Municipal Interface National Professional Journal of MISA/ASIM Canada
S EPTEMBER 2009, VOL. 16, NO 4
IT and Sustainability — Whistler Finds a Way See page 27
Photographer: Steve Rogers Site: Tourism Whistler
Also in this Issue: Are We Green Yet? Page GIS solution to accounting issue produces a green bonus for small city 30 Structured approach can help build an affordable green plan 33 Bridge-management system takes Kingston beyond compliance 37 Report on MISA Ontario 2009 Annual Conference 14 © 2009 KPMG LLP, a Canadian limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International, a Swiss cooperative. All rights reserved. Technology Leadership for Municipalities:
KPMG and Chartwell Join Forces
KPMG, one of Canada’s foremost professional services firms, has acquired Chartwell Inc., a recognized leader in advising municipalities on Enterprise Architecture and Business Transformation.
With the addition of Chartwell’s people, skills, and resources, including the standard reference model used by Canadian municipal governments for transformation planning, KPMG is better positioned than ever to help municipalities create business value through Information Technology.
For information on KPMG’s Advisory Services for municipal governments, contact Daniel Jazvac.
Daniel Jazvac E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: (416) 777-8563 www.kpmg.ca/advisory MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
In This Issue
MISA/ASIM News Across Canada 5 • MISA West conference preview; MRMv2 service coming; Advertisers Index security conference preview; Ontario associate members; Gerry Matte receives award; more special offers; new Prairies Page Web site; Prairies associate members; update on ERP group AGL Inc. 48 Municipal News 40 Agresso 35 • MSDO’s fifth annual meeting; Showcase Ontario CMS Consulting 21 preview; Vancouver embraces open data; GTEC preview; Com-Tech Learning Solutions 29 Intelligent Community of the Year Digital Boundary Group 9 Report From RIMQ ESRI Canada 32 Approaches to electronic records management 38 Fortinet Canada 36 Columns GTEC 43 President’s column – Keeping In Touch 4 KPMG LLP 2 Roy Wiseman – Governance Issues 45 Lagan Technologies 22 Mid-Range Computer Group 11 Features Miller Thomson LLP 46 Report on MISA Ontario 2009 Annual Conference 14 Oracle Canada 13 Report on Lac Carling Congress 24 RIVA Modeling Group 41 IT is part of Whistler’s sustainability vision 27 GIS solution gives a green bonus to Woodstock 30 Teranet 44 Building an affordable green plan 33 UPSforLESS 34 City of Kingston’s bridge-management system 37
Journal of MISA/ASIM Canada Advertising Rates Suite 309, 14845 – 6 Yonge Street Associate Members Non-Members Aurora, ON L4G 6H8 $1,375 pre-printed insert $1,700 Phone: 416-662-3950 www.misa.on.ca; www.misa.bc.ca; www.misa-asim.ca $1,225 back page $1,500 http://misaprairies.ca; www.rimq.com $925 inside front $1,150 Journal Production $625 1 page $780 $425 1/2 page $530 Co-Chairs, Communications Committee: Ron Blakey (Durham) 905-668-7711 x 2133 $275 quarter page $345 Kathryn Bulko (Toronto) 416-397-9921 Articles are subject to approval by the Communications Committee. The views Co-Editors: expressed in this journal are those of the individual writers and do not Lawrence Moule 416-662-3950, [email protected] Jane Morgan 416-488-2878, [email protected] necessarily reflect those of MISA/ASIM Canada. French-language editor: Gaston Huot (Brossard) 450-923-6362 No part of the publication may be reproduced by anyone without prior written permission from MISA/ASIM Canada. Design: Natalie Coombs of NatCo Design © 2009 MISA/ASIM Canada Printer: Select Printing, Toronto
3 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
Keeping in Touch When Green By Chris Bishop President, MISA Prairies Meets Red
ABOUT 18 MONTHS AGO, I was meeting with a hardware For something as major as that sea change to happen, it vendor. Our friendly account rep had brought along a will begin and achieve sustainable results at the municipal “suit,” someone with an impressive but obscure title like level, where the recycled rubber meets the gravel road. “thought leader” or “technology evangelist.” The suit asked I realize that for many of you I am preaching to the me if the City was playing in the green space. choir. During my 12 years at the City, I have learned sitting “This whole province is green-crazy,” I said. at your feet that MISA has to take a leadership role for many things involved with government to change, especially It was mere months after our football team, the at the grassroots level. Roughriders, had won the ’07 Grey Cup. Some diehards Our city has a long way to go, but we have started still wore their watermelon helmets to the pub. down the path. Having a telecommuting policy and The suit, obviously an NFL fan, missed the connection. process, improving our HVAC systems to control building “Can you tell me about some of your initiatives?” environments, more Web meetings and webinars, and e-recruiting are a few ways that we are becoming more I listed a few of the basic things that we were doing – efficient while saving resources this year. server virtualization, reducing hardcopy output, and extending our desktop refresh cycle. Those steps could fall Lots of Hot Air into the green category but were also practical, logical We recently opened a new building. It is one story and and saved money. holds 50 staff from both the Parks and Facilities depart- He then asked something that sounded strange: “How ments – the first new office space built from the ground much extra would you be willing to pay for green technology?” up since City Hall opened in 1976. “Extra?” I half-shook my head, waiting for him to clarify. The design is as environmentally friendly as possible. That includes bringing in natural light with the open office “That’s to say, over the next five years, how much have design, having “hotel” spots for visitors and telecommuters, you budgeted for your play on the green agenda?” eliminating desktop printers – and heating the building I may have involuntarily snorted. The green agenda? from hot air produced in Council Chambers (okay, that Most of you are familiar with the realities of municipal last one is a small fib). budgets, and some of you may even squeak like I As I toured that building last month, I commented on the do when I walk. A new green line item would quickly quart-sized garbage cans. The director of Facilities meet the “red stroke of reality” from the budget explained that sustainability is reinforced wherever possible, approval pen. like in the lunchroom where real dishes, cups and cutlery are used – discouraging the use of paper plates or plastic City Conscience forks. There is no dishwasher. Staff walking past the sink Since then, I have been enlightened by David Suzuki throughout the day stop for a few minutes and do the dirty speaking at MISA West ‘08 in Nanaimo, by Bart dishes, which has been found to be a good spot to network. Robinson’s keynote at MISA Prairies’ annual conference in This example struck me as an excellent reminder of the Airdrie this past spring, and by our own City’s conscience. mind shift that needs to take place. That change at work, In fact, Regina will be host to the next MISA Prairies spring raising our staff’s consciousness, will filter through to their conference in late April 2010, which is themed “Green actions and decisions outside of work. Changing our is the Colour.” habits and excesses through a thousand acts, big and small, will make a sustainable difference. The thing is, being truly green is not an ad campaign, not a political plank, not a project with a start and end date. It is a mode of thinking – dare I say a future way of life? [email protected] 4 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
MISA/ASIM News Across Canada
MISA West Annual Conference in Kamloops Will Look At How Technology Goes ‘Round
IF PRACTICE makes perfect, then the 2009 MISA West Conference in Kamloops, BC, should be as good as it gets. The conference on September 15-18 will be the third time in recent years that Kamloops has been host for Western Canada's premier event for local government technology managers. Chair Frank Mayhood and his orga- nizing team are planning to take full advantage of their experience. Tourism Kamloops/Kelly Funk The 2009 Conference theme is "Better the Third Time Around.” Mayhood, director of IT for Kamloops Kamloops offers scenic beauty at the confluence of the North and South Thompson rivers. and a past president of MISA BC, says the conference will explore the Towne Lodge, including representatives service-delivery officials discussing cycles that drive, refresh, and frustrate from national and international “Transforming IT Leadership in those involved in delivering municipal municipal associations. Municipalities.” There will be sessions information and communications Speakers and presenters will share on records and document management, technologies. insights into converging technologies unified communications, identity man- agement and disaster recovery. “While experiencing developing that offer smarter, cost-effective solutions trends, one cannot help but notice a to manage issues concerning the envi- Vendors will make significant contri- ronment, transportation, urban growth, recurring pattern over time,” he says. butions to the program. Highlights will communication systems and more. include: “Smart Planet, Smart Cities” “From mainframes and terminals to from IBM Canada; “3D Digital Cities, blade servers and browsers, from eco- Keynote speakers will include: Are You Ready?” from Autodesk; nomic boom to bust, from centralized • Inventor Ray Kurzweil, described “Updates on the Canadian Wireless to decentralized, information and as “the ultimate thinking machine” Industry” from Bell; “Business Success communications technology has shown by Forbes magazine Through Better Collaboration” from repeating cycles of many kinds. • Derek Hatfield, the first Canadian Alcatel-Lucent; and “Optimizing Your “We hope that, like the Kamloops to sail around the world alone Exchange E-mail Environment” from conference, these cycles will lead to • Entertainer Lorne Elliot, presenting Microserve. improvements, and we will be better an original show of comedy and The 37-booth trade show is sold the third time around!” music. out, and the conference is supported About 400 delegates are expected Among the municipal presentations by numerous sponsors, led by platinum to be in attendance at the Kamloops will be a panel of senior IT and sponsors Bell and Microsoft. 5 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
MISA/ASIM News Across Canada
New MISA/ASIM Canada Service Will Have Potential To Create Advanced Era In Municipal Planning Roy Wiseman addresses Lac Carling delegates.
MISA/ASIM CANADA has taken that are already being delivered by an earlier paper-based version of the concrete steps to establish a Web- other jurisdictions, including other Municipal Reference Model. The project based service designed to enable levels of government. is directed and financed by MISA/ municipalities to better plan, manage, The federal government and several ASIM Canada and managed by measure, evaluate and improve the provinces are monitoring the MRM v2 MISA Ontario through the Steering programs and services that they Project in the hope that it may provide Committee. deliver. The service is intended to a basis for the alignment of government The proposed service will enable be available by the end of 2009. service delivery across all levels. The a municipality to use a secure portion The service is referred to as the MRMv2 Project is also represented in of the MRMv2 Web site to describe Municipal Reference Model Version 2 the work of the Service Mapping its own unique service structure using – although the organizers of what is Subcommittee of the Joint Councils, a standard reference toolkit. Vendors called the MRMv2 Project are looking which is working to develop a common will be able to devise methodologies, for a better name. approach and vocabulary for defining products and training courses related MRMv2 will provide a secure programs and services across all levels to the MRMv2 model. Web service that will enable munici- of government in Canada. The Steering Committee is in palities to define and describe their late stages of negotiations with IBM programs and services, and evaluate Making the Right Choices Canada for the provision of software them in relation to the goals and “If we really want to make sure we to build the MRMv2 service. KPMG, outcomes of the municipality. understand what we do in government, incorporating a team from the Equally important, the approach and to have a sense that we are former Chartwell, is providing for defining and describing programs making the choices that our citizens advisory services. and services will be consistent for all want from government – and that we The City of Toronto has agreed to municipalities using the MRMv2 can have all of our pieces working be a pilot-project site for the service, service. That means they will be able together – then we need some tools assisted by a design team with repre- to compare the basket of services that that we don’t currently have,” Roy sentatives from both large and small they offer with those provided by Wiseman, chair of the MRMv2 municipalities. The service has been peer municipalities, identify potential Steering Committee and CIO of York designed with input from municipal IT service gaps or overlaps, develop Region, Ontario, told a session of the and service-delivery officials across more useful performance measures Lac Carling Congress in Niagara-on- Canada and is intended for use by directly related to intended service the-Lake, Ontario, on June 15. non-technicians with minimal training. outputs and outcomes, and create “One of those tools is a common Several municipalities have benchmarks to compare the efficiency language and a common set of rules agreed to contribute sufficient funds to and effectiveness of their service about how we describe the business complete the service design, and the delivery. of government.” pilot project will proceed pending They will even be able to discover The MRMv2 Project was initiated in some final administrative approvals, and weed out any redundant services June 2006 with the goal of replacing Wiseman said.
