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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 11-19-1997 - 10b « l ' ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: November 19, 1997 Action Agenda Item No. SUBJECT: Stategic Automation Plan Technical Review Task Force Report DEPARTMENT: Information Systems PUBLIC HEARING: (YIN) BUDGET AMENDMENT: (YIN) ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Task Force Transmittal Letter Dick Taylor, ext 2276 Strategic Automation Plan for Orange County SAP2001 Short Term Plan TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough 732-8181 Chapel Hill 968-4501 Durham 688-7331 Mebane 227-2031 PURPOSE: To receive the report and recommendations of the Technical Review Task Force appointed by the Board of Commissioners to review the County's Strategic Automation Plan(SAP). BACKGROUND: In May 1997, staff presented a draft Strategic Automation Plan to the Board of Commissioners as a blueprint for the County's automation improvements over the next three to five years. In August 1997,the Board appointed a Technical Review Task Force to examine the plan for its technical direction and to suggest refinements that would allow the plan to deliver more effective service and reliable access to information for citizens, Commissioners, and County staff. The thirteen member task force has met weekly since mid-September, and has prepared the attached transmittal letter and"Strategic Automation Plan for Orange County" to convey its recommendations. The draft SAP prepared by staff included nine short-term and nine long-term initiatives to enhance the County's automation capabilities. The task force has revised and consolidated those into six broad initiatives, listed briefly here and described in detail in the SAP report: • upgrade the Orange County network • upgrade the pool of County PCs • establish more effective technical support and training programs • upgrade department legacy systems, including installing World Wide Web servers • provide citizens and County Commissioners with access to information and services through the County's computer and communication system • establish an on-going Citizens' Advisory Council The task force report reflects an incremental approach to implementing the SAP. The task force recommends implementation of the attached short-term plan during the remainder of FY 1997-98. .a It also recommends additional systems analysis by staff and input from a follow on Citizens' Advisory Council for longer-term initiatives. During 1997-98 budget deliberations, the Board created a reserve account of about $686,000 in capital and operating funds which the Manager had recommended for implementation of the first year tasks laid out in the draft SAP. If the Board accepts the task force recommendations, staff would bring back to the next Commissioners meeting a capital project ordinance and budget ordinance amendment that would establish appropriations under which the SAP2001 short term plan can be carried out between December 1997 and June 1998. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board receive the report and provide direction, as appropriate, to the Manager, staff, and task force. y Orange County Strategic Automation Plan Technical Review Task Force (draft) November 13, 1997 Mr. William Crowther, Chair Orange County Board of Commissioners PO Box 8181 Hillsborough,NC 27278 Dear Commissioner Crowther: The Strategic Automation Plan Technical Task Force is pleased to submit its observations, conclusions and recommendations concerning the Orange County Strategic Automation Plan (SAP), dated May, 1997. The Task Force members wish to thank the Board for their appointments and especially appreciate the Board's recognition that information technology (IT) has become a critical and integral component of County services. The Task Force believes that the Internet and computers over the next several years will become nearly as ubiquitous in Orange County homes and offices as telephones are today. This technological shift offers many opportunities and challenges for Orange County Government. It will provide the framework for increasing the efficiency of government and for making information more accessible and convenient to citizens and staff. It also offers opportunities to provide new and better County services at reduced costs by enabling citizens to conduct their own County business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—in effect, creating a virtual courthouse. By building and supporting a solid information technology infrastructure, the County can continue to promote healthy economic development to attract and retain new and existing business and industry. The SAP2001 plan is a critical step towards preparing Orange County for the new technological reality by positioning itself to realize these improvements. We believe that the County can move forward with confidence in implementing the short-term plan as recommended by your Information Systems (IS) staff. The plan's longer term components should provide a solid outline to guide future detailed analyses, as recommended in the Task Force's report to the Board. Meeting weekly since September 16, 1997 for a total of nearly 40 hours, the thirteen member Task Force has carefully studied and reviewed the SAP2001 Plan, and discussed it with County Commissioners, County administrators, and County staff. During its review,the Task Force agreed on several guiding principles for Orange County's information technology strategy—namely that staff should buy software applications where possible rather than build or customize in house, that any new or enhanced automation be preceded by redesigned workflows, and that department- specific applications be viewed in toto with all County functions. Based on these principles, we offer the following observations, conclusions and recommendations: 1. Orange County's first implementation strategy is to complete and enhance its network foundation—its IT infrastructure—and equip all County employees with up-to-date personal computers. Although we recommend that a more in-depth network design be conducted by a systems specialist, County staff can begin network upgrades immediately . 2. Many of the suggested legacy system upgrades and new applications in the SAP are large and important enough to warrant detailed systems analyses—such studies being outside the scope of the current Task Force. As a part of these analyses, redundant data collection and entry functions should be eliminated by re-engineering the work processes prior to automation. 3. Currently, the County operates with a minimal data processing staff, hardware, software and communication resources. Fortunately, the Information Systems Department is well managed, and consists of an able and motivated(although small) staff, using limited equipment and some non-standard software. The County should continue to train departmental "super" users to help provide desktop support and consider using additional contracted technical support for both maintenance and training. The role of IS will be growing over time, and the County should consider additional IS staff as appropriate. 