Management Information Systems

Location: 129 Screven Street, Room 111
Phone: (843)-545-3062
Fax: (843)-545-3289
Email:
Hours: 8:30 a.m.- 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday (except for legal holidays)
Mailing Address: P.O. Drawer 421270, Georgetown, SC 29442-1270
Point of Contact: Leslie Thomas, Director

Department Functions:

To complete operations of the Information systems and services.
The MIS department has a support staff of six employees all assigned to five different areas including management, applications programming, operations, technical services and training. The Manager of Information Systems works closely with all county departments to maintain a high standard of technical services.

Department Activities:

Management:
Administrate and manage the MIS department
Provide support to staff and all county departments
Develop strategies for new technologies
Maintain a high standard of technical service

Applications Programming:
Assist users with third party vendors
Maintain existing software applications
Develop and Test new software applications as required

Operations:
Coordinate purchase of supplies, software, hardware and maintenance of county computer related activities
Coordinate installation of hardware and software maintained on host system and networks
Manage inventory of all county computers
Run the Help Desk
Control the security of Georgetown County systems

Technical Services:
Ensure optimum performance of midrange systems and networks
Offer guidance and support on the effective use of hardware and system software to all county employees
Monitor, configure, maintain and install operating system software
Study and resolve system software and hardware problems

Training:
Provide training on application software as requested by departments for county employees

Additional Information:

Common Terms:

Application Software – Different from System Software, Application Software is a set of programs enabling users to enter information into the computer and then inquire on that information through screens or reports. Some general applications include graphics, word processing, spreadsheet, and communication programs. Software can also be tailored to do specific jobs such as payroll, general ledger, tax billing, property assessment and manage court cases.

Hardware – Hardware is the physical equipment such as printers, personal computers, mainframes, modems, scanners, monitors, terminals, card readers and routers.

Network – A group of two or more computer systems linked together. Types of networks include local area networks (LAN), wide-area networks (WAN), campus area networks (CAN), metropolitan-area networks (MAN) and home-area networks (HAN)

Operating System – The operating system is a program that runs the computer. You must have an operating system to run other programs. The operating system performs basic tasks including recognizing keyboard input, keeping track of your files and directories, and controlling other devices such as printers, scanners and disk drives.

Peripheral – Any piece of equipment attached to a personal computer or mainframe. Examples of a peripheral are printers, scanners, modems, or tape drives.

Software - Computer instructions or data including procedures, rules and other associated documentation enabling a computer to perform an operation and/or anything that can be stored electronically.

History and Interesting Facts:

History:
Georgetown County Government began using computers in 1975. The Treasurer, Auditor, and the Clerk of Court (Indexes to Deeds) offices were the first automated departments. In the past, the Finance Department wrote payroll checks on a small card machine and performed all payroll calculations manually. Currently, all Georgetown County departments have computers.

Facts:
The county processes all tax, court cases, accounting, probate, and property assessments on an IBM midrange computer system.
Connected to a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), all personal computers within the county connect then to the IBM system.
The county has installed 1 midrange system, 3 network servers and approximately 250 personal computers throughout the county offices.