HomeMy WebLinkAboutPD Information Technology Master PlanCITY OF PALM DESERT
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
STAFF REPORT
REQUEST: APPROVE AND ADOPT THE CITY OF PALM DESERT
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MASTER PLAN.
SUBMITTED BY: CLAYTON VON HELF, INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER
DATE: FEBRUARY 23, 2017
CONTENTS: EXHIBIT "A" — INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MASTER PLAN
Recommendation
By Minute Motion, that the City Council:
1. Approve and adopt the City of Palm Desert Information Technology
(I.T.) Master Plan.
Strateqic Plan Obiective
Although the City's internal I.T. infrastructure is not addressed in the strategic plan, it's
upgrade underlays, and is essential to, all projects and services performed by the City.
Executive Summary
In early 2016, the City Council directed staff to retain a consultant to review the status
information technology and equipment throughout the organization and develop a
master plan for improvements. The City retained the firm Client First, and working with
staff they have completed the I. T. Master Plan. The plan was presented at a City
Council study session on February 9t", and staff and council feedback from that meeting
has been incorporated into the final plan.
Adoption of this plan gives the city a five year project plan with 80 initiatives, and an I.T.
governance framework to implement these initiatives. All projects will be brought to the
Staff Report
Approve and Adopt I.T. Master Plan
February 23, 2017
Page 2 of 3
approval before any expenditure. City Council can expect an annual update on the I.T.
Master Plan every year during the capital improvements budget process.
Backqround
In June of 2016, the city awarded a contract to Client First for the creation of an I.T.
Master Plan. The consultant conducted numerous interviews and workshops with City
Staff, Executive Management, and City Council Members in order to properly assess
the current state of our I.T. environment, recommend improvements and prioritize future
growth. The recommendations in the attached report address a wide range of
infrastructure, equipment and software systems. The report also includes extensive
recommendations regarding best practices in I.T. governance, security and
sustainability policies. Guidelines have been developed to ensure a desirable return on
investment for future I.T. outlay.
Approval of this plan authorizes City staff to use it as a guideline in creating an efficient
and modern I.T. organization. The plan lays out best practices for purchasing,
implementing, budgeting, and managing I.T. infrastructure. One of those best practices
is the formation of an I.T. steering committee, composed of City staff from each
department. This committee will drive technology education, policies, and the
implementation of the I.T. plan over the next five years. This committee will help set
and re-prioritize the budget each year which will become part of the City's Capital
Project Budgeting. This will give the City a mechanism to adjust the five year plan as
needed, and keep both staff and council apprised of progress and any new or changing
goals. The plan is a dynamic document which will reflect the needs of the organization
in each year, with projects moved up or down in priority as needs and funding dictate.
Approval of this plan document does not authorize any expenditure, but it does provide
direction to staff and acts as a framework for moving the I.T. environment forward. All
projects will be brought to council and discussed during the budget review process.
Council will also approve expenditures as part of the City's normal procurement
process.
Staff Report
Approve and Adopt I.T. Master Pian
February 23, 2017
Page 3 of 3
Fiscal Impact
Approval of the plan does not have an immediate fiscal impact, because all initiatives
would need to be approved through the normal budget process. The plan does identify
approximately $1,180,000 in FY 2017/2018 spending, some of which could be funded
through the Equipment Replacement Fund. The specific funding and budgeting will be
discussed and reviewed during the FY 2017/2018 budget process.
Submitted By:
ayton on Helf
In a ion Systems Manager
Approved by:
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��B�i1'ector of Finance
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Department Head:
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Lori Car� !
Human Resources Director
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Lauri Aylaian
City Manager
Optimal Technology Guidance
Report for
Information Technology
Master Planning
February 15, 2017
Client Locations
Coast-to-Coast
Practice Locations
California
Illinois
Minnesota
North Carolina
800.806.3080
www.clientfirstcg.com
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ENGAGEMENT PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND .................................. 3
Information Technology Master Plan Objective .................................................................... 3
Deliverables ........................................................................................................................... 3
Methodology and Approach .................................................................................................. 4
CURRENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENT
SUMMARY ............................................................................... 5
Summary IT Environment ..................................................................................................... 5
Key Statistics and Metrics ..................................................................................................... 6
IT STRATEGIES, GOALS, AND OBJECTIVES .................................. 10
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) PRINCIPLES .............................. 14
Vision / Mission Statement .................................................................................................. 14
IT INITIATIVE SUMMARIES ........................................................... 15
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 15
IT Initiative Categories ........................................................................................................ 15
IT Infrastructure ................................................................................................................... 16
Gov 2.0 (E-Government) ..................................................................................................... 17
Departmental Applications and Systems ............................................................................ 18
IT Operations ....................................................................................................................... 21
IT Security ........................................................................................................................... 22
Telecommunications ........................................................................................................... 23
Best Practices ..................................................................................................................... 24
KEY INITIATIVES AND ISSUES ....................................................... 25
IT Infrastructure ................................................................................................................... 25
Improving Online Public Engagement and Communications ............................................. 25
IT Operations ....................................................................................................................... 26
IT Security ........................................................................................................................... 26
Departmental Applications Utilization Improvements ......................................................... 27
Benefits of Modern ERP Software ...................................................................................... 28
CONCLUSION ............................................................................. 34
Moving Forward ................................................................................................................... 34
Benefits ................................................................................................................................ 35
Immediate Next Steps ......................................................................................................... 35
IT MASTER PLAN CAPITAL BUDGET ............................................ 36
APPENDIX – IT MASTER PLAN INITIATIVES ................................... 37
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Engagement Purpose and
Background
Information Technology Master Plan Objective
The objective of the Master Plan included developing and articulating a vision for the effective
use of technology to support the work of the City, identifying strategies for developing and
implementing technology initiatives, and highlighting the cost benefits of doing so.
As a result of the need to go beyond IT strategies to include specific tactical and actionable IT
initiatives in the Plan, the terminology has changed. The term “IT Strategic Planning” gave way
to a new term called “IT Master Planning”. IT Master Plan deliverables include strategies, as
well as tactical and actionable IT initiatives.
Below, we have created a well-documented plan to guide the IT Team over the next five years
in planning, procuring, implementing, and managing current and future technology investments
and resources related to Information Technology Services provided to the City. The plan is the
result of a thorough analysis of the following:
Existing hardware and network infrastructure, staffing, funding, applications, business
systems, projects, processes, telecommunications, training, and other investments and
resources currently in use by the City
Interviews and workshops involving all levels of the City’s staff, including the Management
Team, Council members, end-users, and other stakeholders, recognizing limited staff
availability
Identification and prioritization of IT projects that staff should undertake over the next five
years
Identification of needs to accommodate current and future technology requirements, such as
data storage and management, legal requirements, security requirements, etc.
Deliverables
The Master Plan includes:
Project Purpose and Background
Methodology for implementation and
maintenance of the Master Plan
Current Information Technology
Environment Summary
Key Benchmarking Metrics
Strategies, Goals, and Objectives
IT Vision and Principles
IT Initiatives (Projects) by priority
Key Issues and Initiatives
Moving Forward
Timelines
IT Plan Budgets
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Methodology and Approach
We utilized a five-phase methodology on which we base our IT Master Planning projects. This
served as the cornerstone of the project, allowing the collaborative process to shape and
develop our recommendations and approach, enabling us to tailor each step to fit the City’s
unique specifications. We worked in partnership with the City to improve the IT environment so
it can better meet the needs of staff and constituents.
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Current Information Technology
Environment Summary
Summary IT Environment
City of Palm Desert
IT Environment Summary
City Hall
IT Staff (Full-time Equivalent - FTE) 4
City Employees (FTE) 113
PCs 150
Laptops 13
Mobile Devices (e.g., Tablets, Smart Phones, Cell phones, etc.) 3 Android tablets
Telephones 155
Cellular/Smart Phones
Physical Servers 6
Virtual Servers 35
Network Devices 26
Platforms Windows, RedHat Linux
Databases MS Access, MS SQL
Citywide software applications/modules Approx. 108
Avg. Reported Help Desk Tickets per Week 235
Closed 24 Hours n/a
Closed 48 Hours n/a
Closed 72 Hours n/a
Average Resolution Time n/a
Average Open after 7 Days 5
City management and staff have done an admirable job of maintaining information technology
systems with the limited financial and staff resources available. The IT Manager and staff
deserve credit for how well the current IT environment has functioned. Operating with the
existing situation is a testament to the patience of IT Management and staff.
Although the organization has functioned with limited expenditures, a significant portion of the IT
infrastructure and some of the enterprise business applications, which are the backbone of
departmental operations and citizen services, are out of date, end of life, underutilized, and
behind peer municipalities. Application software implementation and upgrade staff training has
been limited by budget constraints. Continuing with outdated systems and undertrained
employees is significantly less than the optimal approach. It takes more recurring staff time
(and therefore labor cost) to make up for the lack of up-to-date IT systems that are common in
other municipal gov ernments.
Over the last few years, citizens have begun demanding more efficient interactions with the City,
online transactions, and more transparent information availability. The City will not be able to
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manage these changes without updating, improving the management, and better utilizing
enterprise business applications and the IT infrastructure that supports them.
Key Statistics and Metrics
The following analysis provides feedback on three key measurements regarding IT operations:
IT Budgeting/Expenditures IT Spending vs. Operating Fund Budgets and Users
IT Staffing Resources Overall IT Staffing vs. Key Equipment Counts
IT Capital Replacement Schedules IT Equipment Replacement Schedules
These measurements provide an indication of issues that may affect the organization’s IT
effectiveness as it relates to providing IT support of systems and application solutions.
IT Spending versus Operating Budgets provides an overall indication of whether the IT function
receives a sufficient level of organizational resources to provide the necessary services.
Underfunding over time typically reduces IT’s ability to respond to requests, reduces system
availability, and negatively impacts organization -wide productivity.
IT Staffing Levels Versus Key Equipment Counts (e.g., servers, PCs, and total number of
logins) are often a reflection of IT staff productivity. With current up-to-date technology and the
proper productivity tools, an individual IT staff member can support more users, reducing overall
costs.
Capital Equipment Replacement is an important measure of the ability of hardware to
adequately support the ongoing vendor changes to application software. These changes often
require additional resources and hardware that are more robust. Slow capital replacement
cycles can result in increased downtime and slower system response times, overall.
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IT Spending versus Operating Fund Budgets
The following table depicts Palm Desert’s IT Spending versus Recommended Best Practices w
a municipal benchmark of approximately 40 agencies.
Palm Desert
FY 14-15
Palm Desert
FY 15-16
Palm Desert
FY 16-17
Recommended
Low Benchmark Recommended
High
1.51% 1.70% 1.56% 2.5% 2.82% 4.5%
The 2016/2017 adopted budget for the general fund is $63,988,962, and the IT expenditure
budgets total for the sam e period was $995,755. The municipal spending benchmark range
from the benchmark data was between 1% and 8%, with an average of 2.82%. The percentage
of IT expenditures versus operations budgets at Palm Desert is below the recommended low
and the average benchmark for other municipalities.
Overall, it represents recognizable underspending versus industry standards for IT infrastructure
and overall information technology solutions and support. The result of this underspend has
been an IT infrastructure that is obsolete in places, and a portfolio of application systems th at
include aging and underutilized departmental applications. A greater level of funding would
bring IT infrastructure up to date and improve the departmental applications tools resulting in
increased productivity throughout the City, and greater citizen transactions, service access, and
interactions through the City’s website.
1.51%1.70%1.56%
2.5%
2.8%
4.5%
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
FY14-15 FY15-16 FY16-17 Recommended
Low
Benchmark Recommended
High
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IT Staffing Ratios
The following table depicts Palm Desert’s IT Staffing Ratios for logins and equipment versus a
municipality benchmark of approximately 40 similar agencies. These measures are commonly
used in the industry to validate staffing levels. As the number of ind ividuals served and the
amount if equipment increases, staffing levels should also increase.
City of Palm
Desert
Municipality
Benchmark
Recommended
Best Practice
Logins 52 68 75
Servers 11 7 10
Computers 53 57 60
In this comparison, the City’s IT staff support fewer user logins and computers then their peers.
City IT staff support approximately the same number of servers as peers organizations. The
fact that City IT staff supports fewer logins and computers than peer organizations is caused by
higher than normal IT support service levels. Few IT organizations provide the equivalent of
Palm Desert IT’s nearly instantaneous phone-based IT support using internal staff.
-
30
60
90
52
69 75
Logins
-
5
10
15
11
8
10
Servers
-
20
40
60
80
53
58 60
Computers
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Equipment Replacement
The following table represents IT Equipment Replacement Recommended Best Practices and a
municipal benchmark of 39 agencies.
Replacement Years
City of Palm
Desert
Municipal
Benchmark
Recommended
Best Practices
Laptops 6 4 4
PCs 6 4 5
Servers 7 5 5
The City’s current policy is significantly behind hardware replacement best practices. This lag in
equipment replacement causes additional IT support because of the increased failure rates of
older equipment. We note that, although a four-year replacement cycle for PCs is preferred,
many of our clients have moved to a five-year replacement plan, due to reduced capital funding.
We would recommend limited use of laptops as loaners for Internet browsing or as training
stations after four years of productive life, in order to avoid additional expenditures.
-
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Laptops PCs ServersYears Recommended Best
Practices
Local Gov. Benchmark
Palm Desert
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IT Strategies, Goals, and Objectives
The strategies for leveraging and maximizing information system utilization in delivering City
services are listed below. Within each strategy, we have listed initial goals and objectives for
the City. We have translated those goals and objectives into specific initiatives in the Appendix
of the report. Additionally, outlined later in the report are the budgetary costs for each initiative,
resource requirements, implementation time frame and, if appropriate, the next steps toward
implementation.
Modernize IT Infrastructure
Goals and Objectives
Move from obsolete hardware and software to c urrent generation.
Eliminate system processing inefficiencies created by incompatible software and disk
space limits.
Reduce wasted staff productivity time spent maintaining and resolving issues on aging
technology.
Improve resiliency and uptime of infrastructure.
Design infrastructure to include cost-effective redundancies to reduce downtime.
Create and track uptime metrics.
Develop Sustainability Plan
Goals and Objectives
Create an IT Capital Replacement Plan to forecast and fund hardware and software
replacement costs for major application systems.
Develop an Application Portfolio, and understand the life-cycle cost of all departmental and
operational applications.
Plan for the sustainability of applications, in addition to existing hardware capital
replacement funding and adequate ongoing user training.
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Enhance IT Customer Service Capabilities
Goals and Objectives
Create an IT Help Desk, and implement Help Desk Support and Tracking software tools.
Document service levels for incident response and enhancements.
Develop customer service performance metrics and meet those expectations, using Help
Desk tracking and productivity tools.
Develop Mobile Device Management capabilities.
Foster increased user independence and reduced reliance on IT Support through:
Increased user training
Recognizing and proceduralizing standard processes
Identifying opportunities to make the user community more self-sufficient
Improve Staff Productivity
Goals and Objectives
Increase utilization of software application features .
Increase user application training.
Improve application implementation methodologies to better identify efficiencies.
Eliminate thousands of manual labor hours through manual process automation through
software.
Introduce application management best practices.
Improve departmental ownership of applications.
Identify key roles and responsibilities for core business applications.
Train key users so they can fulfill their roles without extensive work -arounds and
unnecessary reconciliations.
Conduct process reviews and document application feature/function requirements to identify
automation and opportunities to streamline processes.
Utilizing Return-on-Investment (ROI) principles, justify additional applications to improve
productivity and service.
When justified, increase mobile computing (tablets and laptops).
Consider using dual monitors for staff productivity gains.
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Maximize Utilization of Application Systems
Goals and Objectives
Utilize software selection best practices for all new application procurements .
Follow implementation project management best practices .
Maintain a complete Application and User License Inventory.
Plan for and fund adequate user training and support.
Implement application management best practices, including:
Fund an application support specialist (business analyst) to support the applications and
the associated application users in the business departments
Create a culture of departmental enterprise application ownership for core applications
Commit all levels, from management down to line staff, to taking responsibility for adapting
and improving processes and integrate them with core application software applications.
Develop an IT Application Services Portfolio so that all stakeholders understand the IT
Department’s roles and responsibilities in servicing specific departmental business
application users.
Adopt Information Technology Best Practices
Goals and Objectives
Formalize an IT Steering Committee and Governance mechanism .
Adopt a Best Practices approach to software selection and management .
Improve application analysis and reporting capabilities within the departments.
Implement IT policies through the Steering Committee .
Create and maintain project inventory.
Utilize project management principles for larger projects .
Become date- and project schedule-driven.
Finalize documentation.
Create standard operating procedures.
Implement technology productivity tools, automate:
Desktop configuration and maintenance.
Network management.
Alert and alarm threshold management.
Help Desk Support productivity and tracking software .
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Implement Disaster Recovery Capabilities
Goals and Objectives
Develop a plan to implement disaster recovery capabilities .
Over several years, develop the capability to recover IT applications in the event of a
major incident in the Coachella Valley.
To enhance the existing Internet connections with automatic failover, procure a second
Internet connection from a different provider.
Expand Citizen Communication and Online Customer Service
Goals and Objectives
Increase online transaction capabilities
Implement online public request management .
Implement online permits.
Implement online permit inspection requests .
Implement online code enforcement complaints.
Implement online business license renewals.
Implement additional social media communications.
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Information Technology (IT)
Principles
Vision / Mission Statement
The City of Palm Desert is dedicated to providing the highest quality technology-based services
in the most cost-effective manner to deliver services effectively and efficiently on a sustained
basis in a manner that reflects the organization's dedication to excellent customer service. The
City will ensure that its information systems are maintained in a secure environment, capable of
supporting technology advancements made by the City , and will exist in an integrated
environment that fosters an open, collaborative, and unifying culture. Information Technology is
committed to the values of:
1. Reliability
2. Professionalism and Integrity
3. Efficiency and Effectiveness
4. Innovation
5. Excellence
6. Collaboration and Teamwork
Given finite IT resources, the City will focus these resources on the most productive and
cost-effective projects.
City departments will agree on a collaborative, long-term IT vision and strategies, which
requires active participation in setting IT priorities through an IT Committee made up of
department leadership.
City will strive to maximize utilization of existing systems and prior investments in application
software, as well as to expand functionality and seek enhancements to existing applications.
City is committed to ensuring sufficient staff training and application software knowledge of
existing vendor systems.
Department ownership is fundamental to achieving maximum return-on-investment of
applications. Departments recognize the importance of assuming responsibility for
managing and implementing their specific core business applications, with the support of IT
staff. City departments are committed to taking responsibility for adapting and improving
processes to best integrate them with the application software.
The City will develop an IT Services Portfolio so that all interested parties and stakeholders
understand the IT Division’s roles and responsibilities in servicing the City overall.
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IT Initiative Summaries
Introduction
IT Master Planning is a process to assess, research, prioritize, budget, and plan future
information technology initiatives. Some of the following initiatives are ready for approval and
implementation, while others require further assessment and research before the City can make
a final determination as to priority, resource requirements, and cost-benefit.
Productivity Improvement – Many of the following initiatives will have
a direct impact on overall productivity within the organization. Some of
these initiatives will significantly impact specific processes, reducing
staff time required to complete a certain process, while others will ease
or speed delivery of services to City residents.
Cost Savings – Many of the initiatives outlined herein will have direct
or indirect cost savings when implemented. Extensive return-on-
investment (ROI) calculations are not within the scope of this report.
An ROI Considerations discussion is included in the Appendix of the report.
IT Initiative Categories
The master planning process resulted in 80 initiatives. Combined, there are hundreds of
findings and recommendations. CLIENTFIRST classified the major findings and recommendations
into eight categories, including:
BEST PRACTICES
GOV 2.0 (E-GOV) IT INFRASTRUCTURE
IT OPERATIONS
IT SECURITY
DEPARTMENTAL APPLICATIONS
AND SYSTEMS
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
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IT Infrastructure
CLIENTFIRST conducted a detailed IT infrastructure assessment, including the network, servers,
equipment, inside/outside cable plant, and other communication s infrastructure.
The IT Initiatives addressed for this category, which are explained in greater depth in the
Appendix, include:
IT Initiative Description
Computer Equipment Replacement Plan Development of computer equipment replacement
procurement plan
IT Computer Room and Teledata Closet
Improvements
Enhance computer room to meet industry standard best
practices
Structured Connectivity System Develop a Structured Cabling System (SCS) Standards
document for improved documentation and
management of voice, data, and video cabling
installations.
Local Area Network (LAN) Upgrade Upgrades of Local Area Network and their benefits
Wireless Network Upgrade of wireless network devices and improved
public-facing wireless
Internet Bandwidth Implementation of redundant Internet to increase carrier
diversity for disaster recovery, speed, and reliability
improvements
Electronic Mail (Exchange) Upgrade current Microsoft Exchange platform
Dual Monitors Improve staff productivity by allowing an additional
workstation monitor for certain users – studies show
significant return on investment resulting from dual
monitor implementations
Council Chambers Audiovisual Systems Improve Council Chambers room audiovisual
maintenance capabilities.
Conference Room Audiovisual Improve conference room audiovisual maintenance
capabilities.
Office Software Upgrades Upgrade to the most current version of Microsoft Office
Technology Support for the EOC Upgrade outdated equipment and technology to support
use of EOC in a large-scale emergency
Server Upgrades and Consolidation Consolidate servers and upgrade to Windows Server
2016
Video Surveillance Assess which locations would benefit from video
surveillance technology and implementing a video
surveillance camera system.
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Gov 2.0 (E -Gov ernment )
Gov 2.0 is a growing body of shared knowledge regarding the utilization of new technologies in
combination with creativity, information sharing, and the collaborative process to better serve
and interact with the public. The princ iples of Gov 2.0 include:
Principle 1 - Serve as the primary source of reliable,
accurate, and timely City information,
delivered to the customer on his/her
platform of choice.
Principle 2 - Maintain a real-time, interactive, and user-
centered website that offers easy access to
public information and online services.
Principle 3 - Offer opportunities for online civic
engagement and social collaboration.
The possible benefits of developing such communication methods go beyond just simple
release of information. The advantages include:
Increased efficiency and cost reduction for public
services offered electronically
Greater government transparency
Better-informed and more involved public
More collaborative efforts between the City and the
public
Faster and more convenient access, promoting public satisfaction and approval
The IT Initiatives addressed within this category, which are explained in greater depth in the
Appendix, include:
IT Initiative Description
Website Content Management and Training Departments to receive training on performing website
content updates in order to perform frequent changes
to their Web pages.
Public Request Management Improvement Improvements to the system used to track various
requests initiated by the public online or over the
phone, including automated internal routing and
status reporting.
Mass Public Outbound Communications Simultaneously notify City residents and staff
regarding information or status updates.
Increased Public Engagement Online
Payments, Transactions, and Services
Increase 24/7 online transaction capabilities for public
convenience.
Kiosks Placement and use of kiosks for self-service at City
facilities, libraries, etc., where appropriate.
Deployment should include, at minimum, any
transactional capability offered on the City website.
Social Media Consolidated Content
Management Tool
Assessment and selection of a social media
consolidated content management tool
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Departmental Appl ications and Systems
The Departmental Applications and Systems category includes initiatives primarily related to
department business applications identified during the needs assessment process. Many of
these initiatives and recommendations can have a significant impact on overall prod uctivity,
enhanced communications, and information sharing, improved constituent service, improved
transparency, and in many cases, cost efficiencies.
The IT Initiatives addressed within this category, which are explained in greater depth in the
Appendix, include:
IT Initiative Description
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Gap
Analysis and Improvement Plan
A process to compare the City's functional needs with
inventory of existing applications, to determine most
cost-effective means to gain increased business
process efficiencies through more effective utilization
of ERP suites/modules. Includes a Gap Analysis and a
plan to close identified gaps.
Project Accounting Assessment and
Implementation
Implementation of Project and Grant Accounting
modules.
Human Resources Information System
Improvement
Conducting a comprehensive process review and
developing feature/function requirements to address
the gaps in existing Human Resources system.
Performance Evaluation Software Automating staff reviews based on individual
performance.
Recruitment and Applicant Tracking and
Processing
Implementing applicant processing modules and
capabilities in order to improve process efficiencies.
Timekeeping/Time Entry Assessment and
Implementation
Implement automated employee time and attendance
processes. Currently, time is entered multiple times
before reaching payroll and time reporting systems.
Land Management Utilization Improving the current Land Management software
system that manages the following:
• Project Planning / Zoning
• Permits
• Inspections
• Code Enforcement
• Business Licensing
• Parcel / Address Management
TOT, STR, Licensing, and Other Recurring
Billing Systems
Implement the ONESolution Regulatory Licensing suite
Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)
Assessment and Selection
Implement a work order and asset management
application.
Mobile (Field-Based) Computing Increasing productivity by adding remote computing
capabilities for staff in various departments.
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IT Initiative Description
Electronic Content Management System
(ECMS) Replacement
Replacing current system with one that provides
advanced document and content management
features that include, but are not limited to, managing
records, managing record retentions, document
capturing, storage and retrieval, workflow automation,
FOIA request management, and providing electronic
forms and application capabilities with routing and
approvals (many of these systems also offer integrated
Agenda and Legislative Management for Council
meeting automation and managing resolutions and
ordinances).
Legislative Management Using legislative management software for managing
and tracking resolutions and ordinances.
Council/Commissions Agenda Creation and
Management Software
Enhancing agenda management solution to improve
access to information for all departments involved in
the agenda process.
Council Meeting Media Management Improvement of live Web-streaming processes and
management of post video/audio content.
Public Records Request Tracking and
Responses
Improve public records request tracking
Microfiche, Microfilm, and Paper Conversion
to Digital
Convert microfiche, microfilm, and paper to a digital
format.
Large-File Sharing Tool Consolidation of applications being used for sh aring of
files that are too large for email.
Intranet Assessment and Implementation Create internal website portal to automate employee
notifications and communications between
departments for common questions and information .
Photo Management and Storage Software Professional-quality software that stores, manages,
and retrieves the extensive photo archives from
various City departments.
Develop GIS Master Plan Develop a Master Plan and business case for GIS
implementation and investment on a citywide basis
User Training and Support Improving ongoing user training to maximize system
utilization and gain productivity and efficiencies.
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Other Application and Departmental Systems Initiatives
IT Initiative Description
PCard Implementation Implementation of PCards to improve the efficiency of
small purchases
Fleet Management Select and implement fleet management software to
track vehicles maintenance costs and schedules
RealQuest License/Seat Count Increase Procure additional RealQuest seat subscriptions
Driverless Car Infrastructure Requirements Continue research into traffic infrastructure
requirements and available funding sources for
driverless cars to operate within the City
Traffic Signal Management Software and
Infrastructure Assessment and Replacement
Traffic signal management software
Irrigation Control System Replace irrigation system that is far past its end-of-life
Virtual Emergency Operations System Emergency Operations Center software
Radio System Assessment and
Improvement
Assessment to determine the complete radio needs of
the City
Riverside County Connect Participation in a County-led Internet
bandwidth/broadband improvement initiative.
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IT Operations
IT operations are the daily support and maintenance of all IT infrastructure and user support.
These include the processes and procedures used by IT staff to maintain the network,
applications, and workstations. Initiatives related to IT operations are often focused on
productivity improvements and implementing IT best practices.
The IT Initiatives addressed for this category, which are explained in greater depth in the
Appendix, include:
IT Initiative Description
Help Desk Ticketing System Implementation of a citywide Help Desk
ticketing system and establishment of IT
response time metrics.
Mobile Device Management Implementation of a Mobile Device
Management software to track, control, and
manage all mobile devices.
Asset Management Automation Automation of asset management for greater
reliability, availability, and resource utilization .
Network Management Tools (Alerts/Alarms) Implementation of network monitoring, alerts,
and alarms provide early warnings for
potential problems and improve IT response
times
IT Support Metrics Development of Help Desk ticket response
times and resolution goals, based on urgency,
and tracking of response metrics.
Desktop Management Expand the use of tools to deploy, install, and
manage basic application packages on
computers
IT Policies and Procedures Revising and creating new IT policies for
passwords, encryption, data usage, new hire
and termination procedures, back-up
procedures, web filtering, social media, etc.
