2006-07 Annual Report

The NYS Forum Rockefeller Institute of Government

Innovations in information resource management to support government

"The Forum provides a unique setting for selfmotivated individuals, in both the public and private sectors, to apply their efforts toward a common goal of improving the IT environment within the State. When it comes to The Forum, the more effort you put into it, the more satisfaction you get out. Get involved!"
-Joseph Mangano, CDW-G

A Message from the Chair

Dear Members, Colleagues and Friends:

As I conclude my term as Chair of The NYS Forum Executive Committee, I see that 2006/2007 was another excellent year for The Forum and its committees. The NYS Forum achieved a record high number of participants reached by its educational and informational events. Also, the membership in The NYS Forum IT Corporate Roundtable increased from 45 companies to 57. I would like to thank the many people who honored us with the following presentations at The Forum's monthly meetings:

• Disclosure Law – Donna Black, OSC and Jim Reed, DOB
• OFT Update – Meg Levine, OFT
• OCSCIC Update – Will Pelgrin, OCSCIC
• Focus/FMS Update – Joan Sullivan, OSC and Susan Knapp, DOB
• NYS Strategic IT Plan Update – Michael Mittleman, Ph.D., OCIO with the CIO Committee Co-chairs
• NYS Technology Planning Update – Nancy Gutterman, OCIO and Paul Fisk, DOB
• Building an Energy Smart IT Environment – Tracy Davis, Dell; Tanyalynnette Rosmarino, Big Fix; Daniel Costello, Intel; and Cater Yepsen, Cisco Systems

The NYS Forum Committees, together with the assistance of the many volunteers, both public and corporate, who gave their time, energy and knowledge to collaborate on projects that benefit the entire Enterprise, are to be commended for their accomplishments. Thank you, each and every one of you. Since each Committee has a public sector co-chair and a private sector co-chair and because each member of the IT Corporate Roundtable participated on at least one committee, amazing results came from this unique blend of public and private cooperation, which has been both intellectually stimulating and enjoyable.

I would also like to give special thanks to the committee co-chairs:

• Business Continuity
  Tom Luther, OSC and Christopher Lloyd, Keane, Inc.
• Emerging Technologies
  Peter Finn, Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation; John McCarthy, Assembly; James Brennan, Verizon; Joseph Mangano, CDW-G
• IT Accessibility
  Debi Orton, GOER; Mike Short, Civil Service; Lisa Hebert Ryan, MicroKnowledge, Inc.
• IT Procurement
  Peter Chynoweth, CMA; Michael LaFrancis, Gartner;
• MATRIX
  Mario Chiarello, OSC and Jack Bloise, Computer Associates
• Project Management
  Brenda Breslin, OFT and Jonathan Blake, Keane, Inc.
• Security
  JoAnn Bomeisl, Insurance Department and Chris Labatt-Simon, D&D Consulting
• Small/Medium/Local Government Agency
  Terri Daly, OFT; Karl Kelly, DMNA; Leo Pfohl, CGI; Michele Richens, IMG
• Webmasters Guild
  Paul Maguire, OASAS and Don Bekkering, IMG

• IT Corporate Roundtable
  Robert G. Kelly, DHCR; Bill Branch, BearingPoint, Inc.; Maryann Jablonowski, Accenture

Since the staff members are the foundation of The Forum's very busy and successful organization, I would like to recognize Greg Benson, Executive Director, who is the glue that continues to increase fiscal support and coordinate the many activities offered by The Forum. Also, Rebecca Buchner, Executive Assistant, who is amazing at organization and event scheduling. And finally Milena Ivanova, Technical Coordinator, who is our creative web master and photographer, and is responsible for all of The Forum website changes, and her able assistant, Mike Chambers.

The term for an officer of The Forum is three years and they go by very quickly. I have enjoyed serving with past chairs Joanne Riddett and Celia Hamblin and have learned from both of them. This past year, working with fellow officers Diane Taylor and JoAnn Bomeisl, has also been very rewarding; I have benefited from their professionalism and creativeness. I am sure they will be great leaders during the coming year. I have enjoyed being Chair of The Forum and particularly enjoyed meeting and working with such talented people.

My thanks to all for their support and for this opportunity to serve.

