Municipality of Chatham-Kent

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Municipality of Chatham-Kent

IT Strategic Plan

Authors:

Michael Barron, Allan Evans, Paul J. Mackin, Debra Rimmer, Chad Robbins, Francis Roque

Owner: Helen McLaren Creation Date: February 7, 2008 Version: Number V3.0

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Appendices...I Appendix A. Interviews...II Interview Lists... II Appendix B – Existing Business Processes... IV Appendix C – MISA Findings ... VIII Office Software...VIII Technology Management ...XI Key Applications 1... XIV Key Applications 2... XVII Appendix D - Website Statistics ... XX Appendix E SWOT Analysis ...XXI Organization and Governance – IT within Business Areas ...XXI Infrastructure – IT within Business Areas...XXII Policies and Procedures – IT within Business Areas ...XXIII Physical Environment and Security – IT within Business Areas... XXIV Appendix F – Draft “To Be” Role Descriptions... XXV Job Summary ...XXV Major Responsibilities... XXVI Appendix G – Terminology Lexicon ... XLVIII Tables Table 1 – IT Strategic Plan Deliverables ...17

Table 2 - Email and Authentication in other Municipalities...51

Table 3 – Required Application Matrix...70

Table 4 - Recommendations for Application Enhancement ...72

Table 5 – Application and Database Relationships –“To Be”...84

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Table 7 Annual Savings from Mail Migration (to be redirected to technology life-cycle)

...97

Table 8 Budget to Implement System Center Configuration Manager Server ...97

Table 9 - Budget for Desktop Refresh...98

Table 10 – PSAB Estimate of Funds that should be Allocated ...98

Table 11 Summary Budget for Tactical Cycle #1 ...100

Table 12 Summary Budget for Tactical Cycle #2 ...103

Table 13 Summary Budget for Tactical Cycle 3...105

Table 14 - Incident Management Components...119

Table 15 - Incident Report Template...121

Figures Figure 1– Migration of Architecture from “As Is” to “To Be” ...8

Figure 2 - Availability, Enablement, Affordability Graphic ...21

Figure 3 “As Is" Infrastructure including connectors ...25

Figure 4 – Database Servers / Systems – “As Is” ...33

Figure 5 – Application and Database Relationships – “As Is”...34

Figure 6 – Email/Directory Services Layout – “As Is” ...39

Figure 7 - Computer Re-rollouts Process ...45

Figure 8 – Service-Oriented Architecture ...60

. Figure 9 – Rational Infrastructure – “To Be” Architecture...79

Figure 10 – Directory Services Environment – “To Be” Authentication ...81

Figure 11 – Directory Services Environment – Active Directory Design – “To Be”...82

Figure 12 – Application and Database Relationships – “To Be”...85

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Figure 14 Tactical Cycle #1 Project Schedule ...91

Figure 15– Tactical Cycle #2 Schedule ...101

Figure 16 – Tactical Cycle #3 Schedule ...104

Figure 17 - Governance Model – Reporting Structure...110

Figure 18 - Governance Model – Internal Structure ...111 Figure 19 – Website Statistics ... XX

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1. Executive Summary

The Municipality of Chatham-Kent Information Technology Strategic Plan (ITSP) was commissioned by Corporate Services to develop the first technology roadmap for the Municipality since amalgamation. The report’s structure was deliberately selected to explore a number of critical themes:

1. An “As Is” review of the existing IT infrastructure

2. A “To Be” Target Architecture for technology within the Municipality

3. The “How to”, a roadmap to allow the Municipality of Chatham-Kent to get from the “As Is” to the “To Be”

This report presents a five year vision for Information Technology within the Municipality, including areas supported through technology service level agreements with outside or arms length organizations (i.e. CK PUC and CK Energy), which reviews the technological and informational services provided to all business areas of the municipal government as well as both the organization and governance of these services. The overall theme of the ITSP is Survival through Simplification, Stability and Sustainability.

MGCG’s Approach

The approach taken by MGCG to develop Municipality of Chatham-Kent’s IT Strategic Plan was as follows:

1. Review and document Current Situation (‘As Is’) 2. Identify Requirements based on:

a. Business Needs

b. Resources (Staff, Funding, Infrastructure) 3. Define Gap between ‘As Is’ and Requirements

4. Develop Action plan (Roadmap) with priorities clearly stated 5. Assign Timelines and Resources

6. Quantify Financial Implications

The necessary information was compiled by:

• Interviewing identified stakeholders1_{including ITS staff, critical business}

stakeholders and political representatives to review level of client service:

o Current concerns and issues

o General level of satisfaction with Information Technology and the ITS

department

1_{Over 90 individuals were interviewed from all significant business areas, including every} member of the ITS staff and Members of Council.

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o Priorities for technology within the Municipality – an analysis of the relative

importance of Availability, Enablement and Affordability

o Requirements for current technology o Requirements for future technology

• Reviewing in detail (i) the existing infrastructure and (ii) support for Information Technology Services within the Municipality including:

o Network and server infrastructure o Businesses processes

o Design Rationale o Licensing

o Backups and recovery

o Staffing levels and organizational structure o Maintenance costs of existing infrastructure

o Current applications including those used by ITS and the various business

areas of the Municipality

o Comparing the “As Is” with industry standards and best practices, i.e.,

comparing the technology currently deployed within Chatham-Kent to current and emerging industry trends

Based on the findings, requirements were determined (or formalized2_{), and categorized}

as follows:

• Quality of Client Service

• Applications and data to support Chatham-Kent’s business goals

• Appropriate infrastructure, technology, operational models, business processes, ITS organizational structure and IT Governance to support and deliver IT within the Municipality

Subsequently, a roadmap was developed indicating what needs to be done and when, again based on business priorities.

Finally, estimated costs and resources were assigned.

This roadmap, complete with activities, timelines, resources and costs, constitutes Chatham-Kent’s IT Strategic Plan for the next 5 years.

