to have an award like this available and be recognized is fantastic. We feel this isn’t just an accomplishment of our IT team but of the efforts of our entire organization. Having this recognition directly from our peers is such an honor.

Q&A With IT Leaders from this year's Industry Award Winners 9 or more - Yurok Tribe

Paul Romero & IS Director Jim Norton
Yurok Tribe

Interview Highlights

Q: What can you tell us about your IT team and structure?

We currently have nine staff members that make up the Information Services (IS) department which oversees all Information Services-related government functions for the Yurok Tribe as well as the economic development and emergency management divisions. The tribal lands and offices span more than 40 miles along the Klamath River, across three counties and includes seven complexes with 300+ direct users. Because of this, geography presents challenges for us both daily AND in the long-term. Other tribes that are located in remote/rural areas may be facing similar issues that we have such as; widely dispersed facilities, lack of infrastructure, rugged terrain, cultural barriers and a scattered member population. Our team is extremely unified yet structurally divided into three main focus areas; GIS, IS Applications/Support, and Broadband. Collaboratively we support services for the Yurok Tribe, which has over 5,600 members; the largest enrollment of any tribe in California.
Q: What are some of the current projects or initiatives your IS department is working on?

A lot of our recent and upcoming focus is on improving our network in a challenging geographical environment. We recently received funding for a project called “YurokConnect.” When complete, this project will provide phone and high-speed Internet to the homes on the reservation as well as allow us to build a network that connects our tribal offices and buildings across over 40 miles of land. Currently some tribal residents don’t even have electricity, many don’t have a phone or Internet and the few that do have Internet access in their homes are still on a dial-up connection. Being able to provide new services to tribal members in their homes is one of the aspects that make this a rewarding initiative to be a part of.

Additionally, the ability to build our infrastructure and backbone for the tribal government and programs, especially for emergency services and public safety, ultimately allows us to do so much more for our members today and in the future. With a handful of critical community facilities currently connected as part of this initiative the excitement is really building for this project to come completely together. The funding that made this possible was from several sources; however the bulk came from the USDA RUS Community Connect grant program. As timing couldn’t have worked out better for us, the development of “white space” technology (which is essentially freed up television spectrum for use primarily in rural areas) created an opportunity for us to have an even better signal than with a typical type of wireless communications installed and for a lot less work and a lot less funds than you’d see with cable and telephone. Additionally, the wireless solutions we were looking at putting in place before the FCC provided us with an experimental license to make this happen can’t compare to the “white space” option when it comes to working in rugged terrain. While nothing is perfect, the “white space” technology is a significant advance for coverage in rural areas.
Q: As pioneers in working in such challenging terrain- what advice can you share with others?

Funny you should ask- we are currently attempting to receive funding to document our model of how we built our broadband system, where we went for funding and how we kept our costs low. If this funding is received, we hope to have materials made available early 2012 on our website at www.yuroktribe.org. Any tribe, county, city or rural location that may have similar issues we are facing would ideally be able to utilize our information. As general advice, our team follows the model of focusing on the vision while remaining flexible and making a commitment to the final product. SOMETIMES it can be just that simple.
Q: Can you tell us about any new developments or expansions within the Tribe?

The new fiscal year brings potential projects for the department- a brand-new 60-room hotel and casino project is planned, however the ground-breaking date has yet to be set. All of the IS personnel are currently “gaming licensed” and able to support the project from start to finish, however it is still too early to fully discuss our involvement. Aside from potential new construction, as we continue to build our infrastructure, the tribe will be able to provide more services, which of course will lead to more technology projects in various areas of the tribe. The FEMA grant we recently received has enabled us to work with Indian Health Service to do a reservation-wide assessment of tribal health. Grants are consistently a critical source of funding for the Yurok Tribe and what we are able to do in IS. We also have several ongoing GIS projects in the works as well as plans to build a new cultural center.

Q: How did you feel about being one of the IS teams honored this year with the TribalNet industry award?

It was amazing to be singled out amongst so many other great tribal IT teams. We think we are doing a good thing and accomplishing something with the intent to make this a model for others who are dealing with similar challenges. We would like to thank TribalNet for the honor of being recognized amongst our peers.

Q & A with IT Leaders from the Talking Stick Resort & Casino Arizona

Bryant Santini & Steve Tolle
Talking Stick Resort and Casino Arizona
CIO & Network Manager

Interview Highlights

Q: What can you tell us about the growth of the tribe’s gaming enterprises?

We opened our first gaming operation 12 years ago, a temporary tent, some games, limited staff, and no IT. About eight years ago the IT department emerged and began to maintain five or six people and our server room was a closet with a flat network- nothing compared to what we have currently. Today our team is made up of 34 employees and split into three divisions; IT support, enterprise applications which also includes project management and the extensive network team which also includes telecom. We have a state of the art data center, complete redundancy and we push anything and everything we can through the network. The original tents are long gone and we currently operate two gaming properties which include roughly 800+ slots per site; Casino Arizona and the flagship property Talking Stick Resort which opened in the summer of 2010.
Q: Can you share with us what IT’s role was with the new property opening?

In preparation for the build and opening we were juggling a large number of projects. We built in a disciplined project management scheme and created a customized communication tool so our business users could keep up with the progress of the project. They stayed informed and engaged by having the ability to access the information, receive updated status reports and view milestones, outstanding items, issues and beyond. Right from the beginning we knew that many of the projects we were involved with would be setup to be pushed through the new network. Everything from ip phones, in-room entertainment and a networked slot floor, to wireless, video, lighting, HVAC and more. With this setup you can imagine how much of a focus we had on our new data center build in order to ensure that our network was fully redundant and reliable.

We actually did a video case study with Cisco that highlights much of what was put into the backbone of the Talking Stick Resort…

Steve- Network Manager: With a lot of guests being technology savvy now- we designed this property to be a technology showcase.

David Chavez- Director of Slot Operations: With the networked floor we are able to get a good matrix on what our guests are experiencing which enables us to make better management decisions and create excitement on the floor.

Richard Moore- Sentinel Technologies: It’s the resort property of the future- an all IP property from gaming operations, to back office operations, to the guest experience in their hotel rooms.

Check out the Cisco Video Case Study at: http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/trec/gaming.html
Q: Since the opening of the resort what has your team been focused on?

At the Talking Stick Resort we are working on a lot of interface projects- our property management system, golf, entertainment and so on. With the networked floor at Talking Stick we are also starting to bring this technology to our other property, Casino Arizona. The majority of the company (95%) have moved to Office 2010 on Windows 7 and we are now on SharePoint 2010 and are switching over to Microsoft Lync, something that will improve the methods and efficiency of our users communicating internally. We also have a lot of important initiatives with BI and Analytics which are ongoing. We are working on leveraging our partnerships and in-house development teams to make some useful and customized tools.
Q: As leaders how do you prioritize and manage your project portfolio?

One of the things we have in place to help with our project portfolio is an IT steering committee. We officially meet quarterly- members include the key managers of each division in IT as well as the CIO, CEO, CFO and the Senior Director of Marketing. We as an IT team meet with department heads and gather their input for their department’s needs. This could be anything from desktops and cell phones to large scale projects, upgrades and new installs. We gather the projections of cost and timeframes and present the entire comprehensive “wish list” to the committee. The Committee approved 25 projects of the 50 presented. By following this method we are able to determine what is part of the overall strategic plan, what is considered CAPEX and we become empowered to outline our budget and contracts for the year. So, by the time we are submitting our final budget for approval we are already better ensured that what we are proposing aligns with the business plan and it really makes for a more seamless process. AND by using communication tools to link the users in this process it becomes a collaborative effort with supportive buy-in.

Q: With the Annual TribalNet Conference being held at your property this year- will you be involved?

