The Evolving Role of Government Technologists

The City of New York

• Resident population of over 8 million; daytime population of 10 million

• Over 350,000 City employees, 300,000 retirees• New York City Government includes its 5 counties • The 1 million student school system reports to the Mayor• Annual budget exceeds $59 billion dollars

• Trails only the Federal Government, and the states of California, New York & Florida

• If New York City was a private sector corporation, it would be in the Top 30 of the Fortune 500 companies

• Over 120 agencies, offices, and organizations make up “The City”

The role of the NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications

• The city’s centralized data centers, networks, telephony

• The city’s centralized applications - HR, Email, PPM

• Central functions – security oversight, IT reform (procurement, project management, personnel) IT Governance

• Enterprise IT Contracts – Verizon, IT contracts, Integrators, hardware, software and software maintenance

• Wireless – including cellular, radio (public safety radio coordination

• Cable, Hi-cap, telecommunication franchise management

• Public Pay Telephones

• Public Interfaces - 311, NYC.gov, NYC TV & Radio - 911

The role of the NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications

Technology, out of the back office, into the field

New York City as a Bellwether – Local Government IT on Steroids

• New Breed of Leadership – Significant expansion in the role of IT

• Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg – Business & IT experience

• Younger commissioners, senior staff, and legislators demand more of IT

• Higher expectations on Government from the public

• They demand to perform transactions seemlessly through the Government web and call centers

• Public’s perception of the competency of an administration is increasingly shaped by the ease of access/response through 24x7 call centers and web sites

What does that mean for us?

• IT is now at the decision making table – Are we ready?

• Guide and manage a larger volume of IT projects simultaneously while advancing our IT Strategy

• Be prepared to deliver IT projects rapidly – high availability systems

• Provide solutions to address the problem of the day – Be relevant

• Emergency response and preparedness

Emergency Response and Preparedness• Focus on Public Safety Technologies

• 911 & CAD systems and infrastructure - 311• First Responder Radio infrastructure• Command and Control Communications• Greater Dependence on:

• GIS• Email – Blackberries

• New Technologies • Video Surveillance Systems – Sensor systems• Hospital Emergency Room monitoring systems• AVL• Emergency Management Systems

• Telecom carrier infrastructure survivability – post 9/11

• Municipal IT infrastructure – Redundancy/Survivability

Some of New York City’s Major Incidents - the past 5 years

1. Terrorist Attack on the World Trade Center – September 11th 2001

2. Crash of Flight 587 - November 12th, 20013. Northeastern U. S. Blackout – August 14th & 15th, 20034. Staten Island Ferry crash – October 15th , 20035. Partial 911 outage – March 26th, 2004 6. Major Transit Strike - December 20th – 23rd 2005 7. Blizzard, largest recorded snowfall in NYC- February 12th 2006

The role of the CIO/CTO during power outages and events impacting infrastructure

• What is the impact on public safety communications?• What is the impact on public telecommunications?• What do the city’s web site, 311, & 911 need to do?• What IT support needs to be provided for the emergency

response?• What needs to be done to keep Municipal IT functioning?

Telecommunications - What is the impact, status, type of volume. Is it being handled, are

there any issues/problems, any developing? Are 911 systems operating normally? Are the telephone systems operating? Are cellular networks operating? Are our public safety radio systems operating normally? Have any critical Public Safety sites been effected?

Police/Fire/EMS sites, Command and Control – Cityhall, OEM, Hospitals, Key agency buildings and operational facilities

Have any sensitive locations/installations been effected? Nuclear power plants, Chemical plants, refineries…..

Have any critical commercial sites been effected? Exchanges, strategic industries, banks, alarms, surveillance,

monitoring and security systems Are cable TV & VoIP systems up and operating?

Public Facing IT Utilities – What needs to be done?• 911, 311, 211

How high is call volume, do we have enough call takers, is the next shift going to be able to get in to work? Supplement call takers?

What is the message, “What do we tell people?” What are people telling us? Who needs to know? Are there any new 311 functions that need to be brought up

quickly? How quickly? What information do we need from callers, what is the process?