Current Situation (“As Is”)

As the project progressed, the following overall theme for the IT Strategic Plan developed: “Survival through simplification, stability and sustainability”.

2_{Key to this process was the establishment of vision, mission, goals and objectives for IT within} Chatham-Kent. These are described later.

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A detailed description of the Municipality’s current situation (“As Is”) is shown later in the report. In summary, the strengths and weaknesses, as they relate to IT throughout the Municipality, are shown below.

Strengths

1. Client Service

a. Current services are being delivered in a consistent manner b. Service requests are being carried out in a timely manner c. User problems are being dealt with in a timely manner 2. Applications and Data

a. Current applications are being supported

b. Current applications enable the Municipality to fulfill its basic business objectives

c. Users are generally accepting of the use of technology 3. Infrastructure

a. The Infrastructure is supportable

b. Members of the ITS Staff are generally well liked by users in the business areas

c. The ITS Staff are dedicated to “Keeping the Lights On”

d. ITS Staff are technically competent with the “As Is” environment

e. ITS Staff are extremely cost-conscious and are advocates for responsible spending

f. ITS is skilled at forming partnerships with outside organizations and accessing funding opportunities

g. Some corporate IT policies are documented and operational h. Physical Security is in place

i. A life-cycle program is in place for some hardware 4. Business Areas

a. Services are available

b. Some corporate policies are documented and in place c. Users are generally accepting of the use of technology

d. Adequate physical security (locks on doors, alarm systems, etc), appears to be in place

e. Business specific technological infrastructure operates

Weaknesses/Opportunities

All organizations have weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. It is important to identify and address them as, through that process, the weaknesses are minimized or eliminated.

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1. Client Service

a. Communication between business units and ITS is weak. Business units often make decisions relating to IT internally and without soliciting input from ITS, and ITS sometimes does not effectively communicate the impact to the business units of decisions made by ITS3_{. Technical communications}

to the users are often complex and not fully comprehended by less technically qualified staff

b. The web is perceived by users as difficult to navigate and inflexible to modify

c. The Help desk process for issue escalation is sometimes inconsistent without a clear mechanism for solution identification and issue resolution d. Within the business areas there appears to be a lack of understanding of

the role of ITS 2. Applications and Data

a. Applications are typically standalone and integration is limited. While there are areas where technology could greatly improve municipal performance, the standalone or fragmented nature of the deployed infrastructure does not allow for integration or a central data repository b. There are many standalone databases satisfying the single needs of

specific departments. This generates duplicate instances of the same data introducing errors, duplicate data entry and excessive support requirements

c. There is no formal technology roadmap

d. The architecture approach of the Municipality to date has been technology-focused rather than service-focused

e. Different versions of the same application are in use within different business areas

f. The web application is 5 years old and its functionality and contents need upgrading

3. Infrastructure

a. The current user authentication procedure is complex and does not provide some of the advanced security and features offered by modern directory service environments. Further the current solutions are costly to maintain and not sustainable in the long term

b. There are several hundred computers older than maximum acceptable age according to municipal and council approved policy

c. Some of the tools that support the infrastructure are outdated and should be upgraded

3_{An example is when a recent password synchronization policy was introduced, some users did} not understand details of its implementation resulting in delays in logging in and consequent delays in their day to day activities

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d. The current replacement policy for desktop computers is excessively labour-intensive and the effort necessary to make it work is often greater that the cost of replacement

e. The base communications Infrastructure is outdated and cumbersome to support

i. Data Network ii. Email System iii. Telephone System

f. The standards defined for physical IT security are not universally applied across all Municipality sites

g. While some policies are in place, a full set of IT policies has not been developed

h. The ITS organization, while well managed at the senior level, is lacking in skills and/or experience in middle-management, and is understaffed compared to other similarly sized municipalities, given the infrastructure and applications they must maintain. Further, this group is structured in such a manner that is more reflective of the amalgamation legacy than of the effective delivery of technology and information services

i. There are some key gaps in the skill levels of front line IT personnel as they relate to the “To Be” requirements

j. There is a perception among non-ITS staff and political representatives that the infrastructure is a “Cadillac” solution. This perception is not correct.

k. Different Municipality sites often apply different standards. There is no common ‘across-the-board’ set of standards

l. There is no life-cycle management replacement strategy in place for the telephony systems

4. Business Areas

a. Lack of understanding of the role of ITS within internal department projects and initiatives

b. Preference for stand alone or silo applications to fill an immediate need c. IT policies, such as technology lifecycle of hardware, often lacking or not

adhered to d. User skills gaps

e. Lack of support for common technological standards

f. There is a possibility that CK Energy might develop its own IT support

organization (although it will require additional GIS support from ITS). Some of the supported organizations do not adhere to IT corporate standards for technology selection, purchasing or management

5. Corporate Governance

a. The assignment of strategic direction relating to IT assets and resources, is not clearly defined or formalized

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b. Communication between the ITS group and business areas is not effective and no one authority source is in place with ownership for the technology roadmap of the Municipality

Comparison with Other Municipalities

There is no clear consistency between different municipalities with respect to

technology selection or organizational structures. Many appear to have somewhat fragmented infrastructures that result from amalgamations, and they are faced with similar issues to those of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent.

With respect to future strategic direction, however, a number of common initiatives are underway, although the emphasis varies according to each municipality:

1. Electronic Service Delivery to provide equitable and affordable access by the community to a wide range of services and content. Attributes of this capability include:

a. High degree of responsiveness

b. Anytime, anywhere, anyhow services c. A high degree of system responsiveness

d. Increased use of both web and voice services e. New channels for citizen engagement

f. Recognition and adherence to privacy and security requirements 2. Streamlining of Internal Operations

a. Industry-standard and current operating infrastructure b. Drive to increase business effectiveness utilizing IT c. Increased network and data security

d. Standardized and integrated central applications

e. Minimization (with the goal of eventual elimination) of ad-hoc departmental, single purpose databases

f. A formal project management and system life-cycle approach to the development and support of new services

3. Reform in the Operational Practices of Municipalities

a. The development of practices that improve the physical safety of personnel and create a healthy working environment

b. Procedural changes i.e. the critical review of existing procedures that may be being carried out solely because of an outdated legacy requirement c. Increased effectiveness and transparency

d. Collaboration with other municipalities or other organizations to share expertise and resources

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Municipality of Chatham-Kent’s Business Requirements

Vision and Mission Statement for IT within the Municipality

The focus for the “To Be” vision is one of service orientation. The ITS group should be the sole provider of technology and information services across the entire municipal

organization but those services must be aligned with business area requirements. The information technology architecture should be reflective of this service orientation.

