Technology Service Centre Update Presentation to the CoMPTROller’s Conference

1
Technology Service Centre UpdatePresentation to
the CoMPTROllers Conference
November 24, 2010
Prepared by Technology Service Centre (TSC)
2
Agenda

• TSC - Mandate and Services
• IT Service Centre in Action
• Overview of GNWT Network
• Technology as an Enabler
• Other TSC Initiatives
• Telephone Expense Management System
• Departmental Chargeback
• Procurement Policies

3
TSC Origin and Mandate

• Prior to 2002, IT support resided in departments
  - decentralized and non-standardized
• The TSC was created in 2003
• Organizationally, Information Technology includes
  IM/IS/IT
• Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)
  Information Management (IM) policy and planning
• TSC Infrastructure Technology (IT) Network
  and Server standardization, economies of scale
  and GNWT desktop support
• Departments Information Systems (IS) own and
  manage departmental applications and content
• TSC hosts many departmental servers on
  centralized infrastructure (IS)
• A common IT objective is to provide the right
  information to the right people at the right time

3
4
TSC Core Services

• Keep the Lights On
• End User Support Client Service Requests and
  Desktop and Premises support
• Client Services Departmental liaison for IT/IS
  activities, GNWT- wide communications, PC
  purchasing and evergreening, licensing
• Service Process Development Best practices
  for IT Service Management
• Infrastructure Services Tier 3 Service Request
  support and Network and Server Management, System
  Backups, Storage Management
• Project Management In-house and Departmental
  Infrastructure Projects
• Infrastructure and Network Strategic Planning

5
Sharing Services

• 4,700 network users
• 4,000 GNWT e-mail accounts
• 2,700 desktop/laptop computers Licence
  Management
• 30 terabytes of shared data storage 10M
  documents, database data, electronic pictures and
  Images
• 35 million e-mails/month (about 95 are rejected
  as spam)
• 23,000 requests to Service Desk per year
• Procure and manage approximately 60
  Services/Contracts
• Internet Content Filtering
• Benefits Standardization and Cost-efficiencies

6
The GNWT Network

• The DCN network traffic destined within the NWT
  SAM and HR PeopleSoft, e-mail, Internet
  traffic
• For security reasons, all GNWT traffic and
  Education traffic travels over separate network
  routes but this creates routing inefficiencies
• The network is made up of many technologies based
  on geography, population, available investment
• Fibre Optic Cabling
• Microwave
• Satellite
• The type (or combination of) facilities all
  contribute to the reliability, speed, capacity,
  performance, availability of the network
• The challenge is to improve the network within
  the limits of available technology and investment
  dollars

7
The GNWT Digital Communications Network
8
The Internet

• Internet traffic flows within and outside of the
  DCN(external email, web-browsing, departmental
  application data to the south)
• Original plan was to provide Internet access to
  all GNWT departments but GNWT was never intended
  to be an ISP
• Congestion is impacting both Internet and
  non-Internet (DCN) traffic
• Over the past 4 years, Internet usage has grown
  between 50 and 100 10, 20, 40, 60, megabits per
  second (June 2009)
• Schools and Aurora College use 60 of internet
  volume due to 9000 students and a growing
  Internet curriculum
• TSC and schools are working together to manage
  Internet volumes and provide safe use policies
  to students

9
Network Challenges

• Reliability Network Uptime
• Speed Bandwidth Throughput
• Capacity Bandwidth
• Performance Technical capability
• Availability Network Service Times
• Aging infrastructure, power outages and limited
  resources

10
Network Service Initiatives

• A new Enterprise Network DCN RFP
• Improved Network Management Internet Re-direct
  and Data Prioritization
• Increased Access to e-mail and storage
• Disaster Recovery Business Continuity New
  Data Centre
• Strategic contract options - Enterprise Licence
  agreements
• Continued investment in Network Infrastructure

