its it consolidation program frequently asked questions state of north carolina office of...

ITS

IT Consolidation ProgramFrequently Asked Questions

State of North CarolinaOffice of Information Technology Services

Updated August 2008

IT Consolidation Program – Frequently Asked Questions2

Frequently Asked Questions Why is North Carolina doing IT Consolidation? What does IT Consolidation accomplish for the State of NC? How is IT Consolidation being implemented? IT Consolidation – What is in-scope? What are the standards guiding IT Consolidation? Why move server functions to the ITS Data Center? What is the approach for consolidating an agency? Assessment Phase Overview Implementation Phase Overview How long will it take to consolidate my agency? What about E-Mail? What about PDA Support? How is support of Microsoft Office products handled? Will I still have the same access to everything? Once we are consolidated, who do I call for problems? How do I contact the ITS Service Desk? Will Consolidation impact service to my Customers / Users? What about IT security? What if we need additional equipment or services after we are consolidated? What if I still have questions?


Why is North Carolina doing IT Consolidation?

Legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2004 – Senate Bill 991

SB 991 required the Office of State Budget Management (OSBM) and the Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) to develop a plan to consolidate information technology (IT) infrastructure, staffing, and expenditures in Executive Branch departments where a Statewide approach would be more economical.

G.S. 147-33.83 gives ITS the authority to establish and operate information resource centers and services to serve two or more departments on a cost-sharing basis if State CIO, in consultation with OSBM, decides it would be more efficient and economical.


What does IT Consolidation accomplish for the State of NC?

Key goals of IT Consolidation include:

- Strengthen agency focus on its core mission

- Improve security, service delivery and availability

- Upgrade IT infrastructure to meet minimum standards

- Reduce enterprise-wide infrastructure cost with economies of scale

- Reduce risk of failure for critical operations

Key consolidation goals are continually reviewed as process and workflow changes are made.

Overall business case for consolidating agencies is developed based on a five year plan for operational support and funding.


How is IT Consolidation being implemented?

IT Consolidation is being implemented in a measured, phased approach.

- Phase I included 5 pilot agencies, which completed in 2007

• Governor’s Office, Lt. Governor’s Office, Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM), Department of Administration (DOA), Office of State Personnel (OSP)

- Phase II includes 8 agencies and commissions, which will complete by the end of 2008

• NC Industrial Commission (NCIC), Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (DJJDP), Dept. of Cultural Resources (DCR), Office of State Controller (OSC), Dept. of Commerce (proper), Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission (ABC), Commission of Banks (COB), Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH)

- Phase III will include 5 agencies, with assessment and planning occurring in Fall 2008

• Dept. of Transportation (DOT), Dept. of Environmental & Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Public Instruction (DPI), Dept. of Labor (DOL), and the Office of State Auditor (OSA)

- Remaining agencies will be included in subsequent phases, to be determined at a later date.

Each phase is reviewed for lessons learned to improve future implementations.

Tools and processes are standardized to the extent possible, then scaled to meet agency size.

Communication and teamwork are key components to the success of the program, due to the inherent size and complexity.


IT Consolidation – What is in-scope?

In Scope

- PC environment, including desktops, laptops, operating systems, base software, patching, A/V, PDAs, printers

- Hosting (server) environment, including hardware, attached storage, operating systems, backups, patching, A/V.

- Network environment, including switches, routers, access points, firewalls, WAN circuits, LAN cabling, mobile broadband, ESAP

- Service Desk, including 24x7 coverage for all ITS-related incidents and changes

- IT security, including PC, server, and network.

Out of scope

- Applications development and support (both COTS and in-house developed)

- E-Mail conversion to Exchange 2007 (separate State initiative)

- Printer supplies

- Agency-specific software


What are the standards guiding IT Consolidation? Hardware currency

- Desktops – 4 year refresh cycle

- Servers – 3 year refresh cycle

- Networks – 5 year refresh cycle

Applications, web, and database servers are hosted at an ITS Data Center, unless agency business requirements dictate otherwise.

