HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 06-24-2008-11c.=nfarma~~on ~~-em .
.~ ~. ...
To: Laura Blackmon, County Manager
CC:
From: Todd Jones, Chief Information Officer
Date: 6/16/2008
Re: List of Major Technology Accomplishments since 2006
Laura,
I have enclosed a list of major technology accomplishments that our Information Technologies group
has performed in the past two fiscal years. I arrived at this list while updating the previous version of
the .Strategic Technology Plan and noting the myriad items in that document that had since been
achieved.
While there are many day to day activities that constitute a large part of our services, I thought it
would be helpful, as we refine the new version of the Technology Strategic Plan, to note our progress
on the previous version.
Please review this document and provide any feedback that you think will help us going forward.
Regards,
Todd E. Jones
Chief Information Officer
1
a
Orange County Information Technologies
Accomplishments since last update (2006)
With strong Board and management support; Orange County Information Technology
has made significant strides since the last revision of our Strategic Technology Plan in
2006. The County continues to increase its reliance on technology to gain operating
efficiencies, improve customer service, reduce error rates, respond quickly to evolving
statutory requirements, increase overall data availability and provide new services.
Field Technology
Since 2006, there has been a concerted Commissioner led drive to enable more
technology in the field, ensuring greater access to data, and yielding prompt and thorough
customer service. The following departments have implemented field technology in this
time period:
• Planning and Inspections
• Animal Service
• Sheriff
• Health
• Emergency Services
• Tax Assessor
With these departments leveraging the flexibility of field technology, they are able to
provide more prompt service, stay in the field longer, eliminate re-keying inefficiencies
and reduce fuel consumption costs associated with return visits to the office.
Data Retention
With the BOCC's support to purchase a Storage Area Network device, the County has a
solid data management system. The SAN provides multiple forms of built-in redundancy
for data storage, providing great assurance of data availability and retention. The SAN
also allows the County to provision servers more cheaply and to manage those servers
more effectively.
Since 2006, IT has instituted secure offsite daily backups and out-of-County storage of
weekly data backup tapes, ensuring the recovery of critical County information in the
event of a catastrophic event.
Security
Orange County's network is more secure than ever. Information Technologies has been
continuously monitoring the network for vulnerabilities, addressing any resulting
exposures.
One major area in which we've made significant strides is the implementation of Strong
Password enforcement. By requiring all persons using equipment on the County network
to have a unique login id and password, we have complied with HIPAA regulations, met
Page 1 6/12/2008
3
Orange County Information Technologies
our financial audit security requirements and adopted best practices for technology
security. This initiative greatly reduces Orange County's exposure for unauthorized
access, critical system exploits and misuse of County resources.
By providing wireless access points at County meeting areas through commercial carriers
and not through the County network, Orange County has further eliminated security risks
associated with intermingling County network traffic with uncontrolled public traffic.
Cost Containment
Orange County has adopted a series of cross-departmental policies resulting in close
scrutiny of technology purchases, including analysis of sustaining costs and
standardization on enterprise technologies. Information Technologies and the Budget
and Purchasing functions, have established purchasing processes that ensure the most
cost-effective technology solutions are place.
All technology projects are carefully evaluated to ensure they conform to established
County technology standards, from which economies of scale in support can be realized.
The computer allocation policy now in place, ensures the pool of computers in use
throughout the County is manageable in size and appropriate to meet the needs of all
County staff.
Network Improvements
Orange County has made significant strides in upgrading critical parts of the County
network. Since 2006, we have upgraded the network connection to Southern Human
Services Center, upgraded the County's Internet connection, upgraded the central
library's public Internet circuit and provisioned high speed network connectivity for the
Seymour Center and the Gateway building.
As a result of these upgrades, more County staff have faster access to applications, data
can more efficiently be shared while hardware can be centralized and in some cases,
redundancies eliminated. This high speed access also allows IT to diagnose desktop
problems remotely, which has greatly reduced IT's reliance on site visits, while providing
quicker resolution times for County staff encountering computer problems.
With approximately 75% of all County computers on high speed fiber optic cabling,
Orange County has expanded capabilities to use powerful applications, share data across
the enterprise and provide fast and reliable access to County applications for staff.
Hardware Replacements
With strong capital support, Orange County has nearly caught up to its 4 year
replacement cycle. In the past two years, the County has replaced 35% of its oldest
computers, some of which were 7 and even 8 years old. This leaves us with a more
modern fleet of PCs, the oldest of which are now some 6 years old. The more modern
equipment requires less support and is able to operate the newer software applications
that many departments require.
Page 2 6/12/2008
Orange County Information Technologies
Similarly, Orange County has replaced a significant portion of its aging application
servers. By migrating critical services from aging standalone servers to modern SAN
based servers, we enjoy greater reliability and more manageable costs.
Orange County has made some strides in replacing aging network equipment, although
much of the funding earmarked for networking equipment has gone to address new
facilities coming on line.
Email and Server Operating System
Orange County has undergone a wholesale conversion of its enterprise email system from
the aging and unreliable Novell Groupwise platform to Microsoft Outlook/Exchange.
This has resulted in a far more reliable email platform, which is easier to support and has
a great number of tools and capabilities built around it.
Similarly, we have migrated from the Novell Netware server operating system to
Microsoft Active Directory. This migration gives us an environment with a wealth of
security tools and network management tools. Much of our security enhancements were
made possible through the use of this server operating system deployment
County Website
Orange County has employed an unusual, low-cost strategy to improving its web
presence. Information Technology, in concert with departmental webmasters, have re-
architected and redesigned the information on the County website using in-house
resources. To date, this activity has achieved the following benefits for the upgraded
pages on the website:
• Web' information is much easier to maintain
• Web information is meets accessibility requirements
• Web information is more consistent across departments..
• Web design can be globally controlled
• Smart Search tool allows customers greater access to information
While further evolution of the website will continue this important upgrade to the
County's public outreach, the improvements noted above position the County well for
cost-effective functionality additions to accommodate further growth.
New eGovernment Services added to the County website include: Register of Deeds web-
inquiry improvements which have given land researchers significantly improved remote
access capabilities. Animal Shelter adoptions .and lost pet capabilities on the web are
now fully integrated with the Shelter management software, providing up-to-date web
based information on lost and surrendered pets without additional effort from the Shelter
staff. The aforementioned Smart Search tool, developed by Orange County IT, provides
a convenient and intuitive mechanism for precisely locating information on the County
website.
Page 3 6/12/2008