6 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
MISA/ASIM News Across Canada
MISA Security Conference Will ‘Mine for Gold’
THE SEVENTH ANNUAL MISA IT conference will offer two streams of from the Toronto area to Timmins on Security Conference will drill down half-day workshops and a third Sunday, November 8, with a return into security issues more than ever. stream of 75-minute sessions. trip set for November 11. Planned for November 8-10 in the Topics will include: On Tuesday evening delegates City of Timmins, the conference will • Network segmentation strategies will be invited to a relaxed event at for the first time offer half-day work- • VoIP security considerations the Shania Twain Centre where they shops to give delegates detailed will take in the Timmins Underground knowledge of IT security threats, • Security in virtualization Gold Mine Tour. trends, policies and solutions. • Wireless security Online registration is available at The conference theme of “Mining • Security policy development www.misa.on.ca. Accommodation for Security Gold” also reflects • Incident handling is available at the Days Inn Timmins’ history and culture as a (705-267-6211) and the • Intrusion detection and prevention northern municipality. It is the Super 8 (705-268-7171). • Penetration testing northernmost location for any MISA For more information please con- conference ever held in Ontario. • E-discovery considerations. tact conference chair David Laneville, During two days of sessions at the Travel arrangements by luxury [email protected], or coordinator McIntyre Community Centre, the highway coach have been arranged Tracey Bates, [email protected]. MISA Ontario Associate Members – 2009
We are grateful for the support and participation of the following 74 associate members:
4 Office Automation Ltd. Dell Canada Information Builders Nexient Learning Inc. Acrodex Inc. Deloitte Management Services LLP Info-Tech Research Group Océ-Canada Inc. agilIT Inc. DesTech Consulting & Education Infusion Development Corp. Open Text Corporation Agresso Digital Boundary Group Integra Data Systems Corp. Oracle Corporation Canada Inc. Applied Geologics Inc. EMC Corporation Jackson Begg Limited Orion Technology Inc. Autodesk Canada ESRI Canada Kalware Microsystems Packet-Tel Corp. BTRG Inc. Empowered Networks Inc. Kanatek Technologies Panasonic Canada Inc. Bell Aliant (xwave division) Eramosa Engineering Inc. Kaspersky Lab Prior + Prior Associates Ltd. Bell Canada eSolutions Group Limited Kifinti Solutions Inc. RIVA Modeling Systems Bragelo Group Inc. First Base Solutions Inc. Lagan Technologies Inc. Research in Motion Limited CDW Canada Inc. Fortinet Canada MGCG Ltd. SAP Canada Inc. CMS Consulting Inc. GDL Inc. Micro Market Business Centre Secure Links CSI Leasing Canada Ltd. GCS Division of Cansel Microsoft Canada Co. Smart Thought Technologies Caro Systems Inc. (formerly Global CADD Systems) Mid-Range Computer Group Inc. Software House International Cisco Systems HCQ Technologies Inc. Miller Thomson LLP StarDyne Technologies CommVault Systems Canada Inc. Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co. Mission Systems Development Texthelp Systems Ltd. Compugen Inc. IBM Canada Ltd. Corp. Toshiba of Canada D-Link Canada Inc. IT World Canada Inc. NCI UPSforLess Datamex Technologies Inc. Imex Systems Inc. NEOnet Websense Canada Inc.
7 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
MISA/ASIM News Across Canada
Gerry Matte Receives Peter Bennett Award
GERRY MATTE, one of the hardest- Matte was a colleague of working builders of MISA organizations Bennett’s in bringing together in Canada and British Columbia, has the five regional associations received the 2009 Peter Bennett Award. that eventually formed The presentation announcement MISA/ASIM Canada in 2006 was made June 15 in Niagara-on-the- and recently retired as the Lake, Ontario, during the Lac Carling national association’s founding Congress by Daya Pillay, president of secretary. MISA/ASIM Canada. He served for many years as “Gerry is a strong advocate of a municipal representative on municipal cooperation and continues the Public Sector CIO Council to provide leadership, demonstrate (PSCIOC), working with federal commitment, and encourage partici- and provincial officials to develop pation of all municipalities in MISA and coordinate policies and activities,” Pillay said. practices related to electronic service delivery. Matte, who is manager of information technology for the From 2005 through 2008 he District of Saanich, BC, is a founder was a member of the PSCIOC’s of MISA BC as well as MISA/ASIM XML Subcommittee and a member Canada. He is active in both the of the Steering Committee for its Task Force for Identity, provincial and national associations Gerry Matte of the Municipality of Saanich, BC, Authentication and Authorization and has initiated many ideas and recipient of the Peter Bennett Award for 2009, is – and still retains a keen interest projects that have helped municipalities shown addressing the ceremonial launch of in security and privacy issues, work together to improve efficiency MISA/ASIM Canada, June 6, 2006, in Ottawa. and service to the public. including how they relate to The Peter Bennett Award is the making online transactions and is now past president. He was highest honour in Canada for municipal efficient and coordinated among co-chair and host for the 2000 MISA information-technology leaders. It is governments. BC annual conference in Victoria. presented annually by MISA/ASIM Matte originated the idea for Canada to a volunteer who has made MISA special-offers programs, first Today Matte coordinates a monthly an outstanding contribution to the provincially and then nationally, in meeting of Capital Region IT managers, municipal IT environment. which vendors offer special municipal which identifies potential ways to Matte is the fifth person to receive pricing and services to municipalities gain economies of scale on projects the award. The first was Peter Bennett in member associations. He is also a and share experiences. supporter and builder of open-source himself, posthumously. He was manager “Gerry is a tireless and inspirational standards for municipalities. of systems for the City of Winnipeg, leader in local government and a a pioneer in the use of eGovernment All told, Matte has been involved worthy recipient of the Peter Bennett technologies and a founder of with information technology for local Award,” Pillay said. MISA/ASIM Canada. He was also governments for more than 20 years, co-chair of the Lac Carling Congress in Saskatchewan and BC. Since Matte did not attend the Lac Carling in 2004 and 2005 but died suddenly helping to establish MISA BC in 1992 Congress but will be presented with just days before the 2005 Congress he has held the positions of webmaster, the award at the MISA West Conference was to begin. treasurer, vice-president and president, in Kamloops in September.
8 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
MISA/ASIM News Across Canada
MISA/ASIM Canada Expands Special Offers
NINE COMPANIES are now offering vendors. Any municipality within its collaborative and equitable.” discounted, uniform prices on IT member associations, regardless DesTech is offering its Remote products and services to municipalities of size or location, has equitably Database Monitoring solution at the through the special-offers program of priced access to the same products best prices offered by the company in MISA/ASIM Canada. and services. Canada. Kaspersky will sell three-year The latest three companies to join “Our program is rapidly expanding licensing contracts for its security the program are DesTech Consulting and we expect more announcements solutions for the price of two-year & Education, Kaspersky Lab and soon,” says Maurice Gallant, CIO of licences. Trend Micro has cut prices Trend Micro. Their special offers are the City of Fredericton, NB, vice-presi- published at www.misa-asim.ca and dent of MISA/ASIM Canada and the for a variety of Web security suites. by the five regional associations head of the special-offers program. Other companies in the program comprising MISA/ASIM Canada. “Both municipalities and vendors are Adobe Systems Canada, Chalk MISA/ASIM Canada announced in are seeing value in the idea that the Media Canada, Digital Boundary March 2008 its program of providing municipal IT market should not be Group, Sophos PLC, TELUS and one-stop access to special offers from piecemeal and unevenly priced, but Texthelp Systems Ltd.
HARDENING WINDOWS NETWORKS
A PRACTICAL TRAINING PROGRAM
Hardening Windows Networks is a hands-on security course that teaches students how to harden, monitor and protect Microsoft Windows based networks. This course goes beyond theory and best practices and delivers proven, field tested solutions for hardening, monitoring and protecting Microsoft Windows based networks.
Students will learn in a hands-on environment that resembles a real world network consisting of Windows 2003/2008 Servers, Windows XP and Vista clients, Exchange, SQL Server, ISA Server, IIS Server and more.
Students will harden a network consisting of: - Microsoft Exchange - Outlook Web Access - Microsoft ISA Server - Microsoft IIS - Microsoft Windows XP/Vista Clients - Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2008 - Microsoft SQL Server - Microsoft Software Update Services. We are associate corporate members Upon completion of this course students will be expected to be able to develop hardened, of the MISA BC, chaos tolerant networks that are resistant to threats. MISA Prairies and MISA Ontario Chapters Visit our Web site for dates and locations of courses and to register. To host a course session contact us at [email protected] or call the toll free number listed below.
Visit us at www.digitalboundary.net or Call us at 1.800.747.3557 Ext. 248 or 265
9 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
MISA/ASIM News Across Canada
New Web Site for MISA Prairies Introduces More Collaborative Services
By Corey Halford approved the implementation of a now providing the same services for Vice-President, MISA Prairies new Web site in advance of the MISA MISA Prairies, using the Ontario site West conference in September. as the template. WE HAVE LIFTOFF! The MISA Prairies After the subcommittee identified Membership management is one chapter is now launching its new the most cost-effective solution, it component of the site where the Web site, bringing us up to speed moved forward with implementation, Executive as well as the members with current technologies and collabo- and in August all information from the will find significant improvements. ration tools, and preparing us for the old Web site was integrated into the Members can now update all of their needs of the future. new site, training was provided for information online, pay for their While getting to where we are the content-management system, and membership dues, and receive today has taken nearly a year, all the the site was up and running. membership updates – all driven by time and effort of the MISA Prairies the Web site. Web-site subcommittee has certainly Our future conferences will all be paid off. www.misaprairies.ca hosted through the Web site, making It all started at the MISA West use of online payments for members conference in Nanaimo, BC, in and vendors. The City of Regina The major advantage of our new September 2008, when MISA Prairies will be the first to make use of this site is its ability to combine our member representatives voiced their capability in the spring of 2010. collaborative technologies with those concerns about the functions and MISA Ontario was especially effectiveness of the chapter Web site, of MISA Ontario and tap the extensive helpful during the research and selec- www.misaprairies.ca. resource libraries that have already tion phases of our new site implemen- been established. Our members can In the following months the tation, and we truly appreciate their subcommittee researched the options take advantage of the experience of willingness to collaborate with us. We available and examined their feasibility. their peers in both the Prairies and thank eSolutions Group for its support At its Annual General Meeting during Ontario chapters. The company that in coordinating the Web site’s transition the annual conference in Airdrie, designed and maintains the MISA to its new design. We also appreciate Alberta in April 2009, members Ontario site, eSolutions Group, is MISA BC’s willingness to be our Web- site partner if we had so chosen. It is very encouraging to be surrounded by other chapters who want to see MISA Prairies us all succeed. Finally, on behalf of the Prairies 2009 Associate Members membership, I want to express appre- ciation and thanks to the Web-site We appreciate the support and participation of our associate members: subcommittee, led by Sabina Visser Acrodex Inc. Microserve of the City of Lethbridge, Alberta, Bellamy Software (Sylogist) Oracle Corporation Canada Inc. for its hard work and dedication over the past year to make this possible. CTC – Computer Training Centre Ricoh Canada Cisco Systems Sasktel Dell Canada Secure Group (Shopplex) Corey Halford, data services team leader for the City of Airdrie, can be Digital Boundary Group reached at [email protected].
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MISA/ASIM News Across Canada
Municipal ERP Group Looking at Options For Collective Ways to Cut Technology Costs
THE ERP MUNICIPAL Users’ Special Interest Group is considering ways in which municipalities can set up per- manent organizations for the purpose of collaborating on strategies – and possibly of forming a purchasing cooperative -- to confront the rising costs of ERP technologies. The group, which has been operat- ing under the auspices of MISA/ASIM Canada since mid-2008, will be meeting at Showcase Ontario on September 23 to consider initiatives Louis Shallal of York Region, right, addresses the ERP Forum Discussion on June 3 during first proposed June 3 during the MISA the MISA Ontario Annual Conference at the City of Oshawa in Durham Region. Ontario Annual Conference. During an ERP Forum Discussion, software and/or provide hosted and As Joe Evers, principal of JcEvers Louis Shallal, founder of the group managed services for the mainte- Consulting Corp. and a consultant to and chief information technology nance of ERP systems. the ERP group, told the forum, “This is officer of York Region, Ontario, a great example of collaboration – proposed the creation of a senior- “Up to now municipalities have many hands from many municipalities level collaborative group to be known been dealing one on one with the did a large volume of work to create as OMCI, or Ontario Municipal vendors,” Shallal said. “I think it’s the synopsis of vendors’ offerings Collaborative Initiative. time we started thinking differently. The need for shared services is loud organized by function. It would be modelled on the long- and clear.” “The synopsis gives a good idea standing OMBI (Ontario Municipal not only of the providers’ capabilities Benchmarking Initiative), which has Collaborative Forum but of the features and functions that developed standards to help municipal Another potential initiative to be municipalities might consider when CAOs measure and compare the considered at the September 23 meet- exploring next steps.” efficiency levels of their municipal ing is the creation of a Web-based York Region plans to explore the enterprises. collaboration forum containing struc- feasibility of a one-year project in The OMCI, Shallal suggested, could tured content serving as a municipal which maintenance services for the be a purchasing cooperative, possibly knowledge base for ERP projects, within MISA/ASIM Canada, to maxi- strategies and processes. payroll-tax module of its ERP would be mize the incentives and benefits for provided by a third party rather than A starting point for such a forum the ERP vendor. An RFP is being pre- municipalities available from the already exists within the Municipal acquisition of technologies usually pared for a risk-assessment study of Members password-protected section this project, and York Region is inviting found in enterprise-resources-planning of the MISA Ontario Web site, other municipalities to participate. (ERP) systems. www.misa.on.ca. In a folder labelled It could also develop shared ERP Roadmap, viewers can find a The RFP and arrangements for the templates for the configuration and synopsis of offerings from 30 vendors September 23 meeting are being implementation of ERP systems, as who responded to an RFI from the directed by York Region managers well as negotiate volume discounts on group last year. Mark McKnight and Jane Blackburn. 12 “Best” Enterprise Content Management
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Copyright © 2008, Oracle. All rights reserved. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009 MISA Ontario Conference Sees Opportunities In Tough Times
By Lawrence Moule and Jane Morgan Co-Editors, Municipal Interface
CALL IT the Conference of Opportunity. Overcoming the challenges of a severe recession, MISA Ontario’s 30th Annual Conference and Trade Show on May 31 through June 3 found new ways to add value for The Campus Recreation Centre of Durham College and the delegates and present ideas for the future of technology University of Ontario Institute of Technology served as the trade in municipalities. show, eating area and keynote-speaker venue for MISA Ontario’s The sessions revealed that municipal IT departments 2009 Annual Conference. have the same idea – responding to challenges by coming up with solutions that deliver new and expanded benefits. “I think the educational sessions added value for the The spirit of the conference was reflected in the place municipal delegates,” conference chair Ron Blakey, director where it was held. The venue wasn’t a luxury hotel and of information technology services at Durham Region, conference centre, not in this cash-strapped year. It was remarked. “The sessions were filled up and were very the joint campus of Durham College and the University of popular. Feedback was very good, and people were Ontario Institute of Technology in the City of Oshawa, in Durham Region east of Toronto. happy to have that opportunity at a MISA conference because they’ve never had it before.” Facilities costs were low. Delegates slept in residence rooms. Sessions were held in classrooms dispersed among Many of the delegates were also new to a MISA confer- several buildings, sometimes forcing delegates to dash ence, as were some of the 50 vendors in the trade show. through the rain to attend sessions and bringing to mind New issues such as social media, information accessibility a new meaning for the term “distance education.” and green technology were emphasized in the conference But the organizing team from the host municipality, the program. Delegates rated the presentations highly and Region of Durham, turned the low-budget atmosphere to didn’t seem to mind getting some exercise to attend them. advantage. They came up with the theme of “Back to School” Mike Bolger of the City of Kitchener commented: “I think and included a broad and diverse curriculum, along with it’s an excellent venue. Considering the year, congratulations after-school activities that generated plenty of spirit. to the organizing committee for bringing us into a cost- For the first time at a MISA Ontario conference, effective place. No quality was lost for the sake of the cost. educational sessions that delivered hands-on training “All the speakers I saw were very strong in their fields,” were provided as part of the curriculum. Bolger said. “One thing I’ve noticed is how many new Delegates sat at classroom computers and received people there are, including vendors from some companies detailed guidance on how to use technologies including I didn’t even know existed.” Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and SharePoint 2007. The conference’s focus on finding new opportunities Conducted by facilitator Howard Forder of ctc TrainCanada, was personified by keynote speaker Alvin Law. His presen- the sessions were a big hit. tation drew on 45 years of experience of living without 14 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
The Durham Region conference team takes a break from their non-stop chores to pose in the recreation centre. Below, chair Ron Blakey confers with conference coordinator Leni Jacklin, who was indispensable.
