Edited By Bob Monn
September 1999 Board Meeting | A Report from the Executive Seminar
Web EXTRA! -- Kolodney Returns to DIS
September 1999 Board Meeting Minutes
Members Present: Jim Albert, Thomas Bynum, Phil Coates, Phil Grigg, Dennis Laine, Mike McVicker, Bob Monn, Don Price, Darrel Riffe, Shelagh Taylor
Shelagh Taylor, IPMA Chair, opened the September 9, 1999 meeting of the Board at 7:45 a.m.
REPORTS
Secretary: The minutes from the August Board meeting were approved.
Treasurer’s Report: Phil Coates distributed the monthly financial activity report and the Board approved the report.
Business Planning: Shelagh Taylor presented the monthly investment report. She reported that IPMA's broker recommends the purchase of additional stock. Jim Albert was directed to discuss with the broker a potential restructuring of IPMA's stock portfolio which would maintain the current level of stock investment.
Phil Coates reported on discussions with IPMA's accountant regarding the process and requirements to obtain federal tax exempt status. Phil noted that the process is projected to take 3-4 months to complete. He noted that IPMA may need a state agency to sponsor Forum 2000 in the event IPMA is unable to complete this process in time to sign the contract with St Martin's College. Mike McVicker reported that he is pursuing potential DIS sponsorship of Forum. Mike has requested the DIS contracts officer to review the Saint Martin's contract. The only apparent contract issue is liability; DIS may require an agreement with IPMA re liability.
Shelagh Taylor also noted that she would contact Judy Schneider, former IPMA Chair, to obtain any available draft materials for the 1998 IPMA Annual Report.
Executive Seminar: Darrel Riffe reported that the agenda has been confirmed, registration is full, and a confirmation letter has been sent to participants.
Forum: Jim Andersen reported that the contract with Saint Martin's College is ready for signature. He provided a detailed report on the logistical planning for the May 2000 Forum. He reported that the gym would be used for corporate sponsor and vendor booths and the Worthington Center would be used for seminars. Jim is working with GES to provide larger corporate sponsor booths.
Professional Development: (Dennis Laine had to leave the Board meeting earlier.) Bob Monn reported that a professional development event had been held on September 2. The topic was network security and excellent presentations were made by Cisco Systems and Breakwater Security Asscociates. Approximately 30 persons attended the event. This marked the final IPMA event to be held at the Tyee Hotel which was scheduled to close at the end of the month.
Bob also reported that the next professional development event would be conducted by Department of Ecology staff on October 7 at Ecology's Lacey facility. The topic will be Disaster Recovery Lessons Learned from Ecology's May 1999 Fire.
Communications: Bob Monn noted that the October newsletter would be devoted to the September Board meeting summary and a report on the Executive Seminar. He also noted the creation of the IPMA listserv.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:45.
--Meeting summary prepared by Bob Monn for Mary Ellen Bradley, Secretary
A Report from the IPMA Executive Seminar
September 15-17, 1999
by Mary Ellen Bradley
In September IPMA conducted another successful Executive Seminar. Here is a brief look at the proceedings. Copies of slides from various presentations will be available on the IPMA web site (http://www.ipma-wa.com/) in the near future.
Darrel Riffe, |
Phil Grigg, |
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Louis Cooper, Jr.
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Tim Sinclair, General Manager, Microsoft.Com
The Making of Microsoft.Com and Related War Stories
Tim Sinclair discussed the challenges of managing a Web site in 52 countries, dealing with 28 different languages, 300 sites and 300,000 pages. Microsoft.com is growing at a 5 – 10 % rate each month. Their mission is to "Enable Microsoft to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. Like all Web sites they want to:
- Extend reach to the customers;
- Have an effective marketing vehicle;
- Build on-line customer relationships;
- Showcase technology.
Tim stressed the importance of:
- Designing for customers. Use focus groups / prototypes, usability studies and customer satisfaction surveys to find out what customers want.
- Use a good search engine;
- Use time-driven projects. Keep projects to those that can be completed in 90 days.
- Personalize subscriptions and sites;
- Provide good up-time; availability should be the Number One goal;
- Get customer feedback.
Bill McGlynn, Sr. VP, Hewlett Packard
A Look into the Future of the Digital Workplace
with Web-Based Internet Services
Bill McGlynn showed how much things in IT have changed by comparing the current HP laser printer with the original produced 15 years ago. The new printers are 1/10 the price, smaller, lighter and can scan, fax and copy as well as print.
Bill shared the following trends:
- Printers, copiers and fax machines will become one machine.
- Fax and communications are merging. You can now scan an image and send it e-mail with a digital
sender.
- Publishing is changing and is becoming electronic. You can have books-to-order. You can choose the font and print size and
then have it printed on the spot. This saves inventory and is less wasteful than traditional means of publishing.
- More and more people will work from home. This saves on office space and overhead.
State Representative Cathy Wolfe
A Legislative Update
State Representative, Cathy Wolfe, is also a current member of the Information Sservices Board. Cathy stressed how pleased she was that the Legislature approved IT salary increases this year. The legislature also funded higher education so that the state will have more IT graduates. Cathy feels that Washington is the "Number One Digital State" and pointed to the fact that we have won the Digital State Award for two years in a row and that Access Washington is up and running and providing government services.