IT Procurement Practices Improving objective best practice procedures
for procuring IT investments to ensure
independent specifications and best
cost/value is obtained for the City
Enterprise Applications Support Specialist Ability for IT Division operations to provide
application/business analyst roles and skill
sets
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IT Security
IT Security refers to all security systems and practices, including Disaster Recovery, used to
protect City systems and data.
IT Initiative Description
Disaster Recovery Planning Developing capabilities to survive a major failure or
catastrophic event involving IT resources and facilities.
Backups Improving maintenance and security for routine back up
procedures.
IT Security Assessment Implementing improvements to network security.
PCI Compliance Review Standards and laws that govern payment processing for
public and City security (mainly enabling secure card
transactions).
Records and Data Retention Adopt policies and procedures for disposal/destruction
of electronic records and data.
Windows Active Directory Implement policies and upgrades for Active Directory
(AD) .
Logging and Audit Trails Improved audit trail and expansion of current logging
capabilities.
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Telecommunications
IT Initiative Description
Telecommunications Network Assessment and
Inventory
Evaluation of present telecommunication services
(voice and data) and equipment to determine
possible cost reduction and improved performance
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Best Practices
A best practice is a recognized method that consistently provides
better results than those achieved with other methods. CLIENTFIRST
believes the following best practices will enhance the City’s ability to
select, procure, and maintain more effective technology solutions in
the future, as well as improve the overall productivity of staff.
The IT Initiatives addressed within this category, explained in greater depth in the Appendix,
include:
IT Initiative Description
Return-on-Investment
Considerations
Overview showing how to understand ROI opportunities in the City
through various technology investments
IT Governance Utilizing an ongoing IT Steering Committee to drive technology
education, policies, and the implementation of the IT Master Plan
over the next five years.
Applications Management Best
Practices
Establishing roles and responsibilities for IT Division, departments,
and users to improve overall utilization of software assets
maintained by the City.
Applications and User Licensing
Inventory
Determining existing software applications and resources in use
by Agency staff
Training Room Need to establish and maintain a training room for testing
applications that are being implemented or for staff to improve
upon existing competencies
Software Selection Best Practices Following best practices needs assessments, evaluation, and
procurement when considering new or replacement software
solutions.
Project Planning and
Implementation Best Practices
Implementing a best-practices approach for project planning,
implementation, and management.
IT Project and Services Portfolio Developing a portfolio of City Applications and IT Division services
and standards, and communications to all management and staff
which can be used to delineate roles and responsibilities between
departments and IT, as well as set proper expectations
Cloud Computing Utilizing IT services or equipment that are not internal but
available through the Internet
Maintaining Software Updates Maintaining software updates for all applications and operating
systems for all users in a timely manner.
Sustainability Planning Providing a more practical or realistic way to determine and plan
for the ongoing operational system needs and expenses of major
technology systems
COBIT (Control Objectives for
Information and Related
Technologies)
Technology framework to ensure alignment of IT with the
environment through the adoption of best practices, metrics, and
oversight
ITIL (Information Technology
Infrastructure Library)
Technology framework intended to assist organizations with IT
service strategy and IT operations
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Key Initiatives and Issues
The following key Initiatives were developed by the City and CLIENTFIRST. These initiatives
should be kept in the forefront of consideration during the implementation of this IT Master Plan
over the next five years.
IT Infrastructure
The majority of the City’s non-finance IT infrastructure has not been refreshed since the late -
2000s. The existing Microsoft server operating system is two generations behind, obsolete, and
will soon no longer be supported. A Microsoft server operating system and Exchange upgrade
project is underway to bring the server operating system up to a supported version. Additional
upgrades will be required to become current.
The data network infrastructure lacks management capabilities and the ability to support
modern, proactive methods of IT management, rather than the current reactive methods.
Redundancy and resiliency are not built into the network or critical systems at this time,
increasing the potential for downtime and reduced application availability.
The main computer room is adequate, although other telecommunications closets lack some
best practice items. Additional fiber within City Hall will provide resiliency and expansion
capabilities.
In summary, there are major challenges requiring significant expenditures to update the City’s IT
infrastructure to current generation. In preparation for moving applications to the cloud, a strong
infrastructure is required in order to support the transport of info rmation between staff,
applications, and the cloud. City IT systems have a significantly high risk of failure that may last
24 to 72 hours, depending on the availability of personnel and equipment.
This report and capital budget outline the initiatives and associated costs required to resolve
these critical issues.
Improving Online Public Engagement and Communications
Social media and municipal websites have become key communications platforms, allowing the
public to quickly access alerts, pay for and request services, and act as a portal for transparent
government. Many organizations are utilizing their website to provide a portal for online
transaction processing, reducing calls and visits from the public. This interactive functionality is
available 24/7, increasing service hours.
The City will continue to improve its online public engagement in several ways, including:
Procurement of a robust social media management platform. Staff in each department
should be trained to use the tool. Procedures for consistent use of the tool and maintain
the excellent City branding that the website displays should be written.
Identifying and prioritizing additional website content needs by department and providing
additional content management tool training for department staff
Improving public request management solutions to receive, track, and manage all types
of requests and complaints that can be auto-assigned and routed to specific staff or
departments, track status, and fulfill overall reporting requirements for more effective
handling
Exploring outbound public communications solutions through website RSS feeds, text
messages and emails
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Increasing online transactions including credit card payments, online plan submittals,
online permitting and inspection scheduling, and online business license renewals
Technology will continue to change at a rapid pace with additional opportunities for civic
engagement and communication. Continual focus on the three Gov 2.0 principles will keep the
City focused on continual improvement.
The principles of Gov 2.0 include:
Principle 1: Serve as the primary source of reliable, accurate, and timely organization
information delivered to the customer on their platform of choice.
Principle 2: Maintain a real-time, interactive, and user-centered website that offers easy
access to public information and online services.
Principle 3: Offer opportunities for online civic engagement and social collaboration.
IT Operations
Due to limited budgets and staff time, the City IT function has few internal tools. IT operations
software applications are necessary to develop Best Practices performance metrics, track
issues, assign resources, and move from a reactive to a proactive approach.
Key recommendations include:
Moving to a service level-based, problem-resolution system, utilizing Help Desk software to
better track problems and service requests.
Automating basic functions within IT to reduce time spent on manual tasks. Key areas of
automation include:
Equipment inventory
Desktop configuration and deployment
Network monitoring
Mobile device management
As systems become more complicated, growth in IT staff costs can be reduced through
operational enhancements within the IT function as recommended in the report.
IT Security
The City has done a good job of securing the technology perimeter against attacks and other
malicious activity. Key initiatives to improve overall security and resiliency include two main
focus areas.
First, enhancements to existing backup mechanisms and the implementation of a disaster
recovery capability will provide additional resiliency in the event of major issues. Currently,
backups are made to tape and rotated offsite every two weeks. Best Practice backup strategies
include disk-to-disk-to-cloud backups or, if tape must be used, weekly offsite rotation. We
believe that moving to disk-to-disk-to cloud will save over 100 hours a year in IT staff time and
reduce costs for disaster recovery planning. Disaster recovery planning now primarily involves
the ability to quickly activate servers in the cloud if the main computer room became
unavailable.
The second key initiative recommends the implementation of additional audit logging, systems
log review, and storage. Audit and system logs are critical for any forensic work that would
result from a security incident. Audit and system log review can also detect potential problems
before they become serious outages.
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Departmental Applications Utilization Improvements
The City utilizes over 100 different software applications or modules throughout all departments.
These software applications represent millions of dollars in investment and are a significant City
asset. In addition to some new or replacement applications, process reviews and additional
user training are needed for some existing applications.
Process review and improvement is a continual process. This is not an effort that is applied
once and then forgotten, settling on status quo. As individuals strive for continual improvement,
an organization stays healthy in the same way, by continuing to review and improve processes
and incorporate those improvements into the configuration and setup of the supporting
application systems. The benefits of process reviews include:
Identifying enhancement and streamlining opportunities
Automating manual processes
Maximizing human resources involved in the processes
Embedding or transferring the knowledge of your subject-matter experts (SMEs) into the
processes and associated workflows
Although process review and improvement should be continual, it is most common for process
improvement projects to occur:
In preparation for—and during the implementation of—new or replacement application
systems
When new technology becomes available that provides opportunities for additional
automation
On a pre-established process review and improvement cycle (important to ensure a
continued regularly scheduled focus on improvement)
However, the City does not have sufficient existing resources to document practices and
procedures in order to determine improvement needs for application systems, prioritizing,
evaluating solutions, and identifying sufficient implementation, and ongoing management and
support resources for these solutions. The IT Department also does not have sufficient
resources to ensure quality application utilization, increase department process improvements,
and gain significant efficiencies in labor throughout the organization.
In order for the City achieve significant improvement in staff productivity and efficiency, public
services and transparency, the City will need to improve overall utilization of its
software/application assets.
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Benefits of Modern ERP Software
An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System automates and integrates many core, citywide
functions into a single solution, while automating manual processes and providing a central
location of information and reporting. An enterprise system allows collaboration and shar ing of
information between divisions, departments, and the public to provide a transparent and efficient
government operation. As the City implements new and improves utilization of existing
departmental application systems, the benefits are numerous and include:
Built-in integrations between Land, Work, Financial, and People Management application
suites
Newer technology platform (processing, capacity advantages)
Real-time notifications/queues
Task tracking
Real-time access to information
Elimination of duplicate data entry
Improved data integrity
Centralized location and customer account maintenance
Reliable information
Workflow capabilities
Centralized cash receipt capabilities
Efficient revenue collection
Reduced operating costs
Improved internal communication
Foundation for future improvement
Potential reduction in annual maintenance and support fees
Improved online information for citizens to access
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Financial and People Management
The financial management suite is a suite of an enterprise system that encompasses the
financial tasks and processes performed to ensure all organization -wide activity is properly
accounted for and accurately reported to local, state, and federal agencies. Benefits of a
financial management suite include:
Quick generation of financial reports
More efficient budgeting processes
Real-time access to available budget and funding
Better spending controls for departments and projects
Management of grants and funding sources
Real-time inquiries into capital improvement project progress
The people management suite manages the organization’s workforce and provides automation
to the human resources, payroll, timekeeping, and applicant tracking functions. Employee self-
service is also available to allow employees the
flexibility in retrieving their information at their
convenience. Benefits of a People
Management suite include:
Paperless personnel forms
One-time data entry
Tracking or misplacement of employee
paper files
Incorporation of Employee Self-Service
(ESS)
Integration between timekeeping, payroll,
HR and financial management
Quick and reliable reporting to federal and
state agencies
Improved employee satisfaction
Automated time entry approvals and payroll
calculations
Minimal steps between processing payroll
and issuing direct deposits and checks
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Employee Self-Service
Employee self-service (ESS) empowers employees to provide, change, and retrieve their
personal information through an online employee portal, thereby reducing the manual
interaction required with the Human Resources
Department. Employee self-service offers an
online option for employees to access and
manage information for themselves:
Address changes
Tax allowances changes
Open enrollment benefits
Dependent changes
Leave/vacation accrual balances
Electronic paystub copies
Year-end W -2s
Populating and retrieving time sheets
Time requests
Tax forms
Many other forms and applications
Reporting
The number one problem that is commonly seen when utilizing disjointed applications is the
extensive time users dedicate to the consolidation of information for reporting purposes.
Enterprise systems allow information to be quickly retrieved from a single source with numerous
readily available reports. Users are also able to create their own reports without requiring them
to be technical experts. This allows staff to spend more time studying analytics rather than
manually assembling reports. Benefits of improved
reporting include:
Aggregated data across divisions, departme nts,
and organization
Improved data accuracy and reduced human error
Intuitive report creation capabilities
Board-ready reports
Sharing of created reports
Elimination of labor-intensive report creation
Individual User Dashboards
Dashboards form part of a user’s home page and display reports, key indicators, and other
metrics regarding day-to-day operations, activities, and historical trends. Benefits of
dashboards include:
Quick links for immediate access to required tasks and approvals
Easy modification of dashboards for each user’s preference
Automated generation of dashboard information
Transformation of data into visual information
Easy-to-understand graphics
Real-time analysis
Drill-down access to activity detail
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Mobile Computing
Mobile computing provides the flexibility to operate a more mobile and productive workforce. An
enterprise system can allow staff to utilize applications while in the field in order to perform their
job functions while away from their office. Common benefits of
mobile computing include:
Completion of work while in the field
Real-time access to information
Inspection results in the field
Receipt of notifications and job assignments
Reduced travel to and from office locations
Map routing based on location of activities
Retrieval of mapping information
Management of code enforcement cases in field
Online Citizen Access
Online citizen access enables a more transparent government by providing the public with 24/7
access to real-time information for inquiries and payment processing. This empowers residents
to retrieve online information that is pertinent to each individual, and for them to take further
actions, which improves customer relations by
eliminating the need to be physically present at City
Hall. The following are examples of online citizen
access transactions:
Online permit applications
Submit and access plan review comments
Online payments
Submit complaints
Submit citizen requests
Submit inspection requests
Access to inspections results
GIS maps (zoning, voting districts, etc.)
Public Request Management
A public request management system is used to track, manage, and resolve citizen concerns
and requests in a timely manner by automatically routing requests to the appropriate
department. It also provides the citizen with the flexibility to submit and track their complaints
through the Web or a mobile phone application.
Common benefits of a citizen request management
system include:
Ability for citizens to submit requests 24/7
through a phone application or the website
Automatic assignment and routing of requests,
by type, to appropriate department(s) or staff
Ability for citizens to view current request status
Conversion of requests to work orders
Ability to include photos and geolocation of a
request
More effective and efficient processes
Improved transparency and citizen relationships
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Land Management
The Land Management system is one of the suites that are offered by enterprise application
systems and manages the creation, issuance, and tracking of community development activities
related to planning and zoning, permitting, building inspections, licensing, and code
enforcement. Benefits associated with the utilization of the application inc lude:
More automated permit processing from application through permit issuance
Automatic routing for permits requiring reviews and approvals
Single electronic file for all permit applications and
documents
More automated tracking of reviews, inspections,
and fees by permit and development projects
Tracking of timelines, tasks, and required group
reviews
Viewing all project and permit information at a
glance
Readily accessible planning and zoning records
Automatic generation of case documentation
Centralized current and historical parcel information
GIS Integration
Enterprise systems offer real-time integration to geographic information systems (GIS) in order
to display land-use, zoning, and infrastructure layers on a map, as well as parcel, permit,
inspection, code enforcement, and work order activity that resides within the enterprise system.
Benefits of GIS integration include:
Viewing system activity on a map (e.g.,
active projects, permits, cases, etc.)
Map routing of work orders, service
request, and daily inspections
Displaying locations of infrastructure assets
Generating asset condition analysis
Ability to overlay multiple map layers
Integration to website for resident inquiries
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Maintenance/Work Order Management
Another suite of an enterprise system is the maintenance/work order management system ,
which provides automation in managing the maintenance and day-to-day operations related to
infrastructure assets, buildings, facilities, and fleet vehicles, while being able to capture and
report on the labor, equipment usage, and materials costs associated with a work order and
preventative maintenance. System benefits include:
Electronic routing of citizen requests
Centralized task and maintenance management
Completion of work orders from the field
Streamlined public works operations
Retrieval of historical work order information and
costs
Quicker work order completion times
Improved decision making through access to
real-time information
Viewing of asset and activity trends visually
through GIS mapping capabilities
Better replacement planning and forecasting
Enhancement of staff productivity
Improved compliance with regulatory standards
Improved safety and risk management
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Conclusion
Moving Forward
Moving forward, over the next 18 to 24
months, the focus of IT should be on
infrastructure upgrades, as well as IT Staff
training to meet the needs of 21st-Century
technology. Software application
improvements also need utilization
improvements. The IT Department must
work to position itself in the following
ways:
IT Infrastructure – Follow best practices
in performing network redesign and
upgrade projects.
IT Staffing – The IT function does not have the staff and training to update and maintain the
existing City infrastructure, including the City’s network. Higher level infrastructure design and
implementation projects will continue to utilize third-party subject matter experts (SMEs). City IT
provides an exceptional level of service to the user community. However, implementation of a
Help Desk system and the development of Best Practices service levels will improve IT staff
productivity. City IT management is focused on the maintenance and support of the existing
core software applications and does not have sufficient time to manage the department. The
addition of an Applications Support Specialist will allow the IT leadership to focus on
implementation of the Plan and IT management. The addition of this Applications Support
Specialist will provide long-term benefits and increase application utilization and organizational
productivity.
Application Utilization – City departments want to improve their core business processes and
fully utilize their applications. The City should work to encourage a sense of application
ownership and continuous improvement by the departments. Improved application utilization is
one of the most effective ways to increase staff productivity and customer service.
ERP Improvement Plan – The ERP implementation was underfunded, which created a less -
than-optimal result. Gaps in application utilization cause inefficiencies in operations and limited
user training has similar effects. Performing a Gap Analysis will identify and assist in prioritizing
potential improvements and efficiency gains. Additionally, because the City has not conducted a
project of this type and complexity, with these specific business analysis, documentation, and
negotiation requirements, the City should obtain assistance from a municipal ERP Applications
Subject-Matter Expert (SME).
Governance – The formation of the internal IT Steering Committee will foster cooperation and
collaboration in setting priorities and executing multi-department initiatives. Over the long term,
the IT Steering Committee will oversee and maintain the execution and occasional m odification
of this plan.
We expect the projects outlined in this report to result in improved productivity and customer
service, as well as improved sustainability.
Third-party subject-matter experts (SMEs) will be helpful for projects that are (1) high priorities,
(2) beyond the scope of City skill sets, and/or (3) lacking internal resource availability.
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Additionally, we recommend that action plans be developed by the departments and IT for all
active, short-term initiatives. The action plans should include all identified needs, recommended
solutions, responsible individuals, and target due dates. These action plans can ensure that all
needs are being addressed and/or that a decision has been made not to pursue an initiative.
These action plans will also prove beneficial to annual resource and budget planning
requirements.
The City should review and update the plan annually, using an abbreviated version of the
master planning methodology. In this way, the plan will be a vehicle to continuously guide the
information technology activities of the City. The annual IT Master Plan update should be
synchronized with the City’s annual budget process, so the City’s IT Plan initiative costs can be
properly represented in the City’s annual budget.
Benefits
The completed plan should not be viewed as static, but rather as a dynamic tool that is revised
and updated as business conditions and requirements change. If the planning function is not an
ongoing process, certain objectives and benefits will not be realized, because the objectives
themselves may change as the organization and its environment evolves.
Major benefits that are (or should be) realized through the implementation of this IT Master Plan
include:
Increased collaboration and communication betwe en the departments and IT
Transformation of the organization’s overall understanding, knowledge, and stewardship of
information technology
Clear direction for IT operations and IT projects for the next five years, focused on meeting
the organization’s needs
Citywide department consensus and understanding of all IT Initiatives and their priorities
Foundational process and methodology for evaluation of project investments and analyzing
business case justification
Immediate Next Steps
It is recommended that the IT Steering Committee begin work by reviewing the plan and
priorities, including the ranking and sequencing of the Key Initiatives and Issues. Next, assign
lead and participatory resources to these Key Initiatives and Issues and also to all other high-
priority IT initiatives. This should include the finalization of target due dates for immediate next
steps of those initiatives. Initiative leaders should then report status updates for active initiatives
to the IT Steering Committee as part of each agenda.
Major issues for each initiative should be discussed among the IT Steering Committee and/or
sub-committees for general feedback, collaboration, and lessons learned, as many of the
IT/application initiatives cross-departmental boundaries.
In order to improve the culture of application utilization, management, and support, it is also
recommended that a series of training seminars be developed for all key department
stakeholders and all enterprise business application users throughout the organization. Th is is
an effective way to maintain momentum and kick off the tremendous change that is to occur in
improving operations and constituent services.
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IT Master Plan Capital Budget
The IT Master Plan Capital Budget on the following pages is not an entirely new set of spending
requirements. The plan encapsulates all information technology issues and needs of all
departments in the City. Some initiative projects are normally funded by departments
themselves, while some already have capital reserves set aside and others are part of normal
annual IT budgeting.
IT Master Plan
Project / Initiative Budget Estimates
City of Palm Desert, CA
Low High
IT Infrastructure
1 Computer Equipment Replacement Plan Move to a 5-year replacement plan. Include network equipment and servers.H 224,000$ 224,000$ 25,000$ 29,800$ 29,800$ 29,800$ 79,800$ 29,800$
2 IT Computer Room and Teledata Closet Improvements M $ 10,000 $ 12,500 12,500$
3 Structured Connectivity System Additional fiber at City Hall M 2,500$ 3,500$ 3,500$
4 Local Area Network (LAN) Upgrade Must do after additional fiber H $ 95,000 $ 119,250 10,000$ 109,250$
5 Wireless Network Do Corp Yard open areas in FY18/19 H $ 40,000 $ 51,540 10,000$ 36,540$ 15,000$
6 Internet Bandwidth Second Internet connection at Corp Yard H $ 75,000 $ 86,500 32,500$ 18,000$ 18,000$ 18,000$
7 Electronic Mail (Exchange)Upgrade underway, need Email Archiver H $ 20,000 $ 26,500 12,500$ 3,500$ 3,500$ 3,500$ 3,500$
8 Dual Monitors Number 1 productivity enhancement H $ 35,000 $ 50,000 10,000$ 10,000$ 10,000$ 10,000$ 10,000$
9 Council Chambers Audiovisual Systems Assess and fix occasional "glitches"H $ 35,000 $ 60,000 10,000$ 50,000$
10 Conference Room Audiovisual Will reduce need for IT setup and improve work group productivity H $ 65,000 $ 79,000 9,000$ 18,000$ 25,000$ 9,000$ 9,000$ 9,000$
11 Office Software Upgrades Move all staff to the same version of Office H $ 120,000 $ 122,100 122,100$
12 Technology Support for the EOC See initiative for detailed list of improvements H $ 50,000 $ 100,000 50,000$ 25,000$ 25,000$
13 Server Upgrades and Consolidation Continue Virtualization H $ 15,000 $ 20,000 10,000$ 10,000$
14 Video Surveillance Includes Desert Willow H $ 250,000 $ 288,000 25,000$ 188,000$ 25,000$ 25,000$ 25,000$
Gov 2.0 (e-Government)
15 Website Content Management and Training H $ - $ 15,000 15,000$
16 Public Request Management Improvement Assess with ERP, EAM and/or LM H $ 5,000 $ 25,000 25,000$
17 Mass Public Outbound Communications Typically annual subscription-based L $ 5,000 $ 12,500 12,500$
18 Increased Public Engagement Online Payments, Transactions,
and Services Further analysis needed. Some are included with new ERP.H TBD TBD Primarily inluded with ERP above
19 Kiosks L TBD TBD TBD
20 Social Media Consolidated Content Management Tool L TBD TBD TBD
Departmental Applications and Systems
21 ERP Gap Analysis and Improvement Plan
Finance, accounting, payroll, human resources and other related applications
(Sungard ONESolution). Process reviews, feature/function documentation, and
request for information to existing vendor to identify future system options.
Vendor-response evaluation and findings and recommendations.
H+ $ 750,000 $ 850,000 50,000$ 250,000$ 250,000$ 250,000$ 25,000$ 25,000$
22 Project Accounting Assessment and Implementation Sungard ONESolution H
23 Human Resources Information System Improvement Sungard ONESolution M
24 Performance Evaluation Software Conduct ERP Assessment before considering M Included with ERP Budget Included with ERP Budget
25 Recruitment and Applicant Tracking and Processing Conduct ERP Assessment before considering L
26 Timekeeping/Time Entry Assessment and Implementation H+ $ 35,000 $ 50,000 50,000$
27 Land Management Utilization (TrakiT)Planning, Permitting, Inspections, Code Enforcement and Licensing M $ 35,000 $ 75,000 25,000$ 25,000$ 25,000$
28 TOT, STR, Licensing, and Other Recurring Billing Systems Explore ERP potential H $ 10,000 $ 25,000 25,000$
29 Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Assessment and Selection Work Orders/Maintenance & Asset Management for Public Works - Selection &
Implementation H $ 350,000 $ 550,000 50,000$ 250,000$ 250,000$
30 Mobile (Field-Based) Computing New users only. Already included in replacement plan for existing users.H/M/L $ 45,000 $ 45,000 15,000$ 15,000$ 15,000$
Budget Range Funding
Source(s)Initiative #IT Initiative Comments
PriorityFY2021-22FY2018-19 FY2020-21FY2019-20FY2016-17 FY2017-18
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IT Master Plan
Project / Initiative Budget Estimates
City of Palm Desert, CA
Low High
Budget Range Funding
Source(s)Initiative #IT Initiative Comments
PriorityFY2021-22FY2018-19 FY2020-21FY2019-20FY2016-17 FY2017-18
31 Electronic Content Management System (ECMS) Replacement
Replacement and then continual automation improvements. Needs assessment
of future EDMS and related components, including Legislative and Agenda
Management. Vendor-response evaluation and findings and recommendations.
H+ $ 300,000 $ 500,000 25,000$ 100,000$ 150,000$ 75,000$ 75,000$ 75,000$
32 Legislative Management (Council Role Call, Voting, Resolution
Actions)Include in ECMS Assessment H
33 Council/Commissions Agenda Creation and Management
Software Include in ECMS Assessment H Potentially include with
ECMS Potentially include with ECMS
34 Council Meeting Media Management Include in ECMS Assessment M
35 Public Records Request Tracking and Responses L $ 5,000 $ 20,000 20,000$
36 Microfiche, Microfilm, and Paper Conversion to Digital H TBD TBD
37 Large-File Sharing Tool H TBD TBD
38 Intranet Assessment and Implementation M $ 15,000 $ 40,000 15,000$ 25,000$
39 Photo Management and Storage Software M $ 20,000 $ 60,000 60,000$
40 Develop GIS Master Plan Assessment, user and management education, planning and budgeting.H $ 40,000 $ 50,000 50,000$
41 User Training and Support Annual Recurring H 25,000$ 50,000$ 25,000$ 25,000$ 25,000$ 50,000$ 50,000$
42 PCard Implementation H TBD TBD
43 Fleet Management Assess with EAM & ERP H $ 20,000 $ 40,000 40,000$
44 Real Quest License/Seat Count Increase Additional user licenses only H $ 600 $ 600 600$ 600$ 600$ 600$ 600$ 600$
45 Driverless Car Infrastructure Requirements Expected to be grant funded L n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
46 Traffic Signal Management Software and Infrastructure
Assessment and Replacement H TBD TBD
47 Irrigation Control System (Centralized)Centralized, networked solution H Budgeted under Landscaope Improvements
48 Virtual Emergency Operations System EOC software L $ 20,000 $ 40,000 40,000$
49 Radio System Assessment and Improvement Improve frequency quality for some departments H $ 5,000 $ 5,000 5,000$
50 Riverside County Connect Participation in a County-led Internet bandwidth/broadband improvement
initiative. TBD TBD TBD, if necessary
IT Operations
51 Help Desk Ticketing System Best Practice for tracking requests H $ 5,000 $ 15,000 15,000$
52 Mobile Device Management Control City owned cell phones and tablets M $ 5,000 $ 15,000 15,000$
53 Asset Management Automation Automate inventory of IT equipment M $ 2,500 $ 5,000 5,000$
54 Network Management Tools (Alerts/Alarms)H $ 20,000 $ 27,000 27,000$
55 IT Support Metrics Tracking Success of Help Desk M $ - $ 7,000 7,000$
56 Desktop Management Automating new workstation deployment H $ 20,000 $ 24,750 24,750$
57 IT Policies and Procedures Best Practice H $ - $ 7,800 7,800$
58 IT Procurement Practices Best Practice, no cost M n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
59 Enterprise Applications Support Specialist H TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD
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IT Master Plan
Project / Initiative Budget Estimates
City of Palm Desert, CA
Low High
Budget Range Funding
Source(s)Initiative #IT Initiative Comments
PriorityFY2021-22FY2018-19 FY2020-21FY2019-20FY2016-17 FY2017-18
IT Security
60 Disaster Recovery Planning Develop a plan in case the computer room becomes unavaiilable H $ 7,500 $ 15,000 15,000$
61 Backups Cloud-based backups H $ 100,000 $ 122,500 79,000$ 7,500$ 10,500$ 10,500$ 15,000$
62 IT Security Assessment Best Practice M $ 15,000 $ 25,000 25,000$
63 PCI Compliance Review Necessary for credit card payments H $ 7,500 $ 10,000 10,000$
64 Records and Data Retention Best Practice H $ 10,000 $ 15,000 15,000$
65 Windows Active Directory Upgrade to current version H $ 7,500 $ 12,000 12,000$
66 Logging and Audit Trails Best Practice for Security M $ 35,000 $ 43,000 43,000$
Telecommunications
67 Telecommunications Network Assessment and Inventory System implemented 8 years ago M $ 15,000 $ 20,000 20,000$
Best Practices
68 Return-on-Investment Considerations Providing tools and staff training, including working on several project examples H $ - $ 5,000
69 IT Governance
Assist in establishing a Steering Committee with roles and responsibilities.