arms as a result of the side effects of thalidomide. His Several sessions in the Web 2.0 stream further reinforced compelling message – that people can accomplish the collaboration theme. This stream focused on social anything – drew on lessons from his own life as a broad- media – online tools and technologies that facilitate caster, father and amateur musician. collaboration and enhance communication, helping to A Saskatchewan native, Law has encapsulated his forge connections in a multi-generational workplace. message in a book called Alvin’s Laws of Life. The first A Web 2.0 Town Hall Meeting on the last day of the letters of the five laws spell his name -- Attitude, Learning, conference – one of several concurrent forum discussions, Value, Imagination and Never Give Up. another conference first – produced many ideas and opinions on this much-talked-about issue. These are summa- “You are changing the world,” he told delegates. rized in an article by moderator Jury Konga on page 23. “Keep on believing that you can. Delegates made many favourable comments about find- “Because of technology you can keep in touch. ing practical value in the conference sessions. Because of your connections you can draw on each others’ energy and answers, and all the wonderful things that this Al Little of the City of Hamilton said: “I spent a lot of time conference represents.” in sessions on Web 2.0 and accessibility issues that were very valuable. So was the Gartner session on IT governance. Importance of Collaboration “There was a lot of information that would take me a Many sessions underscored a similar message: The only way long time to gather on my own, and I can get it here at one to keep abreast of developments is to share responsibilities shot, concentrated,” Little said. “And I can talk to people and collaborate. Keynote speaker Michel Tremblay, vice- associated with those issues. That’s what it’s all about, president, public sector, Microsoft, was the first to echo this the interactions and networking. And the sessions just theme, as he kicked off the conference with a look at how complement it all.” technology is shaping, among other things, manage- ment style and structure. Tremblay’s audience participated in a live online survey via text messaging to answer the question, “What governance moves should we make?” Their answer was almost unanimous – massive collaboration. Keynote speaker Steve Prescott of Oracle illustrated how technology enables collaboration with a film that showed how online report sharing and data mining prevented a global influenza outbreak.
Consultant Ben Perry of Prior + Prior delivers a session on IT governance in classroom UA1220, with a laptop handy on the lecture desk and a big screen behind him.
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Below, Wendy St. Amour of the County of Essex examines the services available on MISA Ontario’s Web site, www.misa.on.ca, in an educational session conducted by Cindy Ravenscroft of Halton Region.
Catherine Baldelli of the Town of Milton, left foreground, and a room full of classmates take part in an educational session conducted by Howard Forder.
On a sunny but brisk Sunday in Port Perry, Bill Cleary, left, of the Durham Region conference team offers a geo-caching clue to Michael Lund of Halton Region and Bernadette Above, Stephanie Bell of Texthelp Above, Ron Blakey presents a Kucharczuk of the City of East Orange, NJ. Systems Ltd., having travelled from speaker’s gift to Ron Watt of Northern Ireland to exhibit at the trade Empowered Networks after his show, talks with Larry Franks of the session on Re-learning Remote City of Peterborough. Support Strategies.
Posing with their Excellence in Municipal Systems awards are, from left: Glenn Burroughs, Ottawa; Helen McLaren, Chatham-Kent; Bruce Irwin, Niagara Region.
Above, keynote speaker Alvin Law plays the piano with his feet.
At left, Jack Marsman of the City of Brampton, left, visits the StarDyne
Photos by David Laneville and Lawrence Moule Technologies booth to chat with Melanie Sterling and Eric Schwartz.
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Bernadette Kucharczuk, CIO of the City of East enhanced its asset-sustainability program. The complete Orange, New Jersey, admired the success of conference story is told on page 30. sessions in illuminating municipal issues that transcend • The City of Brampton used PSAB as a “lightning rod” jurisdictions and countries. She attended the conference to implement a business-process-automation suite from representing the US association GMIS (Government iWay Software that has vastly improved customer Management Information Sciences). service. This story will be told in a forthcoming issue “I really enjoyed the session by York Region on of Municipal Interface. Outsourcing the Converged Network,” Kucharczuk said. “We are trying to do a project like that on a smaller scale • Nick Tidd of D-Link Networks showed how green initiatives and struggling with challenges similar to what they faced can save organizations money through a variety of in York Region. I found a lot of value in that session.” strategies, including reducing burdensome IT processes, reducing operational and maintenance activities, Compliance Incentives powering down unused ports and adjusting power In many cases, solutions described in the sessions were to the Ethernet cable length. initiated either by new compliance requirements or the • In a session called Increasing Productivity of the Mobile introduction of software products with expanded capabilities, Worker, Barbara Devine of Bell Canada described how or both. The solutions frequently produced benefits beyond the numerous mobile devices and applications now those originally contemplated, such as enterprise-wide readily available help workers do their job, including efficiencies or the greening of operations. Some examples: accessing e-mail and electronic forms on smartphones, • The City of Woodstock solved its PSAB reporting getting a wireless connection via memory stick/laptop, problem using new software from ESRI Canada that and checking inventory. Conference Sponsors and Exhibitors
Infusion Development Sponsors Exhibitors Intergraph Canada Ltd. Platinum Agresso Kaspersky Lab Microsoft Canada Avaya Lagan Technologies Ltd. Bell Canada Gold Laserfiche CA Canada Inc. MGCG Limited Bell CDW Canada Inc. MRV Communications BlackBerry by Research in Motion CCSI Technology Solutions Micro Market Business Centre CDW Canada CMS Consulting Microsoft Canada Co. Cisco ctc TrainCanada Compugen Inc. Cisco Mid-Range Computer Group Inc. Dell Canada Inc. Compugen Inc. NCI (Net Cyclops Inc.) Gartner Inc. The Createch Group Nexient Learning Inc. Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co. Dell Canada Inc. Océ-Canada Inc. IBM Canada Ltd. DesTech Consulting & Education Oracle Corporation Canada Inc. Kaspersky Lab Digital Boundary Group Oracle Corporation Canada Inc. Panasonic Canada Inc. D-Link Canada Inc. SAP Canada Inc. Pitney Bowes Canada ESRI Canada Ltd. Research in Motion Contributing Sponsors eSolutions Group RIVA Modeling Systems Inc. ESRI Canada Filibitron SAP Canada Inc. eSolutions Group Fortinet Canada Secure Links Gibraltar Systems GDL Inc. Smart Thought Technologies Lenovo Gartner Inc. Municipal World magazine Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co. StarDyne Technologies Inc. Rogers Wireless Inc. IBM Canada Ltd. Teranet Enterprises Inc. TELUS Imex Systems Inc. Texthelp Systems Ltd. Teranet Enterprises Inc. Information Builders Waveform Wireless Solutions Inc. Toshiba of Canada Info-Tech Research Group Websense Canada Inc.
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Fred Snelling and Debbie Barrett Honoured by MISA Ontario
FRED SNELLING of the City of Hamilton, a dedicated volunteer leader with MISA Ontario for two decades, has been honoured with a Special Recognition award. Snelling received the award during the annual banquet on June 2 at MISA Ontario’s 2009 Annual Conference. The event also featured the presentation of a life membership to former association president Debbie Barrett as well as achievement awards to several member organizations. Snelling, who is head of IT strategic planning for the City of Hamilton, was recognized for service as an Executive member, adviser and conference organizer. “Last year when Grey County needed some additional help with its small but dedicated team for the conference, Fred Snelling of the City of Hamilton, left, receives his Special Fred gladly dedicated his time and expertise to help out,” Recognition trophy from awards-committee members Claire former president Harry Turnbull of the City of Windsor McKay, Region of Peel, and Harry Turnbull, City of Windsor. noted in announcing Snelling’s award. From 1990 through 1998 Snelling served continuously participation on committees and the Executive for a number as secretary of MISA Ontario. At the time he was manager of years. Debbie Barrett, who recently retired as CIO of of information systems for the City of Stoney Creek McMaster University, was honoured for her contributions (1986-2001). to MISA during the 1990s when she led the IT department After the amalgamation of Stoney Creek into the City at the City of Mississauga. of Hamilton, Snelling Barrett was president of MISA Ontario from 1997 continued to con- through 1999 and led the initiation of municipal involvement tribute time to MISA. with the Public Sector CIO Council and the annual Lac He was instrumental Carling Congress. She was also a strong advocate for in organizing both the the sharing of IT solutions among municipalities. 2003 annual confer- ence and the 2006 “Her years as MISA Ontario president were among the security conference in most important in our recent development, and nobody Hamilton. was more important in establishing MISA and municipalities on the national stage,” Turnbull said. Special recognition is awarded to individ- During the annual banquet, held at the Deer Creek uals or groups who Golf Club and Banquet Facility in the Town of Ajax, have made a specific MISA Ontario conferred Excellence in Municipal Systems and outstanding con- awards on three municipalities: tribution to MISA or • Regional Municipality of Niagara for its court- the municipal systems administration management system community. • City of Ottawa for its development application search Life membership is • Municipality of Chatham-Kent for its property tax awarded to retiring information service. Former MISA Ontario president MISA member repre- Debbie Barrett holds her life member- sentatives who have The Exhibitor of the Year Award went to Microsoft ship award with long-time colleague been active in the Canada for providing the best booth experience at the Roy Wiseman of the Region of Peel. association, including conference trade show.
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• The City of Oshawa set out to improve customer service by • Nicholas Vitalari of nGenera discussed the service- implementing a Lagan customer-relationship-management delivery transformation to come from networking system and found to its surprise that the project increased tools. These tools are now overwhelming in numbers productivity across the enterprise. This story, too, will be and are being created by non-professionals, not just told soon in the pages of Municipal Interface. programmers. The Web 2.0 generation, which has a better computer environment at home than at work, Looking to the Future wants to use a range of technologies to make their For those delegates responsible for long-term IT planning, jobs productive. several presenters offered interesting predictions. Keynote • Consultant Ben Perry of Prior + Prior said the strategic speaker Bob Hafner of Gartner spoke of a massive shift focus for IT departments is beginning to shift away toward unified communications that will soon result from from infrastructure management to the “new frontier” the convergence of voice, instant messaging, conferencing, of business applications. These applications will client devices and mobility. enable municipal administrators to do ever more By 2013, 40 per cent of knowledge workers worldwide with less. will have abandoned their desk phones in favour of comput- ing and handheld devices linked together, Hafner predicted. Busy Trade Show Such changes will be implemented by business units one What about the business side of the conference? Again by one, then will spread virally through organizations. reflecting the theme of opportunity, vendors reported that “Would you work for an organization today that does they, too, were doing more with less. not have e-mail?” Hafner asked. “In six or seven years While total attendance of 470 was down from the you will not work in an organization that does not have 2008 conference, the result of municipal travel restrictions, unified communications.” vendors reported that they were seeing increased traffic. Other notable pointers to the future included: Ron Blakey speculated that the smaller number of booths this year – 50 as opposed to last year’s 80 – provided • Dave Milne of IBM Canada predicted an ever-increasing delegates more opportunities to look carefully at role for shared services: “Collaboration across munici- the offerings. palities and with vendors will become a new way of working, to reduce expenses, maximize ROI, avoid The same thing was observed by Mark Lehmann of duplication and make effective use of critical skills Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co. and resources.” “We are seeing lot of genuine interest from people coming by the booths to talk to vendors and spend some time to understand what they are bringing in,” Lehmann said. “It has been a very valuable conference.”
(continued on page 22)
Below, Bob Diakow, front row left, poses with his team from the Regional Municipality of Niagara at their booth promot- ing the 2010 conference to take place at Niagara Falls.
