Collaborating on Technology Service Delivery Summary report final

TITLE

Regional

Technology

Service Delivery

Evaluation

Summary Report

MISA PrairiesMISA PrairiesMISA PrairiesMISA Prairies

April 10, 2015April 10, 2015April 10, 2015April 10, 2015

TANTUS Solutions Group, Inc.

101, 10722 – 103 Avenue NW

Edmonton, AB T5J 5G7

Regional Technology Service Delivery

Evaluation

MISA Prairies

Summary Report

Confidential

©TANTUS Solutions Group Inc. 2015

www.tantus.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................... 1

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 3

METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................... 4

TOOLS ...................................................................................................................................... 6

PARTICIPANTS ......................................................................................................................... 9

FINDINGS .................................................................................................................................10

RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................................................16

APPENDIX A: PRIORITIZED LIST OF AREAS OF INTEREST ................................................24

APPENDIX B: CARD SORT RESULTS ....................................................................................26


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©Tantus Solutions Group Inc. 2015 1 | P a g e tantus.com

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report provides a summary of the Regional Technology Service Delivery Evaluation

project that was conducted with participation from 37 individuals representing 29

municipalities from across Alberta. The project was funded under the Alberta Community

Partnership Program from the Government of Alberta managed by Alberta Municipal

Affairs and managed by members of the Municipal Information Services Association

(MISA) Prairies Chapter members in Alberta through the City of Lethbridge. The mandate

has been to identify opportunities for municipalities to collaborate on the delivery of

technology services in their municipalities with the joint goals of reducing cost and

increasing service.

We facilitated two scoping workshops and several rounds of data collection. The data sets

from 20 participants were collated to create matrices that identified areas of priority,

service delivery strength and weakness and readiness to scale operations to other

municipalities. Reports were provided to individual municipalities outlining their matrices

and their ‘fit’ in the overall opportunity areas.

A suite of tools were created to help the resulting opportunity groups further explore and

plan for collaborative opportunities. The Governance Tools included a Governance Charter

template, a Requirements Specifications template, a Service Sharing Costing Model

template and a Service Level Agreement Template.

From this project several findings and recommendations emerged in the areas of

collaboration, procurement and knowledge sharing to the participating municipalities and

to MISA in their leadership role. We recommend the following:

Recommendation 1: Further engage municipal business areas in the collaboration

discussions.

Recommendation 2: Explore collaboration in many levels and under both Network

and Hub and Spoke models.

Recommendation 3: Collaborate on the top 6 prime opportunities areas: "CLASS"

Replacement, Electronic Council, Financial Systems (ERP), Asset Management,

Permitting Systems and Disaster Recovery Space Shortage

Recommendation 4: Use the appropriate Governance Tools required by the

Governance Charter and Implementation Plan.

Recommendation 5: Continue to share procurement documents and further group

buying opportunities.


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Recommendation 6: Leverage procurement through group buying sources, such as

the Government of Alberta or related Associations.

Recommendation 7: MISA should continue their leadership under this initiative and

encourage participation in the next phase of this initiative.

Recommendation 8: Explore ways to engage smaller, non-MISA member,

municipalities to participate.

Recommendation 9: Act as a portal for knowledge sharing.

Recommendation 10: Develop standard definitions around a standard municipal

service delivery model.

Recommendation 11: Foster sub-communities of action based on IT Professionals’

roles.


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INTRODUCTION

Alberta municipalities collaborate with each

other. Where through joint fire protection

agreements or cost sharing on recreational

facilities, this has been the case since the

inception of the province and continues today.

Over the past decades, there has been a view

by many that untapped opportunities are

available to enhance this history of

collaboration with technology.

This report provides a summary of the


Evaluation project that was conducted with

participation from 37 individuals representing

29 municipalities from across Alberta. The

project was funded under the Alberta Community Partnership Program from the

Government of Alberta managed by Alberta Municipal Affairs and managed by members of

the Municipal Information Services Association (MISA) Prairies Chapter members in

Alberta through the City of Lethbridge. The mandate has been to identify opportunities for

municipalities to collaborate on the delivery of technology services in their municipalities

with the joint goals of reducing cost and increasing service.

To aid in the collection of sensitive data, a commitment was made to the representatives

that individual municipal data would only be provide back to the providing organization

and thus, a series of reports have been issued from this project. Municipalities have been

provided with a summary of their provided data with average responses from other

participants. They also receive an Opportunity Report outlining where the data suggested

that they had opportunities to improve service through partnering and areas where they

should consider offering service to others based on their unique strengths and capabilities.

Also provided, was a suite of Governance Tools intended to support resulting collaboration

groups from this project.

This report provides an overview of the methodology employed in the project and a

summary of the delivered tools and templates. As well, it provides some overall findings on

the state of technological collaboration among municipalities in the province, seen through

the lenses of the workshop interactions and the data provided. Further, we provide several

recommendations to municipalities, to the provincial government and to MISA on ways to

continue the momentum of this project and further enhance municipal collaboration in

general.


