This August, the Department of FISCal (FI$Cal) celebrated the five-year anniversary of the launch of FI$CalTv, a half hour program streamed via Microsoft Teams that includes news, special announcements and helpful information on issues relating to the FI$Cal system.
FI$CalTv first launched in 2019 as a new initiative in response to the Imagine FI$Cal workshops. These workshops, held both in-person and virtually over 2019-2021, were a series of design thinking sessions where FI$Cal staff invited system users to brainstorm ideas that could enhance their FI$Cal experience in the areas of system performance, training and customer service.
Over the past five years, FI$Cal has seen many changes, including the sudden transition to telework in 2020, the launch of FI$Cal’s final project functionality in 2021, and the FI$Cal project being deemed complete by the legislature in 2022.
Through all of these changes, frequent viewers of the program will easily recognize Relations Coordinator and FI$CalTv host, Jim Caselli, who has helmed the program since its inception. Caselli recalls the many iterations of the program, which has evolved from a live-streamed event to the taped program viewers know now. In a recent special celebration episode of FI$CalTv, Jim acknowledged that FI$CalTv has been more successful than he ever could have imagined, “it’s turned out to be something I know the end users look forward to seeing.”
It hasn’t always been easy creating a show month after month, recalls Jim, “When we did it live, it was a challenge.” During the rapid transition to telework in 2020, flexibility and innovation were the name of the game, continues Jim, “When I was [broadcasting from] home, we had our cell phones set up to communicate. The first show from home [the production team] said, ‘when you see the little square light up on your screen, you’re live.’ And when it came time for the show, I never saw the little screen light up. I was sitting there waiting for the little square to light up, and I look down at my cellphone and it said, ‘you’re live – GO!’”
Despite the many challenges intrinsic to television production, the core for the FI$CalTv team has been helping system end users, said Jim, “One of the big challenges is to find content that is meaningful for our end users, that’s the purpose of the show and it’s a challenge, but I think we do a good job!”
During the recent celebration episode, several former FI$CalTv team members came on the show to recall memories and share their experiences. FI$Cal team member, Ted Martell, gave insights into the early beginnings of FI$CalTv. He recalls how the idea came to mind during the Imagine FI$Cal sessions, “We asked people, ‘What do you want? What do you want FI$Cal to look like?’” he said, “They really wanted to talk to subject matter experts. They really just wanted to have a conversation…they wanted to be able to ask questions.”
In addition, the recent episode shared glimpses behind the scenes with an interview of Maggie Carmona and Kristine Flores, who were former members of the production, and even lent their voices to FI$Cal’s FI$Bot.
Congratulations to the FI$CalTv teams, past and present, who have made the show possible. FI$Cal end users can continue to catch monthly episodes by subscribing to the FI$CalTv subscription list on our website. They can expect a monthly invitation with upcoming guests and a link to the broadcast.
In addition, you can view all episodes of FI$CalTv, including the special episode celebrating the fifth anniversary of FI$CalTv on our YouTube channel.