Vision Statement: Information Technology Services will provide the citizens of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent with the information and communications services, relating to the Municipality, to support them in achieving their goals and to enhance their quality of life.

Mission Statement: To improve the performance of the staff of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent and provide access to information and services to its citizens through the use of appropriate technology.

Goals and Objectives to Meet Business Requirements

1. The current infrastructure is unnecessarily complex and should be simplified to (i) reduce costs and (ii) assist the sustainability of IT operations

2. IT is somewhat fragmented, with silos of technology, multiple databases, stand alone applications and stand alone technology projects. The organization should move to a more integrated approach

3. IT governance within the Municipality should be centralized, and empowered to enforce policy

4. The ITS organization should be restructured to support partnership with business areas

5. IT does not have a formal technology roadmap describing acceptable technology, integration objectives, retirement strategies etc. This document represents the first technology roadmap since amalgamation and should be maintained, administered by an IT Steering Committee, and communicated across the organization

6. The Municipality of Chatham-Kent must review technology options for a consolidated Service-Oriented Architecture with the following key elements

a. Common Data Architecture with common standards for database b. Web based systems, particularly those developed in house, to support all

business areas

c. A municipality wide Enterprise Resource Planning system particularly with respect to the suitability of CMiC or Hansen as an ERP and replacement of tax system, the selection of a replacement or alternatively, the

development of an Enterprise Integration Architecture to integrate formerly stand-alone systems

d. Common standards for all Geo-Spatial data with an emphasis on GIS as a core technology for the Municipality

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Target Technology Architecture

The target architecture for the Municipality of Chatham-Kent should be developed with 2 main objectives:

• It should be service-oriented, i.e., developed and evolved as an architecture that provides a high level of customer service, and be robust, highly available, secure, responsive, integrated, and flexible

• It should be simple, i.e. easy to maintain, easy to grow, easy to use, current and industry-standard

The proposed architecture shown in the main body of this plan incorporates the following:

1. Authentication is simplified

2. Standalone and Isolated Databases are rationalized into a central database 3. Technology is integrated

4. Industry-standard technologies are deployed

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Five year plan Figure 1– Migration of Architecture from “As Is” to “To Be”

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Action Plan

To realize this vision, a 5-year plan has been developed, comprising 3 tactical cycles, preceded by the implementation of some ‘Quick Wins’:

Tactical Cycle Duration From/To

• Tactical Cycle 1 18 months Mar 2008 – Aug 2009

• Tactical Cycle 2 18 months Sept 2009 – Feb 2011

• Tactical Cycle 3 24 months Mar 2011 – Feb 2013

Note: this is a high level roadmap and is contingent upon development of appropriate work plans as well as allocation of budget and resources

Quick Wins

The following immediate steps will go some way to improving day to day operations within the ITS group and position it well for delivering the contents of the strategic plan:

1. Realign the currently vacant Local Systems Support position as a Network and Security Analyst and fill that role

2. Ensure the Database staff roles have both SQL Server and Oracle skills

3. Work with the Municipality’s computer supplier to develop a base image for all new PC orders. This image will be further enhanced as part of Tactical Cycle 1 4. The IT Strategic Plan Steering Committee should be temporarily recast as the

acting IT Steering Committee pending the formation of a permanent committee 5. ITS and the acting IT Steering Committee should immediately adopt the

technology purchase and technology development standards policies, publish them and review all ongoing projects and initiatives for adherence to those policies

6. Stop all computer rerolls, the practice of issuing new computers to power users and cascading older machines to other users

Tactical Cycle One (Mar’08 – Aug’09)

Tactical Cycle One prepares the base infrastructure to support many of the initiatives required as the Strategic Plan unfolds. It is important to note that, with the exception of the departmental restructuring and the governance initiatives, (which were part of the specific mandate of this plan), all other initiatives relating to Tactical Cycle One have

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been recommendations by existing ITS management, or subject to policy by the existing technology life cycle. Implementation of these recommendations are (correctly), recognized by present ITS management as foundation initiatives that will allow the municipality to move forward technologically. This plan confirms and endorses this view.

Tasks

Initially in Tactical Cycle One, effort should be put into place in a number of basic areas:

1. The ITS department will be reorganized:

• Structure will be based on two functional areas, rather than the current four, reflecting a focus on Information Services and Technology Services

• Several roles will be modified to align with the restructuring of the department

• Two new Business Analysts roles will be added to provide business units’ technology representation within ITS. These Business Analysts4_{will have}

responsibility for GIS and Business Applications

2. An IT Steering Committee will be created to be the owner of the IT Strategic Plan, and the Chair will report to the CAO. It may be that the municipality will choose some mechanism for reporting and or advisory involvement by the office of the Mayor, although this is not a common municipal IT practice

3. Existing computer and network communications infrastructure will be updated. This will:

• Simplify the authentication infrastructure for the Municipality

• Update and simplify the email system

• Refresh desktop technology to provide access to the new infrastructure and tools and ensure adherence to the technology policies already in place in the Municipality

• Provide enhanced functionality – and therefore user effectiveness through the Office 2007 upgrade

• Provide training of all users in Office 2007, and the new email system It is estimated that operational costs of $140,000.00 per year can be redeployed to the proactive management of the currently underfunded technology life-cycle starting in 2009

4. A streamlined process for managing desktop ‘images’5_{will be introduced}

4_{The role of the business analysts is further described in the Appendix}

5_{This refers to the standard package of operating and application software that is installed on} the computers of all Chatham-Kent users

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5. The website will be redesigned and a web advisory group created

6. Standards for network infrastructure will be developed and a redesigned data network across the entire municipality will be created

7. A disaster recovery simulation will be carried out to understand the data and operational vulnerabilities. (This will take place after the technology refresh has been completed)

Financial Implications

There are limited new costs for ITS in the plan for 2008, as most of the planned projects are covered by existing lifecycle or reserve dollars. New costs will however be incurred in 2009 to fulfill the addition of two business analyst roles in the ITS reorganization6_.

