HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-10-05 City CouncilTO:
ATTENTION:
Ci.ty of Palo Alto
City Manager’s Report
HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
FINANCE COMMITTEE
FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT:ADMINSTRATIVE
SERVICES
DATE:OCTOBER 5, 1999 CMR: 374:99
SUBJECT:INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIC PLAN AND
PHASE ONE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
REPORT IN BRIEF
In order to ensure that the City of Palo Alto continues to provide its citizens with services
that are efficient, high quality, and effective, staff recognized that it was necessary to
evaluate current information systems needs and organizational structure, and to develop
an Information Technology (IT) Strategic Plan. To that end, staff hired The Warner
Group to analyze the application and use of information technology and assist in the
development of the IT Strategic Plan.
Working with staff, The Warner Group has completed the development of an IT
Strategic Plan for the City, consisting of findings in four key areas: hardware, network,
software, and organization and staffing. Staff plans to implement the IT Strategic Plan in
two phases. This report transmits the findings contained in the IT Strategic Plan, and
details the first phase of the implementation plan. In addition, this report requests that the
Finance Committee direct staff to return to the Council with a Budget Amendment
Ordinance and any other needed actions to begin to implement Phase One of the IT
Strategic Plan.
CMR: 374:99 Page 1 of 9
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the Finance Committee:
°
Review and comment on the Information Technology Strategic Plan and the proposed
Phase One Implementation Plan detailed in Attachments Two through Six;
Direct staff to return to the City Council with a Budget Amendment Ordinance
(BAO) to amend the Table of Organization to add three new positions; effect various
reclasses; and appropriate an additional $81,000 from the Utility Funds. A resolution
changing the compensation plan for the implementation of Phase One of the IT
Strategic Plan will accompany the BAO; and
o Direct staff to return with an update on the status of Phase One of the IT Strategic
Plan and the initial recommendations for the implementation of Phase Two, including
proposed funding requirements, as part of the 2000-01 Budget.
BACKGROUND
The City of Palo Alto is well recognized in the Silicon Valley and around the world, and
has earned a reputation for applying state-of-the-art technology in innovative ways to
enhance the delivery of government services. For example, the City was a pioneer in
developing a presence on the World Wide Web and maintains one of the most extensive
and highly accurate Geographic Information Systems worldwide.
To ensure services provided to its citizens are efficient, high quality, and cost-effective,
the City of Palo Alto needed to evaluate its current information systems needs and
organizational structure and develop an IT Strategic Plan. Such a Plan is critical to the
development of a cohesive, citywide information technology strategy that fully addresses
organizational, personnel, operational and technology issues.
The City sought the assistance of a management consulting firm to develop the City’s IT
Strategic Plan. In 1998, the City selected The Warner Group because of its information
technology expertise and its experience in working with local governments in the
development of strategic planning documents. For the last year, The Warner Group has
worked with a citywide team to:
Gather information on the City’s existing technologies, infrastructure and
computing environments
Identif, j and analyze the City’s information technology requirements
Examine current and emerging technological products
CMR: 374:99 Page 2 of 9
Make recommendations regarding the development and/or ~icquisition of software
and hardware to meet the needs identified
Determine staffing and organizational requirements for an effective information
systems function
¯Develop management techniques for implementing major citywide projects
Establish an effective information systems planning process, including a method for
communicating projects, tasks, schedules and priorities with City departments
DISCUSSION
The efforts of staff and the consultant have culminated in the development of a
comprehensive IT Strategic Plan for the City (Attachment One). The Plan has findings
and recommendations that fall in four key areas: hardware, network, soft~vare, and
organization and staffing strategies. The IT Strategic Plan recommendations range from
those that are highly specific (e.g. how to improve backup power capacity), to broad-
based recommendations regarding the consolidation of hardware, soft~vare, and staffing
resources. A prioritized list of the recommendations can be found in Appendix F of the
Plan. Following the completion of the IT Strategic Plan, staff developed an
implementation plan.
Proposed Implementation Plan
The implementation plan breaks down the Strategic Plan recommendations into specific
tasks and actions. Staff is proposing the Strategic Plan be implemented in two phases.
Phase One covers the critical organizational and staffing components of the Plan. Phase
Two addresses the hardware, network, and software components of the Plan and the
remaining organizational and staffing requirements. The primary focus of Phase One is
to create an information technology organization that is flexible, customer service
oriented and priority-driven. This phase includes key organizational structure changes; a
proposal for new staff as well as certain reclassifications of current staff; and several
important increases in the level of service provided to City departments. Phase One
provides an important foundation, which will be built upon during the second phase of the
Plan.
This report provides a proposal for the components to be included in the Phase One
implementation plan. Staff plans to return with a status report regarding the
implementation of Phase One and with recommendations for the implementation of Phase
Two as part of the 2000-01 Proposed Budget. As a result, only a brief outline of the
anticipated components of Phase Two are included in this report (Attachment Seven).
CMR: 374:99 Page 3 of 9
Due to the extensive recommendations to be addressed in Phase Two, and the time it is
expected to take to implement them, staff expects that there will be additional resource
requests in future budget years beyond 2000-01. Some of these will represent additional
expenses, while others are requests that would have been expected as part of the ongoing
operations of the Information Technology function, and as such, are not driven by the IT
Strategic Plan.
Phase One Implementation Plan
The details of the Phase One implementation plan are shown in Attachments Two through
Six and provide the proposed organization of the Information Technology function and
the estimated costs for Phase One. The components included in Phase One are
implemented first because they address the critical needs and vulnerabilities that currently
exist within the City’s information technology function. The major components of Phase
One are as follows:
1.Consolidation of IT positions throughout the City into one centralized function
2.Reorganization of the City’s IT Division
3.Increase in services provided to City departments
Each of these three components is discussed in detail below.
Consolidation of IT Staff IT staff are currently located in three primary departments
(Administrative Services, Utilities and Police). As a result, there are a number of
redundant and disparate IT activities and processes in the City. For example, technical
support calls (Helpdesk calls) are currently handled in three separate ways. The
decentralization of resources also leaves the City with limited backup support for the
City’s technical infrastructure, its mission critical systems (those systems affecting public
safety and the delivery of utilities) and its business critical systems (those systems
essential to City business operations). For example, the City has one staff member
familiar with the existing network infrastructure. If that individual were to be unavailable
(due to illness, vacation, new job) during a technical crisis, it could have a significant
impact on the City’s mission and business critical operations. Finally, the fragmentation
of resources makes it difficult to establish and maintain a cohesive, enterprise-wide
strategic vision for technology within the City.
In order to effectively address the issues caused by decentralization of the IT function, the
IT Strategic Plan recommends a consolidation of resources into the IT Division of the
Administrative Services Department. The Director of Administrative Services and
Manager of Information Technology have worked with the Police Chief, Director of
Utilities and their staff to develop an effective transition plan for the consolidation of the
currently decentralized IT staff. This will require the reclassification of selected IT
positions (Attachment Three) in order to reflect changes in job responsibilities and to
CMR: 374:99 Page 4 of 9
ensure compensation parity. Staff is currently resolving isgues surrounding the
consolidation of staffing, specifically for those positions represented by a bargaining unit.
Staff proposes returning with more information when this staff report is forwarded to the
City Council for final approval.
Reorganization of IT: There is a critical need to reorganize the Information Technology
Division. The current organizational structure was found to have deficiencies in the
following areas:
¯Customer service and relationship management;
¯Program and project management;
¯Technology infrastructure development and support; and
¯Recruitment and retention.
The Strategic Plan indicates that the current organizational structure lacks a needed focus
on customer service and the management of customer relationships. For instance, calls
for telephone support are handled through a separate point of contact from calls for
personal computer support. In addition, no central responsibility has been assigned for
developing, monitoring and managing departmental service level agreements. (Service
level agreements identify and define the scope of services provided to each department in
addition to reporting requirements, key contacts, problem resolution and review
processes, performance metrics, quality of service commitments, and customer
satisfaction monitoring.) Also, the current organizational structure is oriented towards
application development. Today, IT organizations are evolving from a "build" software
development orientation to a "buy" (i.e., implementing pre-built third party applications
from software vendors) orientation. This means that more emphasis is placed on project
management, needs assessment, and contract management skills. The City’s IT
organization needs to acquire and develop these new skills and processes.
The current organizational structure provides a fragmented approach to the development
of the City’s technology infrastructure (e.g., voice, video and net~vork hardware and
software). The current organizational structure is organized based upon technology rather
than around the organization’s business needs. For example, voice infrastructure
development and support is separate from data infrastructure development and support,
and enterprise systems (e.g., email, net~vork administration, etc.) administration is
fragmented into separate support based on the type of operating system technology (e.g.,
Unix or NT). In the future, with the convergence of infrastructure technologies, it will be
critical that these efforts are coordinated and managed strategically and with a central
point of focus. The City’s current approach limits knowledge transfer, increases
organizational training costs and creates critical vulnerabilities in the support and
maintenance of technology infrastructure.
CMR: 374:99 Page 5 of 9
Finally, for the past several years the City has had difficulty r~cruiting and retaining
qualified IT staff. The dramatic shortage of qualified IT staff combined with the
competitive technical job market within Silicon Valley underscores the need for the
flexibility in the hiring and promotion of existing staff.
As a result of these organizational deficiencies, staff is proposing the reorganization of
the IT Division into three key groups or "centers of excellence" as noted in Attachment
Four. These three groups are IT Project Management and Application Services,
Infrastructure Services and Client Services and Operations. The IT Project Management
and Application Services Group will focus on project management, application consulting
and support, and vendor and contract management. The Infrastructure Services Group
will focus on telecommunications and net~vorking infrastructure development and support
and enterprise systems administration. Client Services and Operations will focus on
customer relationship management, help desk/call center activities, PC and telephone
support, daily computer operations (e.g., daily system backups and printing), service level
management and office automation services. The proposed staffing allocations in these
functions are shown on Attachment Five.
Staff also requests the ability to hire and promote bet~veen the Systems Analyst and Sr.
Systems Analyst classifications.
Increase Service Levels: With the recent implementation of a new computer-aided
dispatch (CAD) System for Police and Fire, there is an immediate need for IT support
services 24 hours a day, seven days a week (24 by 7). As additional City processes are
automated and new information systems are added (e.g., Utilities Customer Information
System, Fire Rostering System, etc.), the need for expanded coverage will continue to
grow. The consolidation of IT resources and the reorganization of the IT Division will
provide the resources necessary for the provision of 24 by 7 IT support.
The Strategic Plan identifies several critical resource needs. A Senior Systems Analyst is
needed to support the implementation and maintenance of new and existing public safety
systems such as the Public Safety CAD System, the Police Records Management System
(RMS), Fire RMS, Fire Rostering, and Police Mobile Computer Terminals. Second, a
Senior Systems Analyst is necessary to implement, support and maximize the effective
use of existing office automation applications such as MS Office, Exchange and Outlook,
as well as planned new office systems such as imaging and document management and
workflow. Finally, with the continued emphasis on "buy vs. build" (the implementation
of third-party vendor software applications and systems rather than custom development
by internal staff) there is a critical need for contract management oversight. This
emphasis on contract management, combined with the current lack of administrative
support within the IT Division creates a need for an Executive Assistant position.
The implementation of Phase One provides a number of benefits for the City. These
include:
CMR: 374:99 Page 6 of 9
*Support for mission and business critical systems (i.e., police, fi’re, utilities systems);
¯Appropriate support for office automation systems used citywide;
¯Coordinated, efficient responses to calls for service;
¯Reduction in redundancy in staffing and skills among departments;
¯The ability to provide Twenty Four by Seven (24 by 7) coverage to the City; and
¯Clearly defined service level agreements for City departments that will allow
departments to know what service levels to expect.
Many of these benefits will begin to be realized very quickly and the implementation of
Phase One of the Strategic Plan should result in immediate improvements in the services
provided to departments.
ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS
The IT Strategic Plan describes significant needs and potential resource allocations in
order to fulfill all of the recommendations from the Plan. Council could direct staff to
implement Phase One only of the Plan and return in another year with a status report
detailing the accomplishments achieved with the resources allocated through Phase One.
This would delay the initiation of Phase Two of the plan an additional six months.
Delaying Phase Two would further delay the implementation of new City systems such as
document management, GIS-enabled work management and an electronic commerce-
enabled web site necessary to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of existing City
services and provide the foundation for new City services in the future. In addition,
critical vulnerabilities in the City’s technology infrastructure would continue to exist that
have the potential to impact current City business operations. Finally, delaying Phase
Two would reduce the City’s ability to support and maintain the City’s technology
systems in the most effective and cost efficient manner possible.
RESOURCE IMPACT
The proposed staffing component for Phase One for the remainder of the 1999-00 Fiscal
Year, as shown on Attachment Six, is anticipated to cost $186,000 for the General Fund
and $81,000 for the Utilities Funds. The General Fund 1999-00 Adopted Budget
included $200,000 for implementation of the IT Strategic Plan. Funds of $81,000 for the
Utility Funds are available in the various Utility Rate Stabilization Reserves. As
discussed above, staff is working on various personnel related issues related to the
consolidation of three IT functions into one centralized function. As such, a BAO and
specific costing for Phase One are not included at this time. Upon direction from the
Finance Committee, staff would return to the Council with a BAO, amending the Table of
CMR: 374:99 Page 7 of 9
Organization and if needed, a resolution amending the compensi~tion plan. The yearly
ongoing costs associated with the implementation of Phase One of the Strategic Plan are
approximately $445,000, of which $312,000 will be funded by the General Fund and
$133,000 by the various Utility Funds. An estimated breakdown of these costs is included
in Attachment Five.
It should be noted that while the reporting relations for the Utility Department
Information Technology personnel will change with the approval of Phase One of the IT
Strategic Plan, staff recommends moving the budget from the Utilities Department to the
General Fund as part of the 2000-01 Budget. There will be no change in the total costs as
a result of this change, simply a change in the Table of Organization and a reallocation of
funds from the Utility Funds to the General Fund.
The BAO would also include minor support costs for the new positions. As discussed
above, staff recommends initiating implementation of Phase Two of the Information
Technology Strategic Plan be considered as part of the 2000-01 Budget.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
Phase One of the IT Strategic Plan supports a number of program elements of the
Comprehensive Plan. These are detailed in Attachment Eight. The elements supported
are primarily in the Governance and Transportation chapters of the Comprehensive Plan
and are in the areas of providing technological support and assistance to facilitate the flow
of information for different issues.
TIMELINE
Elements of Phase One of the implementation plan will begin upon Council approval and
be completed prior to June 2000. Phase Two of the implementation plan is projected to
initiate with the start of the next budget year (2000-2001) and to be completed as funding
permits.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment One:
Attachment Two:
Attachment Three:
Attachment Four:
Attachment Five:
Attachment Six:
Attachment Seven:
Attachment Eight:
Information Technology Strategic Plan
Phase One Implementation Plan Components
Proposed Position Changes and Additions
Proposed Functional Reorganization for the IT Division
New Organization Chart for the IT Division
Cost Estimate for Implementation of Phase One
Outline of Phase Two Implementation Plan Components
IT Program Elements Supported in the Comprehensive Plan
CMR: 374:99 Page 8 of 9
PREPARED BY:Rod Massey
Manager, Information Technology
DEPARTMENT HEAD :@ . ~-~--
CARL,~EATS/~ ;
~Direct’r, Adm)~//~e Services
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: ~ ~~ ~~.~
pUNE FLYING ~ ~City Manager " (
~
CNIR: 374:99 Page 9 of 9
~T,,1999-00
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
STRATEGIC PLAN
AND
PHASE ONE
I MPLEM ENTA~ON PLAN
CITY OF
PALO AL TO
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
S TRA TE GIC PLAN
FINAL D RA F I
May 3, 1999
CITY OF PALO ALTO
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
STRATEGIC PLAN
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION
L
II.
IlL
IV.
V.
EXECUTIVE SUMMAR Y
BA CKGR 0 UND .............................................................................
STUDY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ...........................................
STUD Y APPR OA CH .....................................................................
MISSION, VISION, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ......................
HARD WARE AND DATA CENTER ...........................................
A.Current Hardware Environment ..........................................
B.Year 2000 Compliance ..........................................................
C.Hardware Assessment ...........................................................
D.Hardware Recommendations ...............................................
NETWORKING .............................................................................
A.Current Networking Environment ...........................: ...........
B.Year 2000 Compliance ..........................................................
C.Networking Assessment ........................................................
D.Networking Recommendations .............................................
SOFTWARE ...................................................................................
A.Current Software Environment ............................................
B.Software Assessment .............................................................
C.Software Recommendations .................................................
OR GANIZA TION AND STAFFING ......................................... ..
A.Current Organization and Staffing ......................................
B.Assessment of Organization and Staffing ............................
C.Recommendations for Organization and Staffing ...............
PAGE
I -1
H -1
III -1
IV.-1
V -1
V -1
V - 13
V - 13
V - 15
VI -1
VI -8
VI -8
VI - 10
VII -1
VII -1
VII -6
VII -17
VIII -1
VIII -1
VIII -8
VIII - 31
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6 - i -
CITY OF
PALO AL TO
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(CONT~nVU~)
SECTION
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
PAGE
ITD POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ........................................IX -1
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN AND COSTS .................................X -1
COMMUNICATIONAND MAINTENANCE OF THE PLAN.. XI-1
BENEFITS TO BEACHIEVED ..................................................XII -1
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A - GLOSSAR Y ............................................................................
APPENDIX B- INTER VIEW PARTICIPANTS .......................................... ..
APPENDIX C- MAIN COMPUTER HARDWARE INVENTORY ................
APPENDIX D - DESKTOP HARDWARE INVENTORY. ...............................
APPENDIX E- BUSINESS APPLICATION SOFTWARE INVENTORY ....
APPENDIX F- RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................... .
A -1
B -1
C -1
D -1
E -1
F -1
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6 - ii "
EXECUTIVE SUMMAR Y
We are pleased to present this report of our work with the City of Palo Alto on the
-development of an Information Technology Strategic Plan. The City retained The
Warner Group to review the current information technology (IT) organizational structure,
infrastructure, and systems and to make recommendations in each of these areas.
The IT Strategic Plan was developed between August 1998 and May 1999. We compiled
our findings, assessments, and recommendations and reviewed them with City
management and key staff in the course of developing the Plan.
This report reviews the current major hardware, software, networks, and IT
organizational structures of the City, assesses their effectiveness, and makes detailed
recommendations for improvement.
Hardware Strategies
Platform Standards - The Utilities Department and ITD should standardize on the same
set of hardware platforms.
Server Consolidation - Utilities and ITD should standardize on a single email system and
SMTP server.
Server Load Assessment- A detailed assessment should be performed to anticipate and
prepare for future server load.
Backup and Security - The City should improve backup power capacity and assess the
adequacy of fire suppression equipment and water, temperature, fire, and intrusion
detection systems.
508-02 Exec Summary & Background Sections.doc
The Warner Group 1
Network Strategies
Network Consolidation - The Utilies Department and ITD should unify their networks
under ITD standards.
Network Bandwidth - Network wiring, switches, and servers should be upgraded to
achieve greater network bandwidth.
Power Backup - Reduce the risk of complete network failure by adding power backup
and redundant power supplies.
Firewall - If the City continues to operate its Web server on the City network, it should
implement a ftrewall.
Network Addressing- ITD should modify its approach to assigning IP addresses.
Software Strategies
Operating Systems - The City should standardize and reduce its use of different operating
systems on servers and PCs.
DBMS Systems - The City should standardize on the Oracle or SQL Server DBMS for
business applications and Microsoft Access for department-specific applications.
Office Automation - The City should fully migrate to Microsoft Office and Microsoft
Outlook.
GIS- The City should develop a GIS strategic plan.
Centralized Address Database - A centralized address database needs to be developed
and maintained within the Permit Tracking System and integrated into each business
application throughout the City.
508-02 Exec Summary & Background Sections.doc
The Warner Group 2
City Web Site - The City should emphasize Intemet transaction capability for new and
existing business applications.
Organization and Staffing Strategies
Chief Information Officer - The City should designate a high-level City executive as
Chief Information Officer (CIO), with responsibility for strategic decision-making.
Centralization of IT Positions - All IT positions should be consolidated into ITD, with
the exception of departmental Business Analysts.
Organizational Restructuring - The ITD organization should be gradually expanded and
restructured.
Service-Level Agreements - To ensure that ITD is held accountable for being responsive
to the ne6ds of its departmental customers, service-level agreements should be developed
between ITD and each City department.
ITAdvisory Bodies - The City’s IT advisory bodies serve a vital role, and changes should
be made to ensure that each body has a clearly defined mission and that its members
fulfill their roles.
Help Desk Support - The ITD Help Desk should be expanded and changed to be more
responsive to all users throughout the City, including after-hours support.
Skills and Training - IT staff should be recruited based on ability to acquire new skills,
and necessary skill sets should be identified on a regular bases and appropriate training
provided.
Structured System Development Process - The City should establish a structured process
for the design, procurement, and implementation of significant systems, relying upon
project teams including users, technical staff, vendors, and outside consultants.
5084)2 Exec Summary & Background Sections,doc
The Warner Group 3
SECTION I
BA CKGR 0 UND
THE WARNER GR O UP
I- BACKGROUND
-The City of Palo Ako enjoys high name recognition in the Silicon Valley and around the
world. It has earned a reputation for applying state-of-the-art technology in innovative
ways to enhance the delivery of government services. For example, the City was a
pioneer in developing a presence on the World Wide Web, it has installed an impressive
high-bandwidth data communications infrastructure, it maintains one of the most
extensive and highly accurate Geographic Information Systems in the Valley, and it is
committed to using the Internet for delivering key services such as issuing building
permits.
To fully realize its progressive vision for using technology and to ensure that the public
services provided to its citizens are supported by the most efficient, highest quality, and
most cost-effective computer technology, the City of Palo Alto desired to evaluate its
current information systems needs and organizational structure and to develop this
Information Technology Strategic Plan. Such a Plan is important to ensure that a
cohesive, City-wide management information strategy is developed that addresses
organizational, personnel, operational and technology issues.
The City realized that in order to fully assess all of the elements involved in such an
effort as this, complex technical, operational and organizational issues must be addressed.
