samis, a collaborative software solution

SAMIS -

A Collaboration of

Florida Special Taxing Districts

Presenter –

Patricia K. Gehant, MA

Director of SAMIS

Capstone Presentation

July 12, 2011

SAMIS - Government Accountability through the Cloud

1

The Children’s Services Councils in Florida have been

collaborating on the use of a grants management

SaaS software solution since 2001.

Provides transparencies of operations and

accountably for $1.7 billion in public funds.

Describe the product, the successes, and the

leadership strategies employed over the 10 years of

operation.

SAMIS - Government Accountability through the

Cloud

Project Summary

SAMIS is ……...

A grants management suite that tracks how

community programs use public or charitable funds

distributed by governmental and local entities.


Cloud

3

Services & Activities Management Information System

Children’s Services Councils of

Broward

Martin

Palm Beach

Hillsborough – The Children’s Board

Miami - The Children’s Trust

Pinellas – Juvenile Welfare Board

Jacksonville - Children's Commission

Palm Beach Community Services Department


4

Partners

8 Partners

18 production databases

Over 800,000 client records

2,800 users

785 program sites entering data

Manages $300 million in public funds annually

Manages over $1.7 billion in public funds


SAMIS By the Numbers 5

The SAMIS network operates from in Tampa and provides 24/7 access to users with a guaranteed uptime of 99%.

The network consists of three sites – Production, Training and Testing and contains 18 SQL 2008 R2 databases across the eight partners.

Single code base

Training and testing environments are virtualized using Hyper V Server 2008 R2 with physical servers for production SQL 2008 servers.

The web servers, testing and training environments are virtualized using VMware. The web application is written in .NET using IIS 6.


SAMIS Operations 6

SAMIS can be accessed using any computer with a

connection to the Internet using IE ver 6 or above

Role-based security

Data is protected from public records disclosure

Data is owned by the individual agency


7

Delivered to users………

Gartner definitions:

The Cloud is a business function accessed through the Internet (email, storage, etc.)

A SaaS is the delivery of a custom application that uses a single set of code

that is shared across many users

(SalesForce.com, Google Apps, etc.)


Cloud/SaaS Model

8

Gehant addendum……

A Private Cloud solution provides the

customer with the ability to make software

management, monitoring and upgrade

decisions.

SaaS allows the customer to be a

subscriber to a service but have no

hardware management responsibilities.


Cloud/SaaS Model

9

Attributes that support the definition:

1. Services based – Consumer concerns are abstracted from the provider concerns through a service interface.

2. Scalable and elastic – Services scale on demand to add or remove resources as needed.

3. Shared – Services share a pool of resources to build economies of scale

4. Metered by Use – Services are tracked with usage metrics to enable multiple payment models.

5. Internet technologies – Services are delivered through use of the Internet identifiers, formats and protocols (Plummer, 2011)


SAMIS Model 10

[1]

SAMIS Management……… SAMIS is managed as a Data Collaboration under Florida State

Statute, Section 163.62, which provides that agencies of local governments may establish a collaborative client information system in which state, local, and private agencies may share information

Information is protected from disclosure under the Public Records laws

Seven special taxing districts in Florida - Children's Services

Councils (CSCs) form the SAMIS Management Group

JWB of Pinellas County is the Operating Manager

Palm Beach CSC is the Fiscal Agent


11

Decision Making

Recommends Budget

Approves Budget

Approves Contract

CSC Boards

SAMIS Management

Committee (SMC)

SAMIS Management Group (SMG)

Enhancement Teams

Infrastructure Team

County Level Partner


12


13

Fees

Implementation

• Enhancements

• Set up activities

Annual Fees

• Operating

• Enhancement

• Hardware/Software Replacement

Reserve Fund

Metered Rate

•Funds Distributed in SAMIS

•# Program Budgets

•# Program entering client data

Lapsed funds

$-

$100,000

$200,000

$300,000

$400,000

$500,000

$600,000

98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Collaborative

Pinellas


Total Enhancement Investment = $3,852,360

JWB Enhancement Investment = $859,846

ROI is High

78%

14

JWB

$409,278

JWB

$450.568

SAMIS was not based on a model used by others

Standard for operating a SaaS by a governmental entity (JWB)

for other entities did not exist in 2001

SAMIS Collaborative development was an example of an

adaptive challenge (Heifetz, 2002).

SAMIS required

Experimenting

Developing new ways to standardize a business process across

multiple businesses

Designing an effective operation model from the ground up


15

Collaborative Leadership

Leadership is key in the early stages of design and development

Need to maintain consistent leadership in both the Operational

staff as well as the core thought leaders.

The original partners negotiated the processes in place today.

The original partners created the organizational structure recently

tested with the recent changes

The new partners join the Collaborative and view SAMIS as a

technical solution accepting the process as they do with other

vendor software purchases

The new partners are trained on how SAMIS is managed


Cloud

16

Role of Operational Leadership…..

“without learning new ways – changing

attitudes, values, and behaviors – people

cannot make the adaptive leap necessary

to thrive in a new environment.”

(Heifetz, 2002, p. 13)

SAMIS - Government Accountability through

the Cloud

17

Change…..

Collaboration


18

Workflow

Position Management

Budgets

Document Repository

Reimbursements

Document Repository

Funder Amendments

Reporting

19


Fiscal Modules

Workflow

Position Management

Budget

Document Repository

Reimbursements

Document Repository

Amendments

Program and

Outcome Modules

• CDG

• Outcomes

• Group Outcomes

• Analysis of Outcomes

• EDI Import

• Volunteer Activities

• Attendance

• Program Units of Srvs.

• Group Units of Service

• Data Cleansing

• Group Activities

• Waiting lists

• And more…….


20

CDG

Case Data Gatherer

Outcomes

Group Outcomes

Analysis of Outcomes

EDI Import

Volunteer Activities

Attendance

Program UOS

Group UOS

Data Cleaning

Group Activities

Waiting Lists

Regular Review and Enhancement Process

Help Desk

Webinars/Online Training

Training Manuals Online


the Cloud

21

More Features…….

Shared mission – all partners need the

services and cannot afford to create or

purchase independently.

Long term stability in CSC membership,

management and development staff

Technology that is flexible and scalable

Infrastructure that supports the process

ROI - High Return of Investment


the Cloud

22

Why is SAMIS Collaborative Successful?

All partners are equal regardless of tax revenues or fees paid.

Creating a meeting that encourages input for all members and an environment where members are free to give an opinion without fear of reprisal.

Meetings designed to build relationships.

Inquiry is encouraged.

Open and respectful conversation is expected from all.

Shared learning improves the operations and functioning of the software


the Cloud

23

Why is SAMIS Collaborative Successful?

generates ideas;

generate opportunity;

generates innovation;

generates success! PKG


the Cloud

24

The Future

“To the more strategic CIO, (business) alignment can well mean taking the lead to help redesign the operations and policies of the departments so they can achieve maximum results from their investment in technology.”

“ Transformation of the Local Government CTO/CIO” Norman Jacknis, Ph.D., “CIO Leadership for Cities and Counties” Alan Shark. Executive Editor & Authors, Public Technology Institutes, Washington, DC, 2009


the Cloud

25

The Future

samis, a collaborative software solution

Documents

samis management samis

users samis

samis network

samis operations

samis modelattributes

collaborativeleadership

samis lapsed funds

use services