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(Last update completed in August 2009.)
1.A. Purpose
1.B. Convergence of Business Mission and Information Technology Vision
1.C. IT Plans, Proposals, and Acquisitions Process
1.D. Overview of Infrastructure
1.E. Analysis
1.F. Challenges and Opportunities
1.G. Solutions: Current and Future IT Investments
1.H. Prioritization Process
The information technology (IT) portfolio is a primary tool to support decision-making for investments in IT (data, software, hardware, networks, supporting facilities, training, etc.). An IT portfolio demonstrates the relationship between current and planned investments. The intent is to manage IT investments as assets in much the same way as one manages a portfolio of financial investments.
Ecology's baseline portfolio was prepared in 1999 and has been updated on an ongoing basis to reflect completed investments, changes in the agency's needs, and the advance of technology.
This document contains summaries of Ecology's business strategies and the supporting IT strategies, the current IT infrastructure, and current and planned/proposed projects. This information is intended to support effective executive management and oversight of Ecology's IT investments.
This portfolio enhances the ability of key decision-makers to assess the probable impact of IT investments on the agency's programs and IT infrastructure as well as on the State's IT infrastructure. These decision-makers include Ecology's management, the Department of Information Services (DIS), the Information Services Board, the Office of Financial Management (OFM), the Governor, and members of the Legislature.
Ecology's mission is to protect, preserve and enhance Washington's environment, and promote the wise management of our air, land and water for the benefit of current and future generations.
The above goals and associated performance measures are presented in the Department of Ecology's current performance progress report.
Ecology's broad spectrum of environmental management authorities and activities are based on a series of Legislative mandates beginning in 1917. These are listed by program in the Department of Ecology's 2009-2011 Strategic Plan.
Ecology's strategic priorities are as follows:
Ecology also plans to continue progress in our core work:
A more in-depth discussion of the Ecology's priorities and strategies is included in the Department of Ecology Strategic Plan for 2009-2011 presented in Section 2.
Ecology's recently completed IT Strategic Plan sets out new IT direction for Ecology in three major areas:
See the IT Strategic Plan for further details.
Ecology conducts a comprehensive review of its IT plans, proposals, and planned acquisitions biennially as part of the agency's biennial strategic planning and budget development process. In odd-numbered calendar years (i.e. budget "off-years"), Ecology reviews major IT priorities as part of the annual update of the IT portfolio. Throughout each year (usually quarterly or semi-annually) the agency reviews application development priorities. All of these reviews are conducted by Ecology's IT Steering Committee.
In the 2007-2009 biennium major changes were introduced in IT acquisitions across Washington State government which affected the way that Ecology and other state agencies carry out IT projects. These changes included the new IT Technology Pool which included two Ecology projects in this biennium, and the new "903" consultation requirement affecting all IT acquisitions. Ecology has been actively working with DIS in both of these new processes.
Ecology is aware of and adheres to state technical standards for IT. Historically, Ecology has advocated an enterprise approach to IT investments. We currently use a number of State enterprise IT solutions and are actively participating in several enterprise initiatives. We are not aware of any exceptions to or deviations from current standards.
Ecology is aware of and adheres to state complaint and protest procedures as outlined in the IT Investment Policy and Standards. Historically, Ecology has received very few complaints and protests. As noted above, Ecology's IT managers maintain a close working relationship with the DIS technology management consultant and seek advice on the handling of any complaints or protests.
IBM AS/400 Minicomputer: The AS/400 hosts only the Water Adjudications
System.
Both the HP 9000 and IBM AS/400 environments are "contained" and new
development is being done in the Windows environment.
Storage Area Network (SAN): In 2003 Ecology purchased an HP SAN system to
consolidate user data.
Telecommunications
Ecology's voice services strategy is based on applying cost effective
technology to meet identified business needs.
The telephone lines for the Lacey office are brought into the building on
fiber optic cable. In Ecology's other offices, telephone lines are brought into
the building over copper. Lines are extended from the D-mark in each building to
desktops via twisted-pair, shielded plenum cable. As facilities have been
re-wired, Ecology has adopted the AT&T Wiring Standard; offices are equipped
with two jacks each for voice (CAT 3) and data (CAT 5). An exception to this
configuration is the Northwest Regional Office that was recently re-wired with
three interchangeable CAT 5E jacks in each office.