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METHODOLOGY

We began by reviewing the terms of reference with the MISA project team to ensure that

we had a mutual understanding of the deliverables and the timelines for the project,

followed by the gathering of additional background material or pertinent studies that have

been completed.

To establish and introduce the project, a Kickoff Workshop in Calgary was held with all

stakeholders. The workshop included an overview of the project approach, the time and

participatory investment expected from the participating municipality representatives,

their role on the project, a review of the project schedule and a draft workshop schedule.

In addition, we conducted the first data gathering session and, through the use a

Knowledge Café, created a set of Governance Principles that drove the Governance

Processes required in the future. We also conducted a preliminary services scope definition

exercise define potential opportunity areas for regional service delivery, and captured a

detailed participant list for the project.

Based on the preliminary services scope, we then created a diagnostic tool for distribution

to the stakeholders for completion. This tool was focussed on a business driven approach

that captured information including current satisfaction, infrastructure, business

technology, strategy and planning, IT organization information and awareness of regional

service delivery opportunities.

Using our Microsoft Excel based tool to capture the information, we distributed the

material to the stakeholders for completion, supported with a privately accessed

instructional YouTube video, survey instructions, three scheduled conference calls, and

unlimited one-on-one telephone support. Based on our experience collecting large volumes

of highly structured data from municipalities, this was the most efficient approach to

gather this amount of complex information across the large number of participating

agencies and geographies.

Once the information was received, we collated it,

conducted the preliminary Opportunity Assessment,

and created a matrix that identified areas in which

municipalities were successful at delivering services

and areas in which they struggled. Through this

discussion, the data challenges were addressed and a

second round of data capture was endorsed. The

second round resulted in a more complete data set

with 20 participants providing completed workbooks.


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This matrix also provided a services pairing that will drive the future work on opportunities

for service rationalization and cross agency sharing.

We then created tools for the municipalities to organize and govern the opportunity groups

they identified. We created a generic Implementation Plan, a generic Governance Charter

template, Requirement Specifications, a Service Sharing Cost model, and a generic Service

Level Agreement template.

Next, we conducted workshops for the participating municipalities in northern and

southern Alberta to provide a face to face venue for the ratification and finalization of the

information and to validate the opportunities.

Using the Services Opportunity Matrix, we then established Opportunity Working Groups

that will be formalized by the proposed members.

Finally, we created the final report containing the findings and recommendations, along

with a presentation to stakeholders.


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TOOLS

DATA COLLECTION WORKBOOK

The data collection workbook was an important tool in gathering complex information. The

workbook contained 13 tabs dedicated to the following highly prioritized business areas and

their respective areas of emphasis:

• Recreation – “CLASS” Replacement • Information management, content – Records Management • Infrastructure – Asset Management • Land Planning & Development – Permitting Systems • Asset Access – Physical Credentialing Access • Financial Management – Financial Systems (ERP) • Cemeteries – Inventory and Records Management • Professional support – PMO Tools, Operations, and Governance • Integrated Service Delivery – 311/E311 211/E211 • Parks – Geographic Information Systems • Council – Electronic Council • Business Intelligence – Reporting, Queries, Analysis, Forecasting and Modelling • Server-Storage – Disaster Recovery Space Storage

The areas required a representative from each municipality to identify and expand on a

number of details. These included the degree of priority for that business area, the

transaction volume managed on a yearly basis, and purchasing, operating, and staff costs.

Furthermore, the workbook included questions pertaining to any existing IT applications

that support the business area, the budget for replacement, the degree to which the current

system meets the business requirements, product details, system installation, replacement,

upgrade details, and the degree of system integration.

The completed workbooks were then returned to Tantus for further analysis. They

contributed to the creation of the individual municipal reports and the opportunity area

reports.


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GOVERNANCE TOOLS

This project’s purpose is to identify

opportunity groups for application sharing

or joint development, and as a result, will

require an implementation plan to outline

and guide the next steps for those

opportunity groups. The nature of the

implementation plan and the creation of

the Governance Charter will decide the

required tools to drive the process.

Implementation Plan Approach

The implementation plan is based on a stage-gate approach. As an effective project

management technique, an initiative or project is divided into phases that are

separated by gates. At each gate, continuation of the project is approved by a

manager or a governance committee, and is based on the amount of sufficient

information available at the time. This may include details of economic viability,

operational feasibility, and risk analysis.

Governance Charter Template

As the initial step of the implementation plan, we created a Governance Charter

template for the opportunity group. The charter should drive and define the required

scope, principles, and the tools necessary for the chosen approach. More specifically,

it should identify the purpose of the opportunity group, the governance organization

structure to support the decision making process, the relationships and authority,

roles and responsibilities, and the governance model.

