HomeMy WebLinkAboutSS2 - Citizens' Technology Task Force ReportCITY OF NEWPORT BEACH
CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
Agenda Item No. SS2
July 27, 2010
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: Administrative Services Department
Tracy McCraner, Administrative Services Director
(949) 644 -3123 or tmccraner @newportbeachca.gov
Dan Matusiewicz, Deputy Administrative Services Director
(949) 644 -3126 or danm @newportbeachca.gov
SUBJECT: CITIZENS' TECHNOLOGY TASK FORCE REPORT
ISSUE:
The Citizens' Technology Task Force (Task Force) was established by the Newport
Beach City Council on March 23, 2010 to evaluate the City's Information Technology
(IT) environment and develop recommendations for consideration by the City Council
and City Manager.
RECOMMENDATION:
Consider the report prepared by the Task Force and direct the City Manager to return
with an analysis of the recommendations and implementation steps necessary to carry
out the report's key recommendations.
DISCUSSION:
The Task Force is comprised of industry experts who have graciously devoted
numerous hours of personal time to assess and understand the IT challenges facing the
City of Newport Beach. The staff appreciates and is grateful for the thorough
examination and thoughtful recommendations that, if implemented, will increase the
overall effective use of technology by consolidating uses and strategically planning for
expenditures resulting in greater management of overall costs.
The five major recommendations of the Task Force are:
1. Appoint a Chief Information Officer (CIO) as soon as possible to centrally
oversee and facilitate the City's efficient, effective and productive use of IT
resources
Citizens' Technology Task Force Report
July 27, 2010
Page 2
2. Develop a Five -Year IT Strategic Plan
3. Establish an IT Advisory Group consisting of the City's IT managers and
Department heads
4. Strengthen the accessibility and transparency of City government through the
use of social networking, emerging web applications and communication
channels
5. Standardize and consolidate common IT infrastructure including data center
facilities; physical and virtual processing capacity; data storage; network,
directory and database services; e-mail; and backup and recovery
Environmental Review:
This action is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act ( "CEQA ") pursuant
to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable
indirect physical change in the environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a
project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of
Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in physical
change to the environment, directly or indirectly.
Public Notice:
The agenda item has been noticed according to the Brown Act (72 hours in advance of
the meeting at which the City Council considers the item).
Funding Availability:
Not applicable at this time.
Prepared by:
Dan Matuslewwiiiccz
Deputy Director
Administrative Services D nt
Attachments: Citizens' Technology Tz
Submitted by:
Tracy Md raner
Director �
Administrative Services Department
sk Force Report to the City Council
CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH
CITIZENS' TECHNOLOGY TASK FORCE
Report to the City Council
Ted Cooper, Chairperson
Philip Drachman
David Lown
David Scheeff
Non - Voting Council Liaisons
Mayor Pro Tern Michael F. Henn
July 27, 2010
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements........................................................................... ..............................9
Appendix........................................................................................... .............................10
Page d
Executive Summary
The Citizens' Technology Task Force (Task Force) was established by the Newport Beach City
Council on March 23, 2010 to evaluate the City's Information Technology (IT) environment and
develop recommendations for consideration by the City Council and City Manager, as contained
in this Report.
The Task Force toured City facilities and examined operations and activities of the IT
organization, infrastructure and application systems. The Task Force affirmed that IT is a
significant budgetary investment of the City, requiring skilled leadership and planning to
effectively deliver optimized services to City employees, residents, businesses and visitors. The
Task Force found the City's IT resources are well provided and the IT personnel work ethic and
competency are of a high caliber.
Key positive aspects of the City's IT organization that were identified are:
- IT staff have earned praiseworthy reputations for their responsiveness to stakeholder
issues and for their work to provide effective technical services.
- Most IT staff have worked in the City's IT environment for many years. They understand
the history and intricacies of City IT systems and have stable working relationships with
City stakeholders.
Data center operations, networks and application software have been utilized by the City
to provide well- functioning IT resources to residents, businesses, visitors and City
employees.
Notwithstanding these accomplishments, the Task Force developed recommendations it
believes will significantly enhance the efficiency, service and strategic positioning of technology
in the City.
Key recommendations that were developed are:
- Appoint a Chief Information Officer (CIO) as soon as possible to centrally oversee and
facilitate the City's efficient, effective and productive use of IT resources. In the interim,
appoint an Acting CIO who can begin using this comprehensive Report as an actionable
resource to plan for positive change.
Develop a Five -Year IT Strategic Plan by utilizing the Plans the Task Force obtained
from prominent local governments as a guide for process, structure and content. The
Five -Year IT Strategic Plan should serve as an actionable "roadmap" for Citywide IT
operations, priorities and investments over the next five years, and it also should be
designed to facilitate the implementation of the City's General Plan.
