Oct 20 2015

Council Approves Five Year Information Technology (IT) Strategic Plan

“Living” IT Plan –

At their October 19th meeting, the City Council discussed at length the proposed IT Plan.  In the end they approved the plan as a “living” plan, recognizing current and future budget limitations and future  technological advances.

PRESS RELEASE:

“After a year long examination of the City’s Information Technology (IT) systems, the City Council approved a five year IT strategic plan at its meeting of October 19, 2015. The plan lays out seventy initiatives designed to bring the City’s aging, and in some cases outdated, information technology infrastructure up to date. These changes will help residents and staff use technology to be more efficient; and will facilitate improved resident communication with city government.

In February of 2015, the City Council engaged the services of ClientFirst Technology Consulting to undertake a review of the City’s Information Technology infrastructure and prepare a five year strategic plan based upon their findings. The consultant’s work included an in-depth review of city-wide systems,, each department’s operations and technology needs, as well as workshops with staff knowledgeable of the technology needs and the technological debt in each department.

The consultant met with the Council appointed IT Task Force, comprised of Piedmont residents Tom Kutter, David Mason, Michael Parks, Poojitha Preena, and Adam Schwartz. Through their analyses and meetings, the consultant developed initiatives to modernize the City’s technological infrastructure. An overarching goal of the various initiatives is to build and invest in a system that serves internal needs and provides residents full access to their City government.

“This IT Strategic Plan will guide us into the 21st century, bringing important technological changes to Piedmont that will promote efficiencies and save taxpayer monies,” said Mayor Margaret Fujioka. “With an initial focus on bringing the City’s network infrastructure to modern standards and providing adequate staffing to support the City’s computing needs, this plan will bring the City up to date. Future projects such as revamping the City website and making WiFi available at City Hall and surrounding public areas will provide residents greater access to City government and services. Thanks to our IT Task Force, Consultant, and City staff for their excellent work on this Plan.”

“Overall, we believe the approach and strategic plan provided by ClientFirst was a reasonable and logical plan for upgrading the City’s services and infrastructure, wrote Tom Kutter, Chair of the Information Technology Task Force. “Many of the near term objectives are to simply update the basic network infrastructure and enterprise software. With the infrastructure in place, the City can begin to meet the objectives set forth for improving customer satisfaction with City residents, increasing transparency across departments, and improving the productivity of City staff.”

The staff report and strategic plan are available on the City’s web site at:

http://www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/html/govern/staffreports/2015-10-19/it_strategic_plan.pdf

For more information contact:

John O. Tulloch, City Clerk, 420-3040

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