Project costs are estimated as follows:

Project Cost Comments

ITS Re-Organization Realignments: TBD

New Roles: $175,895 Addition of 2 Business Analyst roles, to be considered in 2009

Novell/Lotus

Retirement $270,000 Existing ITS reserve funds. Savings will be $140,000 per year to be directed to lifecycle

Technology Refresh $1,309,000 Existing reserve funds. As of this project, rerolls will cease and imaging will be simplified

SharePoint/Web

Redesign $300,000 Existing ITS reserve dollars to launch basic SharePoint infrastructure and strike web redesign committee

Network technology standards developed and network redesign

$127,000 Consulting services to establish appropriate standards for network technology and network upgrade equipment. (Budget will be requested for 2009)

Disaster Recovery

Simulation $20,000 Consulting Services and internal resources (2009 Budget)

Other known business

area projects TBD • • PSAB (Asset Management) CKTraax

• Public Works Work Management • Immigration Portal

• Project Management Office Support Software

• Cultural Mapping

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Tactical Cycle Two (Sept’09 – Feb’11)

Tasks

Tactical Cycle Two will continue the process of infrastructure improvement and will ensure that efficiency and survivability are key elements of the systems in place at the Municipality. The projects include:

1. Infrastructure upgrades

2. Development of a network security architecture

3. Expansion of Web to include an Intranet for knowledge and document management

4. Development of a business systems architecture or replacement technology, based around (i) Financial System (CMiC) and (ii) the Tax System (MAS) 5. Development of an IT Disaster Recovery Plan

The 2009 and 2010 budgets will require new dollars to fund infrastructure changes in the latter part of Tactical Cycle #2, namely:

Infrastructure Hardening -

planning Planning: $25,000 Implementation: $150,000

Consulting funds to specify project for switch replacement, server consolidation and backup

rationalization. Initial Blade systems and SAN purchase, followed by Life Cycle dollars for ongoing growth

Development and deployment of Network Security Architecture

$50,000 External consulting supplementing internal resources

Development and Testing of an IT Disaster Recovery Plan

$150,000 External Consultants

Network Security Audit $30,000 External Audit

Expansion of SharePoint Portal for corporate Intranet

$50,000 Mostly internal resources with some additional hardware and consulting services

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Review of CMiC, Hansen and Tax Applications

$100,000 Majority internal resources, supported by vendors and consultants

Replacement of CMiC or instantiation of EAI and replacement of tax application

Price Range: $500K

- $2M Cost variable depending on solution selected. Minimal CMiC expansion, or EAI deployment would be low end, total CMiC replacement would be high end

Tactical Cycle Three (Mar’11 – Feb’13)

Tasks

The third tactical cycle, beginning in 2011, will require some more significant projects that cannot be undertaken until the base infrastructure is upgraded (2008 – 2010). The major projects for Tactical Cycle Three include:

1. New phone system. The current phone systems are obsolete and require

replacement. Upgrades are not an advisable option as the parts for the phone systems in place are no longer manufactured and can only be procured on the “Grey Market”. A new, municipal wide phone system, based on Voice over Internet Protocol technology, should be implemented within the life cycle of this strategic plan

2. Critical to migrating the current infrastructure to a service-oriented architecture is the development of a rational data architecture based on Microsoft and Oracle standards which are currently in place and need to be enforced. This project will also lead to the development of an integrated data warehouse comprising data systems, GIS, corporate applications and the web

3. The development of a corporate knowledge portal on the web which leverages both the data warehouse and documented business processes

The costs for the new phone system are significant and represent the largest ticket item that can be currently planned with any certainty. Operational costs can be recovered by the simplification of the phone system but the choice of not replacing it is not an option.

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New phone system $2.6 to $3.9M Existing phone system is past end of life and kept alive through concerted effort and spare parts purchase on grey market. Estimate based on $2000-$3000 per telset including associated infrastructure and possible re-wiring

Implementation of Data Architecture and Data Warehouse

Planning: $85K,

Cost: $1,500,000 This major corporate initiative will require internal resources and business area supported by consultants.

Business case will be contingent on quality of data and ease of migration and cleansing

Corporate Knowledge

Portal $50,000 Majority internal resources supported by consulting

Document Management $100,000 Based on current technology

standards and costs for SharePoint extensions

Summary

The work that needs to be done within the IT Strategic plan is substantial, but its purpose is simple – “Survival through simplification, stability and sustainability”.

The IT infrastructure should be migrated from a “keep it working approach” to a “how can we be more efficient, improve the effectiveness of our staff, and enhance the services we provide to our citizens” (as described in the initiatives being developed by other municipalities) approach. The three tactical cycles address the following major areas:

• Improving service to staff and the citizen of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent

• Integrating applications and rationalizing data

• Creating a network, hardware and software infrastructure that is integrated, robust, secure, easy to maintain and upgrade, current, and feature-rich

• Through formal, and regular IT governance, maintaining an organization structure that is aligned with the Municipality’s business goals, is skilled in the deployment of the installed technology, operates to defined policies and standards and has formal communications channels with the business areas throughout the organization

Initial funding requirements for the plan are modest and the Year One proposals should be adopted immediately. With the formation of the IT Steering Committee, the

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roadmap will have an owner who is empowered to ensure its implementation. In summary the total known investment over the 5 year strategic plan is estimated at $7.6M to $10.4M.

