HomeMy WebLinkAboutInformation Technology Department-StaffingInformation Technology - Staffing #11/12-4 March 2012
Information Technology Department –
Staffing
Deschutes County,
Oregon
David Givans, CPA, CIA
Deschutes County Internal Auditor
PO Box 6005
1300 Wall Street, Suite 200
Bend, OR 97708-6005
(541) 330-4674
David.Givans@deschutes.org
Audit committee:
Michael Shadrach, Chair - Public member
Chris Earnest - Public member
Gayle McConnell - Public member
Jean Pedelty - Public member
Greg Quesnel - Public member
Jennifer Welander - Public member
Anthony DeBone, County Commissioner
Tom Anderson, Community Development Director
Scot Langton, County Assessor
Information Technology - Staffing #11/12-4 March 2012
TABLE OF
CONTENTS:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background on Audit …………..……………………………………......………………...…… 1
1.2. Objectives and Scope ………………….……………………………..………………….......... 1
1.3. Methodology ...…………….……………………......…..................................................... 1-2
2. BACKGROUND ……..………………………………………………….………………..… 2-3
3. CUSTOMER SURVEY ……………………………………………………….… 3-7
4. FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS
4.1. IT department projected workload …………………………………..……………………. 7-11
4.2. Timesheet information ….…………………………………………………………………. 11-12
4.3. Performance measures and benchmarking ……………………………………………. 12-16
5. MANAGEMENT RESPONSE (Joe Sadony, IT Director) ………................... 16-20
6. APPENDICES
6.1. Survey Form – Information technology direction 2011 ….…………………………..... 21-23
6.2. Survey analyses – Department group ranking of initiatives (DH & Mngr) …................... 24
6.3. Survey analyses – Graphs of top ten information technology initiatives
(All participants) ......................................................................................................... 25-26
Information Technology - Staffing #11/12-4 March 2012
HIGHLIGHTS
Why this audit was
performed:
To identify staffing needs
for the IT department.
What is recommended
Recommendations
include
Establishing
anticipated staffing
levels based upon the
information from the
survey as well as the
gap analyses;
establishing a training
program for IT
employees that is tied
to their support goals;
establishing a time
tracking system that
will meet their needs
for project and time
management;
assess, develop and
publish performance
measures that are a
better representation
of the quality of the
services they provide
and the direction they
are taking; and
develop and monitor
benchmarks.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT – Staffing
What was found
The audit found that County departments believe the IT department provides a high level of service. The
customer survey performed gave the Information Technology (IT) department strong marks in all
categories evenly across departments.
The County departments identified through a survey the information technology initiatives they thought
would be working on currently or into the next three years. The top three initiatives were:
Document and records management
Increasing staff technology skills
Remote system access / mobile computing options.
With the departments’ priority initiatives identified, the IT department identified those initiatives where they
were likely to provide the services and the anticipated workload. Workloads for the top ten initiatives
were considered directly in the staffing workplan. Current workloads by competency area were used to
identify a baseline of workload. The IT department, with the assistance of internal audit, came up with
impacts to the workload based upon the top initiatives and anticipated changes to workload. The
competency areas with significant changes included:
Application support services (decrease staffing by 2.3 FTE)
Office Tools (increase staffing by 1 FTE)
The department does not appear to have a training plan that identifies staff needs as well the training to
address anticipated needs of County departments.
The department has a self-developed timesheet system. It was not clear that all staff were entering all of
their time and whether the data was being input in a timely manner. This could affect data quality. Staff
also seemed to use “other” project codes instead of a more specific code. Having data by specific project
can help in monitoring projects and utilization of time. It was not clear that management was actively
monitoring the timesheet system.
The IT department’s current published performance measures are primarily projects and do not include
measures that relate to their anticipated outcomes. Appropriate performance measures may allow for
comparing metrics with other local governments.
Deschutes County Internal Audit
Information Technology - Staffing #11/12-4 March 2012
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1.
Introduction
1.1 BACKGROUND ON AUDIT
Audit Authority/purpose:
The Deschutes County Audit Committee authorized the review of the Information Technology (IT) department in
the fiscal year 10/11 audit workplan. This report covers the area of staffing needs.
