Araceli Guerra has worked in technology 22 years, more than 16 of those in El Paso, the city from which she hails. Starting with a role as a programmer analyst, she has moved through the city as enterprise application administrator, lead IT project manager and director of IT. In 2020, she was promoted to an expanded leadership role, a newly created managing director of internal services with oversight including IT and HR. She said she enjoys process improvement and holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification and is Scrum Fundamentals Certified (SFC). She earned her master’s degree in systems engineering from The University of Texas at El Paso.
This interview, conducted via video conference, has been lightly edited for style and brevity.
human resources, and planning and development — how do you describe your role?
Araceli Guerra: I've been working with the city 16 years as of December. I started as a software developer working and supporting our ERP (enterprise resource planning) system, then worked through our project management office. I was in the assistant director role for about six years, then was appointed to the director of IT.
It was about a year ago when I was approached and asked to lead our HR department. [Our city manager] saw an opportunity where we're really keyed into using the Lean Six Sigma methodology. Having applied a lot of those processes to our IT department, I think he saw an opportunity to capitalize on where we can use those same functions and systems and processes in our HR department and start working through a lot of the projects that really hadn't been done.
We’re in a time where we're trying to do more with less, so he saw an opportunity for some resources and two roles to be consolidated.
Industry Insider — Texas: In your tenure in this position, which project or achievement are you most proud of?
Guerra: I think for the most part, currently it's got to be that human resources’ performance evaluation. That took a large effort, and it took a lot of input from our focus groups.
Considering hiring has been an issue for everyone currently, it was really cool to see that we can automate this, put it online and then also continue and include a professional development plan with that, too. We already had NeoGov, so it's just another module, and again that's another proud moment: having the same people who have been working on those systems for years and years get excited.
The proudest in IT has been how we were able to quickly respond to COVID-19, all the projects that came across with CARES funding and supporting all the different departments and the efforts to issue out vaccines, to get testing done, providing all of that technology to get that done. That was the proudest I've been of the IT team.
Industry Insider — Texas: What big initiatives or projects are coming up?
Guerra: It’s the HR transformation that's huge. The beauty of being in this role is that I call this the one big happy family. I feel like the effort’s a little bit more united; I have a lot of IT staff working with HR staff directly, whether it's managing projects, providing feedback, input, doing a lot of our user experience design.
We just have a new division in our IT department. They are focused on human-centered design, so they are providing a lot of that feedback to HR on how they're developing those processes and procedures. Just looking forward to continuing the digital evolution of our human resources department and how can we improve our workforce communication, make them feel like the customer support that they receive from HR truly is a delivered service that is a customer service experience.
One of the largest roles HR has in the organization is they're the policy driver, the policymaker, the policy enforcer. But how do you get them to shift their focus from policy driver to customer service? That’s been the biggest challenge and that's more of a people function than it is so much of a process, but it comes with all the processes we are updating.
We're also implementing a ticketing system. We’re replicating what we have in IT but making it customized for HR where employees can submit their tickets about their questions, make appointments. Because right now it's all email.
Industry Insider — Texas: Does your organization have a strategic plan, and may we hyperlink to it? How large a part do you have in writing that strategic plan?
Guerra: Thankfully, we have an awesome strategic plan, which has been key to how we're able to focus on those areas across the organization specifically. That’s been extremely helpful; a lot of times we were going in a lot of different directions. You know, departments were kind of in their own world, saying, “I saw this at a conference; this is how we think our department should be moving forward.”
When our city manager got here in 2014, that's when he really solidified the process for us. Our strategic plan was put into effect in 2015. It’s about updating the goals, updating those KPIs, making sure they’re still meaningful, and they're relevant to the plan as a whole.
Industry Insider — Texas: How often do you update your organization’s enterprise catalog?
Guerra: So that one's a little bit more challenging. Now we're at the point where we really need to plan out and start having those discussions on what's next. Are we keeping it on-premise? Are we going to move to the cloud? Are we going to move to different product?
Industry Insider — Texas: What is your estimated IT budget, and how many employees do you have?
Guerra: It's currently in development, and there are 88 employees in our IT department. There are 55 in HR and then the performance office, while they have a director, that’s about six to eight.
Industry Insider — Texas: What do you read to stay abreast of developments in the government technology/SLED sector?
Guerra: It depends. I love to keep up with The New York Times. I like to read their science and technology section. Government Technology* as well; the other CTOs and CIOs that you highlight are interesting to read, the white papers. I also key into some ASQ articles that come out regarding technology and just different process improvements. I like to also read things that are not always technology, but those are the things that typically I like to keep up with.
Industry Insider — Texas: What professional or affinity groups do you belong to?
Guerra: We do a lot of work with Quality Texas for our Baldridge Award work. I've been part of training for that and then also volunteer time to doing site visits. I volunteer on that group to go to other sites, other organizations that are submitting or have filed for Baldridge Awards. It’s something that is volunteer work, but it's also really encouraged at the city's leadership level.
I’m also working with local organizations. For example, I have a speaking engagement to speak to the local SHRM group, which is taking me a little bit out of my element; it's more for HR folks than it is for IT. But they're like, “Oh, you have an interesting background. Come tell us about it.”
Industry Insider — Texas: Is there anything else you would like to highlight?
Guerra: I'm just really proud to work for the city. I never knew being a public servant would be such a journey. It's humbling as well to be a public servant. I've grown so much and learned so much about my city, and being able to help has been phenomenal.
*Government Technology is a sister publication of Industry Insider — Texas and Industry Insider — California (formerly Techwire). Both are part of e.Republic.
