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San Francisco Civil Grand Jury Investigates City and County IT

The executive director of IT, which is now classified as a department head, should be reclassified as CIO and given commensurate authority

The San Francisco, Calif., Civil Grand Jury has released a report, titled: San Francisco's Information Technology Highway: Potholes or Possibilities on the city and county's information technology, that recommends a number of changes.

The purpose of the Civil Grand Jury, says the report, is to "investigate the operations of various departments, agencies and officers of the government of the City and County of San Francisco -- to develop constructive recommendations for improving the operations ... as required by law."

The report summary outlines several IT-related issues including:
  • The Department of Telecommunications and Information Services ... "is not respected by other city departments." Short-term leaders, loss of staff, and inability to deliver needed services in a timely manner were cited as problems.
  • The Committee on Information Technology "is not living up to the original expectations" says the document. A reduction of staff, and personnel issues are cited as contributing to the problem.
  • City departments are not sharing information.
The report recommendations include, among others:
  • The executive director of IT, which is now classified as a department head, should be reclassified as CIO and given commensurate authority
  • City IT collaboration and cooperation needs to increase.
Wayne E. Hanson served as a writer and editor with e.Republic from 1989 to 2013, having worked for several business units including Government Technology magazine, the Center for Digital Government, Governing, and Digital Communities. Hanson was a juror from 1999 to 2004 with the Stockholm Challenge and Global Junior Challenge competitions in information technology and education.