misa nov 07 final - c.ymcdn.comc.ymcdn.com/sites/ misa roots, you might say! at the penticton...

Welcome to the New Generation!MISA BC Fall Conference focuses on emerging IT issuesand the need to find younger people in tune with them

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National Professional Journal of MISA/ASIM Canada

Municipal Interface

Also in this Issue: Innovative Service StrategiesPage

Halton Region turns PSAB challenge into asset-management opportunity 8Collaboration seen as imperative in technology-selection strategies 13City of Toronto’s I&T services support change management 16Strategic alignment helps demonstrate value of IT services 19New municipal group formed to collaborate on ERP strategies 23

AnnMarie McDonald of the Region of Wood Buffalo is welcomed as a new appointee to the board of MISA/ASIM Canada by Gerry Matte of the Municipality of Saanich, board secretary, during the MISA BC conference in Penticton.

NewsMISA news across Canada 5

• eUniversity open, Peter Bennett Awardnominations

MISA BC associate members 6Municipal news 36

• Showcase Ontario, property mapping in PEI, Hamilton appointment, York Region awards, Moncton buses go wireless

ColumnsPresident’s column – Keeping In Touch 4Roy Wiseman – Governance Issues 39

Report From RIMQThe role of municipal wireless networks, part 2 25

FeaturesHalton Region’s asset-management strategy 8The collaboration imperative 13Managing change in the City of Toronto 16The value of strategic alignment to IT departments 19Municipal group collaborates on ERP strategies 23MISA BC Fall Conference and innovation awards 27

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In This Issue

Advertisers Index Page

AESI (Acumen Engineered Solutions) 20AGL Inc. 44Agresso 33Autodesk Canada 14Citrix Canada 11CDW Canada 18Com-Tech Learning Solutions 29Deloitte Inc. 22Digital Boundary Group 42ESRI Canada 12JCE Corp. 24Mid-Range Computer Group 7Packet Works Division of Packet-Tel 21Panasonic Canada 37Point Centric 17, 20, 35, 38RIVA Online 10SaskTel 40Teranet 2

MUNICIPAL Interface NOVEMBER 2007

Journal of MISA/ASIM Canada

Suite 309, 14845 – 6 Yonge StreetAurora, ON L4G 6H8Phone: 416-458-4410www.misa.on.ca; www.misa.bc.ca; www.misa-asim.ca

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Co-Editors: Lawrence Moule 416-662-3950, [email protected] Morgan 416-488-2878, [email protected]

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Design: Natalie Coombs of NatCo Design

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Articles are subject to approval by the Communications Committee. The viewsexpressed in this journal are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect those of MISA/ASIM Canada.

No part of the publication may be reproduced by anyone without prior written permission from MISA/ASIM Canada.

© 2007 MISA/ASIM Canada

WHAT’S THE BEST THING about MISA meetings?MISA Prairies member reps have given me theanswer after our two membership meetings thisyear – the April 3-4 spring meeting and AGM in Fort McMurray and hosted by the RegionalMunicipality of Wood Buffalo, Alberta, and the fall meeting held September 20 in Penticton, BC,during the MISA BC Fall Conference.

Several people indicated that the best parts ofmeetings are the face-to-face roundtable discussionswith peers on current topics of concern or interest.They appreciate just sitting around the table andasking each other, “Hey, what are you guys doingabout this?”...whatever ‘this’ might be! Getting backto MISA roots, you might say!

At the Penticton meeting, members engaged inlively discussion and information sharing for almosttwo hours on a variety of topics (and could haveeasily continued longer, had time permitted).Members suggested that future fall meetings be heldthe day before the conference to give more time forpeer-to-peer discussion and avoid missing any con-ference sessions. I am grateful to Wayne Klamut andthe MISA BC Conference Committee for providing ameeting room for the Prairies chapter and includingthe meeting time in the program schedule – an awesome surprise!

Here are a few of the questions during theroundtable that generated quality dialogue with varied opinions and approaches: • Which IT positions are union, non-union or a

combination of both? • How does your organization determine which

applications are mission critical? • What are others doing for the three “Rs” –

recruitment, retention and recognition? • How are you handling the “social computing”

phenomenon, such as allowing/not allowinginstant messaging, access to Facebook, hosting/producing blogs, and handling Help Desk coverageduring absences, vacation and breaks? Clearly the message from members is to maintain

a focus at membership meetings on quality time for

open dialogue and information sharing, to enlargethe membership gatherings at a moderate pace andnot pressure ourselves to move too quickly to full“conference style” events, and in the meantime tosupport our sister chapters by attending their confer-ences and trade shows.

That led to a discussion about the desire for asurvey tool to conduct surveys among Prairies mem-bers and eliminate the e-mail method of surveying.

I was saddened by the news that two of our colleagues have resigned from their municipal government positions and therefore the MISAPrairies Executive. Darren Young from the City ofLethbridge, Alberta, was our treasurer, and MarkHumphries from Parkland County, Alberta, was ourWeb-site administrator and Prairies representativeon the MISA/ASIM Canada Board.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude and appreciationto Darren and Mark for their contribution and commitment in helping to build MISA Prairies. Theybecame our good friends and knowledgeable peers,and we shared some wonderful times.

I also want to welcome our new Executive mem-bers. We held an election at the Penticton meetingto fill the vacant positions on an interim basis untilthe next AGM. Welcome and thank you to:• Treasurer Andre Tessier from Cold Lake, Alberta• Web-site administrator Tony Hon from Prince

Albert, Saskatchewan• MISA/AISM Canada representative AnnMarie

McDonald of Wood Buffalo.This has been a busy year for Prairies municipalities

with unprecedented growth, yet our members rallytogether and find the time to support MISA Prairiesby attending and contributing to the meetings andevents. Please mark your calendar and plan to attendthe next MISA Prairies spring conference and AGM,which will be hosted by Brian Bertschi and his teamat the City of Lethbridge on April 14-15, 2008.

[email protected] �

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Quality Dialogue,Quality People

Keeping in Touch

By Georganne DupontPresident, MISA Prairies

MEMBER MUNICIPALITIES of thefive associations within MISA/ASIMCanada can now gain access to e-learning courses at affordablecost on the Web.

MISA BC has set up an“eUniversity” of more than 1,300online courses available to municipalemployees at attractive prices viawww.misa.bc.ca.

Working through MISA/ASIMCanada, the BC chapter hasextended the terms of its contractwith the company providing thecourses, Chalk Media, to membermunicipalities within MISA/ASIMCanada associations across thecountry.

This means that any municipalitythat is a member of a MISA chapter– in BC, the Prairies, Ontario orthe Atlantic provinces – or of Réseaude l’Informatique Municipale duQuébec (RIMQ), can sign up foraccess to the courses of theeUniversity.

The courses cover such subjectsas Web development, businessskills development and desktopcomputing, as well as training intechnologies offered by many ven-dors. Subscribers can click on theEducation button on the MISA BChome page and download coursesusing a password.

In the fall of 2006, MISA BCentered into a three-year agreement

with Chalk Media that includes:• Licences for Chalk Media’s

eLearning facilities• Licences to access five Mind

Leader course packages:Technical General; TechnicalMicrosoft; Web Development;End User Business SkillsDevelopment and End UserDesktop Computing

• Two course-authoring licences.The contract enables municipali-

ties to create their own courses,and possibly share the coursewarewith other municipalities withinMISA/ASIM Canada memberassociations.

“We hope over time to build alibrary of municipal courses eitherfunded by MISA or contributed bymember municipalities,” says ColinRedwood of the Corporation ofDelta, chair of the MISA BCEducation Committee.

Annual BillingMunicipalities wishing to sign upmust commit to a minimum numberof eLearning seats for the remain-der of the contract. Licence costsare billed annually through MISABC, and cost of the sign-up year is prorated.

Minimum licence counts arebased on municipal population:one licence for municipalities with

populations of less than 10,000;three licences for the next level ofpopulation up to 25,000; sevenlicences for populations up to100,000 and 10 licences formunicipalities with more than100,000 residents.

Any number of staff may beenrolled in the eLearning system,but the number of active trainingaccounts should not exceed thenumber of licences purchased.

As one staff member finishes acourse, the municipality’s eLearningadministrator can deactivate thatperson’s account and activate theaccount of someone else wishing totake a course. This approach givesmaximum value from the eLearninglicences by reassigning them asneeded, while enabling each studentto have his/her own account andtraining history.

If your municipality is interestedin the eUniversity or would likemore information, please contactColin Redwood, 604-946-3242,[email protected].

The eUniversity was initially set up as a limited pilot projectbeginning in January 2007. Thepilot project concluded successfullyduring the summer and five addi-tional municipalities have sincesigned up, bringing the currentenrolment to 26. �

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MISA/ASIM News Across Canada


MISA BC’s eUniversity Open to All


MISA/ASIM News Across Canada

6

MISA/ASIM CANADA is seekingnominations for the annual PeterBennett Award for outstandingservice to the cause of improvingmunicipal government throughthe application of information andcommunications technologies.

The award was created in2005 and is the highest-prestigenational award in Canada inthe field of municipal IT.

It is named for Peter Bennett,a founder of MISA/ASIMCanada, a national visionaryand IT manager for the City ofWinnipeg. He died suddenly justdays before he would have atten-ded the 2005 Lac Carling Con-gress as its municipal co-chair.

The second recipient, afterBennett himself, posthumously,

was Debbie Barrett, formerly ofthe City of Mississauga and nowCIO of McMaster University.The 2007 recipient was Per Kristensen of the City ofNanaimo.

Nominations for the 2008award are open until March 10.For a nomination form, pleasevisit www.misa.on.ca. �

MISA BC Associate Members – 2007We appreciate the support and participation of the following associate members:

4th Utility Inc.

A2B Fiber Inc.

Acer America Corporation

Active Network

Agresso

Alcatel Canada

Anixter Canada

Autodesk Canada

Avocent Canada

Bell Canada

Bellamy Software

Boardwalk Communications Ltd.

CGI

CIMS Industries Inc.

CSDC Systems Inc.

Cisco Systems

Coast Mountain Bus Co.

CommVault Systems Canada

Compugen

Com-Tech Learning Solutions

Concept Interactive Inc.

Dayton and Knight Ltd.

Delcan

Dell Computer Corporation

Delphi Solutions Corp.

