City of Los AngelesTED M. ROSS

GENERAL MANAGER CHIEF1 INFORMATION OFFICER

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AGENCY

CALIFORNIA

ROOM 1400, CITY HALL EAST 200 NORTH MAIN STREET LOS ANGELES, CA 90012

(213) 978-331 1 FAX (213) 978-3310

JOYCE J. EDSON ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER

85

RUSSELL M. KAURLOTO ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER

ERIC GARCETTI MAYOR

ITA.LAC1TY.ORGLAURA ITO

ACTING ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER

January 28, 2016 REF: ASB-017-16

Honorable Bob Blumenfield, ChairInnovation, Grants, Technology, Commerce and Trade Committee Room 415, City Hall Los Angeles, CA 90012

Subject: TECHNOLOGY HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REFRESH POLICY - COUNCIL FILE NO. 15-1079

Dear Councilmember Blumenfield:

The Technology Hardware and Software Refresh Policy transmitted via this report is submitted pursuant to a Motion by the Innovation and Performance Commission recommending that the Information Technology Agency (ITA) be directed to author a policy and implementation strategy on this topic on behalf of the City family.

BACKGROUNDOn September 10, 2015 the Innovation & Performance Commission (IPC) adopted a motion that recommended the creation of a Technology Refresh Policy, inclusive of hardware and software. ITA developed a draft policy and in early November that draft was disseminated to the Information Technology Policy Committee (ITPC), whose membership comprises City department IT directors, for review and comment. The attached Technology Hardware and Software Refresh Policy was approved by ITPC members at the November 12, 2015 meeting.

The Policy promotes the timely and planned replacement of end of life hardware and software to support the delivery of City services and lower the total cost of ownership. The intention of the Policy is to avoid prolonged use of end of life hardware and software and promote the proper allocation of capital spending and operating expense towards technology refresh cycles. The Policy guides departments through the analysis needed to balance the trade-offs between capital spending, operating efficiency, and risk mitigation.

The policy addresses technology refresh cycles for both front and back office hardware and software, and includes recommendations with lifecycle ranges to be based on usage as determined by the departments. Industry standards indicate that the optimal refresh cycle for hardware is between 3-4 years. The regularly scheduled replacement of hardware and software promotes (1) enhanced security (2) improved productivity for

k -/'I-'3-t-l i«San equal Employment Opportunity - Affirmative Action Employerowe tfALL TIP f HAU.

Honorable Bob Blumenfield, Chair January 28, 2016 Page 2

both employees and IT staff, (3) facilitates the implementation of new technologies, (4) allows for capital and operating budgeting, and (5) reduces overall cost of ownership. The failure to adhere to a consistent technology refresh cycle results in higher costs (productivity, labor, & expense), increased risk of security violations, impediments to delivery of City services, and lower staff productivity.

FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENTEach City department must evaluate its specific technology inventory and usage requirements and determine the hardware and software refresh needs. Each City department is also responsible for soliciting and acquiring funding in line with the Technology Hardware and Software Refresh policy to meet its business needs. The ITPC shall update and maintain recommended City standards for hardware and software refresh.

RECOMMENDATIONITA recommends that the Technology Hardware and Software Refresh Policy approved by the ITPC be adopted as a Citywide policy and that it be used as a guideline when considering funding requests for technology.

Respectfully submitted,^ .

CuL lTed Ross General Manager

Attachments

Honorable Herb Wesson, Council PresidentHonorable Paul Krekorian, Council District 2Honorable Bob Blumenfield, Council District 3Honorable Nury Martinez, Council District 6Honorable Mike Bonin, Council District 11Honorable Joe Buscaino, Council District 15Cecilia Castillo, Council District 3Matt Szabo, Deputy MayorMiguel Santana, City Administrative OfficerClaudia Aguilar, Office of the City Administrative OfficerPeter Marx, Office of the Mayor, Chief Technology OfficerTodd Sargent, Innovation and Performance CommissionMandana Khatibshahidi, Office of the Chief Legislative AnalystLaura Ito, ITA

cc:

