ISD: Planning and Project Management (1844P)

Program Outcome Statement

Use industry best practices and standard methodologies to provide quality strategic planning and project review and management services to the County.

Program Services

  • Project Management
  • IT Contract Review
  • Strategic Planning and Research

Overview

This program consists of two focus areas that work together to assess and deliver quality services for the County. The first focus area, Planning and Research, provides research, planning, and governance support for Countywide IT investments. It assesses technology, reviews technology contracts, and publishes technology policies and guidelines to help departments make the best technology decisions.
The second focus area is the Project Management Office (PMO), which oversees a portfolio of enterprise and department-specific technology projects. These projects provide solutions not only for County employees, but also for the public (such as SMC Public Wi-Fi).
Two new performance measures were created to monitor the effectiveness of this program at the start of FY 2017-18: Median Number of Days to Review Information Technology Contracts and Public Wi-Fi Usage per Month Countywide. These measures are in addition to the Information Technology Full-Time Equivalents to Support Each Employee measure.

Median Number of Days to Review Information Technology Contracts

Percent of an Information Technology Full-Time Equivalent to Support Each Employee

FY 2014-15 Target = < 3.30% | FY 2015-16 Target = 3.75%

Public Wi-Fi Usage per Month Countywide

FY 2017-18 Year-End Story Behind Performance

Median Number of Days to Review Information Technology Contracts
The Planning and Project Management Program took an average of only 5 business days to review technology contracts in the last fiscal year. This exceeds the target of 10 days.
ISD is tasked by the County Manager with reviewing all contracts that contain a technology component. The timely review of contracts is critical in maintaining the procurement schedule. ISD has committed to completing the review process in ten business days or less, excluding any time required by the submitter to respond to questions and requests for clarification.
This measure demonstrates ISD's commitment to being a good partner in the procurement process and challenges the department to work efficiently. To meet this need, management has focused attention on the contract review process and begun closely monitoring the progress of each contract. Additionally, by centralizing this process, ISD has achieved consistently excellent turnaround times.

Information Technology Full-Time Equivalents to Support Each Employee
The County’s records show that 3.79% of its workforce are IT employees. This is better than the industry average of 4%.
This measure can assist IT organizations in determining appropriate staffing levels. In 2016, Gartner reported IT full-time equivalents (FTEs) as a percent of total employees was 4% in the State and Local Government sector. For FY 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 number of IT full-time equivalent employees is divided by the total number of filled positions in the entire County.
San Mateo County met this target with a year-end ratio of 3.79%, a slightly better result than the industry average. ISD will continue to monitor staffing levels and work with other departments and the County Manager's Office (CMO) to maximize the efficiency of technical staff.

Public Wi-Fi Usage per Month Countywide
Devices accessed SMC Public Wi-Fi an average of 1,142,575 times per month, with the highest number of sessions in any given month being 1,449,354. This exceeds the target of 1,000,000.
This performance measure demonstrates the usage of the free public Wi-Fi installed at various locations throughout the County. Measured in user sessions, this metric represents the success of the County of San Mateo's overall aim to bridge the digital divide. A "user session" is captured when a user connects to the San Mateo County (SMC) Public Wi-Fi system and performs a given activity such as searching for information, using a mobile application, checking email, etc.
Many of the County’s public Wi-Fi sites have been deployed in areas where there are measurable numbers of households in the lower economic classifications, based on census studies. An increase in the number of Wi-Fi sessions demonstrates growth in usage as well as adoption of these technologies, proving the program’s impact.

Future Priorities

  • Refining the PMO: ISD plans to mature the PMO’s processes to provide consistent and quality project management services and deliver value for customers.
  • Disaster Recovery Planning: ISD will create out-of-area business continuity/disaster recovery (DR) plans to help the County recover effectively and continue providing needed services in the event of disaster.

Authors: Cindy Chen and Stormy Maddux  Contact Email: CChen1@smcgov.org,  SMaddux@smcgov.org  Last Updated: 08-27-2018