Above, members of the newly elected MISA Ontario Executive are, from left: Kathryn Bulko, Toronto; Geoff Hogan, Grey County; Glenn Burroughs, Ottawa; Helen McLaren, Chatham-Kent; Ralph Blauel, Halton Region; President Garry Bezruki, City of Waterloo; Scott Bradford, North Bay; David Laneville, Timmins; Dan Munns, Whitby. Missing are Ron Blakey, Region of Durham, and associate member representatives Ron Begg of StarDyne Technologies and Karen Mayfield of eSolutions Group.
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Kathryn Bulko of the City of Toronto, second from left, joins the award- winning Microsoft team at their booth. From left: Caitlin Rowberry, Greg Stoneman and Omar Rashid.
In E. P. Taylor’s Pub, Helen McLaren of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, foreground, has fun playing the Rock Band game. Others following along with animated performers on a big screen are, from right: Wilma Koziello, Haldimand County; Caitlin Rowberry and Rob McMillan, Microsoft Canada; and Bruno Mangiardi, Above, Dan Munns of the Town of Whitby visits City of Greater Sudbury. Lindsey Ross of Lenovo in the Compugen booth.
Above right, Karl Drysdale of the City of London chats with Brenda Jeffs of the City of Oshawa before introducing her session.
Carrie Grimley of Durham Region Above, keynote speakers Mike Tremblay of reads a note describing her appear- Microsoft, left, and Bob Hafner of Gartner. ance on stage, written the previous day by Tess and Jeff Evason, even though Below, Mariette Kouwenberg-Mooney of CMS they had not seen or met Grimley. Consulting, right, works in the busy trade show.
Kevin Bradford of the City of Brampton, above left, and Dimitri Yampolsky of the City of Vaughan share a banquet table with Bernadette Kucharczuk of the City of East Orange, NJ, a member of the GMIS Executive and representing the US association at the conference. Above, delegates enjoy Casino Night in the recreation centre. 20
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(continued from page 19) That evening the delegates discovered the delights of John Tyl of Smart Thought Technologies chimed in: “We the college/university campus pub. From then on they are finding it a great show to connect with key decision- made their own fun each night, especially by playing the makers. We are getting really good traffic and really good Microsoft Rock Band game with its simulated instruments interest. We’ll be back next year.” and microphone that enabled people to play along and Vendor and municipal delegates alike expressed pleasure try to match the antics of the animated video performers. at being able to mingle and put faces to names. As always It was a hoot – but none of the would-be rock stars among at MISA events, all delegates took part in all aspects of the the delegates should give up their day jobs. conference including the entertainment. The exuberance displayed at the after-school events That started with a choice of two Sunday-afternoon reflected in part the large number of younger delegates. opening events: golf at the Wooden Sticks club in the town of Uxbridge in northern Durham Region, or a geo-caching “There is a new generation slowly coming in, and I event held in the nearby town of Port Perry. think it is great to see them becoming active in MISA and sharing in the organization,” said Karl Drysdale of the City of London, recently retired as the long-time secretary of MISA Ontario. Delegates also enjoyed a Casino Night and the annual ™ Lagan 311 & banquet held at the Deer Creek Lagan311.com™ Golf and Banquet Facility. Post-ban- quet entertainment was provided by mentalist duo The Evasons, The solutions you need to give whose show astonished everyone. they them the answers need. Tessa Evason, blindfolded, was Lagan311 and Lagan311.com are scalable and secure consistently able to identify and high-performance solutions designed specifically for 311 describe in detail people and call centers. They allow community members to access objects randomly selected by the services they need with a single call, enabling you to deliver services rapidly and cost effectively. her husband Jeff. Participating audience volunteers returned to With Lagan 311 and Lagan311.com, caller information is captured once and routed automatically for resolution. their seats wide-eyed and shaking Highly configurable and quick to deploy, Lagan 311 and their heads. Lagan311.com are fast, low-risk solutions for providing mission critical, non-emergency services to communities. Through all this activity the Durham Region conference team t Solutions for Municipalities of All Sizes led by Leni Jacklin was constantly t COTS 311 Call Center Solution on hand to guide and assist the t Extended CRM Capabilities delegates. Ron Blakey paid them a t Pre-Configured Software as a Service (SaaS) Offering well-earned tribute at the banquet, boasting that “Durham IT has absolutely the best staff in the world!” That poses a challenge for the staff of the Regional Municipality of Niagara and the City of Niagara Falls, who will be co-hosts of the 2010 conference at the Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort and Hilton Connecting Governments and People Niagara Falls Fallsview Hotel on June 13-16. Judging from the www.lagan.com smiling faces in their booth at the www.twitter.com/lagan_business Durham Region conference, they’ll be ready.
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Web 2.0 Roundtable Discussion Points to Need for Service Integration
By Jury Konga • Integrated eServices are an imperative. With municipal Town of Richmond Hill, Ontario government being the “front facing” service delivery provider, it is important that municipalities be an equal partner with senior levels of government in THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES of Web 2.0 moving toward the integration of services to citizens. technologies are gaining increasing interest in the • Agreement needed on open data policies. There is a municipal-sector community, particularly in the past year. heightened awareness of the need to consider open The MISA Ontario 2009 Annual Conference featured a data policies to further enhance service delivery, Web 2.0 program stream that included speakers from not only by government but by others including the three levels of government and the private sector. non-profit and private sectors. The program culminated on the final day of the • Collaboration on Web 2.0 – Gov 2.0 must involve all conference with an expert panel providing presentations, levels of government. This statement does not detract an open forum and roundtable discussions by all partici- from the excellent work done to date but rather sug- pants. The Town Hall session was moderated by Jury gests that there is much more to do. This will require Konga, with speakers Dave Wallace, CIO of Toronto; the collective will and resources of the entire public Roy Wiseman, CIO of Peel Region; Dave Tallan, manager sector community with assistance from organizations of eGovernment and the Web for the Province of such as the Institute for Citizen-Centred Service. Ontario; and Nick Vitaleri, executive vice president of • Next Steps for Municipalities in the Web 2.0 World. nGenera Corporation. Municipal collaboration internally and externally needs to become the modus operandi. Don’t re-invent Synergy Between MISA and Lac Carling the wheel. Start slow – learn through experimentation In addition to addressing members’ interest in Web 2.0, and the experiences of others. another goal of the session was to link the MISA Ontario • Important Role for MISA in Gov 2.0. MISA can play 2009 conference with the Lac Carling Congress, which a key role by providing a forum to determine Gov followed about two weeks later (see following article). 2.0 best practices; enhancing the MISA Web site Lac Carling’s theme was “Government 2.0 – the Value to facilitate collaboration and information exchange; Proposition,” and the MISA Ontario Web 2.0 program facilitating the development of communities of was developed with the intent of providing input for interest; and moving toward Gov 2.0 outcomes – that conference. strategy, plans and roadmap. As it was further stated: to “develop a plan that seeks The complete text of the discussion summary may be to achieve strategic outcomes from the short- and long-term found on the MISA Ontario Web site (www.misa.on.ca). collaboration between the MISA regional annual confer- ences and the Lac Carling Congress. It is considered Moving Forward important to define goals two to three years out and One direct outcome of the roundtable discussions was a collaborate to move the collective agenda of the broader subsequent proposal of a new Gov 2.0 Committee for public sector toward achieving these goals.” MISA Ontario. The terms of reference are to be confirmed by the Executive. This underscores an increasing awareness Web 2.0 Roundtable Outcomes of the common challenges and opportunities we all have The Web 2.0 program stream was coordinated by in addressing the goals of service excellence in the Gov Jury Konga, and the Roundtable group facilitators and 2.0 community. The dialogue needs to continue. recorders were: Dave Wallace, City of Toronto; Shannon McKay, Halton Region; Dave Tallan, Province of Ontario; Jury Konga is a manager in IT at the Town of Richmond Roy Wiseman, Peel Region; and Tony Niederer, Hill. He is a member of the MISA Executive, interim chair eSolutions Group. of its Gov 2.0 Committee and creator of the MuniGov.CA Here is a synopsis of some of the directions provided group within GovLoop.com. He can be reached at by participants. [email protected]
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Municipal delegates at Lac Carling who participated in the meeting that established the Gov 2.0 subcommittee included, from left: front row, Ralph Blauel, Region of Halton; Louis Shallal, Region of York; Robert Giggey, City of Ottawa; Per Kristensen, City of Nanaimo. Back row: Chris Fisher, City of Regina; Dan Newton, City of Red Deer; Sabina Visser, City of Lethbridge; Jury Konga, Town of Richmond Hill; Bill Grant, District of West Vancouver; Lorne Seaton, City of London; Heather Reed-Fenske, City of Calgary; Gaston Huot, Ville de Brossard; Michelle Gregoire, City of Ottawa; Kevin Peacock, City of Saskatoon; Daya Pillay, Halifax Regional Municipality; Alain Chow, Town of Richmond Hill; David Hennigan, Capital Region District, BC. Gov 2.0 Talks at Lac Carling Bring IT, Service-Delivery Officials Closer Collaborative Web site established to share ideas on social media
By Lawrence Moule The theme this year was “Gov 2.0 -- The Value Co-Editor, Municipal Interface Proposition.” It was the second year in a row that the evolution of the Web as a vehicle for social media, using ONCE AGAIN the Lac Carling Congress has helped munici- technologies often collectively called Web 2.0, was the palities work together on a national level. The Congress – focus for discussion of government applications. which earlier in this decade was host to events that led to There were 123 municipal delegates, 25 per cent of all the formation of MISA/ASIM Canada in 2006 – this time delegates at the Congress, and they represented the mem- witnessed the first formal collaboration between municipal bership of both MISA/ASIM Canada and the Municipal IT and service-delivery professional organizations. Service Delivery Officials (MSDO). This was the first year Lac Carling 2009 was held June 14-16 at Niagara-on- that MSDO had been invited to select delegates, an orga- the-Lake, Ontario. As it has done each year since 1996, nizational experiment that worked. the Congress, organized by IT World Canada, brought together senior officials from all levels of government to At the end of the second afternoon of the Congress, share information on electronic service delivery and discuss many of the municipal delegates gathered for an impromp- strategies and solutions. tu meeting to try to identify a collaborative opportunity. 24 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
Led by Daya Pillay of the Halifax Regional Municipality, president of MISA/ASIM Canada, the discussion produced Municipal Delegates Cheer something new – agreement to build a Web forum to assist municipalities across Canada to develop ideas, and share Identity-Management Ideas suggestions and concerns regarding the use of social-media technologies. IN ADDITION to progress on Gov 2.0 issues, the Lac They decided to set up a dedicated group within an Carling Congress gave municipal delegates encourage- established site called GovLoop (www.govloop.com). The ment that another complex issue – identity management group is called MuniGov.CA. Anyone involved with – might be on its way to resolution. MISA/ASIM Canada member associations or MSDO is Dave Nikolejsin, CIO of the Province of British welcome to participate in the group, the deliberations of Columbia, gave a presentation entitled “How Identity which are private to members. Management Will Transform Government Services,” Interested municipal employees can join MuniGov.CA, which was well received by the municipal delegates. first by first joining GovLoop as a member (there is no Nikolejsin argued that the current proliferation of charge or obligation), and then by going to the Groups online identity-management technologies, many devel- tab and searching for the MuniGov.CA name. oped by the private sector for customer transactions, is This initiative is being directed by a subcommittee of the not sustainable for government use. MISA/ASIM Canada Board of Directors. The subcommittee “Governments need to move into the identity-services chair is Daya Pillay, and members are Jury Konga, manager business,” he declared, proposing a system whereby a of GIS services for the Town of Richmond Hill, Ontario, unique electronic identifier would reside on each con- and Robert Giggey, client relationship manager for the sumer’s computer, enabling the person’s identity to be City of Ottawa. verified electronically by an authoritative party -- a Konga subsequently set up the MuniGov.CA group in government organization. This confirmation, while GovLoop and is serving as its administrator. He can be protecting the consumer’s personal information, could reached at [email protected]. be relied upon by any organization with which the consumer wants to do business. By early August, MuniGov.CA had 51 members discussing a variety of topics such as open data, Twitter Nikolejsin is promoting this “User-Centric, Claims-Based usage and the biggest issues of Gov 2.0. (For more on the Identity Management” system to the federal government group, see the Governance Issues column on page 45). and provinces, and appeared to have the support of the Lac Carling municipal delegates. No Consistent Approach Meanwhile a session presented by leaders of the From the sessions and discussions at Lac Carling it was Identity Management Steering Committee, which reports clear that municipalities across the country have taken to a federal-provincial-territorial group of deputy ministers, several approaches to the advent of social media. Some revealed that a Pan-Canadian Identity Management and have done nothing at all; some officially oppose the use Authentication Framework, containing universal standards by employees of Web 2.0 services; and some are looking for the management of electronic transactions, is expected for ways to make use of the services pragmatically and to be completed within a year. consistently for both internal and external purposes. Gaston Huot, administrator of RIMQ and IT director for Lac Carling panel presentation included Facebook and the Quebec towns of Boucherville, Brossard, Saint-Bruno Flickr accounts, an internal version of Twitter and a wiki and Saint-Lambert, summed up a consensus viewpoint in used to help create departmental budgets. noting that Gov 2.0 is not a technical issue. Externally, Ottawa has conducted four public consultations “We have been talking a lot about Web 2.0 tools, but using social-media tools, set up a public wiki on governance in IT we have to look first at needs,” Huot said. policies, and is pushing out information from its Web site “We don’t start with the tools and try to find something with RSS feeds. During a recent transit strike the City used to do with them. We have to listen to our clients, see what www.netvibes.com as a crisis-management tool to monitor their needs are – as we always do – and, knowing that public comments on the strike posted on social-media sites. there are new tools now and new ways of doing things, consider applying them to meet those needs.” Giggey’s presentation also included examples of Gov 2.0 tools used by other municipalities: One municipality that is convinced that Gov 2.0 has value in meeting client needs is the City of Ottawa. It has • Facebook for social and economic-development set up an e-Media team to manage a “sandbox,” an internal reasons by Nanaimo and Vancouver in BC, and by the collaboration site from which employees can download Region of Niagara, City of Toronto and Prince Edward any tool they want. Examples cited by Robert Giggey in a County, Ontario
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At right, Daya Pillay of Halifax, president of MISA/ASIM Canada, chats with Corinne Charette, chief information officer of the federal Treasury Board Secretariat, during a break between Lac Carling sessions.