1.2 OBJECTIVES and SCOPE
Objectives included:
1. Identify current staffing and workload.
2. Identify with the assistance of the IT department the areas and workload where staffing will be needed.
3. Identify anticipated staffing plan.
4. Develop some information on IT department performance
a. Identify performance measures
b. Develop comparison with other local governments.
Scope:
The audit focus was on the most recent staffing data and workload information available from the IT department.
There was some indication the IT department’s timesheet data was not as current or complete as it could be. This
could influence the conclusions taken from the data. Data utilized spanned the last several years. Additional data
was shown when relevant to trends. The IT department agreed to the derived workload conclusions used after
input and discussion.
1.3 METHODOLOGY
Audit procedures included:
Discussions with IT department management regarding the audit objectives.
Research on similar audits and nature of findings from those reports.
Development and distribution of an information technology survey for county staff and volunteers. The
survey focused on customer satisfaction and information technology initiatives. The survey was issued in
two sets:
o to department heads and managers and
o all others.
Obtain and analyze IT department time data.
Analyses of revenue and expenditure data for the IT department.
Review of IT department budget information and staffing levels.
DESCHUTES COUNTY
INTERNAL AUDIT
REPORT
DESCHUTES COUNTY
INTERNAL AUDIT
REPORT
DESCHUTES COUNTY
INTERNAL AUDIT
REPORT
Information Technology - Staffing #11/12-4 March 2012
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Obtain and compare the IT department performance measures to other local governments.
We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
Those standards require we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a
reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidenc e
obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
(2007 Revision of Government Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller General of the United States.)
2.
Background
Chart I
IT department
service charges
and expenditures
by fiscal year.
Deschutes County Information Technology is a service department that provides services to county departments.
Based upon their strategic plans, the IT department has been moving County departments away from the internally
developed software.
Charges to County departments have been relatively flat over the last 10 years. The IT department has been
successful at maintaining these charges even during periods where expenditures have increased. This has come
from cuts, usage of working capital balances and reserves.
Staffing for the IT department has been relatively consistent, but the department anticipates going through a lot of
turnover in the coming years and will likely lose staff that carry with them the software development history of the
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Expenditures 2,59 2,27 2,61 2,09 2,28 2,14 2,18 2,64 2,32 2,55 2,68
Charges $2,3 2,10 2,09 2,06 2,13 2,16 2,30 2,22 2,39 2,25 2,24
$0
$500,000
$1,000,000
$1,500,000
$2,000,000
$2,500,000
$3,000,000
In
f
l
a
t
i
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n
a
d
j
u
s
t
e
d
a
m
o
u
n
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Fiscal Year
IT - Internal service charges
(Fund 660 & 661)
Budget
Information Technology - Staffing #11/12-4 March 2012
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department.
Table I – Composition of IT department services by area
Department service area
%
Composition
Other 20%
Application Support Services 19%
Helpdesk 13%
GIS-projects and management 11%
Public Internet Services 8%
Other - various 6%
Network 5%
Purchasing 4%
Office Tools 3%
Database administration and development
services 2%
Resource Management 2%
Backup and DR 2%
General staff training 2%
(Source: Timesheets data 10/1/10-9/31/11, excludes time-off)
Personnel information indicating staff age and years of service Indicates that in five years, nearly 36% half of the IT
department staff will be reaching the age of retirement (62). Virtually all of the programmers are among those.
Nearly half of the current staff will reach retirement age in 10 years. This highlights the need to stay in front of their
staffing plans and nothing impacts staffing more than anticipated projects and workload.
3. Customer
survey
Internal audit is looking at how the IT department can better position itself to provide services to the organization
and County departments. There were two goals with the survey: assess customer service and determine the
direction of technology initiatives in departments.
Survey indicates high level of customer service.
One of the best performance measures for an internal service fund is customer service satisfaction. The staff
survey distributed asked about overall satisfaction levels. Historically, the IT department has had excellent
customer satisfaction levels. A 2010 survey that assessed IT department service levels came out at a value of 4.5.
