HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/13/2001, 1 - INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIC PLAN council MdD° 3y3.o,
accnaa RepoRt Imm Numlw
CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
FROM: Bill Statler, Director of Finance (/a-
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Prepared By: Teri Maa, Information Systems Manager
SUBJECT: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIC PLAN
CAO RECOMMENDATION
Review and adopt the Information Technology (IT) Strategic Plan.
REPORT-IN-BRIEF
The purpose of this plan is to guide the City's use of technology over the next four years. Its
major findings and recommendations fall into two key areas:
New Initiatives. While there are a number of recommendations in the plan, there are five major
initiatives accounting for 95% of the implementation costs in the first two years:
■ Implementing a document management system.
® Rebuilding our radio system.
■ Replacing our public safety dispatch console.
i Implementing a public safety mobile data computer(MDC) system.
■ Rebuilding our water and sewer telemetry systems.
Technology Organization and Staffing. The plan builds on our current support paradigm of
consolidating "technical" support in Information Systems, while retaining "application" support
in the operating departments. The primary impact of this change is to transfer technical support
responsibilities for the public safety system from Police to Information Systems; and to transfer
the wireless communication support responsibilities in Fire (radios and cell phones) and Utilities
(water and sewer telemetry system) to Information Systems.
IT Strategic Plan Versus the Financial Plan
A Guide, Not a Budget. It is important to stress that the IT Strategic Plan is just that: a plan. It
is not the budget. It identifies and prioritizes IT initiatives, but it does not allocate budget
resources for them. This means that the IT Strategic Plan initiatives will compete with other City
programs and projects for limited resources. As such, it is highly unlikely that all initiatives
identified for the next two years will be funded in the 2001-03 Financial Plan.
In short, in adopting the IT Strategic Plan, the Council is not approving funding for the initiatives
and programs included in the plan. However, the Council will be setting the overall direction for
the City's IT systems and identifying the highest-priority uses of the resources ultimately
allocated for IT purposes. Simply stated, we need a roadmap in guiding the direction of our IT
Council Agenda Report—Information Technology Strategic Plan
Page 2
systems, and this is the purpose of the plan. Actual IT resource allocations will be made by the
Council as part of the City's normal budget and financial plan process, where they can be placed
in the context of other high priority goals and related programs and projects.
DISCUSSION
Background
The City adopted its first IT Master Plan in April 1995. The plan was primarily directed towards
updating desktop and general automation software, replacing key strategic systems such as the
financial management and public safety systems, and implementing geographic information
systems and document management. With the exception of document management, the City has
accomplished all of the strategic initiatives set forth in the 1995 plan.
As part of the 1999-01 Financial Plan Supplement, the Council authorized updating the 1995 IT
master plan and preparing a wireless communications strategic plan. The City received a
proposal from the Gartner Group to concurrently prepare both strategic plans. Given Gartner's
extensive knowledge about information technology and wireless communications, specific
expertise in local government and public safety, and favorable past work experience with the
City, the Council approved awarding the contract for this work to Gartner as part of the 2000-01
budget process.
Purpose of the Strategic Plan
The purpose of the IT Strategic Plan is to guide the City's acquisition and support of information
technology over the next four years. The plan identifies and prioritizes new initiatives. It also
sets new standards, and provides for integrating wireless data and voice communications
citywide to create new opportunities for achieving the City's overall IT goals. Specific tasks
covered in the plan include:
■ Assessing the effectiveness of our current use of technology.
■ Identifying new initiatives that will improve customer service, productivity or public access
to information.
■ Determining acquisition and support costs for these initiatives.
■ Prioritizing and phasing initiatives.
■ Recommending organizational changes and management tools needed to adequately support
existing systems and new initiatives.
IT Strategic Plan Recommendations: New Initiatives
Gartner examined the City's IT organization and management, system architecture, technology
training, public access and strategic systems (such as financial management, public safety,
geographic information systems (GIS) and document management). They also assessed the
Council Agenda Report—Information Technology Strategic Plan
Page 3
public safety and general government wireless voice and data communication systems. Their
findings and recommendations are summarized in the Executive Summary (pages 4-5) and
detailed throughout the attached Plan. The key recommendations are summarized below:
Major New Initiatives for 2001-03. As noted above, there are five major new initiatives in the
plan for the next two years accounting for about 95% of estimated implementation costs:
■ Implementing a document management system.
i Rebuilding our radio system.
■ Replacing our public safety dispatch console.
■ Implementing a public safety mobile data computer(MDC) system.