11
Technology as an Enabler

• Education Strategic Goals
• Information Technology-based Curriculum
• Leverage technology and costs, (MS Licencing
  Agreements)
• Improved teacher retention and student graduation
  rates
• Enable students to remain in their home community
• Health Social Services Strategic Goals
• Shared vision of one Territorial service delivery
  system supported by one technology system
• Increased Access to Services - people get the
  care they need, close to home, access to virtual
  teams of providers
• Less Waiting - Increases Provider Time with
  Patients
• High volume, secure, health data transmission
• Sustainability innovation supports workforce
  and service delivery
• Real-life Cases Digital x-ray transmission,
  Telespeech sessions

12
Other Current TSC Projects

• Windows 7/Microsoft Office 2010 Q4
• Replace GNWT Telephone Directory Q4
• Laptop Encryption Q3
• Self-Serve Password Reset Q4
• Internet Content Management Pilot Study access
  to websites to meet business needs Q4
• Leverage TSC Helpdesk function for other
  departments Ongoing
• Departmental projects Infrastructure and
  Testing Support HSS, SAM, ENR, ERDMS

12
13
Telephone Expense Management System

• Telecom Billing Facts
• Many departments see Telecom costs as a
  necessary evil and lack of time for rigorous
  analysis creates financial risk
• The largest bills are more frequently audited but
  on average are less likely to show errors due to
  lack of granularity
• The time consumed by GNWT staff to authorize,
  code and pay telecom bills is significant

14
What is TEMS?

• A paperless, web-based application to replace the
  old paper-based FIS interface
• TEMS was designed to interface with NWTels
  electronic billing system and SAM
• It currently pays over 3500 phone services per
  month, each with its COA code and automatically
  uploads to SAM
• Allows for drilldown bill verification

15
Benefits of TEMS

• Cost savings eliminates the use of paper,
  storage and mail costs
• Automated coding and payment of invoices
• Retire obsolete, unsupported infrastructure
• Detailed reporting to identify high usage, long
  distance, incorrect charges
• Threshold settings for exception reporting
• Permissions-based access at multiple levels

16
Other Functionality for TEMS

• Incorporation of remaining NWTel paper bills
  (e.g. 2 wire and 4 wire circuits)
• Departments can set up TEMS to replicate their
  organizational hierarchy for precise reporting
• TSC is looking at bringing in Bell Mobility
  billing as an added service
• Currently TEMS is provided as a value add
  further development and customization could be a
  shared cost

17
Chart of Accounts Coding
17
18
Sample Hierarchy
18
19
Expenditure Report
19
20
Chargeback Update

• 2010-11 Chargeback Budget - 17.3M
• 2011 -12 Chargeback Budget approved - 18.1M
• Increase due to Collective Agreement Increases,
  Security staff resources for TSC, DCN Usage
  increase across all departments
• Chargeback is driven by departmental consumption
  of network facilities, storage, PC support
  continue to look for savings
• Any surplus at end of year is pro-rated back to
  departments
• TSC reviews chargeback rate structure annually to
  ensure that revenues reflect TSC cost centres
• Ongoing challenges TSC ability to absorb
  extraordinary costs Anticipating usage and rate
  impacts on an annual basis

21
Procurement Update

• TSC procures significant infrastructure and
  desktop hardware and software on behalf of GNWT
  departments - 2-3M annually
• RFP and Tendering Process are guided by FAA to
  ensure BIP and Northern Vendor opportunities
• Year-end PC purchase cut-off will be early
  February to ensure SAM requisitions and
  deliveries are completed in-year
• Improved Evergreening processes to keep desktop
  hardware current oldest PCs are 2006 base level
• Thank you! For your help to manage SAM
  requisition process for Service Requests
• TSC needs YOUR HELP to manage departmental PC
  purchases extra PCs create increased PC Support
  costs
• TSC and OCIO continue to review other
  jurisdictions to align GNWT Blackberry and other
  devices Policies

22
Questions/Comments?