As a first step in preparing a comprehensive design for its systems over the next five (5)
years, the City sought the assistance of a highly qualified management consulting firm
and selected The Warner Group to assist in the development of this plan.
50S-02 Exe¢ Summary & Background Sections,doc
The Warner Group I- 2
SECTION H
STUD Y GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
THE WARNER GROUP
H - STUD Y GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Generally, the City’s objectives for this study are to:
Gather information on the City’s existing technologies, infrastructure and
computing environments and identify requirements.
Establish recommendations and priorities for the development and/or acquisition of
software and hardware to meet the needs identified.
Analyze the requirements of specific operational areas of the City to determine
commercially a~,allable systems which may appropriately meet City needs.
Examine currently operational and emerging technological products that may be
cost-effective for the City of Palo Alto.
Determine staffing and organizational requirements for an effective management
information systems function, including establishing formal communications
channels among staff in various departments.
Formalize the methodology to establish a continuing information systems planning
process, including a method for communicating projects, tasks, schedules and
priorities with City departments.
Facilitate discussions with City decision-makers chartered to develop strategic
policies and plans for the City.
Develop strategic management techniques for implementing major Citywide
projects.
Identify processes and practices in the IT Services Division for successfully
introducing change management to the IT function.
508-02 IT Swategic Plum - Draft 6
The Warner Group H-1
SECTION III
S TUD Y APPR OA CH
THE WARNER GROUP
III - S TUD Y APPR OA CH
Our methodology and work plan for this study was as follows:
PHASE 1
2.
Conducted Project Kick-Off Meeting - We conducted a detailed planning
meeting with the City’s project personnel, including the project coordinator,
the Administrative Services Director.
Gathered Information -During this step, we assessed the current
environment for the IT Strategic Plan, including business requirements,
management priorities, and technical requirements/issues. Our assessment
consisted of the following steps:
A. Identified Management Priorities - Starting with a "top-down" approach,
we conducted a three-hour Technical Advisory Board (TAB) focus group to
discuss the vision and priorities for citywide technology. We then conducted
a series of one-on-one interviews with City management to understand "big
picture" business and information technology-related requirements and
priorities. We utilized these interviews and group discussions as the basis for
developing an initial draft of the organizational vision, goals and priorities
specifically related to Citywide technology. We then reviewed and refmed
this draft during an additional TAB meeting. Based on the Citywide IT
vision, goals and priorities, a mission statement for the IT function was
developed through a facilitated discussion with the Technical Advisory
Group (TAG).
B. Assessed Current Systems and Technical Infrastructure - We became
familiar with the existing hardware, software, and data communications
infrastructure currently in place and assessed their effectiveness. We
508-021T Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group 1II- 1
3.
reviewed available technical documentation, such as configuration diagrams,
technical specifications, hardware/software inventories, project planning
documents. We interviewed key individuals from the TAG.
C. Determined System and Information Needs - Based on the priorities.
established in Step 2.A., we identified system and information needs in key
areas such as personnel, fixed assets, fmance, public safety, planning and
building services, and public works. We conducted focus groups with
personnel within departments as appropriate.
Conducted Analysis - We conducted an analysis of IT systems and services
through the following steps:
A. Analyzed Technical Alternative Approaches - We utilized the results of
the earlier steps and analyzed the various technical options available to the
City. We considered various approaches in each of the following areas, as
appropriate:
*Upgrading or replacing existing systems
¯Centralized or distributed architectures, including client/server and
intranet approaches
¯Build versus buy strategies
¯Installation, maintenance and support
¯Packaged software versus application development strategies
¯Hardware and software standards
¯System interfaces
¯Database management
¯Data communications network strategies, including local and wide
area networks
¯Telecommunications strategies for the Telecommunications Utility
¯Integration requirements
¯Technology partnerships with external entities
508-02 IT Strla~c Plan - Draft 6
The tgarner Group III- 2
Based on the information already collected and our experience working with similar
agencies across the country, we identified the most feasible alternatives for analysis. We
identified the recommended approach and developed priorities.
Analyzed IT Staffing and Organizational Strategies - We analyzed-
staffing and organizational requirements for the draft technical
recommendations developed in the previous step. We considered the
current IT staff resources and documented any issues or concems.
Facilitated Strategic Planning/Policy Discussions - In this step, we
facilitated discussions with the TAB to review our findings and discuss
conclusions. These discussion sessions also were used to develop
strategic policies and guiding principles to be applied to the City’s IT
Strategic Plan.
Formalized Strategic Planning Methodology - Following the strategic
policy discussions, we documented the City’s current methodology used to
reach decisions on priorities and planning. This methodology was used to
maintain, update, modify, remake, and develop new strategic policies and
plans. It included a method for identifying IT-related public concerns and
communicating projects, tasks, schedules and priorities to City departments.
PHASE 2
1.Prepared Implementation Plan - Based on the analysis conducted in the
preceding steps, we prepared an implementation plan outlining the sequence
of key projects, responsibilities, and target dates over the next three to five
years. The implementation plan highlighted the recommended key IT
projects/initiatives and provided the TAB and TAG with a clear
understanding of the next steps for system improvements. It also included
the estimated timeframe required to implement each component of the
proposed improvements and the development of corresponding measures
upon which to evaluate IT performance and service levels.
2.Conducted Prelim’.tnary Cost Analysis - We prepared a high-level analysis of
estimated one-time and recurring costs for the implementation of the
proposed changes and improvements. Estimated costs were presented for:
508-02 rr Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group III- 3
¯Systems development and acquisition, including
software
¯Data conversion
¯Network improvements
¯Project management
¯Training and documentation
¯Recurring costs for system support and maintenance
¯Other recurring and non-recurring costs
hardware and
3.Prepared IT Strategic Plan - After the preceding work was completed, we
prepared, the City of Palo Alto IT Strategic Plan. This step included
facilitated discussions, as needed, to finalize recommendations and policies.
Finally, we presented a summary of the Strategic Plan to the Director of
Administrative Services and the Manager of Information Technology and
other City technology advisory groups.
508-02 IT Su-ategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group III- 4
SECTION IV
MISSION, VISION, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
THE WARNER GR O UP
IV- MISSION, ~SION, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Introduction
In order to ensure effective information technology planning efforts within the City of
Palo Alto, it is necessary to align those efforts with the business goals and objectives of
the City. The City’s business goals and objectives are best expressed in the City’s
Strategic Business Plan.
Like most effective strategic plans, the City’s Strategic Business Plan includes the
following main components:
Organization Mission Statement- An organization’s mission statement should:
¯Express the organization’s purpose
¯Identify its customers, products, and/or services
¯Outline the major functions the organization performs
¯Define the areas within which the organization will operate.
Organization Values Statement - An organization’s Value statement should:
¯Describe the key attributes that are most important to the organization
¯Include attributes currently possessed as well as those aspired to
¯Define the principles guiding the organization
¯Provide intrinsic significance to the organization, independent of business and
political environments, management and organizational competencies.
Organization Vision Statement - An organization’s Vision statement should:
¯State how an organization should see itself to successfully achieve its full
potential
¯Paint a vivid picture of what the organization should look like in the future
¯Remain the same from year to year
¯Affn’m in the present an ideal and inspirational future.
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group IV- 1
Organization Goals- An organization’s Goals should:
¯Represent what the organization wants to accomplish or become over the next
several years
¯Provide a measurable target that must be met to realize the mission and vision
¯Provide the basis for decisions about the nature, scope and priority of the projects
undertaken.
Organization Objectives for meeting each Goal- An organization’s Objectives should:
¯Be the means used to accomplish a Goal.
Organization Strategies for meeting each Objective - An organization’s Strategies
should:
¯Be specific activities, projects, initiatives or programs that are intended to fulfill
specific organizational objectives.
The Palo Alto Strategic Business Plan
City of Palo Alto’s Mission Statement - The City of Palo has the following Mission
Statement:
"The government of the City of Palo Alto exists to promote and sustain a superior
quality of life in Palo Alto. In partnership with the community, our goal is to deliver
cost-effective services in a personal, responsive, and innovative manner."
City Values Statement - The City’s Value Statement expresses the following values:
¯Quality - Responsive delivery of superior service
¯Courtesy - Providing service with respect and concern
¯Efficiency - Productive, effective use of resources
¯Integrity - Straight-forward, honest, and fair relations
¯Innovation - Excellence in creative thought and implementation.
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Dra~ 6
The Warner Group IV- 2
City Vision Statement - The Strategic Business Plan describes the following vision for
the City:
A healthy, vibrant community with a sustainable, diverse economy, and orderly
growth.
Vision Elements include:
¯Quality education
¯Orderly Growth
¯Cultural and Recreational opportunities
¯Economic Development
¯Health/Human Services
¯City Infrastructure
City Goals - The City has the following Goals:
Goal: Improve the Community
Goal: Prepare for the Future:
Goal: Prepare for Deregulation of Utility Services
City Strategies for meeting each goal
Goal: Improve the Community
Objective" Increase community services
¯Strategy: Fund Family Resource Center
¯Strategy: Fund Mid-Peninsula Access Corporation
¯Strategy: Reprinting Human Service Guide
¯Strategy: Emergency Operations Center improvements
¯Strategy: Implement Customer Response Tracking System
¯Strategy: Increase staff in Community Services
Goal: Prepare for the Future:
¯Objective: Develop Computer Replacement Fund
¯ Strategy: Replace PCs, servers, and telecommunications equipment
¯Objective: Improve StaffAccess to City Information
¯ Strategy: Develop Intranet
¯Strategy: Automate Municipal Code
508-02 IT Strat~Jc Plan - Dr~t 6
The Warner Group IV- 3
¯ Strategy:
¯Strategy:
¯Strategy:
¯Strategy:
¯Strategy:
*Strategy:
¯Strategy:
¯Strategy:
¯Strategy:
Upgrade electronic mail
Improve Technology infrastructure
Expand WAN/LAN environment
Support Infrastructure Master Plan application
Improve Financial System
Implement Lawson System with web capability
Implement new Cash Receipting System
Implement new Collection Management System
Increase technology staff in Information Technology
Objective: Improve Public Access to City Information
¯Strategy: Improve City Web Page
¯Strategy: Provide information to the public at customer service counters
¯Strategy: Receive permit applications and documents over Internet
¯Strategy.: Automate Municipal Code
¯ Strategy: Internet enabled class registration and facilities reservations
¯Strategy: Develop Enjoy catalog on the Web
¯Strategy: Increase staffin Human Resources
Objective: Ensure Year 2000 compliance
¯Strategy: Ensure Y2K compliance of hardware, software and embedded
chips
¯Strategy: Consulting contract to meet department Y2K requirements
Objective: Improve Permit Process
¯Strategy: Implement New Permit Tracking System
¯Strategy: Increase staffin Building/Planning
¯Strategy: Revise Zoning Ordinance
Objective: Develop Spatial Analysis Capability
¯ Strategy: Develop Mapping, reporting and GIS applications
Objective: Improve Public Safety Services
¯ Strategy:
¯Strategy:
¯Strategy:
¯ Strategy:
¯ Strategy:
¯ Strategy:
¯ Strategy:
Implement Computer Aided Dispatch
Implement new Police and Fire Records Management Systems
Implement Paramedic Master Plan
Implement new Fire House Alerting System
Improve optical imaging system
Increase staff in Fire
Increase staff in Animal Control
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group IV- 4
Goal: Prepare for Deregulation of Utility Services
¯Objective: Improve City Utility Processes
¯Strategy: Enhance Utilities Customer Information System
¯Strategy: Implement Automatic Payment System
Information Technology Mission, Vision, Values, and Goals
The City’s IT Mission is:
"Improve service delivery for the community and staff of the City through
efficient and effective implementation of information technology".
The City’s IT Vision is:
"Within security constraints, a single logon, universal access system in which
integrated information is easily available, analyzed and modified, via an
integrated, uniform interface."
The City’s IT Values include:
¯Quality - Responsive delivery of superior service
¯Courtesy - Providing service with respect, concern and in a timely manner
¯Efficiency - Productive, effective use of resources
¯Integrity - Straight-forward, honest, and fair relations
¯Innovation - Excellence in creative thought and implementation
The City’s IT Goals include:
¯Assume a leadership role in defining the benefits of information technology
¯Define and implement a reliable, responsive, and integrated computing
environment
¯Ensure continuous dialog with our customers as to status, reallocation of priorities
and/or redirection of resources
¯Develop and implement an Information Technology Strategic Plan that addresses
the mission, vision, values, goals and objectives of the City.
The City goals, objectives, and especially many of the City strategies translate into
potential projects for IT. By aligning IT projects with City strategies, a clear purpose is
50802 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group IV-5
created for each project that is traceable back to the City objectives and thus to City
goals, mission, and vision. Accordingly, we will align IT projects to City strategies.
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group IV-6
SECTION V
HARD WARE AND DATA CENTER
THE WARNER GROUP
V- HARD WARE AND DATA CENTER
A.CURRENT HARDWARE ENVIRONMENT
Introduction
The City of Palo Alto’s computerohardware and network administration responsibility is
largely divided between the Utilities Department and the Information Technology
Division (ITD). Each department manages a number of servers and workstations both at
the Civic Center and at remote locations. Each department also manages a portion of the
total City network.
Information Technology Division Microsoft NT Servers
ITD maintains a single Microsoft New Technology (NT) domain for its NT services
users. Domain controllers authenticate users on an NT domain and allow them to log-on.
A single Primary Domain Controller (PDC) and at least one Backup Domain Controller
(BDC) servers are required for each Windows NT domain. The Civic Center site houses
a PDC server and two BDC servers.
Originally, the Water Quality Control Plant (WQCP) site had implemented its own NT
domain, but this site is being merged into the ITD NT domain. The WQCP Primary
Domain Controller is being converted to a Backup Domain Controller on the ITD NT
domain.
The Municipal Service Cemer (MSC) site is also part of the ITD NT domain with a
resident BDC. Connectivity to the site for ITD users is provided through the Utilities
network. A small portion of Building C and the UCC are using Novel’s Netware as its
network operating system rather than NT.
There are 10 NT servers at the Civic Center. All of the servers use Windows NT Server
4.0 on Imel processors. There is one NT server at the WQCP site. This server functions
as a BDC for the WQCP. There is one NT server at the MSC site. This server is a BDC
and also offers file and print services. Exhibit V-1 briefly illustrates the functions of
these servers.
Information Technology Division NT Servers at the Civic Center
SQL Server 6.5
HelpDesk application
HELPDESK
Backup Domain Controller (BDC)
Pdnt server
CD tower
INFOTECH
Backup Domain Controller (BDC)
IIS Version 3 server
Temporary storage file server
INTRANET
Future cash receipt database server
NETFAX
CA Unicenter TNG NT utilities
Asset Management (ASD)
Sol.are delivery (USD)
SYSMGMT
ADMIN
Pdmary Domain Controller (PDC)
Print server.
File sharing ("U" drive)
ADMIN2
File server - 24GB RAID5
File sharing ("H" drive and "S" drives)
APPS
Application server
Oracle 7.2 for ESCOM application
Computer Based Training (CBT)
FAX server
Network install of WordPerfect 7.0
Network install of Lotus 123
BACKUP
ArcServe V6.0 backup software
DDS3 tape changer
COMM
Primary WINS server
DHCP server
Exhibit V-1
HP Servers at the Civic Center
Testing new Financial system
Testing Lawson HR package
Police system
Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD)
Records Management System (RMS)
HP Desk mail server
Utility Billing (HP Image database)
Fire incident reporting
Legislative history
Building permits
Pdnts utility bills
PAl
HP9000 K570
PA3
HP3000 / 947
PA4
HP3000 / 949
PA6
HP workstation
PA7
HP9000 H40
PA8
HP9000G40
PA9
HP9000 G70
Optical imaging (informix Database)
Testing new Utility Billing application
Production IFAS financial application
Production Lawson HR application
Exhibit V-2
Information Technology Division HP Servers
The HP servers are located at the Civic Center and are administered by the information
Technology Division (ITD). They support non-graphical business applications.
Nearly all users access the HP-3000 (MPE) and HP-9000 (UNIX) servers from their
Windows machines using a Windows-based terminal emulation program. Library staff
and the public still use terminals to access the Library system (Dynix) residing on the
Library’s HP-9000 UN1X server. Appendix C, "Main Computer Hardware Inventory"
contains additional details on main computer hardware and inventory.
There are seven (7) HP servers at the Civic Center site. Exhibit V-2 briefly describes the
functions of each of the HP servers.
Hardware and Daut Center Section
The Warner Group V- 3
The Utilities Department Servers
The Utilities Department operates a variety of servers at the Civic Center site and at a
number of remote sites. The Utilities ser~’ers include the following hardware platforms:
¯Intel
¯Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) Alpha
¯Hewlett-Packard (HP) 9000
The Utilities servers include the following operating systems:
¯
¯
¯
¯
¯
¯
¯
¯
DEC’s Alpha OpenVMS
Novell’s NetWare
Microsoft’s DOS
Microsoft’s Windows 3.1
Microsoft’s Windows 95
Microsoft’s Windows NT 4.0
Hewlett-Packard’s UNIX (HP-UX)
Shareware Linux
There are eight (8) servers at the Civic Center.Exhibit V-3 briefly describes the
functions of the Utilities servers at the Civic Center.
Hardware and Data Canter Section
The Warner Group V- 5
Utilities Servers at the Civic Center
POP3/SMTP email server
Internet connectivity through ITD
Dial-in server - PPP dial-in
CD-ROM
File server
Database server
Oracle V7.2
Intel
Windows 95
Intel
LINUX
DEC Alpha
Workstation
DEC Alpha
Open VMS
Intel
Nove!l V4.1 - 50 users
Intel
Novell V4.1 - 50 users
Intel
Novell V4.1 - 50 users
Intel
Novell V4.1 - 10 users
GIS server
Alpha / Intel clients connected to server
File server
Pdnt server
File server
Pdnt server
File server
Print server
File server
Pdnt server
Exhibit V-3
There are nine (9) servers at the MSC site. Exhibit V-4 briefly describes the functions of
the Utilities servers at the MSC.
Hardwar~ ~nd Data Center Section
The Warner Group V- 7
Utilities Servers at the Maintenance Service Center
Water, Gas and Storm Drain SCADA
Intel
NT 4.0 Workstation
Water, Gas and Storm Drain SCADA
Intel
NT 4.0 Workstation
Electric SCADA system
HP 9000 / D200
UNIX
Electric SCADA system
HP 9000 / D200
UNIX
Intel
Novell V4.1 - 100 users
Intel
DOS
Intel
LINUX
Intel
Windows 3.1
Intel
NT 4.0 Workstation
Meter Inventory Processing (MIPS)
File server
Print server
MIPS maintenance server
Intranet web server
Intranet directory service
Water, Gas and Storm Drain SCADA
Exhibit V-4
Personal Computers
The majority of desktop and laptop computers installed in the City are based on the Intel
processor. Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 is the standard operating system on
all desktop computers supported by ITD.
Of the Intel-based PCs, the majority (88 %) are 586 (Pentium) class machines or higher,
while (9%) of all Intel-based PCs are 486 class or lower. The remaining 3% of desktops
include Macs and others. Thus, 88 percent of the existing PC’s in the City can support
current versions of Microsoft Windows and office automation (OA) applications, while
the remaining 9% would need to be replaced in order to standardize operating systems
and OA products across City departments.
Type of Device
PC - 386 or lower
PC - 486s
PC - 586s
PC - Other
PC -Macs
Total Desktops
Laptops - 486s or lower
Quantity
16
49
609
12
4
690
46
Percent of Total
Devices
2%
7%
88%
2%
1%
100%
59%
Laptops - 586s 27 35%
Laptops - Macs 1 1%
Laptops - Other 4 5%
Total Laptops 78 1 O0 %
Terminals 0 0 %
Total Devices 768 100 %
Hardware and Data Ceater Section
The Warner Group V- 9
The distribution of the PCs throughout the City is shown in the following chart.
Number of Percentage ofDepartment Quantity of PCs
Administrative Services
City Attorney
City Auditor
City Clerk
City Counsel
City Manager
Employees
85.50
9.00
3.75
6.75
9.00
10.50
77
12
6
10
2
8
Community Services
Fire
Human Resources
Police
Planning
Public Works
Utilities
Total
139.25
124100
14.00
171.00
46.00
203.00
211.50
1,033.25
109
34
13
191
50
67
111
690
PCs
11%
1.5%
1%
1%
1%
1%
16%
5%
1.5%
28%
7%
10%
16%
100%
Appendix D, "PCs and Peripheral Hardware" contains additional information on the
desktop devices in the City.
Percent of TotalType of Printing Device Quality Devices
Desk Jet - Single User 32 15%
LaserJet I - Single User 30 14%
Laser Jet II - Multi User 15 7%
LaserJet III - Multi User 36 17%
LaserJet IV - Multi User 59 27%
Laser Jet V - Multi User 17 7%
Color Printer 29 13%
Total 218 100%
Hardware and Data Center Section
The Warner Group V- 10
A comparison of the above and previous table reveals that the City has approximately 3
PCs for each printer. In a typical office environment where PCs are networked and
people utilize the network, a ratio of 4:1 is usually optimal. The City should look to
minimize the number of single user printers and move increasingly toward networked
printers in the ratio of 4 PCs for each printer.
ITD System Management Backup and Security
ITD uses components of Computer Associates Unicenter TNG package for system
management. All of the ITD NT servers are backed up across the network to a single
tape backup device. The backup device is resident on the "CH_ASD_BACKUP" server.
ITD performs a full backup every other weekend and a nightly differential backup. A full
backup copies all files to the backup media and generally takes a long time to
accomplish. A differential backup copies only those files that have changed since the last
full backup and generally takes much less time than a full backup. To recover a failed
disk drive, you use the last full backup that was created along with the last differential
backup.
Utilities System Management Backup and Security
The Utilities Department creates a backup of all server files on a nightly basis.
month backup files are archived off site.
End of
Protection Systems
Fire Suppression - A fire suppression system should provide adequate fire suppression
around the processing equipment. The system must be able to suppress a fire without
damage to the processing platform or any person in the area. Information regarding the
manufacturer of the fire suppression equipment used to protect the City’s servers was not
available during the preparation of this document.
