Department of Information Technology
At a Glance
DIANE S.
WALLACE, Chief Information Officer
Established - 1997
Statutory authority – C.G.S. Sec. 4d
Central
office
East Hartford , CT 06108
Number of employees - 248
Recurring operating expenses
General Fund - $16,375,387
Technical Services
Revolving Fund - $35,966,911
Organizational structure -
DOIT consists of eight divisions, including the Office of the Chief Information Officer, Business Development Divisions I, II and III, Security Division, Network and Distributed Systems, Operations, and Architecture and Standards.
The
mission of the Department of Information Technology is to provide quality
information technology (IT) services and solutions to customers, effectively
aligning business and technology objectives through collaboration, in order to
provide the most cost-effective solutions that facilitate and improve the
conduct of business for our state residents, businesses, visitors and government
entities.
Statutory
Responsibility
- DOIT was created to make the State of Connecticut a leader in the effective use of
information technology, build the statewide information
infrastructure for state agencies and citizens, and direct the
development of IT systems to meet the common business and technology needs
of multiple state agencies.
- Over the past year,
DOIT’s customer base and service volume has grown as the agency continues,
within existing resources, to improve customer service and the state’s information
technology infrastructure.
- Customer base
expansions include a 93 percent increase in enterprise e-mail customers, a
21 percent increase in Desktop Services customers, and a fifteen percent
increase in Anti-Virus Service customers. Agencies joining are now able to
redeploy resources to support their more critical agency needs.
- Forty-one new
facilities were added to the state network, a 16 percent expansion, and 14
new agency sites joined the state Internet portal system, an increase of
23 percent. In addition, the amount
of agencies using the DOIT online training system more than tripled, from
five to 19, and employees using the system increased by more than 7,900, a
264 percent increase.
- New services offered
include a new Internet filtering solution, used by 39 agencies, and a new
secure file transport service used by 12 agencies.
- Service volumes
continue to rise, with spam blocks increasing 56 percent, e-mail blocks
increasing 60 percent, complex procurements increasing 25 percent and a
telecommunication service requests increasing ten percent. In 13
additional service areas, 9,000 additional work requests were received in
the first six months of 2006 alone.
- DOIT’s infrastructure
continues to expand to accommodate growing customer demand, including a 16
percent expansion in the statewide network and a 38.2 percent increase in
data center storage.
- Over the past fiscal
year, more than $5 million has been saved by decreasing the amount and
cost of consultants. By October 2005, an estimated $7.9 million in savings
had been achieved through contract savings, billing audits, and
telecommunication and network optimization projects. Overall cellular
phone costs dropped by more than $760,000 in FY 2006 – a 23 percent
reduction.
Improvements and Achievements 2005-06
Protecting the
State’s IT Infrastructure
Intrusion
Detection and Protection: New Tools Block 1.7 Million Potential Threats
- In fiscal year 2006 DOIT upgraded intrusion protection tools.
During the first six months of 2006 alone, 1.7 million blocks were placed
on external activities or interactions that would potentially exploit the
state IT infrastructure.
Risk and
Vulnerability Assessments: Human Service System Assessments Continue
Disaster Recovery and
Business Continuity: Three Major
Exercises Spanning 180 Hours Held, Statewide Continuity of Operations Template
Distributed
- Annual disaster
recovery exercises continue, with three spanning 180 hours held in
September and November 2005 and February 2006. The exercises, 60 hours in
duration, tested recovery procedures for the mainframe, which hosts the
state’s most critical financial, public safety, and human service systems,
Core-CT, and systems associated with HIPPA-impacted agencies.
- Planning continues for a new alternate data processing facility to
operate in the event of disaster impacting the state’s
- DOIT continues to work
with HIPAA-impacted agencies on business continuity plans in the event of
loss of facility, information or communication systems. This is a
twenty-five-step process involving extensive analysis and coordination
within multiple levels of each agency. Plans for two of the state’s
largest human service agencies – the Department of Social Services and the
Department of Children and Families – were completed over the past year.