■ Rebuilding our water and sewer telemetry systems.
Other Initiatives for 2001-03. While they constitute a small part (about 5%) of the costs for new
initiatives for the next two years, the plan also recommends:
■ Planning for improvements in "e-government" that will allow us to process transactions over
the Internet (such as utility billing and payments, business tax renewals, building permit
issuance and recreation program registration).
i Improving database management..
■ Assessing options for assuring secure exchange of information with external systems and
users (such as encryption and digital signatures).
■ Designing wide area network improvements.
IT Governance and Organization
The IT Strategic Plan recommends reinforcing the current IT support paradigm under which
operating departments are responsible for application support (reports, data entry and
management, user training application software support) and Information Systems provides
technical system and infrastructure support (hardware, system software, network administration,
system security and back-ups).
For most of the organization, this will not result in any changes. The primary impact is
transferring technical support for the public safety system from Police to Information Systems.
Gartner also recommends consolidating wireless communications support since the City is
moving towards integrated, digital systems. Currently, Fire provides organization-wide radio and
cell phone support; and Utilities provides telemetry support for water and sewer systems. These
responsibilities would move to Information Systems under this plan.
The following proposed IT organization chart reflects the areas of proposed responsibilities
within Information Systems:
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Council Agenda Report—Information Technology Strategic Plan
Page 4
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IT Staffing. There are currently five full-time positions authorized in Information Systems
(Information Systems Manager and four technicians). Other dedicated IT staffing includes three
full-time positions in Public Works to support the City's GIS applications; one full-time position
in Police to support public safety (police and fire) applications; one full-time position in Fire to
support organization-wide radio and cell phone users; and one full-time position in Utilities to
support water and sewer telemetry systems. (As noted above, the plan recommends transferring
the two positions in Fire and Utilities to Information Systems.) Additionally, there are
employees throughout the organization who support technology applications on a decentralized
basis, such as departmental webmasters. In order to adequately support existing systems and new
initiatives, the plan recommends augmenting IT staffing as follows:
2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05
Telecommunications Supervisor 1.0
Telecommunications Technician 1.0 1.0
Database Administrator 1.0
Web Architect 1.0
Network Services Supervisor 1.0
IS Technician (Network Administrator) 1.0
Strategic Systems Supervisor 1.0
Administrative Assistant 1.0
Total -2.01 4.01 3.0 -
As discussed above, it is unlikely that all of these positions will be included in the Preliminary
2001-03 Financial Plan. However, it also important to stress that these positions are essential in
supporting the implementation and ongoing maintenance of the new initiatives identified in the
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Council Agenda Report--Information Technology Strategic Plan
'Page 5
plan. In short, we do not have to implement any of the plan initiatives; but for those we do, we
need to adequately support them if we want to realize the results they were intended to achieve.
As stated in our current IT acquisition and support policy: "Installing new systems but not
adequately supporting them afterwards is a blueprint for failure."
Report Organization
This very extensive plan is organized into ten major sections:
■ Introduction
■ Executive Summary
■ Overview of the Plan: Technology and Wireless Communications
■ IT Governance, Organization and Staffing
■ Current Environment: How We're Using Technology Today
■ Information Technology: Detailed Analysis of the Current Situation, Alternatives,Trends and
Best Practices and Recommendations for 17 Key IT Systems and Applications
■ Wireless Voice and Data Communications: Detailed Analysis of the Current Situation,
Alternatives, Trends and Best Practices and Recommendations for 4 Key Wireless
Communication Systems
■ Strategic Plan Implementation and Costs
■ Glossary of Terms
■ Appendices (Detailed Supporting Information)
A lot of the information in this plan is oriented towards the management and operation of the
City's IT systems. Additionally, it is intended to provide detailed background information
underlying the recommendations. As such, to assist the Council in "navigating" this document,
the following are key sections that address broader policy areas that are most likely to be of
interest to the Council (about 30 pages of large font text):
■ Executive Summary (pages 3 to 7). Provides an overview of the plan.
■ .Business and Technical Drivers (pages 14 to 16). Identifies key trends and needs driving
the plan recommendations.
■ Key Considerations for the IT Strategic Plan (pages 18 to 20). Summarizes key issues
related to technology staffing, organization, infrastructure, management and strategic systems
and software.
■ IT Governance, Organization and Staffing (pages 22 to 34). Assesses the City's current IT
organization and staff resources, and recommends improvements.