Diamond Municipal Solutions

Digital Boundary Group

Dynavar Corporation

E-Comm

ESRI Canada Ltd.

Forte Consulting Ltd.

GBA Consulting

GIS Innovations

Gartner Canada Inc.

Global CADD Systems Corp.

Hansen Information

Technologies

Hitachi

Hummingbird/OpenText

IBM Canada Ltd.

iCompass Technologies

IKON Office Solutions Inc.

Inform

Information Builders

Integrated Cadastral Society

Intergraph Canada Ltd.

KACE Networks Inc.

Kinetix Wireless Inc.

Kronos Computerized Time

Systems

Lexmark Canada

Liebert/Emerson Network Power

Long View Systems

MDT Technical Services Ltd.

MGCG Consulting Limited

McElhanney Consulting Services

Meridex Corporation

Metafore LP

Micro Com Systems Ltd.

MicroAge Bellamy Software

Microserve

Microsoft Canada

Mitel Networks

Municipal Information Systems

Inc.

NEC Unified Solutions

Navigata Communications

Network Appliance Inc.

Nortel

Northern Micro Inc.

Number 41 Media Corporation

O. J. Jonasson & Associates Ltd.

Océ-Canada Inc.

Omega Communications Ltd.

OPUS Consulting Group

PCS Wireless

Pacific Alliance Technologies

Panasonic Canada

Planetworks Consulting Corp.

Polar Bear Corporate Education

PrinterWorks Imaging Solutions

Pulse Voice Inc.

RSA Security Inc.

Research in Motion

RIVA Online

Rogers Group

SAP Canada

S. I. Systems

SSP Converged Solutions

Secure Computing

SIEMENS Enterprise

Communications

Sierra systems Consultants Inc.

Signal Systems Inc.

Softchoice Corporation

Strategy Institute

Sysc om Consulting

Targus Canada

TELUS Communications

Tempest Development Group

Teraspan Networks

TOWER Software

Vadim Computer Management

Group

Visual Defence

Xerox Canada

Nominations Open for Peter Bennett Award

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By Ralph BlauelHalton Region, Ontario

EVEN THOUGH REPORTING REQUIREMENTS for tangible capitalassets from the Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) havebeen in effect for more than a year now, municipal managersreport a varied level of requests for assistance in implementingthis guidance.

You’ll recall that the first two feature articles in the November2006 issue of Municipal Interface dealt with issues related totangible capital asset reporting. My own article, discussing thePublic Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) PS 3150 reportingrequirements, noted that, “As a municipal IT manager, you willeventually be asked for assistance.”

Many municipal IT managers have indeed been asked forassistance – but in varying degrees. Some have been askedearly on in the policy/program development phases, some havebeen directed by the finance department to purchase a specificsoftware solution and start counting assets, while still others haveyet to receive any request.

If you attended either the MISA Ontario or MISA BC annualconferences this year, you may have attended the “ExposingYour Assets” presentation by Halton Region and SAP. These presentations are available on each chapter’s Web site.

What PSAB SaysUnder the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants’ PSABrequirements, as of 2009 all municipalities in Canada areexpected to be able to track and report on the current value oftheir assets, including the original capital cost of each asset andits amortized value.

These assets include major capital infrastructure such asstreets and roadways, sewer and water lines, and parks facili-ties. Such assets carry an estimated value of more than $1.6 trillion across Canada, revealing the extent of work ahead fortowns and cities.

To meet the challenge of the new PSAB requirements, localgovernments must consider their accounting system capabilities,determine who will be responsible for different parts of the capital

asset accounting system, and establishthe necessary changes to policies andprocedures to comply.

Integrating Asset Programs Halton Region decided that soundmanagement of its assets wasn’t just alooming compliance issue, but goodbusiness practice. Instead of simplytreating the upcoming PSAB PS 3150requirements as a financial bookkeepingexercise, it approached the notion ofan integrated asset-management/asset-report program asa strategic imperative to the Region.

Halton interviewed stakeholderswithin and outside its organizations togain an understanding of the currentstate of their processes and systems,mapping out a future vision thatencapsulates PSAB reporting require-ments and asset-management bestpractices.

The Region then implemented agovernance structure that would oversee a staged implementation ofthe tools, processes and systems necessary to instil a strategic asset-management mindset throughout theRegion while meeting reporting com-pliance requirements.

Using InvestmentsWhen Halton created the systemframework that would support itsstrategic asset-management vision, itwanted to take advantage of theinvestment that it had already made in its ERP system and ensure that deci-sions today were consistent with afuture-state integrated systems model.

Innovative Service Strategies

Halton Region Seizes OpportunityFor Asset-Management Strategy

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This approach supported a region-wide holisticasset-management view that would be the basis forstrategic asset-management decision making andoperational efficiencies in the future.

Halton came to the conclusion that, because thesame core data was required to support both theasset-management and asset-reporting programs, itshould have a common framework. The rationalefor this is illustrated at right.

Halton currently runs infrastructure asset-manage-ment tools in addition to other business-processtools, including HR/payroll and time management.Many of our asset-management tools are technicallycapable of meeting the PS 3150 reporting require-ments, but there are gaps in process and configura-tion that require appropriate setup, workflow andreporting.

In parallel, SAP was working on a solution forPSAB reporting and quickly realized that the bestway to develop a toolset that addressed customerneeds was to develop it in partnership with a cus-tomer. Halton and SAP entered into a collaborativeeffort this past year, including Halton’s role as thesolution “incubator.”

The two organizations ran a series of workshopsto determine, refine, and confirm requirements. SAPthen developed a blueprint of the final solution. Itarticulated customer needs and configuration of thesystem, which integrated to software from RIVAOnline, called Real-time Asset Valuation Analysis,and other third-party applications.

SAP also engaged IDS Scheer Canada andClockwork Inc. to provide configuration and project-management services and support for the implemen-tation. By the end of 2007, the solution will be inproduction at Halton Region.

The new solution will be designed to integratedirectly into existing business process systems inorder to enable Halton Region to take accurateinventory of its infrastructure, calculate depreciation,and track and record asset maintenance in real timethrough visually rich, easy-to-use, Web-based portals.

The illustration at left below shows the architectureof the solution.

Getting IT Ready for the Business SolutionsThrough 2006 and 2007, Halton IT staff have beenpreparing our IT capabilities to accommodate thetanglible-capital-assets (TCA) program, including thepreparation of IT architectural roadmaps to maphigh-level business requirements to a multi-year

sequence of asset-management and asset-financial-reporting projects.

In addition, we have implemented IT foundation technology components includingmySAP Upgrade as well as mySAP business-warehouse and enterprise-portal environments.

Meanwhile we are preparing for the inven-tory and valuation of IT assets. In Halton, adetailed inventory of PCs, notebooks andphones is already maintained to supportour internal chargeback process. Valuationof these assets is relatively straightforwarddue to their four- and five-year lifecycles.


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Because the individual value of each asset is below the $5,000 reporting threshold for equip-ment, these assets will be “pooled” or rolled up toan aggregate of all PCs that were purchased in agiven year. Straight-line depreciation will beapplied to all IT assets.

Software and data may be a bit more difficult to value so Halton will be simply using the valuesreported for our capital projects, which are fortunatelyalready configured to closely match the asset hierar-chy required by the TCA reporting framework.

Halton’s IT staff are entering this asset informationinto the RIVA Online component of the SAP TCAsolution. We should have a first draft of the IT asset“balance sheet” available for year end 2007.

Valuable lessons Halton has learned in 2006-2007 include:

• Define the vision – integrate with existing plans.

• Sell the benefits of TCA to the asset-managementprograms.

• Reprioritize (read, slow down) new asset-management programs for TCA.

• Nurture champion(s) and asset class experts.

• “Do Something!” – create a culture of learningtogether.

So stay tuned – the journey toward 2009 PSABPS 3150 compliance continues!

Ralph Blauel is president of MISA Ontario and director of Technology Services at Halton Region. He can be reached at [email protected]. �

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By Phil EdgellLong View Systems Corporation

This article is based on a presentation to the MISABC Fall Conference in Penticton in September 2007.

THERE ARE THREE pervading themes in IT today.They all lead to the conclusion that municipal ITdepartments need to consider collaborative strategiesto deal with issues that affect the selection andimplementation of technologies.

First, the domain of IT is expanding. This is evidenced by the number of IP devices that areemerging on networks and the amount of data thatis being stored, updated, and analyzed on a dailybasis. Two specific examples of this are IP telephonyand GIS, both of which have come into the ITdepartment’s growing domain in recent years.

Second, IT is considered a cost centre withdownward pressure on budgets. As the IT department’sdomain expands, head count is constrained andoperational budgets are flattened or even reduced.This is counter-intuitive when considering the firsttheme. As a cost centre, IT is a support function forcore business and is therefore an essential componentto promote key business initiatives, such as a greenstrategy.

Third, the sophistication of IT systems is increasing.As more IP devices are added to networks andmore focus is put on compliance, security and regu-latory requirements, IT departments require domainand technology vertical experts.

These pervasive themes are creating an environ-ment where IT departments can no longer be selfreliant. Opportunities exist to collaborate to gainefficiencies, support complex systems, or improveconstituent services.

Collaboration can occur on many planes, andoften the best partner is an entity that has similargoals. Municipalities generally don’t compete witheach other, as commercial entities might, which is asignificant advantage when considering a strategiccollaboration partner at the municipal level.

Likewise, within a community municipalities arerecognizable brands that have large numbers ofstakeholders and constituents, so vendors, VARS(value-added resellers) and manufacturers have anopportunity to connect with a significant marketwhile furthering municipal goals.

How can municipalities employ strategies thatwill address the pervasive themes above? Here area few thoughts:

Collaboration at the Municipal IT LevelCollaboration between municipal IT departmentscan be a strategy to deal with emerging issues –sometimes more than one at a time.

Consider two relatively new priorities that mostmunicipalities face. First is the green movement thatfocuses on carbon neutrality for public-sector entities.BC’s premier, Gordon Campbell, is the first premierto mandate, through legislation, carbon neutralityby 2010. The second is disaster recovery. Is thereare link between these priorities?

Collaboration ViewedAs Vital StrategyTo Meet Emerging IssuesAnd Technology Needs

Phil Edgell addresses delegates at theMISA BC Fall Conference.


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There are two power-efficiency strategies that mightsupport a green initiative.

One, reduce the power draw of servers andcomputer-room environmental equipment by reduc-ing the number of physical machines. And two,reduce the number of data rooms.

