GETS Update - September 3, 2010

Georgia Enterprise Technology Services (GETS) Update

Volume 2, Issue No. 18

September 3, 2010

A first for Georgia: An enterprise approach to disaster recovery

Last month, we completed the most comprehensive disaster recovery exercise ever conducted in Georgia state government. Nine GETS full-service agencies participated and dedicated resources to the exercise. Throughout 2010, agencies and GTA have been working with IBM to develop the state's first enterprise approach to disaster recovery.

Disaster recovery capabilities are one of the key components of this enterprise solution. The state was woefully deficient in this area prior to the GETS program.

The exercise took place over the course of four days beginning Monday, August 16, and encompassed about 100 information systems and nearly 40 applications. The aim was to identify vulnerabilities and areas needing improvement. Here are a few examples of the tasks accomplished during the 96-hour exercise:

Restored, recovered and successfully tested 12 applications on the IBM mainframe
Restored, recovered and completed configuration and a database health check on the AS/400, a mid-range server
Confirmed the correct hardware and operating system configuration for more than 94 servers
Configured UNIX and Windows servers to meet the specification requirements of state of Georgia applications
Built, configured and restored backup servers to support restorations of UNIX and Windows servers
Restored 29 UNIX operating systems and 45 Windows operating systems
Restored 14 UNIX and Windows applications

I appreciate agencies' support of a strong disaster recovery program - one of the cornerstones of our IT transformation. We will look to the test results and the lessons we learned to help us set priorities for our next steps.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Patrick Moore
State Chief Information Officer
GTA Executive Director

Survey of state CIOs raises familiar issues

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO)recently released the results of its 2010 survey of state CIOs. Here are a few highlights from the findings:

Two-thirds of CIOs expect lower IT budgets over the next few years. As a result, just about every state is using or considering some form of outsourcing, shared services or managed services.
The role of the CIO is changing to encompass an enterprise perspective, and CIOs are beginning to engage more actively in dialogues with state budget directors about transformation and cost savings.
CIOs are beginning to look at public-private partnerships, particularly for data centers, and they are talking more about outsourcing, even in states where union or political issues would previously have prevented it.
CIOs expect to expand managed services but agree that most states lack sufficient skill in conducting IT procurements. They also believe the contracts must be managed more effectively, which means states need to adjust their skill sets from service provider to service manager.
Many CIOs do not have tools to measure IT performance effectively.

From consolidation and shrinking budgets to procurement and service management, states across the nation are facing the same issues Georgia has faced. Even more significantly, Georgia seems to be farther down the road in responding to the issues and taking action.

Many states are now beginning to agree that at least some form of partnership with private-sector service providers is a viable solution. Meanwhile, Georgia is more than three years into its IT transformation with more than a year of implementation under our belts. We are already seeing significant changes. The state has been able to sustain agency IT funding through our privatization initiative and by working closely with state budget officials. Extensive service level agreements, operational metrics and customer service surveys are giving us the objective data we need to ensure service delivery.

The 2010 state CIO survey results serve as a reminder of the serious IT concerns states share. If you would like more details, please see the

report published by NASCIO.

Protecting against malware

Employee computers in full-service GETS agencies are receiving up-to-date anti-virus software to protect against all forms of malicious software (malware), including viruses, Trojans, bots, worms, spyware and adware. It complements other efforts, such as data encryption on laptops and tablets, aimed at enhancing security for employees' computers.

The GETS Customer Resource Center on the GTA website features Frequently Asked Questions about anti-virus updates, malware and what users can do to help prevent computer virus infection.

September 30 and October 1
Intercontinental Buckhead Atlanta
Only $25 for public-sector employees
Planned specifically for managers, executives and policy makers
For breakout session topics, keynote speakers and registration information, visit the Summit website