Absolutely, for those attendees who are interested we are going to be offering “IT Data Center Tours” during the conference week. We are looking forward to having our peers take a look inside our data center, which we are extremely proud to share.

Q & A With Aaron Fisher - Executive Director of IT, Kalispel Tribe

Aaron Fisher
Kalispel Tribe
Executive Director of IT

Interview Highlights

Q: Can you tell us about how your IT your team of 36 is structured?

We have a single IT department structure, overseeing IT for all areas of the tribe, community, gaming and non-gaming enterprises. Our team is divided into six groups; Network, Applications, Telecom, Cable/Wiring, A/V and Desktop Support. With 250 acres of reservation land and the tribal headquarters being located about 50 miles from several of our enterprises, including the Northern Quest Casino, some of team members are located at and dedicated to specific geographic areas, while others provide remote support or incur some travel. We moved from a separated IT structure to a single department structure about three years ago. It has provided us with better buying power, helped us save on resources and created a better platform for integrating systems when able to. We are also able to better align the goals of IT with the overall vision of the entire tribal organization.
Q: What projects has your team been focused on?

Gaming: Our new casino resort opened two years ago with several technology highlights- some of which have even been noted by AAA. Hotel guests can enjoy; IPtv and phones, video on demand, electronic check-in and check-out, in-room suite upgrades and more. Our security system and locks- throughout the hotel- you name it- it’s all unified into one solution and tied to our legacy free network. The infrastructure is mostly Cisco, we utilize GuestTek for our tv system, Symon for digital signage and NEC for our phone system. With the build out of the new property we kept the vision tight aligning and integrating with the tribe as well as our non-gaming enterprises.

Government:
We are becoming more and more involved with the security systems for our non-gaming areas. We’ve moved to IP based camera systems and are focused on utilizing advanced analytics to identify who is on property and where at our non-gaming enterprises. We also have a system built in for license plate scanning and beyond- utilizing Geovision for this, we have been able to build in a high level of customization from our in-house team. Our in-house development team will also be customizing whatever system we select for our transportation department; mainly in use for tracking buses and managing inventory- we are currently accepting RFP’s for this.

Health:
We never see an end to technology upgrades and changes in the health division. We do have a few team members that focus specifically on health and with the meaningful use (MU) guidelines we are following to meet the requirements, this year has been busy for us in this area. We’ve added dental, evolved our electronic x-rays, upgraded our electronic pharmacy dispense, upgraded our medical records system and beyond all in just the last few months. A lot is on the horizon for us still to meet the MU requirements but our team is dedicated to working hard to make it happen.

Community:
In addition to the tribe and enterprises we also provide technical support to the homes on the reservation. Whether it’s supporting or upgrading desktops and laptops or troubleshooting Internet access issues, our team is responsible for providing service to residents. We also have a learning center located in the community that we service as well, this provides an area with pc’s and Internet access for any members of the community that prefer to use or don’t have access to in their own homes.

Overall:
Communications have been a big focus for us organization wide. Long distance fees were killing us with our reservation stretching across 250 acres. We upgraded our phone and voice mail systems to an all ip based backbone and now everyone is only a 4-digit dial away with no long distance fees. We are currently upgrading our conference rooms as well for video conferencing- which will save us time and money as well as improve methods of communication. Mobile devices are another communication tool that is on our plate- everyone has one which means whether it’s purchasing, servicing or implementing policies and procedures- IT is involved. With the push for improved communications and the increase of mobile accessibility, data warehousing, analytics and business intelligence are three key things we will be working on the rest of this year and well into several to come.
Q: Would you say that DW and BI are two of your biggest projects moving forward?

Definitely. Data warehousing is an ongoing long term plan for us. We can collect anything and everything and we feel like it’s an IT responsibility to make our data easily accessible and make it easy to understand. Right now it’s a collaborative effort from accounting, IT, business leaders and beyond using spreadsheets and report summaries to pull together information for management and leadership to make decisions. We are developing a better and more seamless way to view this information with the ability to review a summary of the organization at a glance. We have spent a lot of time developing our systems, we feel that we are now moving towards the vision of getting the most out of them.
Q: How important is VISION for IT leaders?

Technology follows business and when we understand the business we can plan technology and implement solutions in keeping with that vision. IT leaders MUST be visionary and able to align their vision with the overall strategic plan of the organization. As the Executive Director of IT I am fortunate enough to sit on the executive board so I can work hand in hand with the COO, CFO and those responsible for the strategic direction. I’m proud of how much we’ve grown- eight years ago we didn’t have well functioning email or Internet and today we are flourishing as a department, tribe and enterprise. Our tribal council has recognized the value of technology in the success of the tribe and they continue to support us. It’s our job as IT leaders to continue to help them realize that value.

Q & A with Key IT Leaders at the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe’s Grand Casinos

Dwight Terrance
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
Chief Innovations Officer

Interview Highlights

Q: Can you tell us about how the IT department is structured to meet the needs of both the tribe and casino enterprise?

Dwight: The organization made the change to a centralized IT structure in 2007. We currently have 26 dedicated employees that provide service and support twp casino properties, five hotels, a 272-unit RV park, eight small business operations and select tribal departments. Although our sites span more than 50 miles we are able to have staff at all locations as well as offer services remotely. Our department is logically separated into three divisions; infrastructure; led by Eric Olander, applications; led by Angie McKibbens, and the service desk led by Tim Johnson. My role as Chief Innovations Officer is to facilitate the strategic direction of IT for the tribe’s business enterprises.
Q: What are some of the most recent projects the IT team has been focused on?

Eric -- Infrastructure: We have recently upgraded and expanded our wireless infrastructure to have 100 percent wireless coverage across the entire organization. Our wireless network needed upgrading, and with the trend of increased handheld devices on the floor, we needed to make improvements to streamline the user experience and to use internally as well. Additionally on the network side, we have been focused on enhancing the redundancy of our primary links for communications to the gaming floor to ensure no interruption of service.

Angie -- Applications: One of our biggest projects has been our process improvement effort. This is something we are continuously working on with our department heads. Examples include using an electronic signature pad for our restaurants and paperless registration cards at the front desk . These are ways that we have eliminated waste, reduced costs, and improved processes. This initiative along with overall electronic document/storage and paperless initiatives have been some of our most important ongoing projects. We have done a lot of standard upgrades in the past year to many of our systems. Beyond gaming, we are utilizing some of our applications more efficiently such as Microsoft SharePoint for communications and have migrated to Microsoft for reporting services.

Tim -- Service Desk: This dedicated team supports both Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley as the first line of support for the organization. Their number one priority is guest service. This is supported by a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with all their customers. One of the major metrics for this division is first call resolution, which is currently at 70 percent.
Q: What can you tell us about the strategic direction of IT at Grand Casinos?

Dwight: Overall, we are currently looking at creating an IT steering committee to help unify our organization and create partnerships that can help define the direction of our business enterprises. In gaming, we are keeping a close eye on developments related to Internet gaming as well as identifying ways to get industry vendors up to the level of supporting the environments we are moving towards. Server-based gaming is still on the front of everyone’s minds and we are watching for opportunities that will create a new dynamic for the gaming floor and customer experience. We are still flushing out details of several upcoming projects but are evaluating areas such as business intelligence to see how dashboards and other features can enable management to all make the best decisions possible for the organization.

Q & A with IT Director, Dustin Stark- Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

Dustin Stark
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
IT Director

Interview Highlights

Q: What is your oversight in IT for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma?