Sincerely,
Leigh Favitta

Our Mission

It is the mission of The New York State Forum to promote and support policies and practices for effective, equitable and secure use and management of information resources in New York state government at all levels. The pursuance of The Forum's mission is distinguished by the ongoing provision of relevant IT knowledge transfer and the highest quality education and training programs available to New York's state and local public sector IT leadership and staff.

"The design of the New York State Accessibility Validation Tool is an important step both for The Forum and for the citizens of New York State. The ultimate use of this tool will significantly improve the delivery of services over the Web for all of the citizens of New York State. Hopefully, it will serve as a catalyst for other public and private sector groups to create web sites that are accessible for all users. I am proud to be a member of The Forum."
-Paul Maguire, Information Security Officer, NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services

The Heart of Our Strategy

The pursuance of The Forum's mission is distinguished by the ongoing provision of relevant IT knowledge transfer and the highest quality education and training programs available to New York's State and local public sector IT leadership and staff.

Our Core Initiatives

• IT education and training for all levels of organizational leadership and staff
• Identification and promotion of best practices
• Policy-related research and analysis
• Development of tools for IT leadership and staff
• Enhancement of effective communications
• Development of productive collaboration with the IT corporate sector

Strengthening and Building New Alliances

NYS Forum programs rely on the expertise and support of a variety of public sector, non-profit and corporate partners. Without these vital and productive partnerships, The Forum's programs for New York state and local government leadership and staff simply would not exist. This year the expansion of alliances was marked by the first jointly hosted monthly meeting undertaken with the Capitol Area Technology Association and the continuing partnerships with the Project Management Institute and the World Organization of Webmasters. Given the extraordinary level of program participation this year, The NYS Forum wishes to acknowledge the contributions of the program partners noted below.

2006-2007 Program Partners

All Member Corporations of The NYS Forum IT Corporate Roundtable

All of the generous sponsors/exhibitors of the 2007 NYS Cyber Security Conference (listed at: http://nysforum.org/pastseminars/csc-2007/exhibitorshall/)

and individually...

• Adobe
• BearingPoint, Inc.
• CA, Inc.
• Capitol Area Technology Association
• Center for Technology in Government
• Check Point/Pointsec
• Class Link
• CyberSmart!
• D&D Consulting
• Dolphin Technology, Inc.
• Empire State College
• Formatta
• Empire State Development Corp.
• Gartner
• Glasshouse
• HiSoftware, Inc.
• Hitachi Data Systems
• Hudson Falls School District
• IBM
• i-Safe America
• Keane, Inc.
• Linium, LLC
• Lofty Perch, Inc.
• L&P Media
• McAfee, Inc.
• MicroKnowledge, Inc.
• Multi State Information Sharing and Analysis Center
• National Cyber Security Alliance
• New York City and Upstate NY Chapters of the Project Management Institute (PMI)
• New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications
• New York Library Association
• Northeast ADA and IT Center, Cornell University
• New York Network
• New York State Parent Teacher Association
• New York State
  • Archives
  • Attorney General
  • Center for Information Forensics and
  • Assurance
  • Consumer Protection Board
  • Council of School Superintendents
  • Division of Criminal Justice Services
  • Division of Lottery
  • Department of Taxation and Finance
  • Department of Banking
  • Education Department
  • Ethics Commission
  • Governor's Offic e of Employee Relations
  • Power Authority
  • Office of the Chief Information Officer
  • Office of Children and Family Services
  • Office of Cyber Security and Critical
  • Infrastructure Coordination
  • Office of General Services
  • Office of Mental Health
  • Office of Mental Retardation and
  • Developmental Disabilities
  • Office of Science Technology and
  • Academic Research
  • Office of the State Comptroller
  • Office of Temporary and Disability
  • Assistance
  • Police
  • Workers' Compensation Board
• South Colonie School District
• State Employees Federal Credit Union
• Symantec Corp.
• The Jenna Foundation for Non-Violence
• Time Warner Cable
• Troy Web Consulting
• University at Albany, State University of New York
• Professional Employees Federation
• PGB Corporation
• US Department of Homeland Security
• World Organization of Webmasters
• Warren County
• WGBH-Boston

Affording Quality and Timely Educational Opportunities

During 2006-2007 The Forum experienced extraordinary growth in the number of educational program participants. Education and training events were offered to a greater number of participants than ever before in the organization's history. These events, designed to specifically address member concerns and needs, were offered during the 2006-2007 program year to over 17,000 participants. Continuing as a key factor in the growth of this vital member service area is the use of virtual delivery mechanisms to expand outreach and participation beyond The Forum's traditional onsite, face-toface format. The Child Safe annual events developed in conjunction with the NYS Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination (CSCIC) and other state agencies, and the national cyber security web cast series, also developed with CSCIC on behalf of the U.S Office of Homeland Security and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, have been key to the expansion of this virtual program delivery. The extraordinary growth in program participation is illustrated in the graph on page 7 of the PDF version of the annual report.