Requirements Specifications

Once commitment of participants is obtained and the first stage-gate is surpassed,

the next step in the process is to develop high level requirements with members of

the opportunity group. These members can then identify if their current system can

be considered as a viable candidate to meet the requirements. Once all candidate

systems are identified, a gap analysis can be completed to determine the fit of the

viable options.

Service Sharing Costing Model

These viable options can then be evaluated using the service sharing costing model,

a tool that outlines the potential costs, benefits, and net present value of an


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opportunity area for the next five years. Once the opportunity area and potential

participating municipalities are selected, the tool can then calculate potential costs

and benefits through the perspective of a municipality or as a whole. Furthermore,

to assist with budgeting, the tool can display a breakdown of incremental costs and

benefits to allow municipalities a better understanding of their position in terms of

additional costs or savings.

The costs are broken into system investment costs and ongoing operational costs.

The system investments costs include costs required for the actual set up and

configuration of an application sharing piece, including licensing, design, hardware,

and network updates. Ongoing operational costs account for the impact on business

processes around the system, including business technology support costs, business

staff effort, performance measurement effort, change management efforts, and

system reinvestment payments. The potential benefits include ongoing staff savings,

system operation savings, licensing savings, and system reinvestment payment

revenue.

After using this tool to evaluate the viable options, the best option can then be

identified. Participants in the opportunity group require a motion from their

respective councils to continue their participation into the next stage.

Generic Service Level Agreement Template

Once a target system is chosen and opportunity group participants are approved, the

chosen system is prepared to support a shared services model. A project charter and

plan is developed, defining the steps for the chosen option. Implementation can

begin once the charter gains approval, in which Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

are then developed. The purpose of the SLA template is to ensure that

municipalities have the proper elements and commitments in place to provide

consistent IT service support and delivery to the customer.

Summary of Deliverables & Functions

Deliverable Purpose

Governance Charter Template To drive and define the required scope, principles, and the tools necessary for the chosen approach.

Requirements Specifications To evaluate the current system and consider if it is a viable candidate to meet the requirements.

Service Sharing Costing Model To evaluate the viable options. Service Level Agreement Template To ensure that municipalities had the proper

elements and commitments in place to provide consistent IT service support and delivery to the customer.


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PARTICIPANTS

The project involved the participation of 37 representatives from the following 29

municipalities:

• City of Airdrie • City of Brooks • City of Calgary • City of Edmonton (withdrew) • City of Fort Saskatchewan (withdrew) • City of Grande Prairie • City of Leduc • City of Lethbridge • City of Lloydminster • City of Medicine Hat • City of Red Deer • City of St. Albert • County of Grande Prairie • County of Vermillion River • Leduc County • Lethbridge County • Mountain View County • Municipal District of Bonnyville • Municipal District of Lesser Slave Lake • Parkland County • Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo • Strathcona County • Sturgeon County • Town of Banff • Town of Canmore • Town of High River • Town of Okotoks • Town of Strathmore • Town of Taber

The Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMDC) and Alberta Urban

Municipalities Association (AUMA) provided observers to the project.


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FINDINGS

COLLABORATION

Finding 1: Participants had differing perceptions of collaboration.

Following the data collection process, it became clear that participating municipalities held

different perspectives on the nature of collaboration, resulting in barriers to achieving

comprehensive and accurate data.

The above chart illustrates a spectrum of collaboration, in which the various levels of

cooperation range from simply sharing tools and templates, to complete joint development

and application sharing. The data collection process revealed the current state of municipal

collaboration in Alberta to be closer to the far left of the spectrum.

Municipalities were more inclined to limit the extent of their collaboration to the sharing of

tools and templates. There is almost universal agreement on the value of sharing templates

and documents such as RFPs and needs assessments to better leverage the format

structure and content. The preliminary services scope identified a number of IT services

that may provide an opportunity for group purchasing. The group exhibited a significant

interest in determining a means to pursue these.

The economies of scale available by having municipalities who have already made

significant investments in business support systems offer service to other municipalities in

need. Several larger municipalities have already made investments and were open to this

approach as a means to recoup this and better leverage the capacity of the system. A

certain degree of hesitation was also voiced by participants regarding joint application

development, citing implementation challenges and the need for consistent business

processes.

Sharing of Tools

and Templates

Group

Purchasing

Service

Provider/Client

Joint Development

Application Sharing


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Finding 2: Some municipalities are generally averse to sharing data

Many of the participants exhibited a concern with sharing documented information, which

was a stark contrast to the openness of the workshop sessions. This may come from the

nature of ongoing competition among municipalities for funding and the political nature of

municipal work. Historically, municipalities have often had to compete for grant dollars

from other orders of government in a ‘zero sum game’ that by necessity requires ‘winners’

and ‘losers’ for funding. The availability of collaboration based grants and the advent of

municipal partnering has mitigated this to some degree but a legacy remains.