Including myself, we have a team of 34 dedicated individuals who cover a territory over 11,000 sq. miles and across 10 ½ counties. We provide service and support for the tribal government, tribal council, and the tribe’s core programs and services for over 200,000 tribal members. This includes areas such as finance, human resources, social services, enrollment, education, cultural preservation, language and many of our non-gaming enterprises. Our IT infrastructure is de-centralized and we have separate IT departments for our health, gaming, housing, manufacturing, and our federal contracting agency divisions. This model allows each division’s unique IT requirements to be met very effectively but does require collaboration to ensure that enterprise IT initiatives are successful. Fortunately, the Choctaw Nation’s culture fosters team work and collaboration so the de-centralized model is far more seamless than one might think.
What are some existing or recent IT projects your team has been working on?

Business Intelligence is something we currently have a lot of attention on. We are looking at ways to better analyze our data, generate more useful reports and utilize customization capabilities in order to allow our executives to have the decision-making tools they need right at their fingertips whether it’s on their desktops or their mobile phones.

Mobility in BI and beyond is a big thing for us right now. Everyone wants to be able to do everything, everywhere, anytime. We are also in year two of a five- year plan for disaster recovery and an offsite data center.

In addition, by fall of this year we are planning to finalize our slow and steady approach to fully implementing Cisco’s network access control solution which authenticates everything that touches the network.

But by far our most exciting and highly intense project recently has been our CRM/Enrollment project we are doing with the Microsoft Dynamics product and Arctic IT. This project essentially creates a centralized database for every service that tribal members receive. The ultimate goal is to integrate as much as we can so we can ensure that members are getting as many services as possible. So far we have had great success with Microsoft and Arctic IT on this project and have seen minimal in-house development. We started the pre-vendor planning stage of this project in January, 2010 and were able to select a vendor and kick it off less than six months later. By March 1, 2011 we went live and are now continuing to work on its functionality as we move ahead.
Q: What is one of your most important member-driven projects in technology?

We have a lot on the radar for the rest of 2011 and beyond but one project stands out ahead of the rest and comes straight from the direction of our tribal leadership. It’s an educational initiative we are going to be focused on that involves tracking the needs of students grade 9-12. We are attempting to take a 360-degree view of our youth. This will extend into their health needs and their home environment so we are helping to ensure they have every opportunity to be both successful and healthy. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma’s Mission statement is, “To enhance the lives of all members through opportunities designed to develop healthy, successful and productive lifestyles,” and helping our youth prepare for the future is a key part of achieving this mission. A sustained ability to enhance the lives of all our members is the reason we work so hard to keep our businesses successful.
Q: Why is the investment in technology so important for the Choctaw Nation?

It’s important because we are committed to taking care of our people. Technology helps us do that. We spend money wisely to create opportunities and improve efficiencies which affects the entire Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Although the consumer market is supposed to be bouncing back this year, the federal government is not. We, like many other tribes, have our own businesses that generate revenue but we also depend on some federal funding sources. This year with instability of the federal government budget, the need to make the best use of funds invested in technology is even more important. This investment, which is guided and supported by our tribal leaders, Chief Gregory E. Pyle, Assistant Chief Gary Batton and the Tribal Council, is what allows us to improve and continue to provide services to our members.

Q & A with Choctaw Nation Health Services- IT Divison

Skip Leader & Dwane Sorrells
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
CIO & Director of IT

Interview Highlights

Q: Can you tell us how your ‘technical’ team for health is structured?

We have 30 people dedicated to the ‘technical’ arena of the Choctaw Nation Health Services Division. Among those 30 individuals there are three main focus areas: patient data, clinical applications and information technology (IT). There are 23 people in IT, five in patient data and two Clinical Application Coordinators (CAC).
Q: How many clinics and hospitals does the Choctaw Nation operate?

Our reach stretches across 10 ½ counties with one 30-bed hospital located in Talihina plus seven satellite clinics throughout southeastern Oklahoma. All of our clinics are ambulatory and offer family practice and pediatrics. Some also offer dental and optometry and we do have extensive services in behavioral health across the service area. We also have a pharmacy refill center located in Poteau, OK that fulfills our patient’s pharmacy needs via mail order refills. Patients can login and order their refills online with a robotic dispense at the site. With this system we typically dispense close to 4,000 prescriptions per day.
Q: What are some key projects the IT team is currently working on?

Our over-arching goal in IT is “PAPERLESS!” We have been in this mode for 11 years, so long before electronic “green” initiatives were popular. We created processes, forms and systems over the past 10 years to reduce paper, reduce cost, conserve resources, and decrease time in doing business.

Recently, we have had a lot of hands invovled in the improvement of our infrastructure. Our data center project is coming to a close. Part of that project is the virtualization of our server infrastructure. At this point in time 80 percent of our existing physical server devices have been virtualized. This is essentially the first phase in our long term project of disaster recovery.

As you may know, our area is highly prone to weather related natural disasters, so it was vital for us to create an alternative offsite datacenter for our critical systems. To accomplish this task we determined the best method for this was to implement a full mesh virtualization data center infrastructure. Soon we will be able to almost seamlessly re-enable our primary care services in the event of a disaster. With this we are also taking a step forward with adding client desktops to the virtual environment. Our driving force for much of our infrastructure improvement as well as the virtual desktops has been cost savings and better manageability.

The projects also feed into the tribe’s major initiative of going green. We additionally have a lot of other in-house development occurring to support the tribe’s green initiative; automating processes, web applications and telemedicine to name a few. We have been performing telemedicine for years but recently have kicked off a $500,000 project upgrading existing equipment that has been in place since 2000. With the refresh of new technology we have better capabilities for care and diagnosis. We are even able to now use it for behavioral health as well. Like many tribes we are also trying to meet all the meaningful use requirements; it’s a big project with a big focus, especially for the CAC’s. We are also getting close to participating on the State level of Health Information Exchange, something our RPMS team will most likely have a big focus on in the future.
Q: What other projects is your team working on that directly affects tribal members?

With our in-house developed web applications we have not only eliminated waste, we have cut down on wait times in several areas for patients, improved service and improved care. We have also created mobile apps related to health such as calorie tracking and workout routines along with healthy recipes and recommendations for better eating habits and more. We continue to use technology to improve services as well as help educate and promote health and wellness amongst our tribal members.

Q & A with The Karuk Tribe

Eric Cutright & Chris Kleeman
Karuk Tribe
IT Director & IT Manager

Interview Highlights

Q: Can you tell us about The Karuk Tribe and the areas you oversee IT for?

We are a non-gaming tribe with 3600+ enrolled members and three main areas of IT oversight.

Tribal Government/Programs: Tribal government/council, Housing, Transportation, Administration, Education, Natural Resources, TANF, Construction, TERO, Enrollment Language, Archeology & Museum.

Health: 3 medical clinics, 2 dental clinics, 3 behavioral health clinics, Public health, Elders program, Contract Health.

Tribal Enterprise- Chartered Community Development Corporation: 3 community computer ctrs., Youth programs, Head start, Rural Firefighting Crew, Community loan program, Amkuuf convenience store.

We have six members on our IT team supporting these divisions which spans across three communities in a very geographically diverse area. There are over 750 devices, 250 users and 25 offices within these communities, which include our main location- Happy Camp and two outlying areas; Orleans and Yreka, which are separated by more than 100 miles of national forest and wilderness areas.
Q: What projects have recently been on your team’s radar?

Grant Related Projects:
• Data Center
• Fiber Optic Network Project
• Yreka Health Clinic Remodel

Most of our projects intertwine, however the data center project is top priority right now since many of the other projects are dependent on it’s completion, which is set for June of 2011. We received funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that provided us a total of $386,000 some of which was used to create the new data center, essential for our Electronic Health Records (E.H.R.). Our Housing Authority provided the location for the data center and some matching funds for the project. We have been utilizing industry best practices both for design and to keep operational costs down in the design center build. The challenges have been mostly in engineering a data center with high reliability and redundancy while staying within budget. The project was initiated because of the heavy reliance on the infrastructure for E.H.R. at our health clinics. We were mandated to have no more than one hour of inaccessibility to the system which created the need both for the data center and another project we are doing with the grant funding, expanding our fiber optic network. With our rural area, limited current service from the local telecom company and the need for a faster more reliable network the decision was made to run our own fiber, 7800 feet of it. We are taking a proactive approach to solve some immediate and several long-term needs.

