IT Transformation:

People and Processes Oregon Digital Government Summit

May 12th, 2015

Bob Leek

Deputy CIO, Multnomah County

Skip Newberry

President, Technology Association of Oregon

IT Transformation: People and Processes

With technology changes occurring rapidly,

many agencies have begun seeking out ways to

modernize their IT organizations to better

prepare for the future.

(Image: Gulbenk)

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

Identify functional needs and requirements

This first tactic to modernize your agencys information

technology (IT) infrastructure is to identify the functional

needs and business requirements of the users and

departments you support. Begin by assembling a group of

key stakeholders, including internal departments and

constituents, to gain a better understanding of the functional

needs of your internal and external users. Develop a persona

for each of your stakeholders that includes their role, high-

level needs, daily behavior and basic technology

demographics (i.e. types of devices used).

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

2. Assess your current environment

Once you have a better understanding of your users'

underlying business requirements, you must inventory and

assess your existing infrastructure and supporting

applications. This inventory process should provide a base

level of knowledge to understand the current capacity and

capabilities of your existing infrastructure, and can also serve

as a benchmark for comparison in the future.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

3. Define your vision and goals

To establish your agencys strategic vision and goals, map

your previously developed user personas to the capabilities of

your existing infrastructure. This also will identify potential

gaps within your agency. Its also important to factor in the

strategic priorities of other senior leadership within your

agency, including elected officials, which may impact your

department's priorities and direction in the future.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

4. Establish a governance structure

Governance of technology investments is a

complex task. Gartner defines two aspects of

governance: a framework made up both

corporate and IT components, and a process

that includes overall and project components

and the mechanisms needed to perform the

governance functions.

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

5. Assess the technology landscape

As you look forward, it is important to analyze key trends and

shifts in consumer behavior that may impact the future needs

of the users your agency supports. Create a regular

conversation regarding emerging trends and technologies

with your key stakeholders and embed this as an aspect of

evaluation within your agencys IT governance structure.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

6. Optimize existing infrastructure and apps

With a thorough assessment of the current and future

IT landscape and a new IT governance structure in

place, it is time to begin the process of executing your

agencys IT modernization strategy. It is important to

begin this process by identifying ways to optimize or

repurpose existing infrastructure and applications to

meet any of the functional business requirements you

uncovered at the beginning of the process.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

Audience interaction:

How many people have a

modernization project going on?

What are they? How will you measure

success?

How many people have a workforce

development effort going on? What

are they? How will you measure

success?

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

7. Educate employees about new technologies

A major accelerator of government modernization

efforts is accomplished by educating and exposing

agency employees to new technologies and

architectures. For IT employees, education provides

invaluable external stimuli that can accelerate the

adoption of new tactics and best practices within your

IT organization. For non-IT employees, education

provides a catalyst to embracing new systems and

processes that may be consolidated or changed within

your agencys modernization efforts.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

Audience Interaction:

How many people work at an

organization with an innovation

center? What does it do?

How many people have a program

that supports employee self-

development? How does it work?

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

8. Experiment and pilot new technologies

The best way to keep your agencys IT organization on a

continuous path of modernization is by conducting regular

experiments or pilots with new and emerging technologies.

Using agile project management and development processes,

your agency can continuously create a series of small-scale

minimum viable products (MVPs) that will help you anticipate

and prepare for the future needs of the users you support.

Start this process inside of a sandbox development

environment to provide the most adaptable platform for testing

that mitigates any risks involved with testing live data.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

Audience interaction:

Name some new technologies that

you are implementing.

For what purpose?

How will you measure success?

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

9. Partner to fill gaps

As you lead your agency through an IT modernization effort,

you will uncover gaps in expertise or technical capacity

throughout the process. When this occurs, look for

organizations, companies or other government agencies you

can partner with to provide additional expertise, technical

capacity or support. Many government agencies, such as

Oakland County, Michigan [PDF], have successfully

implemented IT modernization efforts that can be used as a

reference and validation for your journey.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

10. Measure and validate success

After the IT modernization process begins, continuous

reporting and measurement are critical components to

validate the effectiveness and impact of your agencys efforts.

Use the benchmarks established through the previous

assessments of your infrastructure and applications to track

and adapt your modernization program over time. It is also

important to leverage your governance structure and board as

mechanisms to review and respond to any data accordingly.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

Celebrate Success!

Winners!