Bonner County Technology Transformation – Some observations concerning what worked, what did not and where we need to go Lessons from the digital trenches of a small local government jurisdiction that has big needs, great expectations, small budgets and a team that has no fear … By Bill Harp, Director Bonner County Government, Technology Department bharp@bonnercountyid.gov
Biography • Sixteen years as a consultant in defense and intelligence worked primarily in geospatial applications, Department of Defense, US Southern Command, Panama • Seven years at Esri – Retired as Defense and Intelligence Industry Manager • Manager, National Mapping Project ‐ Land Use and Vegetation Cover of the Republic of Panama, United Nations and Panamanian Ministry of the Environment • Three years, Director, Technology – Bonner County Government
Lessons from the digital trenches of a small local government jurisdiction that has big needs, great expectations, small budgets and a team that has no fear … “For fools rush in where angels fear to tread!” An Essay on Criticism, Alexander Pope, 1711
Technology Department: Overview of the portfolio Bonner County stood up its Technology Department • about three years ago taking over from consultants and contractors. The then newly formed team inherited a network that • desperately needed some re ‐ design and careful restorative efforts and with aging client computers of Window XP all around. The issues we faced ran the entire gamut of technology • requirements for a small jurisdiction in its scope and range of applications. These are some of the resources we inherited: •
Technology Department Public safety communications, UF, VHF radio repeater • sites and an aged microwave network 9 ‐ 1 ‐ 1 Center • A wide area network among multiple facilities • Geospatial applications • Communications assets, phones, fax, etc. • A newly composed IT Team – what will it really take? • A host of aging legacy enterprise software applications • User Help Desk ... supporting about 350 clients in • numerous departments
Technology Department Staff ‐ Where we are now Director • Deputy Director and Public Safety Manager • IT Manager • Three IT Technicians • Program Manager – Administration, Logistics, Finances and • Web Resources GIS Team Lead • Four Geospatial Analysts – one in recruitment • What we are missing – DBA, IP & Security Engineer, • additional AD expertise
Architecture • BonnerCountyNetworkVerB.pdf
A sketch of the network PL PD PO PD Court Sheriff & 9 ‐ 1 ‐ 1 Administration Complex Complex Complex DMV EMS Priest River Complex Complex EMS Fairgrounds Sagle U of I Extension Shop Shop Shop Radio Sites Radio Sites Shop Radio Sites Radio Sites Radio Sites Shop Shop Radio Sites Radio Sites Radio Sites Radio Sites
Where do you start; do you have the right ingredients? ∙ Every project has three major initial components that predict success: Vision, political will and budget ∙ Just add business acumen, professional expertise and a little luck …
The approach: • So, to manage these resources well and to solve the numerous technical problems we needed a agile, multi‐pronged approach that had both a tactical focus for solving the immediate problems and a strategic focus for planning a more efficient reduced maintenance future. So let’s approach the major projects topic by topic.
Servers and Storage: • What to do with the servers. To virtualize or not to virtualize. Boxes or blades? … VMWare or what? • Storage, storage everywhere and not a byte to waste … Our drive array and backup strategic • What does a megabyte cost you? Core equipment: Firewall‐ SonicWall: NSA 4600, Core Switches‐ Cisco: Catalyst • 3800’s series, Standard switches: Cisco 2960, Drive arrays: Synology 3614RPxs with 32GB RAM and 40 TB each at Raid 5, Virtual hosts: 3 Dell 730's with 20 cores and 256GB RAM running Xen server 6.5
Connectivity • Network design – what worked? And where we really messed up … AD, IP routing , DHCP and DNS chaos all while providing 24/7 uptime… • The last tactical mile … • To fiber or not to fiber? … that is the question • Seven fiber runs
Working with clients … • And then there were the clients with their diverse requirements. • “The Internet is Not Working.” • Some interesting semantic barriers to really helping folks.