4. The County should fully integrate its IT planning and development into its planning process for services and products to ensure that the County's core business functions drive its IT decisions. 5. Technology enhancements should not be viewed as one-time expenses. These expenditures are investments, both short- and long-term. Just as technology, industry economics, and suppliers experience significant change, Orange County should embrace a strategy of regular review of its hardware, software and staffing situation and be prepared to upgrade them as necessary. 6. The County should continue to conduct periodic reviews of personnel policies,job classifications, training needs and competitive salary data for the Research Triangle area. Likewise, few County jobs, if any, could not benefit from having employees with adequate keyboard skills. The realities of the local job market, for all staff positions, and the needs of the County require constant attention. The County should also re-evaluate its technology-related policies—its overly restrictive Internet use policy will probably discourage its employees from mastering this vital IT resource. 7. Future decisions concerning computing technology and communication services should be made with a view toward improved service efficiencies and better staff and citizen access to County information. Decisions should be compatible with emerging technology developments, whenever possible. 8. The County should consider appointing an ongoing"expert"citizen advisory group to meet periodically with the County IS Director and other staff to help guide future automation initiatives. General County administrative staff should also be involved to encourage better IT integration with County service delivery. Task Force members believe that their expertise has greatly strengthened Orange County's technical strategies and feel that their considerable time directed to the plan's review was both worthwhile and constructive. A number of these communication and information technology challenges are shared with most other County governments in North Carolina. Cooperative efforts and joint acquisition of off-the- shelf solutions will become more and more important, and the statewide local government information systems association provides a useful mechanism for coordinating multi-County 5 • development. In addition, County staff should work closely with the State of North Carolina to coordinate its plans with state-led or state-funded applications development. As an example, the State Board of Elections is implementing a state-of-the-art voter registration system in all 100 counties over the next year, and is equipping each county with sophisticated client-server equipment at the state's expense. The accompanying Task Force report describes suggested improvements in communications, computers and staffing needed for Orange County to adequately serve its citizens. Some are essential in building a solid foundation for electronic communication and information use and sharing and should be undertaken as soon as possible so that later automation enhancements can be implemented more easily, more rapidly, and less costly. The Task Force would like to thank Dick Taylor especially for his fine work in staffing the committee during its weeks of deliberations. The Task Force would also like to acknowledge and thank the report's principle author,John Smith, of UNC's Computer Science Department. Finally, the Task Force would like to thank the Orange County Board of Commissioners once again for the opportunity to review and comment upon the County's Strategic Automation Plan. Sincerely, Charles Antle Systems and Procedures, UNC-CH AIS Lisa Bartles Director of Instructional Technology, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Bill Boyarsky Senior Analyst Programmer, Medical Center Information, Duke University Medical Center Joel Dunn Director, Systems& Communications, UNC-CH AIS Nancy Feder Systems Librarian, OAO Corp. at National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Russell Goff MIS Director, Wake County John Gullo UNC-CH Institute of Government Doug Noell MIS Director, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Lee Rafalow IBM Tony Rail Lockheed-Martin at USEPA John B. Smith UNC-CH Department of Computer Science David W. Taylor Information Technology Director, Orange County Schools Rebecca Troutman Director of Research and Information Technology, North Carolina Association of County Commissioners 6 ' Strategic Automation Plan for Orange County developed by Strategic Automation Plan Technical Review Task ForceNovember, 1997 The report of the Task Force is divided into two parts. The first provides a narrative description of the strategy recommended by the Task Force, including an outline of the different constituencies who will use the county's system, a strategy for addressing those needs, and expected outcomes. The second consists of more detailed descriptions of individual initiatives, based on the original Strategic Automation Plan developed by county personnel but revised and supplemented by the Task Force. Section A - Recommendations The goal for the Strategic Automation Plan for Orange County is to define steps that will lead to an improved countywide computer and communications system. In turn, this system will enable county government to operate in a more efficient and timely manner and to be more responsive to its citizens. The use of technology, when carefully planned, can significantly improve the way county employees work and the way citizens interact with their local government. For example, one way government can be improved through technology is through the use of networks to make public information available in ways that encourage participation and cooperation. While care must be taken to ensure that all Orange County citizens have access to this information, including its poorest and most disenfranchised citizens,this technology could play a large role in building a stronger, more cohesive community. This same network can also be used in county operations to enable workers in different offices as well as in the field to access and update the data they need to do their jobs more quickly and efficiently. In the discussion that follows, we will first outline a vision for what the Task Forces believes is an appropriate and achievable computer and communications system that will meet both the operational needs of Orange County government as well as the information access needs of its citizens. After that, we describe the computer and communication system that currently exists and list some of its limitations and the impacts they are having. 