According to IDC, approximately 50 per cent ofthe annual capital cost of data room equipment isactually the costs associated with powering andcooling the devices. This is a staggering cost that isoften hidden in IT because the cost basis for over-head allocations is usually not proportionate to the power draw of these devices. Likewise, mostorganizations, both public and private, are pursuing some form of business continuity strategy that includes back-up computer equipment in analternate data centre.

A virtualization strategy can help both of thesescenarios by reducing the physical number ofservers that exist in a data room, thus creating amore efficient pool of computing resources. Whiledensity increases, the space required to house thesedense computing pools is smaller and requires lesscooling power.

Also, virtualization abstracts the server imagesfrom the hardware so that a shared services modelcan be employed more easily. No longer do youneed a cold site full of exact replicas of your production environment for disaster recovery.

In fact, collaboration strategies could beemployed by two or more neighbouring municipalitiesas continuity sites for each other, reducing therequirement for each municipality to build its owndisaster site. This simple concept is not meant totrivialize the undertaking or any of the issues

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regarding political autonomy, but to introduce anopportunity to achieve a corporate goal through thecreative application of technology and collaboration.

Collaboration at the Trusted Partner LevelMunicipal IT departments have two primary stake-holder groups, internal staff and community con-stituents. What strategies are necessary to improveservices, and how can collaboration help?

For both stakeholder groups, enablement is akey priority. For internal staff this means productivityimprovement or access to current key informationfaster and more reliably. For external constituents itmeans access to municipal information, participationin process and efficient services that create value inthe community. Twokey technologies thatare at the foundationof these servicestrategies are unifiedcommunications and wireless services.

Unified communications can be simply definedas a convergence of communication strategies. Thegoal of unified communications is to reduce humanlatency by providing presence information thatmakes it easy to communicate with an intendedparty on your first try. This means that there are sin-gle repositories for all communication and messag-ing types including voice mail, e-mail, fax, messen-ger and the like. It is reported by Forrester researchthat as much as 15 minutes a day for each workercould be saved just by reaching your intendedparty on the first try.

Consider the day of a typical building inspector.He or she probably has e-mail, cell phones, a deskphone and potentially a PDA. Their jobs requirethat they be out of the office, yet most of their communication tools are office-based. Imagine theproductivity gains and constituent service improve-ments possible if that building inspector had ubiqui-tous access to all messaging types.

Unified communication strategies can also provideaccess for constituents to municipal affairs inunprecedented numbers. A clear example is theCity of Calgary’s initiative to provide Web confer-encing facilities into town hall meetings, makingeach home an extension of City Hall.

Unified communications is clearly possible butrequires integration of several IT systems and alsorequires collaboration of manufacturers (for example,Cisco and Microsoft) and a trusted integration partner.Unified communications is a clear example of thethird theme, the increasing complexity of IT systems.Without collaboration of partners with the municipalstakeholders for both implementation and operationalsupport, these initiatives could have a negativeimpact on productivity.

Mesh-based municipal wireless should also beconsidered a key enabler. Wireless collaboration isenabled by the power of the applications and thesecurity, reliability and ubiquity of the access. Considerthe example of the building inspector above, and

add the access to all municipal information, includingsurveys, building plans and permit information,required to serve customers more efficiently.

Wireless technologies present a striking case forcollaboration. For a wireless strategy to be successful,seamless integration among business processes,applications and infrastructure is mandatory. It isclear that collaboration between municipalities andexternal organizations, possibly including both suppliers and users of the wireless services, will be paramount to the pervasive provisioning of wireless access for internal and external municipalstakeholders.

The advent of wireless technologies addresses allthree themes; the number of IP devices will increasedramatically, requiring more sophisticated infrastruc-tures and management techniques. This environmentprovides the perfect proving ground for the emergingcollaboration imperative.

Think about it – who can you collaborate withtoday to help you achieve your public-sector goals?

Phil Edgell, BC branch manager of Long View SystemsCorporation, can be reached at [email protected]. �

Collaboration is necessary for unified communications


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By Dave WallaceCity of Toronto

WHAT’S HAPPENING at the City of Toronto?Like all levels of government and particularly

municipalities, Toronto is in the midst of profoundchange. Services of the Information and Technology(I&T) Division are being transformed with innovativestrategies to support service delivery to the public.Managing this change is challenging, and I&Tenablers are meeting these challenges – and making a difference.

Today, residents are demanding that services be available when they want them, and that these services be delivered efficiently. In response, citieshave established visions of the future, such as smartcommunities, intelligent cities and, in Toronto’s case,eCity (enabled City).

A core part of accomplishing these visions ishaving the right information, improved accessibility toservices and new tools to deliver more client-centricsolutions, enhanced in their delivery and more cost-effective than ever before.

Program ReviewWhile I&T can be a key enabler, it needs to bemanaged well – and with proper governance inplace. With this in mind, a program review wasconducted a year ago and is currently being imple-mented to optimize how I&T services are deliveredin the City.

And the result? I&T services are being transformed.For example, an enterprise architecture is beingdeveloped as a master blueprint that will ensure thatI&T investments are well coordinated and provide thebest return on investment. Along with this blueprint,key change initiatives are advancing innovative

solutions and services – changing how services are delivered.

In 2002, the City created an eCity vision of “Localgovernment – anywhere, any time for everyone.”

The heart of this vision is advancing the enable-ment of four broad areas – eService (more electronicservices), eBusiness (re-engineered business processesin support of front-line services), eGovernment (new,advanced ways of performing government processesin the 21st century and exploring the potential of electronic democracy tools) and eFoundation(well architected I&T foundations to achieve theoverall vision).

Multiple InitiativesToday exciting initiatives are demonstrating that thevision of eCity is possible – now and into the future.

As I described in a presentation at the recentShowcase Ontario, these initiatives include:• The Toronto Meeting Management Information

System, which focuses on three main elements toadvance the reality of electronic democracy

• People – this includes learning, developing andretraining of staff as well as the development ofnew staff report formats and increased use ofplain language by the Toronto Public Service inpreparing these documents

• Processes – which focuses on reviewing andredesigning, when appropriate, meeting man-agement business processes

• Tools - this includes increasing use of technologyfor managing and providing access to informationas it moves through Council's decision-makingprocess

• Electronic Financial Filing and Disclosure, whichimproves efficiencies through the pursuit of inno-

Managing Change in TorontoNew CIO Describes Role of I&T in Improving Service Delivery

17



vative approaches, safeguarding of public assetsand optimizing use of our resources

• With respect to online services, the City alreadyhas more than 40 transactions electronicallyavailable, and more are on the way

• The 3-1-1 initiative is a service transformationproject. The objective is to improve accessibilityto City services and will increase the City's effec-tiveness in responding to public inquiries. Forexample, staff will be able to resolve more routineservice inquiries and transactions on behalf ofthe public at the first point of contact.All of these initiatives will require effective practices

to manage the life cycle of the information from itscreation, use/maintenance and retention/disposal.By managing information effectively, the vision ofeCity can truly be achieved.

These are just some of the innovative change initiatives that are under way to assist the manage-ment of change at Toronto. W ith the fiscal issuesfacing the City, it will be critical to have enhancedgovernance of these and other new initiatives toplan and deliver services as efficiently and effectivelyas possible.

New ProcessesWe are instituting new governance processes thatare in keeping with best practices in the industryand in line with what is being implemented in otherjurisdictions. A Business Advisory Panel will set thepriorities for I&T and will track the results of initiatives.

An Enterprise Architecture Review Panel willuphold the blueprint for I&T and also make sure thatall investments are in keeping with these priorities,which are ultimately the priorities of Council andthe public.

There is no question this is a period of tremendouschange at the City, and it is not going to slowdown but accelerate. The I&T staff at the City ofToronto are committed to enabling client needs –which ultimately represents improved and efficientservices to the taxpayers.

Working with their partners in the divisions, thistransformation also requires a transformation in I&Tservices to help manage this change as effectively

as possible. While it will take time, this transforma-tion is already under way, as demonstrated by inno-vative change initiatives and by enhancement to I&Tgovernance to ensure that accountable and wellplanned investments in I&T are delivered.

Working together is essential to success. We are committed to helping our divisional part-

ners meet the service demands of our residents. Thisincludes looking at best practices and working withother jurisdictions to make use of innovative think-ing right across the public sector. Together we arestronger and better able to meet the challenges oftoday and tomorrow.

Dave Wallace is chief information officer, Information& Technology Division, City of Toronto. He can bereached at [email protected]. �

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By Winton CapeCity of Brandon

THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) team withinmost municipalities is critical to long-term success.They are the guardians of critical data. They supportthe analytical capabilities of business units and helpprovide them with the right technology. Yet time andtime again, IT faces the challenge of demonstratingits value for the enterprise.

One approach to this challenge is to strengthenIT strategic planning. As we have found in the Cityof Brandon, the IT strategic plan enables IT to builda record of consistent success that translates to business-unit success. Business-unit success in turnrelates directly to supporting the value of IT.

Business AlignmentBusiness publications are filled with strategies forbuilding the relationship between business units and IT. These publications implore you to adopt customer-relationship-management strategies thatdevelop insight into the needs of business units.

While improving this relationship is important,without the necessary in-house processes IT will continue to be hampered by the urgent priorities of the present. IT needs processes that guarantee its customers an efficient process with a predictableoutcome.

Perhaps following the three guidelines outlinedbelow will assist you in achieving not only betteralignment but efficient processes that complementyour alignment initiatives.

Be forewarned, these initiatives require tremendousdepartment change. The paybacks, however, arewell worth it.

1. Help DeskA focus on the help desk is imperative. This is thehub of your IT operation. Install best practices in ITservice by aligning those operations with theInformation Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

Originally from the United Kingdom, this is a collection of proven best practices for delivering ITservices. There are two main bodies of knowledge– Service Support and Service Delivery. Focus onthe Service Support processes first because theseyield the greatest and quickest payback.

The Service Support section covers Incident,Change, Problem, Configuration and ReleaseManagement. Visit the Office of GovernmentCommerce (http://www.itil.co.uk/) for an in-depthexplanation of the different service areas.

Collectively, these areas will help your departmentbetter manage the daily deluge of technology inci-dents. The ITIL methodology changes the nature ofthe help desk from reactive to proactive. Version 3of ITIL, released this past summer, provides practicaladvice on implementation through case studies.