The authors of the report will review the plan annually with the IT Steering Committee. This body will also be responsible for ensuring that the plan becomes a living document, i.e., is reviewed regularly and is updated to reflect changes in the Municipality of

Chatham-Kent’s business and operating environment.

This plan affects all business units and has a considerable impact across the entire Municipality, with particular emphasis on ITS. However, the goals of the plan are

achievable, and necessary. The timelines outlined in the initial roadmap are aggressive and are contingent on budgets, staffing and the completion of a detailed work plan. Council is recommended to adopt it and, through the IT Steering Committee, empower all municipal staff to commit to it, and deliver on it.

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2.Background

Terms of Reference

The Municipality of Chatham-Kent has requested Proposals for the development of a detailed, five-year Information Technology Strategic Plan (ITSP).

The primary goal of the ITSP is to ensure that the Municipality can leverage its’ current technology investments as well as get maximum value on future technology

investments while optimizing the Municipality’s ability to meet and enhance customer service.

Scope and Deliverables

The scope of the plan includes all functional areas of the Municipality and involves interviews with all areas. Approximately 90 people were interviewed either individually or in logical groups.

The Municipality requires a comprehensive report that documents the best utilization of the existing technology infrastructure and resources to accomplish its technology related services and, where required, clearly indicates future expenditures and resource needs/requirements. The Plan will establish strategic directions and priorities that will guide IT investments over the next five years. This ITSP must be mapped to the Municipalities current Community and Corporate Strategic plans wherever possible. Costs associated with any recommendation must be inclusive of all capital costs as well as ongoing operating costs and resources required.

Estimates of tangible and intangible benefits related to all recommendations must be provided and qualified.

The Municipality has directed that the final Strategic plan be completed, including final presentations and approvals, by February, 2008.

The ITSP will be broken out into major components; the components outlined below are not necessarily all inclusive but are considered essential to the ITSP.

“As Is” Assessment / Immediate Opportunities

This was carried out by research and interview with ITS and other staff; the assessment identifies areas of strength as well as areas of immediate opportunity. Deliverables are in the form of documented recommendations to improve levels of service and maintain those levels as demand from staff and citizens increase. This review considers not just

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the physical architecture components and environments but also the processes to establish, enhance and sustain them.

“To Be” Targets

Estimated costs and benefits, associated with any recommendation, are incorporated and include all capital costs as well as sustainment (opex) costs such as maintenance and resources.

Future Technology Direction

This document provides the necessary research, based upon emerging technologies, IT trends and best practices from the public and private sectors, to formulate

recommendations on how the Municipality needs to position itself for the future and to get the best return on its technology investments over the coming years, by:

1. Improving and simplifying its technology environment through options such as: a. System / application integration

b. replacement of current applications c. changes to the WAN

d. a phased approach that will be financially digestible and business case driven

e. other recommendations e.g. VoIP

2. Prioritizing and aligning a series of projects (phases) Key deliverables for this section include:

1. High level data/application architecture map (interdependency diagram) to show a simplified model of today’s IT environment

2. A documented phased approach to achieving the ultimate “to-be”

environment (gap analysis). It is recognized that this may very well go beyond a 5 year window

3. Rationalized operating and capital technology expenditures, resource needs and paths by year, for the next five years

Future IT Structure and Governance

This document includes recommendations regarding long term planning against the topics below.

• The structure of the IT Department

• A governance model that supports the phased project approach to migrate from the “as is” to the “to-be” environments. This includes identifying the framework in which IT projects are identified, prioritized, implemented and controlled, as well as the overall role of IT within the organization and the associated responsibilities and staffing requirements

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Recommendations are supported with benefits and/or business requirements statements.

Other IT related items to be addressed

Other items required throughout the course of the development of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent IT Strategic plan include:

• Policy regarding the purchasing of technology, when is a business case required and what that business case should look like (p. 116)

• A vision statement for the IT Department (p. 89)

• Recommendations on training and investing in staff (including succession planning) (App. F)

• Risk assessment regarding a business continuity/disaster recovery plan (p. 122)

• A model for properly evaluating potential IT staff (App. F )

• Client feedback on IT performance and how ITS can increase Customer Service (internal and external) (p.22)

• Recommendations for specific business areas to ensure that technology is utilized to streamline business processes (Referenced throughout body of document)

• Policy and processes around offsite backups utilizing the WAN infrastructure (p. 28)

• Recommended hardware and software lifecycles (pc’s, laptops, servers) (p. 93)

• Recommended approach to achieve network connectivity at all sites (share information, common drive access) (p. 32, 36, 59, and 91)

Deliverables

The assessment will include, but not be limited to, the following deliverables:

Table 1 – IT Strategic Plan Deliverables

Deliverable Section(s)

Change Management Customer Support ... 108 Change Management ... 113 Security Network Security ...46

Tactical Cycle #2 – “Security,

Redundancy, Reliability”... 101 Security... 122 Data Warehousing Required Application Matrix ...69 Budgets - Years 3 - 5 ... 105 Web-portal / E Services Web Infrastructure ...31

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Web Department...48 Technical Standards...64 Tactical Cycle #1 – “Infrastructure

Rationalization and Renewal” ...91 Budget for Password Management and

Mail Replacement ...96 Web/Portal Services ... 108 Security... 124 Website Statistics ... XX A high level data/application

architecture map (interdependency diagram) to assist in identifying areas of recommended integration and areas of duplication with the current technology/ application portfolio

"As Is" Infrastructure including connectors ...25

Recommendations for improving business processes related to current and future applications are required. This will include identification of immediate opportunities to better leverage current applications i.e. operate more

consistently throughout the Municipality.

Business Processes ...47 Summary of Recommendations: Business Processes ... 134 ITS Triage Process... IV

Process improvement recommendations regarding projects and day to day work within IT.