Power Protection - An uninterrupted power supply (UPS) is a device that supplies
electrical power to a computer or piece of network equipment when main power from the
local utility fails. A UPS may be a small standalone device rated to supply power to a
single desktop computer for a short period of time (such as 5 minutes). A UPS can also
be a large device capable of supplying power to an entire building for a longer period of
time (such as 30 minutes). A diesel generator can provide backup to a UPS to extend the
pl.ardware and Data Center Section
The tVarner Group V- 11
supply of power. A generator is limited only by the amount of diesel fuel available for
the generator. When a generator is paired with a kIPS, it can be configured to start
automatically when utility power fails or it can be configured to be switched manually.
Whether a UPS is large or small and backed-up by a generator or not, it is intended to
accomplish the same basic function - to keep a computer or network operating after the
loss of utility power until utility power is restored or the system is shut down in a planned
manner. The decision to purchase a UPS depends on.several factors:
How often do utility power failures occur
How disruptive are utility power failures to the organization
All of the Information Technology Division (ITD) NT servers are supported by LIPS
systems. They are also attached to the City Hall power generator with a capacity of 48
hours of operation without utility power.
At the Civic Center, each of the Utilities Department servers has its own standalone UPS
unit to sustain it during short power outages and to "gracefully" shut it down during a
complete power failure. They are not attached to the build.ing generator for prolong
operation in the event of a utility power failure. The DEC Alpha server that supports the
GIS application was recently relocated to the A Level Communications Room. This
relocation allows the UPS and the building generator to provide support to the GIS server
for approximately 30 minutes in the event of a utility power failure.
The MSC site has a building UPS system and a backup generator for complete power
protection of all of its computer and network hardware.
Detection Systems
Water Detection - A water detection system is intended to provide adequate detection of
water leakage around the processing equipment. Information regarding the manufacturer
of the water detection equipment used to protect the City’s servers was not available
during the preparation of this document.
Temperature Detection - A temperature detection system is intended to provide adequate
detection of ambient temperatures around the processing equipment. Information
Hardware and Dam Center Section
The Warner Group V- 12
regarding the manufacturer of the temperature equipment used to protect the City’s
servers was not available during the preparation of this document.
Fire Detection - A fire detection system is intended to provide adequate detection of
extreme heat and smoke around the processing equipment. Information regarding the
manufacturer of the fire detection equipment used to protect the City’s servers was not
available during the preparation of this document.
Intrusion Detection - An intrusion detection system is intended to provide adequate
detection of intrusion. Information regarding the manufacturer of the intrusion detection
equipment used to protect the City’s servers was not available during the preparation of
this document.
Power Failure Detection - A power failure detection system is intended to provide
adequate detection of utility electrical power sags, surges, and outages in the power that
supports the processing platform. ITD is upgrading the standaione UPS units to provide
a pager announcement interface in case of power failure. This will allow the system
administrator to be immediately alerted if computer system power fails for those
machines.
B.YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE
One of the HP 9000-735s (PA6) is not Year 2000 compliant and the Utility Billing
printing that runs on this equipment is anticipated to be relocated to another machine.
The HP 3000-949 (PA4) has not been tested to ensure it can successfully move through
the Year 2000 date change.
C.HARDWARE ASSESSMENT
Hardware and Operating Systems - The Utilities Department has a wide assortment of
computers and operating systems both at the Civic Center and at the remote sites. In
contrast, ITD has standardized on a single hardware platform (Intel) and a single Network
Hardware and Data Center Section
The Warner Group V- 13
Operating System (NOS) -Windows NT. It is common industry practice today for an
organization to standardize on a small set of operating systems and hardware, platforms.
This type of standardization minimizes the system administration effort and maximizes
the uses to which the system can be employed.
Uninterrupted Power Supplies - There is a building UPS at the Civic Center, but it does
not have enough capacity to supply power to all of.the computer and network hardware.
Many servers are backed-up with small, standalone UPS units. In addition, the building
UPS is not backed up by a generator. Generally, standalone UPS units do not have
enough capacity to power equipment through anything except the shortest power failure.
In addition, without generator backup, even large, building-wide UPS units have limited
capacity. The best solution is a building UPS with a generator backup and an automated
transfer switch.
Fire Suppression System - The manufacturer of the fire suppression equipment needs to
be identified to determine its capabilities of meeting the City’s needs.
Detection Systems - The manufacturers of the water, temperature, fire, and intrusion
detection systems need to be identified to determine its capabilities of meeting the City’s
needs.
Electronic Mail and SMTP Servers - The Utilities Department and the ITD have different
email systems and separate SMTP servers, even though they share a connection to the
Internet. Utilities and ITD should standardize on a single email system and SMTP server
in order to minimize the email system administration effort.
Backup - ITD currently backs-up all of the NT servers to a single tape backup device
hosted on the CH_ASD_BACKUP server. This means that the remaining servers are
backed-up over the network, creating a high network load. This will not create a problem
as long as the backup occurs at night, however if ITD were required to backup or restore
a server disk during the day it would cause the network to run much slower than normal.
ITD should obtain more tape backup units and install them in servers that are currently
being backed up over the network. In particular, all servers with large disk drives should
be backed-up directly to tape devices resident in the servers and not over the network.
Hardware and Data Center Section
The Warner Group V- 14
Server Upgrade Strategy - The Information Technology Division (ITD) NT servers are
regularly upgraded as the need arises and technology improves.. When more server
capacity is required, the least capable server is replaced with a new machine and
applications are migrated as appropriate. This is a good ~,~rategy for providing
incremental server capacity without creating unnecessary disruptions to the departments.
Server Capacity Planning - ITD is finding that the load on the NT servers is steadily
increasing over time. This is largely due to the increased level of sophistication of the
users. As the users receive more training and more network-resident services are made
available to them, greater use is made of these services. To properly plan for this
anticipated increased server load, a detailed assessment should be performed to determine
what the expected future load would be so that the proper server capacity is made
available.
D.HARDWARE RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendation - The Utilities Department and ITD should standardize on the same
set of hardware platforms in order to minimize the overall system administration effort.
Recommendation - There should be sufficient building UPS capacity installed at the
Civic Center to power at least the servers and network equipment through a 30-minute
power failure. Ideally, some or all of the workstations should also be covered by building
UPS.
Recommendation - Building UPS at the Civic Center should be backed-up with
generator power to allow the building to operate through power failures of indefinite
length.
Recommendation - Utilities and ITD should standardize on a single email system and
SMTP server.
Hardware and Data Center Section
The Warner Group V- 15
Recommendation - ITD should obtain more tape backup units and install them in servers
that are currently being backed up over the network to the single backup server. In
particular, all servers with large disk drives should be backed-up directly to tape devices
resident in the servers and not over the network.
Recommendation - The Information Technology Division is finding that the load on the
servers is steadily increasing over time. A detailed assessment should be performed to
determine what the expected future load would be so that the proper server capacity is
made available.
Recommendation - The manufacturer of the fire suppression equipment needs to be
identified and an assessment should be performed to determine its capabilities of meeting
the City’s needs.
Recommendation - The manufacturers of the water, temperature, fire, and intrusion
detection systems need to be identified. An assessment should be performed to determine
the capability of the equipment to meet the City’s needs.
Recommendation - The City should look to minimize the number of single user primers
and move increasingly toward networked printers in the ratio of 4 PCs for each printer.
Hardware ~md Data Center Section
The Warner Group V- 16
SECTION VI
NETWORKING
THE WARNER GR O UP
VI- NETWORKING
A. CURRENT NETWORKING ENVIRONMENT
Overall Network Environment
The overall City network is actually composed of two separate networks with a 10Mbps
(million bits per second) connection between them (See Exhibit VI-1, "City of Palo Alto
Network Diagram"). The Information Technology Division (ITD) network and the
Utilities Department network can be viewed as separate networks. Each has its own
wiring and network equipment infrastructure, each provides its own server services, and
each has its own network and system management staff. The ITD network is far more
advanced in its design and overall capacity and should be the foundation for network
expansion in furore.
The ITD network is built on a Cabletron MMAC-Plus Layer 2 switched backbone while
the Utilities network is built on a Hewlett-Packard (HP) ProCurve Layer 2 switched
backbone. Layer 2 switching is a technology that has superceded simple Ethernet
network hubs and repeaters. The advantage of Layer 2 switches over hubs and repeaters
is that switches provide greater bandwidth to the connected device using the same wiring
infrastructure as hubs and repeaters.
A single 10Mbps connection links the two networks. A port on one of the ITD Cabletron
2200 switches connects to a port on one of the Utilities HP ProCurve switches. This is a
very narrow connection (only 10Mbps) and reflects the fact that the two networks are
almost completely independent. Practically the only traffic that the two networks
exchange is Intemet traffic. The ITD network has an Internet connection and provides
Internet connectivity to the Utilities network. There are also a small number of ITD users
on the Utilities network that gain access to IT services through this link.
A majority of the cabling to the desktop computers and print servers at the Civic Center is
Category 3 wiring. All new requests for wiring in the Civic Center as well as at all other
City sites are specified to a Category 5 standard. The Categories of wiring specifies the
speed and distance at which the wiring may be used. Category 3 wiring may be used at
Networkang Section
The Warner Group VI- 1
the same speeds as Category 5 wiring, but cannot also be used at the distances allowed by
Category 5 wiring. Within the Civic Center, the distances allow high speeds using
Category 3 wiring.
Information Technology Division Network
As we indicated,-the backbone of the Information Technology Division (ITD) network is
the Cabletron MMAC-Plus Layer 2 switch.
Ner~vorkin8 SectionThe Warner Group VI- 2
City of Paio Alto
Network Diagram
Utilities Information Technology
Civic Center Servers:
DEC Alpha - 2 DEC Channel WorksNovell - 4 BridgeWindows 95-1
I’ ~1Linux - 1
Single-Mode
Fiber
100 Mbps
Water Quality
Control Plant
Maintenance
Service Center
MSC Servers:
Novell- 1
Windows NT - 3
Windows 3.1 - 1
Linux - 1
HP UNIX - 2
DOS - 1Elwood Court
Electrical Engineering
(VVatedGasNVastewater)
10 Mbps
HP Procurve 101100 Switch
Thin Wire
Broadband
Coax Cable
(2nd Floor)
48-port Hub
Workstations (48)Floor)
48-port Hub
Workstations (48)(3rd Floor)
48-port Hub
Workstations (48)(7th Floor)
48-port Hub
Workstations (48)
10 Mbp~
Cabletron 2200 Switch
(3rd Floor)100 Mbps
24-port
Cabletron 2200 Switch (22)
(Floors A,1 ,M,4,5,6,7)
24-port
10 Mbps
Workstations (528)
100 Mbps
Cabletron MMAC-Plus Switch
24-port 10-port 72-port
Multi-Mode
Fiber
100 Mbps
Multi-Mode Fiber
Converter
(2rid Floor)
Workstations (72)
DEC Channel Works
Bddge
Mitchell Park
Cultural Center
Broadband
Coax Cable
Cabletron Smart
Switch Router
Single-Mode Fiber
Converter
Downtown Library
10 Mbps
100 Mbps
HP Servers
Cabletron Switch
(Computer Room)
12-port
10 Mbps 100 Mbps
(HP3000 - 2)
(HP9000 - 4)
(HP Workstation
Firewall
Hub
Web Server
NT Servers (10)
T1
10 Mbps
Gandalf Express Stack
ISDN Router
ISDN
Fire stations (8) t
¯ Exhibit Vl-1
P,~Pa!o Atto.c~.caLS08-02 IT Master Plan\Table 1-Overall Network Diagram.vsd
The Warner Grou~
The Cabletron MMAC-Plus switch is composed of three (3) sections.
The left section comprises 24 100Mbps multi-mode fiber ports. Most of these ports
go to Cabletron 2200 24-port Layer 2 switches. Each Cabletron 2200 has a
100Mbps multi-mode fiber uplink to the backbone switch and 24 10Mbps ports.
connected to desktop computers and print servers. The Cabletron 2200’s are
located in wiring closets on various floors in the Civic Center building serving ITD
users.
One of the Cabletron MMAC-Plus multi-mode fiber links goes to a Cabletron
Smart Switch Router. This is a Layer 3 switch and performs all of the routing
within the network. The Cabletron Smart Switch connects to the Internet firewall,
to a single-mode fiber link to the Downtown Library, and to the broadband cable.
The center section of the Cabletron MMAC-Plus switch contains ten 10/100Mbps
ports with RJ-45 connectors attached to all of the HP-3000, HP-9000 and NT
servers. The HP servers are connected directly to the switch at 10Mbps, while the
NT servers are connected to an intermediate Cabletron switch and then to the
MMAC-Plus. The intermediate switch also connects to an ISDN router to support
the fire station links.
The right section of the Cabletron MMAC-Plus switch contains 72 10Mbps ports
with Amphenol connectors. These ports are connected to desktop computers and
print servers on the second floor of the Civic Center.
The Utilities Department has implemented a City-wide single-mode "dark" fiber optic
network which they plan to market commercially. One of the first users of the new
single-mode fiber is the Information Technology Division. ITD is using this fiber to
connect from the Smart Switch Router to the Downtown Library Local Area Network
(LAN). The Utilities Department is also using this fiber to connect the Elwell Court
LAN to the Utilities Department network.
The purpose of the new fiber optic network is to largely replace, and greatly enhance, the
existing "broadband cable" capability. Some of the broadband cable is aerial and some is
underground. Frequencies on the broadband cable are allocated in 6MHz bands. Each
frequency band can accommodate a single T-1 (1.544 Mbps) digital circuit. By contrast,
a single-mode fiber optic cable can support 100 Mbps and even 1,000 Mbps and thus has
many more times the bandwidth than does broadband cable.
Both the Information Technology Division and the Utilities Department are still using the
Broadband Cable. The ITD section of the broadband cable is connected to the Smart
Networking Section
The Warner Group VI- 4
Switch Router using a DEC Channel Works Bridge. One frequency is used to connect to
the Mitchell Park LAN while another frequency is used to connect to the Cultural Center
LAN.
The Utilities Department section of the broadband cable is connected to the Utilities HP
.ProCurve switch using a DEC Channel Works Bridge. One frequency is used to connect
the Water Quality Control Plant LAN while another frequency is used to connect the
Utilities Operations LAN at the MSC.
The Information Technology Division uses an ISDN
Network) link to connect to each of the City fire stations.
(Imegrated Services Digital
Though ISDN is normally a
dial-up technology, the stations never "hang up" the connection thus making these
essentially dedicated circuits.
Utilities Network
The backbone of the Utilities Department network is a HP ProCurve Layer 2 switch with
10/100 Mbps capability.
The Utilities ProCurve switch is connected to the Information Technology Division
(ITD) backbone through a 10Mbps connection to an ITD Cabletron 2200 switch port.
The Utilities Department expects to eventually connect to the ITD backbone via the
Cabletron Smart Switch Router using a 100Mbps connection and the new single-mode
fiber network.
The Water Quality Control Plant (WQCP) is connected via the Broadband Cable. The
WQCP site consists of 2 LANs connected by a switch. The 2 LANs at WQCP are called
"Laboratory" and "Campus".
All of the users at WQCP are ITD users. These users reach the ITD resources at the
Civic Center via the Utilities Department network, then through the HP ProCurve switch
to the ITD backbone. As mentioned earlier, the connection between the HP ProCurve
and the ITD backbone switch is only 10Mbps.
The MSC is connected via the Broadband Cable. The MSC site consists of 4 LANs
connected by a switch. The 4 LANs at MSC are:
Networking Section
The Warner Group VI- 5
1.Animal Control
2.Public Works
3.Parks and Stores
4.Utilities Operations.
This site has nine (9) servers are described in Section V - Computers and Data Center.
There is a connection from MSC to Elwell Court using the Utilities Department single-
mode fiber cable. Eventually, Elwell Court will be directly connected to the Civic Center
backbone using the single-mode fiber network. An alternative redundant link is being
planned between the Elwell Court, MSC, and the Civic Center.
Information Technology IP Addressing Design
The Information Technology Division (ITD) network uses the Intemet standard, TCP/IP
(Transport Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol) protocol for all of its servers and
workstations. Currently ITD is using static (assigned and fixed) IP addresses for each of
the NT servers and desktop computers. The Information Technology Division is working
on a conversion from static IP addresses to DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol) in which IP addresses are assigned as needed.
ITD is using a combination of registered and private IP addresses on its network. Most
of these addresses are Class C, though ITD also uses some private Class A addresses.
These fragmented address ranges create multiple subnets.
Class A, B and C addresses are an Internet construct that determines how many
computers can operate on a subnet. A Class C address allows 254 computers to operate
while Class B and A addresses allow approximately 65,000 and 16,000,000 computers to
operate respectively. Registered addresses are IP addresses that are officially obtained
from InterNIC, the Internet agency responsible for allocating Internet addresses
worldwide. Only registered address are allowed on the Internet. Today, only Class C
registered addresses are generally available from InterNIC. Private addresses are IP
addresses that are used on a private network behind a firewall and do not appear on the
Internet. Private addresses are not obtained from InterNIC and they usually conflict with
Networking Section
The Warner Group I:I- 6
addresses issued by InterNIC. So long as they are not used on the Intemet, however, they
cause no difficulty. Accordingly, any agency is free to use Class A, B or C private
addresses.
Internet Connection
The City’s Internet connection is through the Cabletron Smart Switch Router. The
Internet connection is a T-1 circuit.
There is a Border Ware V5.0. Firewall between the City network and the Internet. The
firewall is located on the A level of City Hall. The firewall rims on an Intel machine
using a BDSI UNIXoperating system.
The City runs a Web server outside the firewall. The Web server is located on the A
level of City Hall. The Web server also runs on an Intel machine using a BDSI UNIX
operating system.
The City’s outside Domain Name System (DNS) is hosted by its Internet Service
Provider (ISP). A Domain Name System server is a necessary function that must be
provided by any agency, such as the City of Palo Alto, that has a registered Domain on
the Internet. The Domain Name System translates the Domain Name portion of a
Universal Record Locator (URL) (city.palo-alto.ca.us) to its defined IP address (a number
in the format xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx). While an agency with a Domain on the Internet may
host the required DNS on servers located at its own facilities, this function is more
commonly provided by the ISP.
Network Management System
The Information Technology Division (ITD) licenses the Computer Associates (CA)
Unicenter TNG suite that includes a Network Management System (NMS), however ITD
is not using this product. ITD currently performs network management using a Simple
Network Management Protocol (SNMP) product from Castle Rock Computing, SNMPC
Network Manager Version 4.2.04. This product has minimal capabilities and therefore
ITD has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for an improved Network Management
System.
Networking Section
The Warner Group VI- 7
The Utilities Department Network Management System is composed of three (3)
dedicated Inte! PCs running Windows 3.1. The Utilities Department uses a modified
version of Castle Rock SNMP and Novell Administrator.
B.YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE
The Year 2000 status of the network and network components was not considered within
the scope of the information technology assessment performed for the City.
C.NETWORKING ASSESSMENT
Two Networks - The Information Technology Division (ITD) and Utilities Department
networks are almost completely independent. Each has its own wiring and network
equipment infrastructure, each maintains its own servers and server operating systems,
each provides its own server services and each has its own network and system
management staff.
HP Server Connections - The seven (7) HP servers at the Civic Center are connected to
the Cabletron MMAC-Plus switch via 10Mbps ports. The MMAC-Plus has 10/100Mbps
capability so the limitation is the capacity of the HP server Network Interface Cards
NT Server Connections - All of the Civic Center Information Technology Division NT
servers (a total often) are connected to one Cabletron switch and the uplink of that switch
is connected to a single 100Mbps port on the Cabletron MMAC-Plus backbone switch.
That means that the aggregate traffic to all of the NT servers is funneled through a single
100Mbps connection.
Switch Capacity - The Cabletron MMAC-Plus chassis is almost completely full; there is
only one vacant slot in the chassis with room for just one more card.
Network Switch Dependency - The Cabletron MMAC-Plus backbone switch is a potential
single point of failure that could bring the entire network down. There is no ability to
completely eliminate this single point of failure since some device has to be the network
Networking Seeuon
The Warner Group VI- 8
backbone, however, it is possible to reduce the possibility of failure by utilizing dual
power supplies in the backbone switch chassis, providing a dedicated Uninterrupted
Power Supply (UPS) for the switch, and keeping spare cards on site.
Station Wiring - All of the cabling to the desktop computers and print servers at the Civic
Center is Category 3 (CAT3). Since all of these devices are connected to 10Mbps
switched ports, the CAT3 cabling is adequate.
lnternet Connection - The City’s Internet connection is only a single T-1 circuit. This is
approximately 1/8th of the bandwidth of the minimal 10 Mbps bandwidth used throughout
the City’s LAN.
City Web Server - The City currently operates a Web server at the Civic Center site. The
City should consider placing their Web server at the ISP. In this way traffic to the Web
server from the Intemet would not have to go across the City’s T-1 link. That link should
be reserved for City users getting out to the Intemet. If the City were to post some
popular information on their Web server and experience a high "hit" rate, the City users
might not be able to access the Intemet in a timely fashion.
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) - A DMZ is a logical space that is protected from the Intemet
but which is also isolated from the City’s internal Intranet. The City’s Web server is
completely outside the City’s existing firewall an is thus exposed to the Internet. If the
City wishes to continue to operate its Web server on the City network, it should
implement a firewall that allows the construction of a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and
place the Web server inside the DMZ.
lnternet Protocol Addressing- The physical architecture of the of the Information
Technology Division (ITD) TCP/IP network is essentially a very large, flat, Layer 2
switched network. Superimposed on this fiat network are dozens oflP subnets. ITD uses
a combination of registered and unregistered IP addresses, and private IP addresses on
their network. Most of these addresses are class C, though ITD also uses some private
Networking Section
The Warner Group VI- 9
class A addresses. These fragmented address ranges are the cause of the multiple IP
subnets.
Traffic Management - While the physical architecture of the ITD network is flat, the
logical network is subnetted into many small IP subnets. In particular, desktop
computers are on one set of subnets and servers are on another set of subnets. This
means that packets travelling between desk-top computers and servers have to be routed.
The Cabletron Smart Switch Router is configured as the default gateway for all desktop
and server computers. Consequently, all packets traversing the Layer 2 backbone
(Cabletron MMAC-Plus switch, Cabletron 2200 switches and others) will have to go
though the Smart Switch Router. This is inefficient.
