SUPPORT DIVISIONS
Keeping up with today’s fast-paced world of technology
is an evolving challenge, but the Law Department is well
positioned for the foreseeable future because of the
technology investments and IT accomplishments of 2011.
Each year, the Division handles over 38,000 paychecks,
hundreds of personnel actions, thousands of payments
for expert witnesses, 4,000 requests for court reporters
and depositions, and hundreds of individual procurements
through the Procurement Unit. Moreover, it deposits money
recovered in lawsuits on the City’s behalf. The Division’s
efforts continue to focus on expansion and renovation
of the Law Department’s facilities, speedy responses to
staff changes, and automation of systems and processes
to increase the Department’s ef?ciency. The Division
also provides oversight and advice to other Department
enterprises, such as information technology initiatives,
equipment upgrades, and management evaluations.
The past year has been one of unprecedented system
uptime, reliability, quality, and availability, with IT services
at close to 100 percent uptime. This milestone could only
be reached through the superior teamwork and dedication
of IT staff in administering, maintaining, planning,
supporting, updating, and securing the Law Department’s
network infrastructure.
The IT Division expanded Citrix, the Law Department’s
remote computing platform, which enables users to
access work from nearly any location in the world. IT
extended Citrix support this year to include not only
support for Windows-based and Apple computers, but also
Apple iPhone, Apple iPad, BlackBerry, and Android devices.
Law Department employees with Citrix accounts can now
be connected to the Of?ce while “on-the-go.”
In 2011, Administration obtained approval to create a
250-person training room as part of the Agency’s 100
Church Street lease renewal. This will enhance the Law
Department’s Continuing Legal Education efforts citywide.
Administration also relocated over 100 employees from
seven divisions/units at the Of?ce’s 100 Church Street
headquarters to maximize the use of leased space and
combine certain units in contiguous areas.
ADMINISTRATION
CHIEF
Malachy Higgins
DEPU T Y
Anthony Johnson
The Administration Division oversees business
operations for the Law Department and is responsible for
all expenditures of funds, collection of revenue and fees,
procurement rules compliance, and personnel processing.
Staff also provide general administrative oversight and
development of internal policies, rules, and regulations.
Finally, the Division currently stores 170,000 boxes
containing inactive case files, and is responsible for the
physical maintenance of 10 citywide Law Department
offices, in addition to the Kingston, New York office,
which totals a half-million square feet of space.
The Division implemented an increase to the Agency’s
main server room ventilation and air conditioning capacity
to prevent possible network downtime, and facilitated
the required capital funding from the City’s Of?ce of
Management and Budget to improve the Agency’s
Information Technology infrastructure and upgrades
to the Workers’ Compensation and LawManager case
management systems.
Additionally, Administration completed the categorization
and shelving of approximately 50,000 archive boxes at the
Law Department’s Bush Terminal storage facility, which will
reduce ?le retrieval time, and disposed of 45,000 archive
boxes of expired case records from the facility to allow
for additional space for closed case ?les, freeing up of?ce
space throughout the ?ve boroughs.
The Division also took steps to enhance management
reporting capabilities in its Fiscal and Cashiers Units in the
accruals, ?xed asset, and revenue accounting areas.
HANDLED OVER
38,000
PAYCHECKS
43
PLANNED
250-
PERSON
TRAINING ROOM
HANDLED OVER
RELOCATED OVER
4,000
100
REQUESTS FOR
COURT REPORTERS
EMPLOYEES FOR
SPACE MAXIMIZATION
DISPOSED OF
CATEGORIZED
& SHELVED
45,000 50,000
ARCHIVE BOXES FOR
SPACE MAXIMIZATION
ARCHIVE BOXES
TO REDUCE FILE
RETRI