Open Forum

October 2004

Vol. 18 No. 1

Innovations in information resource management to support government

FROM THE EDITOR

Dear Colleague:

Attendance at the 18th Annual Meeting was exceptional and, we hope, an indication of what the new program year will bring. We are grateful for everyone who attended and congratulate those who were recognized as having accomplished leadership and project excellence. During the meeting we noted the comment made by Diana Ritter, Executive Deputy at the Office of the State Comptroller, who, when accepting an award made to her Office, declared: "We have a real jewel of a resource in The Forum." We are all extremely grateful for that compliment and it speaks well for the Officers and Committee leadership that were responsible for the exceptional achievements in 2003-2004. It also underscores our motivation to maintain that excellence as we move into our new year.

Also notable was the prominence of IT accessibility at our Annual Meeting. The NYS Office for Technology was presented with The Forum's Best Practice Award in the Policy category for its release of the revised New York State Policy for Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications. In addition, Debi Orton and Mike Short, Co-Chairs of The Forum's IT Accessibility Committee were presented with The Forum's Award for Excellence for their work and leadership throughout the year. Their work with OFT on the new policy and with committee members to create the curriculum and supporting resources for state/local webmasters and applications developers is exemplary. Few IT organizations have maintained the persistent work on state accessibility policy and educational materials as evidenced by our IT Accessibility Committee. We are very proud of this work and remain fully committed to the goal of equitable access and usability that this work represents.

The obvious integration and maturation of The Forum's IT Corporate Roundtable was very much in evidence at the Annual Meeting. The Case Study Document generously written and published by Roundtable member CDW-G traces the evolution of this group within The Forum. Several presenters noted the significance of the corporate contributions to the achievements made by all Forum committees. Chris Labatt-Simon was awarded the IT Corporate Roundtable Award for Excellence for his leadership contributions to The Forum's Security and Business Continuity Committee. Those efforts ultimately led to the creation and offering of a national cyber security web cast series in partnership with the NYS Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination.

Last, the alignment of The Forum's committee initiatives with the priorities of the NYS Office of the CIO and the NYS Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination was in clear focus and noted by all who spoke at the Annual Meeting. The value of this organizational attribute was underscored by keynote speaker Steve Kolodney who indicated that: "Successfully navigating the enterprise architecture roadmap will require not centralized or decentralized approaches, but a Federated approach, and that bodes well for the work pursued by The Forum for probably the next 30 years."

This month we enter the first of those next 30 years and look forward to working with all of you to make it as successful as was 2003-2004.
Sincerely,
Greg Benson

The Forum Celebrates Success at its 18th Annual Meeting

On September 10th, the NYS Forum held its 18th Annual Meeting at the Desmond Hotel and Conference Center for 170 attendees. Outgoing chair of the Executive Committee Michael Donovan, Office of the CIO, announced the results of the Executive Committee election. Re-elected members include: JoAnn Bomeisl, Insurance Department; Stan France, Schoharie County; Chris Haile, SUNY at Albany; Karl Kelly, Division of Military and Naval Affairs; and Gene Pezdek, Department of Environmental Conservation. Newly elected is Victor Stucchi, Higher Education Services Corporation. We'd like to extend our congratulations to all as we begin another year. Mike provided an overview of The Forum's accomplishments over the past year before "passing the gavel" to Joanne Riddett, Thruway Authority, incoming chair. Joanne provided an overview of the objectives and goals of The Forum as she embarks on her term as chair of the Executive Committee for 2004-2005.

Keynote Address

Having worked in the information technology field for more than 30 years, Steve Kolodney is now Vice President, Public Sector at CGIAMS. He is responsible for digital government strategy and contributes to the development of public sector solutions. As part of CGI-AMS' Customer Quality Management, he serves as the "2nd Executive" to a number of leading projects. Kolodney consults with Chief Information Officers (CIO) and other government officials on trends and issues in government and he is working with a number of states to establish their CIO functions and digital government programs. Steve's keynote address covered the challenges we face and the characteristics needed to overcome them.

Award for Excellence

Central to the Annual Meeting is the recognition of excellence and best practices awards to recognize the outstanding work done during the past year in the area of information resource management. Accomplishing one's work on time, on budget, and in a high quality fashion is what we're all paid to do. However, when what you do here in New York is quickly recognized as having national value and you become a part of a national leadership team in your profession, you demonstrate the excellence The Forum strives to recognize.

Will Pelgrin, Executive Director of OCSCIC, is not a witness to the evolving national strategies in the cyber security arena, he is central to them. As Chair of the Multi-State Information sharing Analysis Center, Will has been in the national forefront of creating a focal point for gathering information on cyber threats to critical infrastructure and for sharing information on cyber incidents and threats. This national capacity has become a fundamental tool for providing timely warnings on cyber threats and attacks and has produced information and intelligence analyses to support federal, state and local first responders and law enforcement readiness and response efforts.