Educational Seminar for Steering Committee Members and providing tools and
next steps. Possibly facilitating first several months of Steering Committee
meetings. Assistance in administering the plan and potential assistance with a
year 3 refresh.
H $ 5,000 $ 75,000 25,000$ 25,000$ 25,000$
70 Applications Management Best Practices Providing tools and staff training. Establishing roles and responsibilities for
enterprise applications.H $ 2,500 $ 5,000 5,000$
71 Applications and User Licensing Inventory Providing tools and staff training H -$ 2,500$
72 Training Room If EOC is not available for reconfiguration.H TBD TBD
73 Software Selection Best Practices H n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
74 Project Planning and Implementation Best Practices Assistance in project and resource planning.H -$ 10,000$
75 IT Project and Services Portfolio Developing and documenting IT Dept. roles and responsibilities for all systems
and create service-level agreements for user-support, per ITIL Best Practice H $ - $ 15,000
76 Cloud Computing M n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
77 Maintaining Software Updates H n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
78 Sustainability Planning Providing tools and staff training M -$ 2,500$
79 COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related
Technologies) n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
80 ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
$ 203,100 $ 1,179,840 $ 1,180,900 $ 934,400 $ 431,400 $ 348,400
*Other Funding Sources (Funded, Planned, and/or Estimated)
$ - $ - $ - $ - $ - $ -
NET Additional $ 203,100 $ 1,179,840 $ 1,180,900 $ 934,400 $ 431,400 $ 348,400
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Appendix – IT Master Plan Initiatives
The following section contains the IT Master Plan Initiatives Workshop documentation in its
entirety.
Optimal Technology Guidance
Information Technology Master Plan
Appendix: IT Initiatives
February 15, 2017
Client Locations
Coast-to-Coast
Practice Locations
California
Illinois
Minnesota
North Carolina
800.806.3080
www.clientfirstcg.com
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City of Palm Desert, CA
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Table of Contents
IT INFRASTRUCTURE .................................................................... 5
1. Computer Equipment Replacement Plan ............................................................... 6
2. IT Computer Room and Teledata Closet Improvements ........................................ 8
3. Structured Connectivity System ............................................................................. 9
4. Local Area Network (LAN) Upgrade ..................................................................... 10
5. Wireless Network ................................................................................................. 11
6. Internet Bandwidth ............................................................................................... 12
7. Electronic Mail (Exchange) .................................................................................. 12
8. Dual Monitors ....................................................................................................... 13
9. Council Chambers Audiovisual Systems .............................................................. 14
10. Conference Room Audiovisual ............................................................................. 15
11. Office Software Upgrades .................................................................................... 15
12. Technology Support for the EOC ......................................................................... 16
13. Server Upgrades and Consolidation .................................................................... 16
14. Video Surveillance ............................................................................................... 17
GOV 2.0 .................................................................................... 18
15. Website Content Management and Training ........................................................ 20
16. Public Request Management Improvement.......................................................... 21
17. Mass Public Outbound Communications .............................................................. 22
18. Increased Public Engagement Online Payments, Transactions, and Services ..... 23
19. Kiosks .................................................................................................................. 24
20. Social Media Consolidated Content Management Tool ........................................ 25
DEPARTMENTAL APPLICATIONS AND SYSTEMS ............................ 26
21. ERP Gap Analysis and Improvement Plan ........................................................... 27
22. Project Accounting Assessment and Implementation ........................................... 39
23. Human Resources Information System Improvement .......................................... 41
24. Performance Evaluation Software ........................................................................ 43
25. Recruitment and Applicant Tracking and Processing ........................................... 44
26. Timekeeping/Time Entry Assessment and Implementation .................................. 45
27. Land Management Utilization ............................................................................... 47
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28. TOT, STR, Licensing, and Other Recurring Billing Systems ................................. 50
29. Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Assessment and Selection ....................... 51
30. Mobile (Field-Based) Computing .......................................................................... 52
31. Electronic Content Management System (ECMS) Replacement .......................... 54
32. Legislative Management (Council Role Call, Voting, Resolution Actions) ............. 57
33. Council/Commissions Agenda Creation and Management Software .................... 57
34. Council Meeting Media Management ................................................................... 59
35. Public Records Request Tracking and Responses ............................................... 60
36. Microfiche, Microfilm, and Paper Conversion to Digital ........................................ 61
37. Large-File Sharing Tool........................................................................................ 61
38. Intranet Assessment and Implementation ............................................................ 62
39. Photo Management and Storage Software .......................................................... 64
40. Develop GIS Master Plan ..................................................................................... 65
41. User Training and Support ................................................................................... 67
42. PCard Implementation ......................................................................................... 70
43. Fleet Management ............................................................................................... 70
44. RealQuest License/Seat Count Increase ............................................................. 70
45. Driverless Car Infrastructure Requirements ......................................................... 70
46. Traffic Signal Management Software and Infrastructure Assessment and
Replacement ........................................................................................................ 70
47. Irrigation Control System ...................................................................................... 70
48. Virtual Emergency Operations System ................................................................. 71
49. Radio System Assessment and Improvement ...................................................... 71
50. Riverside County Connect ................................................................................... 71
IT OPERATIONS ......................................................................... 72
51. Help Desk Ticketing System ................................................................................ 73
52. Mobile Device Management ................................................................................. 74
53. Asset Management Automation ........................................................................... 75
54. Network Management Tools (Alerts/Alarms) ........................................................ 76
55. IT Support Metrics ................................................................................................ 77
56. Desktop Management .......................................................................................... 77
57. IT Policies and Procedures .................................................................................. 78
58. IT Procurement Practices ..................................................................................... 79
59. Enterprise Applications Support Specialist ........................................................... 80
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IT SECURITY .............................................................................. 84
60. Disaster Recovery Planning ................................................................................. 85
61. Backups ............................................................................................................... 86
62. IT Security Assessment ....................................................................................... 86
63. PCI Compliance Review ...................................................................................... 87
64. Records and Data Retention ................................................................................ 87
65. Windows Active Directory .................................................................................... 88
66. Logging and Audit Trails ...................................................................................... 89
TELECOMMUNICATIONS .............................................................. 90
67. Telecommunications Network Assessment and Inventory .................................... 91
BEST PRACTICES ....................................................................... 93
68. Return-on-Investment Considerations .................................................................. 94
69. IT Governance ..................................................................................................... 96
70. Applications Management Best Practices ............................................................ 98
71. Applications and User Licensing Inventory ......................................................... 102
72. Training Room ................................................................................................... 103
73. Software Selection Best Practices ..................................................................... 104
74. Project Planning and Implementation Best Practices ......................................... 110
75. IT Project and Services Portfolio ........................................................................ 111
76. Cloud Computing ............................................................................................... 112
77. Maintaining Software Updates ........................................................................... 113
78. Sustainability Planning ....................................................................................... 114
79. COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies) .............. 115
80. ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Librar y) ........................................... 116
IT Infrastructure Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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IT Infrastructure
IT Infrastructure refers to networks, servers,
equipment, inside/outside cable plant, and other
communications infrastructure.
1. Computer Equipment Replacement Plan
2. IT Computer Room and Teledata Closet Improvements
3. Structured Connectivity System
4. Local Area Network (LAN) Upgrade
5. Wireless Network
6. Internet Bandwidth
7. Electronic Mail (Exchange)
8. Dual Monitors
9. Council Chambers Audiovisual Systems
10. Conference Room Audiovisual
11. Office Software Upgrades
12. Technology Support for the EOC
13. Server Upgrades and Consolidation
14. Video Surveillance
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1. Computer Equipment Replacement Plan
Findings and Observations
The City currently uses a six-year PC replacement schedule.
Equipment replacement funds are requested as a part of the annual operating budget
cycle.
User devices are covered by the PC replacement schedule . Servers, network devices
and other equipment is not covered.
The City has many older servers, switches, and other computer equipment that is past its
expected end-of-life.
IT does not maintain a complete inventory of computer equipment, including when
purchased and expected end-of-life.
The City has been “catching up” on the replacement of older PCs .
Recommendations
Develop a five-year, rolling computer equipment
replacement plan, and budget accordingly.
Allow customized length of time for replacement
of any technology that may have a unique end-
of-life.
Purchase discounted extended warranties at the
time of purchase that will cover the equipment
throughout its useful life (e.g., five years for
computers and servers, etc.)
As a result of the project preliminary
recommendations, the City has initiated a
network upgrade project to eliminate end-of-life
equipment.
The City should provide capital replacement
information for use at the start of each budget
cycle.
Return-on-Investment (ROI) Considerations
A study conducted by Express Metrix for
quantifying ROI, as it relates to IT and software
asset management, describes the following ROI
benefits of Replacement Planning within an
organization 1:
Reducing cost of ownership related to IT assets by determining licenses for which an
organization is overspending and reducing Help Desk costs
Managing technology change by developing software procurement models that map
current and future needs with technology migration and upgrade planning
Minimizing security risks by preventing unauthorized use, enforcing desktop standards,
and identifying PCs with unlicensed applications
1 Express Matrix.
IT Equipment
Recommended
Replacement
Cycle (Years)
Network Switches 7
Phone System Upgrade 5
Phone System
Replacement 10
Audiovisual Equipment 5
Servers 5
Disk Storage 5
PCs 5
Laptops 4
Mobile Devices 2
Wireless Devices:
Point-to-Point 5
Wireless LAN 4
Windows Software +/- 5
MS Office +/- 5
Printers, Scanners 5
Plotters 5
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In a study conducted by the Aberdeen Group, the following were the cost savings that occurred
after incorporating a Sustainability Plan2:
System automations reduced paper costs by up to 11%.
Efficiencies reduced facility costs by up to 10%.
Waste and disposal costs were reduced by up 8%.
Transportation and logistics costs were reduced by up to 5%.
Benefits
Better forecasting of purchases
Managed process that flattens capital expenditures ov er time
Improved computer performance
Improved available features
Reduction in trouble tickets to support failing or faulty hardware
Ability to keep spare equipment around to be reissued – eliminate employee downtime
Increased employee performance by eliminating the use of old, slow, and post-lifecycle
technology
Reduction in total cost of ownership
2 Aberdeen Group, 2009.
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2. IT Computer Room and Teledata Closet Improvements
Findings and Observations
Staff have done an excellent job enhancing the main computer room to meet best practices.
Teledata closets are secured by keys.
Some teledata closets do not have working environmental or UPS monitors.
Grounding is not available.
Limited documentation of inter-closet fiber-optic connections is available.
Cable management has not been completely implemented in teledata closets.
Recommendations
Consider proximity card-key access controls for
teledata closets to provide required audit trails.
Inventory and implement environmental and UPS
monitors in all teledata closets.
When remodeling or adding electrical panels, include
grounding as a part of those projects.
Document all fiber-optic interconnections and place
laminated copies in each teledata closet.
Increase the use of best practices cable management
techniques.
Add environmental monitors for temperature and
humidity alarm capabilities.
Add building ground and ground bar to the computer
room.
For fire suppression, consider:
Two-stage sprinklers that remove water from the room and provide additional time to
avert accidental sprinkler activation
Installation for an FM 200 or similar clean, fire suppression system
Benefits
Improved productivity for IT staff as a result of more space and better organization
Increased environmental monitoring of temperature conditions
Reduced application and network crashes
Improved service assurance (uptime and reduced risk)
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3. Structured Connectivity System
A structured connectivity system is a complete set of cabling and
connectivity products that integrate voice, data, video, and other
technology systems into a comprehensive infrastructure.
Findings and Observations
Fiber-optic communications system patch panels are not labeled
in a reliable manner, or in some cases, are not labeled at all.
The copper, horizontal cabling system is primarily comprised of Category 5e (1 GB) cable.
Category 5e cable is inadequate for the newest generation of wireless access points.
The fiber-optic backbone system varies throughout the buildings and, in some cases, h as
bandwidth limitations of 1 GB.
Current generation backbone systems are 10 GB.
Equipment racks and cabinets are not grounded.
As-built record documentation related to the horizontal and backbone communications
system does not exist.
Recommendations
The City should develop and implement a Structured Cabling System (SCS) Standards
Document. This document will be used to support the ongoing needs of the City as it relates
to maintaining the existing SCS, and can also be provided to architects and/or contractors
as part of the construction specification for future projects. The SCS Standards Document
should have the following as its goals:
Implement a non-proprietary cable infrastructure system supporting multi-vendor
equipment and services.
Provide reduced cost for future cable installation, support, and mana gement.
Maintain consistency providing reduced training requirements for employees .
Improved troubleshooting and support for ongoing management/maintenance .
System based on recognized industry standards (ANSI, TIA/EIA, IEEE and BICSI).
Develop and implement a unified labeling system that incorporates the fiber-optic cable.
Provide a suitable patch cord management system at equipment racks and/or cabinets.
Plan to upgrade wireless access-point cabling.
Industry best practice specifies three (3) Category 6A c ables to each access point.
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4. Local Area Network (LAN) Upgrade
A local area network (LAN) is a group of interconnected computers that span a building using
Ethernet cables or Wi-Fi as a means of communication. A LAN allows only authorized users
access to the network and use resources and applications assigned to them. LANs are very
common due to their small size, low maintenance, fast speeds, and basic complexity.
Findings and Observations
The City LAN consists of HP switches installed
in early 2009.
Most switches are end-of-life and end-of-
service.
Virtual LANs (VLANs) are in place and conform
to best practices of 2009.
Additional VLANs are necessary due to
enhanced security requirements and traffic
segmentation needs.
The City does not have centralized management software to configure switching and routing
equipment.
There is not a patching schedule or deployment templates for new or existing switches; the
City would like to establish a bimonthly deployment schedule for all switches, firewalls , and
routers.
No network monitoring system in place to monitor traffic and health of network hardware .
Recommendations
Replace switches that are end-of-life.
Review the existing VLAN design and enhance it based on current Best Practices .
Utilize a subject-matter expert (SME) for a minimum of design and peer review to validate
best practices installation.
Plan future switch upgrades as a part of the capital replacement cycle.
Implement a network management platform to support device configuration and network
alerts and alarms.
Benefits
Improved network performance and reliability
Increased security on network and resources
Reduction in costs associated with replacements and failures
Ability to establish an internal SLA (99.9% would be standard for local government)
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5. W ireless Network
Findings and Observations
The City has limited wireless capabilities for staff and guest computing.
Existing wireless-access points are at least two generations behind.
Cloud-based control of wireless is becoming the new standard.
A cloud-based wireless controller would eliminate the need for a
controller and reduce support costs.
Demand for public Wi-Fi in open spaces will continue to increase.
The City does not currently utilize a wireless “splash page” outlining terms of use.
Existing wireless access-point cabling is Category 5e and cannot reach the bandwidth rates
of current generation wireless devices.
Recommendations
When refreshing the wireless infrastructure, develop an open RFP , and evaluate cloud
strategies from multiple vendors.
Add a “splash page” to the guest wireless sign-on process.
Re-cable all wireless access points per the recommendations in the Structured Cabling
System initiative.
Benefits
Improved wireless speeds
Reduced complexity
Increased security
Expanded coverage
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6. Internet Bandwidth
Increased Internet bandwidth and high availability are becoming increasingly important to
organizations for daily functionality. This allows for additional resources to become available
during peak Internet usage and provide for resiliency when disasters occur that may affect
primary Internet connections that are no longer accessible.
Findings and Observations
Internet bandwidth is adequate.
The City maintains a single Internet connection at City Hall.
Desert Willow has a separate Internet connection.
The Desert Willow Internet connection is also used for a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
tunnel for IT staff remote access to Desert Willow computers.
Recommendations
A second Internet connection should be implemented as a part of the City’s Dis aster
Recovery and resiliency planning initiatives.
Best Practice would be to implement an Internet connection from a separate provider at
a separate City location.
Implementation of a second Internet connection would be most effective if it
corresponded with the City plan to create a secondary computer room at the Corp
Yard.
Additional Internet bandwidth will be required as the City increases the use of cloud -based
systems.
Increased Internet costs have been included in recommended Five-Year Budget.
Benefits
Improved performance
Increased Internet uptime
Increased resiliency, providing increased cloud -based applications and services uptime
Reduced risk and liability
Disaster Recovery safeguard
7. Electronic Mail (Exchange)
Findings and Observations
Exchange 2007 is the electronic mail platform of the City.
Exchange 2007 is now three generations behind.
Licenses have been purchased and an upgrade to Exchange 2013 is underway.
The City’s email archiving has limited capabilities and is not user friendly.
An email records retention policy is currently not enforced.
Recommendations
Investigate and select an improved email archiving solution.
Develop an Email Records Retention Policy, and implement automatic retention guidelines
in support of the policy.
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Benefits
Reduced time managing email for public records requests
Reduced time on public records requests
Improved stability of environment and higher availability of email-based services
8. Dual Monitors
Findings and Observations
Utilizing dual monitors for many users can significantly increase the speed of completion for
certain computer tasks, thereby increasing overall employee productivity. Some studies have
shown increased overall productivity of 20 -30% for office staff and up to 50% and 74% for
certain computer tasks. These studies demonstrate a return-on-investment multiple times the
cost of the additional monitor when calculating the efficiency savings with gross hourly labor
costs. Most staff members use single-monitor systems.
Return-on-Investment (ROI) Considerations
A Microsoft productivity study concluded that adding an extra monitor can boost productivity
by 9% to 50%.3
A study conducted by the University of Utah found that dual monitors helped users complete
tasks as much as 52% faster.4
Recommendations
Staff to prioritize potential dual monitor implementations.
Implement as PCs are replaced, or more quickly, if demand requires.
Benefits
Improved staff productivity return on investment (multitasking)
Enhanced ability to compare work
More efficient sharing of data between applications
Compatibility with both laptops and computers
3 “4 Studies which Show that Using a Second Monitor Can Boost Productivity”, Core Communication 11 Dec. 2010, 4
Apr. 2013, < http://www.corecommunication.ca/4-studies-which-show-that-using-a-second-monitor-can-boost-
productivity/ >.
4 Core Communication, 11 Dec. 2010.
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9. Council Chambers Audiovisual Systems
Findings and Observations
Council chambers audiovisual systems are relatively new.
The City does not have a third-party maintenance contract for the system.
Staff report several small issues that impact Council Meetings.
Occasionally, the response time for posting vote tallies is slow.
The large-screen projector occasionally fails.
Small problems with specific devices occasionally occur.
Recommendations
Log recurring problems and engage a third -party audiovisual specialist with Granicus
experience to assist in resolving the issues.
Design and develop an RFP for ongoing support and maintenance of audiovisual
equipment.
Utilize PEG fund balance and PEG fees over time to keep any necessary capital
improvements budget-neutral, if possible.
Benefits
Improved production quality of City Council meetings and other public meetings held in the
Council Chambers
Improved government transparency
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10. Conference Room Audiovisual
Conference room audiovisual (AV) tools are used to enhance meetings, which include
projectors, video conferencing software, smart boards, and other technology aids.
Findings and Observations
Currently, conference rooms lack 21st -century AV
capabilities.
As portable devices proliferate, demand for AV
capabilities will increase.
Wall-mounted monitors can provide very cost-effective
AV capabilities in smaller conference rooms.
Projectors are a good choice for larger rooms that will
require a larger screen for full audience viewing.
Some conference rooms have unique shapes that will require special care in selecting and
mounting AV systems.
Recommendations
As much as possible, standardize conference room AV configurations.
A recommended AV design would include:
Large screen TV or LCD panel
Cabinet with PC connected to the network and LCD panel
Wireless keyboard and mouse to increase portability
Separate VGA and HDMI connections for laptops
When planning to upgrade uniquely shaped rooms, engage an AV subject-matter expert in
the design.
To control costs, a plan can be provided to update conference rooms over several years as
the budget allows.
11. Office Software Upgrades
Findings and Observations
Current desktop and laptop computers primarily utilize Microsoft Office 2010, with older
copies of 2007 and some 2013.
Office 2016 is in general release, and the first service pack has been published.
Training on Office software for City staff appears to be inconsistent across the organization.
Recommendations
Move to Office 2016 and upgrade necessary computers to this version.
Budget for classroom training as a part of the Office 2016 implementation.
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12. Technology S upport for the EOC
Findings and Observations
City’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) does not have sufficient technology to function
optimally in large-scale emergency. Existing technology includes:
Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones
Cable TV and a large, flat-panel TV/monitor
Limited wireless network
Workstations that are seven or eight years old
Recommendations
Add additional wireless capabilities to provide high-speed support for up to 20 individuals or
60 total devices.
Conduct a study of EOC needs, and provide budget for recommended improvements
accordingly.
Incorporate spare radios and batteries.
AV improvements:
Multiple monitors and monitor control systems
Workstation display systems
GIS mapping capabilities housed within the room
Ability to switch traffic displays onto monitors in EOC
Consider adding smart-board display technology.
Benefits
Alignment with Disaster Recovery Plan
Support for Incident Command System
Event Information Tracking
Coordinated support for emergency responders
Basis for communication to the public during local incidents and fo r recovery activity
13. Serve r Upgrades and Consolidation
Findings and Observations
Inventory of Servers: Three main physical hosts and a few miscellaneous standalone
servers.
Microsoft Doman Controllers are 2008.
2016 is the current version.
Many of the application servers are Windows 2003.
The majority of server hardware consists of Dell Power Edge 2950, 2960.
Most City Hall production servers are using the Microsoft Windows Server .
Current Microsoft server operating system is a combination of 2003, 2008, and 2012.
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Recommendations
Consolidate servers and retire legacy Dell Power Edge Servers (City implementing a plan to
have the Dell legacy servers retired no later than the end of 2016).
Upgrade to standard Windows Server Format (2012 Standard).
Upgrade process should be combine d with the increased virtualization implementation.
14. Video Surveillance
Findings and Observations
If actively monitored, security camera surveillance systems can be an effective security tool and
criminal deterrent. One study by the Urban Institute determined that the savings and benefits of
fewer incidents and crimes outweighed the cost of video surveillance systems. The study also
found that Police, Parks and Recreation, Code Enforcement, policymakers, and others involved
in facility/property oversight largely viewed security/surveillance/monitoring cameras as a useful
tool for managing behavior, preventing crimes, aiding in response, assisting in arrests, and
supporting investigations and prosecutions.
Facilities are considering a major expansion of video monitoring at the City.
IT has been asked to assist in the procurement.
Recommendations
Conduct needs assessment study on the potential use of video surveillance at all required
facilities.
Develop an RFP from the completed needs assessment and issue an RFP to create a
design specification and separate RFP for the actual system procurement and installation.
Utilize a single, centralized monitoring solution for all cameras.
Utilize IP-based cameras and the existing data network for transport of video between
locations.
We recommend facilities retain responsibility for video monitoring.
IT should assist with procurement efforts.
Departmental Applications and Systems
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Gov 2.0
Gov 2.0 (E-government) is the concept of using
new technologies in combination with creativity,
information sharing, and the collaborative process
to better serve and interact with the public.
15. Website Content Management and Training
16. Public Request Management Improvement
17. Mass Public Outbound Communications
18. Increased Public Engagement Online Payments,
Transactions, and Services
19. Kiosks
20. Social Media Consolidated Content Management
Tool
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With the advent of computer technologies, the world is
experiencing an unprecedented explosion in communications
options.
The principles of Gov 2.0 include:
Principle 1: Serve as the primary source of reliable, accurate,
and timely organization information delivered to the
customer on their platform of choice.
Principle 2: Maintain a real-time, interactive, and user-centered website that offers easy
access to public information and online services.
Principle 3: Offer opportunities for online civic engageme nt and social collaboration.
Some examples of Gov 2.0 technologies include , but are not limited to:
Online Transactions – Applications, registrations, requests, and payment processing are some
of the 24/7 examples being employed.
Online Information Requests and Queries – As more transparency is demanded and
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests increase, common types of documents are readily
available through query or menu on the website, which creates efficiencies for organization staff
and constituents.
CRM (Citizen Request Management) – Online citizen request tracking includes automated
internal routing, status reporting, etc.
311 – 311 is a service available in some communities around the country as a non -emergency,
general information phone number to a citizen service center. These centers typically centralize
the inquiry and response of general and/or routine questions from citizens and customers.
Blogging – This is a Web-based process (Web logging) that allows regular posting of
commentary, news, events, and other materials in a more casual and interactive manner.
Visitors may leave comments or communicate with each other through the blog.
Podcasting – Digital media files utilizing audio, Web protocols, and a media player are released
on a regular schedule and often downloaded through a Web-based subscription.
RSS – Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a group of formats used to publish works such as
blog entries, news headlines, and media files, in a standardized format. This allows publishe rs
to automatically "feed" their entries to a syndicated audience, often used with podcasting.
Social Media – Ranging from blogs (WordPress, LiveJournal, Tumblr)
and social and/or professional networking (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Myspace) to virtual worlds where people can interact in real time
(Second Life), social media is, by far, the fastest-growing form of
interactive communication. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein
define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build
on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that
allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content."5
Wikis – A wiki is a website that allows collaborative creation and editing
of Web pages to produce a simplified exchange of information.
5 Kaplan, Andreas M., Michael Haenlein (2010). "Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of
Social Media". Business Horizons 53 (1): 59-68. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003. ISSN 0007-6813. Retrieved
2010-09-15.
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15. Website Content Management and Training
Government websites have become informational portals so that citizens can quickly access
information and conduct transactions without having to call agency staff or go to agency offices.
This interactive functionality is also available 24/7.
Website content and information is typically managed with website content management tools
and such tools often come as a component of your website system provider. These website
content management tools provide the ability to create, deploy, manage, and store content on
the City’s webpages. Most modern website content management tools are designed for general
department staff to be able to update frequently changed information and content, such as
events, news, schedules, etc.
Findings and Observations
As the City continues to evolve and integrates more departmental operations within the website,
there may be a greater need for some information to be updated more frequently. As website
content management tools have evolved and improved, departments are playing a larger role in
updating some types of content on their own. This can relieve some of the burden and
workload off the organization’s webmaster or Web administrator and ensure more timely
updates of some types of public content.
Recommendations
Conduct a citywide needs assessment and prioritize all departments’ needs and
suggestions for additional content on the City’s website.
Identify the website content management tool training requirements for department staff that
will assume the responsibility of updating some types of content, including a count of all
those that will need to be trained. These training needs will need to be communicated to the
City’s Internet vendor and hosting provider, Vision Technology Solutions. The City and
Vision Technology will need to cooperatively develop a training plan and then implement this
plan to meet the training needs of the City.
Assign specific website content update requirements to specific departmental staff and
estimate hours of effort.
Offer regular training to keep staff skills fresh and to ensure they can keep website content
current. This will also allow you to train new staff if there is any turnover at the department
level.
Manage improvements per the Project Planning and Implementation Best Practices
initiative.
