Public CIO Magazine February March 2009 · FEBRUARY/MARCH 2009 COVER STORY [4] 18 28 32 24 Government Technology’s Public CIO (ISSN# 1944-3455) is published bimonthly by e.Republic,

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EconomicSecrets

Ed Hemminger, CIO, Ontario County, N.Y.

As the recession continues to roar, a small but infl uential group of public CIOs are helping the economy grow

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How many ways can you say “winner”?

(we need 16 of them)

ixteen of our eGovernment partners were recognized in independent competitions and surveys last year. NIC congratulates each winner

and is proud to be the eGovernment partner of choice for the nation’s most progressive and honored Web sites and online services.

Best Of The Web1- Utah2- Maine3- Virginia5- KentuckyFinalist – AlabamaFinalist – ArkansasFinalist – NebraskaFinalist – Tennessee

Digital Government Achievement AwardsGovernment-to-Business• Arkansas Secretary of State

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Brown University eGovernment Survey3 – Maine 4 – Kentucky5 – Tennessee10 – Utah11 – Montana14 - Oklahoma

Center For Digital Government’s Best Fit Integrator Awards• Long Train Corporate Award - NIC• Finalist – Hawaii Compliance

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• Finalist – IN.gov enterprise portal management

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Council For State Government’s Innovation Awards• Regional Finalist – Maine air quality

data monitoring suite• Regional Finalist – Oklahoma

Emergency Management weather notification system

• Regional Finalist – Rhode Island marine septic no discharge program

• Regional Finalist – Utah State Construction Registry service

American Council For Technology Interngovernment Solution AwardFinalist – Alabama.gov portal

International Association Of Commercial Administrators Merit AwardMost Navigable Business Registration Site – Hawaii Business Express

American Association Of Motor Vehicle AdministratorsAgency International Award for Customer Service Excellence Utah On the Spot vehicle tag renewal service

Individual International Award for Customer Service ExcellenceDavid Metcalf & the Idaho Trucking Portal

Govmarks Awards• Best Overall Marketing Program –

Utah On the Spot vehicle tag renewal service

• Best State & Local Marketing Program – Utah On the Spot vehicle tag renewal service

Colorado Software And Internet Association Apex Awards• Finalist – Colorado online vehicle

registration renewal service • Finalist – Auto industry salesperson

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Utah Best Of State Best Web-Based Community Resource – Utah.gov

State Of Montana IT Project Excellence Awards• Innovation and Creativity – Department of Environmental

Quality’s TankHelper service • Government-to-Business – Fish Wildlife & Parks’ online

licensing system• Government-to-Business –

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Designfirm’s Best Sites On The InternetUtah State Parks

Oklahoma City Journal RecordInnovator Of The Year AwardOK.gov content management system

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F E A T U R E S

12Public CIO: Developer in Chief?Few government CIOs view economic development as one of their jobs. But that attitude is beginning to change.B y D a v i d R a t h s

The 2009 Public CIO SurveyResults from our annual public-sector CIO survey.B y T o d N e w c o m b e

Hard Work in Hard TimesIt’s important that CIOs take a strategic approach to staffing strategies.B y S u s a n P e n t e c o s t

C o v e r P h o t o b y M i c h a e l O k o n i e w s k i

Get a Mac?As more end-users get their way, Apple products are gaining a stronger foothold in the enterprise, including city governments.B y M e r r i l l D o u g l a s

Buyer BewareDespite growing reliance on outsourcing providers, public CIOs have much to learn when it comes to managing vendor relationships.B y G l e n n D a v i d s o n a n d K e n d a l l D e a n

contentsF E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 0 9

C O V E R S T O R Y

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Government Technology’s Public CIO (ISSN# 1944-3455) is published bimonthly by e.Republic, Inc. 100 Blue Ravine Road Folsom, CA 95630. Periodicals Postage paid at Folsom, CA and additional offices. Postmaster: Send address change to Government Technology’s Public CIO, 100 Blue Ravine Road Folsom, CA 95630 Copyright 2009 by e.Republic, Inc. All Rights Reserved. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Subscription inquiries should be directed to Government Technology’s Public CIO, Attn: Circulation Director, 100 Blue Ravine Road Folsom, CA 95630. (916) 932-1300.

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Washington SpotlightChange Government Can Believe InB y C h r i s t o p h e r J . D o r o b e k

FastGovSlipping Away?B y P a u l W . T a y l o r

CIO CentralNews, Reviews & Careers

Security AdviserSecuring the Dotted LineB y D a n L o h r m a n n

Straight TalkNot My JobB y L i z a L o w e r y M a s s e y

U P F R O N T

Contributors

36

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Introduction

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Kung Fu CIOToday’s public CIOs face an endless list of tasks. Perhaps a lesson from Bruce Lee will help them balance their workload.B y B i l l B o t t

D E P A R T M E N T S

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Online Exclusives www.public-cio.com

Inaugural TechnologyFeature: How well do you know your presidents and IT? Our timeline from Kennedy to Obama lines them up.

TIGR TeamNews: The Obama administration has set up a team of experts to help agencies focus on innovation and IT in the federal government.

Inaugural OverloadVideo: What’s better than an Inaugural Internet video stream?

GovLogBlog: Government Technology, Public CIO and Emergency Management launch a new, multimedia blog.

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The inside pages of this publication are printed on 80 percent de-inked recycled fiber.e

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[8]A p u b l i c a t i o n o f

©

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EDITORIALEditor: Tod Newcombe [email protected] Editors: Steve Towns [email protected] Emily Montandon [email protected] Chad Vander Veen [email protected] Copy Editor: Miriam Jones [email protected] Editor: Karen Stewartson [email protected] and Public Safety Editor: Jim McKay [email protected] Editor: Andy Opsahl [email protected] Editor: Matt Williams [email protected] Editor: Elaine Rundle [email protected] Writer: Hilton Collins [email protected] Assistant: Cortney Towns [email protected] Editors: Paul Taylor, Wayne HansonEditorial Intern: Emma Newcombe [email protected]

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Government Technology’s Public CIO is published by e.Republic Inc. Copyright 2009 by e.Republic Inc. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed by writers are not necessarily those of the publisher or editors.Article submissions should be sent to the attention of the Managing Editor. Reprints of all articles in this issue and past issues are available (500 minimum). Please direct inquiries to the YGS Group: Attn. Erik Eberz at (800) 290-5460 ext.150 or [email protected] Information: Requests for subscriptions may be directed to Circulation Director by phone or fax to the numbers below. You can also subscribe online at www.govtech.com.Canada Post Publication Mail Agreement 40048640, undeliverables 27496 Bath Road, Mississauga, Ontario L4T 1L2

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C O N T R I B U T O R S

Hilton Collins is a staff writer for Government Technology magazine. He’s written extensively on IT security and work force issues. Prior to joining Government Technology, Collins wrote for Davis Life Magazine.

Dan Lohrmann is Michigan’s acting chief technology officer and was the state’s first chief information security officer. He has more than 23 years of worldwide security experience, and has won numerous awards for his leadership in the information security field.

Liza Lowery Massey served as a public-sector IT executive for nearly 20 years, including as CIO of Los Angeles. She then established the CIO Collaborative to provide public-sector research, benchmarking and consulting services. She also teaches at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Tod Newcombe is the editor of Government Technology’s Public CIO.

Susan Pentecost is a managing partner at the Grant Thornton Global Public Sector practice. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Pentecost was a managing director at BearingPoint and a partner in Price Waterhouse and subsequently PricewaterhouseCooper’s public-sector consulting practice.

Bill Bott recently joined the Change and Innovation Agency, a consulting firm. He was the deputy CIO of Missouri’s Information Technology Services Division. He received the 2007 American Business Awards Best MIS and IT Executive.

Kendall Dean is the governance project director for EquaTerra.

Emma Newcombe is the editorial intern for Government Technology’s Public CIO. She’s currently a student at Skidmore College, majoring in American studies and English.

Christopher Dorobek is the co-anchor with Amy Morris of Federal News Radio 1500 AM’s Daily Debrief in Washington, D.C., and the editor in chief of the blog DorobekInsider.com. Previously he was the editor in chief of Federal Computer Week.

Glenn Davidson is the managing director of public sector for EquaTerra.

David Raths is a Philadelphia-based writer.

Paul W. Taylor was the deputy CIO of Washington state prior to joining the Center for Digital Government as its chief strategy officer. He has worked in the public and private sectors, the media and Washington’s Digital Government Applications Academy.

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T o d N e w c o m b e | E d i t o r

With the stunning, severe economic slowdown showing no sign of reversing, all eyes have turned

to the new White House administration to see what kind of large-scale stimulus will be unveiled. One ingredient that President Barack Obama wants to stir into the pot is universal broadband, which is seen increas-ingly as the type of infrastructure project that will do more to create jobs in the long run than the so-called “shovel-ready” proj-ects that will repair roads and bridges. At the same time, some experts have suggested that the president’s first-ever chief technology officer should advise Obama on policies that link IT with economic development.

The role of economic development doesn’t crop up often, if at all, in discussions cen-tered on public CIOs. But a small group of government IT leaders believe public CIOs have a very important economic role to play. Like Obama, they recognize that economic success depends, more than ever, on the solid underpinning of IT and that government is a key player in the economy.

In this issue’s cover story, Contributing Writer David Raths talked with a handful of government CIOs who are working with economic-development leaders to use IT as a development tool. CIO Ed Hemminger of

Ontario County, N.Y., recognizes the fact that every business, whether it’s an auto manufacturer, bank or mom-and-pop retail store, is in some way an IT-based business. By ensuring he had a seat at the table with the county’s elected officials and business leaders, Hemminger was able to help steer funds into the region for construction of a fiber-optic ring.

As Hemminger explained to me last year, New York state and its counties will never be the cheapest place for someone to start or relocate a business. But by building out the IT infrastructure to the highest standards possible, Ontario County will be one of the most IT-ready places in the country to run a company.

Unfortunately CIOs like Hemminger are the exception, not the rule, according to experts like Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Atkinson believes government CIOs must get out of government’s engine room and stand on the bridge. In other words, that would mean helping their bosses, the governors, federal agency secretaries, mayors and county executives carry out eco-nomic development with IT as a key driver.

