Georgia Enterprise Technology Services (GETS) update, Vol. 5, Issue 4 (Apr. 1, 2013)

GETS Update - April 1, 2013

Georgia Enterprise Technology Services (GETS) Update
Volume 5, Issue No. 4 April 1, 2013

Serving Georgia agencies, large and small
From its beginnings, the GETS program has focused heavily on large state agencies - a logical target for a massive effort to overhaul and modernize the state's IT enterprise. Those agencies participated in drafting the RFP and defining the services to be included.
Outside that circle are many small agencies - most with about 30 employees or fewer - that need IT services, but find it difficult to use the GETS program. Most small agencies don't have an IT director or may not have any IT staff, so the processes can seem complex and confusing. A staff member in a four-person agency told me recently they pass around our GETS-related memos to see if anyone can understand the technical parts. The message was clear: small agencies should be able to take advantage of GETS services in a way that works for them.
This summer we're launching a program to enable small agencies to receive IT services at the same rates and with the same service levels as large agencies. We're standardizing a bundle of services to offer, and it will include designation of a GTA team member to serve as a sort of roaming IT director to help small agencies navigate the program and get the help they need. We began working with four agencies in a pilot program in January, and it's yielding positive feedback and encouraging results.
We expect this program to deliver real benefits for Georgia agencies. The goal is to ensure that state employees regardless of the size of the agency where they work - have access to current, properly functioning PCs, e-mail and other IT services they need. We'll keep you posted on progress.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Calvin Rhodes State Chief Information Officer GTA Executive Director

In This Issue
Decoding the GETS invoice GTA to host Technology Summit on data management GeorgiaGov portal ready for mobile device traffic Briefly...
Quick Links
Previous newsletters GTA website GETS Customer Resource Center GETS Financial and Billing Resource Center GETS FAQs

Decoding the GETS invoice
You don't need a decoder ring, but you do need understanding of some GETS program fundamentals to make full sense of your GETS bill. Invoice terms like, "resource unit," and "service tower," can be puzzling. And charges listed range from IT service charges to transformation charges to license expenses, and more.
There is little surprise that GTA devoted an early session of the ongoing Education Program to understanding the GETS invoice. The March 28 session, the second in the monthly series continuing through October, examined invoice basics, as well as the variety of GETS reports available to agencies for reconciling what's on the invoice with what's being consumed.
The GETS education sessions are intended to provide the information agencies need to effectively manage their IT services consumption. Being equipped to make sensible connections between services consumed and resulting expenses is central to that process. It doesn't end there, of course. In the coming months, IT and finance leaders from GETS full-service agencies participating in the education program can expect coverage of GETS service areas, such as end user computing and data storage. The processes and tools for managing IT service usage will be emphasized.
GTA presents the education program in tandem with other 2013 initiatives - including improved reporting, streamlined processes and services aligned with today's technology marketplace - to enable effective IT consumption management for the state.
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GTA to host Technology Summit on data management
GTA invites you to a summit on successful data management in government. Titled Government Runs On Data, it focuses on preparing your agency to best manage its data to support informed business decisions, and to handle that data safely and securely.
The summit is not just for IT staff. Business and financial staff will find plenty of relevance. With input from leading vendors in data management like Google, IBM, SoftwareAG, Oracle and others, we will examine tactics to turn your data into a more powerful resource, as well as measures to avoid data breaches.
This full-day data management session follows in the style of last year's GTA-hosted Technology Summit on mobile technology in government. The 2013 summit, offered at no charge for staff from public-sector organizations, is slated for:
Monday, May 6, 2013 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Georgia Tech Global Learning Center Midtown Atlanta
For more information, contact GTA's Joe Coberly at joe.coberly@gta.ga.gov.
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GeorgiaGov portal ready for mobile device traffic
A quick look around is all it takes to see how common mobile devices like smartphones and tablets have become. Users of those devices now account for almost a quarter of all traffic coming to the state's government portal, GeorgiaGov, the central online source for information about Georgia government services.
Anticipating that trend, the GeorgiaGov Interactive team (part of GTA) in 2011 laid plans to make the GeorgiaGov site accessible from mobile devices. They implemented a strategy called responsive web design, which recognizes the type of device (e.g., mobile, desktop) accessing a page and then presents a version of the page suited to the device. Desktop browsers would see the familiar version of GeorgiaGov, but when the device screen gets smaller as on tablets and phones, the site changes accordingly. Images get smaller. Content is reformatted so users won't have to scroll horizontally. Menu items, accessed less on mobile devices, move to the bottom.
Georgia's was among the first state government portals to implement responsive web design, helping GeorgiaGov earn the 2012 Innovation Award from the Center for Digital Government.
GeorgiaGov Interactive aims to provide responsive design to all of the 50 state agency websites hosted on its platform. For more information, contact the team at creative@georgia.gov.
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Briefly...
Some Georgia agencies use federally regulated data that carries with it requirements for authenticating users who access that data -- in effect, requirements for assuring only those authorized to access the data can get to it. "Two-factor authentication" is often part of the discussion. If your agency faces such requirements, or has need for e-mail encryption or digital signatures, GTA's enterprise security team would be pleased to speak with you. Please contact the state's Information Security Officer, Mark Reardon.
Maintaining uninterrupted network connectivity for the state ranks high among GETS service priorities. Unexpected circumstances arise, as they did in mid March when complications with routine network maintenance led to intermittent interruptions in Internet connectivity. Full connectivity was quickly restored. The GETS team will incorporate what it learned from this instance into ongoing network management practices to better serve GETS customers.
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We welcome your comments about service delivery, the state's IT transformation and related topics.
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