Open Forum August/September 2005

Vol. 18 No. 9/10

Innovations in information resource management to support government

FROM THE EDITOR

Dear Colleague:

Since this is the last issue of the Open Forum for the 2004-'05 program year, it is appropriate to reflect upon and offer thanks to those who made the year what is the organization's most productive to date.

First, I'd like to express appreciation to our officers. Joanne Riddett, Chair; Celia Hamblin, Vice Chair and Leigh Favitta, Secretary/Treasurer, have provided stable and inspired leadership over the last year. They have strived to move The Forum to new levels of productivity and value for our membership. By all accounts, their guidance and counsel have yielded those results.

Second, as is evidenced by the productivity of The Forum's committees, it is imperative to recognize the crucial role that committee co-chairs play. Undertaking...

• the development of educational programs that served over 10,000 IT professionals;
• the creation of useful tools related to PPM and vital to the state's peer review process;
• a research effort focused on those responsible for New York state's web development;
• the leveraging of employee union training funds to support IT educational needs,
• the development and offering of quarterly national cyber security web casts;

...and a myriad of other very tangible and beneficial outcomes of 2004 - '05, are the products of The Forum's committees and result from none other than strong, inspired leadership. On behalf of all of our members who've benefited from these programs, I offer a sincere thanks to our team of 26 professionals who comprise The Forum's committee leadership team.

Third, I want to offer our collective thanks to the members of The Forum's Corporate Roundtable who have generously provided corporate experts as resources for a wide range of committee initiatives and presentations, afforded facilities for committee meetings and presentations, and given substantially of their time to serve as members of The Forum's committees. A special thanks is offered to those corporate representatives that have made the commitment to co-chair a Forum Committee. All Forum committees now have Roundtable members as co-chairs and the value of The Forum's strong partnership with the corporate IT community is exemplified by a government/corporate leadership team for every committee.

Next, I want to express my appreciation to Rebecca Buchner and Milena Ivanova. They represent the core capacity of The Forum and have readily welcomed and met the challenges of unprecedented growth of Forum activities and initiatives while being ever mindful of our commitment to quality, timeliness and fiscal prudence.

Last, I want to express our appreciation to all of The Forum's government and corporate individual and organizational members. Your continuing support provides a nationally unique and wonderfully productive context for the blending of government/corporate resources to produce tangible outcomes directly benefiting all of New York's state and local IT community.

Sincerely,

Gregory Benson

Executive Director

Interview with Lisa Hebert Ryan

Co-Chair, IT Accessibility Committee

The Forum: MicroKnowledge is new to The Forum's IT Corporate Roundtable. As a new member, what does your corporation find attractive about this "public/corporate partnership" initiative?

Lisa: This public/corporate context gives MicroKnowledge the opportunity to have a voice with the public sector in a context where we guide each other as we learn and grow together. Recognizing that there are a lot of common areas of interest between public and corporate entities, it is our individual uniqueness that brings new strengths to each of the sectors. The leveraging of these strengths is evident in all of The Forum's committees.

The Forum: What was it that attracted you to become involved as the Co-Chair of the IT Accessibility Committee?

Lisa: The IT Accessibility Committee is comprised of individuals with varying backgrounds yet with one commitment - to educate New York on what accessibility is, why it is important and how it is implemented. I look forward to being part of a group committed to making positive change and recognizing the need for an accessible web presence.

The Forum: The committee undertook a survey and focus groups last year to assist with clarifying the work context and educational needs of government web developers (that report will be released this fall). You have seen the draft of that report. Were there any outcomes of that work that you found surprising?

Lisa: I was most surprised that although there is the NYS Technology Policy P04-002 and the NYS Mandatory Technology Standard S04-001 to mandate accessibility, there is no web-based career track within the state. The individuals who are maintaining and creating web sites for New York are those individuals who have an interest in doing so, and the survey and focus groups made it very apparent that they are aware that there is no job description or promotional testing in place for them.

The Forum: Are there specific initiatives you feel are implied by the findings?

