Audit of Chicago's information technology systems; Department of Assets, Information and Services; SSAs
Good afternoon, Chicago! I’m live-tweeting the City Council Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology development today for @CHIdocumenters
It’s scheduled to be starting up now ⬇️🧵
01:02 PM Apr 19, 2022 CDT
@CHIdocumenters If you’d like to follow along with the stream, it’s available here: https://livestream.com/accounts/28669066/events/8800236
First order of business is approval of the March Rule 45 Monthly Report. Ald Lopez moves to approve
The following individuals are being considered for appointment by @chicagosmayor : https://t.co/BWinhUeeZO
There are three departments here today to speak on data sharing practices, tools and establishment of plan to improve and implement effective data sharing platforms.
Beginning with Office of Inspector General, there are three representatives here speaking.
The intent is to bring attention to inconsistent data sharing. “Quality data is essential for a efficient and effective government,” Justin G, one of the OIG reps said.
They’re borrowing a framework from the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology: based in three prongs - utility, objectivity and integrity https://t.co/8NJ79i7HSa
They’re not focusing on any specific departments, rather approaching this from a city-wide lens.
The first examples they give of the importance of solid data reporting are within the CTA and CPD. https://t.co/05XzYonTUX
They also reference Chicago Fire Department data that didn’t adequately provide a reliable measure of emergency response times, and a 2019 audit of the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund https://t.co/MzLLBlYs4D
“There was no formal review or approval of data entry,” Kevin said of the CPD gang database. https://t.co/Qpw0bsBha7
“The department could not measure performance or meet their weed cutting timeliness goals,” he said of the issues with Streets and San data.
They want the CDO to assist departments in providing public information — “It’s great that we’re providing that data through the portal,” Kevin said, but they also want to make sure that theyre giving context to that data.
Kevin said the CDO and COO responded saying “Addressing data quality issues start with reimagining how the city approaches IT”
Ald Reboyras: “Great work, Kevin Smith. But now that the CDO and COO know what’s missing, how do we gauge not only performance but put a number to what’s being done and how to accurately perform our work with the correct numbers — is there any gauge on that?”
Darwyn Jones: Where there are data quality issues in something we review, we will return to that department. “Unfortunately, that’s in a case-by-case basis.”
Reboyras: “Maybe that work is being done it’s just not being properly inputted”
Jones: When the data fails, you’re “failing the city workers who do that good work.”
That’s it for the OIG - Moving to Department of Assets, Information and Services (AIS). Kurt Peterson is speaking.
The findings from the assessment were presented to city council but they’re also available online: Peterson is currently summarizing some take always: https://t.co/dfedyKGFD1
Approx 43% of their inventory was found to be in poor technical condition.
As of a few years ago, 32% of the staff has a 20+ year tenure. “The talent war is real, and finding the right people to do the job and then retaining them is going to be pretty critical,” Peterson said.
Peterson said the position titles they currently have are “antiquated” to the point that potential applicants might miss a job listing because they wouldn’t recognize the position title
“There are many different areas where IT lives; IT lives in the public safer worlds, it lives in the airports, it lives in the library,” Peterson said. https://t.co/muLcOgYsVe
“The efforts really focus on doing several things,” Peterson said. The first goal is to reimagine the workforce and processes — including the development of a strategic plan re: the priority plans of IT.
“How do we work together from an operating model perspective?” Peterson said.
“We want to reengineer our technology practices,” Peterson said.
The empower and inspire goal is focused on city employees; how they gain, train and retain employees.
“We’re in the early stages of this but we expect in the next year to develop a comprehensive roadmap,” Peterson said. Their focus is “Not incremental change” rather, it’s “transformative change,” he said.
“At the end of the day, how we share data, how we use data, how we do reporting and analytics in that data to improve reporting is certainly at the forefront,” Peterson said. https://t.co/3y4FV3thzt
“It took an inordinate amount of time to get in front of someone from Salesforce,” Ald Vasquez said of his experience working with 311. “There aren’t a lot of accountability measures in place to uphold agreements.”
“We need way more focus on the stuff that we do have agreements on,” Vazquez said.
Moving from AIS to the final department presentation — Susie Park, Budget Director, speaks briefly in support of the past two presentations.
Ald Scott is asking where the specific numbers on savings came from — referring back to Peterson — and asked if it was a “floor or a ceiling.”
Peterson said it’s an initial assessment, so neither, “the idea is as we put this $350-400M we will replace legacy systems that are expensive to maintain”
Over time, the money saved by modernizing the more costly legacy systems will generate the funds to reinvest in the modernization process
Ald Scott asked if there are other ways to save in the process, as he assumed the number would’ve been higher
“I think there probably is more return on investment here but this is the early preliminary number,” Peterson said.