• Web site How is the web site performing? What is the message/content? Do we post an emergency home page (OEM)

• Municipal Television Is there information to go out on our crawls. Do we want to facilitate press coverage by providing a pool feeds,

where are the press conferences going to be held?

Municipal IT infrastructure

What is the impact, what is the effect, how big a problem is it, should DR procedures be implemented? Are data centers effected? Is there potential for integrity to be

compromised? Are networks operational? Is there a cyber-security threat? Are any non-data center based systems effected? Are systems critical to support emergency operations up and

running properly? Web sites, GIS, E-Teams, CRM (311), Email, BES servers

Have other technologies been adversely effected? PBXs, Traffic Pattern Control systems, Building Control

Systems

Providing IT support for the emergency - Wireless

Does anyone need radios, satellite phones, cell phones, blackberries, EVDO?

Do we need to deploy additional batteries, chargers, accessories?

Is the radio infrastructure stable, should we deploy back up systems?

Are there Interoperability requirements? Deploy ACU 1000s, system level interoperability?

Do we need to deploy Cells on Wheels (COWS), Cells on Light Trucks (COLTS)?

Do we need to deploy temporary public phone banks? Is the infrastructure holding up, any systems failing,

Batteries, UPSs, Generators Operating, is fuel required?

Providing IT support for the emergency – General Technology

Is there a need for new office environments to be established, an EOC, field command centers, Family Assistance Centers?

Is there a need for credentialing systems? Does anyone need laptops? Is there mapping and GIS support required for press

announcements, traffic control and logistical support? Are there new applications that need to be brought up

quickly? Are there IT support staff in EOC’s, public safety

agencies that need to be relieved?

Set up Family Centers and EOC

• New sites had to meet requirements– Adequate space– Sound infrastructure

• Power• Telecommunications• Heating / Cooling

– Flexibility of use made transformation easy Facility was securable

311’s Track Record During Emergencies

2003 Blackout – 311 Handled 172,000 calls in a single day. • 311 provided feedback from public• 311 helped to relieve 911, 911 experienced normal volume

2004 911 outage• New Yorkers called 311 and were connected to PD/FD and EMS

2004 Ferry Accident• Missing persons were tracked thru 311

2005 Transit Strike – • 311 Handled 242,000 calls during one 24 hour period

Everyday in New York City --- Why 3-1-1 is necessary

New York City 3-1-1 - Invaluable Everyday – Essential during Emergencies

• All calls are answered by a live operator, 24 hours a day/7 days a week/365 days a year

• Provides immediate access to language translation services in over 170 languages

• Allows callers to quickly and conveniently: – Be directed to a specific City, State or

Federal agency or program – Request detailed information about services

and programs – File a request for City services

• Professional, courteous, knowledgeable, accessible

New Yorkers only need to remember two numbers to contact City government: 911 for emergencies and 3-1-1 for everything else.

311 Providing Access to Govt.– Increasing call volume

Monthly Call Volume

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

• 3-1-1 has increased the public’s access to non-emergency government services.

– Since March 9, 2003, 3-1-1 serviced over 60 million calls, 15 Million/year

• 3-1-1 averages approximately over 50,000 calls per day.

• Since its inception, the average number of calls per day has steadily increased

• 3-1-1 has set of a service level of answering over 98% of calls in less than 30 seconds, no calls on hold beyond 3 minutes.

What does that mean for us?

• IT is now at the decision making table – Are we ready?

• Guide and manage a larger volume of IT projects simultaneously while advancing our IT Strategy

• Be prepared to deliver IT projects rapidly – high availability systems

• Provide solutions to address the problem of the day – Be relevant

PPM is the Key!Allows better decision making by providing an enterprise

view of all IT projects and IT funding requests, the benefits, risks, costs and resource requirements.

Reduce risk, lower costs & improve on-time delivery of solutions by:

• Improving the management and transparency of projects (PM tools for the project managers, dashboards for executives)

• Identifying problems, issues, delays earlier.• Illustrating resource utilization, constraints and new

needs.

Reduce the cost of PPM tools by establishing a citywide PPM tool standard, centrally hosting the toolset in the city’s data centers, encouraging it’s use by all agencies.