One solution is to eliminate the large amount of subnetting behind the firewall by using a
class B private IP address range - an address in the 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255
range. This would completely flatten the network and allow complete switching at Layer
2. This has its downside, however in that large, flat networks have large broadcast
domains that require significant bandwidth and are hard to manage.
Another solution is careful use of subnetting that breaks up large broadcast domains.
There are two methods to subnet. One is to introduce a Layer 3 switch in the center of
the network and the other way is to continue switching at layer 2, but use VLANs to
break up the large broadcast domains. Which alternative is best for the City would
depend on the capability of its equipment. Whether the MMAC-Plus switch has VLAN
capability and the Cabletron Smart Switch Router can be moved to the center of the
network.
D.NETWORKING RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendation - The ITD and Utilities networks should be unified under the
standards established by ITD. There should be one server hardware platform (Intel), one
Network Operating System (Windows NT), one Network Protocol (TCP/IP), one IP
addressing scheme, and centralized network administration.
Networking Section
The Warner Group VI- 10
Recommendation - A priority for the Space Planning Project should be to replace the
existing Category 3 wiring with Category 5 (CATS). Upgrading to Category 5 wiring
will become more critical as applications (such as video) are installed that will need
100Mbps bandwidth.
Recommendation - The HP servers at the Civic Center should be upgraded with
1001Vlbps Network Interface Cards (NICs) in order to achieve greater network bandwidth
to the servers.
Recommendation -.The Information Technology Division NT servers at the Civic
Center should be connected directly to the backbone Cabletron MMAC-Plus switch in
order to achieve greater network bandwidth to the servers.
Recommendation - Subnet the network by introducing a Layer 3 switch in the center of
the network or continue switching at .layer 2, but use VLANs to break up the large
broadcast domains.
Recommendation - Reduce the possibility of complete network failure by utilizing dual
power supplies in the Cabletron backbone switch chassis, providing a dedicated UPS for
the switch, and keeping on hand spare cards.
Recommendation - The City should consider placing their Web server at the ISP rather
than operating it on the City network at the Civic Center.
Recommendation - If the City wishes to continue to operate its Web server on the City
network, it should implement a firewall that allows the construction of a DMZ and place
the Web server inside the DMZ.
Recommendation - The Information Technology Division should use only private
addresses on their network (behind the firewall), use DHCP to allocate these addresses,
and use a proxy server at their Internet connection with registered IP addresses.
Networking Section
The Warner Group VI- 11
Recommendation - The City should investigate the use of City owned fiber optic cable
for network connection.
Recommendation - An analysis should be performed to determine if the current single
circuit T-1 for Internet access is adequate for the current and anticipated user load.
N~,vorkang Section
The Warner Group VI- 12
SECTION VII
SOFTWARE
THE WARNER GR O UP
VII-SOFTWARE
A. CURRENT SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT
The software environment can be divided into four broad areas: operating systems,
database management systems, office automation applications, and business applications.
Operating Systems (OS) - Operating systems are a set of programs that manage, control,
and provide security for the computer environment. Operating systems common in
today’s environment include:
¯UNIX
¯Microsoft’s Windows New Technology (NT)
¯Intemational Business Machine’s Multiple Virtual Storage (MVS)
¯Digital Equipment Corporation’s Virtual Memory System (VMS)
¯Hewlett-Packard’s Multi-Programming Executive (MPE)
Database Management Systems (DBMS) - A DBMS is a set of programs that control the
structure for the storage and retrieval of data. Data storage techniques can be categorized
¯Fiat-file
¯Index-Sequential
¯Hierarchical
¯Relational
The more modem databases on the market today are relational databases such as those
offered by Oracle, Informix, Sybase, and others.
Office Automation Applications (OA) - OA applications are those that perform business
functions that are invariant across industries, i.e. they do not vary because of the
particular industry of the organization. Typical OA applications are word processing,
spreadsheets, business graphics, and electronic mail.
Business Application - Those applications that are specific to an industry. For a
government organization these would include Accounting, Geographic Information
System (GIS), Human Resources~ayroll, Police/Fire Records Management System, etc.
S~fl’w~e Section
The Warner Group VII- 1
Operating Systems - Servers
In traditional main computer systems, the brand (Hewlett Packard) and model (HP-3000)
defined the capabilities and interoperability of the computer. That is because they
specified the operating system which ran on the computer and which controlled the
environment of all computer applications operating on the designated computer. This
arrangement, known as proprietary operating systems, was prevalent in the computer
industry through the 1980’s. Most vendors adopted the Open System philosophy in the
late 1980’s and promoted UNIX as the universal, vendor independent, operating system
of choice. Many vendors continue to promote their specific version of UNIX, though
frequently, Windows NT has been added as an alternative operating system. Windows
NT has been the emerging operating system within the last two to three years and this
trend will likely continue, as the market demands.
The City of Palo Alto has two HP-3000 servers that utilize the MPE proprietary operating
system from Hewlett Packard. Other servers operating in the City utilize the following
operating systems: Windows NT, Novell, HP/UNIX, DOS, OperdVMS, and Linux.
Exhibit vii - 1 represents the various operating systems installed throughout the City.
Server Operating System Number of Installations
Windows NT 18
Nowll 10
HP/UNIX 8
DOS 4
Open/VMS 1
Linux 4
Total 45
Operating Systems - Desktop
The City has recently standardized on Windows NT for its desktop operating system. A
majority of the desktops in the City are running the Windows NT operating system on the
desktop. There are several DOS applications within the Utilities Department that will not
Soflw~ Section
The Warner Group VII- 2
run under the NT operating system and therefore the majority of PCs in the Utilities
Department are nmning under Windows ’95. The current distribution of desktop
operating systems is shown in Exhibit VII - 2.
Desktop Operating @stem Number of PCs Installed
Windows NT 460
Windows 95 104
Windows 3.1 64
DOS 59
MAC/OS 3
Total 690
Database Management Systems (DBMS)
The City has a variety of DBMS systems installed to support small and large business
applications. In some instances, the selection of the DBMS was dependent upon the
computer hardware upon which it was installed. This is the situation with the HP-3000
and its Image/3000 DBMS. Image/3000 is a hierarchical database and will only run on
the HP-3000 computer hardware. On the other hand, other database systems installed in
the City are independent of the hardware (e.g., Oracle, Informix, MS-Access, etc.). A
representation of the total number of installations of database management systems
throughout the City is shown in Exhibit VII - 3.
Database Management Systems Number of Installations
Image 2
Informix 2
Oracle 3
Access Numerous client applications
Btrieve 1
GDS proprietary database 1
SQL Server 1
Total 10
Software S ~-~ion
The Warner Group VII- 3
Office Automation Applications
The City’s adherence to a common OA standard for word processing, spreadsheets,
project scheduling and presentation software increases the compatibility and productivity
of the City’s employees. City employees can easily create and share files with other City
employees without the need to convert files from product to another or from one version
of a product to another version of the same product. One standard also reduces the
amount of effort and time that needs to be spent on the maintenance of software.
Although the City has standardized on Microsoft Office, all departments have not
migrated to the standard. Exhibit VII - 4 illustrates the various OA applications utilized
throughout the City.
’Application Description Application Name
Spreadsheets MS-Excel
Lotus 123
Word Processing WordPerfect
MS-Word
Project Scheduling Timeline
MS-project
Email Client MS-Mail
Internet Browser Netscape Navigator
Presentations MS-PowerPoint
HP-OpenDesk is the City’s standard for email, which was designed for the HP-3000
environment. It does not have many of the enterprise features of the leading industry
products. The City is planning for the installation of Microsoft Exchange and Outlook
for group collaboration features such as scheduling and calendaring, electronic mail,
forms, and automated document routing.
Major Business Applications
Details of all non-office automation computer applications are listed in Appendix D.
Some of the more significant applications are listed in Exhibit VII - 5 below:
Sotb,v-.re Section
The Warner Group VII- 4
Major Administrative Applications
Function Product Vendor
Accounting Interactive Fund Accounting System Bi-Tech Software, Inc.
(WAS)
Budget Documents Budget D~cument Publication PublishWrite
Cash Receipting Cash Receipting and Revenue CORE
Accounting
Geographic Information Geographic Information System (GIS)GDSC
Human Resources and Payroll Human Resources and Payroll Lawson
Legislative History Legislative History In-house
Optical Imaging System Optical Image Scanning, Indexing,CDB Info Tek
and Retrieval
Revenue Collection Revenue Collection System In negotiations
Customer Reporting System Customer Reporting System Integrated Information
Solutions (IIS)
Major Police and Fire Applications
Function Product Vendor
Animal Control Animal Control (BARKS)In-house
Citywide Telephone
Management Call Accounting System
Fire Hazardous Materials Hazardous Materials Inventory and In-houseReporting
Fire Incident Reporting Fire Incident Tracking System (FIRE)In-house
Police Records Management Police Operations Support System Public Safety Systems, Inc.
Elementary (POSSE)(PSSI) being implemented
Police Records Management Vision Technology Records Public Safety Systems, Inc.
Management System (VT PRISM)(PSSI) being implemented
Major Community Service and Public Works Applications
Function Product Vendor
Facility and Activity Class, Activity, and Facility ESCOM
Registration Reservation System (CLASS)
Fleet Management Equipment Management System Prototype
Infrastructure Management Lifecycle information for City
structures
Library Automation Library Public Access (DYNIX)Ameritech Library Services
Pavement Management Public Works Pavement Management In-house
System
Permit Tracking Building Inspection and Permit In-house
System
Tree Inventory and Tree Inventory and Management In-house
Management System
Software Se~--5on
The Warner Group VII- 5
Major Utilities Applications
Function Product Vendor
Elecl~ic Load Research Electric Consumption Monitoring ~i’iity Translation Systems
(MV-90)inc.
Electric SCADA Control and Monitoring Electric Advanced Control Systems,
Distribution Inc.
Fiber Network Management Manage Installation of Fiber Anixter, Inc
Communications Infrastructure
Meter Inventory Meter (electric, gas, and water)In-house
Inventory
Sewer Information Sewer Information Management .......
Management System (SIMMS)
Traffic Signal Monitoring Monitor and Synchronize Traffic
System Signal System
Utility information & Billing Customer Information System (CIS) SCT
Water-Gas-Storm SCADA Control and’Monitoring Water, Gas, Intellution FIX
and Storm Drain System (intellution
FIX)
B.SOFTWA~ ASSESSMENT
Assessment of Office Automation Software
Word Processing, Spreadsheets, and Presentation Graphics - There are several versions
of Microsoft Office currently in use in the City. The adherence to a common OA
standard increases the compatibility and productivity of the City’s employees. One
standard also reduces the amount of effort and money spent on maintenance of the
software. The City has made a good choice standardizing on the Microsoft Office Suite.
Electronic Mail - The City has been principally using HP-OpenDesk as its email server
software and MS-mail as its email client software. The City has been evaluating
alternative electronic mail systems available on the market and has established a
standard. At this time, the City has determined that Microsoft Exchange would meet its
needs as an email server software to replace OpenDesk and the City is planning to utilize
MS-Outlook as its email client software.
lnternet Browser - The City has standardized on Netscape Navigator as its Intemet
browser of choice. Netscape Navigator is considered to be one of the industry leaders in
this area of technology and a strong competitor for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer product.
Software Section
The Warner Group VII- 6
Web Page - City is currently using Apaqhe as its Web Page application development tool.
Apache is widely used in the industry for Web Page development and is considered a
commercial grade tool. The Apache Group, a group of volunteers that communicate over
the Intemet and coordinate the changes to the source code, provide the software free of
charge.
Assessment of Major Internal Support Applications
Accounting System -The City’s financial information system was licensed from Bi-Tech
Software, Inc. in 1987. The system was installed on a HP-9000 computer, utilizing the
UNIX operating system and an Informix DBMS. The system is written in COBOL
(Common Business Oriented Language) and Triad (a proprietary fourth generation
language developed by Bi-Tech) and is accessed through a character-mode interface.
The City is evaluating Bi-Tech products that allow access to the financial information
through a graphical user interface (GUI) and the Internet. The proprietary report writing
tool "Click, Drag, and Drill" (CDD) is currently being implemented to allow departments
to develop custom reports. This application has been renovated for the Year 2000.
Integration of new and emerging technologies has not occurred very rapidly with the
current accounting system. This is particularly evident in the areas of database
management systems, web-enabled applications and industry standard report writing
capabilities. Although the accounting system uses Informix, a relational database
management system, this is not considered an industry leader and has been losing market
share over the last couple of years. The financial system has not been web-enabled and
as such does not allow for the entry of information over the Internet or a City Intranet. A
proprietary product (IFAS Net) was recently released by the vendor to allow for the
selection and posting of reports on the Intranet. The City is currently in the process of
planning the implementation of is product.
Sofi’~v~e Sec~on
The Warner Group VI1- 7
Human Resources/Payroll System - The City’s Human Resources/Payroll System (the
Lawson Systems) was purchased approximately four ago. The system is installed on a
HP-9000 computer, utilizing the UNIX operating system and an Informix database. The
system is written in COBOL and utilizes a proprietary report writing tool for customized
reports. At this time, all of the modules in the Human Resources!Payroll System have
not been fully implemented (e.g., applicant tracking benefits administration, employee
relations, employment contracts, employee history, etc.). Although the Lawson System
has a timekeeping module, the City has decided to forego implementing this module and
to develop a custom application. The Human Resources!Payroll system is separate from
the accounting system and requires an interface of bi-weekly payroll information to
update the general ledger and the labor distribution. This system has been renovated for
the Year 2000.
Legislative History - The Legislative History application tracks the full history of City
Council legislative actions (e.g., documents associated with an action, cross-referenced to
minutes, actions taken, and other information). This application was developed by the
Information Technology Division (ITD) and maintains approximately ten years of
historical data. This system is not Year 2000 compliant and needs to be renovated.
Geographic Information System -GIS is an enabling foundation technology, much like
electronic mail. GIS is most useful when it is implemented Citywide and becomes a sort
of utility to the conduct of business. GIS, however, is different than most computer
applications in a number of respects:
¯It requires standardization of data across many systems and departments
¯It involves the integration of graphical geographic information and database
information (attributes) uniting two different automation disciplines
¯It should depend upon operational data stored and maintained in many other systems
Accordingly, a GIS system needs to be built upon other, prior automation systems and
not developed in a vacuum relative to other City automation efforts. Some of the
automation that should precede the development of GIS includes:
¯A central database of address information - This database should include standard
address names, valid address ranges, valid address number, direction, name, suffix
Soft’~v~e S~-’don
The Warner Group VII- 8
combinations, and authorized addresses combinations. This central database of
addresses should be integrated into each City application such that only addresses
residing in the address database can be entered into any City business application.
This will enable GIS (and generic report writers) to cross reference address related
information in different City systems. The lack of such a database and suck
integration with City business applications is a major source of difficulty and cost in
the development of GIS systems.
Automated Work Order systems for each City maintained infrastructure - City
infrastructure includes water, sewer, storm drain, street lighting, signs and striping,
tree maintenance, park maintenance, building maintenance, and others. Much of the
information which is needed for infrastructure automated mapping, is information
which is a product of the maintenance of the infrastructure. This information
involves such items as what part was installed, its size/capacity/composition, where it
was installed, when it was installed, what it cost to install it, and who installed it. All
too often, as is largely the case in the City of Palo Alto, this information is kept
manually. There are Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) software packages for
nearly all municipal infrastructure work order processes, including systems from
CassWorks, Maximo, and Hansen. Both of these vendors provide automated
interfaces to GIS systems.
The Graphic Design Systems Corporation (GDSC) Geographical Information System has
been operated in the City since 1989. A comprehensive set of data is available in the
current GIS that include information regarding water, gas, sewer, and electric systems.
With the evolution of technology, many enhancements have been made to the system to
increase its functionality for the City.
In 1997, the vendor announced its decision to discontinue its investment in research and
development in the current application. The City will however continue to receive
support, system maintenance, bug fixes, operating system, and database upgrades for a
minimum of three years. A strategy has been developed by the City to reduce its
dependence on GDS. The element to this strategy was to move away from the
proprietary GDS spatial data file format to the use of a relational database management
system for spatial data. The City selected the Oracle Spatial Cartridge Option as the
standard database for the GIS spatial information. Currently, the City is replicating its
spatial data in the GDS to the Oracle Spatial Cartridge Option with plans to eliminate the
need to replicate data with industry standard applications.
Sol%rare Section
The Warner Group VII- 9
GIS Issues:
Map Area and Accuracy- The current City map for the GIS system encompasses the
area within the City limits. Police and Fire Departments have a requirement for maps
for the surrounding jurisdictions. The Fire Department responds to calls on the
Stanford University campus and needs information related to this jurisdiction. The
City has evaluated other alternatives for acquiring this information. There is little
confidence in the accuracy and reliability of the data maintained by the County or that
could be obtained by commercial packages. The original aerial photography was
captured in 1983. There is a need to update this information and to provide color
photographs.
Application Support after Year 2000 - GDS will no longer provide upgrades and
fixes to the application after January 1, 2000. Helpdesk support from GDS will end
on April 2000.
Report Writing - Microsoft Access databases are created as a mirror of the Oracle
database and are used to store GIS information for specific department applications.
The Access database is then used to report information from GIS. This configuration
allows the distribution of GIS information to multiple users in the City. The data
could be manipulated using standard Windows products with limited cost to the City
for software and training.
Data Standardization - There are several data standards issues to be considered since
GIS should depend upon operational business applications such as Work Order
processes, permits processes, inspection processes, police and fire incidents and
similar geographically related City processes. Accordingly, not only is address
standardization required, but many others standards needed such as place names,
street segment designations (for pavement, lighting, and utilities), and others. These
standards are needed in the business application that automates those City processes.
That is not always possible but the creation of a standard Data Warehouse can assist
the process.
Data Maintenance - As with data acquisition and input, data maintenance issues will
be resolved when most of the information feeding GIS is derived from operational
systems in which the input of data is an integral part of doing maintenance work.
This is a key factor in the successful and cost-effective implementation of GIS
systems.
¯Prioritization of Applications - GIS is a technology that unites graphical
representations with traditional database information. It is not, of itself, a business
Soft.re Section
The Warner Group VII- 10
application. Accordingly, it is important to establish what the application of GIS will
encompass and what will be the priority of its development.
¯Year 2000 Compliance - The system has been renovated to meet the Year 2000
compliance standards.
Document Imaging System - The City installed a Document Imaging System by CDB
Infotek in 1992 to support the needs Of the Police, Planning, and Building Departments.
In the Police Department, information related to police reports is scanned and indexed on
optical disks. The CDB Infotek is installed on the HP-9000 and the vendor provides
support and upgrades for the software. The application running in the City is the
character-based version, however, a newer version that runs under Windows ’95 is being
tested by the Police Department for implementation. This application has been renovated
to meet Year 2000 compliance standards.
At the present time, only three City deparmaents are utilizing the document imaging
application, but the need to implement such an application City-wide was identified by
other departments (e.g., City Clerk, City Attorney, Fire Department, Human Resources,
etc.). There is a need to standardize on one document imaging system that would be used
by all departments throughout the City.
Assessment of the City’s Web Site
The City has a well-designed, first generation, traditional municipal Web site. Municipal
Web sites are rapidly moving in the direction of direct database linkage to City records
and provide much more detailed information on City processes and procedures. Internet
transactions, though identified in each of the various business applications as planned
enhancements, have not been done. There are essentially three types of Internet
transactions:
¯Requests for information or forms and applications
¯Transactions requiring confirmed identification of customer
¯Transactions involving the exchange of money
Softw~e So.ion
The Warner Group VII- 11
Few cities have implemented the fn’st type of transactions and few, if any have
implemented the second or third types of transaction. Still, this remains the great
potential for better service delivery and is currently being pursued intently by cities in the
Silicon Valley.
Assessment of Major Police and Fire Business Applications
Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) - The Police and Fire Departments are not currently
using an automated application to dispatch services throughout the City. This is currently
being accomplished through the maintenance of manual address and manual "run" cards.
The two departments have recently selected the Public Safety Systems, Inc. (PSSI) CAD
system and are in the process of negotiating a contract for the City. This application is
available on the NT platform and includes a Records Management module. The PSSI
application runs on the NT platform but, at present, has few installed clients. To
eliminate the risk of a new operating system, the City has elected to install the CAD
system on the HP-3000.
Police Records Management System -The Police Department is currently using the
Vision Technology (VT) Prism Records Management System (KMS) that was
implemented in 1987. All modules of the application were not originally implemented
and the Police Department used their old RMS (e.g., POSSE) to supplement the lack of
functionality and to provide access to historical data. In 1993, all modules of the VT
Prism application were implemented and use of the POSSE system was discontinued.
Support for the application is not provided by an outside vendor but by the systems
management personnel within the Police Department. The POSSE system is not Year
2000 compliant and is scheduled to be replaced with PSSI in 1999.
Many of the currently mandated reporting features and functions do not exist in the
current RMS and plans have been developed to replace the current system with the PSSI
Records Management System in FY 1998 - 99. The CAD and RMS systems will be
funded by Capital Improvement Project (CIP) funds.
Software Section
The Warner Group VII- 12
Fire Records Management System - The Fire Department is currently maintaining
information on an assortment of manual and stand-None PC applications. The Fire
Department lacks an integrated system to manage its activities. The Department is
currently evaluating RMS applications to be implemented on an NT platform. The
Sunpro RMS application has been given serious consideration and has been found
suitable to Palo Alto’s specific needs. These needs include tracking of employee training
and certification, and paramedic transportation and billing.
Assessment of MajorCommunity Services Business Applications
Library System -The Library maintains six branches located throughout the City. The
Library’s CUlTent system is the Dynix product provided by AmeriTech. The AmeriTech
System is written in PICK Basic and is running on the HP-9000, utilizing a UNIX
operating system (HP-UX). Access to the system is performed through emulation
software running on Wyse terminals. These terminals are connected throughout the City
by coaxial cable. Library staff has access to approximately 100 terminalsiPCs and 34
terminals are available for public use. Public access to the catalog is provided to patrons
through a telnet session to the HP-9000. A new release of the Dynix application will be
available to allow for access to the catalog over the Internet using a browser and a
graphical user interface (GUI) for internal Library use. This system has been renovated
to meet the Year 2000 compliance standards.