What do you think? Should CIOs be involved in economic development, or not? ¨

Techonomics for CIOs

I N T R O D U C T I O N

2 0 0 7 M A G A Z I N E O F T H E Y E A R 2008 Silver Folio: Editorial Excellence Award



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Phot

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Ontario County, N.Y., CIO Edward E. Hemminger has expanded his role to include the region’s economic development.



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B Y D A V I D R A T H S

When Mike Manikowski, the economic development director of Ontario County, N.Y., goes on business retention or recruit-ment calls, there’s one person he rarely leaves behind: the county’s CIO.

Manikowski and CIO Ed Hemminger work as a team to promote a technology-driven development strategy for the county, which is located in western New York’s Finger Lakes region.

“He’s a very collaborative guy, very enthusiastic, and he’s a shaper of public opinion,” Manikowski said about Hemminger. “He’ll go speak to any community group, whether its four people or 400.”

www.public-cio.com [13]

CIO: Chief

Public

Developer ?in

Few government CIOs view economic development as one

of their jobs. But that attitude is

beginning to change.



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To boost broadband infrastructure in underserved parts of the county, Hemminger and Manikowski led county efforts to create a fiber ring. The county estab-lished and helped fund the nonprofit Finger Lakes Regional Telecommunications Development Corp. — with Hemminger as CEO — to build the fiber ring by 2010 and lease extra capacity to other entities.

Ontario County’s story is still a rarity. A CIO seldom becomes the region’s chief technology officer — a de facto role Hemminger took — who plans how infrastructure invest-ments can boost economic development. But some experts believe there’s a leadership vacuum waiting to be filled by confident and ambitious public-sector CIOs.

“More economic-development organizations are noting the importance of a strong regional IT infrastructure, but some of it is just lip service,” said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in Washington, D.C. Atkinson said CIOs “should be up on the bridge, not down in the engine room.”

The space is available, and there’s nobody better situ-ated than a public-sector CIO to fill it, Atkinson said. IT executives should avoid a narrow focus — like deciding which server software version to use — and instead pursue a broader vision of what IT can contribute to their jurisdic-tions’ goals. Too many CIOs have defined their role narrowly, he said. “They tend to think of e-gov as internal to govern-

ment, rather than in terms of e-society, and there is a big, big difference.”

Hemminger agrees. “It is up to CIOs to take the initiative and get involved,” he said. “When you see economic-develop-ment start to thrive, you get a warm, fuzzy feeling because you know you are starting to really make a difference in the big-picture stuff, and that is a fun thing to do.”

SmartRiversideTwo years ago, Riverside, Calif., Mayor Ron Loveridge

didn’t hesitate asking city CIO Steve Reneker to become the executive director of SmartRiverside, a technology-focused economic-development effort.

“You walk into Steve’s office, and there is a picture of him at the summit of Mount Everest,” Loveridge said. “It’s a perfect illustration of his incredible ability and determina-tion to get things done.”

Launched a decade ago, SmartRiverside has two primary objectives. The first is digital inclusion — getting computers, Internet access and technology training to 20,000 families by 2010. The second is to engage technology business CEOs in how the city can foster the local, high-tech economy.

“CIOs should be up on the bridge, not down in the engine room.”

Robert Atkinson, president, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

Some CIOs may have difficulty discerning how they can impact economic-development activities. Virginia’s Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra offered a few suggestions.

Distributed services strategy. In Virginia, almost 1,000 IT staffers who handle help desk and data center work were clustered in Richmond’s Capitol Square district. The state moved approximately 400 jobs to southwest Virginia, which traditionally has higher unemployment. CIOs should ask themselves how many jobs could be distributed to communities that are in need of employment.

Empower telework. A related effort is encouraging telework policies within government. Virginia’s tax department allows 25 full-time teleworkers to be located in rural Danville, Va. CIOs can create reliable infrastructure to enable more telework.

Partner on broadband. Look at public-private partnerships as a means to provide broadband to underserved and rural areas, especially as states look to expand broadband offerings.

“It is up to CIOs to take the initiative and get involved.“

Edward E. Hemminger, CIO, Ontario County, N.Y.



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Loveridge thought Reneker was a natural fit to lead the effort because he made the commitment to a citywide Wi-Fi initiative and previously worked for Dell.

Two years ago, a local high-technology task force outlined how it thought SmartRiverside could help retain and recruit high-tech companies. Reneker sees his job as addressing its suggested actions, including implementing wireless tech-nology citywide.

The toughest aspect of the executive director role, Reneker said, is balancing it with his full-time job as CIO. He estimates that he spends 50 percent of his time on SmartRiverside. He has made that possible by hiring a strong lieutenant in chief technology officer (CTO) Leyden Hahn, who oversees daily city IT operations. Also, most of the city’s IT operations are outsourced, so Reneker believes he can set the strategic vision and spend more time on SmartRiverside, including the Wi-Fi network project that he manages.

Another key milestone, he said, was the recent opening of a technology park that has five tenants and also an incubator established by the city and county to encourage entrepreneurs from the state university system. In 2008, SmartRiverside inaugurated a high-tech expo and conference it plans to make an annual event.

CIOs can play a bigger role, Reneker said, but “it depends on city executives with the vision to understand they have a resource internally.”

Competing with Austin, Texas, Tokyo and BeijingThe decision to build a fiber-optic ring in Ontario County,

N.Y., began in 2005 with an analysis of where fiber already

existed in the county. “We found five separate phone compa-nies and two cable companies, and the service was quite fragmented,” recalled Hemminger. “In the northern part of the county, broadband access was OK. In the southern part, we had almost none.”

County leaders asked themselves if there was enough demand for leased fiber to make their effort self-sustainable — they decided there was. County supervisors also changed a law that allowed the formation of the nonprofit Finger Lakes Regional Telecommunications Development Corp. in October 2005.

The startup is fully funded by the county’s prepayment for 25 years of service and franchise payments from a company that was building a gas pipeline through the county.

Potential users include phone and Internet service providers that won’t have to lease fiber from competitors, as well as local banks and colleges.

“The goal is to become globally competitive, not just with Austin, Texas, but also with Beijing and Tokyo,” Hemminger explained. “It’s important that telecom is not an impediment to doing business here. We have a phenomenal quality of life here, and with world-class telecom at the doorstep, compa-nies will start considering us for data centers and locate here and connect to other sites and other companies.”

Digital El PasoOne technology executive whose job description has grown

to match his natural inclination toward teamwork is Peter Cooper, CTO of El Paso County, Texas. “This is not just a techie job,” he stressed. “It has evolved into a good combi-nation that includes collaboration with other government entities, higher education and groups that affect economic development in general.”

Cooper has been a key player in the Wi-Fi project Digital El Paso, which started with a two-square-mile area that includes downtown El Paso and some low-income residential neighborhoods stretching to the Mexican border. The group meets monthly to exchange ideas and has grown to include clinics, nonprofits, schools and businesses, Cooper said. The effort is also a digital-inclusion project in which El Paso Community College takes donated PCs and refurbishes them for low-income families.

“There’s a commercialization gap on innovations coming out of our public universities.”

Aneesh Chopra, secretary of technology, Virginia



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Cooper also recently chaired a high-tech business expo organized by the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “Rather than just vendors, we got a number of regional tech projects to showcase what they are doing,” he said. “We tried to do more to promote El Paso and some of the smaller tech efforts you never get a chance to hear about.”

Developing State InterestMost state-level technology executives tend to be a tradi-

tional CIO who focuses on internal operations. But Virginia has both CIO Lem Stewart, who oversees the state’s internal IT agency, and Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra. “When Virginia created [my] office, it was explicitly part of its core mission to focus on growing the tech economy,” Chopra said.

Chopra has several public policy tools at his disposal. For instance, the Commonwealth Technology Research Fund invests in promising startups to accelerate research and development activities across the state. “There’s a commer-cialization gap on innovations coming out of our public universities,” he explained, adding that the “gap funding” from Virginia helps startups attract private capital.

Chopra also has actively participated in the Chesapeake Crescent Innovation Alliance that’s designed to stitch together the economic prospects of six major research universities in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Can state CIOs take responsibility for both day-to-day operations and the type of strategic activity that Chopra tackles? Blending policy and operations roles may pose a challenge in terms of time, energy and focus.

Whether the CIO should get involved may depend on the executive branch itself, Chopra believes. Is the administra-tion properly nurturing innovation in all its forms? Who in the executive branch goes to bed at night worrying about innovation and nurturing the tech economy? Is the CIO involved in transforming health care and education? Are they thinking about electronic health records? “It’s an open ques-tion,” Chopra said, “whether a state CIO should be involved at that level or not. But if a governor has technology innova-tion as a top priority, somebody has to be accountable for delivering on it.” ¨

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“The goal is to become globally competitive, not just with Austin, Texas, but also with Beijing and Tokyo.”

Ed Hemminger, CIO, Ontario County, N.Y.



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2009

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THE

What a difference a year makes. In our 2008 survey, public CIOs were cautiously optimistic about their jobs, IT departments and priorities. Today, with the worst recession in memory raging, government IT leaders project less spending on IT and staff, according to our most recent Public CIO survey.

However, we are also seeing a rise in the importance of CIOs and their organizations. More have the CIO title than ever before, and more than 50 percent of respondents say CIOs and IT departments directly control IT spending. Similarly more CIOs say that aligning IT with business goals — a value-driven proposition — exceeds the need to use IT to control costs. Given the current economic situation, the growing reliance on government to help citizens in times of need and the emphasis on reform — President Barack Obama created the nation’s first chief performance officer position — we expect to see IT‘s importance only increase over time.

But there’s no masking how bad the situation has become in so short a time, and our latest survey reflects this. The overall tenure for public CIOs has dropped, primarily among those who’ve been in government for 10 years or more. While we don’t have specific data on why so many older CIOs have left, we can only guess that the retirement wave is beginning to crest.

Meanwhile, spending forecasts have dropped. Fifty-three percent of respondents said they expect to spend less in 2009, and 23 percent said their IT staff will decrease. Last year, only 17 percent of respondents thought IT staff would shrink.