AM

Information Technology Policy Committee (ITPC)

TECHNOLOGY HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REFRESH POLICY

Effective Date: November 12, 2015Policy Number; IT- 014

MISSION & PURPOSE

Technology is constantly evolving and presents new opportunities for

departments at the City of Los Angeles to improve their core operations and

citizen services. While there is often a focus on new software, websites, and

innovative digital services, the City must also invest in the foundational hardware

and equipment that these solutions run on. This requires periodic investment

and replacement of hardware in a disciplined manner to ensure City employees

and department operations are benefiting from the technological innovations

around them. Lengthy refresh cycles also increase total cost of ownership due to

increased repairs and excessive labor to maintain old equipment. On the other

hand, refresh cycles that are too frequent result in unnecessary spending and

disruption from overly rapid replacement of equipment. The Technology

Hardware and Software Refresh Policy provides basic and advanced guidelines

for City of Los Angeles departments in the replacement of their hardware. By

understanding these guidelines and optimizing the refresh of hardware by

category and use, IT managers will be ensuring their organizations are equipped

with the hardware necessary to meet the rapidly changing demands of a well-run

government.

Benefits of Optimized Hardware Refresh

FinancialOperational

• Reduces outages

• Reduces IT infrastructure

complexity through hardware

standardization

Reduces IT costs from

excessive repairs or labor to maintain

equipment

Increases the transparency

Page 1 of 7

■mi

Information Technology Policy Committee (ITPC)

of IT costs in the budget

Improves forecasting of

future IT infrastructure costs

Earmarks IT infrastructure

• Adds new capabilities by

using new hardware

• Reduces security

vulnerabilities by replacing

unsupported hardware funding

BASIC HARDWARE REFRESH GUIDELINES:

The following are basic guidelines based on refresh cycles for common hardware.

These refresh cycles were obtained from Gartner Inc., and from CBIZ:

Basic Refresh Cycles for "Front Office" Devices

Replacement CycleHardware Type Comments

Desktop Computer 4 years

-Include laptop bag to promote durability and lockdown cable to prevent theft.

3 yearsLaptop Computer

-Install case and screen cover to promote durability.

Tablet 2-3 years

-Install case and screen cover to promote durability.

Cellular Phone (traditional) 3 years

-Install case and screen cover to promote durability.

Smartphone 2 years

-In order to avoid last minute software updates, operating software should stay consistent with the latest version whenever is

1 version behind the latest or

whenever possible the latest

Operating Software

Page 2 of 7

nfj

Information Technology Policy Committee (ITPC)

possible and no more than one version behind. The City should take advantage of bulk purchasing for cost savings. City departments must stay consistent with the City's security policy and apply all current security and software patches.

-In order to be able to collaborate with other municipalities, businesses, non-profit and the public, the City should try to stay consistent with the latest version and no more than one version behind. The City should take advantage of bulk purchasing for cost savings.

1 version behind the latest or

whenever possible the latest

Office Automation Software

Page 3 of 7

MW/

Information Technology Policy Committee (ITPC)

Basic Refresh Cycles for "Back Office" & Data Center Devices

Replacement CycleHardware Type Comments

SERVER: Stand-Alone Servers 3-5 years

SERVER: ESX Server 3-5 years

SERVER: BLADE Server 3-5 years

APPLIANCE: Backup 5-7 years

APPLIANCE: KVM switches 5-7 years

STORAGE: SAN & NAS 5-7 years

STORAGE: Tape Library 7-10 years

2-3 yearsSTORAGE: Tape Drives

The following table serves as a recommended refresh prioritization for the front

and back office devices. This table can also be used as a reference for budgetary

appropriation and technology upgrade cycle planning purposes. Back office

hardware and operating systems are usually considered more critical to

operations due to its potential wide range impact, however departments can

prioritize based on their actual operational needs. As a reminder, end of life or

non-supported hardware and software should be given a higher priority in order

to maintain system performance and integrity.