1.0 Future System 1.1 Users The county's computer and communications system must support four distinct constituencies: First, it must support staff in county departments and agencies who are geographically distant from one another. It must also provide access for county employees who do "field" work, such as the County Engineer and the Tax Assessor. Second, the system must support a broad range of citizens who have occasional needs for information and/or services of a highly varied nature. For example, citizens might wish to log into the system to retrieve information from one of the county libraries, to get data on political 7 candidates running for office, to find out when taxes are due, or to get the current tax valuation for their property. It is also possible to envision more highly interactive scenarios that would allow citizens to register pets, pay taxes, and register to vote from public computer stations located in supermarkets, malls, libraries, schools, etc., or from personal computers at home. Third, it should meet the needs of a smaller group of citizens who use and depend upon county services on a regular basis. This group includes attorneys, realtors, social service clients. developers. and environmentalists. Finally, the system must support a very small but important group --the County Commissioners. It must be able to provide them with documents in draft as well as final form and with flexible analytical data- especially financial data-that will allow them to make informed decisions when setting county policy. 1.2 Strategy A broad strategy that will lead to a system that can meet the needs of the constituencies listed above includes four key components. 1.2.1 Foundation/Infrastructure -Establish a coherent technical foundation in terms of equipment and software from which to begin a program of systematic maintenance and updates. Since all other improvements and additions are dependent upon this foundation, establishing it should be given the very highest priority. Foundation infrastructure includes the following. • A communications network based on nonproprietary standards, such as those included in the Internet and the World Wide Web. The network must have sufficient capacity to support both internal government operations and public access, including significantly expanded Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) access. Its design must enable it to evolve to meet future needs and to incorporate new and more powerful components, when they become available and as they are needed. • A collection of up-to-date personal computers for all county employees who need them. The first priority should be to upgrade all machines to a minimal maintainable standard(e.g., capable of running Windows 95, a common suite of office software, and network access software including e-mail and a World Wide Web browser). However, to meet future needs in a computing environment that is inevitably changing, the county must establishing a policy of systematic upgrades based on the different levels of computing capacity required by employees doing different jobs and on costsibenefits analysis. As a result, the county should anticipate that some fraction of this pool will need to be replaced each year. • A program of effective technical support and training. New hardware, software, and communications networks are of little value if they are broken and/or if users don't know how to use them effectively. Consequently, human support is an essential part of technical infrastructure. Several kinds of technical support services are needed. Timely response to system outages must be available. Training must be provided to both IS staff and county personnel regarding new hardware and software as well as more effective work procedures using upgraded equipment. Fast response help-desk services must also be available for users having specific problems, both through the telephone and on-line communication. 3 1.2.2 Citizen and Commissioner Access - Provide citizens with access to information and services through the county's computer and communications system. A related requirement is providing the County Commissioners with the information they need to set county policies in a flexible and timely manner. Since county employees will be the primary users of an improved computer and communications infrastructure, it is easy to lose sight of the government's responsibilities to use that system to directly benefit the citizens who support it. Consequently, the Task Force recommends a major new initiative to provide county citizens with direct access to public information generated and maintained by county government. That access should be provided wherever practical through the Internet, using the World Wide Web as a common interface, with appropriate restrictions for confidentiality. If recognized early and factored into the planning process, this initiative need not result in significant additional costs. A separate but related initiative should be to provide better access to documents, data, and analyses for County Commissioners. They are currently required to make decisions without benefit of information that is potentially available but not accessible in a timely manner. Database systems should be upgraded to provide more flexible reports and analyses with little or no custom programming. Commissioners also need access to both archival documents as well as drafts of documents currently being developed. Again, access should be primarily through the network. 1.2.3 Departmental Systems -Upgrade specialized systems within individual departments, such as Land Records and Human Services, and install network servers for documents and public databases. Many county departments maintain their records and, thus, conduct much of their business using out-of-date database management systems. These systems provide limited function and are difficult and expensive to maintain. A review of the automation needs of the respective departments should be undertaken to determine a priority schedule for their update and the migration of their data to contemporary database management systems using relational formats. This review should also look for operations currently being done manually that could be done efficiently through automation. Individual development efforts should be viewed as part of the county's overall strategy to eliminate redundant data collection and maintenance and to improve departments' operating procedures through automation. While this transition will require several years to accomplish and incur some inconvenience and costs, it should result in significant long-term savings in operating and maintenance costs and ease of future upgrades. An important part of this upgrade should be to install network access, with appropriate safe-guards for confidentiality,to better serve the information needs of both Orange County citizens and the County Commissioners. A related issue is installing specialized WWW servers that don't currently exist to provide access to county documents to employees working in different locations and to the Commissioners. Other servers should be installed for particular data collections, such as GIS data. 1.2.4 Citizens Advisory Council- To assist the county in these tasks, an ongoing Citizens Advisory Council should be established. It will help identify and order technology-related tasks, advise on performing those tasks using county personnel or through outside contracts, and review the resulting recommendations and implementation plans. It will also help keep the county's on- going development efforts focused on long-term strategic objectives. Thus, it will serve as a . 