A note of caution – one size does not fit all. InBrandon, our organization started using ITIL byfocusing on a formal change-management process.This 10-step process required six people to completeeach and every change.

After using the process, we realized that themean time to complete a change was too long; theprocess was awkward and cumbersome. As aresult, we are reducing the amount of peopleinvolved in our change process.

2. Project ManagementWhile the help desk takes care of immediate needs,a sound project-management strategy enables youto be proactive in your technology implementations.

Strategic Alignment Can HelpDemonstrate IT Service Value


20


Use the project management body of knowledge(PMBOK) to align your projects and processes. ThePMBOK framework divides the life cycle of a projectinto five process groups – Initiating, Planning,Executing, Controlling and Closing.

Visit the Project Management Institute(http://www.pmi.org/info/default.asp) for an in-depth explanation of the project process groups.Using this methodology will help you to create aformal, predictable process for your IT projects.

Once you have adapted the PMBOK processgroups, use off-the-shelf software to automate them.You can use something as simple as Excel or asrobust as Primevera.

These tools let you easily communicate your projectstatus and form the basis of an accountability system.This guarantees a transparent process with predictable outcome for all of your customers.

In Brandon we selected a mid-line, off-the-shelfproject-management software product with an eye toinvolving our business-unit customers in the project-management experience. The software tool alsouses a Web interface, which removes the barrier oflearning yet another software package.

The results, so far, are that our customers doappreciate being involved in the projects. Theyhave become familiar with the words “scope” and“charter.” The big win here is that we both agreeand understand the extent of a project before it isactually implemented.

3. IT StrategyCommunicating your strategy is the single mostimportant step. It is how you align people with thetwo previous best practices (ITIL and PMBOK).

21



This is accomplished with an IT version of theBalanced Scorecard (BSC). First made popular byRob Kaplin and David Norton in the late 1990s,this simple but effective tool is used to record andcommunicate strategy. Visit the Balanced Scorecardsite (http://www.bscol.com) for more informationon the scorecard.

Start by defining your mission and vision. Thiscreates a shared image of where you are right now and where you want your organization to go in the future.

Be sure to use a collaborative process in definingyour mission and vision. It creates shared ownershipwithin your IT organization.

Strategy MapNext determine your objectives from the perspectivesof the customer, financial management, internalprocesses and growth (see BSC strategy map).Liking these objectives creates a cause-and-effectrelationship(s) that contributes to accomplishingyour mission.

This is your strategy map. The magic of this mapis that any of the objectives can be broken downinto mini-objectives. Every person in the departmentwill have mini-objectives that contribute to one orseveral objectives on the strategy map.

Once you have individual mini-objectives, workwith team members to define measures and targets.It is the cumulative effect of achieving these mini-objective targets that result in the evidence ofprogress in achieving your mission.

This process makes the most sense to me becauseit ties together the efforts to improve both the helpdesk and project excellence.

Again in Brandon we choose to use off-the-shelfsoftware that records the actual strategy map andits connections. It enables each employee to recordspecific actions that contribute to the map objectives.

Reporting tools are then used to categorize theinformation. The magic of the tool and process isthat it is able to easily describe our strategy andbreak it down into individual steps for action. Thismakes the strategy easy to understand as well asincreasing its chances of successful implementation.

Alignment for SuccessSo there you have it – a three-part strategy tostrengthen IT strategic planning and align it with the business of the municipality.

As I stated before, this journey requires tremendousorganizational change. The end state of this journey,however, is a transformed IT team.

This is a team whose daily activities are alignedwith business-unit success. A team whose learningand growing activities are aligned with the strategicobjectives of the municipality. A strategicallyfocused IT team.

Winton Cape is director of information technology forthe City of Brandon, Manitoba. He can be reachedat [email protected]. �

23


A PROJECT TO STUDY the economics of enterpriseresource planning (ERP) systems among 12 Ontariomunicipalities has turned into a potential model formunicipal IT collaboration on a national scale.

The 12 municipalities have received a reportexamining their total value of ownership of ERP sys-tems. The report urges them to collaborate on ERPstrategies and investments in the future, and themunicipalities have decided they want to extend thiscollaboration far beyond the original group of 12.

“This project has served as an illustrative exampleof the power of cooperation and coordination amongmunicipalities,” says Louis Shallal, chief informationofficer of the Region of York, who initiated the ERPRoad Map Planning and Assessment Study in thefall of 2006.

“It shows that municipalities can come togetherfor a common purpose and pool their resources to produce a document of use to all of them.

“IT has also demonstrated that they can worktogether, not necessarily only in IT but on many othercommon issues.”

The group of 12 has formed an ERP users’ group,whose members will continue to share informationand consult with each other to find the best ways toacquire and manage the automated functions thatare typically part of ERP systems. These often coverhuman capital management, financial informationand customer relations management.

Other municipalities in Canada are being invitedto join the users’ group. The original 12 haveapproached MISA/ASIM Canada for support andsponsorship, and discussions with the board areunder way.

Power of CollaborationCapitalizing on the power of collaboration, such as forming initiatives to garner economies of scale,was a major receommendation of the report presented October 5 to the 12 municipalities byDeloitte Inc. at its Markham offices.

The consulting firm was hired in June to study thecosts and benefits of ERP systems, using confidentialinformation from the 12 municipalities as well as itsown market information. This is believed to be thefirst study of its kind on behalf of multiple municipali-

ties in North America.The project team, led by Deloitte part-

ner Joseph Evers and Jayne Blackburn,manager of ERP financial systems devel-opment and support in York Region’sFinance Department, produced individualconfidential analyses for participatingmunicipalities and a general summaryreport.

The summary report recommendedthat municipalities look for opportunitiesto present a common point of view tothe ERP vendors.

As a result, the action plan devised bythe group of 12 -- called the “90-dayplan” – includes formation of a taskforce to deal with the vendors.


Municipal Group to CollaborateOn Strategies for ERPs in Future

Representatives of 12 municipalities met October 5 with Joe Evers, a partner withDeloitte Inc., shown in front of the screen, to discuss report findings and plans.


24


The mandate and governance of the task force willbe worked out in time for the next meeting of the users’group, scheduled for the first week of December.

Shallal said the task force intends to issue to thevendor community a request for information (RFI)seeking proposals for the future provision to munici-palities of products typically found within ERP suites.

The RFI will be sent to the vendors whose ERPsystems are used by the 12 municipalities in thestudy group – J. D. Edwards, PeopleSoft and SAP –and also to third-party vendors.

The report from Deloitte found that, as a result of many changes in recent years to both municipaloperations and the ERP marketplace, the 12 munici-palities studied have come to be less than satisfiedwith their ERP systems.

There are substantial differences among munici-palities, even those of similar size, in contract termsand the total cost of ownership.

“Average maintenance costs per process deployedcan vary by 50 per cent among comparable small,medium and large municipalities,” Evers told projectparticipants at the October 5 meeting.

In past years many municipalities responded to“multi-module discount” offers from vendors but sincethen have not deployed many of the purchasedmodules and are not receiving value from them,although they are paying maintenance fees.

In fact, despite being called “enterprise” systems,ERPs account for only 41 per cent of the automatedfunctions carried out within the 12 municipalities.

Evers quoted a prediction by Gartner Reportsthat, by 2012, more than 50 per cent of all smalllocal governments and school districts that deployan ERP system will do so by acquiring software as aservice or through access to a shared-service centreowned by someone else.

Undelivered PromiseJim de Hoop, manager of information systems forthe City of Kingston and a project participant, toldMunicipal Interface in an interview that, “While ERPsystems do deliver genuine value, it is not in propor-tion to the cost of maintenance, and their promiseof an all-in-one solution for municipal operationshas not been delivered.”

Although the 12 municipalities pay a total ofabout $4 million a year in maintenance costs, theyregard the support they receive from ERP vendorsas inadequate, the study found.

Deloitte provided in its report an ERP RoadmapFramework methodology by which the participating12 municipalities can individually asses their use ofERP systems against benchmarks and consider theiroptions for future use. The municipalities will becomparing notes at the December meeting of theirusers’ group after applying the framework to theirrespective operations.

Members of the users group are the cities ofHamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Windsor,Thunder Bay and Sudbury, and the regions of York,Durham, Halton, Peel and Niagara. Each contributed$15,000 to the study. �

25


Réseau municipalsans fil à large bande

Report from RIMQPierre Bouchard, conseiller stratégique

Michel Théroux, chef de section radiocommunications

Direction des technologies del’informationVille de Montréal

This is the second of two articles onmunicipal broadband wireless networkscontributed through RIMQ by the DTI inMontreal. The first article appeared inthe May issue of Municipal Interface.This second article covers business models and applications.

Les applications de réseau à largebande sans filLes applications actuelles requièrent unaccès en temps réel sur le champ afinde concrétiser les objectifs d’améliora-tion des services et de permettre de lim-iter les interventions de transcriptions etde diffusion des informations. Voiciquelques exemples qui ont été recenséspar les initiateurs de réseaux à largebande dans le domaine municipal.

Les modèles d’affairesLe choix d’un modèle d’affaires qui ren-contre les objectifs du projet de réseauà large bande sans fil est essentiel.Plusieurs modèles d’affaires sontactuellement en application dansdiverses municipalités d’Amérique duNord. En voici quelques exemples.

« Utilité» publiqueCe modèle concurrence directement lemarché commercial en tant qu’organ-isme de service auprès des consomma-teurs et des entreprises. Ce modèlerequiert une expertise diversifiée pourla gestion, la facturation, l’entretien, ladistribution et la construction des ser-vices de réseau à large bande. Il estsouvent populaire auprès des utilisa-teurs mais il est contesté par les four-nisseurs de service qui protestent contrel’ingérence des organismes municipauxdans leur marché. La Ville de Chaskaau Minnesota utilise ce modèle. AuCanada, Toronto annonçait dès 2006la mise en place d’un réseau sans fil

Application Communautés d’intérêtsInclusion Numérique • Contribuer à éliminer le fossé numérique de la

population défavorisée• Déploiement de la couverture du territoire pour

l’ensemble des besoins de la population• Initier la formation en ligne pour la population

Développement économique • Faciliter l’accès à l’information touristique(Projet de l’arrondissement Ville-Marie:Quartier des spectacles)

• Applications géomatiques pour les besoins del’industrie immobilière

• Accès au permis, plans, etc.Éducation • Promotion de l’informatique dans les écoles

• Intégration des initiatives universitaires pour le sans fil et collaboration active dans la poursuite de l’objectif de la Ville du Savoir

• Amélioration de la sécurité des institutions àvocation éducatives

Gouvernement électronique (E-Cité) • Augmentation de la transparence et de l’efficacité de la gouvernance municipale

• Améliorer l’accès en tout temps des applications E-Cité

• Promotion active des arrondissements et diffusion des informations en temps réel

Services gouvernementaux • Gestion des activités de déneigement(municipal) • Gestion du remorquage

• Offrir des solutions accessibles et économiquespour les projets générateurs de revenus :

• Projet ICI (compteurs d’eau)• Projet SECI (Émission des constats d’infractions)• Projet pour l’inspection des aliments• Suivi en temps réel des projets majeurs de

réfections• Etc.