Also the closeness of municipal operations to the governance layer of the organizations

often puts a great deal of scrutiny on performance. This project’s methodology required a

self-assessment of areas of strengths and limitations. Some participants were very

concerned about how documenting the performance of their municipality relative to others

would be portrayed and with whom this information would be shared. This may explain the

contradiction with the sharing in the workshop sessions. Allowances have been made in the

project to maintain the confidence of individual information provided.

Finding 3: Different models are possible for collaboration – ‘Hub and Spoke’ vs. ‘Network’

Historically, municipalities have been asked (or mandated) to participate in collaborative

approaches to application sharing. Two notable examples of this are the Municipal

Infrastructure Management System (MIMS) project and Munishare. Both of these

initiatives have brought benefit through economies of scale to many smaller municipalities

in Alberta. We would consider these to be Hub and Spoke models where one large system

supports a number of transactionally smaller entities. As stated, there have been benefits

under this approach but require a certain level of homogeneity among services and work

processes. This requirement has limited participation by municipalities that do not wish to

change their way of business, either due to their own uniqueness or resistance to change.

We feel that there is an opportunity for another approach, a Network model, in which

similar municipalities can partner in

clusters to gain advantage. This

similarity may be in size, work processes

or services and provides a greater

possibility for share. While the gains

may be less for the participants in terms

of overall economies of scale, the overall

participation in such programs should

provide substantial benefit over working

alone.


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DATA COLLECTION

Finding 4: Lack of consistent terminology

IT professionals and business professionals speak an entirely different language and use

different terminology. When faced with the project’s business driven approach, the

inconsistent terminology between both parties resulted in confusion for participants when

completing surveys, ultimately impacting the data collection results. For example, we were

looking for information regarding the inventorying and tracking of infrastructure. We

meant in the broad municipal context of assets – roads, buildings, water and wastewater

systems. Many of the IT professionals interpreted this to mean IT infrastructure – servers,

fiber optic cables, etc.

Finding 5: Other barriers to data retrieval and sharing

Municipalities do not collect the same types of information on assets or performance and

they do not organize it or store it in the same manner. The greatest challenge to this project

was not the willingness to contribute. It was the time required to find the information

required to conduct a valid analysis. Many participants, with the best of intentions,

struggled with locating the required data within their organizations. Some of this challenge

was the need to engage operational departments, who while saw the benefits of this

exercise, found it difficult to find time to understand the nuance of the data requested or

search for it in their records. Especially difficult to collect was cost information intended to

provide transactional cost benchmarks for each opportunity areas. Not only were original

purchase records difficult to find but allocation of staffing costs and operational costs for

systems and processes was challenging.

AREAS OF OPPORTUNITY

Finding 6: There are a number of business areas for application collaboration

During the September 23rd stakeholder kick-off workshop, we conducted a Services

Prioritization exercise to identify opportunities for municipal partners to work together in

service delivery to enhance services and/or reduce cost. The analysis of the broad scope of

municipal activities allowed for a shortened list of service areas that represented the areas

of greatest need and/or greatest opportunity.

Using a ‘dotmocracy’ facilitation approach, each representative was allowed ten votes to

mark the ten most prioritized business areas for their municipality. These votes were then

tallied for each category to produce a complete list of the highest to lowest prioritized

categories across all municipalities, in which potential areas of opportunity were identified.

A summary of the results is provided in Appendix A: Prioritized List of Areas of Interest.


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The top 13 areas for application sharing or joint development were:

Category Emphasis ‘Dotmocracy’

Votes

Recreation "CLASS" Replacement 21

Information

Management Document Management 19

Infrastructure Asset Management 19

Land Planning &

Development Permitting Systems 19

Asset Access Physical Credentialing Access 16

Financial

Management Financial Systems (ERP) 14

Cemeteries Inventory and Records

Management 12

Professional

Support

PMO Tools, Operations and

Governance 12

Integrated Service

Delivery 311/E311 211/E211 10

Parks Geographic Information

Systems 9

Council Electronic Council 9

Business

Intelligence

Reporting, Queries, Analysis,

Forecasting and Modelling 8

Server/Storage Disaster Recovery Space

Shortage 7

Finding 7: IT Professionals in municipalities engage in their work in several distinct roles

During the December 3rd ratification workshop, representatives discussed a number of high

ranking items from the ‘Dotmocracy’ exercise on September 23rd that were not believed to

be application sharing-related. The exercise allowed for combining items and collating into

specific roles to create a shared understanding and provide a basis for addressing them

moving forward.