Establish an IT Advisory Group consisting of the City's IT managers (from Administrative
Services, Police, Fire and Library) and all Department heads or designees, to advise on
priorities, standards (for infrastructure, applications and performance), purchasing
coordination, strategic planning and related matters.
Strengthen the accessibility and transparency of City government through a greater use
of social networking, emerging web applications and communication channels, all
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designed to engage the public in areas such as: "information push" for notification of
events, services and emergencies; YouTube to share marketing videos of the City and
its amenities; and Facebook and Twitter to facilitate communications and information
sharing between the public and the City.
Standardize and consolidate common IT infrastructure including data center facilities;
physical and virtual processing capacity; data storage; network, directory and database
services; e-mail; and backup and recovery. By standardizing and consolidating IT
infrastructure across the City, higher service levels and economies of scale can be
achieved more cost effectively. Exceptions to the Citywide consolidation are the
classified and restricted IT infrastructure, communication systems and applications that
are associated with systems requiring Federal, State and Local Government security
clearances, such as California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS),
National Law Enforcement Telecommunications Systems (NLETS), National Crime
Information Center (NCIC), California Department of Justice (CaIDOJ), Federal
Department of Justice (FDOJ), Homeland Security (HLS) and other law enforcement and
public safety systems.
Background
A Task Force and Its Puroose
The City relies on technology in all areas of City government, such as geographic information
systems, public safety, financial systems, personal computers, smart phones, social networking,
and the City's website and intranet. The City invests approximately $4.9 million annually in
technology, consisting primarily of staffing, hardware, software and maintenance.
The Task Force was asked to make recommendations in the following areas
A. Processes for creating a municipal technology strategic plan;
B. Models for managing, maintaining and staffing technology for optimal use in
complex organizations;
C. Applications of technology that are proven to increase efficiency and
effectiveness in business processes;
D. Applications of technology that can improve communication with residents,
businesses and visitors;
E. General cost estimates for recommendations.
Establishment of the Citizens' Technology Task Force
On March 9, 2010 Mayor Curry suggested that the City Council establish a seven - member
Citizens' Technology Task Force to review the City's use of technology and make
recommendations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the City's investments in
technology.
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The Task Force was created on March 23, 2010 when the City Council adopted Resolution No.
2010 -24.
On April 12, 2010 the City Clerk advertised the vacancies for serving on the Task Force. The
deadline to apply was April 20, 2010 and fifteen applications were received.
On April 27, 2010 the City Council appointed seven members to the Task Force as follows:
• Ted Cooper, Chairperson • Froehlich Franz*
• Bruce Brandenburg* • David Lown
• Timothy Britt* • David Scheeff
• Philip Drachman *Resigned
Each Task Force member is a professional in Information Technology. The combined skills,
experience and knowledge base of the Task Force includes: organizational structure, IT service
models, insourcing and outsourcing, networking, security, system administration, hardware,
software, databases and enterprise applications. The Task Force convened its first meeting on
May 4, 2010 and met regularly through its final meeting on July 19, 2010.
Task Force Meetina Dates and Topics Discussed
The table below summarizes the Task Force's meeting dates and main topics discussed at each
meeting.
Task Force Meetings Held and Topics Discussed
Task Force
Meeting Purpose
Meeting Date
May 4
Discuss the variety of models for managing,
maintaining and staffing technology in complex
organizations.
May 18
Discuss applications of technology that are proven to
increase efficiency and effectiveness of business
processes.
June 1
Discuss applications of technology that can improve
communication with residents, businesses and visitors.
June 15
Discuss technology strategic planning and the draft
Report to Council.
July 7
Edit the draft Report to Council and discuss it with the
City Manager.
July 19
Conference call to review and approve the final draft of
the Report to Council.
Task Force Activities
The Task Force focused its activities on the discussion and evaluation of briefings,
presentations, interviews, satisfaction surveys, data center tours, and IT- related documentation
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provided by City staff, IT personnel and IT stakeholders. The Task Force activities are outlined
below:
1) Received presentations from City staff and interviewed IT management staff in
Administrative Services, Police, Fire and Library.
2) Were given tours of Administrative Services IT, Police IT and Dispatch, Fire IT and
Dispatch, Library IT and Traffic Control, in conjunction with detailed briefings in each of
these functional areas.
3) Developed and distributed an online Customer Satisfaction Survey to City personnel
who are significant users of IT infrastructure, applications and services; 72 survey
responses were received, representing approximately 75% of the surveys distributed.
4) Developed and discussed an IT Service Models Overview, IT Service Models Evaluation
Matrix, and Outsourcing vs. Insourcing comparison.
5) Received a presentation from staff on the City's current methods of communication with
the public, including the City's websites.
6) Discussed the City's need for a Technology Strategic Plan and obtained actual plans
from Atlanta, Irvine, Long Beach, Riverside and the County of San Diego, containing
useful information on plan development including process, organization, format and
content.