Information Technology - Staffing #11/12-4 March 2012
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Chart II
Overall, service
rankings by
department
groups showing
number of survey
participants by
group.
The current survey continued in that light using a scale of 5=Strongly agree to 1=Strongly disagree.
Table II - Overall – How satisfied are you with the services you receive from IT staff
Survey group Rating Count
Department heads and supervisors 4.3 100
Everyone else 4.3 257
Overall 4.3 357
As indicated in the following graph, the customer service ratings are consistent over County department groups.
County departments indicated their agreement with the customer service statements
Information Technology - Staffing #11/12-4 March 2012
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Word Cloud
Diagram I:
Other
comments on
IT department
services
Table III – Indicate the extent you agree with the following statements.
(5=Strongly agree and 1=Strongly disagree)
Customer Service Statements:
“The Information Technology department …”
Dept. Heads &
Supervisors
Everyone
else
Responds appropriately to requests for service 4.3 4.3
Involved in decisions regarding the development and
acquisition of technology
3.7 2.5
Provides service levels that meet our needs 4.1 3.9
Supports changes in our technology requirements 3.8 3.5
Provides solutions that address our regulation and compliance
efforts
3.6 3.0
There was some disconnect between management and staff in areas where management would take a greater
role. Overall, there is a high level of agreement on these kinds of service level statements.
Participants were split
on whether the IT
department was
reactive or proactive
and many indicated
they wished we had
an option to indicate
both. This seems to
indicate the
department balances
those two
approaches.
Participants were able
to provide additional
comments regarding
IT department services. The following word cloud (WordleTM) shows an indication of frequently used words in those
descriptions.These were, in general, very complimentary.
The survey form is shown in Appendix 6.
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Information technology initiatives prioritized by County departments.
The survey performed provided input on the direction of information technology in County departments. These
rankings were provided without consideration of budgetary requirements; therefore, they provide a direction that will
still need a strong business case prior to implementation. The potential initiatives were identified by internal audit
and the IT department.
Table IV - Ranking of information technology initiatives by Department heads and Managers
(by % indicating these initiatives are in process or are 1-3 years out.)
Ranking
Order
Survey
Question
Initiative description
%
1 5-7 Document and records management 87%
2 5-8 Increasing staff technology skills to enhance operational
efficiencies
81%
3 5-11 Remote system access / mobile computing options 78%
4 5-15 Electronic payroll timesheet systems 71%
5 5-9 Leverage technology to provide staff additional educational
opportunities
71%
6 5-18 Video conferencing 70%
7 5-16 Business report development / develop reporting capabilities 65%
8 5-10 Internet portals / Public website services 64%
9 5-3 Information sharing through intranet / automation / tracking tools 64%
10 5-4 Contract management / tracking systems 60%
11 5-5 Leverage technology for data collection 58%
12 5-1 Accounts payable tracking/approval 54%
13 5-6 Data mining and analysis software 51%
14 5-12 Citizen request / relationship management systems 51%
15 5-14 Technologies to improve disability access for
employees/customers
49%
16 5-17 Vendor/contractor management 47%
17 5-13 Expansion of Social media services 47%
18 5-18 Enhanced identification systems 42%
Information Technology - Staffing #11/12-4 March 2012
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Word Cloud
Diagram II:
Other
information
technology
initiatives
Word Cloud
Diagram III:
Impediments
to initiatives
In addition to the
above, survey
participants gave
additional feedback
on other initiatives.
The following word
cloud (WordleTM)
shows an indication
of frequently used
words in those
descriptions.
Participants also
indicated any specific
impediments to
moving forward on
the initiatives. The following
word cloud (WordleTM) shows
an indication of frequently
used words in those
descriptions.
Additional charts in initiative
observations are included in
Appendix 6.
4. Findings
and
Observations
These findings are intended to assist the IT department and County management evaluate what kinds of things are
in front of the County as technology initiatives and the staffing concerns for the IT department. A deficiency exists
when the design or operation of a system does not allow management or employees, in the normal course of
performing their assigned functions, to prevent or det ect
(1) misstatements in performance information,
(2) violations of laws and regulations, or
(3) impairments of effectiveness or efficiency of operations, on a timely basis.