The card sorting exercise allowed representatives to brainstorm and group the business

areas into four specific roles that they play in their organization: Partner, Owner, Enabler

and Leader. These were defined as follows:

Partner Partner Partner Partner – the IT function in the organization partners with other areas to plan, evaluate

and deploy non-business specific solutions and practices. These solutions may include

email, productivity software, internet browsers, etc. IT’s role is that of being a subject

matter expert that can contribute to the overall discussion about corporate direction and

included the following business areas: information management (content), asset access,

corporate policy development, professional support, corporate leadership, and

communications.


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OwnerOwnerOwnerOwner – this role characterizes the IT function’s specific domain around information

technology hardware, infrastructure and architecture and included the following business

areas: security, cloud (emerging trend), telecom, economic development, and server/storage.

This role imply good stewardship of the municipalities investment and the thoughtful

interactions with business areas to understand business needs and communicate

limitations or impact associated with various infrastructure choices.

EnablerEnablerEnablerEnabler – IT professionals have a role in providing their expertise to aid in the planning,

purchase and implementation of business specific solutions and included the following

business areas: recreation, information management, infrastructure, land planning &

development, financial management, program and service planning & monitoring,

cemeteries, professional support, integrated service delivery, geographic information

systems, and council. Here they can provide guidance or act on behalf of the business area

to gather needs requirements, assess fit with architecture and long term plans, and ensure

technical robustness of products via

questioning potential vendors.

LeaderLeaderLeaderLeader – There are some areas in the

municipalities it is critical that the IT

professional take a leadership role, either

because of their other responsibilities,

experience or technical expertise. This role

was described to include IT planning,

applications management, IT governance and

business intelligence.

See Appendix B - Card Sort Results for the

detailed categorizations.

Finding 8: The participants expressed significant interest in group purchasing

opportunities.

Almost all business areas were identified as areas of interest for group purchasing

opportunities. During the discussions, many challenges were expressed, ranging from

impacts on the vendor community to potential legal issues of having a lead purchaser.

While work will need to be done for validate these kinds of potential risks, the group

pointed out that there was a spectrum of group purchasing options. These included sharing

of procurement documents, participating in standing offer arrangements available from

other orders of government and the municipal associations, and including clauses in RFPs

which opens response pricing to other municipalities. All in all, this was felt to be an area of

high potential value to the participants.


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Here is the list of group purchasing opportunities:

Group Purchasing

Votes Category Emphasis

21 Recreation "CLASS" Replacement

21 Information Management, Content Records Management

20 Security Technical Security

19 Information Management Document Management

19 Infrastructure Asset Management

19 Land Planning & Development Permitting Systems

19 Cloud (Emerging Trend) Migration to Cloud Solutions

19 Telecom Migration to VOIP/SIP

16 Asset Access Physical Credentialing Access

15 IT Strategy Planning Visioning, Lifecycle Costing and Strategy Best Practice

14 Financial Management Financial Systems (ERP)

13 Program & Service Planning &

Monitoring Electronic payments/POS

12 Cemeteries Inventory and Records Management

12 Professional Support PMO Tools, Operations and Governance

12 Applications Management Best Practices, Tools and Resources

11 IT Governance (Operations

Management) Policy and Procedure Sharing

10 Integrated Service Delivery 311/E311 211/E211

9 Geographic Information Systems Parks

9 Council Electronic Council

8 Business Intelligence Reporting, Queries, Analysis, Forecasting and Modelling

8 Uncategorized Destruction of IT “stuff”

7 Server/Storage Disaster Recovery Space Shortage


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RECOMMENDATIONS

We provide the following recommendations based upon the previously outlined findings to

continue the momentum of this project and continue to enhance municipal collaboration, in

general.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO MUNICIPALITIES

OPPORTUNITIES

Recommendation 1: Further engage municipal business areas in the collaboration

discussions.

Due to the broad scope of this initiative,

individual municipal business areas such as

recreation or planning were consciously

excluded from workshop discussions. Their

input was gathered by municipal

representatives and contributed through the

data collection workbooks. As the opportunity

groups, recommended in this report are

established. It will be critical for them to be

involved first-hand in further development of

the opportunities. This will build on the Partner

role defined by the participating IT

professionals in the card sort exercise of the

project and reported in greater detail in

Recommendation 7.

As well, because of the limited involvement of business areas and senior leadership, the

emerging trends of cloud based applications and business intelligence should be further

explored. While not necessarily a critical priority at the moment, these topics are growing

in importance and could provide fertile ground for collaboration in the near future.


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Recommendation 2: Explore collaboration in many levels and under both Network and

Hub and Spoke models.

Municipalities should continue to move toward the right side of the collaboration spectrum,

which would open up more opportunities for them gain savings and improve service

delivery.

There are three factors that are involved in trust and collaboration between parties: repute,

reciprocity and altruism. In the case of repute, parties share because they believe that it

will reflect positively on their intelligence and knowledge. In the case of reciprocity, parties

share in order to benefit in return. Lastly, in the case of altruism, parties share because

they believe it is an honourable act. All three factors are held by a trust that, regardless,

parties will reciprocate. Overall, because trust is built through shared experience,

opportunity groups

represent an effective

means to building a

degree of this trust.