9 sounding board for the county's senior technical staff and the commissioners and as an additional technical resource available in an advisory role. 1.3 Impact If such a system were in place, some of the ways it would benefit county government and the citizens of Orange County include the following. • The county's basic infrastructure, including communications, personal computers, and software will be brought up to a basic standard. This will reduce maintenance costs and provide a basis from which continued upgrade and development can occur quicker, easier, and with minimal interruptions to department operations.. • A human support system will be developed to provide fast response to hardware, software, and network problems. part of this program will be diversified training that includes instruction in the use of the upgraded systems for general users and more specialized technical training for IS staff. Help desk services will also be available, providing quick responses through both telephone and e-mail. • All county personnel will have fast,reliable access to e-mail. This will result in more efficient communication among staff as well as faster and better responses to emergencies, messages from the County Manager's office, requests from County Commissioners, etc. The public will also be able to communicate with county offices through e-mail. Both internal and external uses of e-mail reduce paper processing, handling, and mailing costs. • Citizens will be able to contact their county government more easily. They will be able to access a variety of data through the Internet using familiar World Wide Web browsers from their homes, offices, schools, libraries, and other public places. They will also be able to conduct some kinds of business and obtain certain services through the network. • Outdated departmental systems will be replaced with current technology, allowing faster and more flexible access to financial,budget, personnel, and purchasing data. This will eliminate much of the extensive custom programming currently required to access these data. These systems will be particularly helpful to County Commissioners and other who need nonroutine analyses of data.. • Part of the review and upgrade of the foundation infrastructure will be to plan for emergencies, including natural disasters, so that county operations and services will be interrupted as little as possible. Currently, operations could be seriously interrupted by a car hitting a single telephone pole; such exposure will be removed. • Departments will be able to provide long-term document access so that individuals may easily locate the information they need from any location through the network. Access will be controlled to allow the public at large, particular groups or departments, or specific individuals to see only appropriate documents or data. The system will also allow the sharing of draft documents for collaborative authorship, reviewing, and early "heads up" notification. 2.0 Current System 2.1 Infrastructure The county's current computing environment includes three main technologies: personal computers (PCs), a central mainframe system, and the Orange County network. IJ There are approximately 350 PCs in use in Orange County government. The program which controls the PC, or the operating system, is Microsoft Windows. Orange County staff also use Microsoft Office software, running under Windows on their PCs, which provides word processing. spreadsheet, presentation and database tools on the user's machine. Many of these PCs are several years old and are inadequate to run Windows 95, the current de facto standard operating system for PCs. The mainframe system is an IBM RS/6000 computer. This system is a reliable, flexible, extendible technology that can have some years of future useful life. It provides centralized computer services and resides in the Information Systems computer center. Its main function is to provide database services for a number of departments, such as Finance and the Register of Deeds. Based on technology that is now nearly twenty years old, these systems are referred to as legacy applications. Users access these applications using terminal emulation software which runs on their PCs. This software allows them to connect to the mainframe and use the legacy applications through a window on their computer display screens. The hardware and software that connects users to the mainframe, to other users, and to applications that run on non-county systems(e.g., state system) is collectively referred to as the network. It includes wiring within buildings that connects the PCs, dedicated wires that connect nearby buildings to one another, and telephone lines that connect distant locations (e.g., Carrboro and Chapel Hill offices)as well as individuals who dial in on modems to the central network. Some larger groups, such as users in the Whiffed Building, operate on a network server in their building which in turn connects them to the network. A server is a specialized computer which uses network operating system software to control the flow of information throughout the network. The focal point of the entire network is the Information Systems computer center in the Government Services Annex in Hillsborough. A server there provides central access to files, and a second server provides a central e-mail service. An extension of the basic network connects several County locations to systems at state offices in Raleigh. These include law enforcement and emergency management systems and systems for the Social Services, Child Support Enforcement, and Tax Collection offices. 