Soins de santé • Améliorer l’accès en tout temps des applications E-Cité

• Amélioration des services pré hospitaliers• Intégration technologique des grands chantiers

hospitaliers (CHUM, CUSM, Hôpital Sainte-Justine)

Transport en commun • Gestion de la flotte d’autobus en temps réel• Gestion des feux de circulation• Surveiller les mouvements de trafic urbain• Offrir un accès mobile à la clientèle• Améliorer la sécurité à bord des véhicules

Sécurité publique • Surveillance vidéo• Signalement en temps réel• Gestion des événements sur place• Organisation des mesures d’urgences• Gestion des feux de circulation en situation

d’urgence• Localisation des effectifs en temps réel• Support des premiers répondants• Communication des applications ayant besoin

d’une grande capacité de donné (CAFIS, CAD,portrait robot, etc.)

• Postes de commandement mobile


26

Report from RIMQ

large bande grâce à Toronto Hydro qui le commer-cialisera auprès des usagers.

Coopérative grossisteCe modèle établit une distinction entre le marchémunicipal et le marché commercial. L’organismemunicipal investit et construit son réseau qui répondà ses besoins internes et confie à l’entreprise privéela commercialisation de la capacité excédentairedu réseau. Ce dernier en assure la distribution, lagestion, la mise en marché et la facturation. Ce mod-èle est utilisé par la Ville de Corpus Christi au Texas.

Réseau communautaire à accès gratuitLe modèle de réseau communautaire implique unOSBL ou une entité gouvernementale qui encouragela communauté d’affaires à investir et construire unréseau sans fil. L’entité agit comme catalyseur etpropose l’utilisation gratuite pour ses citoyens. Cemodèle ne nécessite pas de déboursés majeurs dela part de la municipalité mais il n’existe pas decontrôle sur son expansion et l’ubiquité du réseaupeut en souffrir. Ce modèle est en vigueur à Austinau Texas et à Fredericton.

À Montréal, l’organisme « Une Île Sans fil » afait ?uvre de pionnier depuis quelques années ence sens et présentait sa réalisation lors de la con-férence « Wireless Cities Summit » qui se tenait àToronto les 23-24 janvier 2007.

Usage municipal exclusifCe modèle propose un réseau réservé exclusive-ment aux besoins de la municipalité. Il remplacesouvent des infrastructures vétustes ou désuètes. Leréseau est soit maintenu et géré par la municipalitéou imparti à une tierce partie. La Ville de MiamiBeach opère son réseau selon ce modèle. Plusrécemment, à la fin de l’été 2006, la Ville deCalgary au Canada émettait un appel d’offres pourl’acquisition de services de communication à largebande sans fil pour ses besoins internes (Sécuritépublique, incendie, ambulance et autres besoinscorporatifs). La DTI est entré en contact avec lesreprésentants de cette ville et une collaboration estenvisagée pour faire valoir les intérêts des munici-palités canadiennes dans l’obtention de fréquencesdédiées à leur usage interne auprès du CRTC etd’Industrie Canada.

Partenariat public privé (PPP) Ce modèle très populaire permet à la municipalitéd’établir les politiques d’utilisation du réseau et elle

agit comme promoteur des services auprès de laclientèle externe. La construction, la gestion, la miseen marché et la facturation des services sont confiésà l’entreprise privée par voie d’appels d’offres com-pétitives. La municipalité peut introduire plusieursmodalités lui permettant de bénéficier d’une tarifica-tion avantageuse pour ses besoins et celle de sapopulation tout en retirant des revenus d’infrastruc-tures urbaines mises à la disposition du partenaireunique ou du consortium privé sélectionné lors del’appel d’offres publique. Les Villes de Portland,San Francisco et Philadelphie ont adoptés ce mod-èle sous diverses formes.

ConclusionEn conclusion, depuis quelques années, lesdéveloppements technologiques dans le domainedes réseaux large bande sans fil ont amenéplusieurs municipalités nord-américaines (Houston,San Francisco, Philadelphie, etc.), européennes(Bruxelles, Paris, etc.) et canadiennes (Fredericton,Toronto) à implanter ou planifier, selon divers mod-èles d’affaires, des réseaux sans fil pour donneraccès à l’Internet et aux portails municipaux.

Selon le site spécialisé www.muniwireless.com ,plus de 3 milliards de dollars américain (US 3G$)vont être dépensés sur des réseaux publics de typeWi-Fi par les municipalités américaines entre 2006et 2009. Les résultats de cette étude ont été renduspublics à la conférence MuniWireless 2006 àMinneapolis.

Il y aurait près de 300 municipalités américainesqui ont des réseaux déployés ou en déploiement ouen planification : http://www.muniwireless.com/reports/docs/June-7-2006summary.pdf. C’est direl’intérêt et l’importance accordée à ce nouveautype de service. �

US Spending on Municipal Wireless NetworksSource: Muniwireless.com

Dol

lars

(in

mill

ions

)

$2,000$1,800$1,600$1,400$1,200$1,000

$800$600$400$200

$02006 2007 2008 2009

27


By Lawrence MouleCo-Editor, Municipal Interface

THE THEME OF the MISA BC Fall Conference was“Think About IT.” Delegates took the theme to heart-- there was a lot to think about.

The conference revealed how the jobs and livesof municipal IT leaders are changing at a paceaccelerated by new roles they are assuming, newtechnologies they must adopt or defend against,emerging issues that extend beyond technologyand, perhaps most worrisome of all, the need tofind people to deal with all of these issues.

Many of the people now dealing with them willbe retiring in a few years. Some are retiring now.Various younger IT managers are leaving for oppor-tunities in the private sector. A growing shortage ofpeople to meet municipal IT challenges is beginningto overlay all other issues, especially in the West.

Everyone at the conference, held September 18-21in the City of Penticton, seemed to have a commonrealization that the future isn’t what it used to be.

“For the first time at a conference, I heard peopletalking about the many municipal employees whoare getting ready for retirement and that there are nota lot of young people coming in to fill those gaps,”said Chris Fisher, IT manager of the City of Regina.

“In the next five years, 50 per cent of our munic-ipal staff of 2,500 in Regina will be retiring, if theydon’t leave before that. That is a lot of experiencegoing out the door. It’s a big concern.”

Delegates chatting at meals and coffee breakssaid staff shortages have never been so acute, evenduring the dot-com years of the ‘90s.

Dan Newman of the City of Red Deer said: “It’sa big problem in Western Canada generally speaking.Everybody is at full employment so it’s hard to getpeople. Everybody is looking for the same type ofemployees, and now in IT there is definitely a short-age of qualified people.

“You want to make sure you keep the ones youhave and that you are able to go out and get theones who are good and will add value.”

Competition for skilled people is becoming disruptive. Rob Entwhistle of the City of Kelownanoted that its planning department is operating athalf staff and total staff vacancies earlier this yearreached more than 40 out of 700.

Entwhistle said: “IT is a special case because inthe boom years of the ‘70s and ‘80s, municipalitieshired IT graduates from colleges and universities,and they are the ones now set to retire. You look atevery municipality – there is going to be an exodusacross Canada.

“Even though there may be others to come up,it’s going to cause a shell game of people moving.”

“That’s a good analogy, shell game,” chimed inWayne Klamut, chair of the conference and IT manager of the City of Penticton. “That’s exactlywhat it is. People are moving back and forth.

“We are finding in our own organization thatwe’ve lost staff to the regional district, and theirbuilding is just behind us. And actually some oftheir staff have moved over to our place!”

Penticton, population 35,000, is a favourite oftourists because of its mountain-ringed location

MISA BC ConferenceBegins to Shift FocusTo New GenerationOf People and Issues

Vic Morcom, recently retired as managerof IT for the City of Abbotsford, poses atthe Sunday evening reception with hissuccessor, Laurie Klesh.

28


The Penticton Lakeside Resort, site of some conference events, overlooks the southern tip of Okanagan Lake.

Darren Young, formerly of the City of Lethbridge and now chief technology officer of PointCentric, poses with his new colleagues in white shirts, Dexter Klug and Nicole Sebastian.Visiting their booth are Young’s former MISA Prairies mates, from left: Kevin Peacock,Saskatoon; Dan Newton, Red Deer; Art Krutz, St. Albert; Richard Kirke, StrathconaCounty; Chris Fisher, Regina.

Actor and writer Cathy Jones of thecomedy series This Hour Has 22Minutes entertains Wednesday morning.

Above, Jody Pipko, marketing analyst withSaskTel, greets Barbara Catto of the City ofParksville in the booth of SaskTel’s subsidiaryNavigata Communications.

Thursday’s luncheonspeaker Richard

St. John, right, successanalyst and author, chats

after the presentationwith Per Kristensen

(middle) of the City ofNanaimo and Steven

Dean of sponsorAutodesk Canada.

Left, the GIS users’ group con-venes Friday morning with chairTim Bouwmeester at the tablefacing the group.

Above, Paul DeMara andKaren Keating of RogersCommunications prepare for a presentation.

Left, Monica Peck of Trend Microtalks with Brian Sameshima ofthe City of Burnaby.

29


between Okanagan Lake and Skaha Lake. It is anideal conference location but presents particularproblems for its IT staff, Klamut noted.

“Everybody wants to move here but we don’thave people with the skill levels we need. Propertyvalues are increasing because of the retirees movingin, and it’s making it more difficult to recruit theemployees we need to do the job.

“People moving here after retirement have higherexpectations, too. They come from a big city andthey want all the same amenities in a smaller town.