Moreover, municipalities

should take advantage of

a network model

approach to more

effectively accommodate

the needs of each

municipality. A network

model would be more

effective for

municipalities to share

via networks, allowing

municipalities the access

to systems more suitable for their needs.


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Recommendation 3: Collaborate on the top 6 prime opportunities.

Municipalities should engage in discussion for possible collaboration on the top two or three

opportunities identified in their individual analysis. Each group will require a champion to

initiate proceeding. Based on the data provided in the workbooks we have identified 6 areas

with the greatest potential for inter-municipal collaboration. These were selected based on

the number of municipalities that indicated that there were service improvements possible,

the priority in their municipality and their system’s readiness for collaboration.

Emergent Opportunity Groups

Category Emphasis Description

Recreation "CLASS" Replacement

One of the highest priority areas for the group was

around recreation program registration. The

current leader in the municipal market is Class

software by Activenetwork. The urgency of this

discussion is based on Activenetwork’s decision to

move to a web based solution that will charge by

transaction. There are a number of perceived

challenges to this option, leading to a need for

exploration. The current solution includes

functionality around facility booking,

memberships, program registration, point of sale

transactions, Internet registration, external

interfaces, interactive voice recognition, and

participant information system integration.

Council Electronic Council

Information technology is rapidly changing the

practice of Council management. Electronic

briefings, agendas and minutes have raised the

demand for systems that manage Council

operations. Also, some of the technologies

currently in use can encourage broad stakeholder

engagement through web broadcasts of Council

meetings.

Financial Management Financial Systems

(ERP)

Participants have noted that long established,

stand-alone financial systems are giving way to

more robust enterprise resource planning (ERP)

systems that provide a broader view of the

financial aspects of municipal management. The

appearance of more appropriate systems, both in

terms of price and functionality for the municipal

market, have appeared and are changing many of

the practices in mid-sized and smaller

municipalities. It also appears that early

implementations of ERP systems are nearing the

end of their lifecycle.


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Infrastructure Asset Management

The move to require Tangible Capital Asset (TCA)

accounting in municipalities spurred the need for

better asset management systems. The major

benefits of better asset management systems is

that they lead to better planning, better

preventative maintenance and better purchasing

decisions. Moreover, the large and growing

breadth and sophistication of municipal assets has

enhanced the need for tracking–not just for roads

and facilities but for vehicles and other non-fixed

assets as well (i.e. computer hardware,

equipment, furniture, etc.)

Land Planning &

Development Permitting Systems

Development and building permits are among the

highest volume interactions that municipalities

have with their citizens. Permitting systems and

managing accompanying inspections have been a

focus of automation for several decades. The

emergence of GIS and electronic drawings across

industry are drastically changing the requirements

for municipal systems. Compounding this has

been a shortening of the growth cycle in the

province allowing less time for municipalities to

‘catch up’ with applications or upgrades between

peak demand periods.

Server/Storage Disaster Recovery

Space Shortage

‘Cloud’ storage has become a hot topic of

conversation among all businesses, and

municipalities are no exception. Local government

has some unique challenges with regard to record

retention, privacy and security but some have

started to explore partnerships among

municipalities for off-site disaster recovery and

back up.


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Recommendation 4: Use the appropriate Governance Tools required by the Governance

Charter and Implementation Plan.

The Governance Tools develop in this project provide a path

forward for the groups looking to pursue these opportunities.

The package is based on a ‘stage-gate’ model that manages the

risk of participation. After each of the 3 defined stages, there is

a proposed gate that will require the entities to test whether or

not there is value for their municipality to proceed. This

approach, combined with the strong emphasis on governance,

will allow participants to know exactly what their roles and

responsibilities are and will limit effort should the remainder

of the group choose a path that is not fitting with the needs of

the individual participant.

After deciding on the implementation plan approach, the

creation of the Governance Charter will allow municipalities to select and use the most

appropriate Governance Tools for implementation. Municipalities should adapt the tools

that will allow them to achieve the desired result, and apply these in the prime opportunity

pilots.


Evaluation

MISA Prairies

Summary Report

Confidential


PROCUREMENT

Recommendation 5: Continue to share

procurement documents and further group

buying opportunities.

Many of the MISA members have been using

the MISA website, http://www.misa-asim.ca/,

as a repository for procurement documents

with the intent to share their efforts and

reduce the work required for others with

similar needs. We recommend that

municipalities continue to use these services

with the caveat that such documents

(Request for Proposals, Request for

Information, etc.) be used as a base and

customized by the member to the individual needs or the particular purchase.

Recommendation 6: Leverage procurement through group buying sources, such as the

Government of Alberta or related Associations.

