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Orange County Information Technologies Strategic Plan 13 <br /> These commercial offerings, sometimes known as <br /> Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) programs are mature, <br /> fully featured and offer strong vendor support. <br /> In order to address this shift, OCIT needs to continue to <br /> evolve its expertise for project management, including <br /> requirements analysis, contract evaluation, and vendor <br /> management. <br /> Some remaining enhancement and small-scale <br /> development will persist. These enhancement activities <br /> should focus on current technologies, such as the <br /> MicroSoft .net environment, java and Python. <br /> Orange County needs to address application <br /> development that is performed by departments outside of <br /> IT. The current lack of formal development methodology <br /> creates a significant exposure for the County. This ad hoc <br /> approach to software development produces application <br /> code that is difficult to maintain and troubleshoot by <br /> persons other than the original developer. Should that <br /> singular resource become unavailable, departmental <br /> processes could be adversely affected, recovery time <br /> lengthy and cost of recovery significant. <br /> Orange County must ensure that all development <br /> activities are conducted within a framework of proven <br /> formal software development methodologies, including full <br /> design documentation, regression testing, code review, <br /> release management and a full life cycle support plan. <br /> With such a development context in place, Orange <br /> County can ensure these business critical applications <br /> are supportable beyond the availability of a single <br /> resource. <br /> Business Analysis <br /> Because of the recommended emphasis on implementing <br /> COTS applications, there is a need for business analysis <br /> within OCIT. This business analysis requires the adoption <br /> of new skillsets, which will become the underlying <br /> methodology by which new technologies are researched <br /> and deployed. <br /> Page 12 of 25 2/9/2009 <br />