Council Agenda Report—Information Technology Strategic Plan
Page 6
■ Community Partners (pages 58 to 61). In general, this plan focuses on our `operational
business" needs. However, we used this opportunity to take a "high level" look at broader,
community-oriented technology issues.
■ Summary of Information Technology Recommendations (pages 63 to 71). Summarizes the
key recommendations related to our technology infrastructure, management tools and
strategic systems and software.
■ Technical Environment Overview and Network Architecture (pages 72 to 74). Provides a
"high level" overview of the City's IT systems.
FISCAL IMPACT
As noted above, it is important to stress that the IT Strategic Plan is just that: a plan. It is not the
budget. It identifies and prioritizes IT initiatives, but it does not,allocate budget resources for
them. The IT Strategic Plan initiatives will compete with other City programs and projects for
limited resources. This means that it is highly unlikely that all initiatives identified for the next
two years will be funded in the 2001-03 _Financial Plan. However, without the "roadmap"
provided by this plan, it will not be possible to identify how to best allocate our IT resources.
The following charts summarize the estimated costs for information technology improvements
over the next four years. They are organized by one-time and ongoing costs; and provide a low
and high range of costs, since it is not possible to identify specific costs at this early planning
stage. Costs will become better defined as these projects move into the "design" phase.
IT Strategic Plan Costs: One-Time
2001-03_ 2003-05
Low Hi-fi Low I Ni h
Information Technology _ 422,000 _ 995,000 597;300 1,043,800.
Technology infrastructure 47,000 80,000 348,800 486,300
Technology management 55,000 145,000 145,500 397,500
Strategic systems and software 320,000 770,000 103,000 160,000
WirelessvoicelDataCommunication"s_ _2,251,800 3,983,700 0 0
Upgrade radio equipment 817,000 1,195,000
Dedicated/leased mobile data system' 461,500 572,000
Replace dispatch consoles 453,000 659,000
Replace wireless telemetry 315,000. 803,000
Replace process control telemetry 153,000 660,000
Network HVAC control panels 52,300 1 94,700
Total _._ _ _ _ _._ $ 2,673;800 $ 4,978,700 $ 597,300 $ 1,043,800
*Based on Police revised estimates
Council Agenda Report-Information Technology Strategic Plan
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IT Strategic Plan Costs: On oin
2001-03 2003-05
High Low High Low
Information Technology_ _ _ _ 427,000 674;500 156,000 212,600
IT organization and staffing 295,000 355,000 132,000 164,000
Technology infrastructure 4,000 7,500 18,000 26,000
Technology management 83,000 195,000 4,000 15,000
Strategic systems and software 45,000 117,000 2,000 7,000
Wireless Voice and Data Communications _24,500_ 41,500 0 0
Dedicated leased mobile data system 19,500 32,500
Network HVAC control panels 5,000 9,000
Total $_ 451,500, $ .716,000 $
_156;000__.$ 212;000
As discussed above, five major initiatives comprise 95% of the total IT cost estimates for the
next two years:
2001-03 Projects Low Higkm
Document Management System Implementation $300,000 $650,000
Radio System Rebuild 817,000 1,195,000
Dispatch Console Replacement 453,000 659,000
Mobile Data Computers ." 461,000 572,000
Telemetry System rebuild 468,000 1,463,000
Total $2,031,000 $3;076,000
* Based on Police revised estimates
Project Status and Funding. It is important to note that the document management and mobile
data computer (MDC) projects are not conceptually "new." They have both been in the planning
stages for some time and already have some resources allocated for them. Further, not all costs
will be funded from the General Fund. For example, the MDC project already has significant
grant funding allocated for it; and the telemetry system upgrade will be funded by the water and
sewer funds.
ALTERNATIVES
■ Do not adopt the IT Strategic Plan. If the plan is not adopted, then the City will not have a
roadmap for implementing future information technology initiatives.
■ Refer the IT Strategic Plan back to Staff for further study. The Council can refer the
plan back to staff for further analysis. However, based on the extensive work throughout the
organization that has gone into preparing this plan, we do not believe this is likely to result in
an improved plan unless Council has specific changes it desires to make. In this case,
adoption of the plan at this time with changes as directed by the Council is the preferred
approach.
Council Agenda Report=Information Technology Strategic Plan
Page 8
CONCURRENCES
The MIS Steering Committee and Department Heads concur with the strategic direction provided
in the plan.
ATTACHMENT
Information Technology Strategic Plan
Council Members have a copy. A copy is available for review
in the Office of the City Clerk.
G:Information Technology Master Plan/Council Agenda Report
/ i O