For the first time, we polled you on the top five skill sets needed in 2009. Eighty-one percent of you picked project management, making it the No. 1 choice, followed by security, Web services, database management and networking. Interestingly few believed open source to be a necessary skill, perhaps reflecting a focus on building practical skills in these lean times.

Here are the findings in more depth.

B Y T O D N E W C O M B E

PUBL

ICRESULTS FROM OUR ANNUAL PUBLIC-SECTOR CIO SURVEY.

CIOSURVEYPCIO02_18.indd 18PCIO02_18.indd 18 2/4/09 11:54:37 AM2/4/09 11:54:37 AM


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55%Local

State

33%

Education

7%Federal

5%

CIO

Other

24%

CTO

5%Deputy CIO

11%IT Manager

10%

Ten years ago, most people who ran a government IT department were called director. Today, the title CIO dominates. It’s a clear sign of the rising importance and value of IT in the public sector. At the same time, we’re seeing signs that the retirement wave is beginning to hit the ranks of CIOs, as the average years of tenure drops compared to last year.

WHO YOU ARE:

12%17%

9%

21%

10%7%

-1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years 5 years 10 years 10+ years

TENURE AT CURRENT POSITION:

TITLES:

USE OF THE CIO TITLE IS AT ITS HIGHEST LEVEL EVER IN GOVERNMENT, UP FROM LESS THAN

JUST TWO YEARS AGO TO

TODAY

25%

50% 24%

WHO YOU REPORT TO:

CEO (governor, mayor, county executive, college president)

COO/CAO (city, county manager)

CFO

Agency director/secretary

Other29%

14%

7%

26%

24%

THE PUBLIC CIO COMMUNITY YOU ARE FROM:

50%

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TENURE DECLINES: THE RETIREMENT WAVE HAS HIT THE RANKS OF GOVERNMENT IT LEADERS, AS THE NUMBER OF CIOs WITH MORE THAN FIVE YEARS’ EXPERIENCE DROPS FROM

IN 2006 TO JUST

IN 2009

42% 17%

SALARY RANGE*:

$100,000-$150,000

59%

$75,000-$100,000

26%$150,000+

7%

$50,000-$75,000

9%

For this year’s survey, we tried to find out more about the impact of IT departments beyond what you spend and how many you employ. We took a look at how many users you support and found the sweet spot between 1,000 and 5,000 users. Since a majority of our readers are from local government — and a majority of respondents to this survey are from cities and counties — the number follows logic. However, we didn’t poll for the number of external users you support, which we’ll try to measure next time.

IT DEPARTMENTS

SIZE OF YOUR IT BUDGET:

6%

11%

19%17%

21%13%

11%

2%

Less than $500,000

$500,000 -$1 million

$1 million-$5 million




$50 million +

Don'tknow

26%

9%

8%

11%

6%

15%

24%

WHAT THE PUBLIC SECTOR SPENDS ON IT:

1%

1-2%

2-3%

3-4%

4-5%

5% +

Don't know

(as a percentage of your total budget*)

* Due to rounding, some of the percentages don’t add up to 100

of budget

of budget

of budget

of budget

of budget

of budget

of respondents

of respondents

of respondents

of respondents

of respondents

of respondents

of respondents



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WHO CONTROLS IT SPENDING:

[22]

CIOS DO CONTROL SPENDING: NEARLY

OF RESPONDENTS SAID THE CIO AND IT ORGANIZATION CONTROLS IT INVESTMENTS.

50%

INTERNAL USERS YOUR IT DEPARTMENT SUPPORTS:

0%100,000+ 50,000-

100,00025,000-50,000

10,000-25,000

5,000-10,000

1,000-5,000

500-1,000

250-500

4% 2%6%

100-250 50-100 Fewer than 50

9%

53%

13%

7%

0% 0%

6%

COMPARE THIS YEAR’S BUDGET TO NEXT YEAR’S:

A MAJORITY OF IT DEPARTMENTS SUPPORT BETWEEN 1,000 AND 5,000 USERS. 53%

24%

40%36%

32%

15%

Increased Decreased Stayed the same

53%

4%

49%

36%

2%

9%

Centrally controlled by the CIO and IT organization

Centrally controlled by C-level government executive

Directly controlled by agencies or departments

Blended control by IT, agencies and departments

Don’t know

This year’s changes

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SIZE OF IT DEPARTMENT’S STAFF:

100+

26%

10-25

19%

25-50

19%

50-100

23%

Fewer than 10

13%

17%

Increased Decreased Stayed the same

COMPARE THIS YEAR’S IT STAFF TO NEXT YEAR’S:

9%

23%

68%

17%

66%

TOP FIVE: BOTTOM FIVE:

This year’s changes

Next year’s changes Technology priorities for 2009

Document management andenterprise content management

E-discovery/records management

IT security

Data center consolidation

GIS

1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4

5

Align IT with business goals

Cost controls

Change/culture management

Project managementIT governance

Business continuity/disaster recovery

IT management priorities for 2009

Skill sets needed in the coming year

1 2 3 4 5

Project management

Security

Web services

Database management

Networking

1 2 3 4 5

Business intelligence

Broadband development

Customer relationship management

Open source

Outsourcing

Technology priorities for 2009

1 2 3 4 5

Intergovernmental collaboration

ITIL

Reduce dependency on private contractors

Vendor management

Procurement management

IT management priorities for 2009

Skill sets needed in the coming year

1 2 3 4 5

Application development

Business process management

Help-desk support

Service-oriented architecture

Open source

0 percent 5 percent 10 percent 20 percent 30 percent 40 percent 50 percent More than 50 percent

Don’t know

PERCENT OF IT STAFF WHO ARE OUTSOURCED:

2%0%

32%

4%

26%

6%

17%

6% 7%

Outsourced staff

Perc

enta

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[24]

How will demographic changes impact the public-sector work force? How will the economic downturn affect retirement projections? How can

public officials meet demands for more accountability with fewer resources? How do public managers boost morale despite fiscal pressure to do more with less?

In a shifting political climate, complicated by shrinking budgets and fiscal uncertainty, effective work force planning — and the ability to connect workers to the government’s mission — is more important than ever for state and local governments.

Work force planning is a fundamental management tool and critical to quality performance. Effective work force plan-

ning will help state and local governments do more than just formulate budget requests and staffing levels — it will help to achieve program objectives. Too often, however, work force planning is viewed from the one-dimensional perspec-tive of “How many people do we need?”

It’s important to take a strategic approach to work force planning, starting with a comprehensive review of an organization’s long-term needs. The focus should be on necessary competencies and skills, balanced with the impacts of changing missions, directives, administrations and new processes or environmental factors. Work force planning can be as complex or as simple as organizational needs dictate.

TimesIt’s important that CIOs take a strategic approach to staffing strategies.

B Y S U S A N P E N T E C O S T | P R I N C I PA L , G R A N T T H O R N T O N L L P, G L O B A L P U B L I C S E C T O R | I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y T O M M c K E I T H

in

HardHard

Work



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[26]

Five Steps for Effective Work Force Planning 1. Set strategic direction. Consider organizational

parameters related to work force planning. These include available resources, organi-zational environment and needs, developing outputs that are organizationally meaningful, support program objectives, budget requests and strategic plans.

2. Analyze supply and demand discrepancies. Collect data related to the current work force and project future demand in terms of specific com-petencies and staffing levels. Calculate work force gaps, taking into consideration demand, current supply and turnover.

3. Develop an action plan and metrics. Design a work force plan to address the skill gaps by develop-ing both broad strategies and specific action items with measurable objectives. Identify the specific groups or individuals responsible for implementing each action item, and developa realistic, flexible set of deadlines. The action plan should include all aspects of human resource management: recruiting, hiring, train-ing and retention.

4. Implement the action plan. Execute the plan by strategi-cally engaging leadership and management support.

5. Continuously monitor, evaluate and revise. Continuous monitoring will ensure that the action plan is dynamic and responds to political and fiscal changes.

The next step for organizational effectiveness is linking individual and program results. State and local govern-ments are challenged with developing practical approaches,tools and systems to manage employee performance and compensation — and to cultivate a culture where employ-ees thrive.

Given tight budgets and uncertainty, successful work force planning and the ability to link organizations to indi-viduals is more important than ever.

Since every organization is unique and in varying stages of performance management maturity, the first step is to assess the performance management framework to better align the individual goals of executives, managers and staff with the organizational goals.

Once the initial assessment is complete, tie individual performance to the overall organizational goals and cascade performance measures from the top of the orga-nization on down. Next, align leadership performance metrics and goals with the organization’s goals. Then,

cascade these goals and metrics throughout the orga-nization to ensure that each executive, manager and employee has the appropriate authority, responsibility and incentive to carry out the goals.

After that, ensure “line-of-sight” awareness from the top down and bottom up so everyone in the organization understands who is responsible for achieving goals — and how contributions are aggregated to support organiza-tional goals. And finally, provide for the enhancement of organizational performance by establishing processes for continuous improvement and change management.

By following these steps, it becomes possible to create a clear, meaningful connection between organizational and individual goals. This link not only will help to facilitate more effective compensation programs and performance measurement, it also will create a better working environ-ment for government staff. Numerous studies have shown that workers who feel connected to the mission are hap-pier in their jobs and more productive. They are also more likely to collaborate to solve difficult problems.

An engaged work force — employees who feel a sense of personal investment in the mission — guided by an agile and dynamic work force plan is the key to managing in tough times. ¨

Drive alignment down the organizational hierarchy with individual metrics.

CASCADE

Continuously improve alignment and results based on actual data, gap analysis and best practices.

ENHANCEMENT

Align leadership performancemetrics with organization’s strategic goals.

ALIGNMENT

Deploy transparent reportingprocesses and systems so employees recognize their contribution to the organization’s strategic goals.

LINE OF SIGHT

Performance Management Framework



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[28]

When it comes to the question of PC versus Mac, the enterprise looks much more like the but-ton-down John Hodgman than

the comfortable Justin Long — the two actors in Apple’s popular ad campaign. But Apple Inc. has been gaining ground. In a survey of corporate desktop operating system trends published in August 2008, Forrester Research found that since October 2006, use of Apple products among its clients had grown from 1.1 to 4.5 percent.