Human resources • Who do we need – the complexity of hiring world class technologist in Bonner County • Staff, contractors, superusers and interns … how to create the right team and mix of expertise • Where to advertise …
Enterprise software The enterprise software application story. • The evolution from failing legacy software to a modern • solution. What were the criteria? World class, SQL, HTML, suite, • modular and configurable, geospatially aware, ample resources How we made a choice … It helps to have a network of • knowledgeable professionals How is it going? •
Policy – The Dark Hole of Technology • Setting reasonable technology policies– it not as easy as it sounds to balance the needs and rights of the agency with user’s perceptions…
Managing expectations and communications … • Setting expectations with the senior executives and staff. The NCIS syndrome … • We are not magicians; we are __________? • We like to say: It is not technology, it’s culture! • Struggling with the world of “Alternative Facts”
Help Desk and Security … • Help Desk, Training, ‐ one of the more visible metrics • Cyber security – Surviving a ransomware attack twice and other stories.
E‐mail, Web Resources and Software… E‐mail ‐ it was never designed to be used this way! Trying to • navigate from MS Exchange on premise to hosted services. My mailbox is full … • Web resources – how to manage over 30 web page editors, • supporting multiple web sites and not spend any money, all at the same time. ShareFile and S‐Fax: two worthy applications • IrfanView – my personal favorite. • The role of Libre Office •
Change and Transformation • Change is threatening, it makes folks uncomfortable • The greater the change the greater the discomfort • Change can be overwhelming, some folks will tilt! • Magic and Science … “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clarke • Technologist are agents of change.
What to do next … • Public Safety regionalization – if we could just get that grant… • IT architecture – consolidate those domains and external access points • Network monitoring – we have the software; now we only need to make it work • Expanding the technology footprint to serve the county’s mission; where is the best ROI vs where can we do the most good. The often hidden indirect cost of technology • An appropriate disaster recovery plan …
The Evolution of 9 ‐ 1 ‐ 1 Technology and the Potential Role of a Collaborative, Multi ‐ jurisdictional Public Safety GIS in Northern Idaho Idaho Geospatial Council Bi ‐ Annual Meeting 1 November 2016, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho By Bill Harp, Director Bonner County Technology Department bharp@bonnercountyid.gov
The Framework of the Next Generation of 9 ‐ 1 ‐ 1 Technology • Multijurisdictional collaboration is critical • Cell and smart phones change everything • GIS and IP technology will therefore play an increasingly important role in 9 ‐ 1 ‐ 1 – real time video, VoIP, photos, audio files and other forms of digital media at the PSAP 9-1-1 calls come from cell phones more often than landlines. Even in – Bonner County, which is pretty much a rural area, 70% of the calls are from cell phones. – major geospatial problem in correctly locating the emergency caller with a high level of accuracy and a high level of success.
Common Operational Picture • Standard addressing system, unified road names and precise jurisdictional boundaries for shared and collaborative situation awareness. • “one map, one fight.”
GIS and Public Safety • One of the key solutions can be solved by a shared, multi ‐ jurisdictional GIS • GIS increasingly important to agencies and staff regardless of where your position in the decision making matrix • Technologist at the table – a bridge too far …
A grant … • IPSCC – Idaho Public Safety Communications Commission • An invitation to Boundary, Bonner, Kootenai, Benewah and Shoshone counties and the Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls municipalities to participate • Each jurisdiction would control their data and updates and all jurisdictions would share and benefit from their work.
Project components … • Esri’s ArcGIS Server • Robust data server with redundant data drive arrays • Ample connectivity to handle the public safety traffic. • Hosted centrally to the participatory jurisdictions • A designated location for fail over • Application similar to the existing Bonner County Interactive Mapping system use by the Bonner County 9 ‐ 1 ‐ 1 center and found at: http://maps.bonnercounty.us/apps/public/ •
Thank you … By Bill Harp, Director Bonner County Government, Technology Department bharp@bonnercountyid.gov
Land Use in Bonner County
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