Below, taking part in the Birds of a Feather Session on June 14 are, from left: Louis Shallal, York Region; Dave Wallace, City of Toronto; Nancy Liston, Government of Ontario; David Laneville, City of Timmins; and Per Kristensen, City of Nanaimo.
At right, Robert Giggey, presents a summary of municipal experience with Government 2.0 during a panel session June 15.
Far right, conference co-chair Dave Wallace of the City of Toronto presents his closing remarks to Lac Carling delegates June 16.
• Twitter by the City of Guelph, Ontario, Calgary and business units and, if they are not using the technology, we several other cities should sit down with them to help analyze the value of the • Blogs by the mayors of Guelph, Ottawa and the City of technology.” Waterloo, Ontario. 2. The policy vacuum. Municipalities need, and do not “Soon it will be expected that municipalities incorporate have, policies to govern the use of Gov 2.0 tools internally these things into how you engage and communicate with or externally. This is one gap that the new MuniGov.CA people,” Giggey said. “But in Ottawa we have a lot of group hopes to help fill. learning to do internally to be able to use the tools effectively Per Kristensen of the City of Nanaimo noted: “What across the City instead of learning in little pockets.” we’re doing in Nanaimo, which is probably typical of what most municipalities are doing, is slowly opening up Three types of issues emerged during the Lac Carling opportunities for staff to use the tools, and we’re making a discussions that appear to be the focus of future municipal City presence on social-media sites. But we’re really not learning about Gov 2.0: inviting public discussion to do with politics or municipal 1. Who’s in charge? There is uncertainty about which policies. So the whole political side is not engaged yet. departments – IT, service-delivery, communications or perhaps And I think that is a key factor for a local government.” others – should take the lead in implementing Gov 2.0 prac- 3. More experience is needed. Dave Wallace, CIO of the tices. Most delegates felt that IT should be in a support role. City of Toronto and municipal co-chair of Lac Carling, said David Laneville of the City of Timmins commented: “I’ve the event demonstrated the value of the “connection points” always maintained that IT is a bag of hammers – we’re the that can be made as all three levels of government gain ones who need to put tools in place to permit the folks who more experience with Gov 2.0 initiatives. deliver the services to get the job done. If the appropriate “I feel that there was movement here,” Wallace said in tool is Web 2.0 or 3.0 or 6.5 or whatever and the munici- his closing message to delegates. “This is real, we can do pality is ready to go, then that’s the tool to use.” it, and we can do it together. Let’s scale up, communicate, Sabina Visser of the City of Lethbridge said, “Gov 2.0 get the knowledge out there, and solve real-life problems presents an opportunity for us to become partners with the so we can recognize the results at the next event.”
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Are We Green Yet?
IT Is Part of the Sustainability Vision At Resort Municipality of Whistler
By Naomi Devine A group known as the Early Adopters (the Resort Municipality, Resort Municipality of Whistler, BC Whistler Blackcomb, the Chateau Whistler and AWARE), launched the next step on the community’s journey toward sustainability. The group IT IS A TRUTH not easily admitted that infor- had scientist Karl Henrik Robert, founder of the Natural Step, give a mation-technology managers do not enjoy few talks on the topic while he was vacationing in Whistler. meeting with people like me. Having the title This launched the “Whistler It’s our Nature” campaign, and the of sustainability coordinator can sometimes “Whistler It’s Our Future” process, which resulted in the community-led put a damper on things before they even start. creation of Whistler’s long-term sustainability vision and plan, known as Conventional wisdom says that sustainability Whistler2020. and information technology are not compatible with one another. The same is often said The Natural Step is a systems-based, science-supported sustainability about sustainability and tourism. So the fact framework developed in Europe by Karl-Henrik Robert. The strength that Whistler has a sustainability coordinator of the Natural Step is that it creates a common language for under- at all is beating the odds. standing the concept of sustainability – a term that has more than Whistler’s community vision is to be the 300 definitions in use. “premier mountain resort as we move toward According to the Natural Step framework, in a sustainable society sustainability.” It is a lofty vision for any nature is not subject to systematically increasing: community, let alone one that bases its economy so heavily on tourism. • Concentrations of substances extracted from the Earth’s crust But Whistler is not a town that shies away • Concentrations of substances produced by society from challenges. Over its short lifespan, our • Degradation (of the earth’s basic systems) by physical means. local government, the Resort Municipality of Whistler, has been known to embrace them Finally, in this society people are not subject to conditions that and turn them into advantages. Whistler’s vision systematically undermine their capacity to meet their needs. of sustainability, Whistler2020, is no different. What is Whistler2020? Can information technology be sustainable? More precisely, how can the IT Department Whistler2020 is a long-range approach to sustainability actively participate in a municipality that implemented by the community through a citizen-driven, action-oriented places sustainability as its highest ideal planning process. Through 17 strategy areas in support of five instead of fearing every meeting with the community priorities, Whistler2020 coordinates Whistler’s journey sustainability coordinator? toward becoming the premier mountain-resort community. Whistler did not arrive at this vision of Whistler 2020 was adopted as the highest level policy of the sustainability overnight; rather, it has been municipality in December 2004. The five priority areas of the plan – several years in the making. The conditions Enhancing the Resort Experience, Ensuring Economic Viability, for choosing a sustainable path were ripe Protecting the Environment, Enriching Community Life and Partnering for back in 1998. Council had already made Success – served as guideposts when the civic government some commitments in the year previous to underwent an organizational change in 2006. greenhouse-gas emissions reductions and had developed an environmental strategy, which In order to better align with the community’s priorities, the Resort was quickly ramped up to create something Municipality shuffled some departments and created Resort Experience more ambitious. (Resort Planning & Parks), Community Life (Planning), Economic 27 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
Are We Green Yet?
Viability (Finance) and Environmental Services (Public And our demand is ever increasing. At the office level, Works/Engineering). e-mailing a 4.7 megabyte file will create the equivalent On the community side of the process, the 17 task amount of greenhouse gasses that boiling a kettle 17.4 forces meet annually to generate actions for the partners times does. Just running your personal computer generates of Whistler2020, of which there are now more than 50. between 40g and 80g of CO2 an hour. Partner organizations can then accept or reject the Multiply that by Whistler’s 260 computers, and you actions given to them and report out on the progress begin to see our footprint rise quickly. The increase is quite of accepted actions. seriously tied to our ever-expanding need to communicate Five years in, this process is proving itself as a model better, faster and more effectively. for action. More than 600 actions have been generated, Any way you cut it (we haven’t even discussed the 489 have been accepted and 70 per cent of those have embodied energy of IT devices), using the Internet has an been completed. environmental impact. As the Resort Municipality is one of the Whistler2020 partner organizations (and also finances the Whistler2020 process), it has The paper-free office actually increases energy use a special responsibility to model sustainable behaviour and action. No organization is Putting things in context, however, the question really currently sustainable, and Whistler is no exception. What should be this – how do we compare the environmental distinguishes it from others is its commitment to figure out impact of IT with the way we would do business without it? this complex equation of sustainability. The Climate Group published a report in 2008 The Resort Municipality is serious about sustainability – suggesting that the global CO2 footprint of the Internet our CAO Bill Barratt has said sustainability is the new and associated technologies will grow to approximately “business as usual” – and this is where the challenge 1.43 billion tonnes of carbon emitted annually, but it also extends to the departments that make up the municipality and deliver the services that Whistler needs. This is no suggested that successfully implemented IT strategies small challenge and will ultimately take years to achieve, (including smart grids, energy-efficient buildings and but it is a journey worth taking. infrastructure upgrades) could reduce overall emissions by 15 per cent globally. IT and Sustainability at Whistler The potential is there for progress, but that figure rests Whistler is atypical for several reasons, but it does on the assumption that widespread changes will be made. share common threads with other municipalities, and there As significant as they could be, if not realized, we remain are lessons learned here that are of use to IT managers in a situation where we face ever-rising emissions in an across Canada. energy-constrained world. Taking a closer look at the civic government, with The Resort Municipality of Whistler is a town with respect to IT we are a typical municipal organization with a population of just less than 10,000 that must supply approximately 300 staff using about 260 computers. If we take average computer energy use to be 0.2 kWh and the services to more than 30,000 daily. At its peak of staffing work day to be about nine hours (the Resort Municipality in the summer, Whistler employs more than 400 staff to has a flexible-work schedule, permitting employees every provide municipal services. Our IT department has seven other Friday off), estimated energy use of computers alone employees, including manager Kelly Blunden, who keep is about 468 kWh each day. our communications systems running smoothly in this idyllic As it turns out, the paper-free office ideal is an energy mountain resort. hog in disguise. We have transferred the impact of one action to an even larger impact through another. IT Makes Changes So, IT takes energy – and lots of it – which has The IT department understands the challenge Whistler corresponding greenhouse gas emissions. Globally, at faces with respect to meeting its sustainability goals current estimations, it takes 123 billion kilowatt-hours of and has begun to make some interesting changes to electricity annually to power the Internet’s servers. how it does business. 28 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
Are We Green Yet?
Using remote desktop capabilities, IT technicians Beyond these first steps will be a planning process can now fix most problems and install applications from with the sustainability coordinator to see where one central location, whereas before they would have further opportunities lie and how the staff in IT can had to book appointments and drive to several of them influence the organization’s overall conversation to assess a problem. on sustainability. This decision has had another positive resource The role of the IT department in Whistler’s journey implication – the vehicle formerly assigned solely to IT has toward sustainability is critical. We cannot achieve now become part of the Resort Municipality’s (efficiently our vision until we grapple with the place of IT in managed) fleet of vehicles for employee use. this vision. The department also uses a virtual server environment To do that will involve a lot of discussion – not only with to reduce the need for purchasing new hardware, thereby the IT department, but the Resort Municipality as a whole – reducing power consumption in the server room. The as well as on-the-ground implementation to find the organization has shifted from a paper timesheet approval solutions that will work for everyone. process to an online system that all employees use. Of concern to the employees in the department is the Naomi Devine is the sustainability coordinator for the impact of equipment on the environment, especially when Resort Municipality of Whistler. She can be reached at combined with society’s seemingly insatiable need for the [email protected]. newest device. With an average life expectancy of a few months before certain technologies become obsolete, this is a challenge that all IT departments face. “This is something that is on the minds of everyone in RELAX WITH US the department,” says Blunden. “For example, how do we manage expectations when a new BlackBerry comes out? Demand for the new version currently comes at the expense of using a perfectly good –but older – version.” Blunden’s point highlights a challenge that affects not only the IT department but larger societal consumptive Call 604.899.2400 Design the learning for your exclusive to fit your worldneeds patterns. Our personal desires for the latest technology Municipal Pricing Choose from specially bleed into our professional lives as well. designed solutions: New Contact Info: Office and Desktop tools and applications training Com-Tech Technical applications training Best Practices Learning Solutions Project management training The IT Department is reviewing best practices in sustainability Call 604.899.2400 Let Us Allow You To Relax And and information technology and planning to integrate for your EXCLUSIVE Do More Important Things! central energy-efficiency strategies for employee computer Municipal Pricing Bring us in house for your training needs. use, as well as recommending key behavioural changes CALL US TODAY FOR OUR COMPLETE LISTING! Contact Info: Software Applications that will get everyone thinking about reducing energy use. Com-Tech - Office 2007 - training and rollout implementation “We want to move to a system where we have Learning Solutions Leadership Skills: everyone turn their computer off from the power bar to 22nd Floor - Change Management - Team Building - Communication etc. avoid the phantom load and set a regular time once a 200 Granville Street ITIL: Vancouver, BC - Foundations - Service manager - Incident manager - Change month to leave the power bar on overnight to install V6C 1S4 manager etc. software updates,” says Blunden. T 604.899.2400 Com-Tech Learing Solutions Ensures YOUR Training Needs F 604.688.1702 Run Smoothly The Resort Municipality is looking for ways to reduce experience the learning . printing and is testing online pay stubs for employees. The www.com-techsolutions.com future schedule also includes moving outside vendors to an OWN the knowledge! electronic funds-transfer system to significantly reduce the need for paper cheque writing. 29 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
Are We Green Yet?
