ISD: Planning and Project Management (1844P)

The Information Services Department (ISD) is tasked by the County Manager to review all contracts that contain a technology component. The timely review of the contract is critical in maintaining the procurement schedule. ISD has committed to completing the review process in ten business days or less. This time frame excludes any time required by the submitter to respond to questions and requests for clarification. The ten business day measure demonstrates ISD's commitment to be a good partner in the procurement process and challenges the Department to work efficiently. While this had historically been a problem area, management has focused attention on the process and begun closely monitoring the progress of each contract. Also, by permanently assigning the function to the same staff, ISD has achieved better results with more consistent turnaround times giving this measure a mid-year score of seven days.

This measure is included in Gartner’s annual Key Industry Measures study because it can assist Information Technology (IT) organizations in determining appropriate staffing levels. For 2016, Gartner reported an average of four percent for the State and Local Government sector. For fiscal year 2017-18, ISD decided to use this percentage as the benchmark target for this measure. The measure reflects how many IT staff across all Departments are needed to support the County's entire workforce. Using the technical job roles as identified in Workday, the total IT full-time equivalents is divided by the total number of filled positions in the County to calculate the ratio. Currently at 3.80 percent, San Mateo County is meeting this target and compares favorably against the industry average. ISD will continue to pay close attention to staffing levels and work with the other departments and the County Manager's Office to maximize the efficiency of technical staff.  

This performance measure was created to measure the increase in usage of Public Wi-Fi installed at various locations throughout the County. Measured in user sessions, this metric represents an adoption of technology through usage with the County of San Mateo's overall aim to bridge the digital divide. As of 2017, the National Telecom and Information Administration (NTIA) has stated that 87 percent of California households have Internet connectivity, of which 18 percent have smartphones only, as their form of computing device. A "user session" is described as where a given user connects to the San Mateo County (SMC) Public Wi-Fi system and performs a given activity such as searching for information, engaging in a mobile application, engaging in an application activity, etc. Much of the Public Wi-Fi site deployments have been in areas where there are measurable numbers of families or households that are in the lower economic classifications based off census studies. An increase in the number of sessions demonstrates growth in usage as well as adoption of these technologies.  At mid-year, this measure is at 1,214,944 sessions, exceeding the target of one million sessions in any given month by June 2018.