Benefits
More accurate, consistent, and up-to-date information posted to the website
Increased staff and citizen satisfaction
Improved public records access
Increased information-sharing capabilities
Increased resident interaction and transaction capabilities
24/7 availability
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16. Public R equest M anagement Improvement
Findings and Observations
Public request management, or more commonly, citizen request
management (CRM), solutions are used to receive, track, and
manage all types of requests and complaints. These solutions can
categorize requests, prompt for typical information required, assign
and route information to specific staff or departments, track status,
and fulfill overall reporting requirements for more effective handling.
Ideal CRM functionality includes:
Citizen responsiveness (requests captured and completed,
responses provided to citizens, including when and how
resolved)
Prompt request routing (departments/persons)
History (complaints, requests, timeliness of responses, completed
by, how resolved, cost analysis)
Interdepartmental resource linking
Managing resources
Benchmarking and performance-based measurements
Planning and budgeting
GIS integration
Online customer surveys
The City currently uses CitySourced for its Citizen Request Management solution, but it is
primarily used to record complaints and is not using the broader cap abilities inherent in
enterprise-wide CRM implementations. The City also provides CRM functionality to the public
through Palm Desert In Touch via the City’s website and through a mobile app version. The
process for requests received through Palm Desert In Touch is not fully automated.
Recommendations
Define feature/function and workflow requirements with input from all departments.
Determine if the CitySourced system can fulfill the identified departmental needs and if the
full CitySourced capabilities are realized and maximized.
Determine if CitySourced can be interfaced/integrated with ERP, Land Management, and
Work Orders/Maintenance Management systems and the depth of such
interface/integration.
Compare CitySourced with the CRM module offering from TR AKiT, One Solution, or a future
work orders/maintenance management system to determine if it is a viable and cost-
effective alternative to CitySourced, and then determine which option would be the best
solution for the City moving forward.
Manage improvements and/or implementation of the chosen CRM system per the Project
Planning and Implementation Best Practices initiative.
Benefits
Increased resident satisfaction
Centrally managed information
Less time spent manually managing and monitoring
Increased use of features
Improved access to information
Faster invoicing and purchasing
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17. Mass Public Outbound Communications
Findings and Observations
Outbound communication systems, such as Reverse 911, have gone through a significant
transformation in the last five years. There are many more system providers, and pricing has
come down significantly. Enhanced emergency notification systems can als o integrate with
severe weather warning systems, emails, texts, RSS feeds, etc. These systems can be used
for non-emergency mass notifications as well. Examples include: street closures, interruptions
in water service, major organization events, etc.
Recommendations
Select new software vendor per the Software Selection Best Practices initiative.
Consider including emails, texts, and RSS feeds for more than just mass emergency
notifications (e.g., street closures, street cleaning, special events, etc.)
Consider collecting citizens' communication preferences (e.g., mail, email, text, website, opt-
in or -out for specific types of communications, such as public safety, emergency,
community events, general info, etc.)
Determine costs of greater usage. Costs are usually measured per contact, but some
vendors have gone to an annual-subscription model based on agency population.
Consider integration with automated certain emergency notification systems.
Benefits
Increased community outreach
Improved public relations
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18. Increased Public Engagement Online Payments, Transactions, and Services
A variety of online payments can be accepted through numerous alternatives, one being the
organization’s website. The result will be increased efficiencies due to reduced labor and easy,
digital retrieval of information for both customers and organization staff. Online payments also
provide citizens with 24/7 transaction capabilities and the convenience of not having to involve
staff or go to City offices.
The City does not have a standard for card-based
payments both on-site and online. Numerous departments
requested the ability to provide online payments and
services, including the examples below:
Community Development – Taking on-site and online
card payments, take online applications, request
inspections online, and online issuance of simple
permits
Building and Safety – Taking on-site and online card payments, take online applications,
request inspections online, and online issuance of simple permits
Public Works – Accept on-site and online card payments
Current examples of online transactions or information availability include:
Committee/Commission application form (public prints and completes)
Budgets
Financials
Some application/reporting forms (STR, TOT, applications for STR & TOT)
Labor Agreements
Salary Schedules
Citizen requests (CitySourced)
Garage Sales applications
Other example online payments and service transactions /requests could include, but would not
be limited to:
Online plan review list so applicant can verify review times
Online inspection requests
Online payments for plan review and permit fees
Online archive or record searches for permits
Locations of Garage Sales on website
Committee/Commission application form (Interactive Form)
Sales tax non-confidential report (MuniServices)
Chat capability on tourism website
Citizen requests/complaints and status inquiries
Job postings and online application submittals
Official online records requests (e.g., agendas, minutes, documents, etc.)
On-line access to Human Resources documents (i.e., job descriptions, employment
agreements)
Recommendations
Conduct a citywide needs assessment to determine all useful online services and payment
types that could be implemented to improve constituent service.
Conduct cost-benefit and prioritization analysis.
Select other software payment vendors per the Software Selection Best Practices initiative.
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Consider existing core business applications options, such as ERP, parks and recreation
software, permit management, ticket/citation management, among others, before new, third -
party solutions are considered, to eliminate requirements to integrate new solutions with
back-end operational systems.
Manage improvements per the Project Planning and Implementation Best Practices
initiative.
Benefits
More accurate and consistent information
Timely and reduced reconciliation
Increased awareness of citizen self-service
Reduced over-the-counter time for transactions
Increased staff and citizen satisfaction
19. Kiosks
Findings and Observations
Kiosks are public access computing devices placed in convenient places
for citizens to use to access information and for conducting transactions
without having to call City staff or wait in line at the office counter. This
also provides a method for citizens without home computers to take
advantage of electronic business services available from the City.
Potential uses include:
Accessing various types of program information (perhaps from the City
websites)
Accessing other community-oriented information
Completing online forms
Completing various types of registrations or applications
Making online payments
Recommendations
Consider using repurposed desktop computers before spending additional funds on kiosks.
Consider placement and use of kiosks for self-service at City vestibules and lobbies, annex
facilities, lib raries, etc., where appropriate to provide ease of access.
Deployment should include, at minimum, any transactional capability offered on the City
website.
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20. Social Media Consolidated Content Management Tool
Findings and Observations
Social media is one of the most effective ways for an organization to better communicate and
increase traffic and contact with constituents and the public. Having the right social media
management tools and a presence on all the major networks (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Google+,
and LinkedIn) has become a necessity for local government entities. The public expects the
community to use social media methods to provide information and access to services.
However, the challenge is managing all these social media accounts without having to
continually duplicate efforts. Social media management tools provide a single, consolidated set
of software, dashboards, and publishing tools for social media manager(s) to juggle these
multiple accounts.
There are numerous tools in the marketplace from as many as a dozen well-tested and proven
vendors. There are many top five or ten rankings of these vendor providers. The City is using a
prominent social media management tool called “Hootsuite”. The City’s version is the trial
version, because it is free. However, the trial version does not provide the City access to the full
complement of social media management capabilities. The City is also focused more on Twitter
and has not fully expanded use to all social media platforms. It is estimated that by using the
full-license version of Hootsuite or another tool and expanding more to all platforms would save
the City six-to-eight hours a month of staff time.
Recommendations
Research options, including Hootsuite or other similar solutions like Sprout Social and
AgoraPulse, to determine the best tool and that has the best value.
Use the selection recommendations detailed in the Software Selection Best Practices
initiative to make this selection for Social Media Management software.
Work with the selected vendor to lay out an implementation plan and the necessary training
to achieve the benefits and time/cost savings per the Project Implementation Best Practices
initiative.
Maintain the software tool and keep your staff trained to maximize the benefits of the tool.
Benefits
Increased community outreach
Improved public relations
Increased citizen engagement
Easier management with time savings from a single Social Media Management tool which
eliminates the redundancy that is associated with trying to manage all your Social Media
accounts individually
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Departmental Applications and Systems The Departmental Applications and Systems
category includes IT Initiatives that are primarily
department business applications-related and
were identified during the needs assessment
process. Many of these initiatives and
recommendations can have a significant impact on
overall productivity, enhanced communications
and information sharing, improved constituent
service, improved transparency, and, in some
cases, cost savings.
21. ERP Gap Analysis and Improvement Plan
22. Project Accounting Assessment and Implementation
23. Human Resources Information System Improvement
24. Performance Evaluation Software
25. Recruitment and Applicant Tracking and Processing
26. Timekeeping/Time Entry Assessment and Implementation
27. Land Management Utilization
28. TOT, STR, Licensing, and Other Recurring Billing Systems
29. Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Assessment and
Selection
30. Mobile (Field-Based) Computing
31. Electronic Content Management System (ECMS)
Replacement
32. Legislative Management (Council Role Call, Voting, Resolution
Actions)
33. Council/Commissions Agenda Creation and Management
Software
34. Council Meeting Media Management
35. Public Records Request Tracking and Responses
36. Microfiche, Microfilm, and Paper Conversion to Digital
37. Large-File Sharing Tool
38. Intranet Assessment and Implementation
39. Photo Management and Storage Software
40. Develop GIS Master Plan
41. User Training and Support
42. PCard Implementation
43. Fleet Management
44. RealQuest License/Seat Count Increase
45. Driverless Car Infrastructure Requirements
46. Traffic Signal Management Software and Infrastructure
Assessment and Replacement
47. Irrigation Control System
48. Virtual Emergency Operations System
49. Radio System Assessment and Improvement
50. Riverside County Connect
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21. ERP Gap Analysis and Improvement Plan
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is an organization-wide software solution that allows
integration among various departments and their respective functions. The result is a
centralized system of communication, storage, and operations. Improvements to ERP solutions
bring about processes that multiple departments can benefit from. Common mu nicipal-related
ERP application modules include Accounting, Financial Reporting, Payroll, Human Resources,
Billing, Planning, Permitting, Licensing, and Work Orders. The following graphic shows a typical
ERP environment related to the City ’s operating env ironment.
Findings and Observations
The City uses an ERP system called ONESolution by SunGard Public Sector. This system was
migrated to from SunGard HTE’s NaviLine Solution in 2015. One Solution has a significant
base of users in California and the rest of the country in mid-market agencies similar to the City
of Palm Desert. Satisfaction levels with the migration and current utilization by various City
departments is low. In hindsight, insufficient resources were utilized, as well as implementatio n
services from the vendor. Some modules are still not implemented, others are underutilized and
a great deal of training and configuration is still necessary. The implementation and
reimplementation services that are still needed include:
Additional training
Additional reports and report improvements
Activation of more features and capabilities
Elimination of Excel-based shadow systems for numerous processes
Adding more functionality through implementation of unused or unlicensed modules
Greater use of end-users’ dashboards
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The City can clearly benefit from conducting a needs
assessment and process reviews with all departments
related to their use of the current ONESolution and
NaviLine software modules. A third-party subject-
matter expert will be necessary to perform on-site
process and needs review activities that will document
the gaps in the existing implementation and
recommend the improvement suggestions that will
close this gap. This should include scope to
determine and assess what will be necessary to
eliminate most manual shadow systems (Excel and
others) and eliminate duplication of effort, to improve staff productivity across the City.
The following table depicts the existing modules that the City has licensed (or not licensed) from
the City’s existing ERP solution vendors. The table also depicts what modules vendors typically
include and offer in their ERP system solutions.
Industry-Typical Enterprise
Module Name
Current Available
Vendor Equivalent Module Licensed Implemented
Potential
Process
Improvements
Financial Management
ONESolution
General Ledger General Ledger Y Y Y
Bank Reconciliation Bank Reconciliation Y N Y
Budgeting Budget Item Detail Y Y Y
Accounts Payable Accounts Payable Y Y
Requisitions Purchasing Y Incomplete Y
Purchase Orders Purchasing Y Y Y
Financial Reporting Financial Reporting Y Y
Fixed Assets Fixed Assets Y Y
Project Accounting Project Allocation Y In-process Y
Accounts Receivable Accounts Receivable Y Y
Ad Hoc Reporting QREP Y Y
NaviLine
Cash Receipts Cash Receipts Y Y Y
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Industry-Typical Enterprise
Module Name
Current Available
Vendor Equivalent Module Licensed Implemented
Potential
Process
Improvements
Modules Not Licensed
Cash Receipts Cash Receipts (ONESolution) N
Vendor Self-Service Vendor Management Online N
Bids Management Bid and Quote Management N Y
Contract Management Contract Management N
Grant Management Grant Management N
CAFR Reporting CAFR Constructor N
People Management
ONESolution
Payroll Payroll Y Y
Human Resources Human Resources Y In-process Y
Position Control/Budgeting Human Resources Y N Y
Benefits Administration Human Resources Y Y
Performance Evaluations Human Resources Y
Workers Compensation Human Resources
Time Tracking Timecard Online Y N Y
Position Budgeting Position Budgeting Y N
Personnel Actions Personnel Actions Y Y
Applicant Tracking Applicant Online Y N Y
Online Applicant Tracking Applicant Online N Y
Training & Certification
Management Human Resources Y N Y
Employee Self-Service Employee Online Y N Y
Land Management
TRAKiT
Planning Projects and Zoning ProjectTRAK Y In-process Y
Permitting PermitTRAK Y In-process Y
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Industry-Typical Enterprise
Module Name
Current Available
Vendor Equivalent Module Licensed Implemented
Potential
Process
Improvements
Inspections iTRAKiT Y In-process Y
Code Enforcement CodeTRAK Y In-process Y
Business Licenses LicenseTRAK Y In-process Y
Cash Receipting Cashiering Y In-process Y
Parcel/Address Management GeoTRAK Y In-process Y
GIS Viewer GIS Standard Y In-process Y
Mobile Code Enforcement iTRAKiT N Y
Mobile Code Inspections iTRAKiT N Y
Electronic Plan Reviews/Markup Bluebeam (third-party application) Y In-process
CSLB Contractor License. Board
Integration N Y
Citizen Request Management CRMTRAK N Y
Ad Hoc Reporting N In-process Y
Online Capabilities
Planning Projects eTRAKiT Citizen Portal Y In-process
Permitting eTRAKiT Citizen Portal Y In-process Y
Inspections Scheduling/Requests eTRAKiT Citizen Portal Y In-process Y
Code Enforcement Complaints eTRAKiT Citizen Portal Y In-process Y
Business License Renewals eTRAKiT Citizen Portal Y In-process Y
Citizen Request Management eTRAKiT Citizen Portal Y In-process Y
Online Payments eTRAKiT Citizen Portal Y In-process Y
Electronic Plan Submittals eTRAKiT Citizen Portal Y In-process
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Staff Feedback
CD – Need automated credit card transactions
CD – Need to automate business license applications
CD – Need to automate short-term rental renewals
Clerk – Need online business licensing
Clerk – Taking credit cards would assist customers in paying for large records requests,
deposits for subpoenas, or other assessed fees collected by Clerk’s Office
Clerk – Need the ability to generate a Weekly Postage Report
Clerk – Need the ability to report on Vacation Rentals Info Biweekly
Clerk – Need to clearly identify who the resident experts are for ONESolution
ED – Need a quick and efficient way for staff to view department budgets and expenditures
FIN – Need to automate time cards and the receipt of time into payroll
FIN – Should use ACH Transfers for retiree stipends
FIN – Need to automate bank reconciliation
FIN – Need electronic submissions of STR/TOT, including $0.00 transactions
FIN – Need to use workflow automation for approving and rejecting invoices
FIN – Need the ability to attach PDFs to AP approval workflows
FIN – Manually creating and analyzing budgets
FIN – Need the ability to run all reports for more than 1 FY
FIN – Cash Receipt information does not carry usefully over from HTE to ONESolution
FIN – Need AP warrant registers for a date range (as requested by auditors)
FIN – Need account reconciliation reports with more useful information instead of reentering
information in Excel (e.g., Matching/Reconciling AP invoices)
FIN – Need GL summary reports
FIN – Need Vendor reports
FIN – Need Account summary reports
FIN – Need CAFR reporting capabilities
FIN – Need State Controller’s reporting capabilities
FIN – Need the ability for someone to be able to delete incorre ctly attached documents in
ONESolution
HR – Need to automate recruitment process
HR – Need improvements in personnel evaluations (e.g., consistency, tracking, reporting,
etc.) Evaluation tracking and routing is inefficient and cumbersome
HR – Need to automate personnel actions
HR – Need to automate timekeeping process
HR – Need to improved project cost tracking
HR – Would benefit from utilizing Employee Self-Service; this would allow employees to
view and update their information
HR – Need to automate the tracking of training records; would also ensure compliance with
state and federal laws
HR – Need to automate the insurance claim process
HR – Need American Care Act (ACA) tracking and reporting
HR – Need FMLA/CFRA protected Leave tracking
HR – Need better tracking and reporting of COBRA benefits
HR – Need benefits liability reports/reconciliation
HR – Looking to utilize applicant tracking and on -line applications
HR – Staff expect more self-service and access to their records (i.e., timecards, W -2s,
health benefits)
PW – Need to accept credit/debit cards
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PW – Need to automate time cards
PW – Manually process bill payment/accounts payable
PW – Need to automate project bidding
PW – Need a CIP status report
PW – Need Expenditure reports
PW – Need Budget reports
Recommendations
To avoid spending thousands of dollars on unfocused application implementation and
training that may leave some processes not fully automated and/or not fully optimized, we
recommend conducting process reviews and needs assessment(s) t o determine gaps, and
developing an improvement plan to close this gap. The needs assessment process
determines need by inventorying current and future functionality requirements, by
application module, for each department. The software vendor is then as ked to respond (in
writing) to these requirements with their capabilities to determine their level of compliance
with the City’s specific needs and requirements.
From the above needs assessment documentation, determine any unmet needs (gap) and
any additional modules that may need to be licensed as well as the required implementation
and training.
Review applicable manual processes and shadow systems, such as spreadsheets, paper,
and other databases, to determine automation improvements that will eliminate or reduce
these shadow system and result in labor efficiencies. Any requirements that the vendor is
not capable of providing can then be dealt with by other means, such as more efficient work -
arounds, third-party applications, modifications, change in organizational processes and
procedures, etc.
This process can also be used to inventory all required reports, as well as
integration/interface requirements between other applications, such as CRM, ECMS, GIS,
the City’s website, etc.
Consider using a third-party subject-matter expert (SME) assistance from an established
firm that has history and success in assisting with needs assessments and in providing
implementation assistance for ERP solutions.
Benefits
Elimination of information silos
Improved streamlined processes
Improved operational consistency, efficiency, and accuracy
Improved online access to information
Improved financial reporting
Better identification of integration requirements
Improved utilization and realization of ERP investment
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Benefits of Modern ERP Software
The following summary is provided to give the City an understanding of what they should expect
from a properly implemented ERP System. An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System
automates and integrates many core, City-wide functions into a single solution, while
automating manual processes and providing a central location of information and reporting. An
enterprise system allows collaboration and sharing of information between divisions,
departments, and citizens to provid e a transparent and efficient government operation. The
benefits of an enterprise system are numerous and include:
Built-in integrations between Land, Work, Financial, and People Management application
suites
Newer technology platform (processing, capacity advantages)
Real-time notifications/queues
Task tracking
Real-time access to information
Elimination of duplicate data entry
Improved data integrity
Centralized location and customer account maintenance
Reliable information
Workflow capabilities
Centralized cash receipt capabilities
Efficient revenue collection
Reduced operating costs
Improved internal communication
Foundation for future improvement
Potential reduction in annual maintenance and support fees
Improved online information for citizens to access
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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Financial and People Management
The financial management suite is a suite of an enterprise system that encompasses the
financial tasks and processes performed to ensure all organization -wide activity is properly
accounted for and accurately reported to local,
state, and federal agencies. Benefits of a
financial management suite include:
Quick generation of financial reports
More efficient budgeting processes
Real-time access to available budget and
funding
Better spending controls for departments
and projects
Management of grants and funding
sources
Real-time inquiries into capital
improvement project progress
The people management suite manages the
organization’s workforce and provides automation to the human resources, payroll, timekeeping,
and applicant tracking functions. Employee
self-service is also available to allow
employees the flexibility in retrieving their
information at their convenience. Benefits of a
People Management suite include:
Paperless personnel forms
One-time data entry
Tracking or misplacement of employee
paper files
Incorporation of Employee Self-Service
(ESS)
Integration between timekeeping, payroll,
HR and financial management
Quick and reliable reporting to federal and
state agencies
Improved employee satisfaction
Automated time entry approvals and payroll
calculations
Minimal steps between processing payroll
and issuing direct deposits and checks
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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Employee Self-Service
Employee self-service (ESS) empowers employees to provide, change, and retrieve their
personal information through an online employee portal, thereby reducing the manual
interaction required with the Human Resources Department. Employee self-service offers an
online option for employees to access and manage information for themselves:
Address changes
Tax allowances changes
Open enrollment benefits
Dependent changes
Leave/vacation accrual balances
Electronic paystub copies
Year-end W -2s
Populating and retrieving time sheets
Time requests
Tax forms
Many other forms and applications
Reporting
The number one problem that is commonly seen when utilizing disjointed applications is the
extensive time users dedicate to the consolidation of information for reporting purposes.
Enterprise systems allow information to be quickly retrieved from a single source with numerous
readily available reports. Users are also able to create their own reports without requiring them
to be technical experts. This allows staff to spend more
time studying analytics rather than manually assembling
reports. Benefits of improved reporting include:
Aggregated data across divisions, departments, and
organization
Improved data accuracy and reduced human error
Intuitive report creation capabilities
Board-ready reports
Sharing of created reports
Elimination of labor-intensive report creation
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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Individual User Dashboards
Dashboards form part of a user’s home page and display reports, key indicators, and other
metrics regarding day-to-day operations, activities, and historical trends. Benefits of
dashboards include:
Quick links for immediate access to required tasks and approvals
Easy modification of dashboards for each user’s preference
Automated generation of dashboard information
Transformation of data into visual information
Easy-to-understand graphics
Real-time analysis
Drill-down access to activity detail
Mobile Computing
Mobile computing provides the flexibility to operate a more mobile and productive workforce. An
enterprise system can allow staff to utilize applications while in the field in order to perform their
job functions while away from their office. Common benefits of
mobile computing include:
Completion of work while in the field
Real-time access to information
Inspection results in the field
Receipt of notifications and job assignments
Reduced travel to and from office locations
Map routing based on location of activities
Retrieval of mapping information
Management of code enforcement cases in field
Online Citizen Access
Online citizen access enables a more transparent government by providing the public with 24/7
access to real-time information for inquiries and payment processing. This empowers residents
to retrieve online information that is pertinent to each individual, and for them to take further
actions, which improves customer relations by
eliminating the need to be physically present at City
Hall. The following are examples of online citizen access
transactions:
Online permit applications
Submit and access plan review comments
Online payments
Submit complaints
Submit citizen requests
Submit inspection requests
Access to inspections results
GIS maps (zoning, voting districts, etc.)
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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Citizen Request Management
A citizen request management system is used to track, manage, and resolve citizen concerns
and requests in a timely manner by automatically routing citizen requests to the appropriate
department. It also provides the citizen with the flexibility to submit and track their complaints
through the Web or a mobile phone application.
Common benefits of a citizen request management
system include:
Ability for citizens to submit requests 24/7
through a phone application or the website
Automatic assignment and routing of requests,
by type, to appropriate department(s) or staff
Ability for citizens to view current request status
Conversion of requests to work orders
Ability to include photos and geolocation of a
request
More effective and efficient processes
Improved transparency and citizen relationships
Land Management
The Land Management system is one of the suites that are offered by enterprise application
systems and manages the creation, issuance, and tracking of community development activities
related to planning and zoning, permitting , building inspections, licensing, and code
enforcement. Benefits associated with the utilization of the application include:
More automated permit processing from application through permit issuance
Automatic routing for permits requiring reviews and app rovals
Single electronic file for all permit applications and
documents
More automated tracking of reviews, inspections,
and fees by permit and development projects
Tracking of timelines, tasks, and required group
reviews
Viewing all project and permit information at a
glance
Readily accessible planning and zoning records
Automatic generation of case documentation
Centralized current and historical parcel information
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GIS Integration
Enterprise systems offer real-time integration to geographic information systems (GIS) in order
to display land-use, zoning, and infrastructure layers on a map, as well as parcel, permit,
inspection, code enforcement, and work order activity that resides within the enterprise system.
Benefits of GIS integration include:
Viewing system activity on a map (e.g.,
active projects, permits, cases, etc.)
Map routing of work orders, service request,
and daily inspections
Displaying locations of infrastructure assets
Generating asset condition analysis
Ability to overlay multiple map layers
Integration to website for resident inquiries
Maintenance/Work Order
Management
Another suite of an enterprise system is the maintenance/work order management system,
which provides automation in managing the maintenance and day-to-day operations related to
infrastructure assets, buildings, facilities, and fleet vehicles, while being able to capture and
report on the labor, equipment usage, and materials costs associated with a work order and
preventative maintenance. System benefits include:
Electronic routing of citizen requests
Centralized task and maintenance management
Completion of work orders from the field
Streamlined public works operations
Retrieval of historical work order information
and costs
Quicker work order completion times
Improved decision-making through access to
real-time information
Viewing of asset and activity trends visually
through GIS mapping capabilities
Better replacement planning and forecasting
Enhancement of staff productivity
Improved compliance with regulatory standards
Improved safety and risk management
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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22. Project Accounting Assessment and Implementation
Findings and Observations
The City has expressed the need to improve tracking of projects and grants. The project
accounting capabilities in NaviLine and the new SunGard ONESolution are not being used and
related tracking of data and information is being performed manually in spreadsheets.
Although not complete, the list below provides some examples of the City’s grant and project
tracking and accounting needs:
Improvement of cost reporting for all projects and grants
Consultant expense tracking
Tracking of staff time and labor costs by project and/or task
Projects/portfolio tracking, schedule/progress tracking, and prioritization
General Fund projects tracking and prioritization
Tracking and reporting of costs by project/grant category
Integration with existing finance and budget system
Project accounting applications also provide a method for multi-year tracking of budgets and
expenditures for grants. Project and grant applications examples include grant programs,
special programs, capital improvements, etc. Grant and project detail can be recorded in the
General Fund, as well as all other funds (special projects, grants, programs, etc.) Individual
grants can be created and tracked through the entire grant process, from application through
conversion to a project. Project and Grant Accounting is a subsidiary module of General Ledger
and is distributed separately.
Because Project and Grant Accounting is a subsidiary ledger to the General Ledger, account
transaction flows can be mapped and created, allowing the City to process transactions
(requisitions/POs, invoices, payments, and even payroll) within the accounting system once and
have the information post to the General Ledger and the appropriate project/grant ledger(s).
Projects and grants can also have their own start and end dates that do not need to coincide
with the organization’s fiscal/budget year, but the system can report on the project and grant
schedule or provide reports that follow the fiscal/budget year.
The key to a successful Project and Grant Accounting system is the information that can be
stored, tracked, processed, and used for reporting, including, but not limited to:
Project Definitions – Start Date, Estimated Completion Date, Percent Complete, Funding
Sources, Project Managers, Statuses
Project Phases – Projects can be divided into phases, tasks, and subtasks to track
activities at a high level or down to a detailed level
Grant Tracking – Grants can be tracked from the application process through completion,
along with the ability to track matching funds, grant specifications, conditions, and grant use,
as well as reimbursement amounts
Project Creation from Grant – Some systems allow the creation directly from a grant
Granters/Grantees – Track grantees, subgrantors, and subgrantees
Matching Funds – Track matching funds from other organizations
Funding Sources – Track funding sources, including grant and grantor information
Reimbursement Rules – Create rates and rules for reimbursement billing and indirect
costing
Bill Calculation – Calculate and bill for reimbursements, including indirect costs
Drill-Downs to Information – Drill-down with connection to Next Year Budget and W ork
Orders for a project, etc.
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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Milestone Dates/Triggers – Define Milestones/Key dates that trigger alerts or action to
allow for tracking of meetings, payment, and work schedules tied to meeting goals
Alert Distribution – Alerts often include the ability to create business rules for initiating
actions or to alert appropriate staff
Inquiry Details – Inquire into detailed activities posted to a particular project or grant. This
can include:
Purchasing
Payables
Payroll
Receipts
General Ledger
Auto-Posting – Many systems allow the ability to pick a project and use the system’s auto -
posting utility (from purchase order, invoice entry, payroll, timekeeping, etc.)