GIS Solution Solves Accounting Issue With a Green Bonus for Woodstock
By David Creery, City of Woodstock In Ontario, rigorous reporting requirements have been and Barry Kelly, ESRI Canada instituted for all tangible capital assets. In fiscal year 2009, municipalities are required to report tangible capital assets as assets (versus expenses) on their financial statements FOR A MUNICIPALITY to be green, it must protect not only and reveal how much has been spent on each asset as natural resources but man-made ones. All municipal assets, well as how much each asset has amortized (decreased from concrete structures to trees and beaches, must be in value) since construction/acquisition. included within the scope of a sustainability program. The City of Woodstock, Ontario, has found a new way Sustainability of man-made assets has become a municipal imperative with high priority and high visibility. to deal with these problems and pressures, turning them In recent years some very serious accidents, including the into an opportunity to improve the long-term sustainability collapse of a major sewer line in Halifax and a bridge in of its assets. Montreal, have shown just how high the stakes are. The solution uses GIS technology as the basis for a central But despite the well understood need for asset manage- asset-management system. It provides a way to evaluate ment and maintenance, there is a huge infrastructure deficit the assets that, though subject to modification if necessary across Canada. The reason: municipalities are not allowed from future rulings, will meet today’s reporting requirements to run operating deficits so they have had to pass budgets sufficiently for compliance and planning purposes. calling for significant delays in capital infrastructure improvements. Recognizing the Opportunity The whole field seems beset with intractable problems Woodstock, population 37,000, is located in Oxford and escalating pressures. First of all, what is an asset? For County in southwestern Ontario. As in other municipalities, purposes of municipal planning, an asset must be something Council was concerned that compliance with asset-reporting that is on record as being owned – it must be data. legislation would add to the strains on its budget. But data is often defined and treated differently by The introduction of new reporting requirements for different departments, notably finance and engineering tangible capital assets represented a significant departure departments. The IT department can find itself trying to from the way Woodstock previously reported on those resolve differences between other departments’ competing assets. Historically, assets were recorded as expenses in legacy systems and established procedures. the year that they were acquired. The new guidelines, Furthermore, data attributes are frequently inconsistent however, require that the cost to acquire a tangible capital or missing altogether, especially in cases when the assets asset be allocated over its useful life and that the City were purchased or installed many decades ago. And report the information on a balance sheet. people in the field with personal knowledge of assets are Woodstock decided to establish a GIS-based asset- retiring at a rapid pace. valuation framework to help meet these reporting Time to resolve such issues has run out. Decisions must requirements. The Engineering Department looked at be made and steps taken to comply with stringent new other solutions but, since the geo-database was already legal requirements. The Public Sector Accounting Board set up, it decided that the database would be easiest to (PSAB) has established PS3150 reporting requirements for populate with the necessary data. To establish the tangible capital assets. While the reporting deadline has framework, Engineering added the asset attributes of been extended to January 2010, many municipalities are material, length, size, age and current value to the existing still uncertain how to comply. geo-database. 30 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
Are We Green Yet?
The framework was established to enable Woodstock to: The City hired consulting firm TSH to complete a PSAB • Interpret new accounting rules asset valuation of all the road assets based on the Roads Needs Study. The study data was input into the geo-database, • Conduct an inventory of existing assets to be capitalized and the AVT toolbar was used to compare results with the • Determine historical costs TSH report. The resulting calculations of asset valuations • Calculate the accumulated depreciation for each asset were within one per cent of the engineering study. from the time of acquisition/installation. This prompted Woodstock to expand the scope of the initial roads study and reapply the AVT to: The geo-database could also serve as a common bridge between the Engineering and Finance departments, • Valuate the current and replacement cost of the City’s which both have different ways of looking at asset data. storm sewer network Accountants in Finance are primarily concerned with • Create a straight-line amortization model based on the asset depreciation. Their calculations focus on amortizing asset-installation date the expense of an asset over time rather than on determining • Insert a construction-cost index to calculate historic costs its value at any given point. when that information was not available. Engineers, however, want to calculate degradation The AVT’s built-in accounting rules let the City examine values for purposes of maintenance programs. They attribute information such as acquisition cost, expected life examine factors including the number of defects, physical and salvage values, and then calculate the depreciation of condition and quality of materials or workmanship. They individual assets. can predict asset values well into the future by drawing Automated processes saved the City from painstakingly charts called degradation curves. combing its archives to determine the original lifespan of Degradation curves are said to approximate the true each asset. The AVT has provided a mechanism for the centralization, collection and maintenance of infrastructure life and deterioration of an asset better than the straight-line asset information that will let the City keep a record of depreciation method detailed in accounting standards, historical data for future analysis. which is what is required by PS3150. The Engineering and Finance departments can now Woodstock hoped that its GIS-based asset-valuation draw accurate data from the same central source. Standard framework could produce data from which both its GIS tools enable them to export the AVT toolbar results to Engineering and Finance departments could draw to meet simple Excel files. Excel is a bridge between any software. their disparate needs, while providing a central database Woodstock’s GIS-based asset valuation framework will for asset management. enable the City to keep costs down by conducting amorti- A New Idea zations internally, without the need to hire consulting firms to valuate assets. After years of gathering data, by 2008 the City had compiled Woodstock’s solution will enable it to optimize asset in the geo-database a complete record of location and use, improve capital planning, and manage maintenance attribute data on the water main and sewer assets. efforts involved by making asset data as accurate, reliable Woodstock then hired an engineering firm to evaluate and efficient as possible. The AVT toolbar will be used to the current road system and prepare a Road Needs Study. value other assets in the geo-database such as sidewalks Preparing this study was a natural stepping stone in and street lights. the process to PSAB compliance for the road system – the Sustainable communities depend on sustainable infra- entire road system was inventoried, and the condition of its structure. Although Woodstock initially set out to solve a assets assessed. With the addition of the road assets the compliance problem, its solution will also help to improve City had a geo-database that could serve as the core of its infrastructure maintenance and renewal programs, Woodstock’s asset inventory. reduce its infrastructure gap, and promote better long-term planning by bringing departments closer together. At this time the City was approached by its GIS provider, ESRI Canada, to examine an emerging product called the Asset Value Toolkit (AVT) for ArcGIS. It is a David Creery, city engineer with the City of Woodstock, can collection of GIS-based tools to collect, manage, amortize be reached at [email protected]. Barry Kelly, and report financial-asset data. The data elements are public works account manager with ESRI Canada, can be displayed in a toolbar at the top of the computer screen. reached at [email protected].
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MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
Are We Green Yet?
Building an Affordable Green Plan Structured approach seen as a sustainable way forward
By Karen Mayfield, Conestoga-Rovers and Sustainability Success Cycle Associates and eSolutionsGroup Douglas B. Smith, Conestoga-Rovers and Associates Develop a Sustainability Plan with KPIs AS THE DEMAND for an environmentally sustainable economy has spread from forward-thinking organizations to main- stream federal and provincial commitments, promoting sustainability is now a sign of the times. Measure, Benchmark, Municipalities and civic institutions at the forefront of Report, Implement, sustainability understand the long-term importance and and Refine and Evaluate competitive advantages of integrating environmental and social agendas into day-to-day practices. New legislation has emerged in Canada including the new Ontario Green Energy Act and British Columbia’s Bill 44, which are both designed to reduce municipalities’ environmental footprints. Build Community Support Similar legislation exists throughout the United States, and more is expected to come as North America enters 1. Create a greenhouse-gas emission inventory into a carbon-regulated economy. At the same time, federal 2. Set emissions’ reductions targets funding, to the tune of $1 billion over five years, for “transformation to a green energy economy” was unveiled 3. Develop a local action plan as part of the federal2009 budget. 4. Implement a local action plan Balancing environmental improvements with effective 5. Monitor progress and report results. cost-management can be challenging for municipalities. A Through the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP), multidisciplinary effort, including environmental professionals, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has information systems professionals, and the municipalities’ adopted this five-milestone structure. As of July 2009, stakeholders, is required for the successful implementation 186 Canadian municipalities have subscribed to PCP of a sustainability plan. and are at various stages of the five milestones. With technical resources and financial assistance available, several municipalities are well on their way to Sustainability Success Cycle incorporating sustainability into their operations. Municipalities across Canada that have subscribed to PCP are at various stages in the sustainability success cycle. Getting Started with Sustainability Some are beginning to form plans, while others have Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) – an interna- implemented advanced programs and are reaching the tional network of local governments committed to reducing end of the ICLEI’s five-milestone structure. their environmental footprint – provides regionally specific Despite the efforts of these progressive municipalities, tools and guidance documents to assist municipalities. some still believe that subscribing to PCP or implementing Through this resource, local governments can share sustainability initiatives will have an adverse impact on information that can be applied to improving sustainability. the local economy. In fact, the benefits of incorporating The ICLEI promotes a five-milestone structure for implementing sustainability into day-to-day operations are numerous and a sustainability plan, as follows: far out-weigh the costs. 33 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
Are We Green Yet?
Retrofitting old buildings to reduce waste heat and elec- Additionally, the United States Congress has recently tricity can deliver substantial savings. Similarly, replacing proposed the American Clean Energy Security Act, which, old vehicles with new vehicle technologies, such as hybrid if approved by the US Senate, will lead to a nationwide and electric vehicles, can also realize substantial savings cap and trade system. The Canadian federal government in gasoline costs. But retrofitting buildings and replacing has indicated that, if the US enacts a cap and trade sys- vehicle fleets requires a large upfront investment – so how tem, Canada will ultimately join. With a price on carbon, does a municipality determine where to invest? a municipality with a well-managed sustainability plan can potentially sell credits for reductions of greenhouse gas Sustainability Plan and Local Economy emissions on to the carbon market to further maximize the A well managed sustainability plan should consider the return on investment. upfront capital investments from the initial design stage by attempting to identify the source(s) of the most significant Where to Go Next? environmental effects. This plan should also consider Faced with changing legislation and a growing sense of government incentives to implement improvements. Further, urgency and public pressure, many municipalities are implementation can help to stimulate the local economy. asking themselves where to go next. The FCM’s Green Municipal Fund provides grants for up Although set targets and end-points are an important to 50 per cent of the costs (to a maximum of $350,000) part of a sustainability plan to gauge progress, a successful for implementing ICLEI milestones #2 and #3 (as listed sustainability program should be constantly evolving and, previously), as well as grants for conducting feasibility ultimately, cyclical. The municipality’s greenhouse-gas-emis- studies and low-interest loans for capital projects to reduce sions inventory should be completed annually, following greenhouse-gas emissions. which the municipality should then review the remaining four milestones and identify new opportunities to reduce their communities’ environmental footprint. Such opportunities may include new access to renewable energy technologies (for example, access to wind, solar or biomass electricity suppliers), availability of provincial or federal government incentives to supplement costs of improvements, the desire to stimulate the local economy by investing in building retrofits, or the ability to sell carbon reductions’ credits through a cap and trade system, thus providing funds for other investments. Although the long-term targets should not be significantly altered (ICLEI Milestone #2 as listed above), variables will change constantly, and it is beneficial for a municipality to capitalize on opportunities as they are presented to meet their defined targets. Incorporating Software Incorporating measurement and reporting tools (software) into the development of a sustainability plan can greatly enhance the ability of a municipality to conceptualize its environmental footprint and help identify key areas to focus investments for improvements. Several software tools are available from a variety of sources. The best incorporate the expertise of sustainability consultants with the know-how of a software-development firm. Determining whether customized software will be bene- ficial or an unnecessary expense to your municipality will depend largely on your overall objectives. Municipalities seeking to reach the ICLEI milestones and connect their environmental performance with economic opportunities
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Are We Green Yet?
can benefit significantly from a software component within Navigating the Challenges a well-managed sustainability plan. As new legislation continues to roll out and public pressure The following are some key considerations for municipalities increases the demand for environmental sustainability, considering the development or purchase of a software tool: progressive municipalities from coast to coast have begun • First, the data must be tracked, managed, and reported to respond. Available guidance provides a standard structure in a manner that easily communicates the municipality’s for municipalities to report their sustainability initiatives environmental performance to stakeholders. A software against credible benchmarks. As sustainability plans and tool can improve the user-friendliness of an existing regulatory requirements evolve, the need for local governments sustainability program. Through standardized input forms, to target their investments and to cost-effectively reduce information can be collected at the responsible depart- environmental impacts will become imperative. A well-man- ment or office level and stored in a central database. aged sustainability plan, including software tools, can help • Second, the software must use relevant and recognized to navigate these challenges, while maximizing the benefits calculation methods to ensure that the data collected of any financial incentives. are relevant to stakeholders’ expectations and meet the requirements of relevant guidance documents. Software Karen Mayfield is vice president, Conestoga-Rovers and tools can effectively process large quantities of data, Associates and managing principal, eSolutionsGroup, an reducing the likelihood of input or calculation errors. associate member of MISA Ontario. She can be reached This is especially important for larger municipalities that at [email protected]. Douglas B. Smith is a operate multiple facilities in several distinct sectors (for project manager with Conestoga-Rovers and Associates. example, waste management, office buildings and He can be reached at [email protected]. wastewater management), with multiple emission sources and emission factors. • Third, the software should incorporate existing calculation systems that individual departments throughout the municipality are already using for voluntary sustainability reporting. This final objective is important as the devel- opment and implementation of any new system will require efforts from key personnel at the facility/depart- ment level. Inclusion of employee and stakeholder input at an early stage and throughout the execution of the sustainability plan will ultimately result in a longer lasting program that will maximize the benefits of employee (and other stakeholder) participation. With these considerations in mind, the development of a customized software tool is an approach that can provide a much more conceptual overview of an environmental footprint. The results can help decision makers identify areas requiring improvements and further investments with a software function that can assess the effects of future mitigation initiatives. For example, if the municipality were to consider replacing existing equipment with more energy-efficient equipment, or changing vehicles and/or fuel types, or if certain provincial regulatory requirements were proposed for a province, built-in software-reporting functionality would enable the user to estimate the results of these initiatives in advance. Not only could this function help local governments target their investment, but it could provide transparency to stake- holders when justifying any spending requirements to meet their defined targets. A software tool can also be modified to test the environmental benefits of certain process modifi- cations, internal emissions trading or other initiatives. 35
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Are We Green Yet?