Among computer users at large, the Cupertino, Calif., company is doing even better. Apple claimed 9.5 percent of the U.S. personal com-puter market in the third quarter of 2008, according to figures released in October 2008 by Gartner. That’s a 29 percent increase over 2007.

Do Apple’s gains in the enterprise mean that some corporate and government CIOs have switched their loyalties?

Not necessarily. “It’s actual users bring-ing those technologies in, rather than the IT department bringing them in,” said Charles Smulders, managing vice president of Gartner’s End User Client Computing Group.

B Y M E R R I L L D O U G L A S | C O N T R I B U T I N G W R I T E R

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As more end-users get their way, Apple products are gaining a stronger foothold in the enterprise, including city governments.

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[30]

A growing trend toward “consumerization” in the work-place has seen more employees asking for the IT products they prefer, or simply bringing in products they buy themselves. “That has given rise to a greater number of Apple products being part of the enterprise ecosystem,” Smulders said.

Apple doesn’t pursue the enterprise market, said Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group in San Jose, Calif. He said there are several reasons, and one is that Apple doesn’t want to offer the aggressive discounts that enterprise customers demand.

Another is that IT directors require at least six months to prepare for new products and major upgrades from vendors. “Apple doesn’t give anybody a heads-up on anything,” Enderle said. “The final thing is, in any large company, IT buyers expect that no matter who you are, you’re going to come in and kiss their butts a little bit,” he said. “Apple doesn’t play that game.”

The government enterprise market is especially hard to please, demanding the lowest possible prices while piling on extra requirements to comply with procurement regulations, Enderle added.

Apple would not provide a representative to be interviewed for this story.

Higher IT Costs?Many IT directors

shy away from Apple because it doesn’t pro-vide sales and technical support geared to the enterprise, Smulders said. Many also object to the cost of supportingyet another operating

system. “Often, the IT department doesn’t have the skill sets to be able to deal with a Mac,” he said. Macs might also bring additional software licens-ing fees — for example, running dual operating systems on a Mac to accommodate all the applica-tions an individual needs to use.

Of course, Macs aren’t the only Apple products that end-users have lobbied to bring into the enterprise. “The attractiveness of the iPhone has driven it into the enterprise like no technology I have seen in recent years,” Enderle said.

Gartner advises users to deploy iPhones selectively for data applications. “[In a per-fect world,] it’s a calendaring and e-mail type of device, but it isn’t running third-party applications beyond that,” Smulders said.

Ken Dulaney, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, also advises caution with the iPhone. The problem is security. “Governments love the BlackBerrys because of their high security and support,” he said. “They have more than 300 security policies that can be implemented. Apple has four, including the ability to wipe out the device if lost and to force the use of a complex password.”

Gartner doesn’t recommend using the iPhone in con-nection with a virtual private network, Dulaney said. “It gives unrestricted access to a device that is not as secure as a laptop.” Browser-based applications on the iPhone, however, don’t pose a security threat, he said.

iPhones for DemocracyAlthough the iPhone won’t be the platform of choice

when security is a concern, Washington, D.C., is deploy-ing the product in several pilot implementations. “Most of what government does is in the public domain,” said Vivek Kundra, the district’s chief technology officer (CTO).

Applications that use publicly available data are right for the iPhone, he added.

The district started testing iPhone applications after a local resident submitted one to the Apps for Democracy competition, www.appsfordemocracy.org. Contestants were invited to create applications using data feeds from the district’s Data Catalog, which offers public information on everything from juvenile arrests and transit schedules to recent road kill pickups.

“Often, the IT department doesn’t have the skill sets to be able to deal with a Mac.”

Charles Smulders, managing vice president, Gartner

Hugh Miller, CTO and director of IT, San Antonio, now allows employees to choose between using either PC or Mac hardware.

While end-users have brought the iPhone into the enterprise, there are concerns over inadequate security, especially in comparison to the well protected BlackBerry.

P H OTO CO U R T E S Y O F A P P L E I N C .



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Police officers, teachers and employees in the Office of the CTO (OCTO) have been experimenting with the iPhones, Kundra said. The tests come as part of OCTO’s embrace of consumerization. “Rather than spending a fortune on purely enterprise technology, I’ve simply moved forward and said, ‘Why can’t we use consumer technology in the enterprise space?’” he said.

The consumerist ethos also has persuad-ed OCTO to make Macs available to city employees who want them. “I think the debate between Macs versus PCs is over,” Kundra said, citing his city’s migration to software as a service for as many applications as possible. “The Internet browser is the most powerful tool,” he said. “I don’t think the func-tionality on the desktop is the most important.”

Since OCTO is responsible for IT in the district’s pub-lic schools, which are big Mac users, supporting Macs elsewhere in government brings only incremental costs, Kundra said.

Let Employees ChooseIn San Antonio, consumerization also drives the pur-

chase of Macs. To attract the next generation of employees into public service, governments must offer flexibility in the workplace, said Hugh Miller, the city’s CTO and IT director. Besides offering flexible schedules and opportuni-ties to telecommute, that also could mean offering a choice of computer hardware.

“Right now, the No.1 laptop being used in the univer-sity environment is the Apple laptop,” Miller said. Many

K-12 schools use Macs, and many young people see their parents using them at home, he said. Given all that, it’s important to support Macs as an option for employees, he said.

San Antonio has about 150 Apple desktop machines and 50 to 70 laptops. Although they represent only 3 percent of the city’s end-user devices, they’re just the start.

“Currently we’re in a sort of proof-of-concept/pilot proj-ect,” Miller said. City employees seem to like the idea. “I have executives in the city manager’s office, in the legal office — all ranks of the city — who are lining up, request-ing to transition to the Mac environment,” he said. The effort’s main goal is to accustom IT staff to supporting Macs and help them learn to integrate those machines into the IT infrastructure, he said.

While analysts say Apple doesn’t support the enterprise that’s changing, according to Miller. “They invited me to their annual large sales conference [in fall 2008] to speak to their people about what the enterprise is looking for in products and how they can enhance their approach to enterprises and to executives,” he said.

With Microsoft no longer supporting Windows XP, San Antonio faces much work in transitioning to Windows Vista, so it might as well consider other platforms, Miller

said. “For now, to say that I would completely transition everything off Windows would be a bit suicidal, because there are a lot of things I still need to have in place,” he said. But with demand for Macs as high as it is, San Antonio’s IT department certainly is willing to let employ-ees take their pick. ¨

“In any large company, IT buyers expect no matter who you are, you’re going to come in and kiss their butts a little bit. Apple doesn’t play that game.”Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst, Enderle Group

Washington, D.C., offers Apple computers to city employees who want them. San Antonio also is piloting the concept of giving employees a choice of PC or Mac.

P H OTO CO U R T E S Y O F A P P L E I N C .



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B Y G L E N N D AV I D S O N A N D K E N D A L L D E A N , E Q U AT E R R A | I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y T O M M c K E I T H

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Despite growing reliance on outsourcing providers, public CIOs have much to learn when it comes to managing vendor relationships.

With tax revenues down and demand for ser-vices up, it’s becoming critical for public CIOs to accurately monitor, manage and assess their

outsourced relationships with IT vendors. Unfortunately many public entities can’t do these things well because their governance models are nonexistent, inadequate or just sit-ting on a shelf.

Government is learning the hard way that outsourced services are not self-governing. The good news is that by dedicating up-front resources for good governance practices, public entities can drive significant value from their outsourced relationships, including enhanced effectiveness, greater innovation and reduced costs. It’s not unreasonable to anticipate savings of 2 to 5 percent of the total contract value through improved operational efficiency and management.

Good governance can also deliver improved service levels, streamlined administration, easier performance monitoring, and a cultural shift toward better performance and manage-ment of internal projects throughout an organization.

“I wouldn’t go into an outsourcing relationship or a ser-vice-provider relationship without setting up a governance structure from the get-go,” said Lynn Willenbring, CIO of Minneapolis, which reduced the cost of its IT services contract by $1 million annually after instituting a best practices governance model. “That was a huge lesson for us. Public entities that believe these relationships are self-governing are in for a rude awakening.”

Old Ways Aren’t WorkingGenerally public-sector organizations could do a much

better job of managing contractual arrangements with ven-dors and service providers. In some instances, public-sector entities’ relations with service providers are so strained they’re almost irreparable — or worse. In a 2006 industry survey about managing outsourcing relationships, more than half of public-sector buyers and 60 percent of providers felt at least 30 percent of their annual contract value was at risk because of poor or nonexistent governance.

There are many reasons, but the bottom line is outsourcing relationships are too complicated to handle without a proper governance structure and expertise. The resulting failures evidence themselves in many ways.

In some organizations, there are too many committees. In others, new committees have been established to address issues the current management structure hasn’t. Political motivations — internal or external — are a catalyst for this type of behavior, with the result being unnecessarily long decision-making processes and poor decisions.

Many government entities also suffer from poor gover-nance definitions and delimiters. Governance bodies are often established without clear “scopes” — explanatory charters, defined powers (advisory, policy or supervisory) or decision rights. This leaves members wondering what they’re supposed to do and exactly how far they can go, resulting in an inability to reach an actionable consensus.

Another common issue: Government entities often pay insufficient attention to whether providers are hitting agreed-upon service levels. Most contracts call for reme-dial action for underperformance, but these penalties can’t be imposed if nobody knows precisely how the provider is performing.

How important is monitoring? Here’s one example: During a recent engagement, we struggled to find five — of a total of 80 — service levels that were being implemented according to the contract. With little to no oversight of the service-level program, both sides of the client-provider equation showed huge failures.

Despite all of these issues, government organizations still turn to the private sector for help with their IT management. This trend will accelerate as:

workers currently managing legacy systems retire;organizations update technology;enterprisewide software applications are implemented and shared services arrangements are adopted;infrastructure and applications become more complex; andsecuring talent at government salary levels becomes more difficult.

Six Steps in Vendor ManagementHere’s how to move forward to save money, streamline

oversight and get the most value from your relationships:Don’t shortchange governance: Earmark 5 to 7 percent

of a contract’s total value to cover the necessary costs of people, tools and implementation.

Create a structured governance organization: Assign the right people and clearly define their roles and responsibili-ties. Ideally the core-governance team should be dedicated to governance only. Limit participants to fewer than 10.

