Technology is now an essential thread throughout the fabric of government, explained Kentucky's chief information officer, Aldona Valicenti, during the opening session hosted by the National Governors Association. It is an integral part of the business processes in every department and division, making possible instant, accurate communication of relevant information to top decision makers, often across political and geographic boundaries.
Kentucky Governor Paul Patton, one of the nation's most senior governors and president of NGA, emphasized the critical role that technology played in the transformation of Kentucky state government during his two terms.
As Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia welcomed more than 200 public officials from 36 states to Atlanta, he spoke about using technology to help government entities work more effectively together.
Perdue's remarks were underscored by the observations of Gerry Wethington, Missouri's CIO and president of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. "We can't talk about technology agendas anymore," he noted. "Instead, we're looking at management, at process tracks, we're talking about business practices." In times such as these, Wethington said, state and local leaders should challenge traditional governmental structures and processes that impede innovation.
A CLEAR PICTURE
Utah and Virginia are seen as pace-setting states in utilizing technology with savvy leadership in both the governor's office and the legislature. But some of those very leaders candidly admitted that they did not always have a clear picture of exactly how technology was being used throughout the enterprise.One of the first questions that Virginia Governor Mark Warner posed to George Newstrom, his new secretary of technology, was how much the commonwealth was spending on technology each year. No one knew.
It took nine months and a team of consultants to size up Virginia's IT expenditures: around $900 million. In the process, they discovered that the state government was using "every e-mail system known to man," and that each of its 94 agencies was operating within its own technology silo. In the words of Delegate Joe May, who chairs the House Science and Technology Committee, Virginia's technology was "not wholly broken, but not sound."
Although Utah Governor Michael Leavitt has been pushing his state to maximize its use of technology for years, the state's IT system until recently was "underutilized, not connected, silos, not interactive," according to Senator David Steele, co-chair of the Utah Information Technology Commission. To remedy that, Val Oveson, the state's new CIO, said the state is refining and operationalizing its strategic plan. Oveson comes to his job from a long career in public service, including two terms as the state's lieutenant governor. Noting his limited technical experience, Oveson declared that in his new job "sociology is more important than technology."
PARTNERSHIP
In keynoting Managing Technology 2003, Governor Mark Warner illustrated the importance of effective interaction with the legislature.Earlier this year, Warner won legislative approval for consolidating the technology aspects of every state department into a single technology agency. As a governor limited to one term, Warner understood that without legislative buy-in, any changes that he made would have little lasting effect. Virginia's $6 billion budget shortfall set the stage for his proposal, he said, because "in good times, there is never the political will" to make such sweeping changes.
It's important to chalk up some early wins to build support for such changes, Warner added, citing examples that included consolidating the various e-mail systems, and reaching the milestone of 1 billion purchases through eVA, the commonwealth's new electronic procurement system. "Early wins demonstrate the benefits to constituents.... We've got to get some early wins or our legislative partners may not be our partners next session."
COMMUNICATION
In a growing number of states, legislators are putting technology to work to change the way they do their jobs. Almost a dozen legislatures are moving toward a full digital legislative process, marking up and amending bills electronically, according to Sharon Crouch Steidel, director of information systems for the Virginia House of Delegates and former chair of the National Association of Legislative Information Technology.As a number of legislators in attendance nodded, Steidel said that e- mail is becoming the standard way to contact legislators--and many legislators are responding with online newsletters to citizens. There are problems, Steidel noted--spam, public access and Freedom of Information issues among them--but technology is revolutionizing the legislative process, in form and, perhaps, in substance as well. "Better communication," concluded Missouri Representative Rob Schaaf, "means better legislation."
When communication among key players is lacking, even the most successfully planned project can end up a failure. Ralph Campbell, state auditor of North Carolina and president of the National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council, told the story of a new accounting system installed by the state's community colleges without input from the state comptroller or auditor. The new system uses an accrual system, whereas the state uses cash-based accounting. While the technology is sound, this failure to take into account current business practices meant that a $51 million system turned out to be more problem than solution.
TRAINING
In implementing a new statewide voting system, Georgia's election- reform team avoided this problem by making the entire system contingent on full funding for the necessary communication and training campaign. The state spent $54 million on 19,000 new touch- screen units, and $4.5 million on training poll-workers and voters to use them. Secretary of State Cathy Cox convinced the legislature that the training money was critical. "No matter how good a system is," explained Michael Barnes, the director of IT and elections in Cox's office, "if the public doesn't know how to use it, it will fall flat on its face."Alison Bracewell McCullick, the statewide voter-education coordinator, had five months to reach all of the state's 3.8 million voters before the November 2002 elections. The new voting system was demonstrated at civic meetings, in parking lots, at football games, churches, grocery stores--"anywhere there were more than three people," she says. Voters were also targeted with print materials, broadcast announcements and educational videos, as well as a Web site and hotline. It worked. After the election, 70 percent of Georgians reported being very confident that their vote was accurately recorded.
COLLABORATION
The importance of training was not lost on Georgia's voters, and during a discussion about cross-boundary collaboration, Kentucky CIO Valicenti made the point that it should not be lost on policy makers and procurement officials, either: "Purchasing a new device is only one small part of the whole process." Texas CIO Carolyn Purcell concurred: "The complexity is in the relationships, not in the technology itself."Her point was reinforced by the unfolding story of the Capitol Wireless Integrated Network, better known as CapWIN. This network, now being established by a group of officials from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, connects the data of the three jurisdictions for emergency personnel to access.
The technology itself is relatively simple: a low-cost, off-the-shelf browser. The real work has been formulating an agreement between the cities, counties and states in the region that will have lasting impact. "Partnerships aren't good if only established on paper," says Marilyn Praisner, a council member in Montgomery County, Maryland, and vice-chair of CapWIN. "We have to ask, is it broad enough? Is it tied to the elected officials who are there? We need to extend it and give future elected officials understanding and buy-in."
