Topics: 

PM-13-002 Enterprise Application

Issue Date:  12/06/2012

Revision Effective Date:  5/01/2013

PURPOSE

The broadest impacts to citizens when making technology decisions are often obtained by crossing agency boundaries. For example, integrated IT operations have achieved cost savings for the State thereby reducing the burden for taxpayer support. Similarly,

business applications with scopes that cross agency boundaries can align information technologies with multiple business needs and achieve additional efficiencies for the State not available with multiple versions of an application operated by separate agencies or through separate vendor contracts.

Management of an application which serves multiple agencies requires appropriate consideration of each stakeholder agency and, in aggregate, all stakeholder agencies as well.

When single business need, or a group of related needs, spans agencies, the needs can be best served for the good of the State when the agencies join together to manage the application. Agencies may need to form common business practices so that expensive IT applications are not continually the subject of fragmentation of purpose via modification. The type of governance employed must be based on transparency of planning, priority setting, enablement of operations to better manage the investments, risks of development and operations to provide a single person or group with the ability to see the costs, resources and timeframes needed to achieve a desired result. An industry best practice in this area of “technology enterprise management” is the formation of an application governance council to perform functions known as “technology portfolio management.” A like governing body exists today for the TeamWorks Enterprise Application called the Strategic Partner Council (SPC), operated under the State Accounting Office’s authority for the enterprise applications concerning accounting, payroll and human capital (Official Code of Georgia Annotated 50-5B, 3 and 4). SPC sets the priority on enterprise rollouts and projects at or over 1 million dollars concerning the TeamWorks application.

This policy provides for the oversight and governance of Enterprise Applications in the State of Georgia.

POLICY

The Georgia Technology Authority shall establish oversight and governance consistent with principles of technology enterprise management and technology portfolio management for those State of Georgia’s business applications which warrant transparent, consolidated governance due to the complexity of needs of the various stakeholder agencies, their criticality to the State, their value and impact to citizens, or their continuing need for State investment.

It is the intent of the Board of Georgia Technology Authority that:

  1. Enterprise Applications shall be designated by the State CIO,
  2. The State CIO shall be responsible for the governance of Enterprise Applications, and
  3. The Georgia Technology Authority shall publish standards to implement this policy.

RELATED ENTERPRISE POLICIES, STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES

Enterprise Application Creation and Management (SM-13-003)

TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Technology Enterprise Management - Methods for managing technology resources for all agencies considering the priorities of state planners, with an emphasis on making communications and sharing of data among agencies feasible and ensuring opportunities of greater access to state services by the public.

[O.C.G. A. 50-25-1(b)(13)]

Technology Portfolio Management - An approach for analyzing and ranking potential technology investments based upon state priorities and a cost benefit analysis to include, but not be limited to, calculated savings, direct and indirect, and revenue generation

related to technology expenditures and selecting the most cost-effective investments. The minimization of total ownership costs, i.e., purchase, operation, maintenance, and disposal, of technology resources from acquisition through retirement while maximizing benefits is to be emphasized.

[O. C. G. A. 50-25-1(b)(15)