Project Summary Query – Most systems allow for the summary display of any project
(filtered by data from: Last Year, Current Year, and Project Life):
Budget, Expended
Pre-Encumbered
Encumbered
Available
Estimated Revenue
Actual Revenue
Expense Reporting – Report by period and category of expense (i.e., labor, materials,
overhead, and other user-defined categories)
Recommendations
Conduct a process review and needs assessment identifying required feature/function
capabilities.
Review applicable manual processes and shadow systems, such as spreadsheets or
databases to determine automation improvements that will result in labor efficiencies.
Prioritize, implement changes, and provide sufficient training to all applicable users.
Implement project and grant accounting in conjunction with the ERP Gap Analysis and
Improvement Plan initiative.
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
City of Palm Desert, CA
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23. Human Resources Information System Improvement
Findings and Observations
A Human Resources Information System (HRIS) contains numerous Human Resources -related
functions within a single solution, while also providing accurate and secure access of employee
information. An HRIS typically includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the following
capabilities:
Employee Internal/External Training
Professional Development
Certifications and Licenses
ACA Management and Reporting
EEO Reporting
OSHA Reporting
HIPAA Reporting
Insurance and COBRA Reporting
Emergency Medical Information
Workers' Compensation
FMLA Benefit Payments
Benefits Administration
Seniority Tracking
Retiree Tracking
Terminations
Employee Grievance Tracking
Position Control
Applicant Tracking
Organizational Chart Generation
Wage/Promotion/ Disciplinary History
Performance Evaluations
Leave Requests
Compensation Reporting
“What If” Scenarios
Labor Negotiation Tools
Merit/Step Increases
Tuition Reimbursement
Travel Management
Employee Surveys
HRIS solutions also have integration with payroll processing and employee
self-service (ESS) portals to provide employees the ability to retrieve their
information in real time 24/7.
The City has acquired and is using the SunGard ONESolution HR (and
Payroll) system, which is integrated with the full ONESolution ERP solution.
There are concerns that the ONESolution HR implementation is not being
used to its full capability and is underutilized, leading to a lack of a full return
on the City’s investment.
Recommendations
Conduct a needs assessment of all unmet needs, additional functionality requirements,
additional modules needed, and additional user train ing requirements to identify gaps
between the City’s needs and what is currently being delivered under the existing
ONESolution HR system.
Review applicable manual processes and shadow systems, such as spreadsheets, to
determine automation improvements tha t can be performed in the ONESolution HR system
that will result in elimination of duplicate work and greater labor efficiencies.
The requirements that the vendor is not capable of providing can then be dealt with by other
means, such as efficient work-arounds, third-party applications, modifications, change in
processes and procedures, etc.
The above process may uncover benefits to acquiring additional ONESolution software
modules and the need to contract for additional vendor training and implementation
services.
Implement and/or re-implement applications and provide customized focused training.
Work with SunGard to develop a customized project implementation and training plan.
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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Manage improvements following the recommendations included in the Project Planning and
Implementation Best Practices initiative.
Consider using a third-party subject-matter expert (SME) assistance from an established
firm that has history and success in assisting with needs assessments and in providing
implementation assistance for People Management and HRIS systems.
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
City of Palm Desert, CA
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OPTIMAL TECHNOLOGY GUIDANCE
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24. Performance Evaluation Software
Findings and Observations
Performance-evaluation software automates staff reviews
based on individual and departmental performance. This
allows the ability to measure the skill sets of the workforce and
plan expenditures accordingly with the internal resources
available, build succession plans for continuity purposes,
reduce numerous manually intensive reviews, and identify
areas for improvement.
Human Resources’ performance evaluation processes for the
City personnel is primarily a manual process.
The City has licensed the SunGard ONESolution Human Resources module, but it is unclear if
the functionality will sufficiently meet the City’s needs.
Recommendations
Conduct a comprehensive process review, and develop requirements for all performance
evaluation needs, including departmental online workflow (notifications, routing, and
approvals).
Explore SunGard ONESolution options and verify if Performance Evaluation capabilities are
sufficient for the City’s needs or if a third-party Performance Evaluation software module will
need to be licensed and to ensure the solution can meet the requirements identified during
the needs assessment.
Consult with SunGard to ensure any chosen Performance Evalu ation solution can be
adequately interfaced/integrated with the ONESolution Human Resources module.
Work with SunGard to develop a customized project implementation and training plan.
Implement and provide customized focused training and follow the recomme ndations
included in the Project Planning and Implementation Best Practices initiative.
The City should include the above described review and requirement development as part of
the needs assessment and specifications development effort identified in the Human
Resources System Information System Improvement initiative.
Explore solution options and capabilities and consult with SunGard to ensure any solution
can be adequately interfaced/integrated with TRAKiT (i.e., Bluebeam).
Consider cost-benefit of available solutions.
Consider the selection and implementation of electronic plan review software as part of the
TRAKiT Land Management system implementation and the overall implementation of the
SunGard ONESolution system. See the ERP Gap Analysis and Improvement Plan and the
Land Management Implementation Assessment and Utilization initiatives.
Select new electronic plan review solution according to the Software Selection Best
Practices initiative.
Benefits
Access to employee information
Scheduling and maintenance of employee training
Employee job feedback
Staff incentives and rewards
Facilitation of communication
Recognition and rewards of good performance
Consistent formula for establishing, tracking, and measuring performance for evaluation
reviews
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
City of Palm Desert, CA
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25. R ecruitment and Applicant Tracking and Processing
Most human resource departments are busy managing a constant stream of employment
applications. Due to this volume of activity and the importance of a controlled process to
acquire important human resources, there is a need to automate the hiring process from the
moment an application arrives, all the way through the hiring and onboarding process.
Applicant tracking allows customization of online applications, so applicants provide all
necessary information. When applicants apply, they can also attach resumes and transcripts
that are immediately accessible by the HR Department. Thereafter, the software allows you to
mass-activate/inactivate applicants, view or report individual or group application s, and
construct personnel records (onboarding) once an applicant has been hired. Often, additional
workflow capabilities are offered to include the departments needing candidates so that they
can be engaged in the process. Online capabilities for applic ants are also an integral part of the
process within these application tracking systems.
Findings and Observations
The City primarily uses a manual process for applicant tracking and notification.
The City has a ONESolution Applicant Online license but the system has not yet been
implemented.
Recommendations
Consider conducting a comprehensive process review and needs assessment, including
departmental supervisors and managers to verify and identify the City’s applicant processing
needs.
The City should include the above described review and requirement development as part of
the needs assessment and specifications identified in the Human Resources Information
System Improvement initiative.
Work with SunGard to develop a customized project implementation and training plan.
Implement and provide customized focused training and follow the recommendations
included in the Project Planning and Implementation Best Practices initiative.
Consider using a third-party subject-matter expert (SME) assistance from an established
firm that has history and success in assisting with needs assessments and in providing
implementation assistance for People Management and HRIS systems.
Benefits
Automated process that tracks candidates and maintains the necessary documentation
System that provides a smooth interface for candidates to apply and determine status
Increased efficiencies through workflow and automation with the elimination of manual
process and shadow systems
Time savings and elimination of duplicate entry from integration with HR and Payroll
systems
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
City of Palm Desert, CA
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OPTIMAL TECHNOLOGY GUIDANCE
45 | 117
26. Timekeeping/Time Entry Assessment and Implementation
Findings and Observations
The tracking, recording, and storing of employee time and attendance information is a
significant undertaking. A manual system with repe ated entry and review steps often leads to
inaccurate reporting, payroll discrepancies, and lost data. Automated time management
systems can provide:
Single-occurrence data entry, with integration to time clock equipment
as needed
Standardized employment rules and implementation
Centralized database for electronic review of records
Consistent enforcement of vacation and sick policies, FLSA
requirements, and union rules
Web- and server-based options
Integration with other functions, such as accounting and/or payroll
Automated calculations based on user parameters
Such systems:
Reduce duplicate efforts, thereby saving valuable time and resources
Decrease inaccuracies and human error
Improve management of vacations, sick leave, and other absences
The City would like to implement a timekeeping system to eliminate the manual efforts and use
of paper and spreadsheet as well as reduce the amount of manual re-entry of employee time.
The City has a license for the SunGard ONESolution Timecard Online module, that is included
with the ONESolution Payroll module, but it has not yet been implemented.
Return-on-Investment (ROI) Considerations
In a software selection study conducted by Nucleus Research, an organization that transitioned
to an automated time-entry system, saw a return on investment within six months and an overall
return of 225% of their initial investment.6
Recommendations
Conduct a comprehensive process review and develop requirements for all timekeeping,
attendance, and accrual tracking needs.
The City should include the above described review and requirement development as part of
the needs assessment and specifications development effort identified in the Human
Resources System Information System Improvement initiative.
Explore solution options and capabilities and consult with SunGard to ensure any solution
can be adequately interfaced/integrated with TRAKiT (i.e., Bluebeam).
Consider cost-benefit of available solutions.
Consider the selection and implementation of electronic plan review software as part of the
TRAKiT Land Management system implementation and the overall implementation of the
SunGard ONESolution system. See ERP Gap Analysis and Improvement Plan and Land
Management Implementation Assessment and Utilization initiatives.
Select new electronic plan review solution according to the Software Selection Best
Practices initiative.
6 “ROI Case Study: Kronos Workforce Timekeeper Anonymous Healthcare Organization ”, Nucleus Research 2003.
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Determine if the ONESolution Timecard Online module meets the City’s needs. If not,
determine:
If a more robust timekeeping ONESolution module or system from SunGard is available,
and
If a SunGard ONESolution module or system is not available, consider third -party
options that have built in integration with SunGard ONESolution.
Implement and provide customized and focused training on the ONESolution Time Card
module or the more robust SunGard ONESolution alternative and follow the
recommendations included in the Project Planning and Implementation Best Practices
initiative.
Benefits
Consistent and standardized organization-wide time sheet system
Reduced manual processes
Increased processing volume
Reduced data entry and reduced data entry errors
Reduced payroll processing time (from improved processes, policies, and practices)
Single automated interface to HR, Payroll, Financial and other modules of the ERP system
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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27. Land Man agement Utilization
Findings and Observations
Land Management, also commonly called Community
Development, is a suite of application modules related
to this function, including:
Development Planning and Zoning
Permitting
Inspections
Code Enforcement
Recurring Revenue and Business Tax
Parcel/Address Management
Mobile/Field-based functionality
The City should expect significant productivity gains with a fully implemented, integrated land
management application solution.
Business licensing (business tax) and recurring billing/revenue is typically included in a land
management suite, due to the connection to a common address and parcel database, as well as
integration to permitting and code enforcement. Automation of licensing/tax applications
reduces paperwork, staff processing time, and increases citizen satisfaction by providing them
the ability to submit, renew, pay, and print business licenses online at their convenience.
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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The following illustration and table shows typical modules available in land m anagement
systems. We believe there are other modules provided by TRAKiT that the City will benefit from
licensing and implementing.
Industry-Typical Enterprise
Module Name
Current Available
Vendor Equivalent Module
Currently
Licensed Implemented
Potential
Process
Improvements
Land Management
TRAKiT
Planning Projects and Zoning Project TRAK Y In-process Y
Permitting PermitTRAK Y In-process Y
Inspections iTRAKiT Y In-process Y
Code Enforcement CodeTRAK Y In-process Y
Business Licenses Regulatory License TRAK Y N Y
Citizen Request Management CRMTRAK N N Y
Cash Receipting Cashiering Y In-process Y
Parcel/Address Management GeoTRAK Y In-process Y
GIS Viewer GIS Standard Y In-process Y
Mobile Code Enforcement iTRAKiT N N Y
Mobile Code Inspections iTRAKiT N N Y
Electronic Plan Reviews/Markup Bluebeam (third-party)
Application) Y In-process Y
Ad Hoc Reporting SSRS Y In-process Y
Online Capabilities
Planning Projects eTRAKiT Y In-process Y
Permitting eTRAKiT Y In-process Y
Inspections Scheduling/Requests eTRAKiT Y In-process Y
Code Enforcement eTRAKiT Y In-process Y
Business Licensing eTRAKiT Y In-process Y
Citizen Request Management eTRAKiT Y In-process Y
Payments eTRAKiT Y In-process Y
Electronic Plan Submittals eTRAKiT Y In-process Y
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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Recommendations
Consider conducting a needs assessment of all
unmet needs, additional functionality
requirements, additional modules needed, and
additional user training requirements.
The requirements that the vendor is not
capable of providing can then be dealt with by
other means, such as efficient work-arounds,
third-party applications, modifications, change
in processes and procedures, etc. This
process can also be used to inventory all reporting, as well as integration/interfa ce.
The above process may uncover benefits to acquiring additional TRAKiT software modules
and the need to contract for additional vendor training and implementation services.
Implement and/or reimplement applications and provide customized, focused traini ng.
Work with vendor to develop a customized project implementation and training plan.
Manage improvements following the recommendations included in the Project Planning and
Implementation Best Practices initiative.
If necessary, consider using a third-party subject-matter expert (SME) assistance from an
established firm that has history and success in assisting with needs assessments and in
providing implementation assistance for Land Management and specifically the TRAKiT
solution.
Benefits
Significantly greater workflow efficiencies within Planning, Permitting, Inspections, and Code
Enforcement
Reduced stressors and workload due to improved automation and reduction in manual
processes
Reduced risk of institutional knowledge reliant on highly manu al processes leaving the
organization due to staff turnover or retirement
Improved project and permit tracking and reporting
Potential for mobile laptop or tablet field units for inspectors and code enforcement officers
Automated time tracking and workload tracking of billable and non-billable hours
Improved efficiencies and improved services and customer experience at the counter
Online citizen access capabilities:
Improve community relations through 24-hour citizen access
Ability to automate inspection scheduling online
Eliminate time-consuming "status check" phone calls
Ability to apply and pay for permits online
Online inspection scheduling
Instant inspection result retrievals by contractors and applicants
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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28. TOT, STR, Licensing, and Other Recurring Billi ng Systems
Findings and Observations
A business licensing and recurring billing application
streamlines the tracking and management of licenses and
other billings for contractors, businesses, trades, hazardous
waste, alcohol sales, and many other types of licenses or
occupancy taxes. Automation of licensing and recurring billing
applications reduces paperwork, staff processing time, and
increases citizen satisfaction by providing them the ability to
submit, renew, pay, and print business licenses or other recurring transactions online at their
convenience.
As noted in the previous TRAKiT Implementation Assessment and Utilization initiative, land
management systems or suites, including TRAKiT, have Licensing and Recurring Billing
modules that are integrated with the other land management modules. The TRAKiT Licensing
and Recurring Billing module has these capabilities for business or other licensing, Transient
Occupancy Tax (TOT), and Short-Term Rental (STR).
The City currently has licensed the SunGard TRAKiT Regulatory Licensing Suite, but has not
yet implemented this module.
Recommendations
Conduct a needs assessment of all unmet needs and functional requirements as well as
training requirements. Include all uses of the system for TOT, STR, Business and o ther
licensing, and any other recurring billing needs.
Implement the ONESolution Regulatory Licensing suite and incorporate TOT and STR
functionality with this module as part of the existing Land Management (TRAKiT) system
implementation.
Follow the System s Selection and Project Planning and Implementation Best Practice
initiatives.
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29. Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Assessment and Selection
Maintenance and asset management of the City infrastructure, streets, sidewalks, parks, trails,
bridges, drainage, and culverts, etc., are managed mostly via manual processes on paper and
some minor automation. The City does not currently have a work order/maintenance
management system for their infrastructure assets.
The following is a list of typical maintenance and asset management software system
functionalities. It is not intended to be all-inclusive, exclusive, or organized by specific software
modules.
Maintenance and Asset Management Functionalities
Work Requests
Inspections and Condition Assessment
Work Orders
Preventative and Predictive
Maintenance
Facilities Maintenance
Asset Tracking
Warehouse Inventory
Parcel/GIS Location Management
GIS Integration
Report Writing
Costing and Budget Forecasts
Recommendations
CitySourced is not a work order system, and so a wo rk order/maintenance and asset
management system needs assessment should be conducted, identifying required
feature/function capabilities.
Review applicable manual processes and shadow systems, such as spreadsheets, to
determine automation improvements tha t will result in labor efficiencies.
Many ERP system vendors like SunGard ONESolution offer work order functionality. The
City should consider including these capabilities as part of the ERP Gap Analysis and
Improvement Plan initiative.
Apply the results of the needs assessment to research options and solicit quotes for a work
order/maintenance and asset management system following the approach outlined in the
Software System Selection Best Practices initiative.
Consider using a third-party subject-matter expert (SME) assistance from an established
firm that has history and success in assisting with needs assessments and in providing
implementation assistance for EAM/Work Order systems.
Benefits
Significantly greater workflow efficiencies within Maintenance Management, Work Orders,
and Infrastructure Asset Tracking
Reduced time and effort to provision services
Improved inspections
Increased staff and citizen satisfaction
Improved performance tracking, reporting, and measurement
Reduced stressors and workload due to improved automation and reduction in manual
processes
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Reduced risk of institutional knowledge reliant on highly manual processes leaving the
organization due to staff turnover or retirement
Improved project management and reporting
30. Mobile (Field -Based) Computing
Findings and Observations
The 21st century has brought an increasing demand for time
and resources. Because of the need for maintenance
personnel, inspectors, code officers, general field employees,
and other employees to work in the field or off-site, mobile
computing technology relieves bottlenecks in obtaining
information and producing reports necessary to perform their
functions and meet these demands. By providing field and
remote workers with the necessary equipment and software, they can:
Interact with necessary applications and databases in real time
View data or enter data in the field
Interact with GPS and field devices
Review, change, fulfill work orders, receive work orders/maintenance requests, and make
work order/maintenance requests electronically
Review, change, or request, receive inspection and maintenance scheduling
Remotely submit inspection and maintenance reports
Respond quickly to requests and questions from the public or other city staff and peers
Such off-site capabilities offer:
The ability to break the bonds of office facilities to complete work in the field
Increased productivity and improved time management
Centralized data that can be monitored in real time
Improved accuracy and reporting
Reduced paperwork and elimination of need to reenter data upon returning to the office
This is primarily a hardware and secure -wireless networking challenge, as software applications
that use browser technology require no additional software. For software programs that a re not
browser-based, we recommend consideration of virtual desktop technology.
Demand for remote access will continue to grow as staff becomes more portable.
Access to mobile applications for smart phones and tablets will be a portion of remote -
access demand.
The other major demand segment will continue to be remote access from laptops and
desktops.
Some software solutions that are designed for specific field operations, such as maintenance
work and inspections, may have smart applications (downloaded from an app store) or native-
written mobile device modules. These software modules generally have less functionality than
the full applications that are accessible from standard or ruggedized laptops. One major
advantage of these types of modules, however, is store-n-go technology, which allows a user to
continue working on a record, even if they are disconnected from a cellular or Wi-Fi connection.
Once the user is back in range with the cellular or Wi-Fi signal, the store-n-go capability
recognizes the reconnection and updates the information in the background. Store-n-go
functionality becomes even more critical if the jurisdictional/geographical service area does not
have full cellular or Wi-Fi coverage. It should be noted that virtual desktop technology does not
have store-n-go functionality.
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Staff Feedback
B&S – Laptop needed for the Building Director
B&S – Need to upgrade Supervising Plans Examiner laptop or upgrade laptops to tablets
(including inspectors)
CD – Commissioners / Council members could use tablets for agendas
CD – Need to have a general discussion about tablets and which staffers they would be a
useful for
CD – Need to address how people in field can access info back at City Hall
CD – Would be helpful to access the GIS system from the field
CD – Code would like access to real quest data in the field
ED – Our voicemails are not available via email on mobile devices
PW – Could use tablets/iPads for field staff
PW – Need uniform field staff communications (radios vs. cell phones)
PW – Need Traffic field staff to have access to the ARIES system
Return-on-Investment (ROI) Considerations
The Center for Digital Government (CDG) reports that one agency’s wireless laptop -based
inspection solution helped its land management division increase the num ber of daily
inspections. Another agency used laptops and electronic inspections to increase inspector
efficiency by 30 percent, saving the agency approximately $500,000.
A pilot mobility program in San Diego County helped the Land Use and Environment Gro up
(LUEG) save $130,000. Inspectors that participated in the project used mobile devices
connected via a mobile VPN and were 31 percent more productive than before. They
completed more inspections each day, and the agency could use less office space and fewer
telephone landlines.
Recommendations
Determine and inventory mobile/field computer needs by specific staff and department
including the full-use and mobile applications needed in the field or for required remote
access. These inventories should also be categorized based on the level of productivity and
public service gains/benefits.
Follow recommendations for mobile hardware recommended and supported by existing and
future core business department applications, such as inspections, work
orders/maintenance management, and any other applications that involve field -based
activity.
Implement a mobile device management (MDM) solution early in the deployment cycle and
integrate the MDM with inventory and Help Desk functionality.
Benefits
Improved operations management
Secure sharing of information
Enhanced communication
A more mobile and productive workforce
Faster, well-informed decision-making
Real-time access to information from the field
Increased ability for team members to communicate/collaborate from separate locations
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31. Electronic Content Management System (ECMS) Replacement
An electronic content management system (ECMS), also referred to as an electronic document
management system (EDMS), can be utilized for much
more than document scanning, document storage, and
records retention management.
Additional uses include:
Enterprise records management, including retention
management
Integrated document/process workflow management,
including internal request management, and routing
and distribution (accounts payable, accounts
receivable, human resources, project tracking, etc.)
Forms management
Project/process collaboration
Meeting minutes management
Meeting agenda management
Legislative management
Media management, including synchronized meeting
video streaming
Web publication/posting for all above items, if desired
Web access to ECMS, locally and remotely
Findings and Observations
The City is currently using Questys as their core ECMS
system. Questys has not kept pace with other ECMS system vendors that provide solutions
for local government.
The City is also using Granicus for Agenda and Media Management.
In addition, the City has deployed share drives for staff and departments to manage
documents and other files or content.
If the City were to consider a more modern ECMS solution with advanced functionality,
additional benefits would be gained, including:
Compliance – Improved and more efficient ability to comply with increasing volume and
complexity of regulations and retention requirements
Security – Improved physical abilities and accessibility security
Workflow Capabilities – Electronic capture, routing, and approvals of manual paper processes
Improved Efficiency – Increased productivity through automation of manual processes and
time reduction in retrieving and sharing information
Reduced Costs – Reduced costs of printing, paper, storage space, and labor
Reduced Carbon Footprint – Minimized paper waste
Improved Transparency – Increased citizen access to information via the Web, including full
automation of some documents immediately upon creation without additional proces sing or
labor
Disaster Recovery – Protection of vital records through storage redundancy
Improved Collaboration – More sharing and collaboration between staff and departments
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Staff Feedback
B&S – Have large file cabinets of Microfiche that are manually retrieved
B&S – Get a minimum of three requests a day that require staff to manually retrieve
Microfiche from cabinets
B&S – Using Scanning Services Inc. to scan all large volume scanning and large plans
Clerk – Should automate Committee/Commission Applicatio n Forms; sometimes difficult to
decipher handwritten applications
Clerk – Need to streamline records management
Clerk – Need a method of creating and tracking records from activation through the
deactivation and archival process
Clerk – Ideal if records could be created with one entry and it be fine-tuned during its life
cycle
Clerk – Should make City Ordinances and Resolutions available to public and internal staff
online/Self-Service
Clerk – Need greater availability of interactive City Forms
Clerk – Need reminders for completing Form 700 Statements of Economic Interest Filings
Clerk – Need to be able to better index responses for servicing repeat Public Records Act
requests
Clerk – Public Records Act Request Software needed to assist with gathering info rmation
and providing timely response
Clerk – Often takes two-to-three attempts before archiving of files is successful in Questys
Clerk – We are very fearful of a Questys failure and having to go back and re -scan and re-
process our permanent records
Clerk – Processing OCR on documents in Questys can take hours depending upon batch
size
Clerk – Unable to work in any other application on the PC when OCR takes place
Clerk – Try to OCR documents overnight, but not always
Clerk – Need to upgrade Questys or convert to different platform
Clerk – Need to clearly identify who the resident experts are for Questys
ED – Need improved record retention (file tracking)
FIN – Paper records need to be scanned/saved in electronic format as permanent records
FIN – Reduce paper to the extent possible by digital records especially when our file is not
the permanent record
Return-on-Investment (ROI) Considerations
A study conducted by Coopers and Lybrand found the following:
The average document is copied 19 times in its life.
90% of documents that are handled in an office are merely passed along or shuffled
through.
Costs to manage a single document:
$20 to file a document
$120 to find a misplaced document
$220 to replace a lost document
7.5% of all documents become lost.
An office that generates 200 documents a week will lose 15 of them, costing a total
$3,300.
3% of all documents are misfiled.
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An office generating 200 documents a week will misfile six of them, costing the
company $720.
A feasibility study by the North Dakota Information Technology Department regarding ECMS
technology found the following:
An organization that scans 600 documents per day can have the following benefits upon
implementing an ECMS:
An ROI payback period of 15 months
Gained productivity of almost $114,375
Subsequent annual savings of $110,295
An overall three-year benefit impact of $531,990
Save $36,556 in annual costs when compared to manually storing and managing
documents
A study conducted by Prescient Digital Media found that an ECMS saves emplo yees
between 50-60% in time searching for documents.
Recommendations
Consider conducting a needs assessment and process review with all departments to gain
an understanding of how the new ECMS system to replace Questys system should work
and what configurations, training, etc., would improve staff’s ability to utilize an ECMS
system to its fullest, provide more transparency to citizens, and what other departmental
applications integration would help improve the departments’ business processes.
Follow a software selection best practices approach to apply the needs assessment results
in developing an RFP, and selecting a vendor that meets citywide needs. The approach
outlined in the Software System Selection Best Practices initiative should be applied.
ECMS implementations on an organization-wide basis are commonly under-scoped and
under-funded, leaving municipalities with limited benefits.
ECMS implementations on a citywide basis are commonly spread over several fiscal years.
Review ECMS implementations in other local/regional municipalities that have implemented
ECMS systems in a similar manner as intended by the City to learn pitfalls and to assist in
ensuring an adequate budget.
Any solution considered should include integration to Granicus for agenda manag ement,
legislative management, and media management.
Integration between critical City systems should be included in the scope of this effort,
including ERP (ONESolution) and others.
Consider using a third-party subject-matter expert (SME) assistance from an established
firm that has history and success in assisting with needs assessments and in providing
implementation assistance for ECMS systems.
Benefits
Automated workflow and routing
Reduction in paperwork and related costs
Online document retention and archiving
Improved version and authorization control
Improved public records access
Increased information-sharing capabilities
Ability to provide Web posting and public access to residents
Integration with agenda management/legislative management/media management
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32. Legislative Management (Council Role Call, Voting, Resolution Actions)
Findings and Observations
Legislative management and reporting is the capability to manage legislative activities, including
resolutions, ordinances, ordinance numbers, roll call, dates, and related actions, that are
captured in real-time and retained to enable inquiry and reporting. In a manual environment,
this legislative information, such as ordinances, is often entered numerous times. When
automated, it only needs to be entered a single time.
Recommendations
Conduct a needs assessment and process review, and document needs.
Apply the needs and feature/function requirements from the process review to solicit
proposals and evaluate legislative management system options from Granicus.
Follow best practices per the Software Selection Best Practices initiative to select the
appropriate system.
Consider using the Legislative Management system for boards, commissions, and other
meetings requiring disclosure and dissemination to the public.
33. Council/Commissions Agenda Creation and Management Software
Automated agenda management systems provide access to information for all departments
involved in the agenda process, and are sometimes offered as
a stand-alone module or as part of an enterprise content
management system (ECMS), (see Electronic Content
Management System [ECMS] Replacement initiative).
Staff/Departments submit proposed agenda items online, and
supporting documentation or packets can be attached, enabling
automatic routing for approval through pre-configured
workflows. Approvers can receive email notifications with links
to items awaiting review. The system administrator or other
responsible parties add items to meetings, then prepare
agendas, finalize packets, and publish them. Agenda content is available online throughout the
process and is easily accessible to those with a role in the process.