2.2 Applications Software Users of the County network have access to applications on their own PCs, on the network servers, on the mainframe. Applications consist of software programs developed by IS staff, commercial packages, and customized commercial packages adapted by IS staff for specific county needs. Mainframe applications include finance and personnel related programs, tax collection and assessment, land records and register of deeds, planning, environmental health, elections, animal control, board of commissioners, health, social services and related systems. These were all developed by IS staff, and IS staff continue to maintain them at considerable costs. PC programs include the Microsoft Office suite adopted by the county as its standard general purpose package and the Groupwise e-mail commercial software package. As part of a pilot project, some users also have the Netscape World Wide Web browser for Internet access. I Several applications are under evaluation by IS staff to support desktop/mainframe integration. This will allow Microsoft components, such as Excel spreadsheets and Access databases, to interact ��ith databases that reside on the mainframe. 2.3 Impact Some of the ways limitations in the current system impact the county government and the citizens of Orange County include the following. • Because of the current diversity of PCs- which vary widely in age, condition, and performance - technical support is difficult and users sometimes suffer from unacceptable PC downtime. • Because the current mainframe database systems are antiquated, they require an inordinate amount of IS staff time to maintain them and generating analytic data or specialized reports often requires extensive custom programming. One implication of this is that requests for information sometimes cannot be fulfilled in a timely fashion. Using modern database management systems and relational database formats would go a long way toward alleviating these problems. • Because of reliability problems with the network, some users experience access problems. To fix these problems requires IS staff time, limiting what they can do in other areas. • Because of limitations in the network, some County employees do not have convenient and/or timely access to e-mail. This limitation makes the sharing information and other resources difficult, and it can negatively affect a department's ability to respond quickly to urgent requests for information. Very few have access to the Internet and the information resources available through the World Wide Web. Supplying these services will require additional network capacity. Section B - Initiatives In the discussions that follow, six broad initiatives are described. An original list of eighteen initiatives were developed by County personnel, including members of the IS staff and a number of department heads. They represent their assessment of both the general needs of the county as well as the specialized needs of individual departments. The task force has revised and consolidated the descriptions of those initiatives into the six listed here. 1. Upgrade the Orange County Network to include interconnection of all county offices, high-speed Internet access, and sufficient bandwidth for fast, reliable e-mail, printing,file access, World Wide Web access, and other network applications. The network should be based on standard Internet protocols, including IP addresses for all computers connected to it. This initiative should be implemented in two steps. A short-term plan should be adopted to meet pressing needs, such as bringing the new Southern Human Services Center offices on-line. This plan, prepared by the SAP2001 Working Group and IS staff, presents a list of tasks and accompanying cost estimates that need to be accomplished within the first six months of 1998. During that period, a long-term plan should be undertaken that describes in detail the architecture for an upgraded county government network, including a list of equipment and services and an implementation schedule. The plan should be done by an individual or vendor with extensive I expertise in network design. This planning effort will require a statement of requirements for the network, taking into account the initiatives described below. The requirements statement should be prepared by IS staff with input from departments, the county commissioners, and, if appointed. the Citizens Advisory Council, described in initiative 6, below. This planning process should be completed by June, 1998, so that continued upgrade of the network can proceed smoothly in the transition from short-term to long-term phases during the second half of 1998. 2. Gpgrade the pool of county PCs, bringing them up to a minimal maintainable standard. To meet future needs, part of this initiative will be to establish a policy of systematic upgrades based on the different levels of computing capacity required by employees doing different jobs and on costs/benefits analysis. This recommendation is based on the point of view that the county should adopt a life-cycle replacement policy. Under such a policy, some fraction of the county's PCs (e.g., 20 %) will be replaced each year, rather than replacing all or most of them at any one time. New, more powerful machines will be assigned to users with the greatest needs; their machines in turn, will be reassigned to other users with less demanding requirements, etc., thereby maximizing PC utilization throughout the organization. Such a policy should reduce maintenance costs, for software as well as hardware, and will enable the County Commissioners to anticipate and budget capital expenditures for computing equipment more accurately. To start this process, the pool of county PCs should be brought up to a specified minimum standard. After that, IS staff, in consultation with the departments, will prepare a list of proposed upgrades each year. To insure that machines can provide useful service for the life-cycle duration adopted, machines should be purchased that provide slightly more than the minimum capacity required at the time of purchase but, in most cases, one or two levels below the most expensive top-of-the-line systems currently being offered. 3. Establish more effective technical support and training programs. Several kinds of services are needed. Timely response to system outages must be available. This includes quick-response help, both by phone and by e-mail. A small pool of spare equipment and parts should also be available for fast swap-out replacements. As new equipment and the upgraded network are put into service, training must be provided to both IS staff and county personnel. Training should not be limited to just the mechanics of using the new hardware and software, but also address more effective work procedures made possible by the upgrades. In order to make technical support more responsive to the needs of the departments and the personnel who work within them, a technical support team within the IS department should be made responsible for providing that support. While these individuals may be able to provide all of the services needed during some or most of the time, supplemental part-time help should be planned for and individuals or vendors identified who can provide those services as needed. Having additional help is especially important when shipments of new equipment are received to insure that all equipment is configured and functioning properly. An inventory of swap-out computers and parts should also be maintained. Similarly, a the Personnel department training coordinator should be continue to work with departmental contacts to determine their computer-related training needs and to arrange training to meet those needs. Departments should also identify departmental PC coordinators who can help 13 colleagues troubleshoot problems and learn new applications and work methods. Job descriptions of these users may need to be redefined or additional incentives provided to compensate them for additional services. For both technical support and training, the county should evaluate the use of outside contractors to supplement county personnel. 