The Dynix application is not written in an industry standard language (e.g., PICK Basic)
and the vendor has not indicated that a version will be available in the near future. The
Library has engaged a consulting firm, Joseph Ford and Associates, Inc., to develop a
strategic plan for the direction of technology in the Library for the next two to three
years.
Class, Activity, and Facility Registration System -The Class, Activity, and Facility
Registration System (CLASS) supports approximately 15 users and is running on an NT
Software Section
The Warner Group VII- 13
server under an Oracle database. The application has a graphical user interface and is
considered by the Community Services Department a~, meeting their needs for
registration functions. A future capability required by the department will be a web
enabled application that will provide the ability for residents to schedule classes and
reserve facilities over the Interact. The CLASS system has been renovated to meet Year
2000 compliance standards.
Permit Tracking System -Building inspection and permit tracking is accomplished
through the Building Information and Processing System (BIPS), installed in 1978. This
application runs on the HP-3000 and is based on old technology that lacks many of the
modem capabilities of newer permit systems. Many functions provided in a modem
permit system are accomplished manually throughout the City (e,g., plan checking, fire
and building inspections, code enforcement, fee calculations, etc.). The City is in the
process of selecting a new permit system to replace the existing application. The BIPS is
not Year 2000 compliant and is scheduled to be replaced with OpenData Systems in
1999.
In an effort to streamline the permit process a pilot project to accept online plan
submission and checking is being conducted with three companies. These companies are
allowed to transmit these documents electronically (using FTP Protocol) to be reviewed
and ’redlined’ by City staff. FTP does not allow the kind of security that will be
necessary to accomplish this on a wide scale. Similar functionality with appropriate
security, however, will need to be available in the system selected by the City to replace
the existing system.
Software SectionThe Warner Group VII- 14
Assessment of Major Public Works Business Applications
Work Order Management System - The City of Palo Alto has considerable investment in
infrastructure such as City roads, signs and striping, street lights, curbs and gutters, street-
trees, park grounds, and City buildings. All of these assets must be maintained in order
to protect their value and usefulness. The total investment in traditional infrastructure
would be difficult to calculate but would undoubtedly be very substantial. Much of the
record keeping of the maintenance of these assets, however, is currently kept manually or
is kept in stand-alone applications. Information maintained in manual and stand-alone
systems is generally inaccessible for analysis and projections of optimal maintenance
strategies. Without automated analysis, maintenance efforts tend to be compliant-driven,
which is not only minimally responsive to the needs of the community strategy, but is
also often not the optimum maintenance schedule. This can translate into greater cost of
maintenance, which at the values of the assets involved, are costs that could immediately
pay for the cost of comprehensive automated work order systems.
In addition, manual and isolated work order systems make the information about each
infrastructure difficult to integrate with information about related infrastructures.
Further, it makes it difficult to make this information, in total, available to the City’s GIS
system. The results are systems that are difficult and very expensive to maintain.
The Public Works Department is currently utilizing a number of applications that have no
consistent operating system, DBMS, or hardware platform. Each system is basically
stand-alone and requires some degree of data manipulation to be used by other systems in
the City. The Infrastructure Management System is not Year 2000 compliant. The other
Public Works applications are Year 2000 compliant.
Fleet Management System - The City has a fleet of approximately 550 vehicles located at
the Municipal Service Center. The Equipment Management Division is currently
managing these vehicles using the Prototype Equipment Management System (EMS)
running on a Novell server located in the depamnent. The application is not the most
So~,~"= S,~io n
The Warner Group VII- 15
current version available from the vendor. Plans are currently underway to replace the
application with the latest version, Fleet AnyWhere. The newer application will allow
the department to produce reports using Microsoft Access. The EMS system is not Year
2000 compliant.
There are also approximately five (5) to six (6) fueling stations that are used by City
employees requiring fuel for vehicles. The consumption information is downloaded into
the fleet system for reporting. The Fleet Data Systems is currently providing fueling
consumption and authorization information. This system lacks adequate integration with
the Prototype fleet management system. Consumption information downloaded into the
fleet system is often inaccurate.
Assessment of Major Utilities Business Applications
Utilities Management Information System - The Customer Utility Billing Information
System (CUBIS) was installed in 1978 on the HP-3000 equipment. The system is based
on an obsolete operating system and has been targeted for replacement. Selection of the
Barmer Customer Information System (CIS), provided by SCT, has been completed and
the project is currently underway for implementation during 1999. This application will
provide the major stakeholders (e.g., Administrative Services Division, Public Works,
and Utilities) with invaluable information to manage the utilities resource. The system
will provide consolidated and online billing, work_flow, and meter information to other
electric service providers. The CUBIS system is not Year 2000 compliant and is
scheduled to be replaced in 1999.
Utilities Job Cost System - The Utilities Department has a requirement for a robust
job/cost accounting application to improve the methods for tracking and reporting
construction, operation, and maintenance expenditures. Currently this information is
tracked in a number of independent databases and is not integrated with the City’s
fmance, payroll, and budgeting systems.
Software Section
The Warner Group VII- 16
C.RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations on Operating Systems - Servers
Recommendation - The City needs to reduce the total number of server operating
systems to NT and UNIX. When replacing the existing business applications
consideration should be given to those vendors that can provide products in accordance
with the City standards.
Recommendations on Operating Systems - Desktops
Recommendation - The City needs to reduce the total number of desk-top operating
systems installed at the various locations. The City has standardized on Windows NT at
the desktop and every effort should be made to replace the operating systems that do not
adhere to the City standard.
Recommendations on DBMS
Recommendation - A variety of DBMS systems are installed to support small and large
business applications. The City should standardize on the Oracle or SQL Server DBMS
for the business applications and Microsoft Access for department specific applications.
Recommendations on Office Automation Applications
Recommendation - Although the City has adopted a standard suite of office automation
products many departments have not migrated to the new standard. Every effort should
be made to assist departments in this migration.
Recommendation - The City needs to migrate to the email standard of Microsoft
Exchange running on the server and MS Outlook running on the client workstation.
Recommendation - The City has standardized on Netscape Navigator as its Intemet
browser and should continue to use this product. Consideration could be given to
Microsoft Explorer in those instances dictated by the business application.
Soil,rare Section
The Warner Group VII- 17
Recommendations on Major Administrative Business Applications
Accounting System -
Recommendation - The City should replace the existing Bi-Tech accounting system
with a new system based on modern client/server technology. A selection of a new
system should ensure other City departments would have the ability to generate ad hoc
reports and is web enabled. Additional functionality would include an inventory module,
contract management, purchase requisitions, etc.
Payroll/Human Resources -
Recommendation - As the City evaluates altematives for a new accounting system
consideration should be given to replacing the Lawson Payroll/Human Resource System
with an integrated solution. The new system ideally would integrate with the City’s
accounting system for information related to the chart of accounts, project/cost
accounting, accounts payable, and accounts receivable. A new payrolL/human resources
system would have an integrated time collection system that would meet the needs of all
City departments.
Legislative History-
Recommendation - The current Legislative History System needs to be renovated to
meet the Year 2000 compliance standards. Once this has been accomplished, an
assessment needs to be performed to identify the criteria for a replacement application
from the vendor community (i.e. ISYS - Odyssey Development, Inc.)
GIS-
Recommendation - The City map for the GIS system needs to be updated to include the
surrounding jurisdictions and color photographs.
Recommendation - A data warehouse needs to be developed to
information derived from other business applications (i.e. work
inspections, police and fire incidents, etc.).
standardize the
order, permits,
Software Section
The Warner Group VII- 18
Recommendation - The City needs to establish what the GIS application will encompass
and what will be the priority of it development. A strategic plan needs to be developed to
prioritize the integration and deployment of GIS information.
Imaging System -
Recommendation - There are a number of offices in the City that must retain important
documents and have a need to retrieve them and share them among workgroups across
departments. Most of these documents are currently kept on paper in file folders, where
they can be lost and mis-filed. The City needs to standardize on a single document
imaging system that would ideally be available to all City departments (e.g., City
Attorney, Police, Fire, Utilities, etc.).
City’s Web Site -
Recommendation - Municipal web sites are rapidly moving in the direction of direct
database linkage to City records and provide much more detailed information on City
processes and procedures. The City needs to identify Internet transactions as a priority
with new and existing business applications. This type of business transaction has a great
deal of potential for better service delivery and should be pursued intently.
Utilities Job Cost Accounting System
Recommendation - The Utilities Department has a need to improve the methods for
tracking and reporting construction, operation, and maintenance expenditures in the
Electric, Gas, Water, and Wastewater Funds. This system will enable staff to monitor
projects more efficiently to determine full cost recovery. The Job Cost system needs to
be evaluated as a part of an overall cost accounting solution for the City since this
application will require integration with the finance, payroll, and budgeting systems.
Software Section
The Warner Group VII- 19
Recommendations for Major Police and Fire Business Applications
Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) -
Recommendation - The Police Department is currently negotiating a contract with
Public Safety Systems, Inc. &SSI) for the installation of a CAD system. Although the
product is available of the NT operating system there are few installed clients. The City
should install on the HP-3000 to eliminate the risk of nmning the software under a new
operating system with the plan to migrate within a specific timeframe.
Police Records Management System (RMS) -
Recommendation -The Police Department is currently negotiating a contract with
Public Safety Systems, Inc. (PSSI) for the installation of new RMS. The installation is
planned to occur in the 1998 - 99 fiscal year. The current RMS is not Year 2000
compliant and there is no contingency plan in the event the new system is not operational
in advance of the current system event horizon. A priority needs to be given to resolving
the Year 2000 issues with the current system as a contingency plan.
Fire Records Management System (RMS) -
Recommendation - The Fire Department is currently evaluating a Fire RMS to provide
the ability to track employee training and certification, and paramedic transportation and
billing information. There needs to be an emphasis on the integration with the CAD
system.
Fire Rostering -
Recommendation - The Fire Department has been evaluating the Principle Decision
System International (PDSI) Fire Rostering System. This system would assist the Fire
Department in the scheduling staff to provide support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
There is an interface with the Payroll system that should be planned to eliminate the
duplication of time collection data entry.
Software Section
The Warner Group VII- 20
Recommendations for Major Community Services Business Applications
Library System -
Recommendation - The enhancements made by the library vendor will allow the City to
provide Intemet and graphical capabilities to the patrons. This will allow the City
additional time to evaluate the progress of the vendor in developing a client/server
application. The City should closely monitor the progress of the vendor over the next
year and establish a timeframe for the assessment of a new system.
Class, Activity, and Facility Registration System (CLASS) -
Recommendation - The City needs to pursue the web enabled version of the CLASS
software to allow residents to schedule classes and reserve facilities over the Interact.
Permit Tracking System -
Recommendation - A Permit Tracking System needs to be installed to bring together the
permits generated by Planning, Building, Fire, Public Works, and other entities in the
City. Since the current system is not Year 2000 compliant, consideration should be given
to a contingency plan in the event an application cannot be selected and installed prior to
the event horizons for the current application.
Recommendation - A centralized address database needs to be developed and
maintained within the Permit Tracking System. The centralized database should be
integrated into each business application to ensure standardization throughout the City.
This level of integration will allow for accurate reporting of information for GIS.
Recommendations for Major Public Works Business Applications
Work Order Management System -
Recommendation - An application needs to be selected and implemented to automate
the City infrastructure including water, sewer, storm drain, street lighting, signs and
striping, tree maintenance, park maintenance, building maintenance, and others.
Integration with the GIS, accounting, and payroll needs to be given a priority with the
system that is purchased. The current Infrastructure Management System is not Year
Software Section
The Warner Group VII- 21
2000 compliant and an immediate replacement needs to be identified. In the event a
system cannot be selected and implemented prior to the event horizons of the current
system a contingency plan should be developed.
Fleet Management System -
Recommendation - The City should continue to pursue the upgrade of the current Fleet
Management System with the newer version.
Recommendation - The City should begin the evaluation of alternative fuel systems to
interface into the Fleet Management System. A priority should be given to selecting a
vendor with the ability to integration to the Prototype Fleet AnyWhere application.
Recommendations for Major Utilities Business Applications
Utilities Management Information System -
Recommendation - The City is in the process of implementing the Banner Customer
Information System (CIS) to replace the Utility Billing System. The application is
planned for implementation in the 1999 calendar year. The current Utility Billing System
(CUBIS) is not Year 2000 compliant. The City needs to establish a date to renovate the
current system to make it Year 2000 compliant. In the event the new application does not
meet its target implementation date the City would still be capability of producing utility
bills.
SO f~ware Se~’fion
The Warner Group VII- 22
SECTION VIII
OR GANIZA TION AND STAFFING
THE WARNER GROUP
VIII- OR GANIZA TION AND STAFFING
This section provides a broad assessment of the City’s organizational structure, business
.processes, and staffmg issues related to its Information Technology (IT) functions. First,
the City’s current organization and staffing environment is described. Second, an
assessment of the City’s IT organization and staffing is provided, including a general
discussion of relevant organizational issues and alternative approaches. Finally, specific
recommendations and oppommities for improvement are presented.
A.CURRENT OR GANIZA TION AND STAFFING
Information Technology Services Division
Central IT support is provided by the City’s Information Technology Services Division
(ITD). The Division is part of the Administrative Services Department (ASD), and the
Manager of Information Technology reports to the ASD Director. ITD provides services
in the areas of planning, project management, application support, PC technical support,
network operations, and telecommunications operations.
Exhibit VIII-1 depicts the current ITD organizational structure. There are currently 22
approved staff positions within ITD. Two of these positions are currently vacant. A new
management position, Manager of Communications and PCs, has been approved but
remains unfilled. The former Supervisor of Data Processing Systems position (now a
Systems Analyst II position) is vacant. As a result of these vacancies, the IT Manager has
eight direct reports; when these positions are filled, in accordance with Exhibit VIII-1
there will be only five direct reports.
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 1
Three ITD positions are filled by contract employees: the Administrative Assistant, one
Systems Analyst, and one PC Technician. These contract positions represent nearly three
full-time equivalent (FTE) positions.
ITD is currently organized into the following four main groups, which report to the IT
Manager:
Computer Applications - The Computer Applications group consists of Systems
Analysts who primarily support business applications used in City departments. With
the exception of one General Projects Systems Analyst, the Systems Analysts
specialize in particular applications and/or departments. The Systems Analyst
supporting the Utilities Customer Information System (CIS) is a contract employee.
An additional Systems Analyst position for Police Systems was recommended in the
July 1997 IT Services Evaluation Study.
Help Desk - The Help Desk currently comprises only one position. The Help Desk
Programmer/Analyst answers telephone calls from end-users and provides a first-line
of technical support, referring problems to technicians or Systems Analysts when
necessary.
Computer Operations - The Computer Operations group operates and maintains
seven HP minicomputers that reside in the Civic Center, divided between HP MPE
and HP UNIX operating systems. The lead position for this group, a Systems Analyst
position specializing in UNIX systems administration, is vacant.
Communication and PCs - The Communications and PCs group includes several
functions: technical support for PCs, NT ~systems administration, network engineering
and support, and communications support (including telephone). The Manager
position for the group is currently vacant. One PC Technician specializes in
supporting the Police Department; the remaining PC Technicians are generalists. A
contract employee fills one PC Technician position. An additional PC Technician
position specializing in Office Automation applications (word processing,
spreadsheets, business graphics, etc.) was recommended in the July 1997 IT Services
Evaluation Study. The NT Systems Administrator/Systems Analyst position is
currently not budgeted; it was filled using funding for the UNIX Systems
Administrator/Systems Analyst position in the Computer Operations group.
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The !garner Group Fill- 2
"6
I
I
I
I
Ex_,==
Departmental IT Functions
A wide variety of systems support and planning activities occur outside of the
Information Technology Services Division. These activities are officially performed by a
combination of IT Business Analysts and other department staff whose job
responsibilities are partially or entirely IT-oriented. The City has a total of 8.5 Full-time
Equivalent (FTE) IT staff, including Business Analysts, reporting outside of ITD. In
addition, some departments have other staff who also perform technical functions on an
informal basis in addition to their regular job responsibilities.
Key formal and informal IT positions in City departments are summarized in Exhibit
VIII-2, below.
508-02 1T Strate~c Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 4
Department!Division
UTILITIES DEPARTMENT
Administrative Services Division, Utilities Information Systems
Manager
Systems Analyst
Systems Administrator
PC Technician
CIS Business Analyst
GIS Business Analyst
SUBTOTAL F. T.E.
COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT
Palo Alto City Library
System Administrator
Main Library Manager provides workstation support
Proposed: IT Manager and System Administrator/Support Coordinator
SUBTOTAL F. T.E.
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
Equipment Management Division
Fleet Manager performs variety of IT functions
SUBTOTAL F. T.E.
Regional Water Quality Control Plant
Assistant Manager of Operations performs variety of IT functions
SUBTOTAL F.T.E.
POLICE DEPARTMENT
Business Analyst
PC Technician (contract 0.5 FTE)
SUBTOTAL F. T.E.
HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT
Business Analyst
SUBTOTAL F. T.E.
TOTAL
F.T.E.
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
6.0
0.5
0.5
0
0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
8.5
Exhibit VIII-2
508432 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 5
The Utilities Department has by far the largest number of IT staff outside of ITD. These
staff provide planning and support for seventeen (17) servers running a wide’variety of
operating systems. Utilities staff also support a large number of PCs and applications and
maintain a substantial portion of the City’s network.
Other departments have minimal IT staff. The remaining positions and functions include
the following:
City Library - The City Library has a half-time Systems Administrator, and
the Main Library Manager provides some workstation support on an informal
basis. The draft Library Strategic Plan proposes two additional IT positions:
an IT Manager and a Systems Administrator/Support Coordinator.
Public Works - The Public Works Department has no formal IT staff. In the
Equipment Management Division, the Fleet Manager supports a variety of
applications. In the Regional Water Quality Control Plant, the Assistant
Manager of Operations performs miscellaneous IT support functions.
Police Department - The Police Department has one Business Analyst who
provides planning and support for a variety of business applications. The
Department also currently employs a contract PC Technician at approximately
0.5 F.T.E. The Department has requested fimding for this position to be
extended to full-time in its current budget proposal.
¯Human Resources - The Human Resources Department has one Business
Analyst to identify and support the Department’s business needs.
IT Committees
Several City committees have been formed to provide advice and promote
communication on technology issues. These committees are described below.
Executive Staff - The Executive Staff, formerly known as the Senior Management
Group (SMG), includes the eight department heads, the Assistant City Manager and
its chair, the City Manager. The Executive Staff sets overall policy goals for City IT.
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 6
Technology Advisory Board - The Technology Advisory Board (TAB) is composed of
approximately 14 department heads and other high-level managers. The IT Manager
is the chair. TAB’s stated purpose is to identify departmental needs a~d, based upon
these needs, recommend strategic technology priorities for the City.
Technology Advisory Group - The Technology Advisory Group (TAG) includes
approximately 16 people--managers, technical staff, and end users--from throughout
the City. The chair is the IT Technical Support Manager. TAG is designed to
establish technology-related standards and goals for the City.TAG’s
recommendations focus on PC hardware and office automation sof~vare.
Web Task Force - The Web Task Force is a large, diverse group including over 20
technical and non-technical staff from different levels in many departments. The
City’s Internet Coordinator, who reports to ITD, chairs the Task Force. The Task
Force provides input from the department and user perspective on issues related to
both the Interact and the City’s intranet, focusing on strategy (i.e., the Internet Master
Plan), content, and policies and procedures.
GIS Technical Advisory Committee - The GIS Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)
is comprised of 10 managers and staff from ITD, Public Works, Utilities, Fire, Police,
and Planning. The City’s GIS Coordinator is the committee chair. TAC provides
advice on all aspects of the City’s Geographic Information System (GIS), which is
being expanded and updated to become a true enterprise system serving users in all
departments.
Permit Streamlining Task Force - The Permit Streamlining Task Force develops
strategy and goals related to the implementation of a new Permit Tracking system.
The chair is the Assistant City Manager. The Task Force includes representatives
from ITD, Building, Planning, and Fire. The Economic Resources Planner from the
City Manager’s Office also participates, and an employee from a large Palo Alto-
based corporation provides a user perspective.
Strategic Planning Functions
Currently in the City of Palo Alto, IT strategic planning is performed to varying degrees
by the ITD Manager, the Utilities Information Systems Manager, various members of the
IT advisory bodies, and the Director of the Administrative Services Department.
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIH- 7
Outsourced IT Functions
At the time of the April 1997 IT Services Evaluation Study, the City had approximately
57 hardware and software maintenance contracts with third-party vendors. At that time,
the City purchased PCs from various suppliers on a low-bid basis and contracted with-
Hewlett-Packard (HP) and other vendors for installation and maintenance. Since July
1997, the City has contracted with a single third-party vendor, Inacom, to provide
installation and maintenance of the City’s PCs (which are manufactured by HP). Inacom
uses a City-supplied "gold disk" to install standard City software applications. Incacom
provides a telephone number for limited 24-hour technical support.
The City continues to maintain a large number of software maintenance contracts for
most of its business applications and hardware maintenance contracts for servers, disk
arrays, etc.
B.ASSESSMENT OF OR GANIZA TION AND STAFFING
This subsection begins with a general discussion of IT organizational issues and
alternative approaches. Based upon this conceptual framework, the City’s IT
organizational structure, business processes, and staffing issues are assessed and
suggestions for improvements are described. Specific recommendations are summarized
in the following subsection.
Distribution of lT Staff and Functions
In considering the distribution of IT staff and functions within an organization, a key
question is: "What is the appropriate allocation of IT functions among the executives,
central IT, departments, and third-party vendors, factoring in the disparate sizes and needs
of the departments?"
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group
A reasonable answer can be derived from the establishment of some criteria for
determining this allocation.
Criteria For Outsourcing IT Functions - IT functions that may be outsourced to third-
party vendors include functions that:
¯Axe well-defined, repetitive and easily measured
¯Require skills readily available in the market
¯Require one-time, specialized skills
¯Axe "remote from" the industry-specific business of the organization.