In many instances, agenda management is also integrated with media management systems to
stream and record video and audio information, time stamp it, and tie it to the correlating
meeting agenda. Then, there is the ability to push/publish agendas, minutes, and media to the
City’s website.
Findings and Observations
The City currently uses Granicus for Agenda Management.
The City’s agenda processes follow the council calendar and agendas, Agenda packets,
and meeting minutes are integrated and accessible through the system by City employees
and by the public via the City’s website.
Simple workflows have been established for ro uting and revisions of packets during the
preparations process, and limited use of ticklers and notifications for due dates have been
established.
The City has considered and recognized the productivity, efficiency, and improved timelines
that are possible with an automated agenda management solution.
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Recommendations
Conduct a needs assessment and process review, and document needs, including the
development of detailed feature/function requirements for a new system.
Apply the needs and feature/function requirements from the process review to solicit
proposals and evaluate system options from various vendors.
Follow best practices per the Software Selection Best Practices initiative to select an
appropriate system.
It can be advantageous to coordinate the purchase and selection of an agenda
management system with the selection of a new ECMS system to replace Questys because
it includes the ability to ensure that the solution is integrated with the ECMS system. Many
ECMS vendors have agenda management modules or agenda management system
partners that have built-in integration with their ECMS system and integration with media
management (see Electronic Content Management System [ECMS] Replacement and
Council Meeting Media Management initiative).
Consider using the Agenda Management system for boards, commissions, and other
meetings requiring disclosure and dissemination to the public.
Consider using third-party subject-matter experts (SME) assistance from an established firm
that has history and success in assisting with needs assessments and in providing
implementation assistance for ECMS and agenda management systems.
Benefits
Time savings in manually disseminating and routing documents for review
Paper costs savings by disseminating and routing electronically
Easy archival and retrieval
View agenda items and related materials in real time
Provides public online access to agendas, minutes, and potentially audio/video
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34. Council Meeting Media Management
Findings and Observations
Governments and quasi-governmental entities all have councils, boards, commissions,
supervisory committees, etc. These board meetings require agendas, minutes, and recordings
management. Recording technology has expanded to include the capturing of audio and/or
video during these meetings. As a result of capturing these recordings, some open-access laws
now require access to this media by the public. Media Management systems provide the ability
to broadcast and manage media.
Media management systems:
Give citizens and the public convenien t access
to live and archived streaming through the
website
Reduce public inquiries with searchable, self -
service access online
Import agendas and synchronize indexed
video to eliminate hours of work
Manage and distribute unlimited meetings and
events (all completely automated)
Reach a broader public audience
Integrate closed captions with video
Help the organization understand and measure public participation with video analytics
The City currently uses Granicus for media management which provides public a ccess as
required. There is no integration with the existing Questys ECMS system but the desire is to
have fully integrated capability with ECMS in the future.
Recommendations
Conduct a needs assessment and process review, and document needs, including th e
development of detailed feature/function requirements for a Council/Board meeting media
management system.
Apply the needs and feature/function requirements from the process review to solicit
proposals and evaluate media management system options from va rious vendors.
It can be advantageous to coordinate the purchase and selection of a media management
system with the selection of a new ECMS system to replace Questys, because it includes
the ability to ensure that the solution is integrated with the ECMS system. Many ECMS
vendors have media management modules or media management system partners that
have built-in integration with their system and integration with media management (see
Electronic Content Management System [ECMS] Replacement initiative).
Consider using the Media Management system for boards, commissions, and other
meetings requiring disclosure and dissemination to the public.
Ensure that the media management system selected can be integrated with agenda creation
and management system, as well as the citywide ECMS system (see Electronic Content
Management System [EDMS] Replacement and Agenda Creation and Management
Software initiatives).
Consider using third-party subject-matter expert (SME) assistance from an established firm
that has history and success in assisting with needs assessments and in providing
implementation assistance for ECMS and media management systems.
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Benefits
Reporting and Metrics – Use system reporting and metrics to monitor the public
engagement level, mobile usage, page visits, etc.
Event Management – Schedule events to broadcast live or record from any video source
(camera, cable TV, tape).
Archive and Publish – Archived files automatically transfer to internal and external storage
and can be automatically published to the organization’s website.
Streaming – Leverage a media server for public streaming live and post live.
Integration with Agendas and Minutes – Import agendas and synchronize indexed videos
during meetings and, afterward, produce a public record on the website with the agenda
linked to the video.
Anywhere and Anytime Access – The public and staff can watch live streaming
broadcasts or play archived videos through the website. Viewers can jump to desired topics
through index points to review only the information or agenda items that are important to
them.
Public Searching – Public can find what they want through a searchable public record on
the website. All meeting audio, video, minutes, and agendas can be integrated.
Notifications – The public can often subscribe to the agenda, or to a particular search, to
receive notifications when new content is available.
35. Public Records Request Tracking an d Responses
Findings and Observations
The City Clerk’s Office and the City Manager’s Office expressed a desire to better track public
records requests. Some of the needs identified include:
The ability to log, track, and close public records requests
The ability to use search capabilities and annotation and redaction tools to prepare the
records for release
To use workflow to route to appropriate review and preparation participants, with the ability
for proper approval of final records to be released
To provide the ability for the public to submit a public records request online, and for the
owner of the request to be able to track progress and see the closure of the request
Recommendations
This desired functionality for managing public records requests has been implemented by
peer municipalities. To meet this need, several ECMS vendors have built forms, applied
Web publishing, and developed workflows that they include this functionality with their
ECMS solution. Refer to the Electronic Content Management System (ECMS) Replacement
initiative.
The City should ensure that this capability is included in the needs and feature/functions
provided to vendors that will propose the ECMS system.
If the City chooses an ECMS vendor that does not offer this capability within their solution,
the City can contract with the vendor or build for themselves the workflows and forms
necessary.
There are some other third-party tools for tracking and managing public records requests. If
that is the route chosen for the City, this third-party alternative must integrate with the City’s
ECMS system.
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36. Microfiche, Microfilm, and Paper Conversion to Digital
Findings and Observations
The City Clerk and several other departments have a significant amount of historical
information on microfiche, microfilm, and paper.
The equipment required to view and print microfiche and microfilm is obsolete and difficult to
maintain.
The City Clerk and other departments still need access to this historical information that is
on microfiche, microfilm, and paper. This information is viewed on a regular basis. For
example, the Building and Safety department receives two-to-four requests per day that
requires then to go to microfiche.
This media is aging, and is vulnerable to deterioration of time and event ually permanent
loss.
Recommendations
Many ECMS vendors have the personnel and equipment resources to convert microfiche,
microfilm, and paper to a digital format that can be indexed and stored for retrieval from the
ECMS system.
It is recommended that the City include these conversion services as a requirement when
selecting and contracting for the new ECMS system. It is also recommended that this
conversion be completed over the course of the multi-year implementation period with
“critical’ microfiche, microfilm, and paper being digitized in the first phase of the ECMS
implementation. Refer to the Electronic Content Management System (ECMS)
Replacement initiative.
37. Large -File Sharing Tool
Large-file sharing is often necessary when email systems or other sharing methods have size
restrictions.
Findings and Observations
The City is using several large-file sharing tools.
With various tools being used, there is a lack of consistency and limited management
control.
Several departments expressed a desire for standardized use of a single, common tool
across the organization.
Recommendations
Migrate all City users to a single, secure large-file transfer solution.
Complete a review and needs assessment of the City’s large -file sharing needs.
Follow best practices per the Software Selection Best Practices initiative, to select the
appropriate solution.
Ensure that this solution operates in a secure, supported environment, managed by the
City’s IS Department.
Benefits
Use of a single, standardized system
Improved support by City and IS Department
Consistency and uniformity
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38. Intranet Assessment and Implementation
Findings and Observations
An intranet has a similar function to the Internet and uses the organization ’s internal computer
network to house a website-structured presence to share information in a private and secure
manner. Generally, it is dedicated to internal use by the organization, staff, and management.
Intranets provide useful information, such as the ability to communicate within the organization
and reduce miscommunication by providing consistent informational and instructional content. It
also reduces the time spent requesting and distributing documents between and throughout
departments and the need for maintaining physical do cuments. Intranets can be used to:
Quickly communicate news, changes
in policies or benefits, and emergency
information
Promote a common culture
Offer a dynamic calendar of events,
activities, due dates, etc.
Important news and newsletters
Allow easy access to policies and
procedures, training manuals, or forms
Provide contact information for
departments, supervisors, and other
staff
Collaborate on City projects with contractors and vendors
Contain links to application-supported services (i.e., there may also be a link to Employee
Self-Services that are tied to the Human Resource and Payroll applications, enabling
employee capabilities to access electronic check stubs, electronic W -4 forms for filing
changes, or other HR services)
Other potential citywide intranet uses could include, but would not be limited to:
Increased City-employee communications
Tricks and tools that would benefit users
Contact information (internally and externally shared)
Major project-related information
Personnel forms
Benefits information
Policies and procedures
Administrative forms
Training libraries
Those who are most successful setup staff personal computers
to have the organization’s intranet site as the homepage that
launches whenever a browser is opened.
Recommendations
Conduct a citywide needs assessment for internal Department communications that could
be posted or stored on the intranet, such as frequently asked questions and frequently
requested information, so that employees can utilize the intranet’s self-service capabilities.
Consider integration of the intranet with future ECMS capabilities (see the Electronic
Content Management System [ECMS] Selection Services initiative).
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Make the intranet the default Internet browser home page for all City staff.
Use the intranet site as a method to reduce other mass employee communications, such as
email, flyers, and bulletin board posters (as applicable).
Design the intranet with tools to automatically convert the intranet content and presentation
components to a mobile-compatible display format, so employees can use their smart
phones and tablets to access the City’s intranet.
Provide training for employees to access self-service capabilities as users. In addition,
provide training for staff that needs to post content and prov ide self-service information to
ensure they can post and maintain content regularly.
There are many parallels between implementing an organization’s public facing website and
implementing an internal organization-wide intranet. It is recommended that the City
consider designing and building the intranet with the same tools and resources that were,
and are used, for the City’s public website. The City’s existing website vendor, Vision, offers
templates and structure for local governments. This will result in website/intranet tool costs
savings and keep the knowledge and skills required consistent for City IS Department that
will support the website and the intranet site.
Implement practices and make the intranet a component of the Governance and Steering
Committee responsibilities to ensure that the site is maintained regularly and remains
relevant and up-to-date for the City’s employee community (see IT Governance initiative).
Benefits
Reduction in miscommunication due to the use of a single -source communication location
Electronic Documents (decrease in the need for physical documents, such as procedure
manuals or paycheck inserts)
Electronic Forms (decrease the need for physical employee forms)
Increased employee productivity and collaboration
Remote access to information when outside the office
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39. Photo Management and Storage Software
Photo management and storage software (also referred to as photo library management) is a
robust way to store, retrieve, and manage photos, not to be confused with personal photo
storage tools such as Apple iCloud, Amazon, Dropbox, Flickr Google+, or OneDrive. The key
words are “robust” and “enterprise”. Photo management and storage software at a commercial
level is analogous to an enterprise ECMS, as described herein.
Enterprise photo management systems, unlike document management solutions, are optimized
and designed specifically for digital images and include all the capabilities required to manage
and operate a centralized and well-organized image collection.
Capabilities also include, but are not limited, to the following:
Enterprise photo management, including retention management
Centralized storage of photos, their associated data (indexes), and their organization within
the database
Security and user permissions with each group or department of users being restricted to
assigned areas of the database, including the ability to control rights to perform specific
operations/functions within those areas
Web server plug-ins that provide secure, read-only access to assigned portions of the image
collection over the Web or for integration with organization -wide or specific departmental
software applications
Ability to interact with various photo capture systems, including timed -based field cameras
Ability to review, manage, analyze groups of photos, and save composite collections
Secured database management to prevent photo loss and the ability to find a specific or
group of images from a large collection
Full database-oriented reporting capabilities, enabling search access to the organization’s
entire photo collection/library
Findings and Observations
The City is storing a very large number of photos from
various departments and operations, including automated
field based cameras, maintenance management photos,
historical and personal-interest photos, promotional photos,
etc.
There is no enterprise or citywide storage of photos, with
many stored at the project, functional, division, or
department levels.
The City needs the ability to have an enterprise system that
would provide consistency, ability to share and collaborate,
and better integration of these photos into operations or
operation software applications.
No formal City processes or policies for the management, back -up, and potential recovery of
these photos has yet been developed and documented.
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Recommendations
Complete a review and a needs assessment of City’s photo management requirements and
document the results.
Apply the results of the needs assessment to research options and solicit quotes for photo
management system solutions.
Follow best practices per the Software Selection Best Practices initiative, to select the
appropriate system.
40. Develop GIS Master Plan
Geographic information systems (GIS) are a critical citywide component to any municipality.
They provide a geographical map or picture to constituents and city staff to interact with City
services or for City staff to deliver service. GIS is a system that manages and displays digital
maps with various features and functionalities. GIS stores the shape of individual map features
(a street segment or a parcel of land) along with descriptive information (often called feature
“attributes”). In a GIS map of streets, the shape of each segment is stored along with the street
name. The segment can be located, queried, or labeled using that name. A parcel of land will
be linked to one or more tax records which can identify the owner, valuation, use, or many other
attributes. Layers of information can also be stored and selectively displayed, including utilities
and other services (water, sewer, gas, electric, telephony, data, etc.)
The development of a Geographic Information System (GIS) Master Plan is a detailed and
comprehensive process. Geography and GIS services play a role in nearly every decision the
City makes. Choosing sites, assets maintenance, planning distribution networks, responding to
emergencies, or redrawing boundaries—all of these issues involve questions of geography. A
GIS Master Plan would set forth procedures and methods used to determine where the City
envisions going with GIS in the future, which will include, but not be limited to:
Improvements to the GIS enterprise
Evaluating potential data sources and data needs
Evaluating hardware and software solutions
Updating the GIS database
Developing additional GIS applications
Staffing requirements
Prioritized resource requirements
Planning for the long-term maintenance of the GIS system and the data
Development of a GIS-specific budget tied to the various elements or initiatives within the
GIS Master Plan
Findings and Observations
Due to the extensive demands the various departments are requiring from the GIS and IT staff,
there needs to be a more comprehensive study for th e City’s GIS needs. There is a
tremendous role for GIS within the organization, and a detailed study is needed to address and
plan for future growth.
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Recommendations
Develop a comprehensive GIS Master Plan utilizing independent subject -matter expertise.
The Master Plan should include but not be limited to:
Improvements to the GIS Enterprise
Evaluating potential data sources and data needs
Evaluating hardware and software solutions
Establish the database and cartographic standards of the City
Updating the GIS database
Developing additional GIS applications
Staffing requirements
Training requirements
Benefits to the public using GIS as the entry point to online services
Prioritized resource requirements
Planning for the long-term maintenance of the GIS system and the data
Development of a GIS-specific budget tied to the various elements or initiatives within
the GIS Master Plan
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41. User Training and Support
Software systems are tools utilized to conduct business
operations. Like other tools, gaining greater utilization of
these software tools through sufficient training and installation
of other available software modules (tools) is key to significant
increases in productivity and greater efficiency, as well as
achieving cost savings in many areas.
Findings and Observations
Software applications that are underutilized will gain significant increases in staff productivity
if more training were provided.
A complete inventory of all applications and/or modules by department and user does not
currently exist.
This list can clarify and confirm licensing compliance, over/under seat license requirements,
and identifying training needs and user-responsibility roles, as discussed in the Application
Management Best Practices initiativ e.
Examples of requested training are included below.
Staff Feedback
B&S – Training for TRAKiT will be extensive
CD – Need training on the GIS System
CD – Need Vision-Live training
CD – Need training on CitySourced App
CD – Need training on Excel
CD – Need training on AutoCAD
Clerk – Need training on ONESolution
Clerk – Need Access database training
Clerk – Need training on Outlook
Clerk – Need training as it relates to being the first point of contact for many callers (e.g., in
person, phone, etc.)
Clerk – Need training on getting newer staff members up-to-speed with Questys
Clerk – Need training on VisionLive for managing and editing the website
Clerk – Need training on how to create maps and use those already available
Clerk – Need more training on website navigation; this would be helpful to assist public in
finding the information they need on the updated website
ED – Could use training on how to use iPad to review agenda packets, documents, staff
reports, agendas, etc.
ED – GIS training for day to day use would be helpful
ED – Need basic and advanced Excel training
ED – Need training on Outlook
ED – Need training on ONESolution
ED – Need training on City Source
ED – Need training on Adobe Acrobat X Pro
ED – Need training on Adobe Illustrator
ED – Need training on Publisher
ED – Need training on Access
ED – Need training on video editing training
ED – Need training on Photoshop
ED – Need training on ONESolution
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FIN – Need additional training on ONESolution
FIN – Need training related to utilizing and tracking short term rental payments
FIN – Need training related to utilizing and tracking property management payments
FIN – Need additional training on Excel
FIN – Need additional training on Word
FIN – Need additional training on Harvard Graphics
FIN – Need training on drilling down into information (e.g., links to detail or documents)
HR – Need training on PowerPoint
HR – Need training on Cognos or other report writing
HR – Need training on ONESolution HR and Financial modules
HR – Need training on intranet maintenance and development
HR – Need training on Adobe Live Cycle for creating interactive forms
HR – Need training on Excel
HR – Need training on Publisher
HR – Need training on Photoshop
PW – Need to get training on any new technologies we get
PW – Need website training for staff responsible for department website updates
PW – Should automate public works inspections (e.g., playground, Graffiti, etc.); these are
currently on paper
PW – Need a Work order system
PW – Need asset inventories for pavement, signs, signals, infrastructure, painted curbs, etc.
PW – Need remote sensing for traffic counts, parking occupancy, speed studies, traffic
congestion
PW – Need a building maintenance system
PW – Need Water Quality Management Plan (WQMP) reporting
PW – Need Annual water quality reporting
PW – Need Vehicle inspection reports
PW – Need Maintenance reports
PW – Need Fleet records reports
PW – Need Signal maintenance records/billings reports
PW – Need Facilities maintenance needs/activities reports
PW – Would be helpful to view signs, trees, infrastructure, etc. on a map
PW – Would be helpful to view Inspection records on a map
PW – Would be helpful to view Projects on a map
PW – Would be helpful to click on a location and obtain all information about that loca tion
PW – Would like to track hours, equipment, supplies, notes, etc. by work orders
PW – Do landscaping for about 33 districts
PW – Need to have Tree work orders update to date in the Tree Keeper system
PW – Maintenance on all 80 fleet vehicles is outsourced
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Return-on-Investment (ROI) Considerations
In a study conducted by Nucleus Research, an organization
drove productivity gains of up to 50% through ongoing,
successful user trainings7.
Recommendations
Complete the Applications/User Matrices by departmen t and
user.
Identify all current user license holders, as well as those that
need additional licenses.
Conduct a survey, by user, to determine what training would be helpful and to determine
actual need and planned attendees. Supervisors should drive this to elicit participation
when training is made available.
Determine strategies for accomplishing training needs:
Self-learning aids
Internal classes (internal or external trainers)
On-site vendor training
Lunch-and-learns
Go-to Application Champions
Training opportunities at software vendor annual user conferences
Create a repository of basic “how to” training aids and other training information (e.g.,
videos, past class information, etc.)
Consider procuring a screen capture video solution to assist with developing internal video
training aids.
Current and future needs can be evaluated and prioritized through a combination of
mechanisms, including the IT governance function.
Consider class attendance as a factor in performance evaluations. This can be
accomplished by having department management involved and agreeing to which classes
each employee would benefit from.
Consider efforts to reduce and/or limit the total number of software vendors and databases
whenever possible. This will redu ce and limit overall cost-of-ownership, support
requirements, training, and reporting needs, and improve overall integration capabilities.
Benefits
Improved operations management
Improved utilization and efficiency of software applications
Activation and use of existing functionality that is currently unknown, but important to the
City
Review and activation of new functionality provided in future applications software releases
Increased information sharing
Better identification of training needs
Increase training alternatives
Improved software administration (fewer staff required to service user community)
7 Nucleus Research, 2010.
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Other Initiatives
Initiative Findings and Observations Recommendations
42. PCard
Implementation
The City does not have
PCards in use.
The City has some
centralized credit cards to
make purchases for specific
situations.
Department have requested
the implementation of
PCards.
There are numerous options for
PCard services.
ERP vendors, including SunGard
ONESolution, have PCard
integration options.
Controls should be implemented,
including purchase dollar limits,
monthly limits, and merchant
category code restrictions, etc.
43. Fleet
Management
All costs, including gas and
maintenance fees, go to the
vehicle account and are not
charged to departments.
All vehicle maintenance is
outsourced and the City does
not have any mechanics.
City wants a simple Fleet
Management system to track
vehicles maintenance costs
and schedules so charges
can be charged to
departments.
Complete a brief needs assessment
to identify the capabilities and
requirements the City needs.
Many Work Order Systems also
provide Fleet Management
capabilities.
Include the selection of a fleet
management system as part of the
Enterprise Asset Management
(EAM) Assessment and Selection
initiative.
44. RealQuest
License/Seat
Count Increase
Requests have been made
by the staff/user community
for more RealQuest seat
subscriptions.
Determine the cost for the required
seats. Note: This is a recurring
subscription fee.
Place the acquisition on the
appropriate budget and acquire the
necessary subscriptions.
45. Driverless Car
Infrastructure
Requirements
Changes to the traffic
infrastructure will be required
for driverless cars to operate
within the City.
Continue research into traffic
infrastructure requirements and
available funding sources.
46. Traffic Signal
Management
Software and
Infrastructure
Assessment and
Replacement
Working with CVAG on
funding
Unknown, at this time, if
additional funding will be
required
Determine if City network
connectivity will be impacted
Determine if City-owned fiber will be
needed
47. Irrigation
Control System
The existing CALSENSE
irrigation system is far past
its end-of-life and needs to
be replaced.
Do an assessment to determine the
needs for the new replacement
irrigation system.
Develop and issue an RFP to get
price proposals.
Follow the recommended approach
included in the System Selection
Best Practices initiative.
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Initiative Findings and Observations Recommendations
48. Virtual
Emergency
Operations
System
Emergency Operations
Center software
Assess needs and budget
requirements
49. Radio System
Assessment and
Improvement
The radio system is aged
and is at least 25 years old.
The system uses a tower in
Indio and the City also has
their own Tower in the Yard.
Handhelds were replaced
about 10 years ago, and it
extended the life to where
the City is at today.
Some departments are
experiencing frequency and
equipment reliability issues.
Do an assessment to determine the
complete radio needs of the City.
Use a third-party radio subject-
matter expert (SME) and use their
industry knowledge and expertise to
assist in this project.
50. Riverside
County Connect
Participation in County-led
internet bandwidth/
broadband improvement
initiative
Determine if City-owned fiber will be
required
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IT Operations The IT Operations section addresses daily support
and maintenance of all IT infrastructure and user
support.
51. Help Desk Ticketing System
52. Mobile Device Management
53. Asset Management Automation
54. Network Management Tools (Alerts/Alarms)
55. IT Support Metrics
56. Desktop Management
57. IT Policies and Procedures
58. IT Procurement Practices
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51. Help Desk Ticketing System
Help Desk systems provide an easy way for users to submit requests. IT staff members can
assign tickets. The automated electronic, mail-based communications included in Help Desk
systems can allow users to track the progress of their tickets as IT staff members update the
status. Help Desk systems prevent item s from “falling through the cracks” by logging all
requests. Another key benefit of Help Desk ticketing systems is the collection and analysis of
metric data related to the number of requests submitted, resolved, and remaining open.
Findings and Observations
The City does not currently have a robust Help Desk system.
Staff members typically call IT to ask questions and resolve issues.
Phone calls are the most expensive vehicle to communicate Help Desk requests to the
IS Department.
Recommendations
A Help Desk ticketing system should be utilized to track staff productivity and service.
Users should be strongly encouraged to utilize the Help Desk ticketing system and email
to report issues.
Metrics related to meeting Help Desk service levels should be developed and tracked on a
weekly and monthly basis.
Each month, summaries of Help Desk tickets opened and closed should be presented to the
IT Steering Committee.
IT Steering Committee members should be prepared to discuss any Help Desk issues or
festering problems during the monthly meeting.
Benefits
Central ticketing system
Availability to many users
Increased resolution rates
Support for all devices
Improved user communication, experiences, and satisfaction
Better diagnostics and problem identification
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52. M obile Device Management
Mobile device management (MDM) software is a collection of applications that allows
management, distribution, usage, and maintenance of laptops, tablets, and smart phones.
Additional features allow configurations to be done on devices to disco urage wrongful use and
reduce individual device maintenance.
Findings and Observations
MDM provides the ability to see and control all mobile devices entering the enterprise,
whether provided by the City or are part of a Bring Your
Own Device (BYOD) program.
A key feature of MDM products is the ability to “wipe” a
partition on the device if it is lost or stolen.
The IS Department currently supports approximately
thirty (30) mobile devices, including laptops, smart
phones, and tablets.
Recommendations
Research, pilot, and select MDM software.
Products that integrate with the Help Desk system or inventory system should be given
top priority in any evaluation.
Benefits
Improved staff efficiency and mobility
Support for all devices
Less time manually managing and monitoring
Increased use of remote access
Easier distribution of software
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53. Asset Management Automation
Asset management automation is a computer-aided system for asset maintenance and
management functions, which include asset management, inventory, deployment, and security-
patch management. The automation features allow reduced manual processes, allowing more
efficient processing and monitoring of activities.
Findings
Asset management systems automate network and desktop inventory tasks.
Asset management systems are often integrated with Help Desk systems .
Recommendations
When defining requirements for a Help Desk system, consider asset management needs.
Hardware Assets Configurations
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54. Network Management Tools (Alerts/Alarms)
Network management is the general term used for the activities, procedures, and tools that
relate to the operation, administration, provisioning, and maintenance of computer network
systems, effectively keeping the network up and running smoothly, while also monitoring the
system to quickly identify potential problems.
Findings and Observations
The City does not utilize a network management tool.
The City does not currently maintain a baseline of bandwidth utilization.
This baseline is very valuable in justifying bandwidth upgrades.
Bandwidth utilization is also a critical component in troubleshooting slow response times.
IT does not use a comprehensive tool for monitoring alerts and analysis of performance data
from routers, switches, servers, and other SNMP-enabled devices.
Some alerts and alarms are precursors to failure.
Others provide IT with early notification of failures.
Monitoring can provide IT 24-hour notification to problems, even if users are not present.
Network management software can also provide availability m etrics for IT applications.
In many cases, will notify IT of problems before user community notices.
Moves IT from reactive to a more proactive posture.
Recommendations
Procure and implement a network management system that can
provide alerts and alarms across the enterprise (e.g.,
SolarWinds, What’s-Up Gold, etc.)
If the City utilizes HP network equipment as a part of the
network refresh, consider the HP IMC network management
tool.
Provide for the development of baseline bandwidth and usage
measurements.
Create alerts and alarms to notify staff before a failure.
Provide justification for bandwidth and/or performance upgrades.
Develop a matrix of triggers for various devices (e.g., server disk
space, bandwidth utilization percentage, etc.)
Implement matrix values and adjust.
Develop bandwidth utilization baseline over time.
Develop availability metrics for applications and systems.
Benefits
Less time manually managing and monitoring
Increased utilization
Increased resource access
Centralized access to multiple applications and platforms
Early warning capability, allowing for intervention and incident avoidance
Network Management
Network Device
Monitoring
Performance
Monitoring
Bandwidth Monitoring
Firewall Management
Router/Switch
Management
Proactive Monitoring
Threshold
Customizations
Altering
Network Interface Stats
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55. IT Support Metrics
Findings and Observations
The City employs three full-time IT staff members and one GIS staff member.
One of the full-time staff members spends most of the time providing Help Desk or
Customer Service support.
Another IT staff member spends a significant amount of time supporting the Golf Course.
The GIS staff member supports all GIS Help Desk and enhancement requests.
IT does not have Help Desk ticket response-time or resolution-time goals.
These goals are usually proposed by IT and agreed to by the departments.