4. Upgrade department legacy systems, including installing World Wide Web servers to provide controlled public access and to support internal operations, where appropriate. Systems analyses of individual departments need to be done in order to determine the priority and schedule of upgrades, and plans need to be developed to implement the transitions, including costs analyses and safeguards to insure on-going operations and access during the transitions. This is a particularly important initiative. Currently, nearly half the IS staff resources are devoted to maintaining legacy systems. These systems should be phased out and the data migrated to more modern and more easily maintainable relational database management systems. Because of the magnitude of the task,the county should approach this task in several stages. During the first half of 1998, two systems analyses should be performed. The first should be an enterprise- wide analysis of the flow of information across departments and between the county and the state and other outside entities. A goal for this study is to identify enterprise-wide solutions, whenever possible. Concurrently,the county should contact other county governments as well as state agencies to explore possibilities for cooperating and sharing. The second analysis should be for a department selected to serve as a pilot project. This in-depth analysis should identify the department's working procedures,the structure of its data, and its operational requirements. The analysis should also look for manual operations that could be automated efficiently in the upgraded system. That department should be relative modest in its size and the complexity of its data. Following the systems analyses, a design should be undertaken that outlines a relational structure for the data and a system configuration. This design should take into account the role of this department and its data within the enterprise, as outlined in the first study. It should also follow the basic principle of"buying" rather than "building" whenever practical. An implementation plan should follow that includes continued operation of the old system as the new system is put in place and data migrated to it. After implementation,the experience should be reviewed to refine the process. After the pilot project, several other departments should be identified for upgrade, based on priority. Following their completion, additional departments can be targeted. In order to avoid undue expenses incurred in the continued maintenance of the legacy database system as well as support for the new system, all use of the legacy system should be discontinued as soon as practical. A reasonable time frame for this upgrade is 3-5 years. S. Provide citizens and the County Commissioners with access to information and services through the county's computer and communications system. That access should be provided wherever practical through the Internet, using the World Wide Web as a common interface, with appropriate restrictions for confidentiality. I-l' This important new initiative goes to the core function of county government - to meet the needs of the citizens that support it. By anticipating additional access through the Web, many of the upgrades described above can be done in such a way that this mode of access can be provided with only modest incremental costs. For example, most relational database management systems can provide Web access as a standard part of their systems interface. Adding such access is then largely a matter of providing appropriate HTML pages and query forms. To define and implement a policy of public access will require several steps. First, the county must establish an access policy. What information is considered to be public? What information should be made available to some individuals but not others? What departmental information should be made available internally to other departments. what information must be kept confidential and available only to appropriate departmental personnel? Second, it must put in place equipment and software (e.g., "firewalls")that can limit access to certain data to designated individuals or categories of individuals. Third, it should continue to develop the county's public Web server. This should be done by a proactive group, with input from departments, the commissioners, IS staff, the Citizens Advisory Council, and the citizens of the county. Again, a designated individual should be given responsibility for leading and coordinating this effort. Fourth, individual departments should be encouraged, where appropriate, to develop their own Web data resources. A prime example is GIS data. These data could be provided either by departmental servers and databases or through the county's central server. A large part of this task is to identify ways in which departments can share data with other departments in support of county operations. A separate but related issue is providing the County Commissioners with information -- both analytic and in document form-- in a timely and flexible manner. Given the size of the county's budget and the need for the commissioners to set policy in accord with the best information available, a modest investment in providing improved access to data and documents could result is substantial savings. Where possible,this information should be provided through the World Wide Web and in a way that requires a minimum of staff time. 6 To assist the county in the tasks described above, an ongoing Citizens Advisory Council should be established. It will help identify and order technology-related tasks, advise on performing those tasks using county personnel or through outside contracts, and review the resulting recommendations and implementation plans. It will also help keep the county's on-going development efforts focused on long-term strategic objectives. Thus, it will serve as a sounding board for the county's senior technical staff, as a technical resource, and as an advisory group to the County Commissioners. The current task force has defined a vision that can guide the on-going development of the county's computer and communications infrastructure, and it has outlined procedural steps that can lead to its realization. However, the task force believes that additional, on-going input from a small group of citizens with technical skills could assist this process. Consequently, we suggest that a Citizens Advisory Council be named that could meet, perhaps, monthly with representative from IS, the commissioners, and selected departments. Its charge could include reviewing current computer- and communications-related activities in the context of strategic objectives, reviewing plans to undertake work with county staff versus outsourcing work to vendors, providing comments on designs and implementation plans, suggesting ways in which citizen and commissioners access to data could be improved, and providing other services at the pleasure of the commissioners. We I� would recommend that the Council include ex officio members from IS and the Commissioners office, with a chair selected by the Council. 