U. faculty phonebooks delyaed by outside firm

Penn outsourced the phone boo for the first time and a three-month delay resulted. The new edition of the University telephone directory will be printed and ready for distribution on February 14 after three months of delays, according to staff members involved with its production. The directory, which is usually updated with a new edition every October, was produced by an outside company this year for the first time, according to Donna Petrelli, a senior information technology support specialist in the Business Services department. The University decided to outsource production of the directory because it demanded more work than the limted number of staff members could handle, Petrelli said. Around five staff members usually took several months to compile the data of more than 9,000 Penn employees. Petrelli attributed the three-month delays to the unfamiliarity of the company, American Mail Systems of Montgomeryville, Pa., with the University's extensive employee data and a change of project managers mid-way through last year. However, she also acknowledged that staff members at the University were not closely monitoring the production of the directory -- so they did not realize that the company was behind schedule. Vice President for Business Services Leroy Nunery said he was disappointed that the directory was not produced on time this year, but added that he did not believe the delays were a major problem. "It is a concern only because, just like any other vendor relationship, you have production standards," he said. "These guys didn't meet the standards." American Mail Systems officials did not return repeated phone calls this week. Nunery would not comment on whether the University would hire American Mail Systems to produce next year's phone directory. However, he stressed that the University is now focusing more on using online information than printed phone books. "We need to enhance our real-time access to phone numbers, to other information," he said, calling this an "enhancement of services" that many University employees want. "It is a larger issue: how do you manage your information," Nunery said. "Right now, we just don't have the most up-to-date way." Currently, the online directory on the University's web site provides only the name, phone number, address and basic classification of each University employee, while the printed directory allows for titles, multiple phone numbers and other information to be included as well. Though some of the online information can be updated by the faculty, students and staff members listed, other data is centrally controlled and is more difficult to update. Nunery said he hoped to develop a more comprehensive online directory during the next year, noting that the technology required is readily available. Petrelli also stressed the need for a better online system that could provide comprehensive, regularly updated information about University employees. "The day it goes to the printer, it's out of date," she said of the printed directory. She said it is unlikely that the printed directory would ever be completely eliminated, since not every University employee has ready access to a computer.