Chapter 4 – Information Technology

It is the policy of the Department to create and maintain an annual ITS plan. This plan, prepared by ISDInformation Services Division (see EIS) (see DOMDepartment Operations Manual 43010.3, Information Management Planning, Responsibilities) and approved by the MISManagement Information Systems Committee, shall be the primary basis for structuring the use of ITS in CDC.

The annual departmental ITS plan shall, at a minimum, contain strategy for the use of:

• State data centers for departmental critical systems.

• Distributed systems for departmental critical systems.

• Microcomputers for departmental critical systems.

• Departmental telecommunications and networking systems.

• Facility PBXs for data.

• Local area networks.

• Modems.

The purpose of this policy is to disseminate the framework for the decision-making process used by the Department in deciding to apply automated solutions to the Department’s operations, accounting, and communications problems.

It is the intent of the Department to employ the following factors when deciding whether to use CDC ITS resources to develop, design, and implement a critical departmental information system:

• The priority of the ITS request (see DOMDepartment Operations Manual 43000).

• The relationship to the Department’s goals and objectives.

• The extent to which the application is critical to accomplishment of the Department’s goals and objectives.

• The risk analysis report (see DOMDepartment Operations Manual 49000).

• The results of a pilot project.

The Department’s strategies for use of such technologies shall be utilized to determine the design of the approved information system and the choice of hardware, software, and communication.

The Department’s vehicle for selection of technological alternatives is the FSRFeasibility Study Reports. When preparing an FSRFeasibility Study Reports, the above selection criteria shall be utilized as a basis. When automation is determined to be the approach to solving a business problem, the Department shall choose the automated system which best accomplishes the tasks involved.

The Department currently maintains a multi-tiered automation platform that offers a wide spectrum of hardware/software choices and which provides several databases accessible to applications for data sharing.

A significant feature of automated systems is the ability to share data. Benefits of data sharing include the saving of valuable input time and, in many cases, may solve cost justification problems by reducing or redirecting data input time and associated personnel years.

There are many automation platforms available for expansion in the Department. However, there are also many elements listed in the selection criteria that lead to the appropriate solution. Regardless of the business problem, selection criteria, or platform (hardware/software) involved, State policy requires that the FSRFeasibility Study Reports shall show a cost reduction, a viable cost avoidance, increased revenue, operational necessity, or be the result of a legislative mandate before approval of the concept can become a funded project.

In many instances, the FSRFeasibility Study Reports may have a concurrently associated pilot project to provide specific performance, cost, and technological justification for the continuance of the project.

Pilot projects are scaled down versions of an overall project. They are intended to provide information on cost savings/avoidance, technology use, or performance of bench marking in order to justify implementation of the full project. A pilot project is a subset of the overall project and is subject to the same approval process as the full project.

Many projects are approved through the Office of Information Technology (OITOffice of Information Technology) and the FSRFeasibility Study Reports process contingent upon pilot justification of the project.

The typical contents of a Pilot Implementation and Evaluation Plan include the sections and contents described below:

• Program Performance Improvements

  • This section defines the programmatic functions to be included in the pilot. It should include a description of the current processes, a description of the new processes, and a plan that includes quantified measurements for evaluating before-and-after program performance.

• Physical and Technical Characteristics

  • This section describes the physical and technical characteristics of the pilot. It shall include descriptions of sites, equipment, software, and telecommunications as well as any other technical resources that are needed to complete the pilot.

• Information Requirements

  • This section defines the informational processing requirements of the pilot. It should include definitions of data inputs (source, type, volume, timing, media, files, edits, etc.), processes (response times, interfaces, security, etc.), and outputs (reports and displays).

• Security Requirements

  • This section addresses the process to be used to determine the potential problems and risks, the controls necessary to safeguard the information hardware and software of the pilot, and the fully-implemented system. Typically, a risk analysis as described in DOMDepartment Operations Manual 49030 shall supply the necessary information. The completion of this requirement is especially important since necessary security controls can often increase the required budget.

• Financial Requirements

  • This section contains an estimate of all costs associated with the pilot phase of the project. Project accounting shall be defined so that actual pilot costs and benefits can be compared against estimates, and then used as a basis to refine full implementation estimates.

• Operational Recovery Requirement

  • This section addresses the process to be used to determine the operational recovery requirements. A pilot project shall have an operational recovery plan just for the pilot, and shall address the issue of operational recovery of the proposed fully-implemented system. Often, operational recovery processes add to the overall cost of the project. All critical departmental systems shall have an operational recovery plan as part of their implementation (see DOMDepartment Operations Manual 44000).

• Management Plan

  • This section contains a pilot management plan. The plan shall include:

    • Pilot responsibilities.

    • Pilot schedule.

    • Pilot reporting and review.

Any special requirements shall be identified such as training, conversion, or impact on existing operations.

At the end of the pilot and before continuing with the project, a Post Implementation Evaluation Report (PIERPost Implementation Evaluation Report) shall be completed and submitted to either the departmental MISManagement Information Systems Committee or OITOffice of Information Technology for review. The pilot PIERPost Implementation Evaluation Report shall contain an assessment of programmatic performance during the pilot. The results of the pilot PIERPost Implementation Evaluation Report shall be used to re-evaluate the analysis completed for the original feasibility study and, if necessary, be used to make changes to the project FSRFeasibility Study Reports.

Once the pilot PIERPost Implementation Evaluation Report is approved and any necessary changes are made to the original FSRFeasibility Study Reports, the pilot PIERPost Implementation Evaluation Report shall be reviewed and the project may be initiated upon its approval.

One of the criteria for project selection is the priority of the ITS request. To assist in decision-making, the following schema shall be utilized when assigning a priority to a particular request for information system resources: If multiple requests exist with the same priority, each division submitting requests shall determine the order of further prioritization. For example, if there are four priority 3.1 requests then these four requests should be renumbered as 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.1.3, and 3.1.4 in order of further priority.

The following is a description of several different levels of priorities. These priorities can be thought of as an initial rationale for assignment of ITS design, development, and maintenance resources. Each prospective project shall be assigned one of the following priorities prior to its presentation before the MISManagement Information Systems Committee:

Priority 1

• This priority level is exclusive to the maintenance of computer programs that have been designed, implemented, and installed. Resources used in this area are for the purpose of keeping existing computer-based systems functional. This priority includes routine maintenance. Any changes to production systems requiring more than 32 person-hours shall not be considered as maintenance, but as a new request which must be justified.

Priority 2

• Those resource requirements over which the Department has little control. Responses to legislative action, requests from the Governor or the agency, and requests from local law enforcement for critical information are all examples of projects that are Priority 2.

Priority 3

• An ITS request shall be Priority 3 if the implementation of the proposed computer-based system will result in a measurable benefit to the Department. Most requests for information system resources fall within this area.

The Assistant Secretary EISEnterprise Information Services (formerly Information Services Division), or designee shall be responsible for ensuring that the contents of this Article are kept current and accurate.

DOMDepartment Operations Manual §§ 43000, 44000, and 49000.