- DOIT developed and
disseminated a Continuity of
Operations Planning Template for all state agencies in development of
business continuity plans. The template was presented and distributed
during the May 24 Statewide Avian Influenza and Pandemic Planning
Workgroup.
Protecting Employees from Spam and
Virus-laden E-Mails: Spam Blocks
Increases 60 Percent, Infected E-Mail Blocks Increase 56 Percent
·
In 2006, daily spam blocks surpassed 302,000 – a 60
percent increase from 2005 and a 3,424 percent increase from 2004. 42.4 million
spam e-mails were blocked in the first five months of 2006 alone.
·
In 2006, DOIT increased the amount of infected e-mails
blocked by 56 percent - from an average of 41,880 per month in 2005 to 65,388
per month in 2006. DOIT blocked 326,942
e-mails with viruses from entering state e-mail system during the first five
months of 2006 alone.
Internet Filtering System: New System Now Used by 39 Agencies, Blocked One Million Attempts to
Visit Unsafe or Inappropriate Sites
- A new Internet
filtering system was deployed in the fall of 2005. 39 agencies have joined the new system
and ten additional agencies are currently migrating. The system offers
filtering in 79 categories, including spyware and malicious sites.
- In the first six months
of use, from December 2005 to May 2006, the system blocked more than one
million attempted visits unsafe or non-business related sites.
Secure File Transfer: New Service Now Used by 12 Agencies, Enables Secure File Transport in
Multiple Protocols
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Compliance (HIPAA)
and Training: Usage of Online Training
Service Surges 264 percent with 7,936 new Customer Agency Users
·
DOIT continues to oversee state HIPAA compliance, which establishes
federal policy for security of electronic health care transmissions and privacy
protection for medical information and medical records.
·
10,936 registered users from 19 agencies now use DOIT’s online HIPAA
training system, which offers more than 90 courses. This is a 264 percent
increase over the past year – or an additional 7,936 state employees. In the same time period, the amount of
agencies using the site has more than tripled, from five to 19.
·
Developing and deploying this centralized HIPAA training tool, at no
cost to client agencies, has saved agencies and the State of
·
Over the past year, DOIT developed and introduced a new security
compliance-training course and assessment tool to educate employees on the
statewide HIPAA security policy.
Creating Advanced Office Environments
- Statewide deployment of
a uniform e-mail system accelerated throughout the executive branch with a
93 percent increase over the past year alone. Fourteen additional agencies with 8,895
new mailboxes joined the system, including the Department of Children and
Families, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the entire
Department of Education Regional Vocational-Technical High School system.
- 37 agencies, consisting
of 17,195 e-mail boxes, now use the centralized Exchange e-mail
system. System availability for
customers over the past year exceeded 99.7 percent.
- DOIT’s Directory and
Messaging Service Unit processed and completed 3,851 service requests
during the first six months of 2006 alone for agency migrations to the
exchange system and other requests, including File and Print services to enable customer agencies to store and access data (within documents,
and folders) from a central location, and share networked printers, and E-Directory Services to enable
users to access multiple web-based applications.
Desktop
Services: Desktop Services Customer and Service Base
Continue to Expand with 21 Percent Increase in Agency Customers, 27 percent
Increase in Facilities, 80 Percent Expansion in Geographic Service Areas
·
Over the past year, four agencies with 90 employees became new Desktop
Services customers – a 21 percent
customer base increase.
·
During the first six months of 2006 alone, Desktop Services processed
and completed 1,471 customer service requests, including assisting with agency
hardware and software installations, upgrades, and maintenance, licensing
renewals, patch and anti-virus management.
·
Desktop Services customers are located in 33 facilities in ten cities
and towns across the state. In 2006 alone, the number of customer locations
served will expand 27 percent to 42 facilities, and the number of towns will
increase 80 percent to 18.
