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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-11-09 99-10 ORDERItem No 99-10 Date: 11-9-98 ItemBubjem: ORDER Authorizing Coutrna Award to New England Commumratiom Inc For Phase Oue of Office Automation Project Respomible Departmental: City Manager Commentuy: AteComcfl8mffsetrent held in Febmaryof 199'1, a proraywa eembEs6edW improve mtemal mmmmiations through information technology. To work toward this priority, B Communications Snmegic Committee was formed which ialuded verions sorry numbers swell as Councilors Tyler and Faenham. This group established a smies of goals and pur n others for this effort which not; used be guide a second group -a steryTechnical Commie« -be work on the spaifscs of how these goals could be reechN. The Technical Committee has worked for over a year to m,estigme specific steps which the City can take b no fechmmgy to improve cmmuviatiovs. Thee primary, focus was w improved office automation systems. In lobbi lar,the Committee has reammmded that so wtegroted nehvork be established to allow for easier dam flow throughout the organization. Amore complete description of this effort can be found m the attached fomentation. Recm0y, tortuous for pmposele were received for phase me of this system which will involve employees and Departments in City Hall. Fight proposals were receival and reviewed by a staff committee which selected force ,moors no, make Presmmtions. Councilors Tyler and Famham participated in these Presmmsions. The selecsim ommineeuvanimouely selected New Englaud Commuoimtima. This selection has since been supportai by the Feature Committee. Since this award is in an amount less then S100,000, it wmM not normally be an item ter the full Council, liowe,a, slow the is the fust phase of a larger project, staff fah it world be usefM to use this an an opportunity to update the Council on the some; of this entire project and to connote Pounce steps which will betaken. Fnmm phases of this project will include extension m the City's outude departments, the selection of as Interact Swire Ihoviderm mmect the system to the rest ofshe world, and [he devebpmant ofa City web sae. In addition, cats will be intermit for education and training. Cost estimates for future phases will be developed in the near Posum. Departmeat Head MitnWr's Commitments: At this fine, I "old roccommerni aggroval Of thin l' n AMR City h1anagler Aesamted Information: Order, Mom to Finance Committee Budget Approval n 1 1 � q OB�Fimacee Director Legal Approval: 7z2"i �sj.� , City Solicitor Introduced for x Passage _First Reading Page—of Rekrral "Nmelto Camegor Tyler November 9, 1998 CITY OF BANGOR (TITLE.) tmrbert Authorizing Contrbt Award to New Englantl Comtnncatiow, Inc Far Purse One W Olike AWamatioe Project By Ism City Council of the Oily oiBaxpoe: ORDERED, TMT the City Manager is hereby authornted to enter into a contract with New England Telecornmunicaho ts, Inc in the amount of $78,361 for Phase One of the City's OfficeAutomation Project. IN CITY COUNCIL November 9, 1998 Motion for Passage Made and Seconded Passed G� ITY —R. }/a 99-10 ORDER { Title, Authorizing Contract Award to New England Communications, inc. for Phase Om of Office Automation Project .............................. mdred to .............. VV Councilmen . October 30, 1998 To: Honorable Council Chair and Members of the City Council Fr: Edward A. Barrett, City Manager Su: Background -- Office Automation Project On Monday's Finance Agenda, the committee will consider a bid award for an office automation project. Since this is one component of our continuing automation and communication network, I thought it might be useful to provide some background on this subject, outline what has been achieved to date, and touch on what is yet to be done in the future. At a Council/Staff retreat held in February of 1997, one of the priorities established was to improve internal communications through information technology. To pursue this goal, Communications Strategic Committee was established with representatives from both Council and Staff and asked to explore ways of improving how we communicate both internally and externally. To date, much of the focus of this effort has been on internal communications. After a number of meetings, this Committee established a set of goals and parameters for an internal communications system. These are: 1. Capable of notifying the Council of important information within two hours. 2. Provision of electronic access to and transfer of documents. 3. Assist in scheduling group meetings. <. Provision of unattended detailed messaging. 5. .Allowance for digitizing documents. s. Standardized software for ease of data transmission. 7. Compatible hardware platforms. The Committee also wished to pursue extension of the existing voice ail capabilities of the City, principally to City Hall, as well as expansion of e-mail access. In order to pursue the specifics of such goals and needs, a staff technicalcowas established representing various departments. Individuals were selected for this committee based on their interest in and knowledge concerning automation. TECHNICAL COMMITTEE EFFORTS The technical committee has been working for the past year, and has investigated a variety of approaches to improved communications and identified other issues which must also be addressed. The Committee's first task was to undertake and complete a full inventory of all personal computersin use to include the specifications of the hardware and the office automation software currently in use. As was anticipated, this verified that the City currently operates a rather diverse set of pole ranging from very old 286 processors up