“People expect things to happen in seconds, notminutes,” Klamut said, “and that trend is growing.In the next five to 10 years you are going to seemany things change in IT management.”

CIO As SuperheroConversations such as this were widespread at theFall Conference, and many were inspired by open-ing keynote speaker Lisa Massey, former CIO of thecities of Los Angeles and San Francisco and nowchief executive of a consulting firm called The CIOCollaborative.

Her presentation, “The CIO as Superhero,”pointed to the increasingly difficult role of themunicipal CIO, the need to concentrate on businesspriorities and the equally important need to managecorporate expectations.

Massey urged CIOs not to take on inappropriateroles such as “cybercop” or “records manager,” andto avoid the temptation of trying to be a superherobecause corporate praise will turn to bitter attacksas soon as an overextended CIO takes on a projectthat fails.

Today’s municipal IT leader, Massey pointed out,is the only person in the enterprise apart from theCAO who has to understand all of its operations.The skills of a CIO (whatever the actual title) oftenhave to encompass many activities – business strategy,financial management, HR management includingrecruiting and mentoring, and selling the value of ITto the corporation – that do not necessarily coincidewith the technology-related skills of the managerwho is typically elevated to the CIO role.

“Here’s my rule of thumb – If you know the versionof operating system running on your mainframe,you’re not a CIO,” Massey said, eliciting chucklesfrom the audience.

Nevertheless, it is because of their ability toapply technologies to improve many municipaloperations that CIOs and IT departments have

found themselves doing more complex jobs amidhigher expectations. Many speakers and delegatesin addition to Massey referred to this phenomenon.

“The domain of IT is expanding,” Phil Edgell, BCbranch manager of Long View SystemsCorporation, pointed out during his presentation.

“As an example, a few years ago telephony was100-per-cent a facilities concern. Now, telephony isturning into an IP application tool, and it’s movinginto IT.

“One of the challenges of IT organizations isthat, as IT’s influence expands into the business,what we have to manage expands as well.”

Wireless ProliferationPhotocopying, security monitoring, salting roads,inspecting houses under construction, schedulinghockey practices, routing fire trucks – many taskshave come under the purview of IT, accompaniedby many devices and networks that need mainte-nance and replenishment.

30


A major factor is the growing capability of wirelesstechnologies to increase the efficiency of informationgathering and service delivery, and extend themunicipal office out to the community.

That trend will accelerate. In his session on theevolution of wireless technologies, Paul DeMara,applications consultant for Rogers Communications,described the next generation of wireless data stan-dards as a “paradigm shift” that will expand wire-less service delivery capabilities as never before.

Rogers has begun this shift by recently introducingits next generation of wireless services based on astandard called HSPA (high speed packet access). Itapplies broadband speeds to wireless devices any-where on the Rogers network, so that cell phonescan be enabled with video calling, satellite radio, TVprograms, music, mobile communities and high-speedInternet services.

What does this mean to the IT department?Massey mused about that in her keynote speechwhen she mentioned her two oldest children.

“How we deliver our services is going to change,”she said. “My two teenagers don’t even want to usea laptop. They have handheld global devices andthey think e-mail is snail mail. They want to textmessage and shop and do everything in their hands.

“Those are your next customers for governmentservices.”

Different ExpectationsThe message that began emerging from the confer-ence was that IT departments need to prepare for anew generation of customers with different expecta-tions of what service delivery means, even whilethey must find and train the next generation ofmunicipal IT strategists and technicians to managethese new challenges.

Sponsors

AgressoAutodesk CanadaBell CanadaDell Canada Inc.

ESRI Canada Ltd.Integrated Cadastral Information

Society (ICIS)Island Key Computer Ltd.Long View SystemsMicroserveMicrosoft Canada Co.

Oracle Corporation Canada Inc.Research in Motion LimitedRogers WirelessSAP CanadaSoftChoice CorporationTargus CanadaTELUS

Exhibitors4th Utility Inc.Acer America Corp. (Canada)Active NetworkAgressoAlcatel-LucentAzteca Systems Inc.BC AssessmentBell CanadaCIMS Industries Inc.Cisco SystemsCompugen Inc.Com-Tech Learning Solutions Inc.Dell Canada Inc.Delphi Solutions Corp.Digital Boundary Group

ESRI Canada Ltd.Global CADD Systems Corp.IBM Canada Ltd.Integrated Cadastral Information

Society (ICIS)KACE Networks Inc.LaserficheLenovo Canada Inc.Lexmark Canada Inc.Liebert/Emerson Network PowerLitco Systems Inc.MDT Technical ServicesMicro Com Systems Ltd.Mitel NetworksNavigata/SaskTelNEC Unified SolutionsNortelNorthern Micro Inc.

Océ-Canada Inc.OnDemand SoftwareOPUS Consulting Group Ltd.Pacific Alliance TechnologiesPanasonic Canada Inc.Point Centric Inc.Pulse Voice Inc.Queen’s Printer, Electronic

PublishingResearch in Motion LimitedRIVA OnlineRogers WirelessSecure ComputingSecure GroupSun MicrosystemsTargus CanadaTeraSpan NetworksTOWER Software

Conference Sponsors and Exhibitors

31


This message was not lost on the younger delegates.Sally Blenkin, manager of client support with the

City of Regina, said: “I noticed in our MISA Prairiesmeeting that quite a few questions were askedabout what people are doing about wikis andblogs and so on. We know that we need to be prepared for the new generation coming in anddoing things differently.”

AnnMarie McDonald, manager of the developmentservices branch of the ICT department at theRegional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, agreed:“There is a new generation that is more accustomedto different types of technology and retrieving information. I heard that echoed throughout theentire conference.”

McDonald’s life is beginning to exemplify thedouble transition taking place. She designs newapplications for service delivery at the Region,based in Fort McMurray, Alberta, and at age 29

has also become the youngest member of theMISA/ASIM Canada Board of Directors.

She was appointed as a MISA Prairies represen-tative to the national body during the MISA Prairiesmembership meeting on the Thursday morning ofthe conference.

She succeeds Mark Humphries, formerly withParkland County, Alberta, a founding member ofthe MISA/ASIM Canada board, who has left muni-icipal government to join a private-sector companyproviding outsourced desktop-management servicesto the Alberta government.

MISA Prairies also recently lost another municipalleader to the private sector – Darren Young, formerlyof the City of Lethbridge and treasurer of MISAPrairies, has become chief technology officer ofPoint Centric, an Alberta-based emergency-manage-ment company.

At left, delegates line up for lunch in themiddle of the trade show at the PentictonTrade and Convention Centre.

Above, Ralph Blauel of Halton Region, left, enjoys conversation during theannual banquet with keynote speaker Lisa Massey and Bruce Miller, presi-dent of Government Management Information Sciences (GMIS), based inSalt Lake City, Utah.

Above, Melissa Blyth of Com-Tech Learning Solutionsgreets Garry Broeckling of the District of Squamish.

Clint Wiebe of the City of Swift Current, right, attends asession with Chris Fisher and Sally Blenkin of Regina.

Singer Steve Elliot entertains asElvis after the banquet.

Colette Tunstead of Dell Computersdelivers a presentation on trends in data storage.

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Two long-time leaders of MISA BC and cham-pions of municipal collaboration were recognizedby their peers with special presentations duringthe MISA BC annual banquet at the FallConference at the Penticton Lakeside Resort.

Frank Mayhood, information technology man-ager of the City of Kamloops, received the Spiritof MISA BC Award, and Doug Rasmussen, infor-mation services manager of the City of Kelowna,received a unique gift from the City of Penticton.

Mayhood is a past president of MISA BC,served on the Executive for many years, and hasbeen chair of two fall conferences in Kamloops.

He has represented MISA/ASIM Canada insubmissions to the federal government on telecom-munications policies and as an ambassador to theUS government technology association GMIS.

The award also recognized Mayhood for hiscommitment to improving the delivery of localgovernment services to the citizens of Kamloops.

Rasmussen’s surprise gift was presented byWayne Klamut, IT manager of the City ofPenticton and conference chair, as a token offriendship between Penticton and Kelowna, twocities that share Okanagan Lake.

Rasmussen received a historic framed photo-graph of the Kelowna Bridge, built in 1958 toimprove transportation across the lake betweenthe two cities. It is 7/8 of a mile long and theonly structure of its kind in Canada. It is to bereplaced by a new floating bridge in 2009.

The photograph was originally intended as agift to the mayor of Penticton in the late 1950s –until it was misplaced for half a century.

Klamut said it was fitting that Rasmussen, MISABC’s treasurer, who served as co-chair of thisyear’s Fall Conference as well as a previousPenticton conference in 2001, should receive the photograph. �

Frank Mayhood, left, receives his Spirit of MISA BC Award fromchapter President David Hennigan of the Capital Region District.

Doug Rasmussen, left, receives a photograph of the KelownaBridge from conference chair Wayne Klamut to recognize hiscontributions to Penticton conferences.

MISA BC Honours Two for Leadership

Municipal delegates had no negative comments atall about losing staff to the private sector – in factMISA Prairies delegates made a point of visitingYoung’s booth in the sold-out trade show of 50 booths– but it is clearly a factor in the “shell game” that isaffecting the management of IT departments.

Many of the vendors themselves are in the midst oftransitions, judging from the youthfulness of several oftheir presenters. The influence of younger people wasbeneficial to the conference as a whole in the view ofGerry Matte, a past president of MISA BC, secretary

of MISA/ASIM Canada, and an organizer and speakerat many conferences.

“It makes for a very relaxing and enjoyable confer-ence,” Matte said. “This feels less structured thansome previous conferences. I haven’t felt rushed fromone place to another.

“In particular it flavours the relationship betweenthe municipal delegates and the vendors. The vendorshave been very relaxed and obviously feeling like colleagues, that they are part of the party.”

33


Vendors made important contributors as sponsorsof presentations and social events. Bell Canada spon-sored the opening-day golf tournament at thePenticton Golf and Country Club as well as theNaramata Bench Wineries tour and the Tuesdayevening welcoming reception. Oracle Canadasponsored the companion program.

Targus Canada presented high-quality blue back-packs to delegates. A highlight of the many vendor-sponsored meals, coffee breaks and hospitalitysuites was the annual banquet on the Wednesdaynight sponsored by TELUS, with a ‘50s rock ‘n rolltheme complete with Elvis.