Cathy said that the Governor expects as many on-line services as possible as quickly as possible. If people can buy a house on the Internet, they will not want to stand in line to get government services. Government needs to build internal efficiencies. Beginning in June 2000, customers should be able to obtain Master Business licenses and vehicle license tabs on-line. Employment Security, Revenue and Labor and Industries will be adding services to those that are already available. The deputy directors group will be working for the next two years on electronic government issues.
Cathy does not expect a technology agenda in the legislature next year. It will be a short session, it is not a budget year and I-695 is on the ballet.
The ISB will be working on e-commerce policies beginning with an October 6th meeting where it will be brainstorming what it will take to make it work. Some issues are:
- Security;
- Cash management;
- Privacy;
- ADA compliance;
- Archives.
Cathy asked for IPMA to help with these issues.
Cathy announced that she is planning to run for Thurston County Commission but will be involved with state issues for the next year and a half. She challenged us to work with her to make her remaining time in the Legislature valuable and to help her accomplish as much as possible.
There was a dialog with the group and suggestions were made to work on new funding methods for strategic IT initiatives and to improve higher education IT salaries.
Barry Hutt, Dell e-Commerce Services
Best Practices - Designing and Deploying
Commercial and Public Web Sites
Barry Hutt told the audience how important it is for any company to have an Internet presence. Technology can make our lives easier but it also can make them more complex. The Internet is about networks, information, distribution and money.
The objectives for Dell in the use of the Internet are to make it easier for customers, reduce the cost for both parties and to enhance customer relationships. They have 24/7 availability and have customized 27,000 pages for customers.
Dell measures their results to ensure that they get a good Return on Investment and that they meet customers needs.
Clare Donahue, Acting Director, DIS
Paul Taylor, Deputy Director, DIS
Toward Digital Government: Opportunity, Urgency and Legacy
Opportunity: IT has an opportunity now because business is driving e-commerce. They are asking for IT assistance to make this happen.
Urgency: Internet time is fast time and we can’t afford to lose our edge.
Legacy: Legacy means making old systems integrate with the new. It is also something that we leave behind.
Digital government must change how citizens relate to government. Citizens expect government to be responsive to their needs. They also expect that government will have savings by using technology.
DIS has accomplished much in developing the needed infrastructure:
- Storefront/Portal – Access Washington;
- Trust – Authentication, access control, public keys, encryption and audits;
- Payment Methods – credit cards, e-checks, Internet bill presentation.
DIS' strategic agenda includes:
- Storefront/Portal – Phase II of Access Washington. This would include personalized access. Mass customization will make the end-to-end experience for citizens better.
- Inside Washington – Will help internal government operations by supporting agencies links to each other.
- Assist with agency applications such as the Master Business License Application.
- Improve infrastructure such as security architecture, use of the technology lab and digital signatures.
DIS is working on e-commerce payment methods such as a state credit card engine and agency pilot for Internet bill presentation and payment.
Chang Mook Sohn, Director, State Economic Forecast Council
State Economic Forecast
Economic conditions continue to look good. Gross Domestic Product is expected to grow close to 4 % during the second half of 1999. We are in the ninth year of economic expansion. Washington employment is projected to increase 1.7% in 1999 and 1.5% in 2000. Some potential problems could be the stock market "bubble", consumer overspending and the widening trade deficit.
State revenue has been growing at a healthy 6.75% during the past 12 months. This includes retail sales, vehicle excise tax, use tax and the public utility tax. Dr. Sohn expects continued growth in the general fund based on 1% growth in population and 1.5% productivity growth. The state has a huge investment in high-tech. We know that productivity is increasing but it is hard to measure.
Jerry McInturff, Dept. of Revenue Internal Auditor
Julian Soh, Information Systems Audit Manager,
and Colin Corbin, Financial Review Coordinator
Cyberhacking...Lessons for Management
Hackers use freeware available on the net, most of it aimed at getting passwords. One tool they demonstrated was L0phtcrack. Within minutes passwords were returned from the system. They stressed that no system is entirely secure.
Protection methods include login Ids and passwords, encryption, and firewalls. It is important to have secure systems to maintain data integrity, prevent theft and maintain service. Hackers can access through the Internet, dialup, or physical connections. Electronic intruders include disgruntled employees, contractors, hackers and insufficiently trained employees. They can attack by sniffing, password cracking, Syncflood, Ping of Death (keeps pinging a computer and prevents others from accessing it), feature exploitation, port scanning and social engineering.
They enumerated the following vulnerabilities:
- Passwords too short/simple/obvious;
- Login accounts of people no longer in the organization are being left activated;
- Lack of data Encryption;
- Lack of system monitoring tools;
- Insufficiently trained security/audit personnel;
- Shared login accounts (passwords);
- Dial-up Login password is a general password;
- Not using screen saver passwords.
Prevention – Management Perspective:
- Set the tone at the top. Management must take security seriously.
- Organizational structure;
- Budgeting;
- External Review (Penetration tests);
- Recovery Plan and Backups.
Prevention – Technical Perspective:
- Reliable backups (testing);
- Hardware redundancy / clustering;
- System monitoring / sniffing;
- Diligent maintenance of accounts;
- Physically restrict core systems.
Their conclusion was that nothing is 100% secure and that you must have an insurance policy. You need backups.
Return to Top of October 1999 IPMA News
Web EXTRA! -- Kolodney Returns to DIS
On September 14, Governor Locke announced that Steve Kolodney would return to his former post as Director of the Department of Information Services. More....
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