Tribal Wide:
• Upgrading infrastructure to get ready for Windows 7
• Document Management

When considering the investment into a document management solution we remind ourselves and others of what our most valuable resources are and the answer is…information. We are carefully evaluating what direction we want to go in this process to find a solution that can; cut down on paper for tribal government/administration, has the capability to be used in our health clinics, can store cultural materials with video and voice/sound. Data mining capabilities and knowing that the data we are storing is in an accessible and usable format are key pieces.

Health Specific:
• Electronic Dental Records
• Meaningful Use Requirements
• Bi-directional lab interface
• E-scripts

We are in the process of implementing Electronic Dental Records at our main clinic. We’ve been live for two years with E.H.R. and have recently been a beta site for some of the software for E.H.R. with I.H.S., which we hope will positively affect tribes all across the U.S. The meaningful use (MU) guidelines have affected a lot of our decisions in investing in technology at our health clinics and tribal wide. Our CAC did an assessment on our organization to see where we fell in meeting the MU guidelines. We feel we have 1/3 of the guidelines met, 1/3 we will soon meet between the projects we are working on and what I.H.S. is doing and a 1/3 we still need to initiate moving ahead.
Q: With so many projects going on, how important is investing in “time-saving” technology?

Extremely, we have such a large geographic area with limited time and staff, any technology that makes us more efficient is utilized. We remotely deploy our operating systems, applications, and other software packages using our network. We use remote assistance programs to access end user computers to provide real-time assistance and to see exactly what the end user sees on their screen. We utilize VPN technologies to extend our centralized network to all reaches of any Internet connection including cell phones. Virtualization such as VMware reduces physical machines and time spent maintaining equipment. Technology hugely improves our ability to be self-sufficient and being a non-gaming tribe we especially have learned to maximize the IT dollar. Every aspect of the Tribe’s IT relies on heavy use of time-saving technology.

Q & A with Melodie Lente- Director of Information Systems

Melodie Lente
Wildhorse Resort & Casino (WRC)
Director of Information Systems

Interview Highlights

Q: Can you give us a snapshot of the tribal gaming facility you oversee IS for?

I can share with you what our property has now as well as note what will be changing this fall with our expansion. We currently have 800+ slots, with plans to add another 400-600. We also have a 100-room hotel onsite with plans for a new 10-story 202 room tower that includes 32 suites. There are multiple restaurants onsite, convention space as well as an RV park and nightclub. I lead an IS staff of 10 which will also be increasing in order to meet the continued needs of a growing property.
Q: What new technology is being deployed in the exciting expansion project?

The face and backend of our gaming floor will be changing dramatically with the Class 3 direction towards the IP based floor and the addition of server-based Class II slots. The technology deployed will be the culmination of the unified communications efforts of the past two years that will enhance our player driven marketing approach. We will be deploying an entirely new paging and ambient music system, enabling our system for downloadable credits, and installing property wide digital signage. We are aiming to create an entire experience that appears to happen effortlessly. In the hotel, our guests will enjoy upgraded amenities such as IPTV, VOIP, virtual tours, and on-screen room service menus and ordering.
Q: How has your team had to prepare for this expansion & how involved is IS in the project?

In last two years almost everything we’ve have done has been in preparation for the facility expansion. We did a complete network overhaul; upgrading cabling, servers, deploying new Cisco switches, and significantly improving our network reliability and performance. We knew that in order to be where we needed to be with the expansion plan, we had to start making improvements to our network. Because of where the property is positioning itself in the market, everything is technology based. With the added workload, we have had also created new positions within our department. Some installation of equipment has been contracted out, but they all report to IS so we can be sure everything integrates. I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved in a leadership role from the very start of the project and am blessed with a dedicated and brilliant staff. They take pride and ownership in their work and are excited to be able to see the fruits of their labor.
Q: What can you tell us about day-to-day IS operations outside of the expansion?

Yes, we still have to do our “day-jobs.” The IS team supports over 500 employees in their day-to-day interactions with the computer, phone, point-of-sale, accounting, personnel, marketing, and inventory systems, just to name a few. We plan to virtualize the physical servers not virtualized during expansion preparations. We also have plans to add another new building and entire department to our network. A document storage/management system is on our horizon; but, we are only in the early stages of inquiry for that project and the project to expand our warehouse and inventory tracking system. All the while, our AV team continues to provide technical support to hundreds of meetings, events, concerts, and nightclub acts.

Q & A with Kellie Kvasnikoff- CIO, Snoqualmie Tribe

Kellie Kvasnikoff
Snoqualmie Tribe
CIO

Interview Highlights

Q: Can you tell us about the areas that you oversee technology for?

A: The IT team consists of four people including myself. One of our team members is dedicated solely to the health division which includes two clinics that house general health, behavioral health, substance abuse, diabetes and dental. The other two members of the IT team are focused on servicing the tribal government and related divisions such as the council, judicial, public safety and membership programs. The tribe also owns a casino, however they have their own IT department. At times we do work together but it is very limited interaction.
Q: What projects focused specifically in health has your team recently been involved with?

A: Most recently we rolled out Electronic Health Records (E.H.R.) at our two clinics. This was a project that had been in discussion for years and with a 4-month accelerated installation plan, we fully deployed E.H.R. this summer. One of the biggest challenges was the intense migration of data in order to establish our new server. We had to ensure our data was protected and secure as well as provide redundancy for the network. All the management of the project was handled primarily by our IT team along with a lot of useful and necessary communication and collaboration between the clinic staff and I.H.S. With everyone on board and working together it made for a fairly smooth project. The timing couldn’t have been better as it aligned well with meaningful use requirements, we’ve been able to recover nearly 85% of our costs. The tribe is looking to purchase and be fully functional with a new hospital in addition to our two clinics by 2013.
Q: What projects will your team be focusing on in 2011 and beyond?

A: Our new fiscal year started October 1, so we are already into our new budget cycle for 2011. Some of our bigger projects are still going through council review but I can say for sure that we’ll be working on building some GUI interfaces for R.P.M.S. as well as fine tuning some of the technology within E.H.R. for our clinics in order to meet our specific needs. That part of the project is still in the works. We will continue to utilize and seek out cost-savings programs like Microsoft’s Licensing Agreement and have begun to look more towards a CITRIX environment already deploying some virtual servers and desktops with plans for more in the near future. Long term we are looking at building a tribal administration building and installing a campus wide VOIP system, but anticipate that project won’t kick off until after the purchase and opening of the new hospital.
Q: What interesting facts can you share with us about the Snoqualmie Tribe and your background?

A: I would say that it is complimentary that the tribe was able to be featured this issue since October 7th marked the 11th Anniversary for the tribe’s federal recognition. As for me, I started in IT at the Snoqualmie Tribe in 2003 and prior to that worked in many different fields. Most recently before coming to the state of Washington I was the Environmental Resource Director for the Salamatof Tribe in Alaska, a Nation I am a member of. I come from a long line of hunters, fisherman, trappers and I myself was a crab fisherman in the past. My family is of Russian and Alueit decent and in the 1800’s actually founded the village of Ninilchik in Alaska. You can find more about the history of my family as well as other early families of Ninilichik village in a book titled, Agrafena’s Children.