Lisa: Since the Internet has become a primary vehicle for making information available, it would be beneficial to create a web-based career track. This is an initiative that one of The Forum's committees will undoubtedly be working on this year and as was suggested at The Forum's annual strategic planning session, pursuance of it would benefit from working in collaboration with the CIO Council's HR Committee.

The Forum: Given the growing shift of state and local governments to the Internet for sharing information and for citizen transactions, are there particular education and training needs for government web developers that you feel will be of a particularly high priority?

Lisa: State and local government web developers need to advance their skills in the area of creating sites that are effective, usable and accessible using the NYS S04-001 guidelines. That said, the need to educate web developers in the area of web-based security is essential. Taxpayers need assurances that the information shared over the Internet will be used only for its intended purposes.

The Forum: In 2003, investigations conducted by New York's Attorney General Eliot Spitzer found that portions of two major corporate web sites were not accessible or compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). In 2004, Mr. Spitzer announced settlements with those corporations that indicated their agreement to comply with the ADA. This action by the Attorney General provides clear evidence of New York State's commitment to ensure equitable access for its citizens in the virtual environment. Do you feel there is a role for The Forum and your committee as it relates to creating awareness and providing education for the corporate sector?

Lisa: Yes, primarily since the private sector fills a resource gap within the government. There are a large number of private sector contractors who are responsible for designing, creating and maintaining NY government sites. The Forum, particularly the IT Accessibility Committee and Webmasters' Guild could have a significant impact if they were to reach out to these corporations to provide awareness and training opportunities to enhance skills. Most private sector organizations believe that creating an accessible site will have a negative impact on their bottom line. In fact, the Attorney General's actions should be an incentive for many corporate organizations to simply understand that they have a social responsibility to make their site accessible. By not doing so they could potentially be losing 8-10% of their marketable audience, which in turn WILL affect their bottom line.

The Forum: Are there any comments you would like to make as we conclude this interview?

Lisa: One of the IT Accessibility Committee's goals this year is to reach out to local governments and private sector businesses. I believe that this extension of outreach will be a worthwhile venture as we all work to achieve an accessible web presence for New York State.

Lisa Hebert Ryan

Ms. Ryan has been in the technology field for over 14 years. She has consulted with businesses in using their technology more efficiently, using the correct technology in the workplace and understanding how job responsibilities change due to technology implementation. For the past 12 years, she has worked for MicroKnowledge and has held a variety of positions such as trainer, network administrator, consultant, spokesperson, strategic planner, and sales. In addition, Ms. Ryan and MicroKnowledge are involved in many community enrichment organizations and activities. Ms. Ryan has led more than 100 large, state-wide training and consulting projects.

For additional information about the Forum's IT Accessibility committee or other committees, visit us on the web at www.nysfirm.org.

Call for Entries:

Accessible Can Be Beautiful

The Forum is sponsoring a redesign contest for the IT Accessibility Committee's resource web site. The contest began on July 1 and closes on August 1. Finalists will be selected and the winner announced at the October 6 Webmasters' Guild 10th Anniversary Celebration. A prize of $500 will be awarded. Contest guidelines and submission information are available at www.nysfirm.org then click on IT Accessibility.

Forum Conducts Annual Strategic Planning Session

On the morning of Friday, July 15, 2005, The Forum's Executive Committee, IT Corporate Roundtable representatives and committee co-chairs gathered at the Crowne Plaza for the annual, halfday organizational planning meeting.

The meeting was facilitated by Jonathan Blake of Keane and featured presentations of what The Forum officers felt were exemplary committee practices. The committee presentations included:

• the Business Continuity Planning/Security Committee's use of national web casting as a means for extending outreach to Forum programs;
• the IT Accessibility Committee's leverage of GOER and employee union training funds to address IT accessibility training; and
• the Project Management Committee's close engagement and support of the CIO Council.

All committees presented an overview of their accomplishments for 2004 - 2005 and their tentatively planned initiatives for 2005 - 2006. Those reports were followed by small group discussions that yielded suggested new initiatives for each of the committees and for The Forum as an organization. The closing process of prioritization yielded a very high interest in initiatives proposed for the IT Procurement Committee (particularly holding a session on Sarbanes-Oxley and another on lobbying) and the Emerging Technology committee (conducting sessions on VOIP, RFID, etc.).