Anti-Virus Services: 15 Percent Customer Base
Increase with Ten New Agencies, Customers Now Include 30
Agencies with 9,612 employees, Infection Rate Drops 37 Percent
- Anti-virus services monitor, block,
detect, and, if necessary, quarantine and clean systems. Over the past
year, DOIT anti-virus services blocked more than 79,000 viruses from
entering customer systems and reduced the infection rate by 37 percent.
·
DOIT is also deploying a centralized Patch Management
System for routine and rapid deployment of patches across the customer base.
Benefits include increased protection and cost savings.
Remote
Application Deployment: Customers for Time-Saving Terminal Services
Tool Doubles
- The number of agencies using DOIT’s Terminal Services technology
doubled in the past year with the addition of three new agencies. Terminal
Services enable agencies to deliver applications to the desktops via
remote servers, instead of installing applications to individual desktops.
Six agencies currently use this emerging service.
Optimizing Telecommunication Systems: Contract Renegotiations, On-site Projects at 14 agencies improve
systems and yield $1.28 million in annual savings
- DOIT Communication
Services partners with agencies to select, implement and optimize
telecommunication systems and services. Over the past year, the division
executed 47 projects to improve the state’s telecommunications
infrastructure.
- DOIT Communication Services completed telephone system upgrades,
expansions, relocations or replacements at 19 locations for 14 agencies,
including the high volume Department of Labor Call centers, which process
nearly three million unemployment compensation calls claim calls per year.
- DOIT Communication Services executed network optimization projects
for ten agencies. Projects resulted in $321,218 in annual savings for the
agencies. $966,989 in ongoing, annual savings was also achieved through
renegotiation of statewide network services and the OPT-E-MAN contracts.
Enhancing
Connectivity to Accommodate Growing Demand
·
Deployment
of the Connecticut Education Network (CEN) to all cities and towns was
completed in the fall of 2005. CEN now reaches into each of the state’s 169
cities and towns, including 215 K-12 districts, 47 college and university
campuses, and more than 31 libraries.
·
During
2005, the amount of active CEN connections increased by 300 percent and usage
of CEN increased by nearly 400 percent. Staffing for CEN support and
maintenance doubled to accommodate these increases. DOIT responded to more than
600 service calls from CEN users.
Network Growth and Enhancement: Network Traffic Increases 150
Percent, Wide Area Network Expanding 16 Percent
- DOIT provides
connectivity for 93 state agencies and facilities through the metropolitan
and wide area networks. Over the
past year, traffic and connection points have increased, diagnostic
capability expanded, and new customers and facilities added.
- DOIT provides network
connectivity for 22 agencies
and 22,000 employees through the Metropolitan Area Network (MAN). Over the past year, MAN network
traffic increased 150 percent, from 100 to 250 megabits per second,
and two new customers were added - the Department of Public Health
Laboratory and the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland
Security.
- Other agencies supported by the WAN include 41 Department of Motor
Vehicle facilities, 25 state prisons, 12 state trooper barracks, and 94
local police departments, 24 Department of Mental Health and Addiction
Service offices and facilities and 24 Department of Children and Families
Offices.
- All state facilities access the Internet through the WAN. Internet
traffic increased 44 percent between June 2005 and June 2006, from 45 to
65 megabits per second. DOIT does not charge for Internet access.
- Major upgrades to platforms supporting the network, and deployment
of advanced network general sniffers, have enabled more rapid
diagnosis and bolstered troubleshooting services to customer agencies and
facilities using the MAN and WAN.
- DOIT Network services also provides secure virtual private network
(VPN) access to 2,640 state agency customers and 32 hospitals throughout
the state.
- DOIT upgraded all DPS state trooper barracks to enable increasing
bandwidth needs associated with the Automated Fingerprint Identification
System (AFIS). DOIT also installed a new firewall for DPS for increased
security.
- DOIT expanded wireless capability for the Department of Public
Safety, providing more than 800 state police cruisers with mobile
communication devices with improved system availability and response time.
