November Minutes

ITAC MEETING MINUTES
For November 15, 2007

Attendees:
Frieda Artis, Sondra Chaffee, Niamh Darcy, Vass Johnson, John Killebrew, Darryl McGraw and Gloria McNeill

Due to work schedule, Reginald Brown could not participate in today’s meeting.

Wake County:
Vel Wallace and Lib Wanner

The meeting began at 9:05 a.m. Lib Wanner welcomed everyone to the group. She briefly discussed the agenda for today’s meeting “Property Tax Rewrite Project Case Study.”

Property Tax Rewrite Project Case Study:
Lib Wanner gave the group an overview of the Property Tax Rewrite Project, which consisted of Billing and Collection, Computer Aided Mass Appraisal (CAMA), Revaluation components and a land records data warehouse. She stated the key players in this project were the Revenue Department, IS Department, Intelligent Information Systems (IIS), NC Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) and the NC Property Tax System Users Group (NCPTS).

Lib reviewed the history of the project with the group and asked for their advice on the development and project management approaches used and on media relations.

In regard to the development approach, the group agreed that the iterative and phased development approach used was appropriate for this type of system and was very popular during the late 90s and early 2000s, when most of the main development work was done. Many ITAC members said they have used this approach in their organizations and continue to use it now.

In regard to project management, Lib indicated that the IS department was weak in this area initially and did not really bring good PM work to the project until three years ago. The group indicated that a lesson learned would be to ensure to have skilled project managers representing the County’s interests at the outset of all major projects. The group also indicated that when the iterative development approach is used, it is very important for the vendor and the customer (both business unit and IS) to have a clear and common understanding of when a certain component is finished. Several ITAC members indicated that they, too, have run into difficulties about not being sure when something was actually finished and a deliverable met, so their advice came from experience.

In regard to media relations, the group indicated that, if asked about the project further, Lib should emphasize the following:

a) This is a large and complex system, and the iterative developments approach, with phased releases, is a sound way of doing a project of this magnitude and complexity.

b) While the IS department was not strong in project management initially, not many other shops were during either the late 90s or early 2000s, and project management has matured quite a bit over the last 10 years (we started work on the system in 1998) and is much more rigorous now.

c) Technology has changed dramatically over the last 10 years, and these changes have affected all systems built or enhanced during that time, requiring many changes to stay current.

d) The revaluation component is finished – data accuracy has been tested and accepted by the Revenue Department, and the system is operational and supportable.

The group also acknowledged that it is often hard for people who have not worked on technology projects to understand the high level of change involved in this work. The only major thing the group thought we could have done better was to have had good project management from the start of the project all the way through. Lib stated this was a lesson learned, which is why she elevated the PM role on this work to the Assistant Director of Applications position over the last three years, and that has made a difference.

Lib stated that the topic for the next meeting would be Telecommunications Strategic Plan Update and Discussion, given by Jackie Brady, Customer Services manager, and Kathe Garrison, IT Project manager. Lib also stated that we would have the elections for the 2008 vice chair.

Meeting adjourned at 9:55 a.m.