All of the suggested initiatives for the committees and The Forum in general including those noted "new" that came of the July 15th session (along with the priority votes cast by participants in parenthesis) can be found on the following pages and also at http://www.nysfirm.org/committees/initiatives/.

Government employees or corporations interested in becoming active with The Forum and its committee initiatives should contact Greg Benson or Rebecca Buchner at (518) 443-5001 or by emailing info@nysfirm.org. Each Forum committee has its own page on the Forum's website at www.nysfirm.org. There, you will find the committee cochairs contact information, upcoming meetings and events, as well as past meeting minutes.

2005 - 2006 Projected Initiatives

In addition to reviewing past committee accomplishments, the purpose of the annual strategic planning session held on July 15th was to provide input to shape the future direction of those committees. Jonathan Blake, Keane, facilitated the session and lead groups through a discussion process. Committee cochairs provided a list of suggested initiatives that had been determined by the committees prior to the strategic planning session. Group discussion during the session lead to additional initiatives.

All of the suggested committee initiatives are listed below. Those noted as "New" are an outcome of the session. The session concluded with participants voting on their top five priorities. The number in parenthesis indicates the number of votes received.

IT Accessibility

• As needed, assist with the web developer training pilot project jointly undertaken by GOER and the PEF PDC
• Analyze pilot training evaluations and determine next steps
• Continue to offer monthly clinics
• Explore the idea of formalizing mentoring relationships to provide support for less experienced web developers
• Identify and act on outreach opportunities with the private sector and localities (1)
• Investigate conferences and other training opportunities with a view toward establishing "scholarships" for State employees to attend
• Continue to work with the Webmasters Guild and WOW to provide information and training opportunities (1)
• Continue to raise awareness of IT accessibility issues with audiences other than web developers; explore feasibility of making awareness training mandatory
• Work with existing organizations (e.g., MATRIX, Training Council, etc.) to raise awareness of the need for accessible IT
• Encourage existing validation tool vendors to develop component to accommodate NYS standards (1)
• Publicize redesign contest and resultant web site redesign/update as proof of concept that "accessible can be beautiful"
• Expand monthly e-mail newsletter to provide more useful information to web developers
• Continue to provide training and information at every opportunity

BCP/Security

• Separate committee to two more focused committees on Security and BCP respectively.

Security

• Continue to support the international webcasts on security. (4)
• Work with CSCIC to develop curriculum and a webcast for 4th and 5th graders to support an educational initiative this October for National CyberSecurity Awareness Month.
• Increase support to the CIO committee members addressing IAM. (6)
• Provide additional resources to the CIO committee for educational presentations on Identity and Access Management
• Resource directory of security tools, solutions and companies. (Repository) Development of this repository would include expansion to support other committees.
• IAM health check audit/assessment (1)
• IAM information repository: vendor solutions, white papers (Repository)
• New: Work with groupings of small agencies to identify security needs (3)

Business Continuity

• Repository of business continuity tools, solutions and companies. (3)
• Solicit agencies for BCP representatives and establish a printed directory of agency contacts for BCP and DR. (2)
• Update of BCP health check (1)
• Solicit agencies to gather templates of plans (1)
• Investigate with Disaster Recovery Institute International to see what kind of DR and BCP training could be made available for agencies.
• Establish Executive Committee session with a presentation by a credentialed BCP/DR organization (4)
• New: Develop statewide standards (3)
• New:Develop a joint Forum/CSCIC initiative regarding Federal requirements

Emerging Technologies

• Arrange a second visit to the SUNY Albany Nano Technology Center (4)
• Arrange additional visit(s) to other Technology Centers
• Host at least four more Emerging Technologies Seminars (3)
• Arrange/conduct presentations for the GTC East
• Via an email solicitation/online polling, obtain feedback from public sector IT managers on topics/direction for the Emerging Technologies Committee (2)
• New: Explore applications support of The Forum (1)
• New: Closer relationship to CTG (1)
• New: Best practice dialogue on open source (2)
• New: Seminars on VOIP, RFID, mobile computing, electronic ink (12)
• New: Review implications of technology convergence (1)
• New: Develop relationship with the CIO Council enterprise architecture committee
• New: Inventory agencies that are early adopters (9)
• New: Develop a repository of emerging technology resources/information on Forum website (2)