Q & A with the 2010 TribalNet Industry Award Honorable Mention Recipients-
Trinidad Rancheria IT Team

Rob Aton and Josh Oshiro
Trinidad Rancheria
IT Director and Network Administrator

Interview Highlights

Q: Rob, could you start us off with a brief introduction to the IT Team?

A: We are a small staff of three but in just a few short years have made a significant impact on the organization using a team-oriented approach in everything we do. Our oversight of technology stretches into the tribal government and related programs as well as a casino enterprise owned by the tribe. Both Josh and I started in the fall of 2008 and were facing not only the challenge of starting the IT department itself but also piecing together a broken infrastructure.
Q: What can you tell us about the improvements that have been made in IT at your organization in the last few years?

A: It is difficult to illustrate the immense amount of work we had to do to just get a clear picture of what was already in place, what was broken and what was missing within the existing infrastructure. It was like a dense forest with no branches and we were facing layer upon layer of issues. In the early stages, we knew that the back of house cleanup was top priority but also wanted to show the users and management that we were making progress. So, we had to focus on both critical items such as servers, cabling, data storage and communication systems and also on issues that would be considered more tangible improvements. Demonstrating to our General Manager how much the vulnerability of the network can negatively impact the organization from a financial regard was a solid push for funds that in our minds were already considered essential in obtaining.
Q: Now that you would consider yourselves to be on more stable ground what will your team focus on next?

A: Within the last year, we’ve been able to put some policies and procedures in place for IT and now that our network is stable we will be looking to expand it. We’ll also be evaluating offsite storage use and help-desk solutions. We have some in-house talent for application development so we will no doubt be working in that area as well. Additionally the tribe is always looking for new opportunities so we anticipate that new projects and developments will keep us busy in 2011 once decisions are made by the council. We are working harder at being a part of new developments and projects from the beginning so that technology is considered from the start with new construction plans and more. We will continue to focus on working together with other departments as well which makes for smoother projects and easier change management.
Q: Could you share what advice you may give to other tribal IT leaders?

Josh comments- If you are faced with a similar situation that we were in, the best and most important piece of advice is to not be afraid of investing in technology.

Rob comments- To the IT leaders I would say to use your contacts and resources. I became a TribalNet member many years ago and I’ve met people from the level of overseeing an IT department for a casino with 5000 slots to someone that was a librarian that also was in charge of fixing the computers. I’ve been able to get great advice and offer some as well- the opportunity for communication is invaluable.

Q & A with Renita DiStefano

Renita DiStefano
Seneca Niagara Gaming Enterprise
VP of IT

Interview Highlights

Q: What can you tell us about the Seneca Niagara Gaming Enterprise IT Team?

A: We are lucky to have a great staff of 45 people that oversee IT for the Seneca Niagara Casino Hotel, Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino, Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel, and Seneca Hickory Creek Golf Course all properties that fall under the Seneca Gaming Corporation. We have recently hired a new Chief Information Officer (CIO), Ernest Charles, together we share a vision for improving staff engagement, retention and development.
Q: What key projects and initiatives are ahead for your team for 2011 and beyond?

A: There are 4-5 key projects ongoing focusing on our infrastructure. Gaming specific, we are concentrating on optimizing the tools we already have to enable our casino properties to maximize revenue. We are striving for a more unified application portfolio management strategy. From a leadership standpoint, we are always trying to keep our finger on the pulse of the business to achieve the alignment of IT strategies with the goals of the business. We are constantly in pursuit of the perfect marriage between the business and technology. We will be refining our IT Governance structure and focusing on business process improvement.
Q: How critical do you feel that managing your relationships with vendors is right now?

A: Now, more than ever, and also into the coming years it is critical to the organization that we take on a more strategic and integrated sourcing and vendor management approach. It’s advantageous to us to build relationships with our vendors that help us leverage our buying power. With long-term, strategic relationships you can achieve better service agreements, maintenance contracts and ultimately cost savings.
Q: What has been your experience with TribalNet?

A: I’ve attended conferences, webinars and vendor exhibits, all beneficial, but the real value comes in the networking between tribal IT leaders. We recently connected with another “TribalNet friend” for a vendor reference and they shared some lessons learned from their experience on a similar project that proved to be invaluable. Sometimes the best advice is about knowing what NOT to do and be keyed into lessons that have already been learned.

Q&A with Michelle York

Michelle York
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
IT Director

Interview Highlights

Can you tell us about your position at the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians?

I’ve been in IT for over 20+ years and have been fortunate enough to have worked previously in the private sector and received training, certifications, exposure and education that have enabled me to give back to my tribe in a leadership role. As the IT Director, I oversee a staff of 15 that support all government related divisions with exception of health and education.
What changes have been made in IT there since you began just over a year ago?

When I started there was no IT department since each program had someone that was considered an “IT person” that made recommendations for IT purchases, responded to technical questions and addressed IT issues. There was a lack of overall strategic direction and collaboration, along with some duplication of hardware and software and very little sharing of resources. We have applied best practice methods to restructure and reorganize the IT department and have been able to utilize the talents of much of the existing staff. During the restructuring, staff members had to be re-interviewed and job descriptions had to be rewritten. The goal was to discover the strong points each of the “program techs” and determine how they would best fit and contribute the most to the entire IT team and Tribe. We now have teams that consist of help-desk, LAN/WAN, Telecommunication and an Information Systems Solutions group all in one department. The entire tribe is better supported and positioned for the future.
How did you deal with challenge of managing change during this process?

I feel very fortunate to have the support of the Tribal Miko Beasley Denson, Tribal Council and other key decision makers within the Tribal Administration and feel very confident that my personal experiences could have a positive impact to enable the Tribes direction for change. Although the process was difficult I kept focused on the end result and as people started to recognize the changes, improvements and benefits, managing the change became less of a challenge which put emphasized other challenges such as finding the revenue to implement or accomplish the need and goals. We have been able to account for accountability, measurable goals and successes, improved customer service and a reduction in technology related costs. Additionally, program leaders are recognizing it‘s easier to obtain approval for upgrades and IT needs with a strategic plan and vision in place.
What are some of the projects your team will be focusing on in the next fiscal year?

Virtualization, disaster recovery, network redundancy and upgrading to a true Voice over IP telecommunication system are technologies IT will be working towards implementing in 2011; these are cost saving measures that allow interconnectivity amongst the eight communities we service. With the advancement in technology, the Tribal policies and procedures will be revamped to reflect the strategic direction and vision of the IT department and the Tribe. We are also looking into ways to cut costs such as utilizing in-house talents to save cost in areas such as application development, maintenance agreements and 3rd party outsourcing, so getting proper training for the IT department is crucial to accomplishing these goals. It’s going to be a busy year for us ahead but our team is prepared and excited for what the future may bring.

Q & A with Todd Gourd

Todd Gourd
Cherokee Nation Entertainment
Director of Information Systems

Interview Highlights

What can you tell us about your talented IT staff of 90?

We have several individual teams that make up one unified IS team supporting eight gaming and hospitality locations. The teams specialize in areas of technology such as; gaming applications, back of house applications, surveillance, network infrastructure, systems administration, information security, A/V, application development, quality assurance, project management, and we also have business process liaisons that focus on bridging the gap between the end users and technology. As our business continues to grow, we are fortunate to be in the process of taking on new organizational changes that will challenge our IS team as well as enable us to continue to develop and evolve.
What are some of your team’s most recent accomplishments?

At our West Siloam Springs property we recently added a 140+ room hotel. The surveillance, network design, menu driven functionality on the phones, the in-room/on-demand movie system, A/V, digital signage and more were all planned and deployed by our team. In the spring of 2010 we opened a new 200+ game facility in Ramona. Our team was involved ground-up for this property and an added functionality at this site are the new self-service player’s club kiosks – technology to improve guest service and reduce expenses. At our flagship property Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, we opened a 2,500+ seat theater called, “the Joint”. Our team coordinated all the sound, A/V, signage at the actual venue and also setup the POS system for the food & beverage, ticket office and online sales.
What IT projects are left on your plate in 2010?