Ecology voice lines are Centrex lines provided by Qwest through DIS except
the Richland and Padilla Bay offices served by Verizon. When the Hanford Project
Office moved from Kennewick to Richland, CENTRANET was installed as the voice
system. Though most lines are analog, approximately eight percent of the lines
are Integrated Signaling Digital Network (ISDN) Services -- employed in the
Lacey, Bellevue, Vancouver, Yakima, and Spokane locations only. A monthly
inventory detailing individual line service(s) and cost(s) is provided by DIS.
Ecology's cellular service is primarily tri-mode.
|
Ecology's GIS Standards (August 2006) |
|
GIS Software Standards |
|
| GIS Software |
Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) ARC/INFO 9.x on Microsoft Windows |
|
GIS to RDBMS Interface |
ESRI's Spatial Database Engine (SDE) for Microsoft SQL |
|
RDBMS Software |
Microsoft SQL |
|
Internet Mapping |
ArcInternet Map Server 9.x |
|
Address Matching Software |
ESRI ArcWebServices; ESRI StreetMap |
|
Desktop Mapping |
Windows ArcGIS 9.x |
GIS Hardware Standards |
|
| RDBMS Platform |
Compaq DL-class servers; Windows Server 2003 |
|
GIS Platform |
Dell desktop PCs; Compaq DL-class servers |
| Peripherals |
ESRI Class 1 supported products only |
GIS Application Development Standards |
|
| GIS Application Development Environments |
ESRI's Arc Macro Language (AML) and ArcObjects 2.1; VBA, C#, and Visual SourceSafe |
|
GIS Application Development Approach |
Ecology standards |
|
Programming Components/Coding Strategy |
ESRI's ArcTools Design and Coding Standard, ArcObjects, and selected business-compatible components of ESRI GeoDatabases |
|
Graphical User Interface (GUI) |
ESRI's ArcGIS Graphic User Interface |
GIS Data And Database Administration Standards |
|
| Spatial Data Management Strategy |
WA State Geospatial Data Initiative Guidelines |
| Spatial Metadata Documentation |
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata; ArcCatalog |
| Spatial Database Administration Standard Formats |
Agency data stored in file-based and ArcSDE formats in WA State Plane Coordinates, NAD'83, Washington South Zone, U.S. Survey Feet |
Since 1997 Ecology has implemented a series of reorganizations of the IT functions within the agency. Each reorganization has enhanced the agency's enterprise approach to IT.
The Information Technology Services organization chart presents the central IT organization. Not shown is the "dotted-line" relationship of program IT staff to the Chief Information Officer.
| Experience Levels of IT Personnel | |||||
| 0-2 Years | 3-10 Years | 11-20 Years | 21-30 Years | >30 Years | |
| 1999 | 5% | 47% | 34% | 14% | 0% |
| 2000 | 11% | 33% | 41% | 13% | 1% |
| 2001 | 21% | 24% | 40% | 14% | 1% |
| 2002 | 22% | 25% | 40% | 11% | 2% |
| 2003 | 20% | 25% | 43% | 11% | 2% |
| 2004 | 15% | 31% | 42% | 15% | 2% |
| 2005 | 7% | 38% | 34% | 17% | 3% |
| 2006 | 12% | 38% | 30% | 17% | 4% |
| 2007 | 16% | 34% | 30% | 18% | 3% |
| 2008 | 17% | 33% | 24% | 22% | 4% |
| 2009 | 12% | 38% | 22% | 22% | 6% |
Presented below is a series of questions related to IT investments. Although a number of these questions cannot be answered easily and accurately today, Ecology will be using AFRS, time accounting, personnel, IT project tracking, systems management, etc. over time to collect the information needed to answer more of these questions in the future.
Of the 66 current investments, 11 are infrastructure projects and 55 relate directly to Ecology's major business initiatives. Similarly, of the 22 planned investments, 5 are infrastructure projects and 17 relate directly to the agency's major business initiatives. (Based on August 2006 project list.)