7) Conducted reviews of the City's documentation on organization structure, governance,
budgets, inventory of hardware and software, technology standards, policies and
procedures.
8) Discussed findings and developed recommendations based upon information gained
through discussions and interviews with City officials, staff, IT stakeholders and IT
personnel, in conjunction with an analysis of the documentation developed at the
request of the Task Force.
9) Requested the development of, and reviewed, the following reports, presentations,
surveys and documentation that comprise the Appendix and form a repository of
valuable information for future planning and actions by the new CIO in particular and the
City in general:
• IT Overview and Staff Deployment
• Administrative Services IT Staff Report
• Police Department IT Staff Report
• Fire Department IT Staff Report
• Library Services IT Staff Report
• IT Satisfaction Survey — Detail and Summary
• IT Service Models — Overview, Comparison and Evaluation
• Technology Deficiencies and Cost Estimates Noted by IT Staff
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• IT Software & Hardware Health Status Report
• IT Budget by Department
• Modes of Communication with Citizens
• Technology Strategic Plans obtained from the cities of Atlanta, Irvine, Long
Beach and Riverside, and the County of San Diego
• Third -Party Review of the City's Websites
• Emergency Operations Center
These reports, presentations, surveys and documentation (the Appendix) are available for
review in the Administrative Services Department.
Task Force Recommendations
Based upon staff presentations, discussions, interviews, tours of the City data centers and an
analysis of a broad range of City documentation and internal reports, the Task Force developed
the following recommendations, grouped according to the duties specified in Resolution 2010-
24:
A. Processes for Creating a Municipal Technology Strategic Plan
1. Develop a Five -Year IT Strategic Plan by utilizing the Plans the Task Force obtained
from prominent local governments as a guide for process, structure and content. The
Five -Year IT Strategic Plan should serve as an actionable "roadmap" for Citywide IT
operations, priorities and investments over the next five years, and it also should be
designed to facilitate the implementation of the City's General Plan.
2. Update the Five -Year IT Strategic Plan annually.
3. Develop an Annual IT Work Plan for purposes of short-term, Citywide prioritization,
sharing of resources, and budgeting. The first year of each year's updated Five -Year
Plan becomes the Annual IT Work Plan.
4. The CIO should establish a team responsible for assisting in the development of the
strategic plan, consisting of:
• Technology experts (such as vendors and consultants as needed)
• City Officials and Administration
• Department stakeholders
B. Models for Managing, Maintaining and Staffing Technology in Complex Organizations
1. Appoint a Chief Information Officer (CIO) as soon as possible to centrally oversee and
facilitate the City's efficient, effective and productive use of IT resources. In the interim,
appoint an Acting CIO who can begin using this Report as an actionable resource to
plan for positive change.
2. Establish an IT Advisory Group consisting of the City's IT managers (from Administrative
Services, Police, Fire and Library) and all Department heads or designees, to advise on
Page 16
priorities, standards (for infrastructure, applications and performance), purchasing
coordination, strategic planning and related matters.
3. Maintain the existing IT organization structure until a CIO is appointed. In conjunction
with the City Manager, the CIO should conduct a restructuring of the IT organization to
optimize service, cost effectiveness, performance and scalability, by consolidating data
center, network, disaster recovery and server administration personnel into a single
group that services all departments. Specialized and classified application development
and technical support groups (Police; Fire; and Library) should remain decentralized.
4. Establish Minimum Acceptable Service Levels (MASLs) for each type of significant
service provided by IT personnel, and measure the resultant performance periodically.
5. Adopt an enterprise -wide standard project management process that will be applied to
all IT project requests. This will entail project initiation, planning, execution, control,
validation and closeout/evaluation phases. The CIO should set standards and hold staff
accountable for following the implemented methodology.
6. Adopt a service- oriented IT operations management framework that provides visibility to
service levels and cost. This can be accomplished over time but provides a guideline for
developing processes, staff development and reporting. (A common service- oriented IT
operations framework is ITIL.)
7. Establish a 'Regional Consortium" with Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and other cities
as appropriate, to exchange information on best practices, emergency support,
cooperative purchasing and other common interests.
8. Relocate the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) from the Police Department to the
new Civic Center. Most EOC staff work at City Hall, and having a dedicated EOC facility
at the Civic Center will enable City staff to respond quickly to any large incident.
Management decisions can be made quickly and it will be close to the City Council
Chambers for efficiency and effectiveness. It also will enable volunteers to provide
valuable assistance during a disaster.
Equip the new EOC with proper communications and IT infrastructure. Public safety
personnel have to be able to communicate during a disaster. To do this, the new EOC
must have the radio equipment to communicate with Police, Fire, City departments,
CERT and RACES volunteers. This includes 800 MHZ public safety radios, computer -
aided dispatch (CAD) and amateur radio equipment. Some of this equipment will require
roof -top antennas which are small in size and will not impact the view plane.