Important Facts:

• The 2006-2007 record level of educational program participation achieved a 17%+ increase over the previous year.
• An unprecedented level of member and partner fiscal support for The Forum's program offerings was achieved for 2006-2007.
• IT Corporate Roundtable membership increased dramatically and state/ local government involvement in committee and leadership roles was unprecedented.

Selected Forum Events held in 2006-2007

• In response to Governor Spitzer's "15 by 15" energy conservation program announced in April, at the request of The Forum's Executive Committee, the IT Corporate Roundtable planned and held a panel presentation on Building an Energy Smart IT Environment in May of 2007.
• A Webcasting Best Practices program was offered to assist agencies with understanding how to best comply with Executive Order #3.
• A Doing IT Business with New York State seminar was offered including presentations on all new laws and regulations affecting state procurement.
• An Email Archiving and Email Management session was conducted in conjunction with the NYS Archives for state and local agencies.
• The 10th Anniversary of the NYS Cyber Security Conference was held in June 2007.
• The New York State Successful Web Communications Series of educational offerings based on The Forum's IT Accessibility Committee's curriculum was completed.
• The Cyber Security Webcast series was continued in conjunction with the NYS Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination.

Research and Publication/Tool Initiatives

Research undertaken and tools produced during the 2006-2007 program year continued to reflect both the traditional pursuits common to The Forum but also continued a clear commitment to providing useful, "hands-on" tools for IT leadership and staff in New York state. A sampling of this work is noted in the following discussion.

• The Project Management Committee created a Project Management Quick Start Guide and Minimum Standards Checklist for state/local agency use.
• The NYS Forum, in conjunction with the NYS Archives, undertook a survey to determine the status of email management programs across state agencies as a means for informing new state guidelines and for planning relevant educational sessions.
• The Small/Medium/Local Government Agency SIG undertook a survey research of small, medium and local government organizations to determine common priorities in order to inform the planning of initiatives to address them.
• The Business Continuity Committee, with assistance from Gartner, is reconstituting the Online Business Continuity HealthCheck for potential use by any and all organizations in the coming year.
• The IT Accessibility Committee, in conjunction with the Webmasters' Guild, developed requirements for a NYS-specific webpage validation tool to serve as the basis of a tool development initiative.

These few examples illustrate the balance of dynamic tool development and continuing research in support of program development that is indicative of the rich variety of initiatives inherent to the work of The NYS Forum and its committees in responding to the needs of New York's IT leadership and staff. The updating of the NYS Managing IT Directory was postponed due to the significant degree of staffing transitions taking place throughout the 2006-2007 timeframe. That directory and the IT Corporate Roundtable Directory will be updated in the near future.

Forum Committees

The Core of Forum Productivity

The "engine" of the NYS Forum's programs is its committee structure. In recent years The Forum has matured and the work of The Forum committees has grown substantially, focusing on providing the most relevant knowledge transfer and education and training programs available to New York's state and local public sector IT leadership and staff. The work of Forum committees has also been key to the development of tools now in use across a wide variety of state and local government agencies. New York state policies related to accessibility, procurement, and IT career ladders have been shaped by the work of Forum committees. Indeed, the committees are the core strength of The Forum.

As evidence of the dynamic nature of the committee structure, in response to the Governor's "15 by 15" program announced in April 2007, The Forum's Executive Committee held an Energy Smart Data Center Seminar in May 2007 and created an IT Greening Committee in June 2007. This committee is already working on a major event to be held during the 2007-2008 program year. This example illustrates the unique, timely and high quality capacity of The Forum's "can do," proactive approach to addressing New York's state and local government IT priorities.

In 2006-2007 the accomplishments of the committees far surpassed those of previous years. This only occurred because of the committed leadership of these important groups and The NYS Forum is extremely grateful to our Committee Co-Chairs, listed in the Message from the Chair.