through pentiums of various speeds. We also found a variety of office software in use throughout the organization. The committee found that the City had incrementally adopted a variety of approaches to office automation. As a result, different offices and individuals currently utilize a variety of hardware and software as well as different versions of the same software. Communication between users is often leas than optimal due to the variety of software and,in the age of the software being used. in addition, v rious CitysOffices either do not have e-mail capability or use a variety of different e-mail and internet providers. Year 2000 Analysis As a result of this inventory, staff from information services were also able to teat all of these machines for year 2000 problems. Of the City's 98 personal computers, 58 were found to be noncompliant. Armed with this information, information services is currently addressing this problem through a variety of responses, In some cases, computers will need to be replaced (these are normally our oldest and slowest units). Others can be upgraded either by replacing chips or through "software" fixes. Nevertheless, all of these units will be addressed prior to the year 2000. Design of Office Automation solution Once the inventory was completed, work began on designing a solution to the officeautomation needs and goals developed by the Strategic Committee. The overall goals of this project were established as follows: 1. Placing all users on the system and using uniform software packages for word processing, spreadsheet, and data base systems. 2. Providing internal (and eventually external) e-mail access to all users to improve the speed and consistency of written communications. 3. To insure that software updates are done in a timely fashion and that all users remain on the same version of these packages. 4. To allow the City to depend more heavily on electronic communication and eliminate the use of significant numbers of paper copies. S. To improve the speed with which information is transmitted throughout the organization. 99-10 6. To improve internet access through the use of frame relay, shared ISDN dial up access, fiber optic cable or other Software selection After several discussions, the Committee recommended that the City standardize its software systems. The operating system will be Windows 95 and the applications programs will be Microsoft Office (word, excel, and access). Communications will be through Windows NI. On the hardware side, the Committee recommended that a separate file server be purchased to handle these office automation products, internal e-mail, and to serve as a gateway to Internet Once these design parameters were established, the committee and information service staff worked to refine our needs. This included establishing the number of users who would be o the system, those who would use each of the software packages, the number of operating system upgrades required (from windows 3.1), and upgrades and replacements needed to bring our pC's into compliance with the year 2000 problem. Subsequently, the City issued a request for proposal for vendors to respond to the City's requirements. Proposals were received in September. Preliminary screening was performed by the members of the staff technical committee. This committee selected three vendors for more detailed review. These vendors were requested to make presentations to the selection committee, which was expanded to include Councilors Tyler and Farnham. That Committee has recently completed its work and has recommended the selection of New England Communications, Inc for this project. Description of System. As proposed by New England Communications, two NT file servers will be added to our system. One will be dedicated tooffice applications and a second to electronic mail. The presence of two servers will allow for backup capabilities in case of hardware failures. These unite will interconnect with the City's current file server which is largely dedicated to financial applications. All users will have access to all three of these servers from their desk tops on their personal computers. Total cost for the new servers as well as the required communications systems will be $37,060. A variety of new and upgraded software will also be required. This includes upgrading the majority of the pc's in City Hall to windows 95 and the acquisition of Microsoft Office and associated software. Total cost of the software is approximately $24,772. 99-10 The remaining costs of $16,592 are for installation and hardware maintenance costs. System users will continue to have individual software packages on their machines. All users, however, will have access to the file server for backing up their work as well as to access shared domains or directories. As one ample, individuals will be able to save their agenda items to ashared directory which can then be accessed by other offices or departments and used as a centralized location for agenda preparation. Similar directories can be established for other shared information such as our personnel rules and regulations, administrative and Council policies, automated forms, etc The net result should be easier access to information and a reduction in the amount of paper which flows through the organization. Data transfer will be eased by having all users on the same version of our basic software packages. Software updates can be performed automatically through the file server to insure continued compatibility. Individuals will also retain the ability to store personal work products on their own machines for easy access and to help the shared system maintain optimal processing times. The file server v which