December Minutes
ITAC MEETING MINUTES
Attendees: Reginald Brown, Sondra Chaffee, Niamh Darcy, John Killebrew, Darryl McGraw, and Gloria McNeill
Due to work schedule, Frieda Artis was unable to attend.
Wake County: John Higgins and Velvadine Wallace
The meeting began at 9 a.m. John Higgins introduced himself to the group as the Assistant Director of Technical Infrastructure. He informed the committee that he would be giving the PowerPoint Presentation of the IS Business Plan in Lib Wanner’s absence.
John Higgins gave a brief overview of the topics that would be discussed during the course of the meeting. The main topics for discussion were the following: ITAC Input and How It Was Used, and the IS Business Plan.
ITAC Input & How It Was Used:
Velvadine Wallace stated that both Lib Wanner and Bill Scanlon met with the committee in October and November timeframe to discuss the strategy of technology. In both meetings, the committee provided valuable insight on how technology could best be utilized to benefit the citizens of Wake County. Lib Wanner and Bill Scanlon took your ideas/suggestions and have incorporated that information into our IS Business Plan FY 2007-2009.
John stated that the Board of Commissioners would like to publish video of their meetings on the Wake County web site. Currently there is a project underway to select a product/vendor to provide this functionality. Our preference is to outsource the hosting of the video so that it is not streamed across our Internet connection. Shannon asked John if the Board of Commissioners is planning to outsource the video hosting or outsource the entire platform (management of cameras…). John replied that the intent is to look at it across the board as a whole but at this point he was not sure who would be responsible for the cameras.
IS Business Plan FY 2007-2009:
John Higgins proceeded to give an overview of the IS Business Plan FY 2007-2009 to the committee. He stated from an application standpoint, Information Services would continue to work with IIS to complete Billing and Collections, CAMA and Revaluation. He also stated that we continue to work with IIS to define support roles for the various applications. John mentioned that the IS department is working on upgrading all clients to the most current release of Lotus Notes and that the intent is to use LANDesk to roll it out to the end users.
John mentioned that the eWake project is still underway to implement the County’s new Finance/Budget/Human Resources integrated data system. He stated that the Sheriff’s automation systems are being updated to the most current release. It involves upgrading the existing system from a hardware and software perspective and will provide enhanced field level reporting.
John also stated that the IS department would be investigating the option of bringing in tools, such as Mercury Quality Center and LoadRunner, to improve the quality of application development and reduce the work effort required to complete application releases to support the Revenue Department. Information Services would also use Mercury’s Test Director for managing issues, bugs, and testing with the Applications support teams including: eWake (ERP), Billing and Collections, and expand to other applications and projects.
John stated from an infrastructure standpoint, Information Services would continue to use Sungard Recovery Systems as their disaster recovery hotsite vendor. However, John stated that hotsite equipment gets more expensive each year. He stated that Information Services would look for other alternatives next fiscal year and would possibly use existing SunGard funds for alternative DR solutions.
He went on to discuss the business continuity plan and that the emphasis would be placed on prioritizing business applications to be restored, establishing acceptable restoration time frames for mission-critical applications, and testing restoration plans. From an IS perspective, a perfect example would be the pandemic flu - how Information Services would handle that situation if IS employees could not get to the Data Center for an extended period of time. We need to identify all tasks/processes/procedures that require IS employees to be in the Data Center and see if it is possible to automate them. This work is currently underway.
John stated that Wake County has mission critical business processes that depend on three unique database platforms: Domino, Oracle, and SQL. As the county’s use of automation has increased, the architecture and administration of the databases must keep pace. Therefore, Information Services will be looking into the next releases of Oracle, SQL Server and Lotus Notes and will continue to emphasis on the support of the Oracle 9iRAC platform that hosts many critical applications.
John stated that SAN (storage area network) is approximately 3-4 years old and is reaching the end of life for support. He stated that Wake County currently utilizes two EMC SAN’s for Oracle, SQL, Lotus Notes, and general User data storage. We are currently looking at replacement options for the existing SAN. Historically we have previously purchased this equipment, however we will investigate the possibility of leasing this equipment going forward (estimate 4 years).
He then stated that Network Services was tasked with generating an RFP for a solution to replace the existing frame relay network. This project includes the upgrade and conversion of 93 remote sites to a new networking topology and platform, providing substantially increased bandwidth to each site. These frame relay circuits will be converted from BellSouth to Time Warner Cable. John also mentioned that they will move from an average bandwidth of 256 Kbps to 2 MB and the regional sites will have bandwidth of 5 MB.
Shannon Schelin asked John if Wake County uses air cards for mobiles. John replied yes. He stated that we use the Sprint CDMA network and that this is set up as a convenience type contract. He stated that the infrastructure was built so that municipalities could utilize the platform like the City of Raleigh, Garner PD… Currently the majority of the municipal law enforcement vehicles are utilizing the platform and EMS, and possibly FIRE will come on board soon. John stated that Cary did not participate. He then stated that we have had some issues with Sprint (primarily coverage issues) but we are addressing the issues to get them resolved.
John then discussed the 800 MHz and Paging System Management and Maintenance. He stated that the IS Department assumed full operational and management responsibility of the Wake County 800MHz Radio & Paging Systems effective July 1st 2006. John stated that the IS department is working on a master plan and the intent is to layout a roadmap of system events, expansion, and options that lie ahead for Wake County for the next 10 years. He stated that the cost for a digital system would range between 20 to 25 million dollars.
John then went on to discuss the changes within the Customer Service group. He stated that the Customer Services Group has begun using the desktop management software (LANDesk) for PC hardware/software inventorying, as well as PC remote control capabilities to allow technical staff members to take over a user’s PC from a centralized location to troubleshoot problems. John stated that LANDesk has also been used to rollout anti-virus installs. He stated for the first anti-virus installs at the Wake County Office Building, we had a success rate of only 40%. We learned a great deal from that (correcting many errors) and later AV pushes to Human Services facilities have had a success rate of 80% thus far.
John then stated that two of the major projects that the customer service group would be working on in fiscal year 2007-2008 are:
- Implement a pilot project to provide 24 x 7 support for the PCR (Patient Care Reporting) Laptops, and docking stations used by the EMS technicians in their vehicles and at the local area (Wake County) hospitals.
- Laptop Security / Encryption Project – it is still to be determined if this project will be enterprise wide or departmental groups.
He stated that the Assistant Director of Customer Services is currently working on a Telecommunication Strategic Plan for the next 5-7 years. This study will include Enterprise wireless 802.11x, 311 Non-emergency calls, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Centrex, and others.
John then discussed the Helpdesk Support Platform. He stated that Wake County Information Services department utilizes a Lotus Notes-based platform developed in-house about ten years ago for Help Desk trouble ticket reporting and tracking. The “home grown” system does not, however, have the capability to automatically escalate a trouble ticket after an elapsed time period or contain needed reporting. He stated that in order to increase the level of service provided to Wake County users, it is desirable to acquire a robust help desk or service desk software solution that will integrate with the existing LANDesk platform. By acquiring a help desk platform with robust capabilities, Wake County IS will be able to resolve user problems more quickly, increasing end user productivity. Based on that, the customer service group is beginning investigation of help desk platforms and it is a long-range goal to acquire a new tool.
With limited time left in the meeting, John briefly gave an overview of the IS Organizational Chart and the Automation CIP Plan.
The committee agreed to have the Election process in our January 18th meeting. John asked if anyone had any questions or comments. There were none. Meeting adjourned at 10 a.m.