Alberta municipalities qualify to purchase under the group purchasing agreements of the

Government of Alberta. There are many classes of purchase under these agreements that

municipalities should explore to reduce cost and standardize hardware and software where

possible. Municipalities should contact Service Alberta – Procurement Services to explore

opportunities.

As well, all Alberta municipalities are members of either (or both) the Alberta Association

of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMDC) or the Alberta Urban Municipalities

Association (AUMA). Both organizations have well established buying groups that may

provide opportunities for savings and standardization.


Evaluation

MISA Prairies

Summary Report

Confidential


RECOMMENDATIONS TO MISA

COLLABORATION

Recommendation 7: MISA should continue their leadership under this initiative and

encourage participation in the next phase of this initiative.

MISA members have been the driving force for this project. They should continue to display

this leadership by championing the next phase of this initiative. The next logical step to

garner the benefits of this project is to solicit champions for each of the opportunity areas

recommended in Recommendation 3. MISA should use its network and influence to garner

the efforts individual municipalities to take on this champion role. As well, MISA should

explore other grant funding to mitigate the cost of participation in the establishment of

these opportunity groups.

Recommendation 8: Explore ways to engage smaller, non-MISA member, municipalities

to participate.

Most of the MISA members in Alberta and the participants in this project came from

municipalities with population above 10,000. Efforts should be made to engage smaller

communities. The data suggested that the economies of scale model not only can provide

lower transactional costs for the provision of municipal services, but also often provide

systems that support greater service levels as well. These opportunities should be provided

to the smaller jurisdictions for participant, though cost and time required for participation

may be a barrier.

KNOWLEDGE SHARING

Recommendation 9: Act as a portal for knowledge sharing.

MISA Prairies should continue to influence the national organization of MISA of the

benefits of the use of their web site as a resource for collaboration. This can, not only be for

explicit document exchange but also means can be explored to share tacit knowledge and

networks. This will support the group purchasing aspects identified by participants and all

of the roles identified in Finding 7.

Recommendation 10: Develop standard definitions around a standard municipal service

delivery model.

One of MISA’s critical roles is providing standard language among IT professionals on how

they describe municipal services. MISA should continue to work with business area

partners to define a standard model to describe the delivery of municipal services. Such a

standard lexicon would have been invaluable in this project and would provide great

benefits in definition needs requirements moving forward.


Evaluation

MISA Prairies

Summary Report

Confidential


Recommendation 11: Foster sub-communities of action based on the IT Professionals’

roles defined in Finding 7.

Many of the areas of potential inter-municipal collaboration are not bound by application

sharing or joint development. Policy, standards, and special topics to expand expertise are

of critical value to Alberta municipalities and MISA is in a unique role to support these

collaborative opportunities, either on their own or in partnership with other organizations.

The chart below outlines the roles described in Finding 7 and some examples of means for

expanding knowledge sharing and collaboration.

Roles Corporate Practice

(Partners)

IT Infrastructure

(Owners)

Business

Applications

(Enablers)

IT Practice (Lead)

The IT functions in the organization partners with other areas to plan evaluate and deploy non-business specific solutions and practices. These solutions may include email, productivity software, internet browsers, etc. IT’s role is that of being a subject matter expert that can contribute to the overall discussion about corporate direction and included the following business areas: information management (content), asset access, corporate policy development, professional support, corporate leadership, and communications.

This role characterizes the IT function’s specific domain around information technology hardware, infrastructure and architecture and included the following business areas: security, cloud (emerging trend), telecom, economic development, and server/storage. This role imply good stewardship of the municipalities investment and the thoughtful interactions with business areas to understand business needs and communicate limitations or impact associated with various infrastructure choices.

IT professionals have a role in providing their expertise to aid in the planning, purchase and implementation of business specific solutions and included the following business areas: recreation, information management, infrastructure, land planning & development, financial management, program and service planning & monitoring, cemeteries, professional support, integrated service delivery, geographic information systems, and council. Here they can provide guidance or act on behalf of the business area to gather needs requirements, assess fit with architecture and long term plans, and ensure technical robustness of products via questioning

potential vendors.

There are some areas in the municipalities it is critical that the IT professional take a leadership role, either because of their other responsibilities, experience or technical expertise. This role was described to include IT planning, applications management, IT governance and business intelligence.

MISA should look to collect first hand descriptions of best practices in the role of corporate partner. Such narratives will give insight into others of how they can continue to add value to the overall strategic conversation of the municipality.

MISA should consider offering conference opportunities to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of cloud-based solutions. • Strategic value of hosting vs. cloud

• Implications of US hosting (Patriot Act)

MISA members should look for opportunities to present at non-IT conferences of other business area association, such as the Alberta Parks and Recreation Association to foster understanding and conversation among IT and business professionals.

MISA should continue to solicit for the sharing of policy and standards documents among municipalities to enhance understanding in the technical aspects of the Lead role.