Process Changes... 109

Asset Management (PSAB 3150) Asset Management / Inventory Software ...30 Project and project Portfolio

Management Tactical Cycle #1 – “Infrastructure Rationalization and Renewal” ...91 Operational policies and procedures

including records and knowledge management requirements

Policies and Procedures ... 47, 113 Policies and Procedures – IT within

Business Areas ...XXIII Areas of opportunity for improvements. Opportunity Analysis - 5 Year ...87 Comparison of the Chatham-Kent IT

Department with other municipalities that are offering similar levels of service regarding staff complement and compensation rates

Salary Comparison...88

Comparison of the Municipality of

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municipalities that are offering similar levels of service regarding supported users

Comparison of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent IT Department with other municipalities that are offering similar levels of service regarding number of sites supported

‘Best Practices’ and Initiatives within Municipalities...87

Comparison of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent IT Department with other municipalities that are offering similar levels of service regarding complexity and number of applications

Comparison of the Chatham-Kent IT Department with other municipalities that are offering similar levels of service regarding number of business units supported

Comparison of the Chatham-Kent IT Department with other municipalities that are offering similar levels of service regarding annual capital and operating expenditures

Customer relations management review CKTraax...27 Customer Support Changes ... 108 A Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and

Threats (SWOT) analysis of Chatham-Kent’s IT environment identifying

opportunities for improvements as well as a comparison with other relevant (single tier) Municipalities.

SWOT Analysis – IT within Business AreasXXI

Hardware Network Topology...36 WAN configuration Network Topology...36 Voice communications architecture

including radio Voice Communications Infrastructure .43 Improving and simplifying its technology

environment through options such as system / application integration

High Level Information Systems &

Communication Network Architecture ...68 Summary of Recommendations:

Application Infrastructure ... 132 Improving and simplifying its technology

environment through options such as replacement of current applications

Architecture Requirements Analysis ...68 Summary of Recommendations:

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Improving and simplifying its technology environment through options such as changes to the WAN

Technical Standards...64 Summary of Recommendations: Network

Infrastructure ... 133 Improving and simplifying its technology

environment through options such as a phased approach that will be financially digestible and business case driven

Tactical Cycle #1 – “Infrastructure

Rationalization and Renewal” ...91 Tactical Cycle #2 – “Security,

Redundancy, Reliability”... 101 Tactical Cycle #3 – “Realizing the vision:

Seamless Access and

Communications” ... 104 Improving and simplifying its technology

environment through options such as other recommendations e.g. VOIP

Technical Standards...64 Summary of Recommendations: Network

Infrastructure ... 133 Prioritizing and aligning a series of

projects (phases). Opportunity Analysis - 5 Year ...89 High level data/application architecture

map (interdependency diagram) to show a simplified model of today’s IT environment.

"As Is" Infrastructure including connectors ...25

A documented phased approach to achieving the ultimate “to-be”

environment (gap analysis). It is recognized that this may very well go beyond a 5 year window.

Opportunity Analysis - 5 Year ...89

Rationalized operating and capital technology expenditures, resource needs and paths by year, for the next five years.

Opportunity Analysis - 5 Year ...89

This document will include

recommendations regarding long term planning concerning the structure of the IT Department

Rationalization and Renewal” ...91

This document will include

recommendations regarding long term planning concerning a governance model that will support the phased

project approach to getting from the “as is” to the “to-be” environments. This will include identifying the framework in which IT projects are identified,

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prioritized, implemented and controlled, as well as the overall role of IT within the organization and the associated

responsibilities and staffing requirements. Policy regarding the purchasing of technology, when is a business case required and what that business case should look like.

Policies and Procedures ... 47, 113

A vision statement for the IT Department. Vision Statement for ITS ...89 Recommendations on training and

investing in staff (including succession planning).

Rationalization and Renewal” ...91 Risk assessment regarding a business

continuity/disaster recovery plan.

Disaster Recovery Planning Guidelines122 A model for properly evaluating

incoming IT staffing. Observations from Interviews Appendix F Client feedback on IT performance and

how ITS can increase Customer Service (internal and external).

Observations from Interviews Appendix F

Recommendations, for specific business areas, that ensure technology is utilized to streamline business processes.

Asset Management / Inventory Software ...30 Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

...41 Tactical Cycle #1 – “Infrastructure

Rationalization and Renewal” ...91 Tactical Cycle #2 – “Security,

Redundancy, Reliability”... 101 Tactical Cycle #3 – “Realizing the vision:

Seamless Access and

Communications” ... 104 Recommended hardware and software

lifecycles (pc’s, laptops, servers). Technology Refresh Policy...84 Recommended approach to achieve

network connectivity at all sites (share information, common drive access).

Service-Oriented Architecture...59 Tactical Cycle #1 – “Infrastructure

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3. “As Is” Situational Analysis

Introduction

The following sections provide details on the current state at the Municipality of Chatham-Kent pertaining to Information Systems and Communications Networks. MGCG conducted interviews with 91individuals representing Management, Staff, and Members of Council. Of those interviewed, 63 were surveyed on technological priorities for them and their teams. The interview list is shown in Appendix A.

Survey Results

The survey measures how the Municipality of Chatham-Kent values key decision drivers when making technology investment decisions. The following graphic (Figure 2 -

Availability, Enablement, Affordability Graphic) summarizes the survey results for both Chatham-Kent employees and management.

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The survey results show that the organization sees Availability as the critical driver when making technology decisions. The survey also shows that both management and non-management are closely aligned in their decision values. This result is typical of

municipalities but it is interesting to note that the difference between Enablement and Affordability in this case is minor, within one standard deviation. The implication of this result is straightforward, namely, while cost sensitive, the Municipality is willing to ensure that services are provided to their citizenry. This implication is reviewed in terms of its impact on business needs in the document that follows.