Local Governments

• Set specification standards for security-based PC's that are being promoted by state agencies and attempt to enforce them.
• Identity access management techniques and assistance with implementation
• Develop a consortium of both small and large vendors servicing local governments that could be pre-approved for security needs. (1)
• Take an inventory of existing software that is being used by local government and work with vendors that have not upgraded their software to meet the state security standards (i.e. still DOS-based accounting programs being used). (1)
• New: Work with CSCIC on security initiatives
• New: Develop stronger relationship with the CIO Council's ICC
• New: Develop a matrix of organizations as potential mentoring partners (2)
• New: Conduct stakeholders analysis (1)

MATRIX

• Increase focus on Program Committee deliverables
• Align initiatives with NYS IT Strategic Plan (2)
• Host seminars on other prioritized topics such as: Identity & Access Management, Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery, Incident Response, Civil Service (career development). (9)
• New: Conduct a time management seminar (3)
• New: Improve communications between MATRIX and other committees and their membership (3)

IT Procurement

• September, 2005: Symposium on Sarbanes Oxley Impact in Public Sector - This educational program will provide 200 legal, fiscal and CIO attendees with a public and private sector interactive panel on the impact - real and imagined - of Sarbanes Oxley. (12)
• February, 2006: 2006 Procurement Symposium - This educational program will provide legal, fiscal and CIO attendees with additional educational programs on all areas of procurement, including best practices in large scale IT procurements, updates on Sarbanes Oxley and other pertinent procurement laws. (1)
• 2006: Survey of Corporate Roundtable Members Regarding OGS Contracting Template, Appendix B - Coordinate corporate review and comments regarding standard state terms and conditions. (4)
• New: Lobby training re: state policy (10)
• New: Develop a tactical primer on risk mitigation as it pertains to contract procurement
• New: Explore merits of awarding long term contracts (2)
• New: Assess impact of CSA renewal

Project Management

• Field Test and refine the Peer Review Process for In-Flight Projects in conjunction with the OCIO, and the CTG, and the CIO Council. (4)
• Finalize the Business Case/Proposal template in conjunction with the CIO Fiscal Subcommittee (2)
• Continue marketing efforts by publishing additional PM Committee Newsletters (2)
• Continue to grow the artifacts in the PM Repository (1)
• Work with the OCIO on a program on Project Portfolio Management in Support of the ATP process (5)
• Work with the Upstate NY Chapter of the PMI on joint programs to benefit both communities
• Continue to work with agencies on the PM Title Series
• Work with GOER and member agencies to gather existing PM curricula; repurpose existing content; develop new content; resulting in a modularized standard PM curricula that any agency could utilize. (5)
• New: Develop collaborative efforts across agencies and with other providers to afford greater training opportunities for agency staff (6)

Small and Medium Agency SIG

• Establish formal mentoring relationships with MOA's between large and small agency IT organizations; (2)
• Highlight best practices of small agencies and local governments (since there are many similarities between local government IT organizations and small agency IT operations); (1)
• Seek out vendors to give presentations on products that are geared toward solutions in small agency IT environments; (3)
• Work within the FORUM to develop a directory of State agency experts in various areas of IT software and applications; (4)
• Strengthen the liaison between the SIG and OFT and the CIO's office to ensure that small agency needs are taken into account during policy development and when thinking about development of services for agencies.
• New: Continue with mentoring small and larger agencies (2...see 1st bullet above)
• New: Collaborate with local government committee
• New: Review how agencies interact

Webmasters' Guild

• Celebration in October of 10 years of the Webmasters Guild
• Publication of a white paper on the state of web professionals in NYS based on our survey and Focus Groups.
• 9 Planned Friday sessions
• Continuation of the relationship with WOW and possible announcement of the establishment of other such relationships.
• New: Session on using XML as a content vehicle (1)
• New: Work with the HR committee of the CIO Council on title issues (8)