Infrastructure services remain at the Agency where necessary- Directory services, file/print services, A/V and Patch distribution, etc.

Infrastructure is remotely monitored and managed- Applies to Desktop, Server, and LAN/WAN infrastructure

All incidents and change requests for ITS-related services and ITS-managed hardware is handled through the ITS operational policies

Processes for controlling incidents, problems, changes, and releases of ITS-managed environments will adhere to ITS’ published ITIL standards.

Planning and implementation of IT Consolidation activities is a team effort of ITS and the Agency.


Why move server functions to the ITS Data Center?

Take advantage of statewide operational synergies

Improved utilization of expensive IT infrastructure

Citizen-facing services attached closer to the Internet

Leverage secure Data Centers with 24x7 fully-staffed operations

Better resiliency and availability

Leverage economies of scale


What is the approach for an agency to be consolidated?

Assessment Phase

- High level assessment to plan consolidated state

- Estimate funding needs to implement

Implementation Phase

- Implementation according to recommendations from Assessment Phase


Assessment Phase Overview

Joint activity between the agency, ITS, and OSBM

Gather inventory

- Inventory totals by machine type (PC, server, switch, etc.)

- Configuration standards by type; exceptions to standards

- Inventory of locations

- User counts

Assess inventory against ITS standards (& refresh cycles)

Assess IT Infrastructure support staff for ITS alignment

Document support model and metrics by service area

Engineer future state (consolidated) architecture

Estimate hardware cost and resource effort to implement future state

Build business case & cash flow statements

Submit estimated budget requests

Finalize implementation approach and sequence


Implementation Phase Overview

Joint activity between the agency, ITS, and OSBM

Staff alignment and transfer preparation

Infrastructure Discovery

- Detailed serial-number-level inventories (desktop, network, server)

- Review of configurations, level of consistency, general health of systems

- Review of environmentals, including security, UPS, racks, etc.

- Security scans and documenting of risk areas

Staff realignment

Transfer of IT inventory – PCs, servers, LAN/WAN equipment

- Risk areas are shared between Agency and ITS

Final-state architecture design and review

Implementation schedule and task plan with assigned responsibilities

Procurement

Implementation


How long will it take to consolidate my agency?

Duration to complete an agency consolidation depends on its size, complexity, and amount of work needed to bring the infrastructure to minimum ITS standards

This includes:

- Desktop

- Server

- WAN

- LAN

- Security

Plans and schedules for implementation will be aligned to avoid conflict with internal agency business deadlines and time constraints.


What about E-Mail?

The State of NC has a related, but separate Enterprise initiative to convert the Executive Branch agencies to a standard E-Mail platform.

The E-Mail platform includes:

- MS Exchange 2007

- MS Outlook 2003

- MS Outlook Web Access

Will my E-Mail address change when I migrate to the new Exchange service?

- Your current address will most likely change, however the old address will remain active for an agreed-upon period of time.


What about PDA support?

Synchronization with Exchange E-Mail is provided

- For Blackberry Users, full integration is provided at a small additional charge

- For ActiveSync Users, integration is provided out-of-the-box at no additional charge

What about support of the device itself?

- ITS is currently defining a support model for state-owned devices

If I have my own PDA (Treo, iPhone, etc.), can it be set up to work with the State’s Exchange E-Mail?

- Yes. More information can be found here: https://www.ncmail.net/exchange.htm

If I have my own PDA & have a problem with the device itself, will ITS support it?

- No. This is between the owner and the Vendor it was purchased from.


How is support of Microsoft Office products handled?

Installation, support, and licensing of the MS Office software suite is provided by ITS Desktop Services

Basic questions on the use of MS Office products is provided by the ITS Service Desk

Answers to questions about advanced Office features may be provided by the agency IT organization. Examples:

- Complex Excel macros, pivot tables

- MS Access database creation and enhancement


Will I still have the same access to everything?