Observations from Interviews

ITS

In terms of the interviews with the ITS staff, while guarded, the results were genuinely positive. Some broad themes appeared:

1. The Municipality of Chatham Kent ITS group is culturally structured with silos which affect its performance. While well led, the direct reports to the Director (DRD), and their teams, do not work optimally together in the present structure 2. Due to the difficulties of amalgamation, the resultant culture and pressures to

keep costs as low as possible, there is an aversion to technological and structural change within parts of the ITS organization

3. ITS is not consulted on critical projects that some business units undertake. When implemented, ITS is expected to support them, often without the requisite

training and skills

4. At the DRD and practitioner level, there is a tendency towards emphasizing technology rather than business needs, and by implication, a disconnect from the holistic requirements of the Municipality

5. SuiteResponse is not effective as a trouble ticket management or knowledge management system for ITS and its Help desk and, further, it disintegrates historical information with respect to incidents. (Since SuiteResponse is used as part of CKTraax, it will be necessary to select a replacement across the

municipality)

6. In its efforts to control spending, ITS has made technological decisions, which while they lower costs in the short-term, miss opportunities for long-term savings. 7. With a few exceptions, the ITS staff is highly skilled in maintaining the current

infrastructure. There are opportunities to increase skills in database, desktop applications and telecom beyond basic phone systems

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8. The focus of the Corporate Applications group is primarily GIS with minimum resources or attention applied to other critical areas of corporate applications. CMiC, Inventory Applications, and HR Applications often receive reactive rather than proactive support

9. There is a perception within parts of ITS that the Web Group is somehow favored from a technological perspective

10. ITS feels that its role is not fully understood nor recognized by Council 11. Some ITS staff do not understand the value of adequate documentation or

standardization of business processes

Business Areas

The interviews with the municipal staff and management were quite favorable in terms of the ITS staff and their commitment to delivering a good service. There were, however some key themes which did emerge that are worthy of note:

1. Genuinely very positive of the ITS staff and their responsiveness, helpfulness and consideration

2. Perception that planning was lacking on ITS initiatives that involve other business areas. ITS is viewed, in general, as lacking planning or process on technological changes or the introduction of new services

3. The Help desk process, while usually effective in the long term, is somewhat challenging to navigate through and can be inconsistent in terms of time to results.

4. Several business areas feel that they need dedicated IT staff assigned to them alone.

5. There is a lack of data or application integration. This is often caused by the staff of the various business groups themselves in an effort to expediently solve issues related to their own business group

6. Business groups exhibit behavior which encourages islands of technology such as:

• Refusal to update applications

• Failure to consult ITS or look to other business group for guidance on technological choices

• The proliferation of applications and manual workarounds to systems for expediency

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• Failure to adopt or consider corporate standards for applications due to a lack of buy in for corporate technological standards

7. The Web is perceived as well designed but difficult to use for both their teams and the citizens of the community. The more likely the groups are to be web-dependent, the more restrictive they find the web structure

Service Level and Supported Organizations

The interviews with the Police and CK Energy and CKPUC, the Health Unit and Ontario Works also were informative. In the case of the first three, each has specific unique requirements for the control of parts of their own infrastructure. Some themes from the interviews:

1. Genuinely very positive of the ITS staff and their responsiveness, helpfulness and consideration

2. Some groups have their own IT staff and prefer to use them for many day to day business needs leaving operational aspects to ITS. It should be noted that some of these groups make technological decisions that are not aligned with the infrastructure and processes currently deployed within the municipality 3. Several of these groups view ITS as underfunded, resulting in ITS making

technological compromises

4. The Police and CK Energy leverage authentication infrastructures differing from those used as primary for the Municipality

5. The Municipality is using Lotus as an email system. The Exchange/Outlook system is industry-standard

6. Users expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of applications through Citrix when accessed from outside the office

7. CK Energy has expressed an interest in establishing its own separate IT group within the next several years (but wants to retain GIS support from ITS)

Political Representatives

The interviews with the Mayor and four councilors were informative. The specific themes from the interview were:

1. Genuinely very positive of the ITS staff and their responsiveness, helpfulness and consideration but two of the five interviewed questioned the strategic direction of ITS.

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2. Neutral to dismissive of the functionality and usability of the web site. In the more severe cases wondering why so much money is being spent on something that most users are unhappy with

3. Concerned about value from, as opposed to price of, the IT spend of the Municipality and not convinced that such value is in place

4. Clear concern that, as a Municipality with a restricted budget, “Cadillac” solutions are neither required, appropriate or defendable

Application Infrastructure

As part of the interview process, MGCG collected information pertaining to the applications in use within the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. (Figure 3 “As Is" Infrastructure including connectors) identifies the applications mentioned during interviews and provided via documentation. The following diagram shows the complete “As Is” architecture in terms of applications and the interconnections between them.

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Office Productivity Applications

Finding: The review found that the use of Microsoft software enables the organization to function effectively in terms of office productivity tools.

Issue: There are limitations with the current Office XP suite that prevent the staff from being optimally efficient in their day to day duties. In fact the deployed release is a 2002 product which is now two major revisions behind current. It should have been replaced in 2007 according to the 5 year lifecycle for software, but was put on hold pending the results of this report.

Recommendations: The addition of Groove, InfoPath and OneNote applications included in the Office 2007, will bring more efficiency to the day to day

operations. The Office 2007 suite is designed to collaborate fully with Microsoft’s Intranet collaboration tool, SharePoint. SharePoint is planned to be implemented in the coming year so enabling collaborative integration is vital. The current Office XP suite has limited, and in some cases no, collaboration links with SharePoint.

Software Imaging

Finding: The management of images on desktops and laptops is done manually. Remote locations require a special visit by an IT staff member to implement images.

Issues: There are too many images in play (77). The effort to manually upgrade machines is time and resource consuming.

Recommendations: The implementation of a central images management and deployment system will greatly reduce the need for IT support staff to make special visits to remote locations. The large number of images should be reduced to a more manageable number (a system type doesn’t require having multiple images created, one for each department/software layout). Only one image per system type is required: this is shipped with the PC from the manufacturer. When used, it should be supplemented with application images. This same model can also act as an update/patch centre to reduce manual intervention.