The Forum as an Organization

• Execute the BCP/Security split into two committees
• Explore ways to enhance broader inclusion/participation in the monthly Executive Committee meetings
• Provide greater advance notice of Executive Committee agenda topics
• Given the pre-work of committees, explore options for the agenda and conduct of the annual planning meeting.
• Assess impact of GOER and employee union support of Forum training
• Explore outreach to other appropriate state level organizations
• Upgrade web capacity
• Ensure that all committees review their relationship to and considerations of local government and facilitate committee linkage to groups other local government committees such as the CIO Council's ICC and CSCIC local government committee. (1)
• Address getting information out on records retention policy and law
• Support collaboration of the Small and Medium Agency SIG and the Local Government committees
• Regularly assess Forum/CIO Council coordination and alignment of like initiatives
• Host informal get-togethers (2)

Get Involved

Several of these committees will be offering sessions at the upcoming GTC conference. Details will be provided as they become available.

For more information about any of the Forum's committees and how you can become involved, visit us on the web at www.nysfirm.org or call us at (518) 443-5001.

Hold the Date!

September 9, 2005

Forum Annual Meeting

The Desmond

Carolyn Purcell, Internet Business Solutions Group, Cisco Systems, is our featured keynote speaker. Come help us recognize the hard work of all award recipients including excellence in government, best practices and best of the web. Registration is required and will be coming soon at www.nysfirm.org.

Webmasters' Guild To Celebrate 10th Year!

The Webmasters' Guild will celebrate the start of it's 10th year of meetings on October 6th with a full-day session and luncheon at the Desmond. The session will commence with a keynote presentation by Professor Bebo White, Departmental Associate (retired) at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), the national high energy physics laboratory at Stanford University. Dr. White's work includes research into Web technologies, high performance computing, Grid computing, and physics event visualization. He was a member of the team that developed the first Web site in the Western Hemisphere at SLAC in 1989. Dr. White is now associated with the World Organization of Webmasters, who are sponsoring his visit.

A panel discussion will follow the keynote and the day will conclude with a celebratory lunch in honor of this group and their effort in providing nine years of informational sessions.

The Network and Management Special Interest Groups were formed in December, 1995, to help those individuals at state agencies who were experimenting with a new technology called the Internet. These two special interest groups and what was then the Web Masters' Guild later merged into today's Webmasters' Guild.

The group meets monthly from October to May on the first Friday of each month. A single topic is presented at each meeting with discussion following. The Guild regularly averages 60 to 100 attendees with meetings open to all public sector employees. Additional information related to this committee can be found at the Webmasters' Guild section of www.nysfirm.org.

WOW Workshop Coming to Albany

On October 4th and 5th, the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) will be delivering a two-day Web Application Development Workshop in Albany, stressing a structured, life-cycle approach to application development.

Professor Bebo White, whose interest in the web dates from 1989 when he was on sabbatical at CERN, will lead the session. He has been a member of WOW since 1996 and is one of the managing editors of "The Journal of Web Engineering." He has been cited by the World Wide Web Consortium as having made significant contributions to the development of the World Wide Web. In addition to this live workshop, the same topic will be covered in an optional online workshop, where the topics are covered in greater detail and with additional readings and in-depth case studies.

For more information on these workshops and for registration details, please visit www.joinwow.org/albanyworkshop/.

Executive Committee

Officers

Chair, Joanne Riddett, Thruway Authority

Vice-Chair, Cecelia Hamblin, Dept. of Labor

Sec./Treas. Leigh Favitta, Dormitory Authority

Members

James Bell, NYS Senate

Walter Bikowitz, OGS

Thomas R. Bodden, Assoc. of Towns of NYS

JoAnn P. Bomeisl, Insurance Dept.

Teri Daly, OFT

Sharon Dawes, CTG

Michael Donovan, OCIO

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

Kim S. McKinney, NYSLGITDA

Janice Morris, Dept. of Civil Service

Nancy Mulholland, Workers' Comp. Board

Eugene Pezdek, DEC

Franklin Slade, Dept. of Civil Service

Timothy Spencer, DOB

Victor Stucchi, HESC

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.

We welcome editorial proposals and submissions.