Criteria for Retaining IT Functions In-House - IT functions that should be retained in-
house include fi.mctions that:
¯Set strategic direction for IT
¯Set IT Use policies
¯Set IT Standards
¯Perform Contract Administration on outsourced IT functions
¯Axe "close to" the industry-specific business of the organization.
Criteria for Allocating IT Functions to Departments - IT functions that should be
performed by individual departments rather than central IT include functions that:
¯Require knowledge of the industry-specific business process of the department
¯Require relatively low level of expertise and high level of service timeliness
¯Require knowledge of the specific roles and responsibilities of department
personnel.
Criteria for Assigning 1T Functions to Executives - IT functions that should be performed
by executives include functions that:
¯Set strategic direction
¯Establish organization-wide policy
¯Provide oversight on major initiatives.
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 9
Based upon these criteria, we can make fundamental recommendations for the City of
Palo Alto regarding the allocation of IT functions:
IT Functions To Be Outsourced- The City of Palo Alto should outsc~,.rce the following
functions
Some needs assessment, selection, contract negotiation, and project management,
especially for projects that are non-routine, large, complex, or would benefit from
an independent perspective.
¯All business application development, except requirements definition, contract
administration, acceptance testing, operation, and diagnostics.
¯Some network administration functions such as network design and re-design,
some network diagnostics, and network installation and implementation.
¯All operating systems and utilities functions, except requirements definition,
contract administration, acceptance testing, operation, and diagnostics.
¯All voice and data communications functions, except requirements definition,
contract administration, acceptance testing, oper.ation, and diagnostics.
¯All hardware administration, except requirements definition, contract
administration, acceptance testing, operation, and diagnostics.
IT Functions to be Retained by Central IT - The following functions should be retained
by central IT (ITD):
¯All Help Desk functions.
All network administration functions except those allocated to third party
contractors. All network administration third-party contracts should be
administered by central IT.
¯All operating system and utilities functions except those allocated to third party
contractors. All operating system third-party contracts should be administered by
central IT.
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 10
All voice and data communications functions except those allocated to third party
contractors. All voice and data communications third-party contracts’ should be
administered by central IT. This would include desktop devices such as
telephones, cellular phones, pagers, etc.
All hardware functions except those allocated to third party contractors. All.
hardware third-party contracts should be administered by central IT. This would
include desktop hardware such as PCs and printers.
IT Functions To Be Performed by Departments - Departments should perform the
following functions:
Certain business application acquisition and implementation functions, such as
requirements definition, project management, acceptance testing, operation, and
first-level support/diagnostics.
¯Certain office automation functions, such as requirements definition, project
management, acceptance testing, operation, and first-level support/diagnostics.
IT Functions to be Performed by Advisory Bodies - Advisory bodies serve an important
role in fostering communication between central IT and other parts ot~ the organization.
They also provide a vehicle for stakeholders to become involved in IT planning and take
some responsibility for ensuring their needs are effectively met through the successful
completion of projects.
IT Functions to be Performed by a CIO - The following functions should be performed
by an executive officer such as a Chief Information Officer (CIO):
¯Establishment of IT strategic direction
¯Establishment of IT security policy
¯Research into new technology oppommities
¯Oversight on the development of enterprise process models and data models
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 11
Oversight on major IT projects.
These functions are often performed by a CIO who is removed from the direct delivery of
central IT services, is knowledgeable about IT but has more allegiance to the overall
organization than to central IT.
Information technology strategic direction should:
¯Come from within the organization
¯Be developed by staff familiar with both the business and technology
¯Not be too closely aligned with staff engaged in the development, implementation
and production of IT systems.
Organizational Location of CIO-Related Functions - Chief Information Officer-related
functions should be located near the top of an organization in order to ensure an
appropriate view of the organization and to ensure appropriate attention to technology-
related issues and directions.
Moreover, the CIO-related functions cannot be housed within the traditional IT
department; they should be independent of the current efforts of that organization for the
following reasons:
The CIO should evaluate current IT efforts and be ready to make difficult
decisions about them for the overall good of the organization. To do this, the CIO
should not be too closely tied to those efforts.
The CIO should be constantly evaluating new business and technology
oppommities for the organization and be ready to propose and promote those that
are in the best interest of the organization. In some cases, these may include
initiatives that might not arise from the IT organization.
The CIO needs to be evaluated on the organization-wide application of IT
technology and the degree to which it meets the organization’s mission.
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Drafl 6
The Warner Group VIII- 12
Improving the Ci~’s IT Organization
To improve the planning and delivery of IT services, the City of Palo Alto should modify
its IT organizational structure, based upon the guidelines presented above.Specific
recommendations for the City of Palo Alto include:
The consolidation within central IT (ITD) of the following functions:
¯All City hardware support functions.
¯All City voice and data communications support functions.
¯All City Operating System support functions.
¯All City Network Administration functions.
¯All City second-level Office Automation support functions.
¯All City second-level Help Desk support functions.
¯All City business application control (Operations) functions.
The retention and expansion of Business Analysts "close to" the business units of
the City as first-level business application support and the establishment of a
liaison relationship between these analysts and ITD.
The retention and expansion of Office Automation (OA) Analysts "close to" the
business units of the City as first-level OA support and the establishment of a
liaison relationship between the OA Analysts and ITD. In Palo Alto, OA Analyst
functions could be performed by Business Analysts or by other departmental staff
who have the requisite skills and knowledge.
The establishment of a CIO or CIO-like position responsible for setting strategic
direction, developing organization-wide policy, providing oversight on major IT
initiatives, and evaluating emerging technologies with strategic implications.
Given the City’s current staffing configuration, the following changes are required:
¯The consolidation of technical analysts (Systems Analysts) and support positions
(e.g., PC Technicians) into ITD.
50S-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 13
¯The expansion of the Help Desk function within lTD.
The expansion of technical PC and application support within ITD.
The development of a CIO position.
Exhibit VIII-4 provides an organizational chart depicting the first phase of suggested
changes to the City’s organizational structure (to be implemented over the next one to
two years). There is one completely new position, indicated with a heavy black border:
the Help Desk Support Supervisor.
There are three positions which are similar to positions currently filled by contract
employees. These are shown with dotted black borders and comprise the following:
¯Administrative Assistant
PC Technician, Office Automation
Systems Analyst, Public Safety.
Three positions are relocated from the Utilities Department and are shown with a dashed
black border. They are:
¯Systems Analyst, Utilities (Computer Applications group)
¯Systems Analyst, Utilities System Administration (Operations & System
Administration group)
¯PC Technician, Utilities.
The CIS Business Analyst and the GIS Business Analyst should continue to report to the
Utilities Department. In accordance with the reductions in Utilities IT staff and the
consolidation of functions in ITD, the City should review the responsibilities and job
class assigned to the current Information Systems Manager position and consider using
this budgeted position to fill a managerial position in ITD.
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII - 14
Business Analysts should be the only IT positions that continue to report to the user
departments directly. The Business Analyst positions should provide first-leVel PC and
application support to users in their respective departments. The core function of
Business Analysts is to understand the business requirements of the department and assist
in the planning, implementation, and support of departmental business applications. Bui
Business Analysts should also have sufficient technical knowledge to diagnose simple
software and hardware problems and to act as liaisons with ITD technical support staff
when ITD assistance is required.
Beyond this first-level of support, all technical IT support City-wide should be provided
by or at least managed by the ITD Help Desk, Communication and PCs group, and
Computer Applications group. In a more centralized model, the ITD Help Desk,
Communication and PCs, and Computer Applications groups become critical in
determining the quality of services provided to users.
Systems Analyst positions in the Computer Applications group and PC Technician
positions should be allocated to particular applications and/or deparmaents--either
individually or in combination. For example, one Systems Analyst should specialize in
Public Works applications and in GIS. Another Systems Analyst might specialize in the
business applications used in two smaller departments. Departments that lack a Business
Analyst should be ensured access to the same Systems Analyst consistently.
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Dra~ 6
The Warner Group VIII- 15
I
I
I
These specializations should be rotated among staff members every one or two years.
This rotation provides several benefits:
¯Staff members are able to develop expertise and experience in new areas
The City is less dependent on particular individuals to maintain effective.
operations
Support staff are more likely to understand and support Citywide strategies and
policies
A mechanism for peer review among support staff is provided.
After the first phase of organizational change is completed, the City should continue to
develop the ITD organization toward the configuration depicted in Exhibit VIII-5. This
organization chart serves to illustrate the general directions in which ITD should evolve,
rather than to mandate future changes precisely. The key trends illustrated are increasing
the capacity of the Help Desk (providing increased support during business hours and
non-business hours) and adding Business Analysts to support remaining large
departments and the City Library.
An additional Systems Analyst specializing in Rapid Application Development has been
added. This position would provide a dedicated resource to improve the development of
custom reports and the use of data query tools to meet users’ needs for accessing data
residing in large applications. Without such a dedicated resource, the following problems
tend to occur:
¯Many different staff members, both technical and non-technical, develop reports
for their individual needs. Consequently redundant reports are created, and
common reports which might benefit many users not developed.
¯Reports may be generated that are incorrect due to misunderstanding of data
structures.
¯Individuals not thoroughly familiar with the software tools create reports.
¯Reports are not tested or documented thoroughly.
50~-02 IT Strategic Plan - Dr’aft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 17
¯When the business application is modified or replaced, many of the reports will
no longer function.
¯No single individual is familiar with all the reports, their .~urposes, and whether
they are currently used or obsolete.
508-021T Strategic P|~ - ~ 6
The Warner Group VIII- 18
Help Desk
As the primary, point of contact between users throughout the City and ITD, the Help
Desk is particularly important. The Help Desk should perform the following functions:
¯Answer telephone calls from users who have a technical issue to report
¯Provide solutions to simple and common issues
¯Perform triage by ranking problems based on urgency and extent of resources
required for resolution
¯Determine appropriate staff or outside resources needed to resolve the issue (PC
Technicians, Systems Analysts, Network Engineers, vendors, etc.) and delegate to
them
¯Manage the escalation of the issue from first-line support staff to more technically
advanced specialists as required
¯Coordinate other support staff and!or extemal resources working on the issue
¯Track the status of the issue from the initial report to complete resolution
Maintain communications with departments and end-users regarding common
technical problems and other issues that affect many users, such as system outages
and configuration changes
¯Maintain an accurate inventory of IT assets
¯Provide feedback to ITD and City management regarding ITD performance.
The Help Desk typically provides three levels of support:
1st Level - Immediate assistance with routine and relatively easy problems.
Problems that cannot be resolved quickly at 1 st Level support are referred to 2nd
Level support.
2nd Level - These problems require significant expertise to resolve and may
require some research. Problems that cannot be resolved in a reasonable time
frame at 2nd Level support are referred to 3rd Level support.
508-02 IT Stramgie Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 20
3rd Level - These problems are generally very difficult and require a thorough
knowledge of the systems involved. The developer of the system generally
performs 3rd level support.
One critical function of the Help Desk is to provide IT managers with data in key areas
such as productivity, problem resolution cycle time, and technical problem trends. The
software application currently used by ITD technical support staff, Remedy, is a powerful
application providing many features that should be used to track performance metrics.
Additionally, Remedy should be used to improve configuration management--the
coordination of system configuration changes which can affect many users if not properly
planned, communicated, and executed.
In accordance with the Help Desk’s central role, a Manager of Help Desk Support should
be assigned and the group should be substantially enlarged. It should be kept distinct
from the other functional groups within ITD, including Technical Support, to improve its
ability to coordinate problem resolutions effectively and to provide independent
performance feedback to ITD management about the overall performance of ITD.
ITD Responsiveness to Departmental Customers
Increased centralization, if not properly planned and executed, can resuk in reduced end-
user service delivery. To ensure that the benefits of increased centralization are obtained
without any decrease in the responsiveness of those services, the City must take effective
measures to ensure ITD is and remains responsive to the needs of its departmental
customers. These measures are explained below. They fall into two areas:
¯Hours of IT Support - Synchronization of IT hours of support with the
departments’ hours of operation
¯Service-Level Agreements - The development of written, measurable Service-
Level Agreements (SLAs) between ITD and its customer departments.
Hours of IT Support
508-02 1T Strat~-%,ic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 21
The traditional role of ITD has been to support the central business applications of the
City such as Budgeting, Accounting, Payroll, and Human Resources. This role of ITD
has been evolving and will increasingly need to change to a broader role, one that
involves supporting all departments in a manner that meets their needs in concert with
their timeframes for provision of services to their ultimate customer, the public. In the
traditional role, operation of ITD during business hours was sufficient. Now many
departments have a critical need for 24/7 support: Police, Fire, Public Works, and,
increasingly, the Library. In the future, as many City services are delivered on a 24-hour
basis via the Internet, after-hours support for the City web site and web-enabled
applications may be desirable. Types of support that may be required include network
administration, desktop PC support, and business application support.
The following table summarizes the probable demand for after-hours support by
department:
Department
Police
Fire
Public Works
Utilities
Library
After-Hours
Support Needs
24/7
Additional response
capacity during peak
periods.
24/7
24/7
24/7
24/7
Additional support
during evenings and
weekends when libraries
are open.
Comments
Peak activity periods (e.g., Friday, Saturday
evenings) require more rapid response for critical
applications. After RMS implementation
completed on 7/1/99, ITD has committed to
providing 1-hour response time on 24/7 basis.
Sufficient technical resources must be available on
reserve to meet peak needs during a large disaster.
Sufficient technical resources must be available on
reserve to meet peak needs during a large disaster
or construction/maintenance project.
Sufficient technical resources must be available on
reserve to meet peak needs during a large disaster
or construction/maintenance project.
In addition to Library operating hours, public
access via Web, Telnet, and modem is 24/7.
Community Services After hours/weekend on Facility reservations and class enrolknents are
irregular basis,examples of occasional after-hours activities
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Dra~ 6
The Warner Group VIll- 22
requiring use of IT infrastructure
There are three fundamental altematives for providing after-hours support:
On-Site City Staff- Sufficient suppoh staff are employed to provide 24/7 coverage. This
approach generally ensures the highest level of support and the fastest response time, and
therefore it is the optimal approach for mission-critical applications. However, because it
requires a total of 168 hours of work per week per position--more than four times the
standard 40-hour work week it is very expensive, and it is usually only practical for
very large organizations with substantial after-hours demand and economy of scale.
On-Call City Staff- Designated City staff that normally work during business hours are
available on-call for after-hours support. Typically, this involves a rotating schedule
specifying which individuals are on-call on particular evenings and weekends. On-call
staff should receive two levels of supplemental compensation: the first level is based on
the number of hours the employee is simply available on-call, and the second level is
based on the number of hours during the on-call periods when the employee actually
provides support.
Third-Party Remote Monitoring and Notification - An independent vendor is retained to
remotely monitor the operational status of key systems such as networks. If the vendor
detects a technical problem, it contacts the appropriate City staff. The vendor continues
to track the problem status until the system is fully operational, including escalating the
level of support to other staff or vendors as necessary, based upon procedures pre-
determined by the City. A growing number of companies specialize in providing such
off-site monitoring services. This approach may be a cost-effective combination of the
other two approaches.
508-02 IT Strate~c Plan - Draft 6
The gFarner Group VIII- 23
Service-Level Agreements
Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) are an effective tool to ensure a central IT organization
is responsive to the needs of its customers. The City should develop Service-Level
Agreements between ITD and its customer departments mandating that ITD performance
will be measured on a regular basis, based on both subjective and objective criteria. The
subjective criteria should include user surveys (a sample survey is provided in Exhibit
VIII-6). The objective criteria should include quantitative metrics such as network
uptime, telephone hold time, problem resolution cycle time, etc.
The SLAs should state that ITD management would be held accountable for the
performance of ITD. The subjective measures (user feedback) should be the primary
criteria for assessing ITD performance; if these measures suggest poor performance, the
objective data should be examined to identify problem areas precisely and target them for
improvement.
A typical SLA document addresses the following topics:
INTRODUCTION
Statement of Intent
Scope of the Agreement
Measurement of Objectives
Summary of Responsibilities
ADMINISTRATION
¯
¯
¯
0
¯
Reporting
Contacts
Costs and Billing
Service Consequences, Defaults, Remedies and Resolution of Disputes
Amendment Process
¯Audits
508-02 1T Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 24
Compliance and Certifications
Continuous Improvement
SER VICE REQ UI~MENTS
¯
¯
¯
¯
¯
¯
¯
Availability and Performance
Capacity Management
Data Management
System Administration and Operations Support
Technical Support
Information Security
Support Services
EXHIBITS
¯
¯
¯
¯
Systems Availability and Performance
Batch Job Performance
Data Management Objectives
Application Recovery Timetable
A TTA CHMENTS
¯IT Department Holiday Schedule
¯Key Contacts
¯Change Control Procedures
508-021T Swategi¢ Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII - 25
IT SERVICES DIVISION
QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
FOR ~ QUARTER OF ~
1.How would you rate the overall network response time?
Response time is the time that it takes for the network to respond when you prompt for a login.
Excellent Good Average Fair
< 3 sec 3-4 sec 4-6 sec 7-8 sec
....The system always The system responds The system makes me The system makes
responds quickly,quickly most of the time.wait some of the time.me wait often.
Poor
>8see
The system makes me
wait all of the time.
2. How would you rate the over-all network uptime? Network uptime means the time that the network/system is
._up and available for use. This excludes the time that systems may be down for repair.
Excellent Good Average Fair Poor
........ The system is always The system is almost The system is available The system is not available The system is often
available to me.always available,most of the time.from time to time.not available.
3.How would you rate Production of the System?
Production is the nightly processing and printing of forms and reports.
Excellent Good Average
It is always timely It is almost always timely It is timely and accurate
and accurate,and accurate,most of the time.
Fair Poor
It is sometimes not It is ’~ever timely
timely and accurate,and accurate.
4.How would you rate ITD Operation of System?
Operation includes application availability, application response time, and security and parameter configuration
for the system.
Excellent Good Average Fair Poor
It is always timely It is usually timely and It is timely and accurate It is usually not timely It is never timely and
and accurate,accurate,most of the time.and accurate,accurate.
5. How would you rate ITD Personal Computer Support?
Excellent Good Average
.... it is always timely It is usually always timely It is timely and accurate
and accurate,and accurate,most of the time.
Fair
It is usually not timely
and accurate.
Poor
It is never timely and
accurate.
6. How would you rate ITD’s service overall?
Excellent Good
I am always happy I am happy with their service
with their service,almost all of the time.
Average
I am satisfied
with their service.
Fair
I think the service
could be improved
Poor
I am always dissatisfied
with their service.
Comments:
Evaluator Name:
Evaluator Signature:
City Manager Review:
IT Manager Review:
Evaluation Quarter/Year:/
Date: //
Date: //
Date: / /
Exhibit VIII-5
5084)2 IT Swategie Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 26
Employee Attraction and Retention
At the time of the April 1997 IT Services Evaluation Study, the City was experiencing
difficulty attracting and retaining qualified employees for technical positions, largely due
to the strong demand for technical workers in the Silicon Valley. The City continues to
have difficulty attracting and retaining highly qualified employees. Some of the vacant
positions in ITD have been unfilled for over a year: a Systems Analyst/Database
Administrator position, for example, has been vacant since May, 1997, and the
Supervisor of Data Processing position has been vacant since May, 1998.
Employee retention and remover are important because effectiveness of application
support is a combination of technical expertise and familiarity with the business of the
applications. Moreover, a high rate of remover of staff makes it difficult to retain
continuity and unique expertise. Application expertise is usually developed on the job
over time, and application programmers who understand the applications can be
invaluable in rendering quality service to the departments. High turnover and inadequate
staffing levels also make long-term planning difficult or impossible.
In its procedures for evaluating job applicants and determining compensation and benefits
for strong employees, the City should focus on the importance of retaining individuals
who are likely to continue employment with the City for a substantial period of time
(approximately five years).
Skills and Training
To develop and maintain an IT organization that can adapt to the rapid pace of
technology change and that fosters responsive customer service, innovation, and
continuous improvement, the City should strive to recruit and retain individuals who
posses the ability to continuously learn new skills. This characteristic is more important
than pre-existing skills, which have traditionally been emphasized. In addition to
technical skills, "soft skills" such as project management, strategic planning, relationship
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 27
management, service management, business analysis, and communication skills are
becoming increasingly important for IT workers.
The City should develop a process to identify required skill sets for all IT positions. The
City should also develop a process to provide training on a regular (e.g., annual) basis foi
.staff to develop skills in needed areas. Training should be seen as an important part of
job responsibility, and sufficient staff time should be allocated to it.
Information Technology Budgeting
The Information Technology Services Division budget should fund support and
maintenance activities. The cost of support and maintenance services provided by ITD to
Enterprise Fund departments should be fully charged back to these departments. The cost
of providing ITD support and maintenance services to General Fund departments should
be estimated and allocated based on the number and level of systems/users in each
department.
An IT Capital and Development Projects Fund should be created for multiyear funding of
hardware and software acquisition and large IT projects. The Technical Advisory Board
(TAB) should posses the authority to approve fund expenditures after studying and
ranking IT proposals.
Internet
Internet technology and use have developed very rapidly, even in the context of the fast-
paced world of high technology. Just a few years ago it was appropriate for planning
purposes to view the Intemet as a distinct area of technology. However, the Intemet’s
impact is quickly expanding to encompass most IT practices and technologies.
Consequently, Internet-related oppommities and requirements must be taken into account
for all IT projects during each phase of planning.
508-02 IT Swategi¢ Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group !2111- 28
A single group cannot realistically be expected to posses sufficient knowledge about the
implications of the Internet for a diverse range of systems. Instead, Internet-reiated issues
should be identified and addressed by the same team that is responsible for planning and
managing each system. Internet experts with particular Internet-related skills and
expertise should continue to be consulted as necessary.
Similarly, the City’s Intemet Master Plan has probably outlived its usefulness. It should
be superseded by an expressed City vision concerning Internet-related opportunities,
together with prioritized goals and a set of policies governing Internet use. The vision
and goals, in turn, should serve as the foundation for developing specific strategies for
aggressively migrating City applications to Intemet-compatible, Web-enabled platforms
whenever possible and for redesigning business processes to take advantage of this vital
new communications medium.
City Library IT Needs
As discussed above, the IT needs of the City Library are increasing rapidly. To better
manage the revolutionary changes affecting libraries’ delivery of services, the City
recently conducted a Library Automation Plan. The Library Plan recommends that the
City create two new IT positions within the City Library: an Information Systems
Manager and an Information Systems Support Technician. The Library Plan also calls
for IT training for all Library staff.