provides e-mail will eventually be used as the City'ss point of access to the internet. This will allow all users to receive and sende-mail both internally and externally by using the same e-mail address. This will eventually be implemented through an internet service provider. At the point where the system is connected to such a service provider, a separate machine will be required to s "fire -wall' to guard the security and integrity of the city's system. FUTURE STEPS As noted above, this is the first phase of our overall effort to improve internal and external communications through the use of computer technology. As a first step, it will seonly those users a who located Bangor City Hall. To reach full effectiveness the system will eventually need to be extended to other Departments. In addition, we will need to eventually extend our e of this technology outside of the City to the public through expanded use of the internet. What follows summarizes the steps which are required. Extension of System to Other Departments. As a part of our w franchise agreement with Frontiervision, the cable operator will provide us with and institutional network for cur u This system will be capable of video, audio, text and datatransmission, and will be provided free of charge. This system should be available within calendar year 1999. Initially, the system will serve all of the City's schools as well as City Hall, the library, central police, all of our fire stations, Base 99-10 Park, the Wastewater Treatment Plant, and the Armory. As the cable system is extended, the net will also be extended to Bangor International Airport, Public works, Health and welfare, and City Nursing. These extensions will occur when cable service is brought to within 300 feet of these locations. Alternatively, the City may pay for extensions to these sites at an earlier date. The advantage of such an institutional net is that it can replace fisting telephone lines used for data transmission (a step which will reducenent line charges) and can transmit data at a significantly higher speed. As the I -net is extended, additional City sites will be connected to the new office automation system and integrated into the overall project. External E -Mail Once the system is installed, a local Internet Service Provider (ISP) will be used to connect our internal system to the rest of the world. As work on installing the system begins this year, w will prepare a request for proposal for such a service. This will begin the process of extending internal e-mail to the outside world and allow us to standardize City e-mail addresses and eliminate the multiple ISP's currently used, we also hope that the method of connecting to such a service will relieve some of the burden currently placed on our telephone services. Web Site At the present time, the City does not have a single comprehensively designed web site. Web sites are in use by a number of Departments, moat notably Bangor International Airport and the Police Department. As part of our search for an internet service provider, we will also be looking for this provider to house the City's website. The technical committee believes that using such awill insure that the web site v operational and maintained v without placing additional burdens on limited staff time. We will also be requesting information on the necessary services to design and implement such a site. Staff currently does not have the necessary expertise experience to take on this task internally. While the information to be presented on this site must be generated internally, it appears that it will be more efficient and result in a more user friendly site for public use. Training and Education In order to make full use of the new system, information services staff as well as normal system users will require additional training and education. At the present time, we estimate the cost for such training to be approximately $20,000 for which we will be 99-10 seeking authorization at a later date FUNDING NEEDS At the present time, sufficient funds are available for the purchase and installation of the hardware and software necessary to serve City Hall. As the system is extended, the core file servers will be able to handle our estimate of the maximum number of system users. However, there will be additional future cost associated with upgrading individual pc's and purchasing the needed software licensee. where self-supporting enterprise funds are involved, these costs will be supported by those funds. Additional costs will be required to support external e-mail and a city web site. We are in the process of estimating these costs at the present time. CONCLUSION To date, progress has been made on using technology to improve communications. Limited access to the web and e-mail have assisted us in keeping the Council updated and coordinated. Some preliminary web applications are in place in selected departments. Voice mail isnow available at virtually all locations in the City and has been implemented in a manner which still places a priority on citizens aching an actual City staff member. This project has also acted as a spring board toward addressing the Y2K problem and providing a complete inventory of current City automation resources. Phase One of the office automation system will provide an additional mechanism and trial period for further uses of office automation for communications. This project should position us to spread these tools throughout the entire organization and lay the necessary groundwork for effective electronic communication with our Citizens. Should you have any questions in regard to this project or the future steps which we anticipate taking, please feel free to contact me.