Re: Response to Audit of the Application Services Section Report No

Transcription

1 BRtfVWRD COUNTY FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DEPARTMENT 115 S. Andrews Avenue, Room 513 Fort Lauderdale. Florida FAX Memorandum November 7, 2007 To: Board of County Commissioners Thru: Bertha Henry, Interim County Administrator From: Michael J. Geoghegan, CFO/Director / ft/m^y- fof Finance and Administrative Services Department Re: Response to of the Application Services Section Report No This submittal is in response to the of the Application Services Division, Report No The following is the requested status for each of the findings and respective recommendations. Finding 1 OIT strategic planning lacks clear guidance for development of unified county-wide data and application systems. 1. Evaluate the validity of strategic initiatives documented in the 2006 IT Strategic Business Plan and present a comprehensive plan for approval. 2. Prioritize approved initiatives to enable development of organization level strategies. 3. Develop organization level strategies which outline how available County resources will be used to achieve approved strategic initiatives according to the established priority. 4. Establish a related timeline for accomplishment of the approved Plan. ETS concurs with the recommendations. Given Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) reorganization, the Application Services Division (ASD) will now be able leverage a framework that provides both strategic planning and program office services. Currently, ASD is participating in the strategic planning process for ETS. As a part of this process, ASD will draft a strategic roadmap that will contain a iist of approved initiatives while aligning the required resources. The prioritization process, currently under way, uses a methodology of weighting projects based upon the alignment of Broward Counly Board of County Commissioners Josephs Eggelleuon, Jr. Sue Gunzbuiger Kiishn D. Jacobs Ken Ksechl. llsne LJeberman. Slacy Riller John E. Rodslrom. Jr. Diana Wasserman-Rubin Lois Wexlar

2 County goals to ETS goals and objectives, strategic technological standardization, and financial availability to invest in each of the initiative. ETS' governance team, comprised of directors and select mangers from each of ETS disciplines, rate the projects accordingly. The result is a list of initiatives that will assist in the process of aligning resources with each of the respective projects. ETS will use the 2008 IT Strategic Plan (in development) to evaluate the validity of the 2006 IT Strategic Plan initiatives. The timeline for completion of the 2008 IT Strategic Plan is January 31, Finding 2 OIT staff place new programs and modifications to existing programs into operations without adequate change management controls. Recommendation; 5. Implement and require the use of a change control mechanism which restricts program changes and programmer access during and subsequent to review and acceptance testing. ETS concurs with the recommendations. ASD is currently replacing the Rational Unified Tool Set that manages the software development lifecycle. The new system, Team Systems by Microsoft, will provide the functionality to restrict programming changes during and subsequent to review and acceptance testing. Team Systems will also provide the functionality to implement a workflow approval process that requires code reviews, security scan reviews, and user acceptance testing sign-off at each phase. Throughout each of these phases, the programming code will be versioned and stored in accordance with industry best practices. Finding 3 ASD performance measures provide a misleading representation of ASD efforts. 6. Develop applicable, quantifiable, discrete measures of the services, efforts, and accomplishments produced by the ASD. 7. Develop and implement mechanisms for adequate and reliable capture of data related to ASD efforts. ETS concurs with the recommendations. ASD has drafted new key performance indicators (KPIs) that provide discrete measures of services, efforts, and accomplishments. With the creation of the Quality Assurance Group within ETS, ASD wili now have an independent review of the quality and effectiveness of the applications being developed. The KPIs that will measure the results are as follows: Business requirements test scenarios that pass quality assurance Average number of defects found per application before delivery Percentage of requirements actually met Application defects found after delivery within first 30 days Average number of days to correct defects before delivery Overall customer satisfaction Application Services Response rev.doc Page 2 of 5