We continue to look for ways to leverage the investment in our existing technologies. Specifically at Cherokee Nation Entertainment, we are identifying technologies that give us an edge in guest services. We can do this through our key initiative within the gaming area that is based on business intelligence and data warehousing. We are developing the tools for our businesses to be able to “slice and dice” the data to ensure that we are providing our guests with the best possible experience when enjoying our properties. Across the company, we are focusing on implementing a consolidated network/systems infrastructure, upgrading our HRMS/Financials systems and creating a smaller footprint with our continuous push for green initiatives.
What would you say is your strongest driver to success?

We are very proud that our IS team is viewed as a true business partner in this organization. Some organizations may view the IT/IS team as an overhead, whereas we are seen as a major driver in our shared success. This enables our team to be successful themselves. The CEO and key decision makers recognize the importance of the IS team and provide us with the ability to implement projects with the tools we need to take advantage of technology for our best use. Without that recognition we wouldn’t be able to be as successful as a team as we are today.

Q & A with Ram Patrachari

Ram Patrachari
Viejas Casino
VP of IT

Interview Highlights

Q: Can you tell us what areas your team oversees IT for?

A: We have a centralized IT department that oversees technology for all government operations for the tribe as well as all enterprises owned by the tribe. There are numerous applications within the gaming enterprise, Viejas Casino, that are supported by our IT team. The property has several gaming options including; 2000 class III slots, an array of table games, a newly improved poker room as well as off-track betting. There are six restaurants onsite as well as an entertainment center and bowling alley. Guests can stay at nearby hotels or at the RV Park onsite owned by the tribe. Across the street and part of our network there is a vibrant, brand-name outlet center which we support the basic IT needs for. The tribe also has ownership in Broadcasting Corporation of America, which operates three San Diego-area radio stations, which we support in a similar manner to the outlet center. Our team stays busy!
Q: What have been your major priorities in 2010?

A: A lot of our priorities this year have been focused on saving money and creating new opportunities. As we see casino revenues slowly bouncing back across the industry, we have been trending towards technology that enhances one-on-one marketing experiences. We, like many other properties, are also utilizing virtualization to cut our server and power load. We actually received a rebate check for over $15,000 because of our recent extreme reduction in power. We have been fine tuning and customizing our Bally slot and player tracking systems to generate the value built in and have also created several in-house developed applications to enhance the capabilities and customize the systems to better meet our needs.
Q: What types of in-house applications has your team put together to benefit the property?

A: Some of the most recent and effective applications we’ve developed are; the player profile product and the VIBE kiosk system. The player profile product enables the casino hosts to use an apple ipad tablet to comp. direct to machine on the fly, on the casino floor. This is a great use of our talents to increase customer service and efficiency for the player’s club. The VIBE kiosk is a custom designed application to manage the lines at the buffet, another improvement to customer service. On a busy night there used to be up to a two-hour wait for the buffet, now guests can go to a kiosk, put their name in, grab their ticket that shows when they’re able to get into the restaurant, go play and then come back with no wait at the buffet. We just released this and haven’t done much marketing for it yet as we are fine tuning the process, but guests are already catching on and the response has been great.

Q & A with JD Paris

JD Paris
Quinault Beach Resort & Casino
MIS Director

Interview Highlights

Q: Can you introduce us to the layout of the resort?

A: We have close to 500 machines on our gaming floor - a mix of class 3 and class 2 - and a 159-room hotel onsite. My team of eight provides services to all of the casino departments. A separate IS department services the needs of the tribal government.
Q: What can you tell us about the challenges that the location of the property brings?

A: We are located on the coast about 2 ½ hours from both Seattle and Portland, our property is considered a getaway from the city. Visitors are in the area to relax and we are well equipped to offer them what they are looking for. Beautiful views of the ocean, a boardwalk stretching out onto the beach, and an exciting atmosphere all in one package. With the design of our building and the ocean shore setting, we do run into a lot of issues with heating and cooling, as well as moisture. Moving ahead, we are redesigning our server room to house more of our equipment and controls, setting it up to be more equipped to handle the conditions of our environment.
Q: Can you share with us what have been your biggest challenges as well as priorities in 2010?

A: Project deadlines and user training have been two of our biggest challenges this year. We are currently seeing this in both our recent install of a new accounting system, as well as the switch of our newly installed player tracking system. We are working to have a more standardized selection and implementation process for all technology on the property and hope to make improvements on our user training processes as well.
Q: What's in store for the future of your department and resort?

A: For the rest of 2010, we are evaluating a few areas of the resort, such as our on-demand movie system for the hotel and our voice mail and phone system for the entire facility. We have minor upgrades scheduled for PCI compliance and will be continuing to fine tune our newly installed accounting system as well as our player tracking system. Beyond 2010, there is potential for a small class 2 property to be opening, however IS is not involved in the planning stages for that possibility at this time. Our resort luckily fared well during the recent economic slump, but we, too, are looking forward to a better economy moving ahead.

Q & A with James Caldwell

James Caldwell
Harrah’s Cherokee Casino & Hotel
Director of IT

Interview Highlights

Q: Could you give us a quick glance at the growing gaming resort destination you oversee IT for?

A: I have an excellent team of 21 in IT that provides support to the gaming/hospitality division of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation. We are in the middle of a $633 million expansion, which is currently the largest hospitality expansion project underway in the Southeast and one of the largest in the U.S. We currently have about 3,200 gaming devices but with the expansion’s completion in 2012, we’ll have more than 4,700 games and 60 electronic table games. In the expansion, we are doubling the size of our hotel to more than 1,000 rooms and 107 suites in our resort. Our showroom also will double in size to 3,000 seats, and we will open a beautiful new spa in 2012. Our guests have access to a golf course owned by the tribe, conveniently located just minutes from the property. We have been taking a phased approach with continuous mini-openings of our new amenities.
Q: What is IT’s role with the expansion?

A: We worked beside the Tribal Casino Gaming Enterprise (TCGE) in developing the vision for the expansion and now are pulling together to make that vision a reality. IT is intimately involved in the assessment, design and implementation of the new technologies, and most of our efforts currently focus on the expansion. Currently we are evaluating our organizational structure and the technical requirements and demands of the facility as we continue to expand. The most challenging aspect of the project is the ever-changing timelines and the domino effect, but my team is balancing the workload very well and I can’t say enough about how dedicated they are to the department and organization.
Q: Can you share anything about other projects your team is involved with outside of the expansion?

A: Outside of the expansion we are primarily working on marketing initiatives such as social networking and developing a comprehensive ‘celebration system’ we soon will implement. We have our slot data system integrated with our media system, to trigger zoned celebrations for our winners. Sound, lighting and display screens are all integrated into the system and can be customized in hopes of increasing excitement and play when someone wins on the floor.
Q: How do you balance leading an IT team for a tribally owned yet corporate branded property?

A: We model technology decisions based on Harrah’s corporation, but as a tribally owned entity, we have to evaluate how what we’re doing affects the tribe. We like to keep up with industry standards and take advantage of advancing technology. Being tribally owned also allows us to integrate the culture of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation with the high energy of Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. This blended relationship is reflected in the design of the expansion.

Q & A with Patrick Tinklenberg

Patrick Tinklenberg
Barona Band of Mission Indians
IT Director

Interview Highlights

Q: Would you share with us, a glance inside your IT team and structure?