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Audit findings result from incidents of non-compliance with stated procedures and/or departures from prudent
operation. The findings are, by nature, subjective. The audit disclosed certain policies, procedures and practices
that could be improved. The audit was neither designed nor intended to be a detailed study of every releva nt
system, procedure or transaction. Accordingly, the opportunities for improvement presented in the report may not
be all-inclusive of areas where improvement may be needed and do not replace efforts needed to design an
effective system of internal control.
4.1
IT department
Projected
Workload
Only a couple of information technology initiatives translate into changes in IT department
workloads.
The IT department has translated the County ranking of initiatives into where they think the level of service would
be and whether that would take a tremendous amount of effort from staffing. This was used to translate the current
activities into future activities and workload. The resulting gaps between current workloads and anticipated
workloads will identify possible shifts in staffing.
The IT department is indicating some of the highly placed items would be handled through outside contractors or
would not take a substantive amount of time. As noted in Table V below, the IT department has identified four
areas where they anticipate additional workloads:
document and records management;
business reporting development and capabilities;
internet portals and website services; and
information sharing through intranet, automation, and tracking.
Table V – IT department ranking of initiatives and associated impact to workloads
( 1=low - 10=high )
Ranked
Order Question Initiative description
IT
Rank
Level
IT Workload
level Notes
Impact
on IT
workload
Survey Participants
100
1 5-7
Document and records
management 87% 8.5 7
X
2 5-8
Increasing staff technology
skills to enhance operational
efficiencies 81% 9.5 1
Contracted
out
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Table V
(Continued) –
IT department
ranking of
initiatives and
associated
impact to
workloads
Ranked
Order Question Initiative description
IT
Rank
Level
IT Workload
level Notes
Impact
on IT
workload
3 5-11
Remote system access /
mobile computing options 78% 8 2
Limited
exposure
4 5-15
Electronic payroll timesheet
systems 71% 8 1 As requested
5 5-9
Leverage technology to
provide staff additional
educational opportunities 71% 8.5 2 As requested
6 5-18 Video conferencing 70% 4 1 As requested
7 5-16
Business report
development / develop
reporting capabilities 65% 6.5 8 As requested X
8 5-10
Internet portals / Public
website services 64% 6.5 9
Strong
ongoing
support X
9 5-3
Information sharing through
intranet / automation /
tracking tools 64% 8.5 7
Increasing
demand X
10 5-4
Contract management /
tracking systems 60% 4 2 As requested
11 5-5
Leverage technology for
data collection 58% 6 2
Light demand
anticipated
12 5-1
Accounts payable
tracking/approval 54% 5 2 As requested
13 5-6
Data mining and analysis
software 51% 6 1
Little work
anticipated
14 5-12
Citizen request / relationship
management systems 51% 3 1 As requested
15 5-14
Technologies to improve
disability access for
employees/customers 49% 4.5 1 As requested
16 5-17
Vendor/contractor
management 47% 3 1 As requested
17 5-13
Expansion of Social media
services 47% 2.5 1
Contracted
out
18 5-2
Enhanced identification
systems 42% 3 2 As requested
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Extrapolated hours based on input from County departments indicate shift in services.
The IT department has been expecting a shift in their services since they announced the need for departments to
shift from internally developed software products. The following table highlights the competency areas where hours
are anticipated to change from the survey results. These were derived from the current timesheet system.
Table VI – Change in services extrapolated.
COMPETENCEY AREAS
Current
Hours
12 mos (9/11)
Future
Hours
Estimate
Est.
