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Information Systems Department
IT Strategic Plan
Organizational Alignment
Given the project, support and maintenance workloads and the emerging demands for expanding services, the Information Systems Department is constantly adjusting the organization to best meet expectations and needs. Primary functions are aligned with technical architectures to provide focused knowledge in a manner that allows common services to be coordinated and consolidated in an efficient and effective way.
Administration and Coordination – a group that provides general administration, budget, accounting, fiscal analysis, contract, procurement, human resources, safety and facility support to all functional teams.
Innovation Services - works with Sonoma County leadership to stimulate an environment for systems innovation while developing business strategies that serve the growing technology needs of the County enterprise.
Applications Programming – the team that provides development, maintenance and support of business applications, data integration, and reporting solutions. The group supports make, build and buy decisions and associated implementation management services in coordination with department IT staff and vendors.
Information Management – has been re-aligned to revalue primary functional areas that define, process, manage, report, distribute, and archive both digital and traditional information. The following teams are involved in piloting organizational concepts.
Web and Social Media – providing content management systems and processes to facilitate the access to information through all on-line media avenues.
Electronic Document Management – supporting the capture, indexing, and storage of electronic documents and files of all types.
Geographical Information – coordinating the collection and digital association of geospatial attributes with other tabular data and developing visual maps tools for both internal and public access.
Records and Reprographics – supporting the collection, scanning, archival, and retention management for all records series and producing graphic designs and printed materials to support information sharing and communications.
Technical Services – develops, supports and maintains the technical infrastructure and standardized personal productivity tools for all County employees. The group has several specialized work teams including:
Infrastructure Network and Communications – develops, maintains and support countywide voice, video and data connectivity solutions for all departments. The group is consolidating environments into a single converged structure.
Infrastructure Server, Storage and Database – managing the data centers and all equipment and technical computing structures associated with technology solutions.
Infrastructure / Cyber Security – assuring safe and secure information technology and use. Includes compliance auditing, litigation support, and policy development.
Infrastructure Application Hosting – provides the hosting of departmental business applications and enterprise personal productivity and collaboration tools.
Infrastructure Service Desk and Field Operations – the single point of access to present and deliver services. The service desk manages all request, incident, and install requests for all technologies and oversees coordinating field staff for on-site needs.
Staffing Trends & Organizational Objectives
Information Systems is constantly adjusting as the technology landscape and IT management environment evolves. Improving economic landscape and significant State re-alignment of programs has shifted additional responsibilities to local governments. This has increased county staffing by 11% over a five year period. Internal administrative services departments have increased staffing by approximately 4% during the same period.
At the same time, the County has made significant progress in replacing major technology infrastructure and IT support organizations (both central and departmental) are evolving to meet service level demands. Information Systems, the central IT organization represents approximately 65% of the total County information technology FTE’s. During the last five years, Information Services has increased authorized staffing by 9%. A significant part of this increase was offset by cost reduction in vendor managed telecom services as voice and data network support was consolidated into a single internal unit. Staff was also added to meet support needs for the maintenance and operation of new systems.
- Recruitment has been lagging needs as competition in demand for IT skills and experience has increased considerably in the bay area. Vacancy rates are around 10%, slightly higher than past years.
- In 2019/20, primary organizational objectives are in place to address staffing and retention issues:
ISD has been working hard to incorporate practices that continually address depth of coverage, cross-training, and skill development. This is not just at the senior management level but across all functional teams. During the fiscal year, the department will be focused on several activities to enhance our ability to recruit and to improve existing employee’s readiness for promotion or reassignment.
- Re-organize executive leadership roles to better balance operations and strategic initiatives and establish succession tracks.
- Support and utilize the new Learning Management System to help identify skill/knowledge gaps and to develop and manage training plans for all staff.
- Complete a Job Study to update job descriptions to accurately reflect current work, knowledge and skill requirements.
- Continue efforts to increase candidate pools by using internships, college outreach, and selective use of extra-help staff.