Wire the new EOC during construction of the new Civic Center to accommodate all
projected technology, since access through concrete floors and sealed walls, once
construction is complete, is difficult and much more costly to do afterwards.
Establish an EOC Committee with appropriate qualifications to discuss the needs that
are directly and indirectly associated with the EOC.
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C.
1. Standardize and consolidate common IT infrastructure including data center facilities;
physical and virtual processing capacity; data storage; network, directory and database
services; e-mail; and backup and recovery. By standardizing and consolidating IT
infrastructure across the City, higher service levels and economies of scale can be
achieved more cost effectively. Exceptions to the Citywide consolidation are the
classified and restricted IT infrastructure, communication systems and applications that
are associated with systems requiring Federal, State and Local Government security
clearances, such as California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS),
National Law Enforcement Telecommunications Systems (NLETS), National Crime
Information Center (NCIC), California Department of Justice (CaIDOJ), Federal
Department of Justice (FDOJ), Homeland Security (HLS) and other law enforcement and
public safety systems.
2. Engage a consultant or vendor to advise and assist the City in standardizing and
consolidating common IT infrastructure, and in relocating IT resources to the new Civic
Center.
3. Establish processes to regularly review servers, storage, networks, desktops and
telephone systems to ensure that equipment continues to perform at high levels with low
maintenance costs, with the objective of maximizing the life of City assets. If equipment
is leased, leases should accommodate the option to retain the equipment at the end of
the lease.
4. To mitigate the risks of damage or destruction to IT infrastructure, applications and
information, engage a consultant or vendor to evaluate and strengthen the City's status
with regard to on -site and off -site data storage, "cold" and "hot" sites, disaster
preparedness /recovery planning and training, business continuity strategy, and periodic
drills.
5. Consider utilizing remotely - located IT service providers that maintain infrastructure
environments and provide hosted cloud computing capabilities. Cloud computing is a
broad term for an emerging technology in which services are delivered over the Internet.
In conjunction with cloud computing, identify and evaluate software -as -a- service vendors
(SaaS) for both desktop and application needs, as this would allow the City to expand its
IT infrastructure with a less significant upfront investment than traditional technology.
SaaS has become a cost - effective model for many business tasks, including
computerized billing, invoicing, human resource management, and service desk
management.
6. Upgrade or replace, as appropriate, critical legacy systems in use throughout the City,
such as: the Police Department's computer -aided dispatch and records management
systems; the enterprise resource planning system and permitting systems; and the
document management systems.
7. Provide remote application access via VPN, web applications, Citrix, VmWare View,
and /or remote desktops as appropriate, thereby increasing efficiency by allowing people
to work from anywhere.
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8. Request proposals for the outsourcing of payroll and associated Human Resource
functions, to determine whether it is more efficient and cost effective to contract out
these commodity -like functions.
D. Applications of Technology that can Improve Communication with Residents,
Businesses and Visitors
1. Unify the "look, feel and navigation" of the City's multiple websites (City Hall; Police;
Library; and Lifeguard) to make information more accessible in a clear, uniform and web -
centric manner.
2. Implement software that will enable the public to access information conveniently from
the City's websites via mobile devices.
3. Strengthen the accessibility and transparency of City government through a greater use
of social networking, emerging web applications and communication channels, all
designed to engage the public in areas such as: "information push" for notification of
events, services and emergencies; YouTube to publish marketing videos of the City and
its amenities; and Facebook and Twitter to facilitate effective communication and
information sharing between the public and the City.
Acknowledgements
City and departmental staff were invaluable resources to the Task Force. Without exception,
these individuals were well organized, well prepared, responsive, cooperative, cordial and
professional. The Task Force expresses its deep gratitude to the staff for spending many hours
developing, collecting and analyzing information and documentation to assist in the successful
completion of this Report. The Task Force thanks them for a job well done.
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Appendix
(www. newportbeachca. gov/cttfl
A - Resolution 2010 -24 Establishing a Citizens Technology Task Force
B - IT Overview and Staff Deployment
Overview Staff Report
Administrative Services IT Staff Report
Police Department IT Staff Report
Fire Department IT Staff Report
Library Services IT Staff Report
IT Overview Presentation
C - IT Satisfaction Survey - Summary
D - IT Satisfaction Survey - Detail
E - IT Service Models - Overview
F - IT Service Models - Evaluation
G - Technology Deficiencies Noted by IT Staff
H- IT Software & Hardware Health Status Report
I - IT Budget by Department (Estimate)
J - Modes of Communication with Citizens
K - Sample Technology Strategic Plans obtained from Atlanta, Irvine, Long Beach,
Riverside and County of San Diego
L - Third -Party Review of City Websites
M- Emergency Operations Center
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