Email Storage

Finding: Users tend to retain Emails and do not empty their mail boxes.

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Recommendations: (i) Creation of email storage standards and (ii) turning on controls on the server will ensure users regularly clean out old messages. With the implementation of a central storage mailbox, critical messages can be

permanently archived (The Municipality of Chatham-Kent will need to create a retrieval process for users). While disk space is relatively inexpensive, this initiative will ensure storage management is simplified.

CMiC Suite

Findings: The current 2004 version of the CMiC suite is not operating effectively. The major inhibitors are two crucial functions:

• While Payroll and HR are operating using software from CMiC, this software is an older release and is not compatible with the current database used by CMiC

• While critical business owners are leveraging the suite, others are not although there is some investigation underway in using other CMiC modules such as Asset Tracking, Asset Management, and, while there is no explicit Work Order Management module, other modules within the suite could be used. Further investigation is needed.

Issue: The effect of this is no integration, and therefore collaboration, between Payroll application BCD Payroll (mPower 2000), HR application InfoHR and CMiC 2004. Multiple manual entries are required into all because of the lack of

collaboration. Another drawback is that staff has to resort to paper workarounds to overcome the shortcomings.

Recommendation: An upgrade of the CMiC suite to version 2006 followed by BCD Payroll and InfoHR migrations to the CMiC 2006 Payroll and HR modules will allow for more collaboration and less manual entry. Further, CMiC should be considered for pending new functionality such as Asset Tracking (to support PSAB),t Asset Management, and work order processing. If not, then the suitability of CMiC for the Municipality should be reviewed.

CKTraax

Finding: No-one interviewed claimed to appreciate or find CKTraax effective, and its underlying technology SuiteResponse. The product was felt to be of limited use and the business process driving it was felt to be less than effective. This fills a dual role in the Municipality, part trouble ticket system, part Customer Resource Management (CRM) System but seems to do neither well.

Issues: SuiteResponse is not an effective Trouble Ticket tracking system as:

• It does not link trouble tickets to inventory

• Has no knowledge retention tools

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• Is based on Lotus Domino (recommended to be phased out)

• Is at end of life as a product

CKTraax itself, as a CRM platform, is software in search of an effective business process. Issue escalation management has minimal follow through and no tracking of data for historical or trending purposes.

Recommendations: SuiteResponse, the core of CKTraax will require replacement as, ultimately will the CKTraax process. Several applications currently deployed within the municipality do have CRM capability including CMiC and Hansen. While the IT Help desk will need an immediate system that can both track trouble tickets and PC technology inventory (configuration, memory, hardware and software), the deployment of a separate system should be viewed as a stopgap only. Ultimately the identification of a complete business software system or the deployment of and Enterprise Application Integration strategy must address the ultimate issue of CRM.

Help desk Issue Tracking

Finding: SuiteResponse, the current issue tracking software, provides the essential functions but nothing more. The vendor company now been acquired by Active Citizen and support and upgrades will cease at the end of 2008. Suite Response does not provide a good Help desk function but is central to CKTraax.

Issues: This Lotus Notes (Domino) application has poor functionality, no search ability and is difficult to use. The software does not have a knowledge base component which has driven other departments, (e.g. Corporate Applications and the Web Group) to develop their own standalone systems.

Recommendation: A new, modern, Issue Tracking system is vital. The use of a more advanced system incorporating improved issue tracking, advanced search and a knowledgebase component is essential going forward. The knowledgebase component can restore the ‘standalone’ departments to a single system

environment that provides integration between all components, thus reducing data entry and software maintenance. A SharePoint application could be developed to replace CKTraax once the web infrastructure is updated.

Citrix

Finding: The Citrix environment has grown to be too large due to (i) the lack of appropriate tools at the desktop level and (ii) the non-use of RPC/HTTPS or similar for web mail or secure mail.

Issues: The number of applications accessed via Citrix is (i) excessive and (ii) requires considerable maintenance. The main applications accessed via Citrix are Lotus

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Notes and client/server apps via users at the Service Centre. Many users have complained of problems installing Citrix on offsite computers.

Recommendations: The reliance on a Citrix environment can be reduced by at least 50% when Exchange/Outlook (leveraging RPC/HTTPS) and Outlook Web Access (OWA) are deployed. The remainder can be addressed by users accessing the client/server applications from their own desktop. This may require an upgrade in bandwidth between Civic Centre and other municipal centres. The retirement of Citrix means a reduction in support effort and, the current Citrix servers can be used for other means. Additionally the yearly license purchases will not be required.

Backup

Finding: The current backup process is functioning. There are 20 servers that have tape backup drives attached. 18 of these only do individual backups while the other 2 servers back up multiple servers. 7 of these drives are located at the Civic Centre with the remainder dispersed among the remote locations.

The backup process is full backups daily. There are two types of backup schedules and they vary per server.

• The first is the weekly schedule which provides a one week backup retention and consists of 5 tapes. This process backs up every weekday (Monday – Friday) and then the following week the tapes are re-inserted into the backup pool

• The second backup schedule type is bi-weekly which provides a two week backup retention and consists of 10 tapes. This process takes 5 tapes and backs up every weekday and then the following week the other 5 tapes are used for the weekday backups. The third week then has the first weeks backup tapes re-inserted into the backup schedule

There is a weekly tape retention applied to every tape backup device. This retention process moves the Friday tape from the rotation when used and then re-inserts it into the rotation the following month. This process allows the organization to have a weekly backup for a total of 4 weeks. For example, the tape for the first Friday in January, following the backup, will be removed from the rotation. It will stay out of the rotation until required on the first Friday in February.

Tapes are securely stored at an off-site location.

Issues: Two issues relating to the backup environment are key:

• While it is safe to assume that data is backed up and will be, on a case by case basis, recoverable, regular recovery testing is not undertaken and there is no complete systems recovery plan in place, documented or tested