Georgia Infrastructure Transformation (GAIT) 2010 update, Vol. 1, Issue 15 (July 10, 2009)

Georgia Infrastructure Transformation (GAIT) 2010 Update
Issue No. 15

July 10, 2009

In This Issue
True Up underway to validate service data
Stronger passwords required for GETS portal

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Important step toward accurate invoicing
In this issue of our newsletter, you will find an article about True Up, the process that will enable us to verify and validate data with agencies.
You may wonder why another step is necessary - after all, we conducted an exhaustive data gathering and verification phase prior to developing the GAIT Request for Proposal, and we did even more during contract negotiations.
True Up is critical to ensuring that you receive the services you need and are invoiced accurately. We know that it will require some additional time from your staff over the next few weeks, but the effort will pay off both now and in the future when you are making decisions about services.

GTA Website GAIT FAQs Milestones

We appreciate your continued cooperation and support.
Patrick Moore State Chief Information Officer GTA Executive Director
True Up underway to validate service data
Agencies are being asked to validate both the types of services and the volume of those services they are receiving from the state's new technology providers as part of a process called True Up. The purpose is to ensure agencies are billed accurately.
Designated staff in customer agencies will receive spreadsheets in July with detailed information about their service counts and volumes for services such as:
q end-user computing q local area and wide area networks q e-mail q voice q application servers q server storage

July
IT asset refresh planning continues, pilots begin
Server and storage consolidation planning continues
Disaster recovery planning continues
Initial results from pointof-service surveys available
Initial MNS management reports available
View All Milestones

The newly validated counts and volumes, often referred to as resource units, will form a baseline for agency invoices. GTA's finance team will also work with agency budget directors and the Office of Planning and Budget to adjust agency technology budgets accordingly for FY 2010 and FY 2011.
Agency staff who have been selected to work on True Up received training July 9 from AT&T and GTA on the methodology used to collect service-related data and how to read the spreadsheets. A training session with IBM will take place July 15. Agency staff will work closely with service tower leads in GTA's Service Management Organization and the state's technology providers to review and approve service data.

It's not the first time a service baseline has been developed for customer agencies. Those who took part in the state's IT assessment submitted service counts and volumes in 2007. GTA collected additional data during contract negotiations with IBM and AT&T during 2008 and even more while preparing for service transition.
Much of the data being provided to agencies for review and validation as part of True Up was collected during the wall-to-wall inventories performed by both service providers over the last couple of months. With the completion of these inventories, the state will have an accurate count of our IT assets for the first time. Validation of these asset inventories and service consumption levels will not only help to improve billing accuracy but will also provide agencies, IBM and AT&T with improved operational and asset management information.
We are on schedule to complete True Up by mid-September.
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Stronger passwords required for GETS portal
Users of the GETS portal soon will be required to update their logon passwords to comply with State of Georgia security standards. The stronger passwords will bolster the security of the state's computing environment.
IBM will notify GETS portal users this month with details about password requirements. The change applies to GETS portal passwords only. Passwords for OrderNow! and Maximo are not affected at this time.
State standards for Password Security and Strong Password Use appear on the GTA website.
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We welcome your comments about service delivery, the state's IT transformation and related topics. You can submit comments online or call our toll-free number to leave a recorded message.
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