Expanding, Advancing the State’s Internet Presence
- The DOIT Portal Management Group (PMG) continues to upgrade and
enhance the State of
- Seventy-four state agencies and organizations have migrated to the
ct.gov Internet portal system. Over the past year, there has been a 23
percent increase in the amount of state agencies and organizations
joining, with fourteen new site additions and more than 40,000 files added
between July 2005 and July 2006. New sites include the Office of State
Ethics, Department of Public Safety, the Department of Social Services,
and the Office of the Attorney General.
- The PMG processed and completed 429 portal maintenance, service
and enhancement requests from customer agencies during the first six
months of 2006.
CT.gov Traffic: Traffic Surges 40
percent to Highest Volume Ever
·
The state Internet portal system
-- www.ct.gov -- continues to rise in popularity as a gateway to government
information and services, with page views since its 2003 launch recently
surpassing the 300 million mark.
·
Visits to ct.gov and ct.gov
agency sites increased 40 percent between July 2005 and July 2006, pushing
annual traffic to an all time high of 19.5 million visits and more than 112
million page views.
·
DOIT published 150 front page “Latest News’ items of broad interest
between July 2005 and July 2006, added 179 updates to streamline user
navigation. Special features – including the Reading Room, How Do I? and Online Services sites -- received 4,000 visits per
month alone.
Infrastructure,
Development Support for State Data and Applications
Application/System
Development, Maintenance and Support: Critical Assistance Provided for Small Agencies,
Public Safety and Human Service Agencies
- DOIT’s Application and
System Development team provides ongoing support for DOIT and customer
agency applications. Over the past year, the team provided critical
assistance to maintain, upgrade or repair applications for public safety,
human service and regulatory agencies. 983 work requests were received in
fiscal year 2006.
- Urgent database and
systems assistance was provided to Office of State Ethics, the Office of
the Child Advocate, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the Soldiers’,
Sailors’ and Marines’ Fund. These support actions had a direct and ongoing
impact on each agency’s ability to support clients and customers.
- The team also upgraded
the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Handgun Registration
System to incorporate Brady Bill requirements.
- Other support
highlights also include development of a series of online customer service
request forms for DOIT, the new Fire Incident Reporting System,
performance of upgrades to the Sex Offender Registry for the Department of
Public Safety, consulting for cost-effective replacement and modernization
of the Department of Banking licensing system, development work for
statewide inventory scanners, and upgrades to the licensing system for the
Department of Agriculture.
Technical Support: Mainframe Continues Reliability, Disaster Recovery Progress Continues
- DOIT’s Technical
Support Group ensures continued availability and optimal operation of the
state mainframe, which hosts and supports the state’s most critical
health, public safety and human service data and applications.
- Over the past year, the
Mainframe experienced no unscheduled outages. System reliability is
the direct result of optimization activities and controls, including
the production implementation of 34 product upgrades and 27
maintenance cycles including thousands of individual product fixes over
the past year with strict adherence to change control procedures.
- Disaster Recovery
exercises and work continues. Over the past year, subsystem recovery
documentation was finalized to ensure transfer of knowledge and continuity
of operations in the event of a disaster. In addition, procedural
improvements continue to be made, with one subsystem experiencing a 70
percent reduction in recovery time.
Mainframe Production Jobs: Six-Month Mark Exceeds 286,000
- DOIT’s scheduling
services executed 286,224 production jobs for customer state agencies
during the first six months of 2006. Production jobs include batch
processing, data backups, and service utilities for critical financial,
public safety, and human service agencies.
- Jobs were executed for
the Department of Public Safety, Department of Corrections, Department of
Motor Vehicles, Department of Children and Families, Department of Social
Services, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, the Office
of the Secretary of the State, the Core-CT system and other state
financial and human resources systems.
Storage:
- To accommodate
increasing customer demand, 47 terabytes of storage were added to the DOIT
Storage Area Network over the past year – a 38.2 percent increase.