•••

••

“I wouldn’t go into an outsourcing relationship or a service-provider relationship without setting up a governance structure from the get-go.”

Lynn Willenbring, CIO, Minneapolis




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Appoint members from each functional area and ensure they have the authority to represent their areas.

Establish a charter: You need to clearly communicate pur-pose, expectations and outputs. Implement a defined com-mittee structure with the proper representation from both the organization and service provider.

Establish decision rights: They should clearly articulate who is responsible, to be consulted or advised, and who has influence over an outcome. Do this by defining a quorum for decisions that affect the enterprise to ensure those decisions will be upheld and supported by executive leadership. Establish meeting ownership and structure,

ensuring that you have an agenda, past and current busi-ness review, decisions, votes and published minutes.

Identify the activities that must be implemented with your ser-vice providers/vendors based on the contractual agreement. These may include service quality, communications, contracts, financials, risk, compliance and change management.

Market governance internally to win support. Though clear direction and proper authority are essential, governance organizations should communicate with the appropriate people and organizations. E-mail campaigns and Web sites are not enough. Governance members must get out and speak with people. It’s the best way to communicate ben-efits, win the budget and motivate the internal constitu-ency to move forward.

What to Look for in Governance ToolsBecause management of multiprovider relationships is a

challenge, it’s important to find a consulting partner with proven expertise in advising public entities on maximizing their outsourcing relationships.

Look for an experienced vendor consultant who can pro-vide scalable, off-the-shelf software that can be custom-ized to mesh with your hardware, skills and experience. A good software tool can help you manage your service model and conserve scarce capital. Because the software applications are typically familiar to internal users, the governance team can get up to speed quickly.

Configured correctly, comprehensive governance tools can reduce governance expenses up to 18 percent annually. Such tools also make life much easier for governance team mem-bers by automating many routine, yet critical, governance transactions, such as invoice verification and services con-sumption. They also foster collaboration by enabling quick analysis and exporting of findings via charts, graphs, data on resource consumption, etc.

Prepare for Some PushbackThe usual institutional resistance to change, and then some,

will apply when selling and instituting good governance. Willenbring’s experience in Minneapolis is a case in point.

[34]

Minneapolis Gains Control of OutsourcingA couple of years ago, Minneapolis came to an uncomfort-

able realization: It didn’t have a handle on its IT outsourcing relationship. Things had to change, and quickly, because the city had to decide whether it should renegotiate its current IT outsourcing deal or put the contract out for bid.

“We lacked good governance for our first-generation out-sourcing arrangement as well as any real governance for our information services,” recalled Lynn Willenbring, the city’s CIO. “We were inefficient within our own department and less effective with our internal customer departments.”

Willenbring recalled finger-pointing between the city’s staff and the service provider’s staff. “It was all about the blame game,” she said.

To get its outsourcing relationships under control, Willenbring called in a consulting firm, which found the city’s first-generation outsourcing initiative could achieve signifi-cant, additional improvements. After comparing Minneapolis’ performance metrics against industry best-practice metrics, the firm recommended the city enter into prenegotiations with its current provider. In light of detailed, quantified data the consultant provided, the service provider offered a much better deal: stronger service levels, better pricing and robust governance features.

After that successful negotiation, the city implemented a gov-ernance structure, which Willenbring said is delivering benefits throughout her organization, including cost and time savings.

“The single biggest benefit of good governance is the collaboration it fosters,” she said. “Now all the players quickly recognize their stake in the outcome and work toward the best solution, instead of focusing on who is at fault. We have saved thousands of hours of staff time, which is a real opportunity-cost savings easily approaching $100,000 annually.”

Willenbring added: “Governance is critical for IT whether you’re talking about outsourced relationships or you do every-thing in-house. It doesn’t matter if it’s a pencil supplier — if you have a long-term relationship, you need a structure.”

“Now all the players quickly recognize their stake in the outcome and work toward the best solution, instead of focusing on who is at fault.”

Lynn Willenbring, CIO, Minneapolis



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“There was pushback on almost everything,” she said. “First, when we wanted to bring in a consultant to do the initial analysis to determine whether we would renegotiate or recompete our IT contract, we had elected officials who

thought hiring advisers was a waste of money because they believed you should always recompete. Staff resistance came in the form of a ‘grass is always greener attitude’ — if things aren’t perfect, changing service providers will solve it.

“Our consultant helped us understand no relationship is going to be perfect and that we would have to become part of the solution. But the biggest pushback came when we implemented the governance piece of our renegotiated contract because it instituted a new level of accountability and responsibility.”

The real issue, Willenbring said, was that previously deci-sions were pushed up to senior-level people who had better things to do. The decision to have the appropriate people take responsibility has had a positive ripple effect throughout her IT organization.

Start Now — It’s Not Getting EasierPut governance on the plate early because it will add

efficiency, streamline processes, save money and help you plan for what’s needed over the next five to 10 years. The world is complex and will get more complex, but you can manage it with the right tools, systems and processes.

David Zeppieri, CIO of the Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC), recently oversaw the federal agency’s migra-tion to a governance model and tools. He said it’s good to question expenditures in tough times, but it’s also impor-tant to focus on long-term gains.

“Like many small agencies, there were those in OPIC who questioned the ROI of implementing IT governance tools, saying it probably wasn’t justified,” Zeppieri said. “But the business case does not always point to in-house tools and process implementations. We are applying IT governance and operational best practices through outsourcing, and it’s working.”

The best organizations discover that they can learn from governing outsourced services to strengthen their own internal governance capabilities, using the methods/tools/momentum to foster internal culture changes that result in greater efficiencies, cost savings and higher performance throughout the entire organization. ¨


Keystone State Captures Millions With Better Contract Governance

For Pennsylvania’s Office for Information Technology (OIT), things really took off in 2007 when Gov. Ed Rendell updated an executive order that oversees investments and performance of information solutions — including the development, procure-ment, deployment and ongoing management of IT resources.

As part of the process, the OIT assembled an experienced team to devise and implement better governance. The bottom line: By developing and employing statewide standards, the state negotiated enterprise license agreements that equate to more than $30 million in software savings alone.

And then there are the “soft” benefits.“Agencies aren’t all doing their own thing anymore.

Identifying product standards and negotiating enterprise agreements allowed us to take full advantage of economies of scale,” said Brenda Orth, CIO of the OIT. “And we haven’t even calculated cost avoidance figures — the $30 million is in hard savings alone.”

Orth’s rearview mirror assessment of the risks associated with inadequate governance includes:

poor visibility into the IT organization and spending;lack of a cohesive IT strategy and project prioritization, which leads to solutions, standards and policies that don’t meet business objectives;not enough coordination between key business initiatives, resulting in duplication and fragmented services; and“full speed ahead” development/procurement procedures that occur before organizations fully understand the require-ments or establish prioritization and change controls.“Good governance eliminates duplication and helps con-

vert strategic business goals into effective IT projects,” Orth said. “It also helps us do a better job of strategic IT planning, performance measurement and optimizing IT operations.”

••

•

•

“Good governance eliminates duplication and helps convert strategic business goals into effective IT projects.”

Brenda Orth, CIO, Pennsylvania



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[36]

FuToday’s public CIOs face an endless list of tasks. Perhaps a lesson from Bruce Lee will help them balance their workload.

Bruce Lee is arguably the greatest martial arts star of all time, a man so skilled at his craft that more than 30 years after his death, his movies still rank among the genre’s elite. Known in the industry

for introducing the philosophies and techniques of kung fu to Americans starting in 1959, today his lessons may be some of the most poignant for the modern CIO.

Few would argue that being able to deliver a devastating roundhouse kick to an annoying vendor’s head or the infamous two-inch punch to an underperforming server might come in handy. However, it’s Lee’s mar-tial arts philosophy that can help us better cope with the demands on today’s IT leader — not to mention keep us from serving time for assault or replacing expensive hardware.

In a famous quote, Lee once encouraged his students to “be formless … shapeless, like water. If you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. If you put water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. … Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it.”

Fast-forward 35 years or so, and I was on a conference call with nearly a dozen IT professionals from around the country. Harvard Kennedy School Lecturer Jerry Mechling gathered us virtually to discuss what we felt were the most important traits and attributes of a good public-sector CIO. The goal was to develop a course of study at the Kennedy School of Government. The list we came up with was endless, composed of everything from technical expertise to process improvement skills and all points in between. Soft skills — mainly in leadership areas — were the most prevalent. Navigating politics, planning, budgeting, negotiating … the list was exhaustive.

CIOB Y B I L L B O T T , C H A N G E A N D I N N O V A T I O N A G E N C Y

I L L U S T R A T I O N B Y T O M M c K E I T H

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IOwww.public-cio.com [37]



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[38]

The experience led me to pose a question on the profes-sional social network LinkedIn: What are the attributes of a good CIO?

Based on the responses, I created a job description: Glutton for punishment needed to deliver on the impos-

sible. Experience in project management, vendor nego-tiations, systems auditing, organizational behavior, business intelligence, process improvement, portfolio management, budgeting and strategic planning a must. Fortuneteller and psychic a plus.

Is that where we are today? Has the CIO moved from a technical position capable of managing networks and build-ing infrastructure to a “CXO” at the decision-makers’ table, expected to know the ins and outs of everyday business and play a critical role in developing business strategies, while also juggling the technical aspects? Answers depend on your organization and culture, but if you look at what the National Association of State Chief Information Officers and the U.S. General Services Administration’s Center for Intergovernmental Solutions are saying, that’s the trend.

From my desk as a deputy CIO of Missouri, I think our stakeholders and customers drive the overwhelming require-ments of a CIO. Since all of today’s work force interacts with technology in some way, the list of people looking to the CIO has grown tremendously. Governors are looking for increased efficiencies and delivery on initiatives. Legislators are look-ing for budget-cutting innovation and technology-spending oversight.

Some customers want the CIO inti-mately involved in setting direction; others want the CIO to rubber stamp their plans and get out of the way. Some customers aren’t completely sure what they want. Some days they ask for the CIO to attend high-level meetings and the next day forget to mention the RFP that hit the street last week that’s replacing their mainframe legacy sys-tem. Purchasing expects the CIO to be the lead negotiator for IT contracts, and personnel looks to the CIO to pro-vide salary and classification advice for jobs in technical fields.