Recommendations
Formalize IT support roles within the department.
Develop training programs, job descriptions, and career goals based on assigned roles.
Develop Help Desk ticket response-time and resolution-time goals based on urgency.
Track and report on these goals during IT Steering Committee meetings.
Priority Response Time Resolution Time
Urgent (multiple staff members unable to function) 2 hours 75% resolved in less than 4 hours
High Priority (single system down or critical function
unavailable) 4 business hours 75% resolved in less than 8 hours
Medium Priority (a single program or function does not
work) 8 business hours 75% resolved in less than 16
business hours
Low Priority (issue reduces productivity, but work-
around exists) 16 business hours 75% resolved in less than 1 week
Track number of tickets assigned, priority, response time, and resolution time by team
member.
56. Desktop Management
The concept of desktop management refers to the comprehensive approach of managing all
computers within an organization, including laptops and other devices. Tasks include installing
and maintaining hardware and software, setting up spam filters, and providing user permissions.
As security-related tasks have increased over the years, desktop management is also providing
more patch management (code changes), corrections against viruses and spyware, and
controlling greynet applications (programs installed without permission).
A desktop management (DM) system is a framework for managing and keeping track of the
hardware and software components of an organization’s computers.
Findings and Observations
A desktop management system is used on a limited basis.
Centralized patch management and distribution has been implemented.
Staff members are utilizing manual and redundant processes to maintain the desktop
environment, which is time-consuming and inefficient.
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Recommendations
Purchase and expand the use of desktop management systems.
Expand the existing patch management tool to include software distribution.
Standardizing hardware and software platforms provides the following:
Reduced spyware infections
30% reduction in Internet bandwidth usage
Reports summarizing PCs needing updates
Increased distribution of antivirus updates
Reduced time spent managing virus protection
57. IT Policies and Procedures
Findings and Observations
The City IS Department has a limited number of IT policies documented. The City expressed
the desire to expand and tighten policies. They also want to ensure policies are in place to
ensure that the organization is protected.
Recommendations
Revise and create a limited number of IT policies and procedures, including, but not l imited
to, the following:
Encryption Policy
Data Usage
Security Awareness Training Policy
Web Filter Exceptions
Electronic Information and Email Retention Policy (currently in draft form)
Computer Security Incident Response Policy
Personally Identifying Information (PII) Protection Policy
Include HIPAA and PCI compliance requirements.
Remote Access Policy
Password Policy
Utilize the IT Steering Committee to review policies and procedures and facilitate
communication throughout the organization.
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58. IT Procureme nt Practices
Findings and Observations
The City has a small degree of technology-oriented procurement practices in place. These
procurement practices should be expanded to include more detail and address different
procurement types, including:
Commodity systems
Complex systems
Highly complex or expensive systems
Oversight of the procurement process by IT and the IT Steering Committee should also be
included as a practice.
Recommendations
For commodity systems where several vendors provide very similar prod ucts, if three quotes
are required by City policy, the City should consider creating an open RFP that does not
specify a product manufacturer, but provides vendors with specifications that must be met.
Encourages increased vendor participation.
Increases v endor participation, which often results in lower pricing and better products .
For complex systems, the City should consider procuring installation services from the
vendor supplying hardware and software, or other third -party implementers.
“Complex systems” are defined as those costing more than $50,000 or requiring more
than 80 hours of third-party implementation assistance.
Reduces chance of finger-pointing for poor design, damaged product, or poor
installation.
For highly complex or expensive systems, the City should consider including all components
in the RFP: final design, installation, construction, testing, conversion, post -implementation
support, and knowledge transfer.
Includes procurement of complex systems that may cross budget years because of cost
considerations.
All components should be practically considered and integrated .
For oversight, before approval of purchase of a complex system or a system requiring three
bids, the IT Steering Committee should review any complex or highly complex sys tem
procurement and Finance/Purchasing should require the following of the IS Department:
A diagram of the system
High-level implementation plan (can be one page of bullet points)
A bill of material that includes all components, list price, quantity, disco unted price, and
ongoing maintenance
Costs associated with final design, installation, any construction, testing, conversion,
post-implementation support, and knowledge transfer
A vendor cost matrix and assurances that all responses are truly comparable
A written recommendation
In general, the City should follow best practices for IT hardware and software replacement
and procurements.
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59. Enterprise Applications Support Specialist
Findings and Observations
Local government agencies increasingly understand the direct correlation of effective
applications utilization, organizational efficiency, and productivity gains. As described
throughout this document, increasing applications utilization is key for the or ganization to do
more with the same labor resources. Additionally, institutional knowledge too often leaves the
organization through retirements and other employment separations, because many processes
and procedures are inadequately automated. Typically, agency goals of improved transparency
and constituent services are also accomplished through various software programs that
automate and streamline processes.
Most organizations have a blend of application/business analyst skill sets within the ir business
departments and their IT department. However, we have yet to encounter a mid-sized agency
with adequate resources to meet the organization’s needs.
To meet these needs, IT departments are beginning to transform their overall department
structures (over time) to take on more responsibility in hiring, training, retaining, and managing
applications support services. This trend is being made possible, in some measure, by the
streamlining of typical IT department operations through productivity and monitorin g tools.
Typical applications support staff proactively handles Help Desk needs related to business
department applications, business process analysis, applications training, applications setup
and configurations, ad hoc report writing, and database administration.
It is not unusual to designate applications support staff for the following major applications
systems:
ERP (Accounting, Finance, and People Management)
Maintenance Management (Work Orders and Asset Management)
EDMS (Electronic Document Management)
Personnel Management
Permitting
Contact Management
CAD/RMS and Citations
Recommendations
The organization should consider adding an application/business analyst position(s) to the
IS Department to provide better support to department software programs that are the
backbone of organization operations.
Develop an Information Services Portfolio documenting IT roles and responsibilities related
to all organization applications.
Departmental staff should be provided with additional training in applications s ystems and
report writing.
Below is an example job description for an Application Support Specialist.
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Enterprise Applications Support Specialist (SAMPLE)
Description
Under general direction, coordinate and manage activities related to the support, deployment,
configuration, and usage of departmental applications systems. This includes assistance with
applications system selection, implementation, project coordination, management of interfaces,
applications setup and configurations, business process reviews, and custom reporting.
This individual will apply technical, communication, analytical, and problem -solving skills to the
analysis of business processes for business applications software systems to improve
productivity and efficiency in the organization’s departments.
The position will be responsible for providing expert troubleshooting, resolution, and reporting
on business applications issues.
Functional areas this individual will support may include finance, human resources, public
works, building and safety, public safety, and water utility applications, as well as other
associated functions.
Other related duties may be required, as assigned.
Duties
Assist department subject-matter experts in the resolution of enterprise applications
software-related Help Desk tickets.
Work closely with department managers, division leads, and applications users, to
document and/or design/redesign effective business processes and associated business
applications, including projects that require effective implementation or reimplementation.
Make recommendations on improvements to business processes and applications, with the
goal of delivering enhanced service and outcomes (e.g., faster permit processing times,
automating current manual or inefficient processes, etc.)
Manage software improvements for various departments. These activities include
procurement recommendations (e.g., cost-benefit analyses, software configuration and
implementation/re-implementation, etc.); collaboration in testing configuration s with
personnel of affected departments; communication with internal customers, network and
server administrators, and vendors to ensure that applications systems are being utilized to
their full potential.
Provide project coordination and oversight of multiple applications system projects.
Assist with research of applications software products and services and coordinate
feasibility studies for applications, software, and system products under consideration for
purchase, and provide findings.
Develop and deploy standards, methodologies, and best practices for applications
deployment, business process improvement, applications interfaces, and report writing.
Document procedures, applications interfaces, service -level agreements, and other
methodologies related to applications systems.
Collaborate in the testing of applications, and communicate with network and server
administrators, vendors, and software developers to ensure quality assurance and fulfillment
of contractual obligations.
Develop, implement, and disseminate information on best practices for information
technology and applications support.
Compile and maintain an inventory of all applications software and system assets and their
corresponding contracts and agreements, documenting system config urations and change
management.
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Coordinate training, including oversight of training materials and user procedures and
training curriculum; facilitate training sessions as necessary. Develop and maintain user
documentation, implementation, and maintenance plans.
Oversee the maintenance, support, and upgrade of existing software applications and
systems; coordinate and communicate upgrades, enhancements and changes with vendors
and internal customers.
Maintain a secure information technology environment fo r software applications. Oversee
applications security administration, update processes and schedules, notifying users of any
potential service interruptions.
Participate in integration, initialization, and interfacing between multiple systems, either
through in-house or outsourced development, when required.
Analyze technical literature for systems, and provide explanations understandable to end -
users, often in the form of user manuals or training materials.
Perform related duties as assigned.
Qualifications
The following generally describes the knowledge, ability, and education required to successfully
perform the job duties.
Knowledge
Windows operating systems and applications, including MS Office, MS SQL, Outlook, and
other applications software
Government business processes and the systems that support them; agency business
systems may include: Financials, timekeeping, utility billing, human resources, payroll,
asset control systems, inventory, work orders, land management, building per mits, utility
billing, and citizen request management, among others
Current technology goals, objectives, and technological trends
Database knowledge, including a working understanding of MS SQL, SQL queries, report
writing, applications interfaces, and data import/export methodologies
Principles of project management, including training and vendor management
Office procedures, methods, and equipment, including computers and applicable software
applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, and databas es.
Principles and practices of applications system development, evolution, and product life
cycles, including sustainability planning for applications systems
Applications system security principles and best practices for ongoing system security,
including related concepts of user applications roles/passwords, single sign -on, and Active
Directory
Abilities
Understand, plan, and coordinate business applications systems implementations and
upgrades.
Review and assist in evaluating the work of professional an d support staff.
Gather and document business requirements and processes.
Communicate ideas, directions, and requirements clearly and concisely, both orally and in
writing.
Understand and communicate ideas in a technical, but user-friendly language.
Perform duties appropriate to classified system privileges. Maintain professional handling of
and protection of confidential and secure information.
Commit to the highest standards of moral and business ethics, including organizational
values.
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Work in a team environment, understanding the customer service and supplier model and
how it is used in an internal support environment.
Prepare clear and concise reports, including metrics, service -level agreement summaries,
test plans, cases, and test scripts.
Interpret and explain agency policies and procedures.
Manage projects in a timely manner.
Work with information system users under challenging conditions and short deadlines.
Set priorities based on value to the organization.
Operate office equipment, including com puters and related word processing, presentation,
spreadsheet, and database applications.
Foster communications between the user community, project management, contractors, and
all levels of management.
Education and Experience
Any combination of education and experience that would likely provide the required knowledge
and abilities qualifies a candidate for the position. Typical education, training, and experience
may include:
Education/Training
Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, with major course work in
computer science, information technology, business administration, etc.
Experience
Three years as a business or systems analyst, supporting a broad range of departmental
applications systems, including business process improvement, and applications
administration, implementation, and upgrades
Five years of general IT support or IT analysis (or similar) for a medium -sized
organization supporting Microsoft applications
One to three years in coordination and/or project management of applications
implementation or upgrades
IT Security Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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IT Security
IT Security addresses all security systems and
practices, including disaster recovery, to protect
systems and data.
60. Disaster Recovery Planning
61. Backups
62. IT Security Assessment
63. PCI Compliance Review
64. Records and Data Retention
65. Windows Active Directory
66. Logging and Audit Trails
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60. Disaster Recovery Planning
Findings and Observations
A Disaster Recovery plan is not currently implemented.
A room at Public Works (Corporation Yard) has been identified as a secondary data center
for disaster recovery planning.
Service-level agreements (SLAs) are not in place for application recovery in the event of a
disaster.
Utilizing a City-owned secondary site for resilient Internet connectivity and off-site backups is
a best practices methodology.
Utilizing cloud-based backup and disaster recovery for tertiary recovery needs is becoming a
best practice.
Recommendations
Develop a Disaster Recovery Plan and strategy.
Consider two disaster recovery scenarios when developing strategies:
Loss of main computer room
Major disaster eliminating all area communications, the Administrative Offices, and IT
infrastructure
Consider cloud-based disaster recovery for non-public safety systems.
Evaluate applications portfolio and determine the SLA for each application for restoration.
Develop strategies for restoration of high-priority applications.
Begin to implement, based on strategy and application priority.
Test portions of plan each year.
Benefits
Emergency preparedness compliance
Improved communication
Awareness of procedures
Better diagnostics and problem identification
Reduced risk and liability
Faster, well-informed decision-making
Identification of business-critical functions
Decreased recovery times and exposure to system failures
Awareness of immediate actions
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61. Backups
Findings and Observations
The City utilizes Symantec Backup Exec 2012.
Backups are made to tape and are taken off-site monthly.
Some backups are to tape only.
Backup media is not encrypted.
The City does not have sufficient equipment to test a full system restoration.
Recommendations
Revise backup procedure to include weekly off-site
backups.
Backup all data to disk and then move to tape.
Encrypt all backup media.
When procuring additional disk space, move to disk-
based, on-site backup and cloud-based off-site backup
for non-public safety data.
Create secondary copy of data in backup Corp Yard computer room .
Create tertiary copy of data in cloud for Disaster Recovery.
When possible, test full system restoration.
Test full restoration of a major database or system every six months, at a minimum.
62. IT Security Assessment
It is a best practice to conduct an IT Security Assessment every three years. Penetration
testing should be performed annually or when major firewall changes are made.
Findings and Observations
An IT Security Assessment has not been performed at the City.
We believe the City should implement the recommendations in Year 1 of the IT Master
Plan before contracting for a Security Assessment.
The City does not have a central system log or activity log storage and management
solution.
The City does not maintain an Active Directory change management audit trail.
Recommendations
Redesign and implement IT security as a part of the Active Directory upgrade
implementation.
Procure a solution to provide centralized system logging and activity login.
Procure a solution to provide Active Directory-related audit trails.
Develop security policies and procedures.
Upon completion of the above recommendations, conduct a more global third-party IT
Security Assessment.
Benefits
Improved performance and efficiency
Meets compliance requirements and industry best practices
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63. PCI Compliance Review
Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance can reduce credit card transaction fees by complying
with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) for credit and debit card
transactions. The major card brands (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB)
issued the PCI-DSS to enhance the protections in place against the theft of cardholder data and
require all merchants and service providers who store, process, or transmit payment card
information to comply with its provisions.
Findings and Observations
Credit cards are accepted as a form of paym ent at the City.
Credit card transactions are cloud -based.
Recommendations
All payment card data should be separated from the City’s
data network.
Budget for and conduct a PCI Assessment.
Interim measures:
Ensure all payment card machines are PCI-compliant
and utilize chip and pin technology.
As a point of policy, prohibit emailing of credit card or personal identifying information
(PII).
As a part of policy, prohibit storing credit card numbers either on paper or electronically.
Inventory all forms and ensure that none contain credit card numbers.
64. Records and Data Retention
Findings and Observations
The City has a sub-optimal email archive solution.
Email archiving can drastically reduce time spent gathering emails for Public Records
Requests.
Electronic records retention durations should mirror paper electronic records and data
retention durations.
As with paper records, timely destruction is important.
A policy for email retention is not in place.
Records retention is not applied to backups.
Recommendations
Inventory all forms of electronic records storage at the City.
Implement an email archiving solution and migrate existing archive folders to the archive
appliance.
Develop procedures for electronic records retention for the various record types.
Implem ent procedure for records retention and subsequent destruction of electronic
records.
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65. Windows Active Directory
Windows Active Directory (AD) is a central directory structure that provides authentication to
network resources (files, printers, applications, and more). Groups and organizational units can
be created in AD to lessen the ongoing maintenance requirements of adding and deleting user
rights. Domain controllers are Windows Servers running a version of AD Domain Services.
Findings and Observations
Domain controllers are also used as file servers.
The Active Directory domain is Windows 2008.
IT security best practices for password management
have not been followed.
Routine password change policy has not been
implemented.
Recommendations
As a part of the recommended file server upgrade,
upgrade all AD domain controllers to Windows Server
2016.
Move non-AD services to other servers.
Implement redundant domain controllers by placing
another domain controller at the City Public Works
facility; ensure separation of services between domain controllers.
Implement integration between AD and Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service
(RADIUS) to provide a means for centralized authentication for network device
management.
Develop and implement an IT password security procedure based on best practices.
Specifications for future application software should include the requirement to integrate with
AD.
Benefits
Improved functionality and security
Meets industry compliance standards
Enhanced feature sets are available that were once non-existent
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66. Logging and Audit Trails
Audit trails and logging transactions have become an important part of computer forensics. In
many cases, client audit trail or system log information has been utilized to determine
individuals responsible for specific activities. The ability to determine responsibility for actions is
an important part of maintaining the environment.
Findings and Observations
Firewall logs are stored on the firewall.
Server and switch logs are not collected.
Roles within the domain servers should be verified to validate resiliency.
An audit trail of Active Directory changes does not exist.
Recommendations
Purchase active directory audit trail software (i.e., AD Audit Plus from Manage Engine).
Implement a SYSLOG server and collect all logs from network devices.
Create a log retention policy.
Logs should be reviewed for anomalies weekly, at a minimum.
Benefits
Improved functionality and security
Meets industry compliance standards
Telecommunications Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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Telecommunications The Telecommunications system is a critical tool for
local government entities. It enables the ability to
communicate effectively with constituants and deliver
high standards of service. Telecommunication is also
a key element in teamwork, allowing employees to
collaborate easily from wherever they are located.
67. Telecommunications Network Assessment and
Inventory
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67. Telecommunications Network Assessment and Inventory
Findings and Observations
An audit of the City’s telecommunications system and
services can determine if the City is experiencing the most
cost-effective and efficient usage. It is recommended that
such audits be performed by independent consulting firms
with no connections to any particular equipment or service
providers. Additionally, a multi-faceted approach should be
used for evaluation, and often consists of:
Telecommunications service inventory and billing review
Tariff rate application review
Contracted rate application review
Competitive alternative service or bundle comparison
By auditing the existing services, the City may be able to consolidate equipment or services,
identify inaccurate records, and negotiate new contracts, thereby reducing costs.
The City has never conducted an audit of the telecommunications infrastructure and, in many
cases, is paying rates that could have been reduced by tens of thousands of dollars per year
several years ago. Conducting a physical audit will result in immediate savings, once the
network infrastructure and new telephone system is updated. The telecom physical audit is a
prerequisite to both update projects.
Best Practices
Sustainability Planning
Return-on-Investment Considerations
Return-on-Investment (ROI) Considerations
Per CLIENTFIRST, preliminary telecommunications service cost savings after implementation of
the new municipal area network and VoIP phone system are estimated between $1,000,000
and $1,250,000 over 10 years.
Recommendations
Initiate telecommunications bill and services audit.
Ensure audit is only done by a qualified, independent, telecom consultant with no vendor
relationships and no reselling of telecom services.
Example Project Scope
Phase 1: Billing and Service and Equipment (S&E) Documentation Review
Collection of Bills and S&E Records
Review of current/past bills
Identification of billing errors
Review of carrier S&E records
Review of equipment maintenance contract
Development of detailed audit database tool
Review of findings
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Phase 2: Physical Verification
Physical Audit to v erify existing and required equipment and lines
Use of line and service test equipment to identify actual lines installed for each location
Walk-through of all facilities to inventory equipment and lines
Phase 3: Telecommunications Services Application and Network Topology Review
Review of appropriateness of installed services
Identification of comparable lower-cost service types and offerings
Review of network design and application of lines and services
Determination of operational enhancements or alternatives to improve services and lower
costs
Phase 4: Findings and Recommendations Workshops
Review of projected savings and credits
Recommendations for improved service quality and lower costs
Review of competitive vendor alternatives
Consolidation of vendors and/or bills
Negotiation of rate restructuring
Voice and data telecom services network alternatives and projected lower costs
Phase 5: Credit/Refund Pursuit
Verification of completed credit and billing changes
Verification of correct application of credits
Monitoring of additional months of billing to ensure continued compliance
Best Practices Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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Best Practices
Best Practices are methods that are recognized as
consistently providing better results than those
achieved with other methods. We believe that the
following best practices will enhance the City’s
ability to select, procure, and maintain solutions
that are more effective in the future, as well as
improve overall productivity of staff.
68. Return-on-Investment Considerations
69. IT Governance
70. Applications Management Best Practices
71. Applications and User Licensing Inventory
72. Training Room
73. Software Selection Best Practices
74. Project Planning and Implementation Best Practices
75. IT Project and Services Portfolio
76. Cloud Computing
77. Maintaining Software Updates
78. Sustainability Planning
79. COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related
Technologies)
80. ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library)
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68. Return -on-Investment Considerations
IT Infrastructure, Operations, and Support
Limiting the number of software and technology vendors supporting City functions will decrease
IT infrastructure operational costs and support costs in the medium -to-long term. The following
is a list of technology areas impacted when determining the number of applications necessary to
support and maintain an organization’s core business solutions:
Hardware – Servers required to house the applications
Software – Additional software, such as key operational software applications, and the
number of different database tools required to support core applications
Licensing – Increased licensing due to an increased number of vendor applications and
various associated database tools
Business Continuity – Increased Disaster Recovery Planning effort, testing, and recovery
complexity to support multiple-vendor applications
Support Costs – IT support costs for hardware and software as vendor application volumes
increase
Operation Costs – Increased training for employees to meet expertise requirements as
more vendor applications and different database tools are introduced
Further analysis outside of the scope of this project would be required to determine specific
potential cost savings.
Departmental Labor Costs
Many organizations do not adequately understand the impact that improved automation —and
the resulting reduction in manual processes and shadow systems—will have when considering
implementation of new systems or conducting process improvement analysis. Most productivity
analyses show that, over time, labor cost savings far exceed the cost of reasonable automation
efforts. The savings associated with the avoidance of one new hire or the elimination of a
position due to attrition may be $40,000 to $70,000 or more per year (including total payroll,
taxes, benefits, and other costs). The life of some new systems should be over ten years,
making the savings from the avoidance of just one new hire and/or elimination of vacated
positions the equivalent of $400,000 to $700,000 over ten years. Ten years should be the
minimum expected life cycle for major/large applications systems.
Return-on-Investment (ROI) for Applications Systems
Improved utilization of applications systems can result in immediate and sustained savings in
time spent performing specific tasks or processes. These individual improvements do not
always equate to immediate, “hard” savings. They may result in intangible benefits to the City,
the population that the City serves, or cumulative savings from reduced long -term personnel
needs.
User Training and Support
Applications software is continually evolving. Improvements and enha ncements are made
yearly. Maintaining staff efficiency and improving productivity over time requires ongoing
training of all staff. Users are typically not trained on all aspects or capabilities of particular
software applications or other technology-based tools during initial implementation. Therefore, it
is important for the organization to develop methodologies to carry out functionality use,
reporting, and training requirements in order to utilize the City’s important technological assets
to their fullest potential over time.
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Calculation Examples
Whenever possible, we recommend that staff calculate tangible and intangible benefits when
requesting approval for a project. The following calculations can be utilized in those efforts. We
believe in being conservative and practical. Exhaustive ROI studies should not be necessary.
Focusing on a limited number of reasonable examples, as outlined here, should normally be
sufficient to provide adequate justification for strategic projects.
Labor Efficiency Savings = Labor Hours Saved X Gross Hourly Rate
Tangible Labor Cost
Savings = New hire avoidance, elimination of position through
attrition, consolidation of work load and positions, etc.
Hard Cost Savings
Hardware
Software
Maintenance
Inventory reductions
Intangible Benefits
Increasing levels of service
Improved service to public users
Safety
Transparency
Improved public communication
Improved employee communication and satisfaction
IT planning and improvements
Return-on-Investment (ROI) Considerations
A study conducted by Macquarie University8 discovered the following:
Overall ROI in IT projects is around 30%.
The projects that deliver at least some benefits should be about 52.5%.
Successful IT projects can have an ROI of around 400%.
8 Macquarie University, 2006.
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69. IT Governance
Findings and Observations
The City requires inter-departmental cooperation to meet its technology goals. The upcoming
implementation of the Information Technology Master Plan provides a great opportunity for City
departments to collaborate on future technology use and applications.
IT Governance
Traditionally, key IT decisions are made by IT professionals and a select few organization
managers. This does not always ensure the most effective delivery of technology to
stakeholders (all departments and constituents). IT governance can provide a collaborative
forum for major decisions, planning, internal communication, and department/staff training
regarding such matters. IT governance provides a methodology for stewardship of IT resources
on behalf of the stakeholders who demand a benefit and/or return on the investment.
IT Steering Committee
An IT Steering Committee is a group of employees and
managers from a variety of departments and disciplines
that provide long-term direction and oversight for an
organization's IT resources. This committee can provide a
stabilizing influence and focus for development of
organizational concepts and planning. Some of the
responsibilities the group may carry out include:
Identifying and developing of technology initiatives
Prioritizing IT initiatives
Prioritizing GIS initiatives
Monitoring and reviewing initiatives
Project management of IT Master Plan implementation
Providing a forum for lessons learned during implementation of technology projects
Providing an initial review process of technology-related projects requested by individual
departments
Reviewing and providing feedback on long -term, unresolved Help Desk issues
Developing and reviewing standards and policies
Updating standards and policies as changes occur in the organization and technology
Helping to achieve support across the organization
Reviewing Help Desk statistics, issues, and long -term unresolved needs
Acting as a sounding board for management and staff
Implementation of an IT governance methodology can be an effective forum for departments to
become more knowledgeable about technology and how it can be used to enhance customer
service and create efficiencies throughout the City’s business processes.
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Recommendations
Assemble and formally implement an IT Steering Committee, including an IT Steering
Committee Charter, to discuss technologies and recommend priorities, assist in policy
development, communicate with department staff, and manage, as well as oversee, the
implementation of the IT Master Plan.
It is recommended that the City consider engaging CLIENTFIRST to review the IT Steering
Committee Charter to make specific recommendations and to assist in conducting a Steering
Committee Development Workshop, including make-up of Steering Committee members and
structure, as well as review Steering Committee roles and responsibilities. As part of the same
engagement, CLIENTFIRST would also conduct a workshop to cover and educate on Steering
Committee best practices.
Utilize the IT Steering Committee as the initial forum for the IS Department and other
Departments to propose/present new technology-related projects to ensure best practices are
followed and applied to the review, selection, approval, procurement, implementat ion (project
management), and ongoing technology maintenance.
The IT Governance strategy and implementation of an IT Steering Committee can be an
effective forum for departments to become more knowledgeable about technology and how
technology can be used effectively to enhance customer service and create efficiencies
throughout the City’s business-process environments.
Benefits
More transparency, responsibility, and accountability
Prioritization of initiatives
Improved compliance and consistency
Enhanced communication and collaboration
Higher degree of business and technology alignment
Widespread personal and professional growth
Next Steps
Determine potential IT Steering Committee members who are:
Interested in participating on the committee
Able to speak for Department Heads
Develop and implement an IT Steering Committee focused on:
Implementation of the IT Master Plan
Adjusting priorities, based on limited IT resources
Annual IT budget review and prioritization
IT policy reviews
New project reviews and feedback
Lessons learned from ongoing projects
Determine representation of all departments on the Steering Committee for regular IT
communication, ongoing education, and continued collaboration.
Assign a lead and/or sub-committee for all IT Master Plan initiatives.
Monitor and discuss active/in-process IT Master plan initiatives at each Committee meeting.
Form sub-committees, as appropriate.
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70. Applications Management Best Practices
Findings and Observations
The City utilizes at least 108 different software applications or modules throughout all
departments. Major systems include:
Application Functionality Vendor
Financial/Accounting Management ONESolution
Personnel Management ONESolution
Land Management TRAKiT (In process)
Work Orders/Maintenance and Asset Management (None)
Electronic Document and Records Management Questys
Geographic Information System (GIS) Esri ArcGIS
A more comprehensive example listing of City applications is included below.