16' SAP2001 Technical Review Task Force Short Term Plan December 97-June 98 1. Upgrade the Orange County Network to include interconnection of all county offices, high- speed Internet access, and sufficient bandwidth for fast, reliable e-mail,printing,file access, World Wide Web access, and other network applications. The network should be based on standard Internet protocols, including IP addresses for all computers connected to it. A. Order and install new network service and premise equipment This task will bring all departments onto the County network including the Southern Human Services Center, Emergency Management Services, Child Support Enforcement, Animal Control, Northside Human Services in Chapel Hill, Human Rights and Relations, Chapel Hill Senior Center and County Courthouse. The network will use frame relay network services and router equipment in each building location, providing high performance, reliable connections to all offices not now on the County network. Existing network services to the Whitted complex, Public Works, Court Street Annex, Sheriff s Office, Carr Mill Mall, Government Services Center will be reconfigured for consistency with the frame relay services for all new connections. Connecting all users to the network will allow much more streamlined e-mail and information sharing applications as well as access to Intranet and Internet applications. B. Order and install Netware network operating system upgrades The network servers in major County facilities, which support access to the network for users, operate under three versions of the Netware network operating system. Netware software on all existing and new servers will be standardized to Intranetware Version 4.11. This will allow for uniform network management, improved security and support for Intranet and Internet applications. C. Order and install Groupwise e-mail, scheduling and task management software upgrades Groupwise will be upgraded to the latest Version 5.2 release for all users in the County. This release is more compatible with the Netware 4.1 operating system and has improved reliability and administration features over earlier releases. Each user in the County will be able to take frill advantage of Groupwise Intranet and Internet support features. D. Order and install network server replacements Servers will be replaced in the Government Services Annex, Public Works and Emergency Management Services buildings and new servers will be installed in the Southern Human Services Center and Chapel Hill Senior Center. Currently some of these critical network servers are older model PCs that are more likely to fail than equipment designed for server applications. The new and replacement servers will include backup power supplies, cooling fans and redundant disk drive systems to reduce failure and data loss. Backup systems in these servers will protect users placing files on servers rather than on their individual PCs as they do now. E. Order and install network wiring, cabling and data communications equipment Network wiring and cabling in the Government Services Center(GSC), Government Services Annex(GSA), Whitted Building, Carr Building, Public Works and Sheriff's Office will be rebuilt to improve system security and reliability. F. Order and install network remote access equipment and modem lines External network access equipment and phone lines will be used to establish dialup telephone access for employees to the County network to permit full use rather than electronic mail services only. This will enhance the ability of remote users to share information over the County network when they are away from their office desktop systems. 2. Upgrade the pool of county PCs, bringing them up to a minimal maintainable standard. To meet future needs,part of this initiative will be to establish a policy of systematic upgrades based on the different levels of computing capacity required by employees doing different jobs and on costs/benefits analysis. A. Upgrade and replace desktop hardware All PCs in the County will be upgraded or replaced with base level, mid-level or power-level desktop systems from standard vendors using the State purchase contracts. The base-level system will be a 166Mhz, 32 Mbyte Pentium PC with 2.1 Gbyte disk drive. The mid-level system will be a 200Mhz, 32 Mbyte Pentium PC with 4.3 Gbyte disk drive. The power-level system will be a 266Mhz, 64Mbyte Pentium II PC with 8.4 Gbyte disk drive. All systems will have CD-ROM drive. diskette drive, network card and appropriate display controller and monitor based on usage level. Based on an up-to-date equipment inventory and surveys of all PC usage, the mix of systems will be determined. Installation will occur in workgroup areas and will be assisted by outside contract support. B. Upgrade Windows desktop operating system Windows operating system software for PCs will either be acquired with replacement PCs purchased or installed as an upgrade procedure. The current implementation approach would be based on countywide upgrade to Windows 95. The next release of Windows, Windows 98, will be considered as the new release is available and has been implemented by other organizations. The County will not be an early adopter of such major releases until others have had deployment 1. is experience with the new software. The Windows NT operating system will also be considered but more as a long term option rather than the basis for the initial upgrades. C. Lpgrade :Microsoft Office County PC users now work with Microsoft Office Pro version 4.3, which includes word processing, spreadsheet, database and presentation software components. Office 97 will be the upgrade path for the standard desktop suite of tools countywide. New features improve user productivity and support better use of Intranet and Internet. D. Add desktop/mainframe integration software Software tools which allow users better, more flexible access to mainframe data without specialized programming will be deployed in departments as appropriate. These tools, including query and download software and ODBC connectivity tools, will be made available with IS staff providing training and support to departmental users. E. Upgrade GIS server and map maintenance workstations The current GIS server is too heavily loaded with parcel map and image data to effectively support the update of out-of-date maps by property mappers in the Land Records office. The new server will allow up to 4 workstations to simultaneously perform these map edit functions. The additional GIS workstations will use the newer version of the GIS software, which operates under Windows NT and is more compatible with desktop applications such as Microsoft Office. 