Cathy Hawkins

Data Processing Manager

by Stephanie J. Serrano

Cathy Hawkins, Data Processing Manager for Hudson’s Town Hall, Computer Services Department provides an update on our community’s use of computer technology.

Although Hawkin’s official job title is Data Processing Manager, she considers a more appropriate job title to be Computer Services Department Manager, given that the department has changed so much. The Data Processing Department was established fifteen years ago, and has since evolved into the Computer Services Department. The department is much more involved in computer networking and programming, and in the business of whole system analysis.

Hawkins began working for the department in 1992. At that time, Hawkins served as the assistant to the Data Processing Manager. According to Hawkins, the Data Processing Manager position was voted in prior to her being hired. She says it was one of the original positions, established back in the early 1980’s.

Some of Hawkins responsibilities include planning and scheduling for her staff, which consists of a Network Manager. Hawkins does computer programming for all of the applications in town, which include the town clerk, fire department, finance department and payroll. Although she and her department are not directly associated with the Hudson schools, the idea of sharing more of the network and resources has surfaced on several occasions. Hawkins says she will be meeting with the MIS person from the Hudson school system in the near future.

One of two major initiatives being led by Hawkins and her department is the effort to migrate off the vax and run NT servers. There is currently one NT server for Fire Department and one for the Accessing Department. The town is in the process of purchasing another server for rest of town hall. The police department is run separately. Hawkins says that although the vax still serves a purpose, it is antiquated and the maintenance fees are high. Hawkins says that the networking can be done much cheaper, using NT servers.

Hawkins says there is a long-term plan to purchase PCs for every user in the Town Hall and Fire Department that was developed in 1995. It’s been a long-term goal, along with a more recent initiative, the use of fiber optic cables.

“By running fiber optic cable between town buildings, we’ll be able to move greater volumes of data at a faster speed,” explained Hawkins. She adds, “this would allow for communications for combined dispatch between the police and fire department.” Currently, there is not a high-speed line, making effective communication difficult.

The Fire Department has been instrumental in offering their manpower and knowledge. The fire staff knows how to run fiber optic cable because they are responsible for stringing fire alarm cables, which also run between all the buildings. They are using that same backbone to string the fiber-optic cable. “The only cost associated with the project,” says Hawkins, “is the cost of the lines.” There is presently just one line of fiber optic cable. It spans the biggest stretch of the network, between School Street, up to Constitution Street. Hawkins describes it as a combined dispatch project, connecting the Town Hall and main Fire Station to the Police Station.

The initiatives described above are all a part of the Computer Services IT Plan, which Hawkins recently presented to the Board of Selectmen. Hawkins described the positive impact on the town. She says that the plan will cut some serious costs out of the budget. “We’re trying to cut maintenance fees by reducing dependence on outside vendors.” She says that eliminating the vax, and cutting ties with HP/Digital and municipal software vendors will have a positive impact. The town is currently paying $9,000 per year for software licenses. “We’ll replace the vax system with a more versatile Microsoft based application that we can write in house, so we don’t have to pay fees to vendors.” Hawkins says this will help reduce costs, as well as provide town employees with a more usable product. The newer system is windows based, and said to be much more user friendly.

The installation of fiber optics will improve communications throughout the town. “We would like to provide more services to public via the Internet. We’d like to add services that allow residents to make online payments, complete and submit applications, etc. Currently, Ed Badger is the volunteer town Webmaster, who works independently, providing the web-server for the town of Hudson to maintain a website. Hawkins commends his generosity and support.

“There was a time when people were skeptical of technical/IT development. But over the last few years, we’ve experienced tremendous support,” says Hawkins.

Hawkins earned an Industrial and Systems Engineering degree from University of Southern California. Hawkins began working in the computer field following graduation. She says she learned computer related data processing and programming while studying for her engineering degree. However, much of her knowledge has been gained through attending various seminars.