Debi Orton, Governor's Office of Employee Relations and Mike Short, Department of Civil Service, are co-chairs of The Forum's IT Accessibility Committee and were also recognized with an Award for Excellence for their leadership in working with OFT on the revised state accessibility policy and standard and, of great value to an IT audience well beyond the membership of The Forum, the creation of an educational curriculum and resource to aid those responsible for creating government websites to ensure conformance to the policy and standard. First released as a CD, the dynamic nature of the curriculum resources has led to the creation of an online resource jointly sponsored by the NYS Office of the Advocate for Persons with Disabilities and the Northeast ADA and IT Center at Cornell University. This resource, which has already been recognized for its value on a national scale, is available for download at: www.nysfirm.org under IT Accessibility. Once again we're witnessing The Forum's work evolving to national relevance. Congratulations!

Best Practices Awards

Best practices awards were given in the categories of Management, Policy and Technical Implementation.

Management

Management awards are given for innovative activities which improve the management of information resources and technologies. Innovations in this area might include the restructuring of an IRM organization to improve customer service, development of innovative procurement and/or partnering activities which maximize use of scarce resources, development and management of assessment teams to deal with crises like the Year 2000 or development of structures to effectively manage new technologies.

Division of Housing and Community Renewal – Mitchell-Lama Automated Waiting List System – First created as a "log book system" in 1955 for the purpose of building affordable housing for middle income residents, this system is now automated online. Developments built under the program are subject to regulation by the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, the agency responsible for ensuring that apartments are affordable for moderate income families, that the tenant selection proves is equitable, and that selected tenants meet eligibility requirements. There are currently over 200 Mitchell-Lama developments with approximately 90,000 apartments.

Office of the State Comptroller – FOCAS project – an initiative to replace the State's Central Accounting System (CAS). OSC recognized early on that the CAS is not a stand alone system and that it interacts with a multitude of disparate FMS systems to process transactions and provide information. To ensure the new system would meet the comprehensive financial needs of FMS systems across the state, a strategic partnership was formed between OSC, the Division of the Budget, the Office for Technology, and the Office of the Chief Information Officer.

Policy

Policy awards are given for legislative or other state initiatives or internal agency policy initiatives which improve information management and/or lower the barriers to effective information management. This might include the sponsorship of new laws which support electronic commerce, rewriting of regulations to lower barriers for the use of electronic documents, or development of effective organization-wide document management or security policies which improve document handling.

Chauncey Parker/New York State Criminal Justice Agencies – New York State's Integrated Justice Program – In 2003, Chauncey Parker, Director of Criminal Justice and Commissioner of the Division of Criminal Justice Services, challenged the criminal justice agencies to implement Governor George Pataki's vision for an enterprise approach to criminal justice technology and information sharing. As a first step in meeting this challenge, the criminal justice agencies established the Integrated Justice Advisory Board (IJAB) to define the strategic direction and oversee the myriad policy and program initiatives necessary to accomplish the Governor's vision.

Office for Technology – New York's Policy for Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications – On June 21, 2004 the Office for Technology (OFT) issued a new Statewide Technology Policy regarding Accessibility of State Agency Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications (P04-002) and an accompanying standard (S04-001). Governor George E. Pataki has a strong commitment to making digital government services available to all New Yorkers. This accessibility policy and standard are an important part of realizing his vision for a "government without walls" and making digital government services available to the largest possible audience. The purpose of the policy and the accompanying standard is to make New York State agency web-based intranet and Internet information and applications accessible to people with disabilities. The policy replaces and supersedes OFT's earlier policies, 96-13 and 99-3, regarding accessibility.

Technical Implementation

Technical Implementation awards are given for effective implementation of information technology to meet business goals. Examples of innovation in this area might be the development of an agency Extranet which links internal units with external partners in a secure fashion, development of an agency Web application which improves communications with the public, or effective use of prototyping and application development tools to streamline application development.

Thruway Authority – Ramp LOS Application – Level of Service (LOS) is a concept that traffic engineers have devised to describe how well highway facilities operate using six levels of service categories, A, B, C, D, E and F, which roughly correspond to the letter grades used in education. On freeway ramp merges, LOS A is characterized by free-flow conditions with normal vehicle speeds and wide spaces between vehicles. As the LOS goes from B to D, speeds drop below normal, with some queuing possible on the ramp at LOS D. The physical capacity of the merge area is reached at LOS E and with level F representing stop-and-go traffic. To maintain and track the usage of the massive road system, the Thruway developed the Ramp LOS application to provide an engineering quality "health" check for controlled toll sections.

Office of the State Comptroller – Secure 4 Tier Network Infrastructure – Over the past several years, the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) has been engaged in implementing a network and security infrastructure which would allow conducting business over the Web. In order to implement this new infrastructure; OSC not only demonstrated the types of inter-divisional and cross-agency collaborations necessary to achieve success in a project of this magnitude but employed a best practices approach to the selection and use of technology never before utilized in the State to this degree. The impetus for this project came from the necessity of upgrading the Statewide Payroll System to a browser based application and the need to position OSC to conduct e-Government in the future.