Page 4 of 7

mm

Information Technology Policy Committee (ITPC)

Prioritization Table

Back Office/Data Center Device Refresh PriorityFront Office Device Refresh Priority

1. Operating System (OS)1. Operating System (OS)

2. Stand Alone/Blade/ESX Server2. Desktop

3. Backup Appliance3. Laptop

4. KVM Switch Appliance4. Tablet

5. Office Automation Software 5. SAN 7 NAS Storage

6. Tape Drive Storage6. Smart Phone

7. Cell Phone (Traditional) 7. Tape Library Storage

ADVANCED HARDWARE REFRESH GUIDELINES (OPTIMIZATION):

It is recommended that City departments perform hardware optimization to

refine their basic hardware refresh strategy. Hardware optimization inventories,

rationalizes, and actively manages hardware assets. This is important both for

the safeguarding of City funds/assets and for the maximizing of investments in

hardware. Optimization allows a better understanding of the existing hardware,

the quality of your assets, the location and disposal of hardware that is no longer

being used (and potentially generating expenses in power, maintenance, or

monthly cellular plan costs), and a clear understanding of the difference between

your current inventory and your ideal inventory of hardware assets.

Information Technology Agency (ITA) in keeping with the established City Policy

and Standards, will support departments in funding requests to enable hardware

and software refresh requests. The following are the basic steps in a hardware

optimization process:

The

Page 5 of 7

/

Information Technology Policy Committee (ITPC)

1. Inventory existing IT hardware assets. The use of the existing

inventory management system (e.g. SOS) is a starting point for the

physical review and identification of an organization's assets. Be sure

to add devices missing from the inventory list and to process removal

of assets that are no longer in service. After a complete inventory, a

projected refresh schedule should be developed as an annual exercise

during the budget preparation period. As described by the famous

process pioneer, W. Edwards Deming, "If you can't measure it, you

can't manage it". The inventory allows a starting point for a City

department to measure their existing IT hardware assets for the

purposes of managing and maximizing their investments for the

department.

2. Confirm the basic information for your inventory. With the baseline

inventory created, confirm the basic data in the inventory

management system (e.g. SOS) for the category and type of each piece

of hardware listed in the inventory (e.g., phone-iPhone 6, server-X86,

server-Sun, storage-SAN, storage-NAS).

3. Perform a basic analysis of inventory data for your hardware assets.

Identify the mean, median, and maximum age for each hardware

category and the average life of retired assets. This "age baseline"

provides important insight into the age of the current equipment, a

realistic assessment of how "current" you are, and the previous

behavior of your organization (i.e. the age of equipment that has been

previously retired by the department). This data is useful to develop a

data-driven understanding of hardware usage and assist with refresh

cycle decision making. Based on the age of existing equipment and

the traditional replacement cycle, your department can identify the

Page 6 of 7

Information Technology Policy Committee (ITPC)

immediate and long-term investments required, as well as, a realistic

useful life of the equipment (your department may have light or heavy

usage that supersedes the recommended refresh guidelines).

4. Based on the analysis, develop a Technology Investment Roadmap

within your department supported by this IT Hardware Refresh Policy.

Create an "operating expense analysis" to identify

operating costs for each platform to support a hardware refresh cost-

benefit model. The analysis for both existing and potential

replacement hardware should reflect the total cost-of-ownership

(TCO) basis, considering all forms of costs - hardware maintenance,

labor, software maintenance, space, cooling costs, power usage, etc.

For example, the lower maintenance and power costs of a new

Storage Area Network (SAN) device may have less operating costs than

an older, fully paid for SAN device. Also consider the benefits of

hardware performance improvements realized through new devices or

Cloud computing (migrating infrastructure from on-premise to a

vendor's data center).

5. OPTIONAL

DISPOSAL OF HARDWARE:

• Re-use hardware with remaining useful life

« Disposal through OurCycle LA

• Wipe devices of information

RESPONSIBILITY:

Each City department is responsible for soliciting and acquiring funding in order to comply with the Technology Hardware and Software Refresh Policy. The ITPC shall recommend and maintain City standards for hardware refresh.

Page 7 of 7