Competing PrioritiesDuring the daily sessions, the 279 delegates attendeda variety of technical and management-oriented ses-sions. The final day on Friday featured a day-longmeeting of an informal GIS users’ group, 50 strong,with Tim Bouwmeester of the Okanagan-Similkameen Regional District as chair.

Other sessions explored trends in infrastructuremanagement, application lifecycle management,and security and risk management -- all complextopics extending the role of IT into the strategicmanagement of the enterprise.

In the session entitled “The Future of Telco,”Philippe Jetté, vice-president of data solutions forBell Mobility Inc., remarked that no other businesssegment, including any other level of government,has IT requirements as diverse and mission-criticalas municipalities.

The numerous priorities now facing municipal ITdepartments – cost control, electronic service delivery,measuring performance, case management, businesscontinuity, asset management – can be groupedgenerally into the themes of productivity and collab-oration, Jetté suggested.

He proposed an innovative way to address boththemes in future as well as communicate with a newgeneration of IT staff and users – that municipal ITdepartments build communities of resources usingwireless technologies, following the examples ofMySpace, Facebook and YouTube.

Training and MentoringAnother approach was suggested by Per Kristensen ofthe City of Nanaimo, a past president of MISA BC whowill be chair of the 2008 Fall Conference in Nanaimo.

Kristensen in conversation said municipal IT leadersneed to put greater emphasis on training and men-toring, adding that involvement in MISA/ASIMCanada organizations can help.

“I’m looking around at these younger peoplewho are going to be the leaders of tomorrow. Whatthey need is to pick the brains of people at chapterevents, learn from their experience and recognizewho’s got what skills and knowledge, and file thataway for future use.

“And joining an association executive willimprove their organizational skills right off the bat.”

Mike Palmer, IT manager of the City of Langfordwho has attended several MISA BC conferences,said the younger generation can look at the chal-lenges ahead as an opportunity.

“I’m 35 and looking forward to taking on theresponsibility that is being handed down,” he said.“A large proportion of the work force will be leaving,but I think our generation is up to the challenge. I don’t think it’s as bad as people think it is.”

The 2008 Fall Conference will address yetanother challenge, the role of IT in environmentalsustainability. Keynote speaker for the conference inNanaimo’s new Vancouver Island Conference Centreon September 23-26 will be David Suzuki. �

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By Guillermo FerreroCity of NanaimoMISA BC Communications Director

THE CITY OF NANAIMO took home the 2007 MISABC Spirit of Innovation Award for creating an appli-cation that has saved money for the Public Worksdepartment and helped maintain the picturesqueappearance of the tourist city on Vancouver Island.

The application, called Masterful Mowing, wasone of six solutions presented by municipalities during the Solutions Showcase that concluded theMISA BC Fall Conference in Penticton onSeptember 21.

Boulevard MaintenanceThe City of Nanaimo Public Works department hasa boulevard maintenance program with an annualbudget of $250,000, which is responsible for con-trolling the vegetation along 600 kilometres of citystreets. A Public Works manager typically hires twocontractors to mow the edges of the roadways fromApril through October.

The mowers’ progress used to be tracked bymarking mowed areas with a pin on a wall map.This caused errors and confusion, and prompted citizen complaints because some streets and parkswere overlooked and not mowed all season.

A solution was needed to increase access toinformation, improve accountability, and facilitateeffective scheduling of resources, all without anincrease in budget. The Information Technology,Public Works and Engineering departmentsdesigned and implemented a Web-based mobileGIS application that solved the problem.

The management application is deployed on alaptop mounted in the supervisor’s truck. The appli-cation lets the supervisor easily capture and trackmowing information by clicking on a map. All ofthe mowing history is available in the applicationso the supervisor can visually track progress, viewstreet comments, and plan a mowing schedule.

Every day the supervisor synchronizes the mowingdata with the central Oracle database to push mowingdetails to the Internet mapping application and pulldown any new street changes.

There were four main goals to the BoulevardMaintenance project:• Improve field collection of data• Facilitate program governance• Improve internal and external customer service• Increase effectiveness of the program by mowing

each major street once a month and each residen-tial street twice a season.The application was developed primarily

in-house with full-time commitment from MatthewDunstan, senior applications analyst, during thefive-week implementation.

The Web application was built internally usingMapGuide Open Source, a mapping tool recentlycontributed to the open-source community by

City of Nanaimo Takes First PrizeAmong BC Municipal Innovators

Matthew Dunstan, left, senior applications analyst with the City ofNanaimo, holds the Spirit of Innovation Award presented byKevin Peacock of the City of Saskatoon, president of MISA/ASIMCanada and chair of the award selection panel.

35


Autodesk. It can be deployed on any number ofmachines without licensing costs.

The Boulevard Maintenance project also madeuse of a Web mapping development framework calledFusion, from Autodesk reseller DM Solutions Group.

A Windows application was built by an interna-tional GIS development consultant, SL-King, to synchronize the data between the local MapGuideapplication and the Oracle database.

Total budget for the project was $10,000. It wasreleased to production in April 2007. Public Worksnow finds that its mowing budget covers twice asmany areas as previously, with greater accuracy.

It plans to expand the solution with the developmentof a location-tracking system and by publishingmaps at www.nanaimo.ca so the public can see themowing schedules.

Innovative Ideas and ProjectsThe Municipal Solutions Showcase also includedfive other examples of innovative ideas from BCmunicipalities:

City of ChilliwackIn response to fears of major flooding of the FraserRiver, the City of Chilliwack’s IT department led thecreation of an emergency-response plan for theentire municipal government. It encompasses anEmergency Response Centre, an alternate City Hallwith a network operations centre located at a formerarmy base, a backup phone system and satellite-basedInternet connectivity, a backup server room at theFire Department and an alternate Public Works yard.

City of KelownaKelowna has devised an IT security system to fendoff infection or intrusion from wireless devices andlaptops plugged into its network. A new 802.1xswitch infrastructure forces all device users to com-municate first with an authentication server beforebeing able to reach Kelowna’s network.

Township of LangleyFirefighters serving an area of 122 square miles inthe Township of Langley used to rely on hand-drawnfloor and site plans to gain entrance to buildings.Now they have access in their trucks to up-to-datepreplans that are stored a proprietary database created by the municipality’s Geomatics Department.The Geosource system will be GIS-enabled in 2008

so firefighters will be able to call up preplansenroute to buildings by touching the location on a computer screen.

City of RichmondRichmond’s IT department has designed and imple-mented a two-tier infrastructure to manage the City’stroublesome volume of e-mails. It combines highcapacity and availability with comprehensivedefence against security threats and spam. Of the184,395 e-mails sent to Richmond on a typical day,September 7, the system rejected 98 per cent ofthem as spam.

District of SaanichProcurement processes have become more efficientsince Saanich implemented a vendor-managementsystem in May 2007. All vendors now log into adesignated Web site to become registered with themunicipality, then automatically receive e-mails notifying them of relevant opportunities. �

36


MUNICIPAL AND provincial civilservants from across Ontario got aclose look at advanced IT service-delivery strategies and applicationsfrom the City of Toronto and HaltonRegion during Showcase Ontarioin September.

Displays by the two municipali-ties were in the centre of the gov-ernment pavilion on the exhibitfloor at the Metro Toronto ConventionCentre in an exhibit arranged byKathryn Bulko, a past president ofMISA Ontario and manager of thecontract management office of theCity of Toronto.

Toronto’s display featured 12applications including the WirelessParking Tag Issuance System.

Parking enforcement officers cannow issue tickets using wirelessticket writers that help to keep systems up to date and accurate,without manual data entry.

The City of Toronto believes thisis the first system of its kind. Thetechnology consists of a two-piecewireless hand-held computer andbelt printer that connects throughthe GPRS wireless network to send and receive data for issuingparking tickets.

The system is a joint initiativebetween the TorontoPolice Service,Parking EnforcementUnit and the City ofToronto's Parking TagOperations, RevenueServices Division. It ispart of the eCity initia-tive to integrate infor-mation technologyinto Toronto services.

At Halton Region’sdisplay, visitors foundinformation about howits customer-servicesprogram uses market-leading technology toprovide a single pointof access for all gov-ernment information,services and programs.

Halton’s customer-service technol-ogy architecture integrates servicesfrom 11 divisions and departmentsand is designed to support a unified2-1-1/3-1-1 service.

Halton staffers also explainedthe Region’s new asset-managementprogram designed to meet PSAB3150 reporting requirements (seepage 8).

Showcase Ontario (www.show-caseontario.com), the largest public-sector IT education event inCanada, took place September 24-26.

The program included four pre-sentations from Toronto and two bythe Region of Peel. Toronto alsohad several finalist entries in theShowcase Ontario Awards ofExcellence. �

MISA News Across Canada

New Applications DisplayedAt Showcase Ontario

Luis Christopher, left, and Keith Burrows ofthe Ontario Ministry of GovernmentServices, Infrastructure Technology Services,learn about Halton Region’s customer-ser-vice strategy from Cindy Ravenscroft, seniorIT adviser, technology services, and technol-ogy analyst Mark Viola at their ShowcaseOntario display.

At the City of Toronto’s display in the government pavilion,Karl Drysdale, MISA Ontario secretary and director of tech-nology services for the City of London, hears about the Cityof Toronto’s wireless parking system from Maria Gallippi andAlex Mojo of Toronto Revenue Services.


38

Municipal News Across Canada

YORK REGION, Ontario, has won two awards forinnovations in public transit delivery.

At its Annual Symposium on November 1 inMississauga, the Tri-Committee of the Ontario Good Roads Association, the Municipal EngineersAssociation and the Ontario Public WorksAssociation presented its inaugural InformationTechnology Project of the Year Award to YorkRegion for its submission Deploying Technology onViva Bus Rapid Transit.

The Region also announced in a release October29 it has won the American Public TransportationAssociation AdWheel Award for excellence in mar-keting and communications for its outdoor advertisingcampaigns for the Viva Rapid Transit system. �

THE PRINCE Edward Island govern-ment has developed a property-mapping application that munici-palities can use in place of printedassessment rolls.

Municipal Assessment andProperty Charges Online (MAPCO)is a Web-based application aimedat providing Prince Edward Island’s75 municipalities with timely infor-mation. The province is providing itfree to the municipalities.

“Municipal staff will now be

able to access key information withease and efficiency,” provincialTreasurer Wes Sheridan said in arelease August 7.