Hours
Change
Est. FTE
Change
Application Support Services 5,400 1,800
(3,600) (2.3)
Office Tools 1,000 2,500
1,500 1.0
Net impact
(2,100) (1.3)
Total IT department FTE Equivalent 19 17.7
(1.3)
Most of the anticipated hours were added in the area of “Office tools” and “Application support services”. The IT
department sees “Office tools” as being the typically used software and hardware that departments would use to
operate. “Application support services” is primarily customized software development support for the legacy
systems that are being replaced. IT has retained some capacity in this area, as it is critical for getting the various
County systems to work together. IT kept hours the same in the other competency areas. It is difficult to foresee
the information technology services that will be needed and the extent of the workload. The following changes
should be conservative.
The IT department is currently budgeting 21 FTE. This would seem to indicate that budgeted FTE could be
reduced over the near future by some 3 FTE. The net impact shown in current workload is estimated as reduction
of 1.3 FTE. Considering the hours contributed by staff anticipated to retire, there will need to be hiring that
emphasizes the County departments’ direction towards “office tools”.
It is recommended for the department to establish anticipated staffing levels based upon the information
from the survey as well as the gap analyses. This kind of analyses should be periodically refreshed.
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Training improvements could influence workloads.
The IT department could not provide very many specific training records by employee for the department. It was
not clear the IT department had established a process to identify needed skills and a plan by department or person
to train staff on those skills.
Ideally, the IT department would have an ongoing focus on professional development that would be dovetailed with
the needs of County departments as well as the needs of the IT department. Staff skills and knowledge directly
affect their ability to carry out their duties in an efficient and effective manner.
In the absence of a plan, it is possible that staff will not develop sufficient skills to provide the needed support. Staff
without the skillsets may not perform in an efficient and effective manner and/or may not use current technologies
or advances to address issues.
The IT department typically attends various professional conferences. Staff must rely on online training tools and
acquired resources to address questions as they arise.
It is recommended for the IT department to establish a training program for IT employees that is tied to
their support goals for County departments. This may require tracking the current skills, training received
and new skills needed.
4.2
Timesheet
Information
IT department’s collection of time activity data could be improved.
The IT department has a time management system they developed in house to track significant type of services. A
majority of staff are diligent in providing hours for their compensated time. There were three staff identified that had
not accounted for a majority of their hours. There was also some indication that staff delayed entry of their time,
which may influence the quality of the data.
The IT department has an “Other” category, which is frequently used instead of creating more specific functional
areas or projects. Nearly 20% of time is placed in this category (See Chart II in the background information). One
specific case in point is a door project. Over 500 hours has been charged to the “Other” category for door issues.
This is a relatively new IT service performing electronic door oversight.
The IT department should develop expectations for staff accountability for time and strive to monitor their hours on
a periodic basis. There should be sufficient specificity within the projects and charges areas to understand what
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staff are doing.
The IT department’s indirect charge philosophy provides for the recovery of a portion of their costs through services
provided directly to departments on projects (i.e. based upon time charges). Without sufficient information on
employee time, indirect charges to departments might be affected. Lessor time levels for some staff might indicate
the lack of productivity or other performance issues that are worth monitoring. The absence of appropriate charge
descriptions can make it difficult to monitor projects or properly assess time charged.
It is not clear the IT department has set expectations for staff entering their time. The “Other” description was
started in 2009 and has grown to represent one of the largest areas of time.
It is recommend for the IT department to establish a time tracking system that will meet their needs for
project and time management. The department should establish expectations for usage of the time
tracking system, expectations for productive time, communicate expectations to staff and monitor the
system for compliance.
It is recommended the IT department establish some practices to add new projects and areas when those
are anticipated in being greater than a certain threshold.
{The IT department has recently acquired a new work order/time tracking system and expects it to be
implemented in March 2012. }
4.3
Performance
measures and
benchmarking
Performance measures fail to reflect outcomes of service efforts.
The IT department provides a number of measures in the budget that are more like projects. These measures fail
to address the department’s goals and outcomes.
Useful performance measures are ones that will help the department identify if they are moving in the right
direction. These should not be purely counts of workload but measures of outcomes.
Performance measures published should be for critical metrics directly relating to strategic goals of the County.
Performance measurements are a tool for monitoring performance through relevant measures of efforts, outputs
and outcomes. These measurement tools allow review of activity over time and among peers.
