IT Transformation:

People and Processes

Oregon Digital Government Summit
May 12th, 2015
Bob Leek
Deputy CIO, Multnomah County
Skip Newberry
President, Technology Association of Oregon

IT Transformation: People and Processes

With technology changes occurring rapidly,

many agencies have begun seeking out ways to
modernize their IT organizations to better

prepare for the future.

(Image: Gulbenk)
http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

Identify functional needs and requirements
This first tactic to modernize your agencys information
technology (IT) infrastructure is to identify the functional
needs and business requirements of the users and
departments you support. Begin by assembling a group of
key stakeholders, including internal departments and
constituents, to gain a better understanding of the functional
needs of your internal and external users. Develop a persona
for each of your stakeholders that includes their role, highlevel needs, daily behavior and basic technology

demographics (i.e. types of devices used).

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

2. Assess your current environment

Once you have a better understanding of your users'

underlying business requirements, you must inventory and
assess your existing infrastructure and supporting
applications. This inventory process should provide a base
level of knowledge to understand the current capacity and
capabilities of your existing infrastructure, and can also serve
as a benchmark for comparison in the future.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

3. Define your vision and goals

To establish your agencys strategic vision and goals, map

your previously developed user personas to the capabilities of
your existing infrastructure. This also will identify potential
gaps within your agency. Its also important to factor in the
strategic priorities of other senior leadership within your
agency, including elected officials, which may impact your
department's priorities and direction in the future.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

4. Establish a governance structure

Governance of technology investments is a

complex task. Gartner defines two aspects of
governance: a framework made up both
corporate and IT components, and a process
that includes overall and project components
and the mechanisms needed to perform the
governance functions.

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

5. Assess the technology landscape

As you look forward, it is important to analyze key trends and

shifts in consumer behavior that may impact the future needs
of the users your agency supports. Create a regular

conversation regarding emerging trends and technologies

with your key stakeholders and embed this as an aspect of
evaluation within your agencys IT governance structure.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

6. Optimize existing infrastructure and apps

With a thorough assessment of the current and future

IT landscape and a new IT governance structure in
place, it is time to begin the process of executing your
agencys IT modernization strategy. It is important to

begin this process by identifying ways to optimize or

repurpose existing infrastructure and applications to
meet any of the functional business requirements you
uncovered at the beginning of the process.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

Audience interaction:
How many people have a
modernization project going on?
What are they? How will you measure
success?

How many people have a workforce

development effort going on? What
are they? How will you measure
success?

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

7. Educate employees about new technologies
A major accelerator of government modernization

efforts is accomplished by educating and exposing

agency employees to new technologies and
architectures. For IT employees, education provides
invaluable external stimuli that can accelerate the

adoption of new tactics and best practices within your

IT organization. For non-IT employees, education
provides a catalyst to embracing new systems and
processes that may be consolidated or changed within
your agencys modernization efforts.
http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

Audience Interaction:

How many people work at an

organization with an innovation
center? What does it do?
How many people have a program
that supports employee selfdevelopment? How does it work?

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

8. Experiment and pilot new technologies

The best way to keep your agencys IT organization on a

continuous path of modernization is by conducting regular

experiments or pilots with new and emerging technologies.
Using agile project management and development processes,
your agency can continuously create a series of small-scale

minimum viable products (MVPs) that will help you anticipate

and prepare for the future needs of the users you support.
Start this process inside of a sandbox development
environment to provide the most adaptable platform for testing

that mitigates any risks involved with testing live data.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

Audience interaction:
Name some new technologies that
you are implementing.
For what purpose?
How will you measure success?

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

9. Partner to fill gaps

As you lead your agency through an IT modernization effort,

you will uncover gaps in expertise or technical capacity
throughout the process. When this occurs, look for
organizations, companies or other government agencies you
can partner with to provide additional expertise, technical
capacity or support. Many government agencies, such as
Oakland County, Michigan [PDF], have successfully
implemented IT modernization efforts that can be used as a
reference and validation for your journey.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

10. Measure and validate success

After the IT modernization process begins, continuous

reporting and measurement are critical components to
validate the effectiveness and impact of your agencys efforts.
Use the benchmarks established through the previous

assessments of your infrastructure and applications to track

and adapt your modernization program over time. It is also
important to leverage your governance structure and board as
mechanisms to review and respond to any data accordingly.

http://www.govtech.com/computing/10-Tactics-To-Modernize-Your-Government-IT-Organization.html, Haisler, Dustin May 2015

10 Tactics to Modernize Your Government IT Org

Celebrate Success!

Winners!