In the 1997-1999 biennium approximately 8% of the agency's total budget was allocated to IT and 7% of the agency total staff was allocated to IT. These are estimates since IT budgets and staff were not tracked separately across the agency at that time. Beginning in the 1999-2001 biennium, IT expenditures have been reported across the agency to identify more accurately agency-wide IT expenditures (see Information Services Cost Accounting).
| 97-99 | 99-01 | 01-03 | 03-05 | 05-07 | 07-09 | 09-11 | |
| Total agency staffing (annual FTEs) |
1434 | 1426 | 1460 | 1385 | 1511 | 1594 | 1552 |
| IT staffing (annual FTEs) | ? | 91.7 | 97.7 | 102.6 | 113.2 | 120.2 | 114.3 |
| IT staff as a % of total | est. 7% | 6.4% | 6.7% | 7.4% | 7.5% | 7.5% | 7.3% |
| Total agency operating budget ($ million) | 238.1 | 290.9 | 320.3 | 318.9 | 402.0 | 467.8 | 446.5 |
| IT budget ($ million) | ? | 21.0 | 26.2 | 26.6 | 28.3 | 28.1 | 29.4 |
| IT budget as a % of total | est. 8% | 7.2% | 8.2% | 8.3% | 7.0% | 6.0% | 6.6% |
As noted above, beginning in the 1999-2001 biennium, IT expenditures have been reported across the agency to identify more accurately agency-wide IT expenditures. These expenditures have been reported by functional area so that this data can be rolled up to the agency level by functional area (see Information Services Cost Accounting).
Ecology IT Funding and Staffing by Major Functional Area
1999-2001 2001-2003 2003-2005 2005-2007 2007-2009 2009-2011 $
(1,000s)FTEs $
(1,000s)FTEs $
(1,000s)FTEs $
(1,000s)FTEs $
(1,000s)FTEs $
(1,000s)FTEs Desktop support 4,534 24.2 4,942 22.5 5,249 16.1 5,913 21.8 4,193 23.0 3,936 22.4 Network support (includes printer support) 2,260 12.6 3,103 14.4 3,939 19.8 4,861 18.9 3,288 17.7 3,176 17.5 Data base administration and applications development and maintenance 6,0271 37.0 9,898 44.2 9,195 48.7 9,042
51.2 11,706 56.0 11,155 51.8 GIS 1,581 9.5 1,559 9.4 2,129 11.2 1,765 13.3 2,392 15.6 2,345 14.8 Web (excludes content development and web applications dev. & maintenance) 1,344 8.4 1,263 7.2 1,106 6.8 1,370 7.8 1,269 8.0 1,355 7.8 Telecommunications (staff FTEs and $ included in Network support above) 3,428 --- 3,490 --- 2,678 --- 3,409 --- 4,333 --- 4,478 --- Data processing services (DIS service charges) 1,778 --- 1,986 --- 2,289 --- 2,277 --- 3,092 --- 2,939 --- Total 20,952 91.7 26,241 97.7 26,584 102.6 28,637 113.2 30,273 120.3 29,384 114.3
The table below displays the IT staff to non-IT staff ratio, that is, the number of non-IT classification positions that each IT staff position (excluding WMS staff) supports. The ratio remained fairly stable from 1995 through 1998 at approximately 1:21, increased in the next five years to 1:13.2, and has remained relatively stable in the past six years. (Note: The data below shows that the largest portion of this increase occurred from 1999 to 2000. This is the time period during which new IT job classes were implemented. This resulted in the reclassification of 16 positions from non-IT classes to IT classes.)
| IT Staff to Non-IT Staff Ratio | |||||||||||||||
| July 1995 | July 1996 | July 1997 | July 1998 | July 1999 | July 2000 | July 2001 | July 2002 | July 2003 | July 2004 | July 2005 | July 2006 | July 2007 | July 2008 | July 2009 | |
| All Staff | 1395 | 1348 | 1325 | 1318 | 1333 | 1319 | 1371 | 1434 | 1448 | 1518 | 1509 | 1559 | 1541 | 1557 | 1566 |
| Non-IT Class Staff | 1337 | 1288 | 1263 | 1259 | 1265 | 1237 | 1286 | 1338 | 1346 | 1413 | 1408 | 1451 | 1423 | 1437 | 1444 |
| IT Class Staff | 59 | 61 | 63 | 60 | 68 | 82 | 85 | 96 | 102 | 105 | 101 | 108 | 118 | 120 | 122 |
| IT Support Ratio | 1: 22.7 |
1: 21.1 |
1: 20.0 |
1: 21.0 |
1: 18.6 |
1: 15.1 |
1: 15.1 |
1: 13.9 |
1: 13.2 |
1: 13.5 |
1: 13.9 |
1: 13.4 |
1: 12.1 | 1: 12.0 |
1: 11.8 |
Turnover of staff in IT positions and all Ecology positions in recent years is presented in the table below.