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Measures are better when they help management address:
• How much service was delivered?
• How much did we produce?
• How well did we deliver service?
• How good were our products?
Quality measures will better tell what we do and how well we do it. Ultimately, only a couple of important measures
should be used to focus on accountability and performance reporting. Measures should strive to be clear to all
audiences, match the direction of other measures, and be built upon qu ality data.
Without effective and relevant performance measures it is difficult for government to demonstrate accountability
and that they achieved their intended goals/objectives. It is also difficult for policy makers to assess where best to
allocate and direct public funds. The existing published performance measures do not reflect the quality and value
of our information technology services.
The publication of measures in the budget is relatively new to the County budget process. Departments h ave had
trouble identifying meaningful performance information to be used with the budget. Up to now, many of the IT
department’s goals have been based on projects.
It is recommended for the IT department to assess, develop and publish performance measures that are a
better representation of the quality of the services they provide to County departments and the direction
they are taking.
A number of examples could be provided but it is important the IT department have ownership of all
measures and develop them with the assistance and direction of County Management.
The following are suggestions to consider:
• Percent of help desk questions answered within the day.
• IT department cost per FTE (Full Time Equivalent) compared to other jurisdictions.
• Percent “up-time” or percent of non-scheduled downtime occurrences.
• Percent of clients who rate as meeting or exceeding expectations.
Benchmarking IT department cost and FTE indicate that Deschutes County is lower than
many of the other identified local governments.
Measures utilizing IT department costs and FTE can be reasonable comparators to others. The following measures
were used to compare against some identified local governments.
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Chart III
IT department
cost per FTE
(FY 2012 –
budget)
IT cost per FTE of the organization (budgeted)
IT budgeted expenditures to organization expenditures (budgeted)
(Excludes identifiable reserves and unappropriated balances)
IT FTE to organizational FTE (budgeted)
The data can be obtained from published budget data. These are a useful starting point for comparing activities
for local government. The data is relatively easy to obtain but it does not always reflect accurately the size and
nature of operations. Obvious differences in budgeting and in operations were adjusted. As such, this information
is only provided to give some idea as to how various local governments compare. The data was taken from
published budget information. For these measures, Deschutes county IT was in the lower quartile of entities
reviewed.
IT department cost per FTE of the organization (budgeted)
This measure puts a rough equivalent on how much is on average spent for IT services by FTE for the
organization. Since IT department costs are primarily driven by departments, projects, and tasks; this measure
can reflect an overall generalization of costs.
IT department budgeted expenditures to organization expenditures (budgeted)
This measure gives the relative composition of costs to the overall budget. Budgets were adjusted as best as
could on grouping appropriate services. GIS services were included. PC replacement reserves when noted were
-
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
10,000
City of Bend Deschutes Marion County Jackson County Lane County Clackamas
County
Washington
County
Bu
d
g
e
t
e
d
I
T
c
o
s
t
p
e
r
F
T
E
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Chart IV
IT department
budgeted
expenditures
compared to
Total budgeted
expenditures
Chart V
IT department
budgeted FTE
compared to
Total budgeted
FTE
not. Budgets excluded identifiable reserves and unappropriated balances.
IT department FTE to organizational FTE (budgeted)
This measure gives the relative composition of IT department FTE to the size of the organization in FTE.
0.0%
0.5%
1.0%
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
4.0%
4.5%
5.0%
City of Bend Deschutes County Marion County Jackson County Lane County Clackamas County Washington County
%
c
o
m
p
o
s
i
t
i
o
n
IT staffing (FTE) as percentage of Total staffing (FTE)
(2011/12-Budget)
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Benchmarking is one way to monitor and evaluate the cost of services compared to other like entities. It is a useful
tool when used with some insight as to the other entities.
In the absence of benchmarking, it is difficult to know whether your costs are in line with other jurisdictions.
It is recommended for the IT department to develop and monitor benchmarks with other like jurisdictions.
5.