“MAPCO will help staff confirmownership of a property, accessup-to-date information for the pur-pose of preparing reports and/ormunicipal planning, save storagespace, and increase productivityby eliminating the time-consumingtasks of retrieving and re-filingassessment roll books.” �

Hamilton Has NewIT Services LeaderTHE CITY of Hamilton, Ontario,has appointed Maria McChesneyas director of information technol-ogy services.

She comes from the CreatechGroup, working with municipali-ties on asset-management initiativesand formerly held several man-agement positions with Stelco Inc.She succeeds Christine Swenor,now with the City of Burlington.

Prince Edward Island DevelopsMunicipal Mapping Application

Appointments

York Region Wins Awards

Buses Offer Wireless AccessRIDERS ON Codiak Transit’s express routes inMoncton, New Brunswick, can now surf theInternet all the way to their destination.

“We are the first municipality in Canada todeploy public broadband Internet on public transit,” says Dan Babineau, Moncton's director of information systems. CBC News


This is the second in a series of three columns on thecorporate strategy underlying the recent divergencein the Region of Peel of the roles of the CIO and the director of the Information and TechnologyServices Division – a position that now operates and reports separately.

MY FIRST ARTICLE DISCUSSED the I&T planningprocess: The CIO focuses on defining the processas well as developing the high-level corporate plan,and is accountable to the CAO and ExecutiveManagement Team for this work. The I&T Servicesdirector focuses on executing the process (preparingdepartmental I&T plans) in partnership with eachclient department as well as for I&T Services itself.

In partnership with each department, the directoris also responsible for acquiring, developing, andimplementing solutions identified in departmentalplans. The director is accountable to the respectivedepartment heads (not to the CIO) for this work.

I&T GovernanceOne element of I&T governance has been discussedunder the planning process – that the CIO reviewsand approves individual departmental I&T plans.

In the future, these I&T plans will determinewhich projects should be included in departmentalcapital budgets. Consistent with the discussion in aprevious column that the businesses should own andbe accountable for the success of their I&T initiatives,we believe that I&T capital projects should bealigned under the appropriate business, rather thanbeing listed separately as “IT projects.”

Nevertheless, when such projects include a significant I&T component, they are flagged assuch, meaning that a specific business case must beprepared for CIO review and approval before theproject can proceed.

At the present time, our business case process isfurther advanced than our I&T planning process. Asa result, we are reviewing individual business caseswithout knowing how the project fits into a depart-mental or corporate I&T plan.

In future we anticipate that projects will bereviewed and approved in principle as part of theI&T planning process, meaning that the project isconsistent with corporate and departmental direc-tions and priorities.

As we approach project initiation, additionalwork will be required to further define the projectscope, investigate possible solutions, and recommenda specific approach to addressing the businessneed. The results of this work will be summarized ina business case, which will again be submitted forCIO approval. Approval of the business casereleases funds for the project to proceed.

In summary, for the I&T governance process:• The CIO focuses on defining the process as well

as reviewing and approving proposed I&T projectsat both the initial planning stage and upon com-pletion of the business case recommending aspecific project scope and approach.

• The I&T Services director focuses on assisting thedepartments in defining the projects, preparingbusiness cases, and recommending specific I&Tsolutions to address business needs. While thedirector has some professional responsibility toidentify risks, concerns or alternative solutions,the director’s primary responsibility is to assistin putting forward the strongest possible businesscase, without also being the “gatekeeper” whodecides whether the project should go ahead.

Information ManagementSince the “I” in CIO stands for information, the CIOrole implies a greater emphasis on all forms ofinformation management, including information andenterprise architecture, than the director has beenable to provide.

In a previous column, I discussed the increasingneed for all organizations to come to grips with therapid growth in the amount of stored informationand data. While I&T directors and infrastructuremanagers may address this issue primarily byworking to reduce storage and backup costs, myprimary focus as CIO is on the lost productivityassociated with ineffective information management

New Role as CIOPart 2 of 3

Governance IssuesBy Roy Wiseman

Chief Information Officer Regional Municipality of Peel, Ontario

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41


Governance Issues

practices and, more importantly, our failure to capi-talize effectively on the information that we maintain.

The information-management challenge has anumber of dimensions:

1. Create a Different OrganizationWe need to move from an organization in whichemployees maintain their own copies of files (ontheir local hard drives, shared network drives or inpaper form) to one in which information is storedonce in a recognized corporate filing structure (withassociated rules around retention and deletion) andaccessed from that location by all who need it.While this sounds simple, it represents a culture shiftthat will probably take years to achieve.

The first step is to create an information manage-ment structure that is easily understood. It must besupported by policies and processes that definewhere, how, when and by whom information willbe stored and maintained.

Only when employees develop the confidencethat they will be able to find and access neededinformation quickly and effectively, whenever theyneed it, will they accept that it is both unnecessaryand even inappropriate to retain their own copiesof documents that are available corporately.

The effort required to achieve this transformationshould not be underestimated. My recommendationis that we start with some “quick wins” with specifictypes of information.

For instance, several years of Region of PeelCouncil reports are stored electronically in our doc-ument management system, with full search capa-bility. Yet we have not taken the next step of askingdepartments and individual employees to deletetheir own copies of these reports as well as manydraft versions leading up to the final report.

There are many other examples of informationthat is already stored corporately, but for whichduplicate versions are still widely maintainedthroughout the organization.

2. Reduce Number of ApplicationsInformation management is more than just docu-ments. I am equally concerned that we are unableto access and make effective use of the data con-tained in our corporate, departmental and personal computer systems.

In this regard, one of my goals as CIO is to radically reduce the number of applications in usein the organization.

There should be one recognized master repositoryfor various classes of information (including employee,financial, client and GIS/location data.) All otherapplications requiring this information should drawfrom the authorized source rather than maintainingthe same information independently.

Equally, we should review the thousands of localdatabases and spreadsheets that duplicate or heavilyoverlap information contained in corporate applica-tions -- to understand why they are needed and toaddress those needs, where possible, throughenhancements to corporate systems, including easieraccess to those systems by those who need it.

To illustrate this point, I was recently asked formy emergency contact information to include in adatabase maintained by our Emergency Servicesprogram. I asked why they weren’t simply using ourHRMS system, and the response was that the emer-gency contact information in HRMS was not accurateand not being maintained.

In addition, Emergency Services did not feel con-fident that they would be able to access this infor-mation from HRMS when and in the form that theyneeded it. While these are all understandable concerns, they could be addressed through discussionbetween the two areas (with I&T support).

In my view, maintaining a separate database ofemergency contacts is not the appropriate or effectivesolution. The same information is being maintainedinconsistently in multiple locations, meaning thatnone of the sources is likely to be entirely accurate.The best way to ensure reliable and accurate infor-mation is to have a single, clearly identified sourcewhich everyone uses, along with a clear process forwhere, how and by whom it is maintained.

3. Move to Integrated SolutionsMoving up from small databases and spreadsheets,there is also a strong trend away from multiple pro-gram-specific applications into more integrated“corporate” solutions. This is always a trade-offbetween individual systems, which may be purpose-


42

Governance Issues

built to address the specific needs of individual programs, and common integrated systems thatmay better serve the corporate need.

While recognizing that program needs must bemet effectively in any integrated solution, the problemwith program-specific systems is that the informationis usually accessible only to the program, making it harder to access or aggregate to support other programs or corporate decisions. Separate systemsalso increase IT costs and complexity and contributeto the likelihood that the same information is beingmaintained in multiple places.

If we wish to move our organizations away fromindividual silos to a more integrated, streamlinedand customer-focused set of services (for example,to support 3-1-1 or corporate dashboards), thenthere will be increasing emphasis on more integrated

applications. Fortunately, the technology is alsocatching up, so that better integration is now moreachievable than in the past.

But this requires a corporate approach to infor-mation and application architecture. We need tounderstand our key corporate applications andassociated information repositories and then build(buy) them in a way that addresses both corporateand departmental (business) needs.

As long as we are simply responding to individualprogram needs, it will be difficult for the I&T directorto encourage or “impose” the corporate view.

Next issue: Objectives and strategic projects.

[email protected] �

National and Member Executives

National OfficersPRESIDENT Kevin Peacock, City of Saskatoon306-975-3047 [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT Daya Pillay, Halifax Regional Municipality902-490-6550 (fax 490-4525)[email protected]

TREASURER Garry Bezruki, City of Waterloo519-747-8726 (fax 747-8727)[email protected]

SECRETARY Gerry Matte, Municipality of Saanich250-475-5403 [email protected]

www.misa-asim.ca

MISA AtlanticPRESIDENT David Muise, Halifax Regional Municipality902-490-4000 [email protected]

TREASURER Daya Pillay, Halifax Regional Municipality902-490-6550 (fax 490-4525) [email protected]

SECRETARY Bill Todd, City of Saint John506-658-2853 [email protected]

MISA BCPRESIDENT David Hennigan, The Capital Regional District250-360-3141 [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT Alan Cameron, City of Richmond604-276-4096 [email protected]

TREASURER Doug Rasmussen, City of Kelowna250-862-3339 x 315 [email protected]

SECRETARY Linda Kreutz, Greater Vancouver Regional District604-436-6974 [email protected]

http://misa.bc.ca

MISA OntarioPRESIDENT Ralph Blauel, Region of Halton905-825-6000, x 7997 (fax 825-6057)[email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT Garry Bezruki, City of Waterloo519-747-8726 (fax 747-8727)[email protected]

TREASURER David Laneville, City of Timmins705-360-2605 (fax 705-360-2686) [email protected]

SECRETARY Karl Drysdale, City of London519-661-2500 x 4945 (fax 661-5985)[email protected]

www.misa.on.ca

MISA PrairiesPRESIDENT Georganne Dupont, City of [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT Chris Fisher, City of Regina306-77-7193 [email protected]

TREASURER Andre Tessier, City of Cold Lake780-594-4494 [email protected]

MEMBERSHIP Natalia Madden, County of Grande Prairie780-532-9722 [email protected]

http://misaprairies.ca

Réseau del’InformatiqueMunicipale duQuébec (RIMQ)PRESIDENT Daniel Malo, Ville de Montreal540-280-6544 [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT Gaston Huot, Villes de Boucherville, Brossard, Saint-Bruno et [email protected]

SECRETARY-TREASURER Michel Hurteau, Ville de Sorel-Tracy450-780-5714 [email protected]

www.rimq.com

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