It’s no wonder there’s an endless list of what CIOs must have because there seems to be an endless list of what they’re asked to do.

This brings us back to Bruce Lee and the idea that CIOs need to be like water — able to take the form of the circum-stances where they find themselves. It sounds easy. When you’re at a Cabinet meeting discussing high-level issues with-in your organization, be a high-powered executive. When dis-cussing budget, be a captain of finance. For those technical decisions, just become a security/network/server/application expert. This makes sense, right?

Not Easy Being a Kung Fu MasterBeing like water isn’t as easy as turning on a faucet.

Lee had a balanced approach to martial arts that included strength training, nutrition, speed and mental preparedness. The CIO requires a regimen just as balanced. The four main areas being stressed seem to be:

understanding soft skills, such as organizational politics (the good kind) and emotional intelligence;project and portfolio management;setting strategic direction, visioning and planning; andbusiness practices, including process improvement and performance measurement.

“Be the Teapot”“Water in a teapot” perfectly describes the new CIO’s

temperament. As external sources — political, employee or technology issues — impact the organization, like flames to the pot, the water inside begins to stir. The molecules are so excited the water furiously bubbles, yet the only sign of stress and anxiety is a whistle.

For most of us, prior to Y2K, the only time we heard from the CIO was to ask for more money or tell us something bad was going to hap-pen — usually those accompanied each other. I recall meetings with my last employer when technical jargon was used like ammunition to fire at managers who questioned IT expen-ditures or didn’t surrender budget to fund infrastructure improvements. It seemed the boiling water was always spilling out and scalding the audience the CIO was trying to influence.

The “kung fu CIO” can better deal with the issues, in part, because many of the technical environments

•

•••

Plan, measure, improve review ... the true kung fu CIO uses these tools to craft messages to stakeholders and has managers using these tools for growth.



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he manages are more mature, stable and reli-able. More importantly, he’s learned to navigate the organizational politics and has become more comfortable at the leadership table.

You don’t get training in this area from a book. Find someone who already knows how to win in the boardroom and have him or her mentor you through the process.

“Sweep the Leg”OK, I couldn’t resist a Karate Kid reference.

Remember when the Cobra Kai teacher told his student to “sweep the leg,” a cheap shot targeting a weak spot on Daniel-san? It was a bone-chilling scene that led to the magic Mr. Miyagi’s hand-clap-and-cure method. Having worked in project management for decades, I’ve seen plenty of cheap shots that threaten an initiative’s stability. They can come from anywhere: an unhappy employee unsure about changes that are occurring, a direction change from leadership, tech-

nical failures and application glitches, budget cuts or vendor issues. Each time, these factors can land a devastating blow that makes us hobble or leave the tournament altogether.

Knowing these shots are coming, the kung fu CIO’s best defense is to understand the concepts of good project man-agement and have tools in place to mitigate risks. Hopefully those mitigation tools are more reliable than rubbing your hands together and magically healing projects.

Was That Choreographed? It Looked Choreographed …Stories of Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and Jackie Chan

defending their skills on and off the set are legendary. Bruce Lee is said to have been provoked into several street fights, and Chuck Norris is rumored to have fought on camera with an actor who abandoned the scripted fight scene in favor of real combat. Most of the movie martial arts we see are care-fully choreographed for maximum screen playability and minimal bruising — a lesson today’s kung fu CIO should take to heart.

Strategic planning and organizational vision are areas where the public-sector CIO has started to turn a corner and over time, it should minimize bruising — if not dramatically improve performance. When planning includes the measure-ment of key systems, links to service-level agreements and

a continuous model of “plan, mea-sure, improve, review,” you unleash the power of true strategic planning. The true kung fu CIO uses these tools to craft messages to stakehold-ers and has managers using these tools for growth.

A Different Kind of ArtI remember checking out a library

book on karate when I was 12. I’m not sure I read the preface. I know I never read the entire book, but I tried to duplicate the moves depict-ed in the pictures. Moves in pictures

— it even seems silly to type it, but attempting to duplicate motion when all you can see are before-and-after pictures proved inadequate in my effort to be a self-taught master. It may be the only library book I returned early.

I used to find the same frustration reading the “lean, zero defects, sigma, black belt” books that made perfect sense for manufacturing plants, but failed to resonate with my public-sector experiences. Trying to find how it worked in real life was just too different, so most books went back on the shelf. About 10 years ago, I had an epiphany and started to see government as a collection of thousands of small factories generating thousands of products for customers. Suddenly all the process improvement, balanced scorecard and manage-ment-by-measurement books made perfect sense.

Still, it’s not easy to find the 80 to 90 percent of waste that statistician, professor and consultant W. Edwards Deming claimed is in most processes. Of all the efforts I’ve been a part of to drive pure process improvement (before automa-tion), the most successful ones haven’t come from IT. In fact, most times when IT is involved, one of two things happen: Customers put all their eggs in the “new application will fix it” basket; or at the first sign of trouble, it becomes a pure IT project and the blame falls on them. In reality, most lasting change must come from the people who do the actual work, and automation generally addresses 15 percent of the 80 percent of waste you should be targeting.

Why is this a trait of the kung fu CIO? Peter Weill, author of Leveraging the New Infrastructure, said it best in a webinar last year: “Of course this isn’t an IT function, but no one else is doing it.” To really be a master, we may all have to find the key to pushing true process improvement through traditional IT. If anyone has the answer, please e-mail me immediately. More often than not, I think we end up faking it, which tran-sitions us to …

To really be a master, we may all have to find the key to pushing true process improvement through traditional IT.

Bill Bott, Change and Innovation Agency



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[40]

“Judo Chop”Austin Powers, the hapless ’70s-era spy created by come-

dian Mike Myers, effortlessly knocks out Dr. Evil’s cronies while announcing a mighty “Judo Chop!” If you haven’t seen the movies, it’s hard to describe the childlike chopping motion that accompanies his “Kiai!” battle cry — but trust me, it wouldn’t be very effective if confronted by a mugger. You might want to check out “judo chop” on YouTube to get the full effect before reading onward.

Now prepare yourself. This may be the most controversial statement in this article. Just because you say it, doesn’t mean you are doing it. Worse yet, saying it and only making a child-like attempt at it is great for comedic value, but not produc-tive for your organization’s long-term improvements.

The landscape is littered with failed projects that were once touted as models of efficiency or innovations. Three years ago, trade publications and keynotes at popular conferences singled out a few IT organizations as industry examples. We celebrated their efforts as if they were completely done. Now if we revisit some of those organizations, we find failed projects, millions of dollars in waste, and in some cases, new CIOs. It’s a lesson played out on a national stage, but the real damage is done locally because our customers and stakehold-ers lose confidence and the consequences impact everyone’s efforts for years.

I’m not advocating that we stop talking about upcoming projects or sharing our efforts with one another. The infor-mation I have gleaned from so many of you has benefited our organization beyond what I can express. But when we raise the victory flag because we think we are going to be victori-ous, it does more damage than good.

Instead, let’s spend our efforts on acquiring the skills and putting tools in place to help improve our chances of delivering successful projects and building productive relationships.

“I Know Kung Fu”In The Matrix, Keanu Reeves is literally plugged into a

computer program and instantly learns kung fu. He uses his newfound fighting prowess to lead the war against machines that have taken control of the world.

It would be great if we could instantly download all the skills we need for today’s challenges. The truth is, the talentswe seek are only taught in master’s degree programs and are only truly mastered after years of experience, trial and error. Courses like the one mentioned through Harvard’s Leadership in a Networked World are a great start, but there’s no quick fix, silver bullet or cookie cutter for becom-ing a kung fu CIO.

There’s a reason Bruce Lee is almost as popular today as he was when he was alive. It’s rare that someone has the combination of natural talent, skill, dedication and training to rise to his level. Few CIOs will master all the political, organizational, budgetary, project management and strate-gic-planning skills that will make them the equivalent of a kung fu master. Luckily you don’t have to fight alone.

The most useful tool currently in a CIO’s box is probably his ability to build his own organization. Many CIOs have control of their own centralized shop — whether it’s a smaller one that oversees IT for the organization, or more and more, larger shops that provide IT services through a consolidated configuration. Regardless of the scale, ensuring that these critical skills are represented in your staff can be the differ-ence between a flying side kick and a groin pull.

In Missouri, former CIO Dan Ross had three deputies: one for operations, one for infrastructure and one for budget and administration. Each deputy brought their own arsenal of moves to the table. Alone, not one is the complete pack-age, but combined with Ross’ political savvy, the four led a successful consolidation effort in Missouri.

Colorado Deputy CIO John Conley is as comfortable in leg-islative hearings as most CIO staff is in a data center. Conley’s master’s in public administration came in handy when his state successfully lobbied for two laws that are radically changing its IT environment. Colorado CIO Mike Locatis recognizes the need to balance his senior staff with people who can be the cup or the teapot.

Today’s CIO is pulled, pushed and shoved in a hundred different directions. They are expected to know the ins and outs of business, while maintaining command over current infrastructure keeping an eye on the next technology. The trend for IT consolidation makes it even harder to keep up with the business needs of our complex organizations. The job requires many facets of leadership and management, and the demands on the position are growing.

I invite you to embrace the dragon within. Become like water. Develop the skills and flexibility needed to effortlessly fit in, whether you’re sitting at the executive table or the help desk. Describing his water analogy, Lee once said water can flow effortlessly by taking the path of least resistance or it can crash against an obstacle and wear it down. The ability to change forms and find a way around or through opposition is the key to success for today’s kung fu CIO. Kiai! ¨

The most useful tool currently in a CIO’s box is probably his ability to build his own organization.



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In this new economy, consolidation is a top issue governments must confront today. But with as many jurisdictions benefi tting from signifi cant cost savings and effi ciencies, others struggle to defi ne the business case, engage executive buy-in and overcome employee apprehension to change.

Written specifi cally for government, this guide is your roadmap to the pitfalls to avoid, the tactics required for success and how to maximize and gauge return on investment.

What Does Consolidation Mean to You?

Request Your Free Copies of this Informative Action Plan and Help Educate Colleagues at: www.govtech.com/consolidation.