Structures like the Centennial Drive Bridge in Kingston, Ontario, can last longer if properly maintained with the help of a bridge-management system. Kingston Moves Beyond Compliance Using Bridge-Management System
By Rob Lambert, City of Kingston, Ontario The City also had several secondary goals for the system and including the provision of a central location to store valuation Steven Huggins, Applied GeoLogics data to comply with PSAB standards (PS 3150), and the ability to track work history on bridges to ensure that recommended and required work identified during the COMPLYING WITH bridge inspection regulations in Ontario OSIM inspection process is carried out within the required is only the beginning of the process of bridge management time frame. In addition, other secondary goals included the – but, for most municipalities, this is where the process stops. ability to compare inspection reports from one year to the Under Ontario law all municipalities are required to next with relative ease, and the ability to store and access inspect their bridges at least once every second calendar year. all data and imagery with departments across the city. (A bridge is defined as any structure that spans a distance of more than three metres.) The inspection must comply with What are the Benefits? the Ontario Structure Inspection Manual (OSIM) and be The main benefit of having a bridge-management system is carried out under the supervision of a professional engineer. to ensure that the right work is being done at the right time The OSIM inspection process produces a lofty eight-page and funding spent in the right places. A bridge is one of report for simple structures and upwards of a 20-page the highest value assets a municipality owns. If it is not report for larger structures. For a municipality responsible maintained properly, it might only last three or four for managing a large number of bridges such as the City decades, whereas a properly maintained bridge can last of Kingston, this adds up to a lot of paper and time. It is for more than a century. The cost of a bridge failure can for this reason that the City decided to take the next step be extremely high –not only in replacement costs but in the into the bridge-management process by implementing an resulting civil action and local economic impacts that could OSIM-compliant bridge-management system. result from this type of occurrence. Kingston set out to acquire a bridge-management system Central data storage, access and availability are other that could house the large quantity of data produced by important benefits of a bridge-management system. By the OSIM inspections, as well as aid in the long-term enabling various departments within the City to have access management of bridges. The City laid out a number of to bridge-related data and scheduled bridge work (repairs, requirements for the system, which included foremost the reconstructions and replacements), other departments can ability to generate standard BCI (Bridge Condition Index) coordinate work planning to maximize resource usage while and BSI (Bridge Sufficiency Index) indices to assist in minimizing impact on citizens and on the local economy. the prioritization of work, and optimize physical and monetary resources. (continued on page 39) 37 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
Report from RIMQ Par Danielle Drouin Consultante en gestion documentaire La GED est à nos portes
Editors’ note: This article contributed by RIMQ discusses the permanente. Ce sont des outils comme le calendrier de opportunity of electronic records management and the different conservation, l’application du concept de voûte électronique approaches and tools that can be used, as well as the people et des modes particuliers d’indexation qui s’appliquent et who should be involved in an implementation project. qui nous aident à déterminer ce que nous devons conserver ou détruire, quand et comment. AVEC L’AUGMENTATION rapide de la masse documentaire Les outils informatiques informatique, nous entendons parler de plus en plus de la Le logiciel de GED est un outil qui nous aide à effectuer la Gestion Électronique des Documents (GED). De façon gestion électronique des documents. Les entreprises offrent générale, la GED est un système qui consiste à organiser, des logiciels de GED de type clé-en-main, modulaire ou traiter et diffuser adéquatement les documents électroniques paramétrable, de façon à répondre à tous les besoins. Il tout au long de leur cycle de vie. faut être prudent, car les solutions de GED peuvent s’avérer Les documents électroniques qui sont gérés par ce complexes et coûteuses. De plus, l’infrastructure informatique système sont en fait tous les fichiers informatiques qui de l’organisme doit être adéquate pour supporter ces proviennent des différents logiciels que nous utilisons types d’applications. quotidiennement. Ils sont sous forme de données, de textes, À ce titre, plusieurs entreprisesoffrent des solutions glob- d’images, de vidéos, de son ou de graphiques. Ce système ales à travers des services de consultation, des services de doit donc gérer la création, l’acquisition, le classement, traitement (numérisation, conversion) et la vente de produits l’accès, le repérage, le partage, la protection et (applications, logiciels et équipements spécialisés). Comme l’archivage des documents. la GED est un système et que le logiciel de GED est un On peut diviser la GED en trois grandes catégories qui support à son application, il est pertinent de faire appel à sont intimement liées. La première est la GED administrative l’expertise des spécialistes du domaine informatique, des qui est rattachée à l’organisation des documents électroniques firmes conseil et de la gestion documentaire. actifs. Ce que nous remarquons généralement, c’est qu’il n’existe pas de méthode de classement. Chaque usager Pour qui et comment? possède son répertoire dans une structure d’unités adminis- Toute municipalité, de petite ou grande taille, qui se préoc- tratives, sur un serveur donné. Chacun crée sa propre cupe du bon fonctionnement de son administration devrait structure de sous-répertoires, de façon souvent un peu prendre en considération qu’un bon système de GED peut aléatoire, au fur et à mesure des besoins, et y classe l’aider à être plus efficace et rentable, par l’amélioration ses documents en nommant les fichiers selon l’inspiration des processus de travail, de gestion et de la diffusion. Le du moment. meilleur moyen de bien s’orienter est de faire une évaluation Combien de gens ne s’y retrouvent plus, ne sachant des besoins et de comprendre suffisamment ce qu’est la plus quelle version du document est la bonne, comment le GED, pour être en mesure de faire des constats, de com- fichier a été nommé, ou encore, comment gérer la multitude prendre les problématiques et d’avoir une vue d’ensemble de courriels et de fichiers joins reçus? Comme pour le de la situation. papier, les fichiers peuvent être classés dans une structure Au terme de notre analyse, les besoins apparaîtront logique de répertoires, comme un plan de classification, bien différents pour chacun. Il est pertinent d’élaborer répondant aux besoins des usagers. ensuite un document de planification stratégique. Ceci, Vient ensuite la GED bureautique qui a trait à la pro- de façon à bien cibler et coordonner les interventions, duction des documents (présentation et structure), à l’accès répartir les coûts et gérer le changement. (site Web, échanges de données, etc.) et au partage (comme les processus d’approbation et la diffusion). Projets Finalement, il y a la GED d’archivage qui concerne Avant de s’engager dans un projet, il est indispensable de plus particulièrement les documents de références de bien le préparer et de tenir compte de tous les critères l’organisme, les documents semi-actifs et ceux à conservation spécifiques qui s’y appliquent (lois, standards, etc.), afin
38 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
de garantir selon le cas, l’accès, la sécurité, l’authenticité, économiser du papier et libérer de l’espace dans les dépôts, la fiabilité et la pérennité des documents. Il faut aussi pri- le Conseil sans papier, les processus d’approbation et oriser la collaboration à travers des équipes d’informaticiens, de signatures électroniques, pour améliorer le traitement d’archivistes, des utilisateurs et des responsables, de façon et la diffusion. à cerner toutes les facettes de la GED. Nous devons égale- Il y a aussi les projets de gestion comme le plan de ment bien gérer le changement pour le personnel en place, classification pour améliorer le classement et le partage de prévoir suffisamment de formation, de support aux usagers l’information entre les usagers et le calendrier de conserva- et de temps d’adaptation. tion, pour éliminer les documents périmés et conserver les En résumé, les principales conditions de réussite des documents pertinents. projets sont de bien identifier les besoins, d’évaluer les Actuellement, il y a peu d’implantation de système global coûts et d’élaborer un plan d’action, de créer des équipes de GED dans le domaine municipal pour toutes sortes de multidisciplinaires, d’effectuer un déploiement progressif, raisons, coûts élevés, ressources internes insuffisantes, pro- de gérer le changement, de respecter les exigences spéci- duits ne répondant pas aux besoins. Comme nous pouvons fiques à chaque projet, d’acquérir les outils informatiques le constater, nous assistons déjà à l’implantation de différents adéquats, d’élaborer et appliquer des outils et des projets dans nos organisations, sans savoir que ces appli- méthodes de gestion efficaces. cations font partie intégrante d’un système de GED. Ces projets, qui sont liés, sont souvent réalisés de Applications de la GED façon isolée alors qu’ils devraient être inclus dans un plan Il y a des projets qui sont à caractère plus technologique d’ensemble. Malgré tout, ce qui est important de se souvenir, comme la numérisation de documents, visant à sauver de c’est que même si nous n’avons pas tous besoin d’un sys- l’espace physique et faciliter la diffusion (dossiers de tème complet de GED, nous pouvons en améliorer certains propriétés, d’incendies, d’évaluation), la conversion de aspects. Il y a différentes méthodes d’y parvenir et il s’agit documents publics (formats PDF), pour améliorer l’accès et de trouver lesquelles nous conviennent le mieux et sont à la diffusion, et diminuer le temps de recherche (procès-ver- notre portée. baux du conseil, règlements, conventions collectives, Oui, la GED est à nos portes et rien ne nous empêche de politiques), le COLD qui consiste à transférer des données lui ouvrir pour en apprendre davantage à son sujet et lui faire sur disques optiques (CD), pour la consultation par les éventuellement la place qui lui revient dans notre organisation. usagers et pour libérer de l’espace (grand livre, rôle d’évaluation, plumitif), la conservation des comptes de Danielle Drouin, [email protected], est une taxes en format électronique, pour la consultation, pour consultante en gestion documentaire.
Kingston Expanding Its Bridge-Management System
(continued from page 37) Looking to the Future Like many asset-management systems the initial version was Choosing an Application heavily focused on the data inventory and entry components, With most bridge-management systems on today’s market with long-term planning and work-management elements offering only generalized models, the City of Kingston taking second seat. Through the course of a developing process between the two partners, additional work man- decided to engage Applied GeoLogics Inc. (AGL) of agement, work prioritization and analysis components are Guelph, Ontario to produce an OSIM-compliant bridge- being added to the system – all resulting in a fully functioning management system within the City’s existing CartêGraph bridge-management system designed to achieve compre- enterprise asset-management system. hensive bridge management, with performance capabilities well beyond a work and data management tool. Through this partnership, the City of Kingston and Applied GeoLogics worked to create a cost-effective product that fit the needs of the City. Together City staff and AGL consultants Rob Lambert, senior development technologist at the City of Kingston, can be reached at [email protected]. worked to refine the requirements of the system to provide Steven Huggins, systems analyst with Applied GeoLogics Inc., a balance between capability and ease of use. OSIM an associate member of MISA Ontario, can be reached at STRUCTUREpaQ version1 was the result of this process. [email protected].
39 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
Municipal News Across Canada
Service-Delivery Officials Municipalities Encouraged Hold Progressive Event To Attend Showcase Ontario
By Tom Malanfant, shared workspace for MSDO members MISA ONTARIO is encouraging IT City of Windsor, Ontario on MISA Ontario’s site; posting similar managers and staff from member job categories, surveys and other municipalities to attend Showcase relative documents on our shared THE MUNICIPAL Service Delivery Ontario, September 21-23 at the workspace; and evaluating emergency Officials (MSDO) successfully held its Metro Toronto Convention Centre. preparedness to identify potential fifth Annual Conference on July 12-14 cooperation among municipalities. Registration for all public servants in Windsor, Ontario. is free. There will be many learning Small teams of municipalities were The conference was attended by opportunities for all levels of staff on identified to research and develop representatives of more than 25 munic- a range of topics, including more each of these ideas in the next year. ipalities from Vancouver to St John’s. than 100 educational sessions. Windsor CAO John Skorobohacz Keynote speaker Lynda Pinnington Now in its 11th year, Showcase opened the conference with an inter- delivered an animated presentation Ontario is the largest public-sector esting presentation on Windsor's on the multigenerational workforce, information and IT education event Service Delivery Review, and the discussing how the different behaviours, in Canada. This year’s theme, conference included sessions on: attitudes, expectations, habits and “Plugging into the Future,” focuses motivational buttons of each generation • Service People with Disabilities on service delivery and emerging can help to determine the appropriate technologies. • Operating in a Unionized management style. Environment Keynote speakers include: The newly elected Board of • Richard Florida, author of • Trends in Mobility in Government Directors includes: The Rise of the Creative Class • The Olympics and 3-1-1 • President, Tom Malanfant, • John Manley, former federal • Operating 3-1-1 in a Two-Tier City of Windsor deputy prime minister Government • Vice president, Verna Radford, • Shelly Jamieson, secretary • 2-1-1 and 3-1-1 – A sustainable City of Hamilton of the Ontario Cabinet Business Model. • Treasurer, Glenn Brunetti, • Ron McKerlie, deputy minister The Annual General Meeting City of Hamilton of government services. included discussion on how MSDO can • Secretary, Bonnie Munslow, Registration is open at best collaborate as an organization, Town of Newmarket, Ontario as well as with MISA and other www.showcaseontario.com. organizations. • Central director, Kate Johnston, MISA Ontario is organizing a Region of Halton, Ontario municipal presentation on the exhibit There were four specific areas iden- floor, and the association’s Executive tified for future collaboration including: • Eastern director, Jane Young, will hold its September meeting at creating profile templates for all member Halifax Regional Municipality Showcase Ontario. municipalities; creating an MSDO • Western director, Barbara Pearce, Web site with member links to the City of Vancouver. 40 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
Municipal News Across Canada
Vancouver Adopts Open Data Standards
VANCOUVER CITY council has while respecting privacy and improve transparency, cut costs, and endorsed the principles of making its security concerns. enable people to use the data to create data open and accessible to everyone • Open standards: Vancouver will new useful products, including com- where possible, adopting open stan- move as quickly as possible to mercial ones. She had also noted that dards for that data and considering adopt prevailing open standards taxpayers paid for the data to be col- open-source software when replacing for data, documents, maps and lected in the first place. existing applications. other formats of media. Reimer said she expects City staff In a motion proposed by councillor • Open source software: The City, to report on an implementation plan Andrea Reimer and passed May 21, when replacing existing software in the fall but thinks some changes the City of Vancouver endorsed the or considering new applications, will begin immediately, such as the principles of: will place open source software on conversion of videos made at City • Open and accessible data: The an equal footing with commercial systems during procurement cycles. Hall into open formats from the City will freely share with citizens, current proprietary one. businesses and other jurisdictions Reimer said in introducing the the greatest amount of data possible motion that it would help the City to CBC News
41 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
Municipal News Across Canada
Three Cities Compete for GTEC Awards
THREE CITIES – Grande Prairie in nominated projects that clear the first single application -- can be applied to Alberta, Kitchener in Ontario and round of judging with a Service public-sector services. Ottawa – will be competing for the Delivery Award and by creating the Keynote speakers will include: coveted Gold Distinction Award new Gala Celebration in which Corinne Charette, CIO of the Medal when GTEC holds its project teams, leaders, deputies Government of Canada; Tim O’Reilly, Distinction Awards Gala Celebration and executives can all participate. the man credited for coining the at the National Gallery of Canada GTEC (Government Technology phrase “Web 2.0”; and Thomas in Ottawa on October 5. Exhibition and Conference) will run Ridge, former first secretary of US For its awards program honouring October 5-8 and include a four-day Homeland Security. outstanding IT projects, now in its 16th conference and two-day exhibition. year, GTEC has introduced a new The theme is “Government 2.0 GTEC is also offering two new event format and an expanded recog- Service Mash-ups.” Collaborating programs: The Unconference, in which nition program for nominated projects. with Deloitte, GTEC will be demon- participants guide the agenda, and The 2009 Distinction Awards strating how the private-sector Cloud Camp, which addresses cloud- Program bestows recognition in two concept of mash-ups -- combining computing technology and related principal ways: by presenting all data from multiple sources into a services.