Note: This is not an official inventory
Adobe
Acrobat
Acrobat Pro
Animate
Audition
Dreamweaver
Illustrator
InDesign
Lightroom
Live Cycle
Photoshop
Premiere Pro
Reader
ARIES
AS400
AutoCAD
Business Contact
Manager
Calsense
City Intranet
CitySourced
Civil 3D
CJPIA
Cognos
Crossroads
Data
management/stora
ge
Delta Dental
Drafting/plans
ERDAS Viewer
Evernote
Excel
Express Scribe
FileZilla
Firefox
Fujitsu Scanning
Gas Boy System
GIS Server (W2K)
Google Chrome
Google Earth
Google Maps
GPS/Verizon
Network
Granicus
Agenda
Management
Media
Management
HTE/NaviLine
Cash Receipts
Contract
Management
Harvard Graphics
Hydro
IDIS HUD
Exchange
LTD AD&D
Microsoft
Access
Excel
Internet
Explorer
Outlook
Paint
Picture
Manager
PowerPoint
Publisher
Silverlight
Word
Neopost
ONESolution
Accounts
Payable
Accounts
Receivable
Applicant
Online
Bank
Reconciliation
Budget Item
Detail
Cash Receipts
Documents
Online
Employee
Online
Financial
Reporting
Fixed Assets
General Ledger
Human
Resources
Payroll
Personnel
Actions
Position
Budgeting
Project
Allocation
Purchasing
Timecard
Online
OrgPlus
Paint Shop Pro 8
Phillips
SpeechExec
Dictate
Photo Gallery
Picasa
Pitney Bowes
Questys
QuickTime Player
RealQuest
Roxio
ShoreTel
SketchUp
Staples Online
SymPro
Synchro
The Standard Life
TRAKiT (In
progress)
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Cashiering
CodeTRAK
CRMTRAK
eTRAKiT
GeoTRAK
GIS Standard
iTRAKiT
LicenseTRAK
PermitTRAK
ProjectTRAK
TreeKeeper
VIAS 2
visionLive
VSP vision
Windows Media
Player
WordPerfect
Many City software applications, modules, and systems are underutilized, resulting in loss of
productivity due to manual processes, inefficient workarounds, and inefficient or unnecessary
reconciliations. Additional user training is needed for many softwa re applications (see User
Training and Support initiative). The City does not have sufficient resources to document
practices and procedures, develop needs for applications systems, prioritize needs, evaluate
solutions, and identify sufficient implementation and ongoing management and support
resources for these solutions. Additionally, the City has insufficient IT resources to ensure
quality applications utilization, increase department process improvements, and gain significant
efficiencies in labor throughout the organization.
Gaining greater utilization of the existing application modules is vital to significant increases in
productivity by staff throughout the City. The ability to accomplish this is difficult because of
limited resources and the diversity of applications providers in use.
Future Applications Management Best Practices
The City can benefit greatly by changing traditional applications management practices. Use of
the following recommendations can lead to improved functionality, use, and increased overall
productivity.
Future Applications Roles and Responsibilities
Applications support and management roles and responsibilities must be identified and
assigned to departments' operational applications and modules. We recommend starting wit h:
ERP (Finance and Accounting)
Personnel Management
Land Management
ECMS
Work Orders/Maintenance and Asset
Management
Identification and assignment will help the City select
capable resources to fulfill the roles and
responsibilities for applications management best
practices in the future.
Process Owner
Staff “resident expert” who is responsible for a given departmental process or function
May also be responsible for oversight and delivery of the daily, weekly, monthly, and annual
processes that the application or module is utilized to fulfill
Primarily makes final decisions on process policies, procedures, and deliverables for their
area of expertise
Stays current with the applicable industry best practices, technology, and applications
capabilities
Stays current with existing applications vendors’ capabilities, offerings, and enhancements
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Application Champion
An expert on a specific application or module
Possesses greatest knowledge of application or module
Lead trainer or support person for other staff that utilizes application or module
Usually has formal training and is responsible for application configuration setup and
changes on an ongoing basis
Often trained to provide ad hoc report writing capabilities for the application or module
Stays current with the applicable industry best practices, technology, and application
capabilities
Stays current with existing application vendors’ capabilities, offerings, and enhancements
Business Process and Application Analyst
Assigned to work with process owners, application champions, report writers, and users
Reviews business processes, current utilization of application, manual processes, and
shadow systems (i.e., spreadsheets and other databases) to increase automation, improve
efficiencies, and increase utilization of the core business application
Assists in the development of user, application, and process requirements
Assists in developing and documenting standard operating procedures (SOPs)
Note: An Application Analyst may be a person already fulfilling one or more of the above roles.
Ad Hoc Report Writer
Aptitude to develop ad hoc reports using vendors’ report writing tools, which may include
third-party tools such as Crystal Reports, Cognos, or Microsoft SQL Server Reporting
Services (SRSS)
Assigned as the “go-to” person for ad hoc reports that other users cannot quickly generate
on their own
Define IT roles and responsibilities by application module. Consider taking the following
actions:
Identify role of IT for a given application or module (primarily server and network support).
Departments are to take as much responsibility as possible for applications management of
modules utilized by their primary business-process functions, as the IS Department does not
currently and will never have all the resources to fulfill all applications management support
and maintenance roles for the entire organization.
Please note that the organization may not have an identified resource in some instances, and
that some applications may not require certain roles. It is also likely that, in some instances, the
same person(s) will fulfill more than one role for a given application/module.
Business Department Application Training
As applications software changes and grows in complexity, training staff to use s oftware
properly becomes more critical. We believe that a renewed emphasis on targeted staff training
on the City’s applications software will pay significant dividends in increased staff effectiveness
and productivity. An inventory of high-priority training is essential to achieve expected
productivity. The City can identify and assess future training needs for all applications and
users upon completion of an application/user matrix (see Applications and User Licensing
Inventory initiative).
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Recommendations
Departments should be encouraged to become more responsible for changes to application
setup and configurations with assistance from IT. If department personnel are unable to
make these changes, training should be provided.
Training department personnel to perform their own simple report writing (basic listings and
extracts in tabular form) is challenging, but beneficial. More complex reporting often
requires specific understanding of database structures in the application. This can free up
the capacity of IT to do other things with the need to provide reporting assistance on more
difficult or complex reporting needs.
Consider adding more specialized application/business analyst personnel (application
support specialists) to the IT staff to provide increased and improved applications support to
departmental users for departmental business applications (e.g., ERP, Personnel
Management, Land Management, ECMS, Work Orders/Maintenance Management, etc.)
Over time, we believe that applications utilization b y departments will improve if applications
sponsors (Process Owners and Application Champions) take a more active role in
monitoring upcoming functionality improvements from new software releases that will benefit
the City. In addition, it would be helpful if applications sponsors and sponsoring
departments monitored and discussed applications usage with other peer organizations and
entities to gather information and potential productivity improvements that could be
incorporated into the City’s systems.
Specifically assign a process owner, application champions, primary business analysts,
applications administrators (setup and configuration responsibility), and ad hoc report writers
for each application or module.
Key assignments should encompass responsibility for understanding industry best practices
and solutions or processes available, and taking the lead in continually assessing and
inventorying needs.
Inventory current and future feature/function, reporting, training, and support gaps, and
maintain improvement needs lists.
Benefits
Increased use of applications features resulting in higher return on software investment
Higher degree of user independence and less reliability and cost for vendor assistance or
time required by City IT staff
Identification of applications user roles and responsibilities
Improved efficiencies and productivity
Improved customer service
Next Steps
Each department should complete Application/User Matrices for current and future
applications usage and applications management roles, and IT Steering Committee should
review completed matrices.
Identify process owner(s) for each module, or insert “N/A” if not applicable.
Identify application champion(s) for each module.
Identify application analyst(s) for each module, or insert “N/A” if not applicable.
Identify ad hoc report writers, or insert “N/A” if not applicable.
Differentiate (e.g., by color shading, annotations, etc.) if individuals are expected to assume
roles in future with additional training.
Define IS Department roles and responsibilities for all applications or modules.
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71. Applications and User Licensing Inventory
Findings and Observations
A citywide applications and user inventory can
clarify/confirm licensing compliance, over/under seat license
needs, and identifying train ing and user roles mentioned in
the Applications Management Best Practices initiative.
Recommendations
Create an inventory of all organization software
applications/modules currently in use, as needed. This is necessary for multiple
initiatives/projects and developing and budgeting a multi-year user training budget.
Identify all current user license holders, as well as those that need additional licenses.
Determine which users that do not have a valid need for a license and determine if these
licenses can be transferred to other users.
Identify user’s roles as “F” (Full) or “I” (Inquiry Only).
Recommend differentiating between current/licensed and non-current/non-licensed users,
so that budgeting can be addressed for additional user-license requirements.
Determine software applications that can be run centrally from a server or shared computer
for infrequent users.
Benefits
Assurance that investment in licenses are matched to users truly in need
Assurance that investment of licenses match the organization’s software needs
Better ability to identify potential integration requirements
Ability to obtain proper support and reference information for licensed software
Ability to better schedule and conduct training for staff, based on software usage
Better, well-informed decision-making for applications acquisitions or maintenance
cancellations
Potential reduction in applications license and maintenance fees by cancelling applications
no longer in use
Mitigation of legal risk from use of non-licensed software
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72. Training Room
A Training Room serves as a great opportunity for staff to become
familiar with applications or expand on their current skills. It serves as a
best practice to promote professio nal growth and continued
improvement through increased utilization of existing or future
organization applications to be released to staff. A dedicated Training
Room is also a requirement for all major software implementation
projects.
Findings and Observations
The City has existing conference and meeting rooms that are multi-use that are often used
for training.
The City will benefit from a full-time Training Room with dedicated PCs in order to
successfully complete the projects outlined in this plan.
An optimally configured training room would include 8 -12 PCs.
Recommendations
The organization should maintain a Training Room for testing applications that are being
implemented or for staff to improve upon existing competencies.
Identify approximately 500 square feet of space for use as a Training Room .
With so many applications in use, a permanent Training Room will be needed if the
organization implements ongoing user training, refresher training, and meet other training
needs, as well as support applications management best practices.
A minimum of twelve computers/workstations should be maintained in a room that provides
adequate individual space for each workstation.
Virtual Desktop (VDI) technology is often used for Training Room computers.
Utilizing the recommended City VDI infrastructure will allow the City to place older PCs in
the Training Room.
Computers can also be used as a lab or resolution environment for staff experiencing
extensive computer difficulties or those waiting for a computer replaceme nt.
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73. Software Selection Best Practices
Findings and Observations
Selecting the right system and technology is more critical today than ever before, because the
efficiency and effectiveness of the organization is directly dependent on its use of technology
and information systems. Organizations are
realizing they must take greater advantage
of automation and technology to ensure a
better position to meet growing constituent
and public demands. Additionally, many
agencies must provide better service to their
constituents, users, and the public, while
coping with greater budget constraints.
Return-on-Investment Considerations
While new software solutions can transform certain operations, processes, and constituent
services, consider these facts:
Without proper preparation, planning, and a methodology for selection and implementation,
organizations face many problems and risks, including:
Spending hundreds of thousands—and,
potentially, millions—of dollars more than
necessary in total cost of ownership
Failed or prolonged implementation
Implementation of systems that still do not
meet the organization’s functional needs
Low productivity
Poor contract negotiation position
Lack of and/or reduced integration
between other software systems
Organizations typically fall short of their
implementation goals due to one or more of
the following factors:
Insufficiently defining system objectives
and requirements
Failing to adequately involve both
management and users
Underestimating the costs and effort
required
Failing to adequately plan for expansion
Failing to properly evaluate software
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For key software systems to be implemented properly and for the organization to reap the
full benefits, the organization should utilize a structured analysis and selection methodology.
A structured approach to selection and implementation results in significant benefits,
including:
Reduced risk of a failed or prolonged implementation
Lower total cost of ownership
Independent and objective analysis of potential alternatives
Well-defined objectives and requirements
An education process for the organization
Selection of technology that meets the organization’s short - and long-term objectives
and requirements
Effective contract negotiation through well-prepared and documented needs
Overall project time savings
Improved implementation readiness
Recommendations
Utilize best practice selection methodology when evaluating new software solutions (see
example work plan below).
Consider third-party consults when selecting or improving complex or high ly specialized
solutions.
Ensure process reviews are completed and detailed feature/function specifications are
documented as part of the RFP (see example below).
Ensure detailed feature/function specifications are utilized with test scripts before going l ive
on new applications implementations.
Include all stakeholders in each software evaluation and implementation project.
Ensure detailed feature/function specifications are utilized in post-implementation reviews
and ongoing training (see example work plan pages below).
Benefits
Reduction in hardware/software requirements
Reduction in preparation time for deployments
Better identification of integration requirements
Reduced license fees
Increased utilization of applications systems
More effective due diligence
Increased staff buy-in, consensus, and morale
Improved decision-making (selecting software that is the best fit for assessed needs)
Improved implementation results (time, costs, and results)
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Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
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Step Software System Selection
Work Plan
Phase 1 – Needs Assessment and Recommendations
1
Kick-Off and Project Team Development – Hold a formal Kick-Off Meeting, and then work with the
Project Manager to finalize the makeup of the selection Project Team and document required roles and
responsibilities. Include representatives from all key stakeholder groups.
IT Infrastructure and Staffing Readiness Review
2
IT Information Meetings and Interviews – Conduct information-gathering activities focused on the ability
of the existing IT staff and infrastructure to support the needs of the organization and to review the
readiness to implement and support the platform that will be required for the new soft ware system,
including:
IT Network and Infrastructure
Storage and Backups
Servers, Server Applications, and Management
IT Security
Disaster Recovery
Desktop Environment
Printers
3 Documentation – Document information and summarize the required preparation initiatives, findings, and
recommendations.
4
IT Assessment Memo – Prepare a memo assessing gap and readiness of IT infrastructure to support the
organization's general needs and to support the introduction of the new software system. The memo is to
include the following:
General readiness of IT to support the organization's needs and support the introduction of a new
software
IT Initiatives with findings and recommendations, including the following scope:
IT Environment and Infrastructure
IT Applications Support Staffing Structure
Business Department Needs Assessment Interviews
5
Business Process Review and Feature/Function Analysis – Meet with the identified personnel by
functional area and software modules to review existing manual and automated systems and operations,
including any custom-developed work-around systems/processes. Include a cross-section of all user types
in each needs assessment workshop.
6 System Requirements Documentation – Document information gathered during interview process and
develop feature/function requirement specifications specific to your organization.
Phase 2 – RFP Development
7
Preliminary Vendor Research, Communication, and Coordination – Research vendor community to
identify qualified vendors meeting the organization's system and services requirements, and communicate
with potential vendors. Vendors do not respond to all RFPs, so pre-communication is helpful to obtain
proposals that are in the organization’s best interest to consider.
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Step Software System Selection
Work Plan
8
Develop Request for Proposal (RFP) with Electronic Response Forms – Prepare a Request for
Proposal (RFP) document and work with the organization to make adjustments and revisions, as well as
ensure it complies with the organization’s purchasing guidelines and is distributed per policy (assumes
development of a single RFP document). RFP should include, but will not necessarily be limited to, the
following:
Comprehensive list of functions/requirements with prioritization
Cost, including purchase or other financial payment plan options
Required technical specifications
Installation costs
Migration from existing to new system (cost and timeline)
Training cost and training schedule
New system hardware/network/system software requirements
Phase 3 – Vendor Evaluation and Demonstration Management
9 Facilitate RFP Response Activities – Facilitate pre-proposal activities, including:
Manage vendor questions and answers during established proposal response timelines.
10
Proposal Evaluation – Analyze and evaluate proposal responses. Provide an initial Summary Vendor
Comparison Worksheet that provides side-by-side comparison of key system evaluation requirements,
including feature/function compliance statistics.
11 Analysis Results Workshop to Determine Vendor Finalists (Short List) – Conduct a collaborative
review workshop with a key stakeholder committee and determine which vendors are to be short -listed.
12
Develop Demonstration Documents – Prepare an agenda and sample demonstration scripts for vendor
demonstrations to be sent to vendor finalists for their advance preparation. Also, prepare vendor
demonstration evaluation forms for use by selection committee members during demonstration sessions.
13 Reference Check Form Preparation – Prepare form to be used by project team members during finalist
reference checks/calls.
14
Schedule and Facilitate Vendor Demonstrations – Schedule demonstration dates and facilitate initial
vendor demonstrations to ensure that pertinent requirements are addressed (estimate three vendors at X
days each).
15 Develop Site-Visit Documents – Prepare an agenda for each vendor site visit and a site visit evaluation
form for organization selection committee members to complete during each visit.
16
Post Demonstration/Visit/Reference Check Due Diligence and Follow -Up – Track follow-up issues and
conduct comprehensive due diligence. This may include additional demonstrations, Q&A facilitation,
reference checking, and site-visit assistance, etc.
17 Finalist Selection – Conduct a meeting with the organization selection committee to facilitate discussion
and finalize the vendor selection.
18
Review Selected Vendor's IT Requirements – Review the IT (server, workstation, network, etc.)
requirements provided in the selected vendor's proposal, and prepare a memo outlining observations and
recommendations for IT.
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Step Software System Selection
Work Plan
Phase 4 – Contract Review and Negotiation Assistance
19 Implementation Plan Review – Review implementation plans, project management office, resource
requirements, and timelines.
20 Implementation Team Organization – Establish Implementation Project Team based upon PMI and
COBIT Project Management Office (PMO) principles and applications management best practices.
21 Contract Review and Negotiation Assistance – Conduct contract reviews and negotiations with an SME
and legal representation.
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74. Project Planning and Implementation Best Practices
Findings and Observations
A best practices approach should be followed for all
significant implementation projects. The complexity and
risk determine the actual level of due diligence that
should be performed. The following is an outline of
project planning and implementation best practices:
Determine Scope of Work – Work with all stakeholders
to determine what needs to be accomplished.
Design – For larger, more complex projects, the design
effort may become a separate project. For smaller
projects, design is integrated into budgeting.
Specifications – Make sure an appropriate level of
vendor-agnostic specifications are included with procurement requests that reduces ambiguit y
and provides better comparisons between vendors.
Collaborate – Include input and requirements of all stakeholder groups to ensure all
requirements are included in specifications and all stakeholders buy-in to the final solution. IT
Steering Committee should review as part of the Committee’s role and responsibilities.
Develop Budget – Project budgets include hardware, software, and consulting/SME costs.
Consulting costs are estimated by outlining the various work steps and estimating the hours
required to complete them.
Gain Sign-Off – Once the budget is complete, review the scope of work and costs with the
project sponsor and gain their approval before continuing, including consent by the IT Steering
Committee.
Create Project Plan – Based on all stakeholder needs, delivery dates, and the tasks to be
completed, develop a project plan and estimated implementation date.
Outline Communication Plan – Outline the process for communicating implementation dates,
improvements, and training to appropriate staff members.
Document Other Plans – Other plans may include training, testing, contingency, and back -out.
These plans are developed on an as-needed basis.
Configure and Implement – Utilizing planning methodologies and technical expertise,
configure the necessary system components, and implement the solution with the least possible
impact to staff and productivity. The IT Steering Committee should receive status reports on the
progress of the implementation, including whether the project is on time and o n budget, whether
user needs are being met, and that vendors are following through with their contractual
obligations.
Post-Implementation Review – Complete a post-implementation review with successes,
lessons learned, and any unresolved issues requiring v endor assistance. Report the results of
the IT Steering Committee’s review.
Post-Implementation Support – All implementations that affect multiple users require on-site,
post-implementation support to eliminate remote response times.
Documentation – Develop any necessary procedures and update documentation as part of the
project.
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Recommendations
Develop a project portfolio for all IT and software -related projects.
Follow planning and implementation best practices.
Review all major active and upcoming projects during IT Steering Committee meetings.
Obtain services of third-party project managers/subject-matter experts, as appropriate
and/or cost beneficial.
Benefits
Prioritization of projects
Reduced periods between transitions
Increased information-sharing capabilities
Enhanced communication and consensus
Increased anticipation and management of technology upgrades
Improved analysis and planning
Increased departmental collaboration
Measurement and tracking of results/outcomes
75. IT Project and Services Portfolio
An IT Support Services Portfolio is a complete list of IT projects and services provided to City
staff and the public. The support services portfolio outlines IT responsibilities for each service
and any service-level agreements for those services (e.g., 24/7 support required, disaster
recovery priorities, user-access permissions, report writing for certain software modules, server
uptime requirements, etc.) Applications support is only one aspect of the complete portfolio.
Other IT services include projects, Help Desk, data network, telephone systems, IT security, etc.
Recommendations
We recommend the IS Department create an IT Projects and Services Portfolio to effectively
communicate and set expectations for all users regarding what support services IT provides
and communicate service-level standards.
Utilize results of IT Master Plan as the basis for a five -year project portfolio and budget.
Utilize the Application Management Best Practices and User Training and Support initiatives
as a basis to complete the services portfolio.
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76. Cloud Computing
Cloud Computing can be described as IT services or equipment that are not internal, but
available through the Internet. This can range from having a server hosted in an organization or
facility other than the local organization, accessing information from a portable device,
processing requests from the field, subscribing to an Internet-based software solution per a
subscription model (often defined as Software as a Service or SaaS), etc. The benefits of cloud
computing allow individuals to collaborate and remain centralized, regardless of location.
Cloud computing is one the most prominent discussions among current trends in IT. Significant
benefits can be achieved, including security, disaster recovery, and cost savings. However,
cloud-computing options for many systems are still not cost-effective or the most secure
approach.
Findings and Observations
The organization has already used some forms of cloud computing.
Several infrastructure improvements will be required for the organization to be able to fully
utilize cloud-based systems.
Recommendations
Before moving any significant applications to the cloud, the City should:
Upgrade the local area network (LAN)
Geographically separate Internet provider services
Move to most current version of Active Directory
As a part of this Plan, we recommend cloud based backups and disaster recovery services .
The City should consider moving GIS databases to the cloud prior to performing any major
upgrades to the current environment.
Cloud-computing options should be considered for future projects.
Cost-benefit should be the overriding factor for most final decisions.
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77. Maintaining Software Updates
Findings and Observations
Best practice for the maintenance of applications software is to maintain a minimum of N-1
(current major release or the one prior).
Falling further behind often creates upgrade scenarios with several intermediate steps,
risking additional problems, and potentially makes upgrades more expensive and time-
consuming.
Recommendations
The City’s normal practice is to maintain software updates as recommended.
Maintain consistent updates across all users.
Utilize the inventory created in the Applications and User Licensing Inventory initiative to
understand version issues.
Ensure patch management software is implemented properly to provide software
updates across the organization for desktop software updates and to provide
consistency and automation. Include software updates in the organizations
sustainability and replacement planning.
Provide appropriate user training with each release.
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78. Sustainability Planning
Findings and Observations
Sustainability Planning is the process of mapping the acquisition, maintenance, upgrade,
improvements, training, and eventual replacement for major application systems over a long -
term period (i.e., five to ten years). Sustainability Planning helps in two significant ways:
1. It reduces the significant periodic spikes in capital expenditures of large software
solutions, and
2. It schedules upgrades and replacements of departmental business application systems
in a convenient and timely manner.
The growing practice of Sustainability Planning provides a more practical or realistic way to
determine and plan for the ongoing operational needs of all departments.
Because software applications are the primary technology tools of the business departments, in
order to increase productivity and efficiencies, improve customer service and transparency, and
take advantage of technology improvements, the City can benefit from the implementation of
Sustainability Planning versus the more limited practice of Replacement Planning.
Return-on-Investment (ROI) Considerations
A study conducted by Express Metrix for quantifying ROI as it relates to IT and software
asset management describes the following ROI benefits of replacement planning within an
organization:9
Reducing cost of ownership related to IT assets by determining licenses for which an
organization is overspending and reducing Help Desk costs
Managing technology change by developing software procurement models that map
current and future needs with technology migration and upgrade planning
Minimize security risks by preventing unauthorized use, enforcing desktop standards,
and identifying PCs with unlicensed applications
In a study conducted by the Aberdeen Group, the following were the cost savings that occurred
after incorporating a Sustainability Plan:10
System automations reduced paper costs by up to 11%
Efficiencies reduced facility costs by up to 10%
Waste and disposal costs were reduced by up 8%
Transportation and logistics costs were reduced by up to 5%
9 Express Metrix.
10 Aberdeen Group, 2009.
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Recommendations
Develop a sustainability plan for IT software applications.
Microsoft licenses should be replaced N -1 (i.e., every other version).
Larger core applications (e.g., Financials, Land Management, Work Order Management,
Recreation, etc.) benefit most from Sustainability Planning, because these should only
be replaced every 10 to 15 years, if procured and managed properly.
Investigate and track annual maintenance and support, and upgrade costs for all major
systems to determine if the cost structure is sustainable. If the cost stru cture is not
sustainable, consider alternatives and priorities over the next five -year period.
Benefits
Increased long-term investment through scalability
Reduced maintenance expenses
Increased trust in systems
Reduced risk and liability
Reduction in total cost of ownership
Avoidance of unforeseen upgrades
Informed purchase timing
Software lifecycle evaluation
79. COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies)
Control Objectives for Information and related Technology, also known as COBIT, helps to
ensure alignment of IT with the environment through the adoption of incentives, metrics, and
oversight. IT governance is the responsibility of executives and the Board of Directors, and
consists of the leadership and organizational structures and processes that ensure that the
enterprise’s IT sustains and extends the organization’s strategies and objectives. For IT to be
successful in delivering, management should put an internal control system or framework in
place. The COBIT control framework contributes to these needs by:
Making a link to the organization’s requirements
Organizing IT activities into a generally accepted process model
Identifying the major IT resources to be leveraged
Defining the management control objectives to be considered
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The orientation of COBIT consists of linking organizational goals to IT goals, providing metrics
and maturity models to measure their achievement, and identifying the associated
responsibilities of organization and IT process owners. The benefits of im plementing COBIT as
a governance framework over IT include:
Better alignment, based on an organizational focus
A view of what IT does that is understandable by management
Clear ownership and responsibilities, based on process orientation
General acceptability with third parties and regulators
Shared understanding among all stakeholders, based on a common language
COBIT is an IT governance framework and supporting toolset that allows managers to bridge
the gap between control requirements, technical issues, and business risks. COBIT enables
clear policy development and best practices for IT control throughout organizations. COBIT
emphasizes regulatory compliance, helps organizations to increase the value attained from IT,
enables alignment, and simplifies implementation11. CLIENTFIRST utilizes the concepts from
COBIT throughout its IT Planning process.
Benefits
Reduction in unplanned work
Increase in number of successful changes
Improved operations management
Secure sharing of infrastructure and asset inform ation
Increased anticipation and management of technology upgrades
Reduction in total cost of ownership
80. ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library )
This lifecycle approach to IT organization
results in strategies that align service
management with business strategy,
structures IT services to meet the real
business environment, and builds a support
model for the day-to-day procedures needed
to support business objectives. Through an
understanding of Information Technology
Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and how it relates
to IT operational environments, CLIENTFIRST
can identify the strategy and resources
needed to accomplish the business objectives
based on the current structure of the IS
Department.
ITIL provides a common framework understood by suppliers, clients, vendors, and businesses
through a set of global standards. CLIENTFIRST utilizes these concepts for service delivery
throughout its IT planning process to provide a sound approach to support IT initiatives 12. ITIL
is a framework intended to assist organizations with the alignment of IT operations with
business objectives through an IT service strategy of continuous realignment. ITIL is
considered a best-practice approach to IT service delivery that can be molded to fit all
11 www.isaca.org – COBIT, 2009.
12 www.itil-officialsite.com – ITIL, 2009.
Appendix: IT Initiatives (IT Master Plan)
City of Palm Desert, CA
CLIENTFIRST TECHNOLOGY CONSULTING
OPTIMAL TECHNOLOGY GUIDANCE
117 | 117
organizational structures. ITIL v3 groups IT service into four (4) categories: Strategy, Design,
Transition, and Operation. CLIENTFIRST recommends that all IT Managers obtain at least
foundational certification in ITIL.
Benefits
Reduction in unplanned work
Increase in number of successful changes
Improved operations management
Secure sharing of infrastructure and asset information
Increased anticipation and management of technology upgrades
Reduced recovery times
Reduction in total cost of ownership
Improved alignment of technology with business requirements and needs