Millennium has worked with clients large and small to implement technology and modernize processes for improved support of operations. We have helped to improve security and reduce risk in the face of growing threats to the safety of information resources, the operational infrastructure and student access to the Internet. We have helped reorganize IT departments for greater efficiency and to better use limited staff, breaking down barriers to communication and strengthening leadership in the processes.
We helped one of the nation's largest districts face the very real threat of devastating hurricanes by developing continuity plans that worked for departments and schools where significant amounts of mission-critical data resided on desktop computers and local servers. The planning included development of flowcharts to be used by technology and administrative staff to assure preparedness and an effective response if needed.
In nine years of the E-rate program we have secured $360 million in funding for systems and services plus an additional $50 million in successful appeals for denials where we were not involved in the original application. Our consultants have worked with districts in the top five and have helped districts with three schools, using the same level of best-practice methodologies in each case.
Modernization programs in major metropolitan school districts have included reengineering the wide area network and local area networks to support IP telephony, media distribution and conferencing. This renovation typically involved defining a new architecture, implementing packet prioritization and quality of service in addition to new strategies for routing and firewalls to improve security and resilience.
To help some of the nation's largest districts deal with the overwhelming number of projects they had engaged, we worked to implement a project management office based on best practice methodologies, adapted to use in an educational environment where both vendors and internal resources engage the work. This project involved a significant level of culture change and training to assure beneficial use by project teams and their managers.
Many of our capabilities are used as collateral services supporting a primary engagement. For example, while E-rate may be the title on the cover, forensic accounting is the service. We have to carefully tease out kernels of financial information to determine compliance and rebut denials. Organization and presentation are also critical. We have been informed by the SLD that our informational presentations are the best they have seen.
We have conducted several strategic planning workshops for districts seeking to improve their organizational capacity and capabilities. These can be eye-opening experiences for executive administrators and one of the few times that they have the opportunity to understand what is happening at operational levels. Almost all involve some proportion of reorganization, technology planning and project portfolio assessment.
Our work often involves research and analysis. We have helped an organization developing a powerful tool for statistical learning from instructional assessments to better understand educational processes. Our work developed decision support methodologies and options generating algorithms to facilitate use of the tool and make it relevant for classroom use.
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