| Fiscal Year |
Ecology IT Positions | All Ecology Positions | ||||
| Avg. # of positions | # of appointments | Turnover | Avg. # of positions | # of appointments | Turnover | |
| 1996 | 73.0 | 11 | 15% | 1488.7 | 161 | 11% |
| 1997 | 71.3 | 13 | 18% | 1434.3 | 144 | 10% |
| 1998 | 75.7 | 12 | 16% | 1449.3 | 213 | 15% |
| 1999 | 77.0 | 14 | 18% | 1460.3 | 218 | 15% |
| 2000 | 80.0 | 16 | 20% | 1446.7 | 253 | 17% |
| 2001 | 93.0 | 15 | 16% | 1511.0 | 270 | 18% |
| 2002 | 101.7 | 13 | 13% | 1575.7 | 304 | 19% |
| 2003 | 104.3 | 7 | 7% | 1543.3 | 174 | 11% |
| 2004 | 108.7 | 17 | 16% | 1510.3 | 169 | 11% |
| 2005 | 111.0 | 17 | 15% | 1535.0 | 243 | 16% |
| 2006 | 114.7 | 21 | 18% | 1584.3 | 291 | 18% |
| 2007 | 115.0 | 19 | 17% | 1683.0 | 336 | 20% |
| 2008 | 119.3 | 14 | 12% | 1734.0 | 283 | 16% |
| 2009 | 121.7 | 7 | 6% | 1716.3 | 170 | 8% |
"Appointments" include new hires, agency transfers, and agency promotions. "Appointments" do not include reallocations or temporary appointments.
(To be developed in the future as part of business continuity planning.)
(To be developed in the future through project tracking.)
In December 1998 a computer customer satisfaction survey was conducted of staff in Ecology's Lacey Building (HQ and SWRO). From July 1999 through January 2003, an agency-wide survey was conducted semi-annually. In 2003 the survey was changed to an annual survey. No survey has been conducted since Dec 2007, but discussions are underway at this time for a survey sometime in 2010. Results of the surveys to date (excluding the mid-CY surveys in 1999-2002) are presented below.
| Level of satisfaction
|
Dec. 1998 (Lacey Bldg. only) | Jan. 2000 | Jan. 2001 | Jan. 2002 | Jan. 2003 | Dec. 2003 | Dec. 2004 | Dec. 2005 | Dec. 2006 | Dec. 2007 |
1 (Low) |
3% |
1% | 1% | 0% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 3% |
2 |
6% |
3% | 2% | 2% | 1% | |||||
3 |
19% |
13% | 7% | 9% | 6% | 4% | 2% | 7% | 6% | 4% |
4 |
46% |
43% | 38% | 40% | 28% | 28% | 29% | 24% | 26% | 23% |
5 (High) |
26% |
40% | 52% | 49% | 65% | 67% | 67% | 67% | 66% | 70% |
| Average rating |
3.9 |
4.2 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.6 |
| Response rate |
NA |
34% | 31% | 27% | 34% | 30% | 20% | 35% | 43% | 43% |
(This information is not currently being published.)
(See Budget – IT expenditures by major functional area.)
(This information is not currently being published.)
(This information is not currently being published.)
Staff and clients of business and government alike demand improved access to needed information and services. IT "lifecycles" are relatively short. This environment creates many challenges for Ecology.
Several factors are and will continue to be key to the agency's successful use of IT:
There are opportunities for increased data and resource sharing both within Ecology and among agencies. Ecology's enterprise systems have clearly established significant benefits of data sharing to the agency, external stakeholders and interested parties. However, the vision of an integrated, multi-media and cross-program view of Ecology’s data that was articulated in Ecology's 1995 Information Strategy Plan is largely unfulfilled. Ecology's business priorities increasingly require effective data sharing and integration. In recognition of these needs the agency's 2007-2009 Information Technology Strategic Plan highlighted data integration as one of three major initiatives and additional resources have been committed to this work in the past year.