A: As the IT Director of the Barona Band of Mission Indians, I report to my Council Liason and oversee a team of 7 people total; 5 focused on the government side and 2 supporting the gaming commission. The casino has its own IT department that operates completely separate from our division. We support services for the tribe’s charter school, recreation center, museum, fire/police, gas station and full service government that makes decisions and provides membership services to 500+ enrolled members.
Q: Can you tell us about some of the key projects IT has been involved with recently?

A: At the end of 2009 we steered our focus on strategic objectives that would carry into and align with our goals in 2010. By rolling out VOIP and getting Microsoft SharePoint up and running we positioned ourselves to implement a unified communications environment. We now have the capability to more effectively manage resources, organize internal communications and schedules and are leveraging this with document imaging to eliminate waste and improve efficiencies.
Q: Do the services your team provides to the tribe reach out to tribal members as well?

A:Absolutely, we recently kicked off our wireless broadband initiative when we identified an obvious need for better connection on the entire reservation. We deployed a point to multi-point system by Proxim that stretches across the hills and around the reservation. Through this long-term initiative, tribal members are now subscribing one house at a time to a government-provided connection that is capable of 1-3 Mbps. Technology has also extended our reach to the members through the new tribal ID cards coming through our Progeny and Datacard systems. We’re working on making it a federally recognized legal ID card compatible with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative- (WHTI).
Q: What are some of the benefits technology is bringing to the future of the tribe?

A: There are many benefits, but one that comes to mind is our recent use of GIS through ESRI to map the tribal lands. There are only a few elders that know where the all of the utility infrastructure (water, sewer, gas, etc.) is located on the reservation. So, for future developments, whether it’s new buildings or new communication lines, documenting the land in GIS has been critical and beneficial for the future.

Q & A with Steve Hoskie

Steve Hoskie
Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise
IT Director

Interview Highlights

Q: What can you share with us about future gaming developments of the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise?

A: The Navajo Nation entered the gaming market in November 2008 when we opened the Fire Rock Navajo Casino. We are in the planning stages for additional casinos that will be located in various geographic areas throughout our land base which covers over 27,000 square miles in three states. With over 300,000 Navajo citizens and an unemployment rate of nearly 50%, we are looking forward to bringing new jobs to the diverse communities throughout our Nation. We plan to open smaller casinos in rural areas, casino/hotels in mid-level markets and a casino-resort near Flagstaff, AZ which will service the largest market for the Gaming Enterprise which will include International travelers touring our Nation and visiting the Grand Canyon. We project the openings of our gaming facilities to span over the next three years. Before we can develop these properties we are planning to bring in all utilities, voice and data capabilities.
Q: How will you structure IT support for gaming sites spreading over such diverse geography?

A: As the IT Director, I am part of the Enterprise management team that develops new casinos, while supporting existing casino operations. We eventually will have IT Managers for each casino property who will have a team of technicians with the various skills needed to support 24/7 operations. Our IT department started with myself and has grown to nine people since our first casino opened in 2008. We anticipate growing to near 40 staff in IT by the time our properties under development are opened.
Q: How do you balance the technical aspect at the property level and the business aspect at the enterprise level?

A: At the property level I actually enjoy the challenges and complexity of addressing and fixing networking issues. I like the hands-on work that I am able to participate in at the facility. At the enterprise level my position is more business-oriented. I make many recommendations that affect not only IT but the entire enterprise, such as the selection of financial, casino management, administrative, and overall facility systems. I enjoy giving back to the Navajo Nation in a way that compliments my talent and experience. The greatest impact I will provide personally for my people is the creation of a career path in IT ranging from entry level to executive level positions.
Q: What can you tell us about your background with the tribe?

A: I’m a member of the Navajo Nation from the Salt Water Clan, born for the Black Streak Wood People Clan. Prior to joining the Navajo gaming team, I worked for various facets of the Navajo community including the Legislative Branch of the Navajo Nation and a satellite company that provided technology assistance to the Office of the President, the Navajo Department of Education, Public Safety and all 110 Navajo Nation Chapters. I am honored to be a part of the Navajo Nation, to help the Enterprise build its casinos and to bring millions of much-needed funds to the community. A new day is on the horizon for Navajoland and I feel fortunate to be a part of it.

Q & A with George Cvek Jr.- VP of IT

George Cvek Jr.-
Pearl River Resort
VP of IT

Interview Highlights

Q: Can you give us a snapshot of the Pearl River Resort?

A: 2 casinos totaling 4200+ slots, 2 hotels totaling 1000+ rooms, 2 golf courses, 15+ restaurants, luxury spa, family fun waterpark, tourist welcome center & Exxon gas station.
Q: Can you tell us about your leadership style?

A: In order to make the best decisions possible in technology I have an “open door” management style with staff, department leaders and my peers within the industry. I tell my IT staff of 40, ‘you must do 3 things every day: wake up breathing, learn 1 thing and don’t forget to laugh’. If you can do that, it’ll be a good day.
Q: What IT projects have been on your plate since starting with Pearl River Resort in 2008?

A: We had an aggressive plan in 2009 to install and upgrade several core systems and hardware in order to improve efficiencies, enhance customer service and reduce our operational costs. We converted to Infinium for our financial backbone and chose the system for it’s complete design package and favorable service to the casino/hotel business. For easier management and reduced expense we are utilizing virtualization to cut our number of servers almost in half. We upgraded several of our core gaming and hospitality systems: Bally’s- SDS & CMS, Agilysys- LMS & Agilysys- Infogenesis POS. These upgrades allowed us to make it through the challenging economy and better prepare us for the future of gaming.
Q: What is ahead for your team in 2010?

A: From a leadership perspective we are continuing to work on change management with our end-users and dealing with the usual training and maintenance that comes post-install/upgrade. Since making recent investment already in this fiscal year into two new IBM servers, we’re looking at improving disaster recovery & redundancy of our network. From an operational perspective the gaming system upgrades are giving marketing more capabilities with our casino guests, and from the back-end and security side we feel better prepared for the crowd that we’re projecting will increase as the economy improves in 2010.

Q and A with Bill Oliver, Executive Director of Information Technology

Bill Oliver
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and Casinos
Executive Director of Information Technology

Interview Highlights

Q: Can you give us a quick overview of the areas you oversee IT for?

A: I oversee an IT staff of 38 people that provides development and support to two casinos as well as the entire tribal government and related divisions. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians is the only California tribe to operate two casino properties: Agua Caliente Casino, Resort, Spa in Rancho Mirage, and Spa Resort Casino in Palm Springs. We are pleased to provide the most current information technology to both, with two separate, but equally impressive "identities." Each property has a dedicated IT Manager.
Q: Can you tell us about your team's newly developed "app" now available on the iphone?

A: Our iPhone app, Agua Caliente, is already proving to be a great success. Our dedicated development team created an application that is now available as a free download on iPhone's app. store. Users can view information for Agua Caliente Casino, Resort, Spa and Spa Resort Casino, check out upcoming events, and receive twitter feeds. There is also an area where our Paradise Rewards Club members can use their rewards to book hotel and spa stays, or simply view point history. The average age of our casino guest is 47 years old, so by developing this application we're hoping to expand our market share and reach a younger demographic.
Q: What can you tell us about any other upcoming projects IT is involved with?

A: We have an InfoGenesis upgrade to v. 4.1.4 coming up quickly. We are also upgrading our slot accounting and player tracking system- IGT Advantage to v. 8.2 service pack 6. We'll be leveraging new features for patron management, table games and reporting. Additionally, in an ongoing effort to consolidate resources and streamline our business financials we will be installing added modules for our PeopleSoft accounting software. All of this streamlines our processes, while providing guests with an even better customer service.
Q: Would you share with us how your biggest priority and your biggest challenge compare?

A: My biggest priority IS my biggest challenge: doing more with less. We are extremely fortunate to have a great group of team members. Their talents enable us to do more with less in a challenging economic climate. We've found really creative ways to leverage our skills without having to spend a lot of money. This makes us indispensable to the company and boosts morale within our department.