Management
response
(Joe Sadony,
IT Director)
March 22, 2012
To: David Givans
County Internal Auditor
From: Joe Sadony
Director, Deschutes County Information Technology
RE: MANAGEMENT RESPONSE TO THE REPORT TITLED
“INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY – STAFFING”
We are pleased with the work of the Internal Auditor and the information put forth in the audit report. The
report comes at a time when the landscape of services offered by IT is changing due to the many
departments discontinuing the use of county in-house developed software. In addition to the changes that
must take place in IT, we also must assist our customers with adapting to the demands of owning off -the-
shelf software. Demand that many of these customers have never experienced before. The audit report is
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Management
response
(continued)
timely in that IT has many important decisions to make over the next two years and will need to be ready to
adapt to requirements yet unforeseen. Staffing is the most important factor in our ability to adapt. This
report and follow-up information will be of importance in our staffing decisions.
It is important to understand that the information describing our workload composition, though based on
recent historical data (Table I), does not reflect the current composition nor will it be an indicator of the
future. This is due to the fact that the change that is occurring today is and will always be unique in the
history and future of this department. The data is a fair indicator of workload composition for the stated
period.
IT is a department whose primary product is the service our staff provides. I would be concerned if we did
not receive high marks from our customers (Chart II). Though not by any formal means, we monitor our
customer’s satisfaction closely to ensure that we are meeting expectations. Issues are normally dealt with
quickly and we strive to stay as flexible as possible to changing needs. Though at times the nature of their
business can get in the way, we strive to be a trusted partner to our customers.
It is interesting that the highest ranked initiative is records management. This is not a service that we are
expected to provide, however we would be involved in supporting a department’s efforts through the
application of software tools to assist in their records management efforts. We in IT are aware of the need
for records management and would certainly be willing, and actually can, provide the expertise necessary
to automate a customer’s processes. However, records management policy and process development is
not an initiative I would expect IT to undertake. This also applies to “increasing staff technology s kills.”
Staff development is strictly the domain of the department. What IT can do is potentially provide some
consultation on viable solutions.
Remote access is a service for which we have a mature and heavily used solution already in place. I see
this items high ranking as verification of the importance of this service to our customers.
As mentioned the change occurring with our customer’s software landscape will have a direct impact on the
services IT provides. The audit report shows this as a “shift in services” (Table VI). My current opinion is
that the shift from in-house developed to off-the-shelf software will cause our customers to take on
responsibilities associated with their software that either did not exist or was previously handled by IT. We
assume that this shift would result in the net work performed by IT to decrease if the net impact for our
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Management
response
(continued)
customers increased. We do know that this will happen by varying degrees per customer. There is
potential, depending on the customer’s situation, for the IT net impact will increase staffing. However, we
feel comfortable with assuming that given current conditions that the net impact will be somewhat near the
stated estimate.
Overall, we agree with the report’s recommendations. Albeit necessary to note that the recommendations
are based on historical and current conditions, which will change significantly over the next twenty-four
months. I would anticipate the recommendations to undergo some modification during follow -on reports. In
all the report provides valuable input to our decision making process.
Recommendation: “It is recommended for the department to establish anticipated staffing levels
based upon the information from the survey as well as the gap analyses. This kind of analyses
should be periodically refreshed.”
a) We agree with this recommendation.
b) Comments: in the future, our department will seek to leverage the resources of the internal auditor for
guidance in conducting future surveys and performing valid staffing analyses.
c) Estimated date of corrective action is on-going starting with audit. Refresh annually.
Recommendation: “It is recommended for the IT department to establish a training program for IT
employees that is tied to their support goals for County departments. This may require tracking the
current skills, training received and new skills needed.”
a) We agree with this recommendation, however do not see an immediate solution to address the need.
b) Comments: Most IT skill development is learned on the job an d is dictated by the technical environment.
Training opportunities for much of skillset are informal and ad hoc. Development of formal develop internal
training is possible, however must be balanced with the requirement to accomplish normal work. The
difficulties with developing a formal training regimen arise from there not being relevant training resources
that can be purchased and not having the internal resources necessary to develop an in -house program.
