The Commonwealth Office of Technology is transforming the way information technology is applied to the business challenges of state governement. COT's IT Transformation initiative is actually a series of initiatives, with each initiative having its own objectives and benefits. Individually, these initiatives are improving state government's utilization of IT, but collectively they are transforming the delivery of government services. In short, IT Transformation is significantly improving government efficiency, responsiveness, and agility by transforming the management of information technology through best practices and shared services. The major components of Kentucky's IT Transormation are:
IT Consolidation and Shared Services
Combining IT resources across the commonwealth will provide economies of scale in purchasing, and greater negotiating advantages. Shared services will also result in improved service, uniform quality, and a higher level of security. Performing desktop management in an efficient, consistent manner across the enterprise will allow agencies to focus on their core business missions rather than desktop and IT infrastructure issues. The cornerstone of the consolidation is COT’s Enterprise Service Desk, which is a single point of contact at which agency customers may request all types of computing products and services. (More information on IT Consolidation)
IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Project
COT is leading an effort to implement the guidelines and best practices defined by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), a set of best practices used to deliver and manage high–quality IT infrastructure services to the public sector. Because of its depth, ITIL has become the world standard for IT Service Management Best Practices. COT will invest significant resources in ITIL training as a means of enhancing its delivery of services to state agencies and ensuring adherence to formal ITIL service management processes and standards. The end result will be delivery of reliable, well-managed IT services to state agencies. (More information about COT's ITIL Program)
Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) and Project Management Information System (PMIS)
COT established the EPMO to manage IT projects effectively and promote a culture that encourages increased discipline in project management activities. The EPMO acts as a center of expertise for project management in state government, and enhances Kentucky's project management capabilities by creating and sustaining a supportive, standards-based, professional environment that improves overall project performance and outcomes. PMIS will be used by agencies in the Executive Branch as a strategic tool for evaluating, prioritizing, and selecting IT investments. It will also facilitate the exchange of project status information between agencies and staff, assist in the assessment of project progress, and improve the visibility and management of the state’s portfolio of projects. (More information about EPMO)
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Enterprise Service Bus
Kentucky has adopted SOA as the state’s IT application architecture for the future. SOA is an application architectural style that loosely couples interacting software agents via interfaces called services, which are units of work performed by a service provider to deliver an intermediate work product. SOA will help agencies respond more rapidly and cost-effectively to changing conditions by promoting reuse of existing IT assets. SOA is being implemented with an Enterprise Service Bus, a software messaging engine that makes services reusable and available to users, applications, business processes, and other services.
Enterprise Data Architecture
To eliminate the cost of data redundancy and ensure the ability to integrate data for future enterprise decision making, COT, in partnership with agency Information Technology Officers will undertake the creation of the Kentucky Enterprise Data Architecture (KEDA). KEDA will consist of a set of standardized relational tables and data elements core to the business of state government to facilitate access to data across the boundaries of state agencies.
Kentucky Information Highway — 2nd Generation (KIH2)
This initiative, which will be completed in Fiscal Year 2007, will significantly upgrade Kentucky’s communication network infrastructure. The existing network, referred to as the Kentucky Information Highway (KIH1), was established in 1991. The new network, Kentucky Information Highway — 2nd Generation (KIH2) will be a strategic resource that will offer expanded services, lower rates, improved reliability, and superior performance.