3. Establish more effective technical support and training programs. Several kinds of services are needed Timely response to system outages must be available. This includes quick-response help, both by phone and by e-mail,A small pool of spare equipment and parts should also be available for fast swap-out replacements.As new equipment and the upgraded network are put into service, training must be provided to both IS staff and county personnel, Training should not be limited to just the mechanics of using the new hardware and software, but also address more effective work procedures made possible by the upgrades. A. Support and troubleshooting improvements A supply of spare equipment and parts will be established for IS use in supporting network and desktop system users. Open contracts with PC support, network support and Internet services vendors will be established to provide backup to existing staff, assistance with special projects and installation support. The current Help Desk for PC and network trouble calls will be enhanced to allow e-mail report submission and troubleshooting using the upgraded network software remote management capability. Using the information sharing server, a library of troubleshooting documentation and user software tips will be established by IS working in conjunction with the PC Users Group. An additional one-call service will established to allow submission of requests for mainframe software support or enhancement. I B. Train IS Staff To support the transition to new network and software environments, IS technical staff will acquire specialized professional training in Netware installation and administration, Groupwise administration and Windows support and troubleshooting. Information Systems systems analysis and programming staff will receive professional training in the use of mainframe/desktop integration tools such as ODBC and particular development tools for the Microsoft Office software components such as those provided by Excel and Access. Training will also be acquired in Visual development environments such as FoxPro and VisualBasic. C. Train Users Users will be provided training for the new Windows operating environment, the new Groupwise software and upgraded Microsoft Office. This training will be made available using on-line tutorial computer-based instruction, books and reference materials and classroom training sessions. Countywide user training will utilize contractors when necessary and staff will explore the possibility of sharing training facilities with the school systems. 4. Upgrade department legacy systems, including installing World Wide Web servers to provide controlled public access and to support internal operations, where appropriate. Systems analyses of individual departments need to be done in order to determine the priority and schedule of upgrades, and plans need to be developed to implement the transitions, including costs analyses and safeguards to insure on going operations and access during the transitions. A. Conduct systems analysis and assess development approaches for business systems A systems analysis consultant with expertise in financial, purchasing, budgeting and personnel systems will be hired to assist the Business Systems Group and IS staff in developing alternative approaches to the needs of these critical operational departments. B. Assess needs for human services systems Human services and IS staff will work together to assess needs for human services applications, particularly for desktop and network use,that will enhance human services user efficiency and productivity. Initial applications will be developed using County standard software tools and appropriate technical human services staff will be provided necessary training. C. Deploy desktop GIS in user departments With the availability of street address maps and parcel maps in the GIS system, PC-based GIS workstations will be deployed in user departments such as Environmental Health. This will allow such applications as address location and parcel map automation in daily work beyond the original GIS Land Records uses. t 10 D. GIS Photography New aerial photography will be acquired to update the ten-year-old computer photographic information currently in the GIS database. This project will take advantage of a coordinated project effort with the Town of Chapel Hill and will avoid an additional full year delay in the acquisition of new photography. The updated photography can be used to enhance the parcel map update process, for citizen requests for maps and applications in user departments. S. Provide citizens and the County Commissioners with access to information and services through the county's computer and communications system. That access should be provided wherever practical through the Internet, using the World Wide Web as a common interface, with appropriate restrictions for confidentiality. A file server will be acquired to be used as an internal server for Intranet applications, and also for linking to the county web site for use as an Internet server. Documents, forms and other shared information will be available through a browser interface from the information sharing server. For Internet use, this server will provide commissioner and citizen access support through the county web site on the state computer system. For example, data files of interest to citizens can be made available on the information sharing server for download through Internet access. 6. To assist the county in the tasks described above, an ongoing Citizens Advisory Council should be established. It will help identify and order technology-related tasks, advise on performing those tasks using county personnel or through outside contracts, and review the resulting recommendations and implementation plans. It will also help keep the county's on going development efforts focused on long-term strategic objectives. Thus, it will serve as a sounding board for the county's senior technical staff, as a technical resource, and as an advisory group to the County Commissioners. IS staff will provide necessary coordination and support to the Citizens Advisory Council