The importance of information technology to the Library’s operations can hardly be
overstated. There are also great advantages to the City of IT centralization and
consistency among departments, and a centralized approach to IT services City-wide need
not result in a lower level of service. The new Library Business Analyst position
depicted in Exhibit VIII-5 should be the primary IT position within the Library, and this
individual should become expert in the unique business applications useful to the Library.
All Library staff should receive IT training on a regular basis, and some staff may
continue to specialize in certain applications and become informal "experts." These staff
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 29
and the Business Analyst may provide first-level technical support, but additional
support, when required, should be provided by the appropriate group within ITD. As
described in the above subsection, Hours of IT Support, adequate support should be made
available to the Library both during its extended operating hours and on a 24-hour basis
for systems supporting public online access. A Service-Level Agreement between the
Library and ITD should be developed which specifies the level of service to be
maintained by ITD.
508..02 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 30
C. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR OR GANIZA TION AND STAFFING
IT Leadership and Strategic Decision-Making
Recommendation - Increase the authority and visibility of ITD within the Administrative
Services Department and the City.
Recommendation - Designate a high-level City executive as CIO.
Recommendation - Improve communication with departments by conducting regular
meetings with department heads.
Organizational Structure
Recommendation - Consolidate .all IT positions throughout the City, with the exception
of Business Analysts, into ITD.
Recommendation - Implement the organizational and staffing changes depicted in
Exhibits VIII-4 and VIII-5.
Recommendation -Develop service level agreements between ITD and user
departments. These agreements should contain mechanisms holding ITD management
accountable for ITD performance, based on specified measures.
Recommendation - Establish Citywide policy requiring users to call ITD Help Desk for
support.
Recommendation - Assign a dual responsibility to each Systems Analyst for one or more
departments and applications. They are key liaisons between ITD and departments.
Ensure that all important enterprise applications are assigned to a Systems Analyst. Also,
ensure that all departments that lack a Business Analyst have a Systems Analyst assigned
to them.
508-021T Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII - 31
Recommendation - Retain the services of outside contractors when particular expertise,
including project management skills, would be beneficial.
Recommendation - The City should continue to outsource certain activities and consider
additional outsourcing oppommities~ The City should continue to retain experienced
consultants for needs assessment, selection, contract negotiation, and project management
of new systems that are large or complex. In addition, the City could continue to retain
some additional contract PC technicians when required--for example, immediately
following rollout of new applications. Also, an outside vendor could provide network
and systems monitoring, perform triage when problems are detected, and call in City staff
as required
IT Advisory Bodies
Recommendation - Departments should be held accountable for ensuring their delegates
to the advisory bodies fulfill their responsibilities in this important role.
Recommendation - Department representatives should attend meetings regularly in their
respective departments to provide status updates and gather input.
Recommendation - The mission and structure of each of the IT advisory bodies should
be re-examined and clarified based upon the guidelines and changes recommended in this
report. Some recommendations for specific advisory bodies are provided:
Executive Staff
Address policy issues, with support from the CIO.
Technical Advisor~ Board
Develop a technology business plan which describes needs, identifies
potential solutions, establishes priorities based upon urgency and resource
availability, and specifies a timeframe for implementation of projects.
Administer the IT Capital and Development Projects Fund.
Technical Advisol~ Group
508~2 IT Stralegic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 32
¯Develop a TAG charter.
¯Develop and maintain IT goals and objectives.
¯Help develop ITD service-level agreements with departments.
GIS Technical Advisory_ Committee
Given the importance of geographic information to many departments, the
GIS Technical Advisory Committee should include appropriate
representation from all stakeholder departments. The Committee should
direct the implementation of citywide GIS applications in terms of priorities,
integration and standards.
Web Task Force
The Web Task Force should be restructured and refocused. Issues related to
the web-enabling of business applications should be addressed by project
teams focusing on those particular applications. The Web Task Force should
be a smaller group consisting of selected individuals from most City
departments with a strong understanding of the City’s vision and strategic
goals regarding the delivery of information and services over the Internet and
electronic commerce implementation. The Task Force should develop
standards and policies governing the design and maintenance of the City’s
web site.
Help Desk Support
Recommendation - Improve after-hours availability of critical IT support functions,
based on departmental needs described above. Also ensure adequate and timely support
for systems physically residing at facilities away from City Hall.
Recommendation - Improve accountability of technical support services. Problem
resolution statistics should be provided to TAG. Use Remedy system extensively to
prioritize calls, manage problem escalation, identify technical problem trends, manage
configuration changes, and provide metrics in areas such as productivity and problem
resolution time.
IT Staffing
508-02 IT Su-ategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 33
Recommendation - Recruit IT staff based primarily on probable tenure and ability to
acquire new skills.
Recommendation - Develop a process to identify necessary skill sets on a regular basis,
and develop mechanisms to provide necessary training.
Recommendation - Increase compensation for the Business Analyst classification. The
Business Analysts play a critical role by understanding the business needs of departments
in depth and serving as liaisons with central IT resources. They should be compensated
comparably to the Systems Analyst II position.
Recommendation - Provide ITD management with flexibility to hire Systems Analysts
at the senior (Systems Analyst II) level. Due to the shortage of technical talent in general
and the high demand for technical jobs in Silicon Valley in particular, to attract and retain
qualified technical staff the City must offer compensation packages that are more
competitive with private-sector employers.
Recommendation - Establish structured system design, procurement and implementation
process. New IT strategies require greater emphasis on design, needs assessment,
selection and implementation activities. A formal methodology shot~ld be adopted to
address these complex areas.
A project team approach should be adopted for implementing each major system/project.
The following guidelines should be adopted:
¯Project team members should include representatives from involved
departments, vendors, technical support staff and an independent consultant as
needed.
Project team responsibilities should include requirements definition, vendor
selection, project management and coordination of system implementation
activities within the affected departments, management of project budgets and
costs, routine vendor matters and ongoing management of the system. Users
should be primarily responsible for the project management and operations of
departmental systems, and technical support should function in a support role
with primary responsibility for network operations and integration of various
departmental systems.
50802 IT Strat~i¢ Plum - Dra~ 6
The [Farner Group VIII- 34
A Project Manager should be designated to direct each ad-hoc team. The
Project Manager will report project status and pending issues on a regular basis.
Each Project Manager should be knowledgeable of the system or application
and have appropriate authority to direct and manage the efforts of project team
members.
Project teams should meet at least bi-weekly during the active phases of a
project to discuss project status, tasks accomplished, tasks outstanding and
develtping issues. Minutes or notes should be taken at each meeting and a
status meeting memorandum should be distributed that clearly communicates
the follow-up responsibilities of project team participants.
Following system selection, the vendor’s project manager also should
participate on the project teams. Their responsibility should include
coordinating the delivery of required products and services, communicating and
updating the vendor schedule and assisting in the resolution of technical,
administrative and other issues.
An independent information systems consultant also may be a key member of
the project team. The role of the consultant should be to provide technical and
project management expertise and assistance. Tasks could include maintaining
the project schedule, documenting project status, identifying potential issues,
overseeing vendor performance, contributing the experiences of other agencies,
providing independent and objective analysis of design, and contract
performance and acceptance tests, and troubleshooting technical issues.
Budgeting
Recommendation - Separate funding for IT support and maintenance from funding for
capital purchases and projects.
Recommendation - The Technical Advisory Board should administer the IT Capital and
Development Projects Fund.
Recommendation - ITD should estimate the cost of providing support to individual City
departments. ITD should charge its support costs back to Enterprise Fund departments.
Recommendation - The costs of hardware and software should be fully depreciated and
the costs recovered in the CIP to finance future replacement.
508-02 rl" Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 35
Critical Success Factors
Certain factors are critical if the Organization and Staffing portion of the Plan is to be
successful:
¯Obtain the ongoing support of the Executive Staff advisory group for technology-
initiatives
¯Require active participation in the Executive Staff by department heads and
representatives
Appoint project teams with department representation that have a stake in the
successful implementation of the system(s) and the necessary time to devote the to
project
¯Expeditiously obtain early management approval of the major elements of the Plan to
avoid major changes in the environment and priorities
¯Retain independent consultants where appropriate to supplement City staff and to
avoid a "trial and error" approach
¯Communicate openly and frequently the status and progress towards achieving the
City IT goals
¯Keep users involved through planning, business area analysis and implementation
phases
¯Supply initial and ongoing training and support to ensure that personnel can
effectively use IT tools provided.
508432 IT Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group VIII- 36
SECTION IX
ITD POLICIES AND PR OCED URES
THE WARNER GROUP
IX- ITD POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
A UTOMA TION POLICY
Notification and Penalties
The development and use of automation technology is important to the
successful operation of the City of Palo Alto. These policies are to be read,
understood and signed by every City employee and are to be followed.
Disregard for these policies could result in disciplinary actions against the
employee, by the City, up to and including suspension, and dismissal.
Disregard for these policies may also be a violation of existing State or
Federal laws including, but not limited to, laws regarding software copyrights
and licensing in which cases, the courts may impose civil or criminal
sanctions.
Hardware and Software Procurement Policy
A. Information Technology Division (ITD) Responsibilities
1.ITD shall inform the Administrative Services Department
Director of any violations of this procurement policy.
B.City Staff Responsibilities
1.All computer hardware, software, cabling or related
acquisitions shall be:
(ASD)
automation
a)In conformance with the City Information Technology Strategic
Plan.
b)Prepared and reviewed by ITD.
c)Reviewed and approved (or denied) by the ASD Director.
IlL Software Virus Policy
A.ITD Responsibilities
1.ITD shall ensure the prevention and detection of the presence of viruses
on City computers and networks. This may include the automatic
execution of virus detection programs upon boot up.
ITD shall update quarterly all City virus protection programs with the
current release of known virus records.
508-021T Strat~c Plan - Dr~ 6
The Warner Group IX- 1
3.ITD shall scan for viruses all programs intended to be loaded or
executed on City computers.
No city
I.
Staff Responsibilities
All programs that are to be loaded or executed on any City computer
shall first be submitted to ITD for virus scanning.
2.City employees shall not load or execute software programs on any City
computer (including laptops) that have not been scanned for viruses by
ITD.
IV.Hardware and Software Tampering Policy
No
No
ITD Responsibilities
1.ITD shall notify the ASD Director of any instances of suspected
tampering with City computer hardware and software.
City Staff Responsibilities
1.City employees shall not move, alter, connect, disconnect, install or
uninstall or otherwise tamper with City computer hardware, software or
cabling.
Software Copying Policy
A.ITD Responsibilities
1.ITD shall not copy any computer program except within the limits
authorized by license agreement or by letter from an authorized
representative of the owner of any software copyright.
B.City Staff Responsibilities
City employees shall not copy any computer program from any City
computer for the purpose of executing it on any other computer, unless
authorized to do so by the ASD Director.
°City employees shall not copy any computer program from any City
computer for the purpose of executing it on any other (City or non-City)
computer if such copying infringes any copyright, software license or
intellectual property rights of the developer, distributor, or owner of the
software.
508-02 IT Strategic PI~,~ - Draft 6
The Warner Group IX- 2
VI.Use of City Hardware and Software for Personal Business
A.ITD Responsibilities
1.None
Bo City
1.
Staff Responsibilities
City employees shall not use City computer hardware or software:
a) At home for any purpose, without explicit authorization.
b) At any location for personal or non-City business, except for
modest uses related to their job such as letters for professional
organizations and course homework.
VII. Use of Personal Hardware and Software for City Business
A.ITD Responsibilities
1.None
No city
1.
Staff Responsibilities
City employees shall not use personal computer hardware or software
a) On City property for any reason.
b) At any location for City business, unless authorized to do so. City
is not obligated to fix or replace personal computer hardware or
software that is damaged in the course of perfomaing City business
even if such use is authorized.
VIII. Security
Ao ITD
1.
Responsibilities
ITD shall ensure that System passwords are known by no more than
three ITD employees. Exceptions shall be approved by the ASD
Director.
I~TD shall maintain a list (updated Quarterly) of the owner of each
computer application and shall obtain approval from the owner before
granting access (of any kind) to the information in the system to anyone.
ITD shall review the list of terminations, new hires and contract
employees following each payroll and shall grant or revoke accesses to
City Systems as appropriate.
508-02 1T Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group IX- 3
B.City Staff Responsibilities
1.All System (or Root) passwords for equipment used for City production
purposes shall be established by ITD and a copy of them shall be given
to the ASD Director.
City employees shall not disclose, or allow to be disclosed, their
personal (or City Email) passwords as assigned by ITD to anyone. Each
employee may be held personally liable for any actions taken under the
use of their personal passwords if they have not followed this policy.
3.Personal passwords not assigned by ITD (those that control access to a
microcomputer) shall not be permitted and shall be removed by City
staff.
City staff shall password protect (if software has capability) individual
files which contain information which, by law, are not matters of public
record. These include personnel issues, negotiation material and matters
of litigation. These passwords shall not be given to ITD.
Personnel shall provide ITD with a list of terminations, new hires and
contract employees following each City payroll, to enable ITD to grant
or revoke accesses to CITY Systems.
CITY Email Use Policy
No ITD
1.
Responsibilities
ITD shall ensure that no copy of the City Email database that is older
than 90 days, shall exist in any form.
ITD shall not have access, of any kind, to the Email messages of any
City staff and breach of this is grounds for immediate removal from City
employment.
B.City Staff Responsibilities
City Email is not private and is for the exclusive propose of conducting
CITY business.
City staff shall not use City Email for personal or non-City business
purposes.
o City staff shall not include remarks, words or symbols in City Email
which discriminate against any person on the basis of sex, age, race,
color, national origin, ancestry, disability, medical condition, religion,
marital status, or sexual orientation.
508-02 IT S~’ategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group
City staff shall not include remarks, words or symbols in City Email,
which constitute sexual harassment.
City staff shall not use CITY Email for illegal activities of any kind
including gambling.
City staff shall not retain in their Email, copies of messages sent or
received for longer than one year. The CITY Email data base is not
intended asa permanent repository of City business as City Email is not
intended to constitute a public record and the use of Email as a
permanent repository would be cost prohibitive. Any Email messages
that should be kept permanently, should be printed out, without
modification, and filed in the official permanent folder of that project or
activity.
City Email messages are to be considered informal conversations, unless
they are designated as Inter-Office Memorandum, by the following
heading inserted at the beginning of the Email message:
CITY OF PALO ALTO
INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDUM
o Email, including Email Inter-Office Memorandum, are deemed to be
preliminary drafts, notes or other information which is not retained by
the public agency in the ordinary course of business.
Use of Games
ITD
1.
Responsibilities
ITD shall remove any games on new microcomputers th~it are pre-
installed before the machines are delivered to the end user.
Bo City
1.
2.ITD shall notify the ASD Director of any instances in which games have
been installed on CITY microcomputers.
Staff Responsibilities
Games, such as Minesweep or Solitaire, shall not be installed or
operated on City computers, except as approved by the ASD Director.
2.Games shall not be played by City employees on City computers or
through City computers via dial-out services or any service on the
Internet.
City staff should remove any existing games from microcomputers
assigned to them.
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Drat~ 6
The Warner Group IX- 5
XI.Use of the Internet and Commercial On-line Services
Access to worldwide communications network, such as the Internet, CompuServe
or America On-line, may be made available to City staff, but because of their
openness, lack of security, and complexity, the City needs to restrict and structure
access to them by City employees.
ITD Responsibilities
1. None at this time
B.City Staff Responsibilities
City employees must obtain written Department Head and ITD approval
in order to access the Internet or Commercial On-line Services with City
equipment.
Access approval shall be granted to employees who would make
frequent substantive use of the Internet as a necessary part of their jobs.
Employees making only occasional use of the Internet or Commercial
On-line Services should be supported through other authorized users.
Department requests to establish access should be in the form of a
memorandum from the Department Head to the ITD. The memorandum
should contain the following:
a)Name and title of the person requiring access
b)Department and location of the person requiring access
c)The supporting LAN Administrator’s name
d)Specific business reason for the access
e)Expected duration of need for access
f)The specific information or host access desired
g)Requester signature
h)Department Head signature
o If approved, ITD will arrange for the requested access and will provide
training materials on how to gain access and how to check downloaded
files for viruses. It is expected that users will develop their own
proficiency in using the Internet to search for information.
508-02 IT Strategic Plan - Dr~ 6
The Warner Group IX- 6
As with all other City resources, this access is for business purposes
only. All City security guidelines, internet etiquette, and ITD software
management policies will apply. Specifically, software is .not to be
downloaded unless ownership or licensing requirements can be
determined, and it is scanned for viruses. The downloading of files
larger than 10 megabytes must be coordinated with ITD to avoid
impacting network response times.
Telecommunications Usage Policy
THE INTENT of this telecommunications policy is to ensure that the City
telephone, cellular phone, calling card, pager and voice mail systems are used in
accordance with City policy and the public interest. The City respects the
individual privacy of its employees; however, employee privacy does not extend to
the employee’s, work-related conduct or the use of City-provided equipment, or
supplies.
Ao THE OBJECTIVES of this policy are to:
1. Ensure that City telecommunications facilities are used for City business
2.Minimize the use of staff time for other than City business
°
Protect the public’s interest through ensuring public funds are not
expended for private purposes, intentionally or otherwise.
Reserve the City’s right to monitor and retrieve, for legitimate business
pttrposes and justified to the satisfaction of the ASD Director (or his/her
designee), messages left on voice mail, pagers or other
telecommunications devices. A request for such monitoring shall be
made to, and approved in writing by, the ASD Director (or his/her
designee).
B.THE POLICY
1.City telecommunications use:
City telecommunications systems are provided to City staff for the
conduct of City business. They are not intended to be used for the
personal business of employees and employees should minimize
such use.
b)The grant or revocation of telephone, cellular phone, calling card,
pager or voice mail privileges shall be requested in writing and
approved by the department head (ITD service request form);
approved by the ASD Director (or designee); and submitted to ITD.
ITD is to confirm the grant or revocation or privileges in writing to
the requester showing date and time of action.
508-02 IT S~xatcgie Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group 1X- 7
c)
d)
If it is necessary to make non-City related business chargeable calls
on City telephones, cellular phones, or calling cards; "employees
should use personal credit cards to make these calls or reimburse the
City monthly.
City management may request to monitor and retrieve, for
legitimate business purposes - as justified to the satisfaction of th~
ASD Director (or his/her designee) - messages left on pagers or
other telecommunications devices. This request shall be made to,
and approved in writing by, the ASD Director.
City voice mail use
a)City voice mail is provided to City staff for the conduct of City
business. It is not to be used for personal business and employees
should minLrnize such use.
b)City voice mail will be made available, subject to technical
constraints, to all City employees whose job, in the estimation of
the Department Head, and approved by the ASD Director (or his/her
designee), warrants access to such facilities. In general, this is to be
determined by the department’s needs, but should minimally
include all professional!
analyst level staff or higher, as well as all inspectors and others who
have professional level contact with the public.
1)
2)
Keep their greeting message current at all times
Access and review voice mail messages on a regular basis, so
as to maintain continuity of business and customer service
standards
3)Delete messages as soon as possible to avoid unnecessarily
over-taxing hard disk storage capacity
4)City management may request to monitor and retrieve, for
legitimate business purposes - as justified to the satisfaction of
the ASD Director (or his/her designee) - messages left on voice
mail. This request shall be made to, and approved in writing
by, the ASD Director (or his/her designee).
3.City Telephone, Cellular Phone, and Calling Card Charges
~ ITD:
1)Shall provide each department head with a billing detail of
telephone calls made by each City telephone in their respective
departments. Billing is to be directed to the department for
508-02 IT S~rategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group IX- 8
cellular phones, and calling cards, for review, reimbursement
and coding.
b)Department Heads:
1)Shall ensure monthly distribution of the billing detail of calls,
to individuals responsible for the assigned telephones, cellular
phones, or calling cards. Supervisors shall be responsible for
telephones assigned to common areas (e.g., public counters,
fire stations).
2)The Department Head shall periodically review the monthly
detail sheets for irregularities and notify employees to provide
an explanation for calls that appear to be non-business related,
or reimbursement to the City for calls that are non-business
related.
c)Employees:
1)Shall review, monthly, the list of calls made on their designated
telephone, cellular phone, or calling card and provide
reimbursement to the City for all non-City business calls made
in excess of $2.00 each for desk telephones, or any personal
call totals for cellular and calling cards; or, upon request,
provide an explanation of calls which appear to be non-City
business related. (Calling home to inform of an employee
working late is considered a business call).
508-02 IT S~xategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group IX- 9
SE C TI ON X
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN AND COSTS
THE WARNER GROUP
0 0 0 0 0CO0~0 0 0
0 0 0 00000
0 0 00000
L~
0
e-
o o
o o oooooo~o o"~"
oo
ooo
ooo
o
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 000000000000014301431.0 O4 0 0 0 0 1.0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0000~0 0 0 0 0 0 00~’3 0 04 0.1 t,.O 0 0 ~0 O0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 000000000000000000000 0
0 ~¢0 03 ’~-~0 0 LO 0 04
oo
o
r-
0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0~0 ~~0 0 0 0 0o.o o o o o
0 0 0~~ 0
00
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0~ 0 ~~0 0 0 0 0oooo.~o o
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 00~ ~" ~ ~- 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 000 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SECTION XI
COMMUNICATION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE
PLAN
THE WARNER GR O UP
XI-COMMUNICA TION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE PLAN
Communication Of The Plan
Electronic Distribution - The Information Technology Strategic Plan should be made
available to all stakeholders. Ideally, it should be hosted in HTML on the City’s Intranet
and Internet Web sites to ensure its ready availability to all City staff and residents.
Hard Copy Distribution - The City should distribute multiple hard copies of the Plan to
each Department and major City office location.
Maintenance Of The Plan
A feedback and control program for the Plan is necessary to ensure that the City’s
technology planning process is a continuous one. The program consists of two distinct
review mechanisms.
1TD Review - The first review will be facilitated by ITD and should take place at least
semi-annually. It consists of a straightforward update of the implementation plan to
adjust time frames and responsibilities as appropriate, and to add new steps or delete
completed steps as needed.
