IT Governance Arrangement

Centralized

Central IT Office

Office of Information Technology (OIT)
OIT is within the Department of Administrative and Financial Services and was established in 2005 by an executive order from the Governor. It consists of three main departments:

• Agency Service Center - There are nine agency IT directors (AITD) who provide management and business interfaces to one or more agencies. AITDs are responsible for building a strong partnership between OIT and the agency, and provide IT leadership within the agencies. Core enterprise services will be delivered via the OIT Core Technology Services group, allowing the AITDs the critically needed time to focus on building a strategic IT plan that maps to the agencies’ key business initiatives.
• OIT Core Technology Services - Many of the services previously provided or managed at the individual agency level are now managed centrally as part of an enterprise delivery structure. The department provides all enterprise type services, managed centrally, including Client Technologies Services, Application Services, Operations Services, Network Services, and Radio Services.
• OIT Administrative Center – The Administrative Center provides policy level services, administration, performance management, project management services, and e-government.

State CIO

State CIO

Under the 2005 executive order, all IT personnel were transferred to the central IT office under the purview of the State CIO. The State CIO is appointed by the commissioner of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services. The State CIO’s main responsibilities are to direct, coordinate, and oversee IT policy making, planning, architecture, and standardization. In addition, the State CIO is charged and empowered with the responsibility to evaluate opportunities for unified, enterprise IT initiatives and to recommend and implement such initiatives on behalf of the administration. Similarly, he or she is charged with exploring opportunities for consolidation of IT infrastructure and services and aggregation of resources among departments. The State CIO also approves hiring of all IT positions within the executive branch of the government. In addition, he or she is responsible for producing an annual report detailing the state of IT in the state of Maine.

Roles of other agencies in state IT management

State Agencies
State agencies prepare IT budgets with extensive assistance from the OIT. These budgets are then submitted to the Governor, who makes changes as needed with the help of the state budget officer. Upon the Governor’s approval, the state budget officer prepares a budget that is then submitted to the legislature.

Department of Administrative and Financial Services
The Division of Purchases within the Department of Administrative and Financial Services handles all procurement of IT.

Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability
The Office conducts reviews and audits at the request of the legislature’s Oversight Committee. However, there is not one legislative body with responsibility for overseeing the planning and management of the IT enterprise.

Coordination Mechanisms

CIO Council
The CIO Council was established in 2005 by the same executive order that established the Office of Information Technology. It is chaired by the State CIO, who maintains a charter for the Council that defines the duties, structure, governance, and process of the work to be performed. Members are identified and appointed by the State CIO, including representatives of both large and small executive branch agencies, a representative from a constitutional office, and any other entities identified by the State CIO. The council’s role is to facilitate communication and advise the State CIO.

The Executive Steering Committee
The Committee is a group of high level state government leaders responsible for providing strategic direction by way of aligning IT operations with state governmental business needs.

InforME Board
The Board reviews and approves all Service Level Agreements with state and municipal agencies. The Board also develops each of InforME's two-year strategic plans and provides input about InforME's priorities and policies. There are seventeen members, consisting of the Secretary of State; chief executive officers from several state agencies; the State CIO, chair; the State Librarian; a representative from both the House and Senate; a representative from the judicial branch; and eight representatives from various organizations outside of state government.

Current IT Governance framework

The 2005 restructuring was meant to “transform planning and management of IT from fragmented, agency-specific operations to integrated enterprise operations. The administration had four goals that motivated the overhaul:

• Enterprise philosophy for delivering services
• Improved effectiveness and efficiency
• IT budget savings required
• Internal assessment:

"The pace of the consolidation has been slow, steady, and with some bumps in the road. Agency Managers perceive lost ‘flexibility’ in staff assignment and in managing IT expenditures. The ability to direct immediate attention and finances to specific needs and priorities is now considered to be more cumbersome. No longer can necessary IT expenditures be deferred to accomplish other priorities, particularly if infrastructure is placed at risk. These decisions now rest with OIT. The culture changes on staff and government as a whole have challenged the new management team.”

2006 Annual Report