Charles Simmons
The Mill Casino Hotel & RV Park
IT Director

Interview Highlights

Q: Can you give us a snapshot of your IT Team and its oversight?
A: The casino employs about 500 team members overall with nine people on the IT staff including myself. We have one Help-Desk Manager organizing installation and support with four PC technicians. We also have a Network Administrator/Security Specialist along with an Applications Development Manager and Application Support Technician. I report directly to the GM who reports to the CEO of the Coquille Economic Development Corporation (CEDCO), the business management entity of the Coquille Indian Tribe. All tribal businesses are developed and managed by the CEDCO entity who reports directly to the Coquille Tribal Council. We support the technology needs for the Casino, Hotel and RV Park operations.
Q: Can you tell us about the growth of The Mill Casino Hotel & RV Park in the last 10 years?
A: When I arrived ten years ago there was a single applications server and thirty PC’s supported by two technicians. Today, we have over 30 physical and 25 virtual servers with more than 220 PC’s and eight team members supporting over 350 PC users. During the first seven years we invested heavily in our servers, network backbone and staff to help prepare us for the future. With minimal budget dollars available during the last several years, our sound technology and planning have allowed us to traverse the economic downturn easily. We would not be in this position today without a strong belief in technology by the Coquille Tribal Council, CEDCO and the Casino General Manager. Our technology efforts have been met with enthusiastic support throughout this adventure. In addition to our Technology projects, in July 2008 the Casino completed a $50 million expansion which extended the gaming floor to include more than 730+ slots running on Aristocrat OASIS, 200+ Hotel Rooms, 100+ RV Park ‘rooms’ running on Micros OPERA, two new bar areas plus remodeled restaurants running on the Micros 3700 POS systems. Seven new meeting rooms were created with state-of-the-art audio/visual systems plus property wide public Wi-Fi. Out of this process, a new RV park emerged overlooking the bay nestled in the middle of 50 acres of bayside property containing ample room for future developments.
Q: What is your biggest challenge going into 2010?
A: Like many other managers, running an IT department on a tight budget with no immediate end in sight can be a daunting task. We lost two positions in a reduction in force two years ago forcing us to consolidate several position responsibilities. Another of our challenges is finding qualified people who want to move to the area. However, we are optimistic for the future and depend heavily on our highly trained staff to support our systems in this remote, but beautiful, location.
Q: When budgets aren’t a factor what upgrades or new technology will your team be evaluating and considering?
A: We just finished an upgrade to v5 of our Micros OPERA property management system and before that, the latest PCI upgrade for our POS system. We will be investigating solutions for Desktop virtualization, Blade Servers, Gaming System upgrades or replacements as well as more energy efficient ways to run IT. We actively pursue the Tribe’s and CEDCO’s commitment to “greener” operations by looking for Energy Star and EPEAT Gold products wherever possible. We continue to invest in our newest ‘Green’ discovery from last year; SoyPrint laser toner. We have reduced our toner costs and carbon footprint by using Soybean-based toner for our printing. We remain committed to exploring new ideas and technologies that will allow us to deliver superior IT services in 2010 and beyond.

Robert Pollard
Blue Lake Rancheria & Casino Hotel
IT Manager

Interview Highlights

Q: What role does technology play in the success of the tribe, casino and associated enterprises?
A: Technology is becoming more a part of the business and not just a system of support. As an IT leader you can’t have a ‘back of the house’ mentality. When you communicate and focus on the value and positive end result, people become compassionate and pull together to make things happen. We’ve seen this first-hand.
Q: How are you able to get support and funding for IT projects from your decision makers?
A: I’m very fortunate to have a visionary tribal council and supportive executive team that work together to build a strong Nation and economic portfolio. We have one and five year strategic plans that all are derived from the overall goals set by the council. These plans are constantly reviewed and are flexible for new ideas and plans as technology changes and we continue to grow. Through effective all around communication and providing consistent results, we’re able to get the support and funding we need to maintain our current hardware and systems as well as expand technology with the upward trend of the growth within the tribe, casino and enterprises.
Q: What is going to be your biggest headache in 2010?
A: PCI compliance. I imagine other IT leaders can relate to the struggles with this. We are anticipating spending a lot of time on this in 2010.
Q: What’s on your plate for the upcoming year?
A: As a whole, document imaging is something that’s holding our attention along with a redirected focus back to our core; storage, security and disaster recovery. At the casino property specifically we’re looking at enhancing our BI system. We selected SAP Business Objects and have the backend of this project complete but are currently working on customizing our design and layout to meet the needs of the users. We are working together at the business level with operations to ensure that the system is fine tuned with hopes to hit our final milestone within the year.

Kelly Skenandore
Oneida Nation- Health
HIS Specialist

Interview Highlights

“The focus of this project is on improving the quality of health care that we provide through the use of Electronic Medical Records (EMR). Like many other tribes, this initiative has been on our minds for many years now and we’re very excited to finally have this project become a reality."
The Oneida Comprehensive Health Division has grown into a 67,000 square foot facility that provides all major ambulatory and ancillary medical services. It also provides Optical, Pharmacy, Dental Services, Employee Health Services, Long Term Care and a range of Behavioral Health Services.
Oneida Comprehensive Health will collaborate with I.H.S to share data efficiently with the National Data Warehouse site in New Mexico.
Kelly Skenandore and John Olson of Oneida Nation join TribalNet's Advisory Board.

View Interview Transcription

Rob Jacks
Chickasaw Nation Division of Commerce
CIO

Interview Highlights

Advice: Less “tech” talk & execution gets results
“One of the keys to success is to ensure that decision makers have confidence in you,” comments Jacks. “Once the trust is there, it’s easier to get the buy-in you need from the executive decision makers. In order to make this happen, you may have to step out of your comfort zone by becoming more business-minded than technologyminded. For IT leaders, the technology piece is easy. It’s selling the idea that can be the challenge. Our decision makers want to know if it makes good business sense; what are the risks involved, will it make or save us money, will it make the lives of the tribal members or employees better, what is the real benefit? All facts that are business oriented, not just focused on the technology.”
Advice: Tribal gaming facilities MUST make an investment in technology
“Tribal gaming facilities HAVE to stay technically engaged as they grow or they will wake up and not be able to catch up to the rest of the industry.”
Advice: Use industry standards even when it’s not a requirement
“We agreed to utilize the Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) standards for best practices and also meet Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) compliance for financial reporting even though we are not required to do so. These standards are within our industry for a reason. We have adopted these best practices within all divisions under the Nation in order to set and maintain a certain standard.”
Advice: Expand your market and offer the customers a unique gaming experience
“We wanted to make a machine portal for the guest and with iVIEW technology we have that capability and more.”

View Interview Transcription

Charles Scharnagle
Mohegan Tribe
CIO

Interview Highlights

“The challenge can be proving your value, the solution to that challenge is having results,” Chuck commented. “When we are delivering results, issues become minimized. As a leader I continue to be a marketer of the value of technology. We find ways to do more with less, which is a considerable value in a weaker economy. As long as we continue to meet and exceed the needs of the business, our leaders will listen to the needs of IT. It all goes hand in hand. I feel that my role as the CIO is to make sure we strike that balance.”
“The new help-desk software really changed the way we do business in our department,” Chuck said. In July of 2008, the IS team surveyed the 350+ employees of the Mohegan Tribe to determine if their efforts had paid off. When asked, “Does the IS organization deliver effective, reliable, and efficient services?” 97% of the responses were yes.
“With such big accomplishments in 2008; new installs, a set policy and procedure manual, clear project management standards and a more efficient department overall we are now positioned to dig deeper.”

View Interview Transcription