Given the project, support and maintenance workloads and the emerging demands for expanding services, the Information Systems Department is constantly adjusting the organization to best meet expectations and needs. Primary functions are aligned with technical architectures to provide focused knowledge in a manner that allows common services to be coordinated and consolidated in an efficient and effective way.
Administration and Coordination – a group that provides general administration, budget, accounting, fiscal analysis, contract, procurement, human resources, safety and facility support to all functional teams.
Innovation Services - works with Sonoma County leadership to stimulate an environment for systems innovation while developing business strategies that serve the growing technology needs of the County enterprise.
Applications Programming – the team that provides development, maintenance and support of business applications, data integration, and reporting solutions. The group supports make, build and buy decisions and associated implementation management services in coordination with department IT staff and vendors.
Information Management – has been re-aligned to revalue primary functional areas that define, process, manage, report, distribute, and archive both digital and traditional information. The following teams are involved in piloting organizational concepts.
Web and Social Media – providing content management systems and processes to facilitate the access to information through all on-line media avenues.
Electronic Document Management – supporting the capture, indexing, and storage of electronic documents and files of all types.
Geographical Information – coordinating the collection and digital association of geospatial attributes with other tabular data and developing visual maps tools for both internal and public access.
Records and Reprographics – supporting the collection, scanning, archival, and retention management for all records series and producing graphic designs and printed materials to support information sharing and communications.
Technical Services – develops, supports and maintains the technical infrastructure and standardized personal productivity tools for all County employees. The group has several specialized work teams including:
Infrastructure Network and Communications – develops, maintains and support countywide voice, video and data connectivity solutions for all departments. The group is consolidating environments into a single converged structure.
Infrastructure Server, Storage and Database – managing the data centers and all equipment and technical computing structures associated with technology solutions.
Infrastructure / Cyber Security – assuring safe and secure information technology and use. Includes compliance auditing, litigation support, and policy development.
Infrastructure Application Hosting – provides the hosting of departmental business applications and enterprise personal productivity and collaboration tools.
Infrastructure Service Desk and Field Operations – the single point of access to present and deliver services. The service desk manages all request, incident, and install requests for all technologies and oversees coordinating field staff for on-site needs.
Staffing Trends & Organizational Objectives
Information Systems is constantly adjusting as the technology landscape and IT management environment evolves. Improving economic landscape and significant State re-alignment of programs has shifted additional responsibilities to local governments. This has increased county staffing by 11% over a five year period. Internal administrative services departments have increased staffing by approximately 4% during the same period.
At the same time, the County has made significant progress in replacing major technology infrastructure and IT support organizations (both central and departmental) are evolving to meet service level demands. Information Systems, the central IT organization represents approximately 65% of the total County information technology FTE’s. During the last five years, Information Services has increased authorized staffing by 9%. A significant part of this increase was offset by cost reduction in vendor managed telecom services as voice and data network support was consolidated into a single internal unit. Staff was also added to meet support needs for the maintenance and operation of new systems.
Recruitment has been lagging needs as competition in demand for IT skills and experience has increased considerably in the bay area. Vacancy rates are around 10%, slightly higher than past years.
In 2019/20, primary organizational objectives are in place to address staffing and retention issues:
ISD has been working hard to incorporate practices that continually address depth of coverage, cross-training, and skill development. This is not just at the senior management level but across all functional teams. During the fiscal year, the department will be focused on several activities to enhance our ability to recruit and to improve existing employee’s readiness for promotion or reassignment.
- Re-organize executive leadership roles to better balance operations and strategic initiatives and establish succession tracks.
- Support and utilize the new Learning Management System to help identify skill/knowledge gaps and to develop and manage training plans for all staff.
- Complete a Job Study to update job descriptions to accurately reflect current work, knowledge and skill requirements.
- Continue efforts to increase candidate pools by using internships, college outreach, and selective use of extra-help staff.