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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: October 24, 2006 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. 3 <br />SUBJECT: Information Technology Updates <br />DEPARTMENT: Manager/Information PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />Technology <br />ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Scanning Investigation Memo Rod Visser, 919-245-2308 <br />Collaborative PC Purchasing Memo Todd Jones, 919-245-2285 <br />Field Computer Assessment Tool Memo <br />PowerPoint Slides/Notes - Website <br />Upgrades <br />PURPOSE: To update the County Commissioners on specific Information Technology <br />initiatives. <br />BACKGROUND: At the Work Session on August 31, 2006, the Board of County <br />Commissioners requested updates on a number of staff initiatives relating to Information <br />Technologies. These initiatives include: <br />• An investigation into potential opportunities to leverage scanning and business process <br />automation. The attached memo includes details on the initial findings of a scanning <br />working group. The key finding is the critical need to ensure that any scanning and <br />automation project be sufficiently resourced, not just financially, but also in staff time from <br />both IT and the department(s) whose processes are to be automated. <br />• An investigation into potential efficiencies from joint personal computer purchasing with <br />Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools. The attached memo <br />includes an update on collaborative efforts to date with the school system and how <br />Orange County can pursue purchasing initiatives with government agencies across the <br />state and even across the nation. <br />• An investigation into an assessment tool for determining opportunities for field <br />technologies. The attached memo provides an update on business analysis techniques <br />that are currently being used to assess automation opportunities and an explanation of <br />how those techniques are being used to assess the most effective applications of field <br />technologies. <br />Staff have also prepared an additional presentation on website enhancement initiatives currently <br />underway. A working group, composed of departmental webmasters, has been migrating web <br />pages towards a new centrally managed model. The goals of these initiatives are: to make the <br />web site more citizen focused; to implement a mechanism by which.the look and feel of the <br />website can be centrally managed; to increase accessibility of web based information; and to <br />increase the efficiency of maintaining web information. <br />