Vol. 19, No. 20

Feb. 17, 2000

Move it faster and more efficiently using the web

If you’re on the move, the newest way to get the help you need is on the World Wide Web. The Movers Request Form, for use in scheduling a job with the Mover Services Department, is now online. The new request form can be accessed by selecting the “staff page” from the UD home page, then going to “forms” in the “resource box.” The Mover Request Form is under “request services.” This online request form will make it easier for service requestors to contact Mover Services and get placed on the unit’s moving schedule. Although Mover Services has been accessible via e-mail, communication was not always complete and often involved several back and forth messages before all the details were ironed out. “People would send e-mail to us saying they wanted us to move two chairs and a table,” Tom Lyons, Supporting Services, said, “but they would not always give us all the information we needed, such as account titles and account codes for billing. We created the new form so we would not have to track down every e-mail request to get the proper information.” Users of the Movers Request Form can enter all the necessary information, including phone numbers, account codes and titles and the desired date for the move. “With this form, we get all the information right up front, and this will get the whole process started quickly,” Lyons said. “I think it will help our department complete these requests a lot faster.” The seven-person Mover Services staff provides support for UD events and ceremonies, ranging from Commencement, Convocation and New Student Orientation to smaller events. Serving the Newark campus as well as UD offices in Wilmington and Georgetown, Mover Services does everything from furniture relocation to picking up used phone books, paper and some cardboard materials for recycling. The department also assists in setting up extended housing for Residential and Conference Facilities and major events such as the Blue-Gold All Star Game and Delaware Preview Days. With a work load this large, Lyons said, it is easy to understand why getting on the Mover Services’ schedule with a minimum amount of communication is important for both the department and its customers. Future enhancements of the process will include sending customers automatic billing notification, which will include a copy listing services performed, cost and the time and place where the service was provided. Response to the new form so far has been positive, Lyons said, and he said he hopes the form’s use will grow as more members of the University become aware of the process and how easy it is to use. –Jerry Rhodes