Use our preparedness checklist as a benchmarking tool to evaluate your consolidation readiness.

Produced by:

GT08 AD AT&T Consolid3.indd 1GT08 AD AT&T Consolid3.indd 1 2/2/09 8:52:25 AM2/2/09 8:52:25 AM


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For months, we’ve been hearing a mantra of change and hope. But it can be difficult to turn

the optimism of a campaign into the reality of running such a large organi-zation as the government.

With the federal government in transition, there could be some real hope for real change in the way agen-cies operate. For the first time, there’s a host of tools — broadly grouped under the umbrella of Web 2.0 — that can provide agencies with real ways to share information.

There are nearly as many definitions of Web 2.0 as there are blogs. The most workable definition I have heard is that they are tools that allow people to tap into the theory that all of us together are smarter than any of us independently.

Web 2.0 tools are particularly well suited for government, which is an information organization. And citizens feel increasingly disenfranchised from their government. Many of them feel that they don’t know what govern-ment does, that it’s controlled, in part, by others and that the average citizen can’t influence decisions.

The advantage of Web 2.0 tools is that they are inherently transparent. After all, if you’re sharing informa-tion, it’s probably being done trans-parently. Therefore, these tools are generally inclusive — one could even

say democratic. Suddenly the value one adds depends on the value of the data that’s added.

There are several reasons these tools are likely to proliferate in the coming years. One is that President Obama won the election by using these tools effectively. And during the transition, on the innovative Change.gov Web site, we have already seen how Web 2.0 tools can be used to govern.

We’re also seeing a changing of the guard among the government work force. The generation of citizens who answered President John F. Kennedy’s call to public service is being replaced by another generation who also seems to be answering a similar call. This incoming generation — the so-called “born digital” generation — shares information by nature.

There are also significant challenges ahead. Culture is difficult to change, and the government’s culture is risk averse. There’s little payoff to trying something new and different — and there’s an enormous risk if something doesn’t work, particularly in an era of oversight and accountability, where no mistake is tolerated. Government offi-

cials have a keen understanding that information is power, but rather than seeing data as being worth sharing, they tend to keep it close to their vest.

Furthermore, government is often a very hierarchical organization, and Web 2.0 depends on allowing — in fact, enabling — people to speak their ver-sion of the truth to the powers that be.

There are real examples of leader-ship. Agencies are wisely testing the

waters to see what works and what doesn’t. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Navy are among the leaders. Just like any tool, there are cases where Web 2.0 is appro-priate — and where it isn’t.

There are real opportunities to make great strides for government and governing. It requires that agen-cies try something new, but there are opportunities to rebuild the pub-lic’s trust in government. This could lead to more transparency — and better management. In the end, the potential opportunities far outweigh the risks. ¨

B Y C H R I S T O P H E R J . D O R O B E K

Change Government Can Believe InThere are many challenges to Government 2.0, but there are big opportunities.

Web 2.0 requires that agencies try something new, but there are opportunities to rebuild the public’s trust in its government.

[42]

W A S H I N G T O N S P O T L I G H T



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Tactical Sales and Market SupportCDG’s network of Senior Fellows and dedicated analysts will deliver invaluable market and competitive information to get your hand fi rmly on the state and local throttle.

How fast are you moving in the state and local government IT market? Are you accelerating your sales cycle by working with channel partners already making state and local tracks?

Do you have access to the information you need? The Center for Digital Government can help you get up to speed with custom state and local government market strategy and sales consulting.

CDG will help you increase market share and attract partners that provide speed and precision delivery of your solutions to new prospects at the state and local level.

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Slipping Away?State CIOs are still on firm ground, but for how long?

As a group, public CIOs tend not to be a sanguine bunch. For good reason. They’ve busted

their picks on the hard work of con-solidation, collaboration and customer service only to learn these core com-petencies aren’t sufficient — though necessary — in the new, meaner, leaner environment.

Some in the IT punditocracy recom-mend changing the definition of the CIO’s middle initial from “informa-tion” to infrastructure, innovation or inspiration. In light of current eco-nomic conditions, others want the CIO to be chief savings officer — a different set of three-letter initials.

This expectations game is one worth winning, but it’s different from the existential angst nearly 10 years ago when the CIO’s role was in doubt.

The Center for Digital Government just revisited turn-of-the-century benchmarking of state CIOs’ span of control. The results show that on seven vital attributes, CIOs stand, as a group, on firmer ground than they did in 2001.

Since 2001, a couple more state CIOs earned a place at the Cabinet table, while almost 10 percent gained authority over policy setting and operations. Structures around proj-ect oversight and management remain unchanged over the decade. Despite an 8 percent gain, only 46 percent of state CIOs have enterprise budget author-ity. They’ve also lost ground in their influence over IT procurement, which

is perhaps only a symptom of chronic dysfunction rather than a cause.

CIOs’ span of control also grew organically with the rise of “mini Cs” — chief technology officers (CTOs), chief information security officers, chief architectural officers, etc. Virginia recently appointed what seems to be the nation’s first chief applications officer to bring the same level of the executive focus to enterprise appli-cations as CTOs bring to enterprise infrastructure. To be clear, many CIOs shoulder components of these roles by themselves, but the rise of “mini Cs” acknowledges the rise of seeming allies to the CIO.

But are these other “Cs” colleagues, solely deputies or potential usurpers? Consider a transition report prepared for the Obama administration by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a policy group that argues cyber-security is too important to be

delegated to the CIO. It’s a shot across the bow of the incumbent CIO class and points to the risk of displacement.

Function-by-function displacement would erode the relatively strong structural position that CIOs now enjoy. The existential question now is whether and how CIOs can exploit their platform to address the big prob-lems of this moment.

A choice is coming as talk intensi-fies about economic stimulus, reform and public works. CIOs can keep their hard-earned place at the table and expand their wheelhouse to include technologies and leadership challenges. Or they can take a heads-down opera-tional tack and return to their role’s origin as an extension of the finance function — where the incumbent CIO was responsible for the care and feed-ing of the accounting systems.

What will you do? What have you done lately? ¨

B Y P A U L W . T A Y L O R

F A S T G O V

[44]

CIOs’ Span of Control

The state CIO is a Cabinet-level official.

An IT commission, board or council provides comprehen-sive policy direction and oversight of large, high-risk projects on an enterprise basis.

The state CIO has statewide policy-setting authority, either alone or in conjunction with the board.

The state CIO has operational responsibilities for computing and telecommunications through the state technology agency.

The state CIO has enterprisewide authority over IT proj-ect management.

The state CIO has enterprise IT budget authority.

The state CIO has IT procurement authority.

2008

59%

72%

93%

83%

68%

46%

68%

2001

54%

72%

84%

74%

68%

38%

72%



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APRIL 28 � MAY 1, 2009 > > BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

Join state, federal and local CIOs forthe 2009 NASCIO MidyearConference. NASCIO conferenceattendees include the highest-profilegovernment and corporatetechnology experts in the nation. Inaddition to state, federal and localCIOs, and our corporate partners,past NASCIO conference attendeeshave included governors, state andfederal legislators, and other electedand appointed officials.

NASCIO is the premier network andresource for state chief informationofficers and an effective advocatefor information technology policiesat all levels of government.

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[46]

News, Reviews & Careers

New Federal-State IT Funding Model?With the election of Barack Obama

as the the new U.S. president, the public-sector CIO community senses an opportunity to change the sta-tus quo of federal funding for state and local programs, especially those involving IT.

In fiscal 2009, the federal govern-ment will deliver $300 billion for pro-grams that states must administer — in many cases, those that localities actually deliver. Add in Medicaid, and that’s about $600 billion that will flow from the feds down to state and local government. Embedded in that sum are funds for IT systems that nonfed-eral agencies and jurisdictions must acquire or develop, implement, main-tain and secure.

State and local CIOs will tell you that the current system for distributing federal dollars to fund state and local IT systems is flawed at best, and many say it’s completely broken.

In 2006, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) issued a call for action on this problem, pointing out that “one of the foremost barriers to implement-ing an enterprise consolidation and shared-services environment lies in the

often inconsistent application of fed-eral programmatic rules for IT invest-ments by the states. Problematically this inconsistency results in a process by which each state must negotiate how IT investments are applied, cul-minating in a variety of different inter-pretations and outcomes.”

Last year Colorado CIO and NASCIO Director Mike Locatis took up the cause for reform. Colorado is consolidating its many IT systems and developing platforms for an enterprise architecture that would support shared services. Despite groundbreaking legislation to rework the state’s IT systems into a more cohesive and manageable opera-tion, Locatis realizes, based on other states’ experiences, that federal guide-lines may limit his options and reduce the needed flexibility to bring about the changes he and Gov. Bill Ritter envi-sion. With the election of a new presi-dent, Locatis feels the chances for change are better than ever.

“A new administration gives us a new view and new hope that we can have some improvement in the federal-state-local delivery of these IT programs that are often linked to federal program delivery,” he said.

Locatis believes the solution lies in a top-to-bottom overhaul of the existing model for iden-tifying and investing in IT systems that support the increasingly com-plex services that citi-zens need. It starts with how the feds lead and organize IT, according to Locatis. He points to issues raised by U.S.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., in a July 2008 Senate Subcommittee Hearing about “The Dismal State of Information Technology Planning in the Federal Government.” The hearing highlighted reports published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and various congressional committees that exposed the problem’s depth. For example, 413 major IT projects worth a combined $25.2 billion are poorly planned, poor-ly performing or both, according to a 2008 GAO report.

What do federal IT failures have to do with state and local IT investments? “We need to correct that huge portfolio of failing or troubled IT projects and put them back on the right track, and then drive some of the great federal enterprise efforts through the pro-grams to state and local governments so we don’t have the feds delivering a litany of disparate projects that lack flexibility to state and local govern-ment,” Locatis said.

Locatis believes that leadership from the top can help the flex-ibility of federal-state IT investments, in part by empowering federal agency CIOs to become involved in how federal programs are delivered to the states. “Clinger-Cohen [the Congressional act that created federal CIOs] has buried agency CIOs deep within the federal agency organization, where they

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lack the authority to get involved in delivering programs from the agency down to the state and local level,” Locatis explained.