3 Each of the KPI's data will be captured using the Performance Point Server, by Microsoft. This solution is specifically designed to capture and measure performance metrics. Finding 4 Application support and development services are provided by ASD and agency resources throughout the County. The $4.4 million ASD budget does not wholly represent the cost of County application technology services. 8. Evaluate the distribution of staff resources between OIT and agencies to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the current distributed model. 9. Develop recommendations for an application support model as part of the strategic planning from Finding 1. ETS concurs with the recommendations. ASD will conduct a fact finding initiative to identify all applications within Broward County's administrative network. The results will be used to identify a resource/application ratio, determine the best support model, and establish a comprehensive IT Total-Cost-of-Ownership (TCO) across the County. Additionally, and subject to board approval, ETS will be planning to implement an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that will help remedy the existing distributed support model. ASD will draft a recommendation to the CIO for acceptance. Once the acceptance model is adopted, the model will become part of the 2008 IT Strategic Plan. Finding 5 ASD lacks accountability for the quality of services delivered to agency customers. 10. Implement a standard for documenting mutually agreed upon service level commitments and project proposals, including specific estimates of project costs, duration and staffing assignments. 11.Create an escalation path to assist agencies in reporting and resolving ASD project issues, including delays, unapproved or excessive costs, or staffing conflicts. ETS concurs with the recommendations. Given the implementation of a Program Office within ETS, ASD will now engage internal independent certified project managers that will assist in the development of project plans that will capture the following items among others: Agreed upon objectives and service level results Project proposals and timelines Identification of project sponsors Project costs estimates where applicable Resource allocation Application Services Response rev.doc Page 3 of 5

4 ASD will implement a change control process whereby changes to the project baselines will require customer sign-off. The Communications Plan is the prescribed instrument for establishing and communicating the escalation process on a project. The Project Management Institute (PMI) indicates that the plan must include escalation time frames and management chain names in order to identify the process. PMI is the world's leading not-for-profit association for the project management profession. It is recognized for the advocacy programs they conduct with governments, organizations and industries around the world. The Project Management Office mandates that a Communications Plan be written for every project and is part of the project management checklist. Program Office oversight and project management discipline will provide enforcement of the escalation process for each software development project. Finding 6 OIT ASD operates without using basic project management cost controls. 12. Develop and implement procedures for managing the internal service costs of ASD, to include: - development of project cost estimates before project commencement, tracking of project expenditures with established milestones and/or deliverables, exception reporting when projects fail behind schedule or exceed cost estimates, regular reports to agency customers of project progress compared to estimated delivery "target" dates and budgets, tracking and recording of staff hours spent on individual projects to permit post-implementation performance analysis of efficiency and effectiveness. ETS concurs with the recommendations. As stated in the previous response, ASD will now leverage the Program Office's certified project managers to address each of the above bulleted items. The Project Management Office provides and maintains a standard methodology which conforms to the Project Management Institute Body of Knowledge. Project managers and coordinators are expected to conform and comply. Finding 7 The ASD organizational structure relies on key individuals without formal cross-training to minimize staff knowledge loss upon terminations and retirements. This places legacy systems at risk of impaired support as employees retire or leave the County. 13. Develop and implement procedures for succession planning, including provisions for cross-training and collaborative assignments among ASD support staff. The process should help ensuring knowledge transfer from key staff developing and maintaining critical applications. Application Services Response rev.doc Page 4 of 5

5 14. Require weekly supervisor reviews of ASD projects and project progress to increase supervisor involvement and decrease key-person reliance for project delivery and support. ETS concurs with the recommendations. The Professional Development section is currently pursuing a Learning Management System (LMS). An LMS provides the functionality to create developmental planning paths. The paths can be designed to address issues such as succession planning, crosstraining, and knowledge transfer. Additionally, ASD has already modified its approach on the assignment of projects. Managers now use a cross-matrix management process whereby resources from multiple teams work collaboratively. The knowledge of applications will now reside on multiple teams within ASD. The ETS Governance Leadership Team meets on a weekly basis to review ASD project status. Supervisors are held accountable for project status to be reported weekly. The leadership team will consistently evaluate project portfolio status and depend on management to ensure timely reporting. c: Pete Corwin, Assistant to County Administrator Carlos Alvarado, Interim CIO, Enterprise Technology Services Application Services Response rev.doc Page 5 of 5