News Release from www.Hawaii.gov/gov

HONOLULU – The state today released a report detailing its information technology (IT) assessment, a critical component in the Abercombie (sic) Administration’s long-term plan to transform technology.

The assessment, which includes a Baseline Assessment and Benchmarking Report, was conducted by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in close collaboration with all state departments. The assessment is the first phase of the state’s multi-year initiative to modernize its information technology and information resource management (IRM) systems. The goal of the state’s technology transformation initiative is to make government more efficient and improve services for the people of Hawai'i while reducing costs.

“The massive undertaking to bring the technology of government into the 21st century is critical to our commitment to transform government,” Governor Abercrombie said. “This first-of-its-kind assessment of the state’s IT assets, policies and procedures is a major milestone for Hawai'i under the leadership of our new Chief Information Officer, Sonny Bhagowalia. The findings and recommendations in this report give us the basis for moving forward with confidence.”

The report explains that the state’s budget reductions over the last decade and lack of centralized governance of IT and IRM have resulted in minimal integration of business processes between departments, duplication of efforts and redundant processes, and aging legacy systems. Further, the state’s current level of investment on IT and IRM is inadequate compared to benchmark standards found in other states and existing best-practices.

Along with the SAIC report, Governor Abercrombie today issued an Administrative Directive to all Executive Branch Department Heads announcing that – with the exception of the University of Hawai’i, the Department of Education, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs – the CIO and Office of Information Management and Technology (OIMT) now has authority over the design and implementation of all Executive Branch IT infrastructure, IRM, and shared services.

In addition, the Administrative Directive designates Deputy Comptroller Jan Gouveia as Business Transformation Executive to recommend business process reengineering projects to the Governor with the overall goal of streamlining business processes, increasing efficiencies, reducing duplication of efforts and improving delivery of services.

Under the leadership of Bhagowalia and Gouveia, the state will now develop a comprehensive strategic plan for statewide information management and technology based on the information reported by SAIC. The plan and architecture is anticipated to be delivered in July 2012.

“A complete transformation of technology – from where we are today to where we want to be –will probably take eight to 10 years of working collaboratively with all stakeholders to realize the full benefits,” Bhagowalia said. “However, our actions will fundamentally change the way the government works in Hawaii. Given the state’s budget constraints, we need to prioritize our next steps in order to maximize the funding opportunities and resources that currently exist.”

While developing the statewide strategic plan and enterprise architecture over the next nine months, Bhagowalia will also immediately embark on the following initiatives:

• Develop statewide IT governance to establish the framework for the new IT strategy, including policies, standards, architecture requirements and IT investment oversight.
• Prioritize business process reengineering projects and implement performance changes.
• Identify opportunities for statewide data center and disaster recovery solutions.

The Baseline Assessment and Benchmarking Report, along with the Governor’s Administrative Directive, can be downloaded from the OIMT website: http://hawaii.gov/oimt/.

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