Among other ongoing work are two notable projects that are expected to substantially enhance Ecology's data sharing:
Ecology has been committed to a state enterprise approach for some time. Toward that end, Ecology has participated in a number of state enterprise initiatives including e-permitting, e-forms, Windows 2000 implementation, security (WACIRC), web content management, web presentation guide, project management, non-English language web portals, business continuity, business portal development, and enterprise architecture.
The discussion above in Section 1.B. under "Ecology's Strategies for Accomplishing its Mission and Achieving Its Goals", "Alignment of Current IT Investments with Business Objectives", and "Importance of IT in Helping Ecology Meet Its Goals", describe Ecology's current use and continued reliance on IT to achieve its business objectives. As evidenced by the list of planned investments, Ecology will continue, perhaps even more so than today, to rely on IT. Ecology looks to new technologies that offer ways to improve and increase its services while reducing costs and streamlining processes.
Ecology's success looks like:
Ecology has experienced significant success and will continue to address IT challenges by conducting pilot projects for proof of concept and by building incrementally. This strategy reduces risk, builds experience and expertise, and produces useable products in relatively short periods of time.
Sections 4 and 5 include a table of Ecology's current and planned/proposed IT projects/investments. These investments are distributed among business areas and infrastructure as shown below:
Current |
Planned / Proposed |
|
| BUSINESS AREA INVESTMENTS | ||
| Laboratory Analysis | ||
| Environmental Monitoring | 10 | 3 |
| Natural Resources | 2 | 1 |
| Facility/Site Identification | 1 | 1 |
| Permitting and Compliance | 11 | 20 |
| Enforcement | 1 | |
| Incident Response | 1 | 1 |
| Site Cleanup | 2 | |
| Litter Cleanup | ||
| Recycling | 1 | |
| Environmental Business Area Subtotals | 29 | 26 |
| Human Resource Management | 1 | 1 |
| Time Accounting | 2 | |
| Budgeting | ||
| Contract Administration | 1 | |
| Grants and Loans Administration | ||
| Purchasing and Inventory | 2 | |
| Revenue Generation | ||
| External Reporting and Outreach | 2 | 1 |
| Interested Party Involvement | ||
| Facilities Management | 1 | |
| Information Management | 2 | 2 |
| Administrative Business Area Subtotals | 11 | 4 |
| Business Area Subtotals | 40 | 30 |
INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS |
||
| Desktop Computing / IT Help Desk | 1 | |
| Printing | ||
| Domain Administration | ||
| Messaging | 1 | |
| Network Infrastructure | 1 | 1 |
| Applications Infrastructure | 2 | |
| Data/Database Administration | 1 | |
| GIS Environment | 10 | 3 |
| Infrastructure Subtotals | 14 | 6 |
TOTALS |
54 | 36 |
A severity (impact) and risk assessment has been completed for each project using the DIS severity (impact) and risk criteria. These assessments are reported in sections 4 and 5.
All of the agency's planned IT investments/projects support priority business strategies.
The impact of the planned investments on existing investments generally can be categorized as follows:
Historically, Ecology has sought to align its IT investments with the state's IT Strategic Plan.
(See Department of Ecology Strategic Plan 2009-2011.)
Since the 1995-1997 biennium or earlier, Ecology has been prioritizing IT resources. The prioritization process has evolved during this time. The allocation of funds at the agency-level to the central IT organization (via either "indirect funding" or cost allocation) sets broad priorities. Within each individual program the relative priority of the IT function is set by the allocation of funds to IT projects. (For more background on the processes used in the past, see earlier versions of this Overview section of the IT Portfolio.)
The Chief Information Officer and the IT Management Team work with Ecology's Business Advisory Team (BAT) and IT Steering Committee (ITSC) to identify planned/proposed projects/investments and their priorities. These priorities are driven primarily by business needs. Other characteristics of this process include:
The principal priority-setting criteria for Applications Enhancement/(Re)Development are:
In 2008 the ITSC implemented a "pair-wise" prioritization process in its work to provide input to Ecology's internal budget development process for the 2009-2011 biennium.
In 2009 BAT used a pair-wise prioritizaton process in the first stage of a two-stage process after which the higher-ranked projects were scoped if scoping had not yet been completed. More detailed information on the higher-ranked projects A second stage then was to allow more information to be developed on the higher-ranked projects following the first stage.
Additional information on Ecology's BAT and ITSC are available on the agency's Intranet.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