Agency IT staff will maintain the access needed to perform their job function

- Level of access obviously varies depending on function. Examples:

• Programmer

• DBA

ITS maintains access to the hardware, operating system, and base software

- Desktop – PC base image, standard productivity software, remote control tools, A/V, patch management

- Server – Base O/S, monitoring tools, remote control tools, A/V, patch mgt.

- Network – Base hardware, cabling, configurations, remote access

ITS manages Enterprise-wide technology upgrades with Agency involvement

Agencies manage Applications upgrades with ITS involvement

If Admin / Root access by members of an Applications staff is determined to be necessary and approved, they will be trained in ITS policies for incident, change, problem, and release management and will be expected to adhere to these policies.


Once we are consolidated, who do I call for problems?

This one has a two-part answer…

- If you are having a problem with the PC itself, your E-Mail, your network connection, or any other ITS-support device or service, call the ITS Service Desk in Raleigh.

- If you have a question about a particular business application that your agency uses, call your Agency IT department.

Given these guidelines, some hardware calls will still go to the Agency IT staff and some Applications calls will still go to the ITS Service Desk

- During preparation to turn on the ITS Service Desk service, one of the tasks is to define how calls will be passed between the Agency and the Service Desk when these situations occur.

• Agency IT groups will typically refer the caller to the ITS Service Desk or call the Service Desk on behalf of the person.

• The ITS Service Desk will take calls on behalf of the agency Applications group, then forward the information contained in the ticket to an E-Mail list monitored by the Agency IT organization.


How do I contact the ITS Service Desk?

The ITS Service Desk can be contacted 24 hours per day, 7 days per week for all ITS-related services. This includes network support, desktop support, and server support.

For high-urgency incidents, call the ITS Service Desk for the quickest response

- (919) 754-6000 for local calls

- (800) 722-3946 toll-free

For less-urgent incidents and change requests, you can either call or send an E-Mail to the ITS Service Desk

- [email protected]

Whether you call or E-Mail the ITS Service Desk, you will receive an E-Mail confirmation showing your incident was recorded, along with the ticket number.

You will also be notified by E-Mail upon resolution of your incident / request. A brief description of the actions taken will be included in the E-Mail.


Will Consolidation impact service to my Customers / Users?

One of the goals of IT consolidation is to provide the same, or even better, service to your customers. Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) between the agency and the Office of Information Technology Services will spell out all ITS Services. The SLA is the foundation of the level of service an agency can expect from ITS.

SLA metrics are reviewed quarterly with the agency by their ITS Business Account Manager. This will objectively show how ITS is performing against SLA targets.

There will be some changes, but impacts should be positive overall. Your customers should experience improved reliability and availability for your business applications running in a consolidation environment.

Additional information is available –

- ITS Global Service Levels - http://www.its.state.nc.us/ServiceCatalog/global_service_levels.asp

- ITS Service Catalog Standard SLAs - http://www.its.state.nc.us/ServiceCatalog/Index.asp


What about IT security?

ITS will evaluate the implemented security at the agency against State standards. This includes (but not limited to):

- Server access security

- Network security design

- Network ports and access control

- Remote User access methods and configuration

- PC security

- Laptop encryption

Through configuration reviews and electronic scans, ITS will produce a report showing risks that need to be mitigated during the course of consolidation

- The risk and mitigation of that risk is a shared effort between the agency and ITS


What if we need additional equipment or services after we are consolidated?

The process starts by logging a service request with the ITS Service Desk

This request will start a provisioning process:

- ITS will review the agency requests to ensure the needs are clearly documented and proper agency authorizations have been obtained

- Standard requests (i.e. PC for new employee) will be handled through pre-defined standard processes, once agency authorization is obtained

Depending on the scope, completion will then be handled as a “request” (smaller) or as its own project (larger) with full project planning, design, and progress tracking.


What if I still have questions?

You can contact the Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) or the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) to get your questions answered.

ITS – Jack Markle

- (919) 754-6563

- [email protected]

OSBM – Jim Dolan

- (919) 807-4775

- [email protected]

its it consolidation program frequently asked questions state of north carolina office of...

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office of state controller

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