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CDT Annual Report Hits Familiar Themes

“One digital government securely delivered by a dynamic workforce.” That theme is prominently featured in the California Department of Technology’s newly published 2017 annual report — and it’s a familiar one to those who follow CDT’s public messaging at various tech and vendor forums.

“One digital government securely delivered by a dynamic workforce.”

That theme is prominently featured in the California Department of Technology’s newly published 2017 annual report — and it’s a familiar one to those who follow CDT’s public messaging at various tech and vendor forums. It’s a thread that was also woven through the department’s “Vision 2020” plan, which was released in November.

Under the leadership of state CIO Amy Tong and Deputy CIO Chris Cruz, the CDT’s recap of 2017 — a 25-page document that can be viewed in its entirety here — highlights the department’s initiatives and touts its successes. The details of various programs and changes are fleshed out under four main headings:

Improving Public Safety and the Security of Sensitive Information Assets. In this area, the report cites four key principles: Measuring cybersecurity effectiveness; managing a comprehensive audit program; protecting critical infrastructure and assets through the opening of the state’s new Security Operations Center; and enhancing security through hybrid cloud strategy.

Enabling Successful Project Establishment and Delivery. “The state created new standards and methodologies to further enhance project delivery, encouraging agile practices, shared services, and statewide procurement agreements. California also adopted a human-centered design approach to ensure technology projects achieve business objectives while improving customer experience and engagement.”

Fostering a Dynamic and Unified Technology Workforce. “California continues to build an engaged, skilled, and dynamic technology workforce that supports the delivery of continuously evolving government services,” the report says. The year was a challenging one as the “silver tsunami” of retiring state workers led to steady turnover in some key executive leadership positions. The state beefed up its offerings through education, technical training, leadership academies, apprenticeships and mentoring opportunities, including the creation of the Project Management Leadership Academy, which was modeled after the longstanding Information Technology Leadership Academy, a program that has spawned dozens of CIOs and agency information officers (AIOs) since its creation 25 years ago. The CDT also plays an ongoing role in the state’s ongoing realignment of IT job descriptions and classifications.

Providing Efficient and Effective Government Services Through Innovation. “The state continues to meet these expectations by providing secure government services through innovative solutions, shared knowledge, and the expanded availability of data and open source solutions,” the report says. “The state also continues to enhance user experiences by redesigning and standardizing its websites to help the public quickly access information they need. Additionally, the state continues to build a sustainable California by reducing its environmental footprint through energy efficient operations, renewable energy generation at state facilities, environmentally preferable state purchasing, and sustainable state-owned vehicles.”

“Measuring performance” is a theme that Deputy CIO Cruz, especially, emphasized in many contexts during 2017. The annual report cites the California Cybersecurity Maturity Metrics program as “an objective way to measure the effectiveness of each state entity’s cybersecurity program. Administered by CDT’s Office of Information Security (OIS), the maturity metrics cover foundational elements that are common among successful cybersecurity programs — e.g., policies, governance and system categorization. The maturity metrics include 34 key controls and focus on measures that provide the highest return on investment. “As a result, state entities will benefit from greater cybersecurity visibility, better decision-making, and greater efficiencies in resource allocation and overall security spending,” the report says. And it offers a sneak preview of a CDT dashboard — which will be available in the fall — that will include the maturity scores of individual entities, rolling up to the agency and statewide level.

Another key accomplishment cited in CDT’s report was the launch of the first-ever statewide Security Operations Center (SOC). “The center protects against malicious activity targeting the California Government Enterprise Network (CGEN), which is the state’s wide-area network, as well as IT systems owned or managed by CDT,” the report says. “This 24/7/365 operation utilizes a unique staffing model to continuously monitor for malicious activity.” The SOC works in partnership with the California Cyber Security Integration Center (Cal-CSIC), under the Office of Emergency Services.

The legalization of cannabis in 2017 prompted the state to create a cross-agency team — consisting of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC), the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), and CDT — to create “a statewide architecture to ensure a coordinated and collaborative approach to licensing cannabis. In December 2017, BCC, CDFA, and CDPH successfully launched online licensing services for retailers, distributors, testing laboratories, microbusinesses, cultivators, nurseries, processors, and manufacturers. These services provide the capability to efficiently regulate cannabis businesses, track trends and patterns, and document investigations and enforcement actions. These online services enable businesses and consumers to more easily and efficiently participate in the regulated cannabis industry.”

Other key themes cited in the annual report include modernizing IT procurement, improving the adoption of IT accessibility standards and modernizing California’s financial management system. In the financial management area, limitations of legacy systems spurred the California Department of Finance (DOF), in partnership with the Department of General Services (DGS), State Controller’s Office (SCO), and State Treasurer’s Office (STO), to jointly develop the Financial Information System for California (FI$Cal). The FI$Cal System re-engineered and consolidated the state’s entire financial management process into a single financial management system, encompassing budgeting, accounting, procurement, cash management, vendor management, and asset accounting functions.

The report also details IT innovations and initiatives to streamline the online user experience for those doing business with, among others, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the state parks system.

The CDT report is stuffed with colorful infographics and by-the-numbers sidebars. Techwire will be doing “deep dives” into several aspects of the report in coming weeks.

 

Dennis Noone is Executive Editor of Industry Insider. He is a career journalist, having worked at small-town newspapers and major metropolitan dailies including USA Today in Washington, D.C.