Evaluation

MISA Prairies

Summary Report

Confidential


APPENDIX A: PRIORITIZED LIST OF AREAS OF INTEREST

Application Sharing or Joint DevelopmentApplication Sharing or Joint DevelopmentApplication Sharing or Joint DevelopmentApplication Sharing or Joint Development – indicates that we feel that there is an

opportunity for municipalities to share systems, contract to one another or jointly develop a

system for the delivery of this service. These will be the basis for further data gathering.

Community of PracticeCommunity of PracticeCommunity of PracticeCommunity of Practice – indicates opportunities for municipalities to develop some form of

group for the further exploration of these issues and a means to share best practices,

lessons learned, policy, procedure or tools. These will be passed on to MISA for further

exploration.

Group PurchasingGroup PurchasingGroup PurchasingGroup Purchasing – indicates opportunities for group purchasing to help in pricing offered

to municipalities. Opportunities may be available under current buying arrangements with

the municipal associations or through the Government of Alberta standing offer

agreements.

Votes Category Emphasis

Opportunity

Application

Sharing or

Joint

Development

Community

of Practice

Group

Purchasing

21 Recreation "CLASS" Replacement ✔ ✔ ✔

21

Information

Management,

Content

Records Management

✔ ✔

20 Security Technical Security

✔ ✔

19 Information

Management Document Management ✔ ✔ ✔

19 Infrastructure Asset Management ✔ ✔ ✔

19 Land Planning &

Development Permitting Systems ✔ ✔ ✔

19 Cloud (Emerging

Trend) Migration to Cloud Solutions

✔ ✔

19 Telecom Migration to VOIP/SIP

✔ ✔

16 Asset Access Physical Credentialing Access ✔ ✔ ✔

15 Economic

Development High Speed Fibre Strategy

✔

15 IT Strategy Planning

(New Category)

Visioning, Lifecycle Costing

and Strategy Best Practice ✔ ✔

14 Financial

Management Financial Systems (ERP) ✔ ✔ ✔

14 Corp Policy

Development

Policy Sharing and

Collaborative Development ✔

13

Program & Service

Planning &

Monitoring

Electronic payments/POS

✔ ✔


Evaluation

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Summary Report

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12 Cemeteries Inventory and Records

Management ✔ ✔ ✔

12 Professional Support PMO Tools, Operations and

Governance ✔ ✔ ✔

12 Applications

Management

Best Practices, Tools and

Resources ✔ ✔

11

IT Governance

(Operations

Management)

Policy and Procedure Sharing

✔ ✔

10 Integrated Service

Delivery 311/E311 211/E211 ✔ ✔ ✔

10 Corp Leadership Styles and Best Practices

✔

9 Parks Geographic Information

Systems ✔ ✔ ✔

9 Council Electronic Council ✔ ✔ ✔

9 Communications Best Practices, Tools and

Templates ✔

8 Business Intelligence Reporting, Queries, Analysis,

Forecasting and Modelling ✔ ✔ ✔

8 Uncategorized Destruction of IT “stuff”

✔ ✔

7 Server/Storage Disaster Recovery Space

Shortage ✔ ✔ ✔

7 Economic

Development SMART City Initiative

✔

Regional Technology Service Delivery Evaluation

MISA Prairies

Summary Report

Confidential


APPENDIX B: CARD SORT RESULTS

Communities of Action Corporate Practice

(Partners)

IT Infrastructure

(Owners)

Business Applications

(Enablers)

IT Practice (Lead)

Information Management, Content Records

Management Security Technical

Security Recreation "CLASS"

Replacement IT Strategy Planning (New Category) Visioning, Lifecycle

Costing and

Strategy Best Practice

Asset Access Physical Credentialing Access Cloud

(Emerging Trend) Migration to

Cloud Solutions Information

Management Document Management Applications

Management Best Practices, Tools and Resources

Corp Policy Development Policy Sharing

and Collaborative Development Telecom Migration to

VOIP/SIP Infrastructure Asset Management IT Governance (Operations Management) Policy and

Procedure Sharing Professional Support PMO Tools,

Operations and Governance Economic

Development High Speed Fibre Strategy Land Planning &

Development Permitting Systems Business Intelligence Reporting,

Queries, Analysis, Forecasting and Modelling

Corp Leadership Styles and Best

Practices Server/Storage Disaster Recovery Space Shortage Financial

Management Financial Systems (ERP) Uncategorized Destruction of IT

“stuff” Communications Best Practices,

Tools and Templates Program & Service

Planning & Monitoring Electronic

payments/POS Economic Development SMART City

Initiative Cemeteries Inventory and

Records Management

Professional Support PMO Tools,

Operations and Governance

Integrated Service Delivery

311/E311 211/E211

Geographic Information Systems Parks

Council Electronic Council

Government & Nonprofit

Collaborating on Technology Service Delivery Summary report final