Title of Intelligent Community of Year People Goes to City of Stockholm for 2009 Appointments&
THE INTELLIGENT COMMUNITY Forum capacity to carriers for less than it Ron McKelvie has been appointed (ICF) has named Stockholm, Sweden, would cost them to install it themselves. chief information officer of the City of Kingston, Ontario. Formerly with the Intelligent Community of the Year Today, the 1.2 million-kilometre net- the University Health Network in for 2009. work has more than 90 operators and Toronto, McKelvie succeeds Jim de Louis Zacharilla, ICF co-founder, 450 enterprises as primary customers Hoop, a past president of MISA congratulated Stockholm at the and is in the final year of a three-year Ontario, who is now Kingston’s awards ceremony in New York on project to bring fibre to 100 per cent director of community & family May 15, saying, “This is a community of public housing. services. that has methodically and substantially redefined the possibilities of urban The New Brunswick cities of Maurice Gallant, CIO of the living and sets an example of how Fredericton and Moncton were among City of Fredericton, was appointed technology can play a role to enhance the Top Seven contestants for the title. by the directors of MISA/ASIM economic and social development.” Fredericton was shortlisted for the Canada as its 2009-2010 vice- second year in a row. president at the Annual General The City-owned company Stokab Meeting on June 13 in Niagara-on- Also in the race for the Intelligent started in 1994 to build a fibre-optic the-Lake, Ontario. Dav id network throughout the municipality. Community of the Year were Bristol, Hen nigan, information systems Stokab dug up the streets once to Virginia; Eindhoven, Netherlands; manager of the Capital Region install conduit and run fibre, closed Issy-les-Moulineaux, France and District, BC, was named secretary. them up, and began offering dark-fibre Tallinn, Estonia.
42 Register for GTEC 2009 today! Visit www. gtec.ca.
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GOLD PARTNERS » PARTENAIRES OR SILVER PARTNERS » BRONZE PARTNERS » PARTENAIRES BRONZE PARTENAIRES ARGENT
MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
Governance Issues By Roy Wiseman Chief Information Officer Do We Want Regional Municipality of Peel, Ontario Government 2.0?
WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES may be the new kid on the effects of technologies such as the telephone, electricity or block, but municipalities must still determine how, or automobile are more subtle and may not even be noticed, whether, to use them. except by historians and others interested in the field. At the recent MISA Ontario conference, Jury Konga from the Town of Richmond Hill organized a stream on Lessons from the Past – the Telephone municipal use of Web 2.0 technologies. This stream was In his book, America Calling: A Social History of the very successful in opening eyes to the possibilities of these Telephone to 1940, Claude S. Fischer points out that the technologies and indicating how they are being used relatively slow adoption of the telephone resulted from a today. A summary might be that most municipalities are complete failure to anticipate its use for non-business purposes: taking some initial, tentative steps in this arena, but that “For the first 30 years of the telephone, promoters strug- it is still early days. gled to identify the killer application that would promote its Jury is also to be complimented for establishing a wide adoption.... At first, the telephone was promoted as a MISA Ontario Gov 2.0 Committee and, as discussed at replacement for the telegraph, allowing businesses to send the MISA/ASIM Canada meeting at Lac Carling, creating messages more easily and without an operator. The con- a Canadian municipalities group on GovLoop.com – cept that someone would buy the telephone to chat was www.govloop.com/group/munigovca. simply inconceivable at that time. It was not until the The MuniGov.CA group now has 51 members from 1920s that telephone promoters recognized that basic municipalities across Canada -- a very good start for the communication was the killer application.... It took over summer months. The site could still certainly benefit from 75 years for the telephone to reach 50 per cent of the broader participation and more active use. I encourage homes in the United States. For the first 30-40 years, others to join and, more importantly, participate in the telephone companies focused on connecting businesses discussions. For instance, those attending Lac Carling and promoting business use.” expressed considerable interest in sharing policies that are In the early 1990s, this pattern was repeated for the being developed in this area. cell phone. Again the focus was on business use, resulting The issues around participation in MuniGov.CA reflect in significant underestimation of the ultimate demand. Who what many of us are seeing with some of our Web 2.0 would have predicted the massive cell phone usage by initiatives – initial enthusiasm by a small group, followed teenagers (or pre-teens) in shopping malls? by minimal take-up by those we hope to involve. One of In Mobile World: Past, Present and Future, Lynne Hamill our key challenges lies in understanding the characteristics and Amparo Lasen note that in the early days of the landline that make one initiative massively successful, whereas telephone, some communities banned use of the device others fail to catch on. Can we identify or create the because it was seen as harmful for social relationships. conditions for success – or is this mostly just dumb luck? Telephone use was associated with the decline of social I am reminded that we are still very much in the early skills (like visiting), loss of interest in taking part in social days of Web 2.0. As with all “new technologies,” we can activity, inconsiderate and even illegal behaviour (obscene anticipate rapid turnover in trends and leaders -- for example, calls or fraud). The telephone also opened the home to the meteoric rise of MySpace and its subsequent eclipse by calls from strangers (initial efforts at telemarketing) and Facebook; the Twitter phenomenon – is this just a temporary allowed work issues to intrude into the home. Finally, there fad or does it have longer term significance? While we were concerns about the health impacts of the telephone, can predict that Web 2.0 will continue to be important, whether from “aural overpressure” resulting from extensive we can’t yet predict exactly what shape it will take. use or even the possibility of diseases like smallpox being transmitted through the phone lines. In this regard, “Amara’s law” (named for Roy Amara, past president of the Institute for the Future) indicates that Does any of this sound familiar? we tend to over-estimate the effect of a technology in the This recitation of history again indicates that we are short run and underestimate the effect in the long run. In poor at predicting how a new technology will eventually the short term, speculation and media hype create unrealistic be used. The early experience may not at all reflect what expectations that can never be fulfilled. But the longer-term will be the dominant use in a few years. 45 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
Governance Issues
Lessons from the Past – the Personal Computer and linear. Managers worked for days on memos, getting just the right words and structured argument. Since such The challenge for the personal computer in the early communications were distributed through inter-office mail, 1980s was to figure out exactly what anyone would do it might be one to three days before the recipient received with one. Early efforts focused on hobby use and primitive such a communication and further days before a response programming languages, such as Basic, which of course could be expected. For communications outside the organi- gave rise to Microsoft. zation, days became weeks. It was another 10-15 years before the Internet (another Finally, typed memos supported limited distribution, “invention” that lived in obscurity for several years) provided being sent to the intended recipients with limited or no the real answer. Today, one can argue that the personal (carbon) copies to others who may be interested. This computer is more a “communicating” than a “computing” reinforced hierarchical (manager-to-manager) structures device. Very little “computing” is done on most computers. and limited access to information. Notwithstanding our inability to predict it, the impact of Compare this with today’s dominant form of office new technology can be profound. As children of the communication (e-mail), which can be characterized as McLuhan generation, we know that the tools that we use reactive, off-the-cuff, casual and broadly distributed, with provide not only new ways of working (and playing), but an expectation of virtually instant response from a broad also change the way that we think and view the world. range of participants, and without the same expectation When I started work at Peel in 1976, much office for “perfection” in the initial draft or subsequent comments. communication was in the form of typed memos. Such We will, after all, get many turnaround cycles to further communications tended to be formal, carefully structured develop the original message. The question, drawing on McLuhan, is whether the changes in forms of communication since 1976 have changed not only how we communicate but how we think and behave. Implications for the Future So what does this history lesson mean for those of us facing the challenge of how (or whether) to make use of Web 2.0 technologies in our municipalities? My conclusions are as follows: • We are still at the beginning of the curve in understanding the implications of these technologies. We don’t know what impact they will have or which trends will be significant versus those that will be dead ends. • A corollary is that we should avoid “over-investing” in specific solutions. Recognize that this is still experimental and that many of our experiments will fail. • At the same time, we cannot afford to simply sit back and wait for the dust to clear. Only by experimenting will we find out what works – and what doesn’t. • Experimentation also means “loosening the reins.” While there will be some legitimate concern to limit risk or exposure to the organization, it will also be necessary to let departments try out these new tools. But set up a process to observe, share experiences, and learn from the experiments. • Maintain relatively open access. In the 1990s, some municipalities tried to limit access to the Internet, based on “need.” Unless we provide access and freedom to experiment, however, we won’t know what needs or opportunities exist.
46 MUNICIPAL Interface SEPTEMBER 2009
National and Member Executives
National Officers MISA BC MISA Atlantic
PRESIDENT PRESIDENT PRESIDENT Daya Pillay, Halifax Regional Municipality David Hennigan, The Capital Regional District David Muise, Halifax Regional Municipality 902-490-6550 (fax 490-4525) 250-360-3141 [email protected] 902-490-4000 [email protected] [email protected] VICE PRESIDENT TREASURER VICE PRESIDENT Bill Grant, District of West Vancouver Daya Pillay, Halifax Regional Municipality Maurice Gallant, City of Fredericton 604-925-7071 [email protected] 902-490-6550 (fax 490-4525) 506-460-2830 [email protected] [email protected] TREASURER Guillermo Ferrero, City of Nanaimo SECRETARY TREASURER 250-755-4486 [email protected] Maurice Gallant, City of Fredericton Garry Bezruki, City of Waterloo 506-460-2830 519-747-8726 (fax 747-8727) SECRETARY [email protected] [email protected] Linda Kreutz, Greater Vancouver Regional District 604-436-6974 [email protected] SECRETARY David Hennigan, The Capital Regional District http://misa.bc.ca 250-360-3141 [email protected] Réseau de www.misa-asim.ca l’Informatique MISA Ontario Municipale du Québec (RIMQ) MISA Prairies PRESIDENT Garry Bezruki, City of Waterloo 519-747-8726 (fax 747-8727) PRESIDENT PRESIDENT [email protected] Geneviève Côté, Ville de Sainte-Thérèse Chris Fisher, City of Regina 450-434-1445 x 258 306-777-7193 [email protected] VICE PRESIDENT Geoff Hogan, County of Grey [email protected] VICE PRESIDENT 519-372-0219 VICE PRESIDENT Corey Halford, City of Airdrie [email protected] Daniel Naud, Ville de Québec 403-948-8800 x 706 418-641-6413 x 8310 [email protected] TREASURER David Laneville, City of Timmins [email protected] TREASURER 705-360-2605 (fax 705-360-2686) ADMINISTRATOR Dan Newton, City of Red Deer [email protected] Gaston Huot, Villes de Boucherville, 403-342-8283 [email protected] SECRETARY Brossard, Saint-Bruno et Saint-Lambert SECRETARY Dan Munns, Town of Whitby 450-923-6362 Michelle Bohachyk, City of Fort Saskatchewan 905-430-4300 x 2391 [email protected] 780-992-6225 [email protected] [email protected] SECRETARY-TREASURER MEMBERSHIP COUNSEL Michel Hurteau, Ville de Sorel-Tracy Natalia Madden, County of Grande Prairie Lou Milrad, Miller Thomson LLP 450-780-5714 780-532-9722 [email protected] 416-595-7926 (fax 595-8695) [email protected] [email protected] www.misaprairies.ca www.rimq.com www.misa.on.ca
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