Technical Advisor~ Board Review - The second review mechanism will be led by the
Technical Advisory Board annually during the budget cycle of each fiscal year. This
review will be an assessment of the progress toward the City’s IT Vision and Goals. ITD
will report on progress made on the IT Strategic Plan to the TAB. The TAB will review
this report, assess performance, and determine whether any adjustments need to be made
to the IT direction set forth in the Plan. If the TAB deems that changes are necessary, it
can request an update to this plan, or it can initiate a new planning process.
508-02 IT Sta’ategic Plan - Dra~ 6
The Warner Group XI- 1
In this way, the City’s IT Strategic Plan will remain a "living, working" document.
508-021T S~rat~g~c Plan - Dr~ 6
The Warner Group XI- 2
SECTION XII
BENEFITS TO BE ACHIEVED
THE WARNER GROUP
XII- BENEFITS TO BE ACHIEVED
We believe that significant benefits should be realized by the City of Palo Alto as a result
of implementing our recommendations:
Adoption of the IT Strategic Plan provides an organized, methodical and
priority-driven approach to implementing modem information systems
throughout the City over the next three to five years.
The recommended information systems and projects should enable the City to
support its business objectives of providing improved services to the
community in a cost-effective manner.
The phased and team-oriented approach to application implementation and
system improvements allows for timely realization of the most significant
benefits while leveraging the City’s investment in current systems and
resources.
Providing improved connectivity via networking (both Wide Area Network
(WAN) and Local Area Networks (LANs)) and information systems
standards should provide increased access by City staff and the public to
local, regional and other information systems.
Reorganization and staffmg of information services support functions should
help ensure proper coordination and integration of systems within and among
departments. It should also ensure that new systems are implemented and
managed effectively, and that users receive the support required to maximize
the City’s investment in information technology.
Improved productivity, service and morale should be achieved by enhancing
current systems, automating current manual processes, providing increased
access to citywide systems and providing increased training and support.
508-02 IT St~c Plan - Dra~ 6
The Warner Group XII- 1
APPENDIX A
GL OSSAR Y
THE WARNER GR O UP
APPENDIX A - GLOSSAR Y
Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) - The high-speed CPU circuit that does calculating and
comparing. Numbers are transferred from memory into the ALU for calculation, and the
results are sent back into memory.
Central Data Processing (CDP) - Central Data Processing integrates data from all the
departments it serves and provides operations and management with the information
systems they utilize.
Central Processing Unit (CPU) - The computing part of the computer. Also called the
processor, it is made up of the control unit and ALU. A personal computer CPU is a
single microprocessor chip. A minicomputer CPU is contained on one or more printed
circuit boards. A maln~ame CPU is made up of several boards.
Client/Server Architecture - An architecture in which the client (personal computer or
workstation) is the requesting machine and the server is the supplying machine. Servers
can be high-speed microcomputers, minicomputers or even mainframes. The client
provides the user interface and performs some or all of the application processing. The
server maintains the databases and processes requests from the client to extract data from
or update the database.
Client/server architecture is not using a file server as a remote disk drive to hold
programs and databases. It implies that processing is done in the server. For example, in
a database query, the server performs the search and returns the results to the requesting
client machine. If the server were only storing the database, all the records in the
database file would have to be transmitted over the network to the client machine doing
the search.
Client/Server Network - A communications network that uses dedicated servers for all
clients in the network.
Desktop Computer - A computer that is small enough to reside on a desk-top, but too
large to reside on a lap (laptop). It either refers to personal computers (15Cs, Macs,
Amigas, PowerPCs, etc.) or to workstations from Sun, IBM, HP, Digital and others.
Graphical User Interface (GUI) - A graphics-based user interface that incorporates
icons, pull-down menus and a mouse. Macintosh and Microsoft Windows are examples.
Hierarchical Database - In non-relational systems (hierarchical, network), records in one
file point to the locations of records in another, such as customers to orders and vendors
to purchases. These are fixed links set up ahead of time to speed up daily processing.
Information Services (IS) - The formal title for a data processing, Management
Information Systems, or Information Systems department. Other titles are Data
Processing, Information Processing and Management Information Services.
Local Area Network (LAN) - A communications network that serves users within a
confined geographical area, usually a floor of a building. It is made up of servers,
workstations, a network operating system and a communications link that does not
involve a common carrier.
Legacy System - A mainframe or minicomputer based information system that uses a
"dumb" terminal]main computer design.
Mainframe - A large computer. In the mid 1960s, all computers were mainframes, since
the term referred to the main CPU cabinet. Today, it refers to a large computer system.
There are small, medium and large-scale mainframes, handling from a handful to several
thousand online terminals. Large-scale mainframes can have hundreds of megabytes of
main memory and terabytes of disk storage. Large mainframes use smaller computers as
front-end processors that connect to the communications networks.
Minicomputer - A medium-scale computer that functions as a single workstation, or a
multi-user system with up to several hundred terminals. A minicomputer system cost
roughly from $20,000 to $250,000.
Today, the term "midrange" has become popular for medium-sized computers. High-end
microcomputers and low-end mainframes overlap in the minicomputer price and
performance.
50g*02 1T Strategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group A - 2
MPE (MultiProgramming Executive) - The multitasking operating system of the
Hewlett Packard 3000 series.
Network Operating System (NOS) - A multi-user operating system that manages network
resources. It manages multiple requ.ests (inputs) concurrently and provides the security
necessary in a multi-user environment. It may be a completely self-contained operating
system, such as NetWare or it may require an existing operating system in order to
function.
A portion of the network operating system, or NOS, resides in each client machine and
each server. It handles request by clients for data and applications from the client
machine and each server. It handles requests by clients for data and applications from the
server as well as input and output to shared network devices, such as printers, faxes and
modems.
Open System - A vendor-independent system that is designed to interconnect with a
variety of products. It implies that standards are determined by a consensus of interested
parties rather than by one or two vendors.
"Open systems" generally refers to UNIX-based computer systems, since UNIX
machines are the most universal operating environment. UNIX runs on more different
kinds of hardware than any other operating system. Sometimes, the PC is called an open
system, but it is more an open architecture than an open system, because Intel and
Microsoft have strong control over the hardware and system software.
Platform - The hardware architecture of a particular model or computer family. The term
also often refers to just.the operating system, which implies the particular hardware
architecture that it runs on; for example, "the XYZ program runs on the Microsoft
Windows platform."
Protocol- Hardware and software standards that govem transmission between two
stations. On personal computers, communications programs offer a variety of protocols
to transfer files via modem.
508-02 IT Strategic Pla~- Draft 6
The Warner Group A-3
On LANs, data link protocols such as Ethemet, Token Ring and FDDI provide the access
method that moves packets from station to station, and higher level transpol~ protocols,
such as NetBIOS, IPX and TCP/IP control and the route information packets.
Relational Database - A database organization, method that links files together as
required. In a relational database, relationships between files are created by comparing
data, such as account numbers and names. A relational system has the flexibility to take
any two or more files and generate a new file from the records that meet the matching
criteria.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/lnternet Protocol) - A transport protocol
developed under contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to intemetwork dissimilar
systems. It is a de facto UNIX standard, but is supported on almost all computer systems.
TCP/IP is the protocol of the Intemet.
Terminal - An I/O device for a computer that usually has a keyboard for input and a
video screen or printer for output.
UNIX- A multi-user, multitasking operating system originally developed by AT&T.
AT&T got out of the UNIX business in 1993, and its System V version of UNIX was
acquired by Novell. UNIX is written in C, also developed by AT&T, which can be
compiled into many different machine languages, causing UNIX to run in a wider variety
of hardware than any other operating system. UNIX has thus become synonymous with
"open systems."
Wide Area Network (WAN) - A communications network that covers a wide geographic
area, such as region, city or state. It requires the network facilities of common carriers.
Windows NT (New Technology) - An advanced 32-bit network operating system from
Microsoft that runs DOS and Windows applications.
508-02 IT Suategic Plan - Draft 6
The Warner Group A - 4
APPENDIX B
INTER VIE W PAR TICIPANTS
THE WARNER GR O UP
APPENDIX B - INTER VIEW PAR TICIPANTS
During preparation of the Strategic Plan, The Warner Group met with members of the
Technology Advisory Board, the Technology Advisory Group, the Web Task Force, the-
GIS Technical Advisory Committee, and the Permit Streamlining Task Force. In
addition, The Warner Group interviewed a cross-section of staff in various departments
to collect information about perceived strengths, weaknesses, and oppommities for
improvement in the City’s IT systems and practices. These staff members included the
following:
City Manager’s Office
¯June Fleming, City Manager
¯Emily Harrison, Assistant City Manager
City Auditor’s Office
¯Bill Vinson, City Auditor
¯K.B. Paige, Senior Auditor
City Clerk’s Office
¯Kathi Hamilton, Assistant City Clerk
¯Beverly Kline, Assistant City Clerk, Records Management
Administrative Service Department
¯Carl Yeats, Director
¯Melissa Cavallo, Assistant Director
¯Rob Pound, IT Services Director
Utilities Department
¯Ed Mrizek, Director
¯Tom Habashi, Assistant Director, Resource Management Division
¯Randy Baldschun, Assistant Director, Administrative Services Division
¯Larry Start, Manager, Engineering and Operations Division
¯Glenn Loo, Manager, Utilities Information Systems
¯Van Hiemke, Telecommunications Manager
¯Girish Balachandran, Manager, Supply Resources
Human Resources Department
¯Jay Rounds, Director
508-02 App B Interview Participants
The Warner Group B-1
Planning and Community Environmem Department
¯Anne Moore, Acting Director
¯Eric Riel, Chief Planning Official
¯Fred Herman, Chief Building Official
.¯Ashok Aggarwal, City Traffic Engineer
Police Department
¯Pat Dwyer, Chief
¯Lynne Johnson, Assistant Chief
¯Evelyn Espinosa, Business Analyst
Fire Departmem
¯Ruben Grijalva, Chief
¯Judy Jewell, Support Services
¯Dan Firth, Environmental Coordinator
¯Nick Marinaro, Fire Marshall
Public Works Department
¯Glenn Roberts, Director
¯Alice Stoner, Assistant Director, Engineering Division
¯Michael Jackson, Maintenance Division
¯Keith LaHaie, Fleet Manager (MSC)
¯Karen Smith, Facilities (MSC)
¯Sherry Reynolds, Administration (MSC)
¯Bill Miks, Manager, Regional Water Quality Control Plant (MSC)
¯Richard Wetzel, Assistant Manager, Regional Water Quality Control Plant (MSC)
¯Javad Ghaffari, Manager, Industrial Waste Program (MSC)
Community Services Departmem
¯Paul Thiltgen, Director
¯Richard James, Administration
¯Mary Jo Levy, Library Director
¯Kathy Espinoza-Howard, Human Services
¯Peggy Twinn, Secretary to Director
¯Leon Kaplan, Arts and Culture
¯Paul Diaz, Parks and Golf Course
508-02 App B Interview Participants
The Warner Group B- 2
Library
¯Mary Jo Levy, Director
¯Diane Jennings, Manager, Main Library Services
¯Joseph Ford, Consultant, Joseph Ford & Associates
508-02 App B Interciew Pard¢ipants
The Warner Group B - 3
APPENDIX C
MAIN COMPUTER HARD WARE INVENTOR Y
THE WARNER GR O UP
x
!~o
_._.~-
APPENDIX D
DESKTOP HARD WARE INVENTOR Y
THE WARNER GR O UP
UJ
EEEEEEE E EE0000000000
I
I
.8 8
. >1>1>1= =1=1=1~ ~ ~1~1
o o
il
EEEEo o
o~o
APPENDIX E
BUSINESS APPLICATION SOFTWARE INVENTOR Y
THE WARNER GROUP
EEEE E EE E E....~ ~ ~..~ .~ ,~ .~ .~ .~
Z ZZ Z Z
IX !X
uJ
X
~Z
--E
Z
0
LU
Z
E m E m
0
E
w w0.o..
"r
w
IE
w W W
E
~oEc 8~>o
o E
w w
LU
uJ
z
LU
E
Z
E
Z Z
E
~Z
>~-~
o ~
~E
APPENDIX F
RE COMMENDATIONS
THE WARNER GR O UP
APPENDIX F- RECOMMENDATIONS
Section Priority
Hardware High
High
Network
Description of Recommendation
The Utilities Department and ITD should standardize
on the same set of hardware platforms
There should be sufficient building LIPS capacity
installed at the Civic Center to power at least the
servers and network equipment through a 30-minute
power failure
Building LIPS at the Civic Center should be backed-
up with generator power to allow the building to
operate through power failures of indefinite length
Utilities and ITD should standardize on a single
email system and SMTP server
ITD should obtain more tape backup units and install
them in servers that are currently being backed up
over the network to the single backup server
A detailed assessment should be performed on the
servers to determine what the expected future load
would be so that the proper capacity is made
available
The manufacturer of the fire suppression equipment
needs to be identified and an assessment should be
performed to determine its capabilities of meeting the
City’s needs
The manufacturers of the water, temperature, fire,
and intrusion detection systems need to be identified
The City should look to minimize the number of
single user printers and move increasingly toward
networked printers in the ratio of 4 PCs for each
printer
The ITD and Utilities networks should be unified
under the standards established by ITD
A priority for the Space Planning Project should be to
replace the existing Category 3 wiring with Category
5 (CAT5)
The HP servers at the Civic Center should be
upgraded with 100Mbps Network Interface Cards
The Information Technology Division NT servers at
the Civic Center should be connected directly to the
backbone Cabletron MMAC-Plus switch
High
High
High
High
Medium
Medium
Low
High
High
High
High
501t-02 App F Recommendations Table.doe
The Warner Group F- 1
Section Priority
High
Description of Recommendation
Subnet the network by introducing a Layer 3 switch
in the center of the network or continue switching at
layer 2, but use VLANs to break up the large
broadcast domains
Reduce the possibility of c~mplete network failure by
utilizing dual power supplies in the Cabletron
backbone switch chassis, providing a dedicated UPS
for the switch, and keeping on hand spare cards
The City should consider placing their Web server at
the ISP rather than operating it on the City network
Implement a firewall that allows the construction of a
DMZ and place the Web server inside the DMZ
The ’Information Technology Division should use
only private addresses on their network (behind the
ftrewall)
The City should investigate the use of City owned
fiber optic cable for network connection
An analysis should be performed to determine if the
current single circuit T-1 for Internet access is
adequate for the current and anticipated user load
The City needs to reduce the total number of server
operating systems to NT and UNIX
The City needs to reduce the total number of desktop
operating systems installed at the various locations
The City needs to standardize on a DBMS to support
small and large business applications
Complete the migration to the City standard suite of
office automation products
The City needs to migrate to the email standard of
Microsoft Exchange running on the server and MS
Outlook nmning on the client workstation
The City has standardized on Netscape Navigator as
its Internet browser and should continue to use this
product
The City ~hould replace the existing Bi-Tech
accounting system with a new system
As the City evaluates alternatives for a new
accounting system consideration should be given to
replacing the Lawson Payroll/Human Resource
System with an integrated solution
The current Legislative History System needs to be
renovated to meet the Year 2000 compliance
standards
High
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Software High
High
Medium
High
High
Medium
High
High
High
508-02 App F Recommendations Table doc
The Warner Group F- 2
Section Priority
Medium
Medium
Description of Recommendation
The City map for the GIS system needs to be updated
to include the surrounding jurisdictions and color
photographs
A data warehouse needs to be developed to
standardize the information derived from other
business applications (i.e. work order, permits,
inspections, police and fire incidents, etc.)
The City needs to establish what the GIS application
will encompass and what will be the priority of it
development. A strategic plan needs to be developed
to prioritize the integration and deployment of GIS
information
The-City needs to standardize on a single document
imaging system that would ideally be available to all
City departments (e.g., City Attorney, Police, Fire,
Utilities, etc.)
The City needs to identify Internet transactions as a
priority with new and existing business applications
A job cost system should be evaluated as a part of an
overall cost accounting solution for the City since
this application will require integration with the
f’mance, payroll, and budgeting systems
The Police CAD should be installed on the HP-3000
to eliminate the risk of running the software under a
new operating system with the plan to migrate within
a specific timeframe
The current Police RMS Year 2000 issues need to be
addressed as a contingency plan
The Fire Department is currently evaluating a Fire
RMS to provide the ability to track employee training
and certification, and paramedic transportation and
billing information. An emphasis needs to be given
to the integration with the Police CAD system.
Integration of the Fire Rostering System with the
Lawson Payroll to reduce duplication of time entry
information
The City should closely monitor the progress of the
Library vendor over the next year and establish a
timeframe for the assessment of a new system
The City needs to pursue the web enabled version of
the CLASS software
High
Medium
Medium
High
High
High
High
Low
Medium
Low
508-02 App F Recommendations Table doc
The Warner Group F- 3
Section Priority
High
Description of Recommendation
A Permit Tracking System needs to be installed to
bring together the permits generated by Planning,
Building, Fire, Public Works, and other entities in the
City and to meet the Year 2000 requirements
A centralized address database needs to be developed
and maintained within the Permit Tracking System
An application needs to be selected and implemented
to automate the City infrastructure including water,
sewer, storm drain, street lighting, signs and striping,
tree maintenance, park maintenance, building
maintenance, and others
The City should continue to pursue the upgrade of the
current Fleet Management System with the newer
version
The City should begin the evaluation of alternative
fuel systems to interface into the Fleet Management
System
The City is in the process of implementing the
Banner Customer Information System (CIS) to
replace the Utility Billing System. The City needs to
establish a date to renovate the current system to
make it Year 2000 compliant
Increase the authority and visibility of ITD within the
Administrative Services Department and the City
Designate a high-level City executive as CIO
Improve communication with departments by
conducting regular meetings with department heads
Consolidate all IT positions throughout the City, with
the exception of Business Analysts, into ITD
Implement the organizational and staffmg changes
depicted in Exhibits VIII-4
Implement the organizational and stuffing changes
depicted in Exhibits VIII-5
Develop service level agreements between ITD and
user departments
Establish Citywide policy requiring users to call ITD
Help Desk for support
Assign a dual responsibility to each Systems Analyst
for one or more departments and applications
Retain the services of outside contractors when
particular expertise, including project management
skills
High
High
High
Medium
High
Organization High
and Staffing
High
High
Medium
High
Low
High
Medium
Medium
Medium
508-02 App F Recommendations Table.doe
The Warner Group F- 4
Section Priority
N/A
Description of Recommendation
The City should continue to retain experienced
consultants for needs assessment, selection, contract
negotiation, and project management of new systems
that are large or complex
The City should consider additional outsourcing
opportunities
Departments should be held accountable for ensuring
their delegates to the advisory bodies fulfill their
responsibilities in this important role
Department representatives should attend meetings
regularly in their respective departments to provide
status updates and gather input
The mission and structure of each of the IT advisory
bodies should be re-examined and clarified
Improve after-hours availability of critical IT support
functions, based on departmental needs
Improve accountability of technical support services
Recruit IT staff based primarily on probable tenure
and ability to acquire new skills
Develop a process to identify necessary skill sets on a
regular basis, and develop mechanisms to provide
necessary training
Increase compensation for the Business Analyst
classification
Provide ITD management with flexibility to hire
Systems Analysts at the senior (Systems Analyst II)
level
Establish structured system design, procurement and
implementation process
Separate funding for IT support and maintenance
from funding for capital purchases and projects
The Technical Advisory Board should administer the
IT Capital and Development Projects Fund
ITD should estimate the cost of providing support to
individual City departments. ITD should charge its
support costs back to Enterprise Fund departments
The costs of hardware and software should be fully
depreciated and the costs recovered in the CIP to
finance future replacement
Medium
High
High
High
High
High
High
Medium
Medium
High
Medium
Medium
Medium
Low
Medium
508-02 App F Recommendations Table doc
The Warner Group F- 5
ATTACHMENT THREE
Proposed Position Changes and Additions
New Positions
Senior Systems Analyst (Public Safety)
Senior Systems Analyst (Office Automation)
Executive Assistant
(1FTE)
(1FTE)
(1FTE)
Position Changes and Additions
Systems Analyst to Senior Systems Analyst
Programmer Analyst to Systems Analyst
Computer Operator to IT Technician
Manager, Technical Support to Senior Systems Analyst
Telephone Technician to IT Technician
PC Technician to IT Technician
Supervisor Data Processing to Senior Systems Analyst
Manager, Data Comm. & Telephone Services to Manager
Infrastructure Services
Reclasses as Part of Consolidation
(3FTE)
(2FTE)
(1FTE)
(1FTE)
(1FTE)
(2FTE)
(1FTE)
(1FTE)
PC Technician, Police to IT Technician
Utilities Systems Technician to IT Technician
Sr. Utilities Systems Technician to Systems Analyst
Systems Analyst - Utilities to Senior Systems Analyst
Business Analyst to Systems Analyst
(1FTE)
(1FTE)
(1FTE)
(1FTE)
(1FTE)
No Changes
Manager, IT
Manager, Applications
Systems Analyst
Senior Systems Analyst
Manager, Utilities Information Systems
Manager Communications and PC’s
(1FTE)
(1FTE)
(2FTE)
(3FTE)
(1FTE)
(1FTE)
ATTACHMENT SIX
Cost Estimate for Implementation of Phase One
1999-00 Costs
(Prorated Costs) *
Ongoing Cost,
Future Years)
New Position Costs
- Two Senior Systems Analysts - salary
- Executive Assistant - salary
-Non Salary Costs
$108,000 $216,000
$44,000 $88,000
$33,000 $11,000
Reclassification Costs
-Various Reclasses for 11 FTE
-Consolidation Reclasses
$60,000 $96,000
$22,000 $34,000
Total Costs for Phase One $267,000 $445,000
Direct Costs Funded By Utility Funds
Costs Allocated to Utility Funds **
General Fund Costs - Phase 1
$22,000 $34,000
$59,000 $99,000
$186,000 $312,000
Amount Remaining In Placeholder -$14,000
*Prorated Costs assume reclasses are effective November 15, 1999 and new positions are effective
January, 2000
** Allocation to Utility Funds is based on the current allocation of costs from Information Technology
to the Utility Funds
[i,,
I EEE
> !
~ o~
o
o
E~E~o o