State and local government officials, as individuals, cannot change the environmental factors that make public sector work so complicated. They can however, try to mitigate their negative consequences. The principles and practices described in Tying a sensible knot can help government managers avoid or reduce many problems. The additional recommendations which follow are designed to capitalize on both the findings of this study and the infrastructure-building work already underway in New York State.

Figure 3, an expansion of figure 2, shows several classes of recommendations for counteracting the consequences of the systemic and environmental conditions outlined earlier. While no single government manager can change these systemic and environmental conditions, their consequences can be ameliorated by well-targeted actions that focus on technical infrastructure building, information sharing, and human resource development and support.

Figure 3. Recommendations for Mitigating Systemic Problems

NYT. The Governor’s Task Force commitment to create a statewide Intranet, the NYT, is the essential foundation for a truly government-wide technical infrastructure. This statewide network can provide both state and local agencies with a secure, standardized system from which to operate a variety of applications. To promote its use and benefits, we recommend the implementation of the NYT be accompanied by:

• extensive outreach and education to local government decision makers about its benefits, costs, and uses
• formal training programs for local users and technical staff
• a purchasing program that encourages local governments to acquire the hardware and software needed to connect to and take advantage of the NYT and the applications that will run on it
• demonstration applications that illustrate to small jurisdictions the benefits of participating in a standard statewide technical infrastructure

Technology and data standards. With technology standards agencies can feel more secure in their procurement decisions and be better prepared to upgrade or integrate their systems with other agencies if the opportunities arise. The continuing efforts by the Task Force to establish and maintain technology standards should include more local government participation, efforts to promote the use of the standards, and education and peer consulting to help organizations adopt the standards as they acquire new systems. The goal is not to impose rigid technology standards on agencies or local government, but rather to establish “preferred standards” to promote interoperability and cost savings.

Technical workforce assessment. A Governor’s Task Force work group recently released a report outlining a broad IT workforce strategy for NYS which states “NYS needs to develop an ‘enterprise-wide’ approach to IT workforce planning, elevate it as a state priority and develop an investment strategy for our workforce which is commensurate with our investment in technology.” The findings of this project strongly support that recommendation. A problem that continually surfaced as we talked with agencies was the difficulty of acquiring, and the high risk of losing, expert technical staff. New York State should conduct a technical workforce assessment that documents the current situation, projects future needs, recommends actions that will lead to better recruitment, development, and retention of technical staff, as well as more effective use of contracts.

Throughout our research we were struck by the lack of cross communication among the projects, even though many were dealing with the same local governments or exploring similar technical solutions. Any project could benefit from easy access to information about systems projects in other agencies and other parts of the country. In addition, local participants often pointed out the need for more complete and frequent basic information about projects that would affect them. These recommendations address both kinds of communication needs:

Current practice and peer reviews. The Task Force has already initiated peer review of major systems initiatives and conducts best practice information sessions for selected application types. We recommend both of these efforts be expanded by:

• sponsoring periodic voluntary peer review sessions designed to help project managers identify and take advantage of the experience of others as they define and design new systems.
• sponsoring a Web site that contains up to date descriptions and contact information about current state-local systems projects.

Ongoing communications and information exchange with local governments. A special effort was undertaken by the Special Work Group to understand and recommend improvements in communications between state and local governments. These recommendations include:

• Use local government associations to communicate with their members. There are at least 50 different organizations and associations for local government, all of which communicate with their memberships on a routine basis. Since these associations and organizations regularly communicate with their members, it makes sense for the State to take advantage of that existing communication network by providing associations with specific information for inclusion in their newsletters or bulletins, and participating in professional workshops and conferences sponsored by associations.
• Develop an electronic directory that directs users to the appropriate locations for specific mailing lists. State and local agencies and associations maintain and update mailing lists of their employees or members. An electronic directory that links users to agency and/or association Web sites, mailing lists or contacts within an agency or association would help users reach their intended audiences without requiring them to reinvent or duplicate existing mailing lists. Such a centralized electronic directory would also help users determine what organizations they should contact regarding specific projects or information without requiring them to recompile specific mailing lists for each topic.
• Consider developing a hierarchical system to communicate information at the highest technical level that users can accept, with an eye toward adopting an electronic communication standard in the future. Currently, the majority of local governments are not accessible through the Internet, with some of them still inaccessible by fax. However, New York State is moving toward use of the Internet or a statewide intranet to do business with local governments. Development of a hierarchical system, that would communicate with local governments and/or associations at the highest technological level that they are capable of accepting (i.e., first by e-mail, then fax, and finally paper), would progressively reduce production and mailing costs. Such a system could be housed on the NYT and funded in the same manner. Finally, adoption of a date after which communications will become electronic would inform localities of State government’s direction and would provide localities and associations with an eventuality for which to plan. This recommendation requires further study as it may require significant planning and resources to fully implement.

The world of public management is dramatically changing. Traditional government services provided by a single agency are giving way to complex service programs that require many exchanges of information involving not only public agencies but often private and nonprofit organizations as well. Most of these rely on sophisticated information systems as well as new policies. The best practices guidelines produced by this project amply illustrate the importance of partnerships, collaboration, and entrepreneurship in bringing state-local system initiatives to successful implementation. In addition, public managers now face the complexity of negotiating and then managing contracts for functions and services they traditionally operated themselves. All of this calls for new management skills that take advantage of information as the key resource that ties all these parties together.

Public managers would greatly benefit from a well-organized program of training and development that prepares them to guide projects from inception to evaluation in this complex new environment. We discovered several “natural” managers in the projects we studied, along with creative tools and techniques that were being invented by project teams. We have tried to capture as much of this as possible in the guidelines. However, reading a handbook is a poor substitute for engaging in formal education that conveys concepts, teaches skills, and offers opportunities to apply and refine them. A formal project management program could be incorporated into existing management development programs at the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations, or could take other forms. A number of resources already exist in New York State that could be drawn upon to create and sustain this program. These include GOER, the NYS Forum for Information Resource Management, SUNY campuses, state agency training offices, and the Center for Technology in Government.