Transcript Slide 1

ICT
Technologies
Session 3
5 June 2007
Mark Viney
ICT Technologies
Remember:
almost everything a statistical agency does can be
supported by ICT
ICT will continue to advance, plan to apply
emerging technologies
 Today we will cover:
 how ICT can be organised and managed (ABS will
be used as a case study and aid to discussion
about "good practice")
 Knowledge Management
Topics
 ICT Org Structure
 Funding models
 Sourcing models
 Strategy and Policy
 IT Governance
 Working in partnership - clients and vendors
 Enterprise Architecture
 Service Delivery processes
 Service Level Agreements
 ICT staff
 Security
Structure
Brian Pink
Australian Statistician
Denis Farrell
Deputy Statistician
Jenine Borowik
CIO
Chris Duffy
Technology
Applications
Lane Masterton
Technology
Infrastructure
Revenue: $19m
Staff: 230
Revenue: $38m
Staff: 170
Don Bartley
Technology
Research
Revenue: nil
Staff: 5
Technology
Services
Division
IT Group Structures
 Common arrangements for IT Group:
may include functions such as methodology,
data entry, data management, security
head reports to CEO or Deputy
varying degrees of decentralisation of
applications development/ support
Funding Models
 Fixed annual budget
 Cost recovery
full cost recovery
Pros
- funds growth
- costs understood
 infrastructure costs recovered through
cpu, disk, PC, network, phone
 half day charge for application
programmers
 prices based on work program agreed
each June
 payments made automatically
 on-line system for cost reporting
Cons
- costly to administer
- difficult to predict
demand
 mix
Sourcing models
Insource
Outsource
"Rightsource"
 insourced
 selective contracting (in areas where
special skills required / packaged product
support
No
"one size fits all"
approach
IT Policy and Strategy
"Culture eats
strategy for
breakfast
... every time"
 "alignment" of IT with Business a key goal
 the grand "IT Strategic Plan" seems to be
less popular. People now talking more
about governance models and enterprise
architectures.
- Author unknown
IT:
 regarded as "strategic"
 "corporate" approach to IT
IT Strategy - embodied in ABS
Enterprise Architecture and annually
refreshed "strategic directions
statements"
IT Policy - a few absolutes
that we want to be able to
enforce
IT Governance
 DO engage senior management in IT strategy
- it is their business too!
give them education and coaching
they should be advocates for the decisions
that are taken
IRMC considers:
 major purchases
Information Resource Management  new strategy
Committee
 work programs &
budgets
Partnership required to design
future business processes
- a mix of technology - "pull"
and business needs - "push"
Working in partnership
- ABS model
Client Divisions
Technology Services
Division
TSD Account
Managers
Project
Boards
Project
Managers
IT
staff
Business
Projects
Working in partnership
- ABS model for vendors
TSD
Executives
Technology Services
Division
Account
Managers
TSD Product
Managers
Vendors
SAS,
Lotus,
ORACLE...
Vendor Relationships
 Educate vendor with "value proposition" for giving you a
good deal:
prepared to be a reference site
provide input to product directions strategies
host user groups and forums
training ground for expert users
long-term commitment
Architecture Goals





Value for money
investment longevity
skills availability
robustness
performance
 support innovation
 integration of
business processes
 externalisation
ABS Enterprise Architecture
ABS Architecture = how we want to build
"next generation" systems
 describes how we want future business processes to look
and maps technologies to them
 documents key strategies, processes, technologies
 we decided to avoid thick manuals (don't work very well)
 acid tests does it actually inform decisions as to how to build and what to buy?
do the new systems work?
Communicated via Posters...
..implemented via Architecture Panels.
Posters - our prop for developing
shared "mental models"
Service delivery processes
Key IT Service Processes
Project Management
Change Management
Cost Recovery
Forward Work Planning
Technical Review
IT Procurement
Problem Management
Release Management
Service Level Management
Testing
Communication Management
IT Product Management
Service Level Agreements
 Can be very useful - manage expectations, ensure
service level fits business needs
 Can be difficult and resource intensive to monitor
and measure
 Start with high-level, organisation-wide, SLAs
 Build into contracts with Service Providers
Sample Service Level Agreement
- Backup & Recovery
 Notes: Backup onsite every 12 hours,
Recover a document in 30 minutes and a
whole database in 60 minutes
 NOS & UNIX: Backup Onsite each night,
Recover files in 30 mins and whole file
systems in 60 minutes
 Oracle databases: log transactions, Recover
database in 60 minutes
IT Staffing
"Value Proposition" for IT staff in NSO:
We mainly "grow our
own" - hire graduates
and keep them happy.
Very limited use of
contractors (short-term
assignments with
emphasis on skills
transfer)
breadth of technology - lots of systems
track record as a leading user of IT
diverse & interesting careers
"public good value" of NSO mission
savvy clients
Retention factors:
 professional development
 flexibility in work placements
 technical & management career paths
Security
 dedicated Security section which
manages physical and information
security
 very skilled staff
 external checking (Defence Dept.) of
security of our external connections
 promote "culture of security"
 regular and ad-hoc audits and review
 senior management oversight through
Security Committee
 CIO = Security Executive
Security is "mission
critical" important to
NSOs
watch external
connections
constantly improve
identity and access
management
use expert advice
Knowledge Management
 Common objectives of "knowledge management":
better management of information assets
helping people develop new skills
assisting creation of new knowledge through supporting
innovation and collaboration
capturing information in people's heads so it can be
shared and reused.
making it easier to locate and interact with experts
ABS KM
Strategy "Foundations"
3 key information domains
Personal
Workgroup
Corporate
Culture and Behaviours which support
collaboration and sharing of knowledge
ABS Information
environment domains
Navigation
(Portal)
Browse
50 databases
Search
Corporate
Archiving
Email
Subscription
Workgroup
1800 databases / applications
Personal
Behaviours
3200 databases
Collaboration
/workflow
Corporate Domain
 Careful, formalized management of key information assets
 Key repositories:
Corp Directory
Corp Information DB
Corp Manuals DB
Learning Management System
Intranet "Welcome Page" navigators and assistants
Workgroup Domain
 Day to Day business activity and documentation
 Key repositories:
Section WDB
Division WDB
Social Club
Change Management Committee
Personal Domain
 Draft material and personal email
 Key repositories:
Mark Viney's database
The evils of e-mail
To: Harry, Bill
cc: Mike
From: Jane
Subject: Sales Workshop
-------------------------------------------------------What do you think we agreed?
 lots of fragments and copies
 selective involvement
 no total picture or context
 where do the results go?
Bill
Sue
Jane
Harry
Mike
Fred
Discussion Forums
Ideas for Sales workshop (Mike)
What I liked about last year(Sue)
Lets remember to invite Design (Bill)
List of Attendees (Jane)
What about me? (Fred)
Oops, of course you are invited (Jane)
Record of the Workshop (Harry)
Bill
Sue
Jane
Database
Harry
Mike
Fred
Key Messages
 DO work on organisation and access of
"corporate" information assets
 DON'T rely on an "e-mail centric" approach
 DO consider "team rooms", Quickplaces
and other forums for sharing and
collaboration
 Communicate how you expect people to
behave (and behave accordingly)