February Minutes
ITAC MEETING MINUTES
February 19, 2009
Attendees: Darryl McGraw, Vass Johnson Niamh Darcy, Gloria McNeill, John Killebrew, Dr. Marc Hoit, Robert Michaud, Teresa Justice, Hank Cox
Wake County: Sean Fiene, Lib Wanner
Due to work schedules, Reginald Brown could not attend the meeting.
The meeting began at 9:05 a.m.
Lib Wanner welcomed everyone to the meeting and ensured that all members received the proper documents and presentation that accompany the meeting.
Lib introduced the new Board of Commissioners appointees, Teresa Justice and Hank Cox. Both Teresa and Hank introduced themselves to the ITAC Committee and discussed their backgrounds as it pertains to Information Technology. Next, the other members of ITAC introduced themselves to Teresa and Hank while giving a brief background in their involvement with Information Technology.
Review & Input on Calendar Year 2008 Report to the Board
Lib then asked the group to review the 2008 ITAC Progress Report draft and discuss any changes that may need to be made. The group agreed that the prepared layout and contents were sufficient and that no changes needed to be made.
Review & Discussion of FY 10 Capital Budget for Technology
After the discussion of the 2008 Report to the Board, Lib asked if all members would please open the FY 10 Capital Budget for Technology presentation. Lib explained the agenda for the meeting is to review the FY 10 final IS Business Plan changes from the draft presented last month as well as review the FY 10 Capital Budget Request and request the committee provide input and advice.
Lib indicated that there were no changes to the IS Business Plan draft in the executive summary; revised vision, mission, goals, organization structure, trends or horizon issues. She indicated that additions to the Plan included a current IS Department Organizational chart, links to the FY 09 Strategic Planning work, FY 09 Initiatives, status charts and final budget figures.
Lib continued the presentation to the Capital Budget Model. Lib noted that the IS Department uses as Automation CIP Model with a seven year plan for the use of funds. The areas covered with in the Capital Budget include computer equipment, enterprise infrastructure, major projects, and business applications. Lib noted that the 800-MHz radio system is a separate CIP element. The total FY 10-16 request consisted of $36,403,490. A chart was provided in the presentation for the Committee to see the difference in what was established in the Capital Budget Model as opposed to what was requested, with the areas below the model amounts highlighted.
Lib explained the Capital Budget request as it relates to computer equipment. She said this element covered replacement PCs, laptops, tablets, new PCs and laptops, printers, monitors, docking stations, phone equipment, repairs and upgrades. Darryl McGraw asked if the County would use contracted labor to do new installations and repair. Lib stated that the County uses contractors for large-scale rollouts of equipment. Vass Johnson then stated that the School District uses contract labor as it is a cost saving measure.
Lib then reviewed the Enterprise Infrastructure element of the request. Within the enterprise infrastructure contain the SharePoint/SQL infrastructure, application testing tools, Helpdesk software replacement, Unified Communications hardware/software, server replacements, storage increases, network upgrades & structured wiring in DC, and security upgrades. Lib then asked the group if they let servers go out of warranty. Vass Johnson stated that he does not let any equipment go out of warranty. Marc Hoit acknowledged that it is cheaper to have spare equipment then to continue maintenance on some equipment. John Killebrew also confirmed this position regarding equipment/server maintenance. The discussion continued to avenues for storage increases with the possibility of using “cloud computing” to store documents. Marc Hoit stated that NC State is currently looking at outsourcing student e-mail to Microsoft or Google. Vass Johnson noted that users using their e-mail as storage for documents attached to e-mail is a concern for data storage. Marc also asked about archiving products to reduce the cost of increasing storage.
The presentation moved next to the business applications and major projects elements of the request. Lib discussed there will likely be a merging of funds going forward to make smaller business applications part of Major Projects area. The funding will depend on cash needs for other County capital initiatives – jail, Justice Center, libraries. There will also be the new projects such as Child Care Subsidy system and the Patient Care Management System replacement vying for new dollars in the future.
Lib then asked for input and advice specifically on the areas of computer equipment replacement cycles, priority given to security-related investments and major application projects. Lib also asked what members were doing with regard to funding for security. Niahm explained that her IT department established an Application Security Review committee to review each application design. Lib asked if Niahm could give her someone to follow up with on this, and Niamh agreed to do so. Marc noted that using a risk basis to issue priority is useful. Niahm also stated that using a risk perspective is better because people in the business units understand this way of thinking.
Finalization of May 21, 2009, Meeting Time, Location and Agenda Topic
The group agreed to meet at the worksite of Gloria McNeill for this meeting, with a start time of 8:30 a.m. Gloria said she would provide directions to Sean, who would send to everyone.
Other Business
Lib asked if the group had any other information or items they cared to discuss, and none were mentioned.
The ITAC members thanked Lib for the presentation and materials delivered, and Lib Wanner thanked the group for their input and participation.
Meeting adjourned at 9:50 a.m.