Best of the Web

Each year, The Forum recognizes the outstanding work done with the innovative use of web technology. To be eligible, sites had to be functioning at the time of the nomination and had to be in compliance with the OFT Technical Policies 96-13 and 99-3 for Accessibility.

Council on Children and Families within the Office of Children and Family Services – Kid's Wellbeing Indicators Clearinghouse (KWIC) – The KWIC website (www.nyskwic.org) is an interactive, web-based tool to gather, plot and monitor NYS children's health, education and well-being indicator data in order to improve outcomes for children and families. Until now, the type of data available in KWIC had only been available in the New York State Touchstones/Kids Count data books, also produced by the Council with funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Kids Count Initiative. The Internet versus print media proves to be a superior means for disseminating NYS Touchstones/KIDS COUNT data as web-based capabilities expand access to New York State children's indicator data; include data as they become available; expand the number of indicators presented; provide access to other data resources; allow users to chart, graph, and map data; and give users the ability to tailor data to fit their needs. KWIC's state-of-the-art technology was identified as one of New York State's top 75 e-Commerce/e-Government initiatives.

IT Corporate Roundtable

The Goal of the IT Corporate Roundtable was the creation of an ongoing forum built on the basic principles inherent to the benefits realized through productive producer/consumer relationships, in a neutral environment operable at the policy level, which is difficult to achieve when housed in either the public or commercial sectors.

Chris Labatt-Simon, CEO of D&D Consulting, is the co-chair of The Forum's Business Continuity and Security Committee. This committee was central to the planning of the security webcast series which is now ongoing. This security-related education series grew out of the state and local needs underscored by the "gap analysis" undertaken by all state agencies. From a modest pilot test of virtual delivery with local government in February 2004 to the partnership with the NYS Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination that has resulted in ongoing collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security, and attracted nearly 1,800 participants from almost all of the 50 states in its first two offerings in June and August. Chris and his committee have been at the center of the action. The evolution of this security-related education objective from an idea pilot-tested with local government in February to a national webcast series in August clearly exemplifies the outcomes that can be achieved through productive partnerships, focused objectives and moreover, energetic, committed and creative leadership.

Photos and Presentations

To read the complete description of all awards, visit The Forum's website at: www.nysfirm.org and click on Past Seminars then Forum 18th Annual Meeting.

We'd like to apologize for the poor quality of photos in our black and white publication, not to mention the rather unusual placement of the Office of the State Comptroller for the Secure 4 Tier Network Infrastructure photo, however we felt that recognition to those "for a job well done" is more important and should not go unnoticed. These and other photos are also available on our web site where they are available for download. If you do not have Internet access, you may contact The Forum at (518) 443-5001 to view photos and request copies. Also posted on our website are presentation slides by: keynote speaker Steve Kolodney, CGI-AMS; Joanne Riddett, Thruway Authority, incoming Executive Committee Chair, addressing Where are we going? Initiatives for 2004-2005; and Steve Frank, Oracle, IT Corporate Roundtable cochair, providing an IT Corporate Roundtable Update.

A Note of Thanks

This issue of Open Forum has been dedicated to honoring everyone who has contributed to the success of The Forum. Since its inception in 1987, The Forum has continued to prosper and uphold the slogan – Innovations in information resource management to support government – and thanks those of you who have taken the time and initiative to become involved in the mission of The Forum. It is through your dedicated support that The Forum is able to continue to promote new technologies and policies for the betterment of New York state and local Government. The enclosed 2003-2004 Annual Report highlights those accomplishments.

Congratulations to everyone who has assisted The Forum over the years and to those who played a role in bringing their agencies' best practices to fruition.

Executive Committee
Officers
Chair, Michael Donovan, State Police
Vice-Chair, Joanne Riddett, Thruway Authority
Sec./Treas. Cecelia Hamblin, Dept. of Labor
Members
James Bell, NYS Senate
Walter Bikowitz, OGS
Thomas R. Bodden, Assoc. of Towns of NYS
JoAnn P. Bomeisl, Insurance Dept.
Terri Daly, OFT
Sharon Dawes, CTG
Leigh Favitta, Dormitory Authority
Stanley France, Schoharie County
Robert Freeman, Dept. of State
Jeffrey S. Grunfeld, OSC
Christine Haile, SUNY at Albany
Roman Hedges, NYS Assembly
Karl Kelly, DMNA
Robert G. Kelly, DHCR
Paul Maguire, OASAS
Kim S. McKinney, NYSLGITDA
Michael Mittleman, CIO
Janice Morris, Dept. of Civil Service
Nancy Mulholland, Workers' Comp. Board
Eugene Pezdek, DEC
Alexander Roberts, DCJS
Franklin Slade, Dept. of Civil Service
Timothy Spencer, DOB
David Walsh, SED

Staff
Editor
Gregory M. Benson, Executive Director
Design & Production
Rebecca J. Buchner, Executive Assistant
Milena Ivanova,
Technical Coordinator

Editorial Office
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Open Forum is a regular publication of the NYS Forum for IRM. We welcome editorial proposals and submissions.