Overall storage capability is now 170 terabytes – a 166 percent
increase over two years.
Database, Application
Hosting and Support
·
DOIT’s
Customer
Service, Procurement Highlights
Work Intake: New Service Request System Streamlines 9,000 Work Requests in 13
Service Areas
- DOIT developed and
launched new online service request forms for 13 high volume service
areas, including networking requests, web hosting, and Internet services.
In the first six months, customers submitted nearly 9,000 work requests
through this convenient new system, eliminating the need for paper.
DOIT’s Help Desk
- DOIT’s
Help Desk tracks and routes customer service and work requests. Staffed 24
hours per day, seven days per week, the Help Desk took in 26,273 calls and
requests for assistance over the past fiscal year in addition to
processing all request received through new online system.
- Improvements
in service include upgrades to work request tracking procedures and
systems, and continued use of new escalation procedures.
- 60,000
e-mail messages sent to customers each year by DOIT’s incident-tracking
system now have a more customer-friendly format and feel.
Purchasing for Agencies: Complex Procurement Services Volume Increases 25 Percent
- In fiscal year 2006, DOIT Procurement executed
137 complex procurements for client agencies for information technology
goods and services – a 25.6 percent increase from the previous year. These procurements include Invitations
to Bid, Requests for Proposals, Requests for Information, Statements of
Work and Standardization Transactions. In addition, 104 Product Schedule
Updates were processed.
·
In fiscal year 2006, DOIT Procurement processed 969 purchase requisitions
valued at $85,792,039 million of
technology goods and services both for DOIT and client agencies – an 18.8
percent increase in dollar value.
Telecommunications Services: Customer
Work Requests Increase ten percent
- DOIT processed 5,433 Telecommunication Service Requests (TSR’s)
for customer agencies – a ten percent increase over the previous year
and a 30 percent increase over three years. Requests processed include
requests for telephone repairs, equipment and service move/add/change
requests, public directory listings, wireless phone purchases, calling
cards, and other communication devices used by client agencies.
- By October 2005, DOIT
Telecommunications Administrative Group saved 3.6 million over twelve
months through billing audits and worked closely. The group also worked
with agencies to reduce overall telecommunication costs, resulting in
reduction in cellular phone costs of more than $760,000 in FY 2006.
Reducing 411 Calls: Online Directory Service Launched
- DOIT published an
online resource directory—www.ct.gov/doit/directories - for state agencies
as an alternative to expensive 4-1-1 calls. The directory offers access to
free online lookup services and has been viewed 5,427 times since
launching in November 2005.
- Overall 4-1-1 all
volume has dropped by 10,000 since 2005.
Staying Safe Online: CT.gov/Cybersafe
Launched, Cable Show Helps Raise Awareness
·
DOIT
developed and launched www.ct.gov/cybersafe as a public service to help customer agencies and the public learn more
about using the Internet safely and responsibly. The site has been viewed 7,538
times since being launched in October 2005.
·
For the Record Public Access Show was taped with Governor M. Jodi Rell to help
educate the public about online dangers and raise awareness of available
resources. The show was distributed to and played by 30 public access stations
statewide throughout the month of June 2006.
Conserving Energy: DOIT Joins
Energy Conservation Initiative
·
In accordance with Governor M. Jodi Rell’s call to action to agencies
to reduce energy consumption by ten percent, DOIT partnered with the Office of
Policy and Management to communicate to client agencies the need to power down
non-essential desktop computers throughout state government. DOIT power
consumption also dropped.
Exploring Geospatial
Systems: New Geospatial Information Systems Council,
Website Launched
- In 2006, DOIT organized
and launched the 21-member Geospatial Information Systems (GIS)
Council to coordinate a GIS capacity for the state, regional planning
agencies, municipalities, and others as needed. Monthly meetings began in
January 2006 and attendance has exceeded 100 to date. A special GIS
Council website was created – CT.gov/GIS– and has received more than 2000
visits to date.