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Application Services
Application Services consists of five different groups: Business Analysis,
Programming, Data Management, Web Development, and the
IT Project Management Office.
Application Services is primarily
responsible for supporting - on a priority basis - the planning, analyzing,
designing, developing and implementing of customized technological solutions for
client business requirements, to include:
Working with City departments to help
them establish the best solutions for improving their operations and
management reporting through “3rd party” and
customized systems development.
Reviewing, researching and evaluating
technology requests originating in user departments and for preparing
recommendations on their technical feasibility, cost, etc.
Developing, maintaining, publishing
and enforcing standards for application programs subject to development or
maintenance by department staff.
Developing computer-based applications
utilizing systems analysis and computer programming techniques.
Providing systems and programming
maintenance support for computer-based applications in production.
Website development and maintenance to
promote and ensure public access of information.
The current level of service
begins with a Business Analyst responding to a customer request. All application
development begins with an analysis. The clients are interviewed to determine
the scope of the project. All department personnel involved are notified of the
project and the IT interdepartmental project team is established. Interviews
with the involved departments are performed to determine the impact, if any, to
each department.
Reviewing, evaluating and approving
all work performed by departmental staff or contractual staff for the
purpose of determining and reporting on status and technical performance.
The development process consists of laying
out all the procedures, steps and business rules to accomplish the request. The
project is coded, tested, and accepted by the client before implementation
begins.
The implementation process is done only
after the client and all others involved have accepted the project. The
implementation is done with the cooperation of all departments.
On the maintenance side, Application
Services supports 60 primary software applications, some of which are
“mission-critical.”
The current level of service being
provided supports the Council’s community goal by efficiently providing key
business information to departments that serve the citizens and businesses
within the City of Tempe.
The current level of service also supports
those priorities by having up-to-date information readily available for
departmental use.
Core Strategies - Application Services
This section presents six core strategies.
These strategies, and the initiatives that support them, create a framework for
technology efforts within the department.
Coordinated IT Planning
—
Create a structure for IT project planning and oversight,
including:
A team-oriented attitude that promotes
coordinated, strategic IT investment at every step of the planning process.
Working hand-in-hand with technologists and end-users at every level will
ensure we do not leave any City department out of the loop. The IT Business
Analyst is a key resource to help realize this objective.
A process that includes refined
guidelines for RFP and contract creation and workflow. RFP document quality
and contract administration will continue to improve in areas of
communicating requirements and expectations by use of best practices and
past experiences. Sign-off and approval will occur at the appropriate
levels.
Ongoing oversight that enables IT to
reduce the cost and timeline of product delivery by implementing standard,
proven practices in planning and project control.
Project Management
—
Sets direction for a standard project
management methodology, including:
Consistent project management
practices, mentoring less experienced personnel and encouraging professional
development in the discipline of project management.
Implement structured software
development methodologies and tools that permit the repeated success of
every product delivered.
Core Strategies – Application Services
Managing the City’s Data
—
Create, develop, and maintain an
infrastructure that provides work groups with the data and information needed to
do their job, including:
Building a framework for accurately
capturing, sharing, distributing, securing and leveraging the City’s data
resources, including creating and defining data models and establishing and
maintaining a citywide metadata repository.
Strategic planning for the City’s
future information requirements.
Allowing each City department access
to high quality information and promoting a self-service decision support
system.
Identifying ownership and
accountability for citywide information, serving as mentors to business data
stewards.
Designing sharable models of data and
recommending methods for using this data.
Ensuring that information needs and
business rules are in compliance with global policies and standards.
Participating in the evaluation of new
technologies to ensure the continuity and advancement of data and technology
within the City’s information needs.
Constituent Relationship Management
—
Sets direction for developing and
preserving a positive, productive relationship with our constituents, including:
Ensuring that activities are customer
driven – IT will not force technology nor implement only for the sake of
using technology. We will listen to each City department in order to
understand their processes and present them with the appropriate technology
options to improve effectiveness.
Ensuring that our investments result
in productivity enhancements by using solid, proven software applications
and techniques that are in use by the industry.
Performance measures to verify
outcomes by utilizing key indicators such as plan-to-budget,
plan-to-timeline, and product validation by the customer.
“Sitting at the table” with City
Management and the Council to strategically set goals and objectives versus
aligning to established goals and objectives.
Core Strategies – Application Services
Ensuring citywide data
interoperability and connectivity by integrating global-use applications and
leveraging existing technology for enterprise-wide production.
Advise departments to reengineer or
discard business processes, when appropriate, prior to redesigning
information systems.
Electronic Government Strategic Initiative
—
Sets priorities to bring government to the
citizen, with the philosophy of “real-time” on-line computing, including:
Promote public access to government
information by developing electronic commerce applications as a supplement
to traditional government service delivery and transactions.
Use of the Internet to leverage
business objectives (transactional and informational) through implementation
of electronic-government applications.
Ensure data integrity, and the
security of confidential information and electronic transactions.
Maintain a common, user friendly look
and feel to the City of Tempe website.
Emerging Issues
—
Solutions for upcoming issues that affect
Application Services, including:
Continue utilizing innovative methods
to recruit and retain well qualified IT staff.
Train staff so they can keep up with
current programming, database, web development, and project management
methods.
Continue centralizing the management
and administration functions of data to ensure consistent data management.
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