However, since much of the skills we learn come from doing the work, we will seek to define and document
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Management
response
(continued)
our requisite skills. Then use the information to evaluate the development of opportunities to conduct
regular cross training amongst the department’s functional teams.
Recommendation: “It is recommend for the IT department to establish a time tracking system that
will meet their needs for project and time management. The department should establish
expectations for usage of the time tracking system, expectations for productive time, communicate
expectations to staff and monitor the system for compliance.”
a) We agree with this recommendation.
b) Comments: A new work management and time tracking system has been acquired and is being
implemented.
c) Estimated date of corrective action: April 2, 2012.
Recommendation: “It is recommended the IT department establish some practices to add new
projects and areas when those are anticipated in being greater than a certain threshold.”
a) We agree with this recommendation.
b) Comments: In conjunction with the implementation of work management software, the department is
developing new procedures to the intake, evaluate and execute new work. A basic set of procedures are in
place. Ongoing modifications to the procedures are being made as situations d ictate.
c) Estimated date of corrective action: Completed as a work in progress.
Recommendation: “It is recommended for the IT Department to assess, develop and publish
performance measures that are a better representation of the quality of the services they provide to
County departments and the direction they are taking.”
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Management
response
(continued)
a) We agree with this recommendation. However due to the continuously evolving scope of what IT does
for the county, maintaining historically comparative benchmarks could be difficult .
b) Comments: We anticipate the new work order system will allow for some volume measure against our
financial requirements that we will be able to use as measure of efficiency. We will continue to look at how
we compare financially to like jurisdictions and try determine what gains can be made from such a
comparison. We will also measure how well our time is applied to our departments in order to improve out
time tracking practices.
Recommendation: “It is recommended for the IT department to develop and monitor benchmarks
with other like jurisdictions.”
a) We agree with this recommendation.
b) Comments: We will establish a process to perform this measure.
c) Estimated date of corrective: This budget year and annually from there on.
Joe Sadony
Deschutes County Information Technology
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6. APPENDICES
6.1 Survey form
– Information
technology
direction 2011
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6.1 Survey form –
Information
technology direction
2011
(continued)
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6.1 Survey form –
Information
technology direction
2011
(continued)
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6.2 Survey analyses- Department group ranking of initiatives (Department head and Manager)
Ranked
Order Question Initiative description
Service
District
Support
Services
Community
Justice
Public
Safety
Direct
Services
Health
Services
Survey Participants 4 17 11 24 23 21
1 5-7
Document and records
management
1
2
1
2
4
1
2 5-8
Increasing staff technology skills to
enhance operational efficiencies
1
4
7
4
1
1
3 5-11
Remote system access / mobile
computing options
9
2
10
5
1
3
4 5-15
Electronic payroll timesheet
systems
1
1
10
1
5
16
5 5-9
Leverage technology to provide
staff additional educational
opportunities 9 6 2 7 3 8
6 5-18 Video conferencing 9 8 9 3 8 7
7 5-16
Business report development /
develop reporting capabilities
1
9
7
10
11
3
8 5-10
Internet portals / Public website
services
9
11
10
6
12
3
9 5-3
Information sharing through
intranet / automation / tracking
tools
9
4
2
11
6
11
10 5-4
Contract management / tracking
systems
1
11
5
7
10
14
11 5-5
Leverage technology for data
collection
9
14
5
15
13
3
12 5-1
Accounts payable
tracking/approval
1
9
10
11
9
17
13 5-6 Data mining and analysis software 9 16 14 14 16 8
14 5-12
Citizen request / relationship
management systems
9
14
16
17
6
13
15 5-14
Technologies to improve disability
access for employees/customers
1
6
14
18
17
12
16 5-17 Vendor/contractor management 18 11 17 11 14 15
17 5-13 Expansion of Social media services 1 16 18 16 15 10
18 5-2 Enhanced identification systems 9 18 2 7 18 18
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6.3 Survey analyses- Graphs of top ten information technology initiatives (All participants)
1.2.3.
4.5.6.
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6.3 Survey analyses- Graphs of top ten information technology initiatives (All participants)(continued)
7.8.9.
10.
{End of Report}