Though ongoing committee work, minutes of meetings and workplans are posted on The Forum's website (http://www.nysforum.org/ committees/initiatives/) and/or disseminated by Committee e-Newsletters, the following sampling of accomplishments underscores the value of committee contributions during 2006-2007:

• The IT Accessibility Committee,in conjunction with the Webmasters' Guild, launched the development of a New York State Website Accessibility Compliance Validation Tool; created a Wiki as a Committee resource; worked with the NYS Office for Technology on the NYS accessibility policy and standards review; and with the Webmasters' Guild, co-hosted a program with the World Organization of Webmasters.
• The Project Management Committee developed a "quick start" Project Management Guide (available in the committee's online repository) specifically addressing the needs of small agencies; developed a Minimum Project Management Standards Checklist that is also available in the repository; hosted the third joint session with the Upstate NY Chapter of the Project Management Institute; and secured a grant from the Governors' Offic e of Employee Relations to gather information on project management courses being offered across New York state agencies.
• The Security Committee worked in partnership with the NYS Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination to continue and expand the bi-monthly educational cyber security web casts supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center and supported the webcasting sessions of the annual Kids Safe Online conference, cohosted with CSCIC and other state agencies, which drew over 10,000 simultaneous viewers.
• The Business Continuity Committee updated the Online Business Continuity HealthCheck and initiated planning of both a NYC educational event (in conjunction with DoITT) and an Albany-based event focused on increasing policy level awareness and commitment to business continuity best practices.
• The MATRIX Committee expanded its educational offerings and conducted a key session that introduced participants to all NYS Forum committees. That informative and effective session resulted in over 40 persons signing up to participate as new members of one or more of The Forum's committees.
• The Emerging Technologies Committee continued its offerings of educational programs including sessions on service oriented architecture, document management and mobile digital forms; planned and conducted the second tour of the SUNY Albany Nano Technology Center; and initiated a relationship with the Center for Technology in Government to further efforts to develop metrics on emerging technology applications in NY state and local government agencies.
• The Webmaster's Guild continued its offering of topical sessions that drew more than 700 participants; was instrumental (in conjunction with the IT Accessibility Committee) in working with OFT on the approach to agency implementation of Executive Order #3; conducted a best practice session addressed to EO #3 compliance; and was a key contributor to the development of the validation tool design.
• The Small/Medium/Local Government Agency SIG assumed The Forum's focus on local government; accomplished a survey that has led to planning a session on document and email management to be held in conjunction with the NYS Archives; and has instituted regular information sharing and voicing of IT concerns of the small/medium/local agencies with the NYS Office for Technology, the Office of the NYS Chief Information Officer, and the NYS Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination.
• The IT Procurement Committee monitored and disseminated information relevant to NYS Forum government and corporate members that came of actions and discussions of the NYS Procurement Council; assisted with arranging presentations by the NYS Ethics Commission and the NYS Lobby Commission; conducted a Doing IT Business With New York State seminar and is planning another IT Contracting Symposium for the coming year.
• The IT Greening Committee was created in June 2007 and is planning a major state (or possibly northeast regional) conference event on IT Greening to be co-hosted by The NYS Forum and the NYS Energy Research and Development Authority.
• The IT Corporate Roundtable provided world class experts for all of the educational programs offered and responded to the request from the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) to explore extending the value of The Forum's Roundtable to New York City agencies. The Roundtable also continued and significantly expanded upon the diversity and depth of expertise made available in support of all of The Forum's committee initiatives. The growth in the membership of the IT Corporate Roundtable and the willingness of its members to support the growing number of educational sessions has been a major factor in the increased quality and level of participation in Forum-hosted events.

"What an outstanding resource. The NYS Forum is the channel for IT professionals to exchange ideas, make contacts and learn from other agency innovations." Vivian J. Conboy, PMP, Management Analysis and Project Services, NYS Department of Taxation and Finance

Administrative Operations

Program Support

Enabling and supporting programs developed through the committee structure of operations is fundamental to achieving the organizational objectives. The NYS Forum's administration strives to attain the highest level of efficiency and sustainable organizational output quantity and quality. To accommodate and support the steadily increased offerings of educational programs, last year The Forum supplemented the one full time onsite technical support person (Milena Ivanova) with an additional half-time person (Mike Chambers). This increased support, provided contractually through Cogent Technologies, Inc. of Troy, New York, has provided much needed assistance for:

• The redesign of The Forum's website including all committee pages
• Updating the Online Business Continuity Health Check
• Provision of listserv capacity to all NYS Forum committees
• More timely posting of news and event registrations
• Support of committee e-Newsletters
• Undertaking member surveys and polling in support of program development and leadership
• Membership Directory made available online

Financial Highlights

While maintaining and supplementing organizational capacity to enable sustaining additional program growth, the executive leadership of The Forum has achieved extraordinary success in improving the fiscal health of the organization. During the 2006-2007 program year The Forum enjoyed a record year of total annual revenues/underwriting which exceeded $1 million. Administration also perpetuated and surpassed the minimal cash flow horizon set forth by The Forum's Executive Committee in 2001. The growing unencumbered cash on hand for the start (October 1st) of each of the last six program years underscores how the fiscal condition of the organization has steadily improved.

Adding to fiscal operational efficiency, The Forum again expanded the use of automated fund transfers for a wide variety of fiscal transactions. Approximately 10% of The Forum's income was accomplished through electronic transfer during 2006-2007.

"The Forum's IT Corporate Roundtable enables agency IT managers to discuss issues and trends with the vendor community as professional colleagues, not as buyers and sellers of products. The return on investment for involvement in The Forum is tremendous." -Peter Finn, Deputy Commissioner for Finance and Administration and Chief Information Officer, NYS Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation

2006 – 2007 Executive Committee

Chair, Leigh Favitta, Dormitory Authority

Vice Chair, Diane Taylor, Office of the State Comptroller

Secretary-Treasurer, JoAnn P. Bomeisl, Insurance Department

 

Kevin Belden, Office of the State Comptroller

James Bell, NYS Senate

Kathryn Bohacek, Office of Real Property Services

Vivian Conboy, Department of Taxation & Finance

Terri Daly, Office for Technology

Sharon Dawes, Center for Technology in Government

Thomas Duffy, Office of Cyber Security & Critical Infrastructure Coordination

Peter Finn, Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation

Robert Freeman, Department of State

Jerry Gerard, Office of General Services

Adam Gigandet, Department of Motor Vehicles

Celia Hamblin, Department of Labor

Edward Hemminger, NYS Local Government IT Director's Association

Ellen Kattleman, Offic e for Technology

Karl Kelly, Division of Military & Naval Affairs

Paul Maguire, Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services

Donald Marilla, NYS Assembly

Janice Morris, Department of Transportation

Joanne Riddett, Thruway Authority

Peg Schumacher, Division of the Budget

Franklin Slade, Department of Civil Service

IT Corporate Roundtable

Chair, Bill Branch, BearingPoint, Inc.

Vice Chair, Maryann Jablonowski, Accenture, LLP

Liaison to the Executive Committee, Robert G. Kelly, NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal

 

Accenture, LLP

Annese & Associates, Inc.

AT&T Government Solutions

BearingPoint, Inc.

BigFix, Inc.

Bowne Management Systems, Inc.

Bull Services

CCNY

CDW-G

CGI-AMS

Ciber, Inc.

Cisco Systems

Citrix Systems, Inc.

CMA Consulting Services

Cognos Corp.

Computer Aid, Inc.

CA, Inc.

Curam Software

D&D Consulting

Dell, Inc.

Deloitte

DiRAD Technologies, Inc.

Dox Electronics, Inc.

EDS

EMC

ESI International

Gartner

HiSoftware, Inc.

Hitachi Data Systems

IBM

IMG

Information Builders

Intel Americas

IT Resource Solutions

Keane, Inc.

KPMG

Linium, LLC

McAfee, Inc.

MicroKnowledge, Inc.

Microsoft Corp.

Nortel Networks

Northeast Government Consulting, LLC

NYSTEC

Oracle Corp.

Prudent IT Services, LLC

SAS Institute, Inc.

SOURCECORP BPS, Inc.

Strategic Computer Solutions

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Sybase, Inc.

Symantec Corp.

TEKsystems, Inc.

Time Warner Cable

Unisys Corp.

Verizon Business

The Walters Group

Xerox Corp.

The NYS Forum
Rockefeller Institute of Government
411 State Street
Albany, NY 12203
Phone: 518.443.5001
Fax: 518.443.5006
E-mail: info@nysforum.org
Web: www.nysforum.org