If federal CIOs can demonstrate to their agency program planners how the flexibility of enterprise architecture and shared services can help state and local CIOs do their job better, Locatis said, then some of the more restrictive federal guidelines that hamper flexible IT investments could be rolled back.

Currently federal-state IT delivery models vary from program to program — with a wide spectrum of results. They range from “point solutions” that bypass the states altogether, which limits any possibility to cre-ate standards and interopera-bility models that could lower IT costs; to matched program grants and state agency solu-tions that limit the use of enterprise architectures; to a few solutions that are either federated or enterprise in their approach, and thus more likely to succeed. In addition, most federal programs discourage the co-mingling of assets (i.e., hardware, such as servers) and funding between programs at the state level.

“The bottom line is that the cur-rent federal-program funding approach promotes costly state IT stovepipes,” lamented Locatis. He wants a shift toward a shared-services model that would drive benefits in different direc-tions, from program-specific staff, infrastructure and vendor support agreements to a shared-services model that allows the application of proven, cost-effective practices — like server and storage virtualization — and enter-prise disaster recovery and security

functions. This new model would let states use enterprise assets consistently across many programs.

More flexibility for how states can spend federal IT dollars would also result in better use of resources, such as cross-trained IT workers, greater adoption of enterprise standards and less operational risk in infrastructure and cyber-security.

Transitions, Career ChangesWashington state CIO Gary Robinson

resigned his position as of Dec. 31, 2008. Robinson was the director of the Department of Information Services since 2005. His departure comes at a

critical time in the state’s IT mission, according to Paul W. Taylor, chief strategy offi-cer of the Center for Digital Government.

With a looming state budget deficit of almost $6 billion and cost overruns plaguing a proposed data center, the state IT execu-

tive position became a bigger chal-lenge. In September 2008, Robinson was appointed NASCIO vice president and was slated to become president in 2010. NASCIO announced Utah CIO Steve Fletcher would replace Robinson as the association’s vice president.

The IRS appointed Terence Milholland as the agency’s chief technology officer. Milholland will be responsible for all aspects of the systems that operate the nation’s tax infra-structure. He will oversee a multibillion dollar budget and the 7,000-person orga-nization. The IRS maintains more than 400 systems that enable the processing of more

than 200 million tax returns each year. The current CIO will report to him.

Long-time NASCIO member Karen Newman, Education Services Division director of the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services (ITS), retired from the state after more than 29 years of service. As legislative liaison for ITS, she worked closely with the governor’s office, Mississippi State Legislature members, and other statewide elected officials on technol-ogy and funding issues.

After becoming Michigan’s first chief information security officer (CISO) in May 2002, Dan Lohrmann will be stepping up to be the state’s acting chief technology officer and director of the Infrastructure Services Administration.

Trent Carpenter will assume the posi-tion of acting CISO and director of the Office of Enterprise Security.

Lohrmann will replace Deputy Director Patrick Hale, who left on Jan. 27 to take on the role as chief technical officer of Sparrow Hospital based in Lansing, Mich.

In November 2008, Governing mag-azine named Lohrmann one of eight government leaders to win the Public Officials of the Year award. He also won the CSO of the Year award in 2008 from SC Magazine, which sponsors the U.S. Awards Program for outstanding achievement in IT security.

Lohrmann is a regular contributor to Public CIO magazine, where he covers IT security in the column Security Adviser. He will continue to write and blog for Public CIO and will cover IT infrastructure and integration issues. ¨

GaryRobinson

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[48]

S E C U R I T Y A D V I S E R

Afew years ago, Michigan gov-ernment was hit with two computer virus outbreaks in six

weeks. Both situations caused system outages, customer complaints, network slowness and more. After we recovered from the second situation, I received shocking news from my forensic team: The security incident was caused by an infected vendor laptop — again.

Conventional wisdom in government technology circles is that IT vendors, especially big consulting firms, are secure. Most people take for granted that the “experts from out of town” will do no harm as they integrate new tech-nology into enterprise infrastructures. In my experience, this is a bad assumption.

Many of our private-sector col-leagues do a good job of putting the right people, processes and technology in place to protect critical systems. But even the best integrators make mistakes. So how do we build the right security provisions into contracts and manage our vendors well?

When I was at the National Security Agency (NSA), many courses were offered on this topic. Staff dedicated entire careers to becoming certified Systems Acquisition Managers who learned the latest vendor-management techniques. No doubt, we need more NSA procurement rigor in state and local governments.

But beyond the art of contractor and vendor management, there are certain topics that require attention that I regularly ran into as a chief informa-

tion security officer. Here are five areas I recommend addressing as you build Invitations to Bid or negotiate con-tracts with vendors.

1) Staff background checks. While checks are commonplace for criminal justice or tax systems, what about other computers that contain sensitive information? Ensure systems admin-istrators, network engineers or others who have access across multiple pro-grams have been vetted. Even if you require the vendor to run checks, be clear what levels of check are required. In one case, we ran a spot check and found a felony conviction that the con-tractor didn’t know about.

2) Build compliant solutions. Do you need to comply with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) standard or other requirements? Be specific about what legislation or certification process must be addressed. Just because a ven-dor offers a compliant solution doesn’t mean that’s what you’re buying. In Michigan, some vendors asked for a contract change or additional money to make systems PCI-compliant. Often, different options are available.

3) Remote connectivity. Many ven-dors offer “follow the sun” support, which means their staff in other parts of the world will access your sys-tems to troubleshoot and fix prob-lems. Think through this process very carefully. Who has access (see No. 1) and to which systems? Are they using two-factor authentication? (Hopefully yes.) Are you notified when people or processes change? Who’s responsible and liable if things go south?

4) Involve security staff throughout the life cycle. Do you have competent security staff involved on the project procurement team from the beginning? Building security into all aspects of the Statement of Work and includ-ing a member of the security team on the Joint Evaluation Committee will help avoid numerous problems. At least, bring in an expert security adviser when you get down to the final few vendors. Involvement of security officers during the demos or the oral phase of procurement will save time and money later. If vendor site visits are planned for an outsource contract, ensure security expertise is included.

5) Use checklists. The National Institute of Standards and Technology offers excellent security checklists at its Computer Security Resource Center (www.csrc.nist.gov and http://checklists.nist.gov). Security requirements should be built into your contract “boilerplate” language where it makes sense.

Ensure contractors comply with the same acceptable use policies and pro-cedures that government staff must meet. For example, what’s the policy for vendor laptops entering the enter-prise? Are the contractor’s portable devices secure? Are laptops checked for viruses before connecting to the network?

A final thought: Gen. George S. Patton once said, “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” Public CIOs must ensure that security is a priority — for contractors too. ¨

B Y D A N L O H R M A N N

Securing the Dotted LineContractors must ensure that security is a priority.



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[50]

My approach has never been to say, “Not my job.” Throughout my career I

have refused several roles for IT that the business units or the organiza-tion’s leadership tried to give us. Why? Accepting these roles would be a waste of time and resources, and more impor-tantly, would negatively impact rela-tionships with the very people asking us to perform the duties. Instead, my approach was to offer our services as an enabler to a more appropriate busi-ness unit. Unfortunately I continue to see IT departments across the country struggling with inappropriate roles.

Refuse to AcceptFirst, IT should understand that

while it may care for and feed numer-ous IT systems, as a business unit, it probably owns very little data. I’ve seen IT departments, and even individ-ual IT staffers, face the consequences — sometimes serious — of releasing data they do not own. A clear policy and education on this topic can pre-vent this type of problem.

Closely related to data ownership is the role of records manager. Since IT houses data, it’s often forced or tries to set policy around records storage and retention, most often based on resource constraints instead of legal requirements. Instead, each organiza-tion should appoint a records manager in a more appropriate department, such as administration, the clerk’s office or the organization’s manage-

ment office, who works with leader-ship to establish enterprise policies. IT can then provide the technologies to enable these policies and support enforcement by the records manager.

While we’re on the topic of enforce-ment, the third role I refused to accept was that of cyber-cop. This one caused me the most grief, but as CIO, I steadfastly refused to monitor the organization’s entire work force and spend significant resources to restrict employee Internet activities.

You might be wondering what I was thinking, but understand my philoso-phy: Wasting time at work did start with the advent of computers. While technology might make it easier or more seductive to use business resources for personal reasons, managers still must manage their employees. This role refusal does not mean that my IT shops didn’t use cyber-cop tools. We avoid-ed wholesale deployment and instead offered managers the tools when they suspected a problem; we even worked with the real cops on more than one occasion when it was necessary.

Take On, Then ShedThrough the years, my IT colleagues

and I took on several roles that were more appropriate somewhere else in the organization. The reason? We believed IT could incubate them until they became sustainable functions. These roles included conducting busi-ness process improvement efforts, project management, organizational strategic planning, managing IT gov-ernance and leading innovation.

While you may believe that any or all of these roles are most appropriate in IT — and in many cases, they were housed in IT when I was in charge — I maintain that they were more impactful when separated from IT. This separation leads to a higher degree of ownership by the organization, especially in the areas of IT governance, strategic planning and process improvement.

The Role of ITYou might wonder what I believe IT

should be doing. Well, in addition to the important role of enabler, IT is also the organization’s technology educator, visionary and consultant. Other, less obvious roles include:

Translator: imparting and ensuring understanding of technical informa-tion by nontechnical people.

Politician: successfully navigating the government arena and gaining support and resources.

Business strategist: understanding the organization’s operations and pro-viding technologies to support and enhance them.

Salesperson: clearly communicating IT’s services and successes to gain cus-tomers, resources and credibility.

Financial manager: serving as the steward of public funds to ensure that resources are used effectively.

Facilitator: identifying cross-functional opportunities and working with a various stakeholders to achieve success.

Since the role of today’s IT leader is more complex than ever, being selec-tive about what jobs you accept is essential to success. ¨

B Y L I Z A L O W E R Y M A S S E Y

Not My JobWhat is considered an appropriate role for the government CIO and IT department?

S T R A I G H T T A L K



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Documents

Public CIO Magazine February March 2009 · FEBRUARY/MARCH 2009 COVER STORY [4] 18 28 32 24 Government Technology’s Public CIO (ISSN# 1944-3455) is published bimonthly by e.Republic,