ITMC Meeting

 - May 25, 2000 -

1.      Welcome and Introductions - Leon Schwartz welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked everyone to introduce themselves.  For ease of accessibility, we are trying to keep the agenda and minutes on the ITMC website (www.state.ia.us/iowanet/itmc).

2.      ICN Update - Mike Bacino reported that the ICN had written a letter of “intent to award” for increased Internet bandwidth, effective August 1, 2000.

3.      ICN IVR Project - Norstan Communications, represented by Mike Whalen and Jay Gorsegner, gave a presentation on Interactive Voice Response (IVR)/call automation technologies.  Norstan is the ICN contractor for this project.  The ICN currently has State of Iowa IVR applications at IWD, DRF, DE, and DPH.  Benefits of IVR call automation include:  faster response time, improved customer service, better cost control, more efficient processes, 7 x 24 access, and it connects Iowans with their government.  Norstan asked participants to begin thinking about processes they could begin to automate.  IVR features include: natural language recognition (allows a caller to navigate an IVR application using their voice rather than touch bases), text to speech, CTI, fax back, voice over IP, and outbound dialing.  Jay Gorsegner gave a number of examples of potential IVR applications within state agencies.  If you have questions about the IVR project, call Phil Groner, Margaret Stout or Erick Followwill at the ICN.  Norstan’s PowerPoint presentation is available on the ITMC website.

4.      ITD Update - Rich Varn

Ø      Regarding Rich’s confirmation (referring to recent article in the Des Moines Register), the Governor has conveyed to Rich that he has his full support.

Ø      About $25 million has been requested for technology projects.  The legislature made a little over $15 million available, however there is only about $9 million left after deducting the cost of several mandatory/critical projects.  If revenue growth is greater than expected and reversions are greater than anticipated, it’s possible additional money would be available.  ITD will be looking for economies, overlaps, getting the best value for the money, etc. so that we can make the best use of available funds. 

Ø      ITD and DOM will be sending you a “return on investment” document so that we can more effectively evaluate and compare the technology projects in order to make funding decisions.  This ROI document will eventually be used for technology projects in the next budget cycle and in the future utilized for existing programs.

Ø      Standards and Development – The State needs systems that are coordinated and integrated with the enterprise.  Legislation creating the ITD, SF2395, became effective upon enactment on April 25, 2000.  The procurement language is quite broad - ALL procurement of all technology services must be coordinated through ITD (this is a statutory mandate).  Question:  with end of fiscal year purchasing, what process do agencies use?  Rich said ITD will be getting some information out about this.  Because the bill was effective on enactment and we were not anticipating this, we do not yet have answers for every question.

Ø      E-Commerce Legislation (HF2205) – by July 1^st, 2003 executive branch agencies must accept transactions over the Internet.  Baltimore Technologies will be helping us develop a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) recommendation document.

5.      ITD Strategic Plan Development - Dave Arringdale gave a presentation on strategic plan development.  His presentation tied the overall agency strategic planning process to the IT strategic planning process and then to the budget cycle.  This presentation will be posted to the ITMC website.

6.      Other Issues:

Ø      Leon announced that Don Toms, DOT, is retiring.

Ø      There is some interest in holding a future presentation on Internet monitoring.

Ø      Judy Pawell announced the rollout of ELSI (Electronic Licensing System for Iowa) at DNR for hunting and fishing licenses.  Judy will be working full time on ELSI, so JoAnn Naples will be managing the technology component at DNR.

Ø      Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) - Within the next few months, someone from ITD could be contacting you about setting up a focus group.

Ø      The next ITMC meeting is June 22.

Ø      Leon offered to provide the detailed data from the Year 2000 post implementation survey.