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Taking the Lead

Fundamentals, teamwork and executive support characterize the 2002 Digital Cities winners.

A new survey by the Center for Digital Government singles out three unique American cities for progress and innovation in their use of technology and electronic government. The winners of the 2002 Digital Cities survey come from different parts of the country, but share common traits that define a well-run, forward-looking American metropolis.

Honolulu; Tampa, Fla.; Des Moines, Iowa; and Roanoke, Va., took top honors in the annual survey, which examined the use of IT among 125 cities. Not only did these winners have a robust selection of online services available for citizens, they also had the right infrastructure, management tools and policies in place to ensure technology enables government operations in the 21st century.


Honolulu
People from the mainland often assume Hawaii's largest city doesn't compare in size with the rest of America's cities. Toss that assumption aside. "We're the 11th largest in terms of population and geographic size," said Courtney Harrington, the city's CIO. "A lot of people don't realize how big we are."

Since both city and county government are one and the same, the population of 892,000, spread over 600 square miles, includes the county of Honolulu. The figures might seem a bit inflated, but they are very real from a service perspective. That large size, however, hasn't translated into a big budget for IT, which is only 0.8 percent of the overall spending total for the city and county.

"I'm really surprised with what we have accomplished given the budget," Harrington said. "We've done a lot with a little."

Harrington's ability to accomplish so much with limited resources is partly explained by policy and management changes that have benefited his position. "Five years ago, we were decentralized in IT," recalled Harrington, who has been with the city for 10 years in various posts. "But it just didn't work. It was a mess."

A new master plan, sanctioned by Mayor Jeremy Harris, put control of all the city's IT programs and systems under Harrington's watch. Although Harrington realizes it's a unique situation, the czar-like role hasn't diminished department willingness to embrace technology. As a result, he directed available resources toward IT projects that deliver the most return for the dollar internally, while providing citizens with better services round the clock.

When asked about infrastructure, Harrington talks about re-engineering and workflow. "Workflow is crucial to making e-government work around here, and it's saving us millions of dollars," he said, noting how the city has converted more than 200 forms into electronic documents and reshaped the workflow around them, taking advantage of automation and saving the city a bundle.

Unable to find a workflow software package that fits the city's requirements and unwilling to pay high-priced consultants to custom design one, Harrington turned to his staff, which developed just what the city needed. One example is the city's new online job service. Honolulu residents can apply for city jobs online and their electronic applications are routed automatically to human resources, which shares them with the appropriate department without printing any paper.

Electronic government is, of course, the reason Honolulu stood out so strongly in the survey of cities with a population of 250,000 or larger. City council meetings are webcast, services and information are available through the city's portal, and a number of important transactions take place online.

One application in particular demonstrates the value of Honolulu's e-government strategy. An economic development Web site provides startup and existing businesses with tools necessary to analyze the marketability of new locations around the city. Users can pull up maps of available parcels and then use the city's GIS database to examine population, income levels, traffic counts, and find out who the competition is -- all within a certain radius of the parcel. It's a clever and effective tool, and it cost the city just $30,000 to develop.

Harrington credits the mayor's vision in calling for a virtual version of Honolulu and having the fortitude to make it happen. And he credits his staff, which has become so innovative with few resources.


Tampa
Ranked 10th in the 2001 Digital Cities Survey, Tampa, Fla., tied Honolulu for top honors this year. The city is the largest in Hillsborough County and the third most populous in the state.

When it comes to digital innovation, the city is just as big. For example, the city received top marks in the survey for digital democracy and online services. Residents can contact elected leaders via e-mail, check an online calendar for the latest events and meetings, and watch council meetings either on the Web or via TV.

Business taxes, parking permits and parking tickets can be paid online. Residents can also request police reports while businesses can secure a wide range of permit and code inspection services via the Internet.

Like many digital cities, Tampa not only has a citizen-centric Web portal that's easy to navigate, it also has a robust geographic information system that drives many critical applications that support government operations, as well as citizen services.

Tampa Chief Information Technology Officer John McGrath was unavailable for comment.


Des Moines
Words such as "stable," "hard-working" and "resourceful" are often used to describe America's heartland. Those same words describe the IT and e-government programs in Des Moines, Iowa, which won in the category for mid-size cities with a population range of 125,000 to 250,000.

Successful IT begins at the top, and it also helps if the leadership has been around for a while. "There's not been a lot of change here," said CIO Michael Armstrong. "The city manager [Eric Anderson] has been here as long as I have, and it's the same for much of my staff."

That stability allowed IT strategies and plans to coalesce around teamwork without problems that can erupt from frequent change both at the top and within. It also helps to have a city manager who understands the value of IT, and how it can enhance and extend public services in the short term and lower costs in the long term.

Unlike Honolulu's highly centralized IT structure, technology governance in Des Moines is based on consensus with the various departments that control key government functions. They have a hands-on role in shaping the city's IT policies; the support from these departments is unparalleled, making IT projects easier to manage, Armstrong said.

The city's leadership and team-based management structure have produced results. First, the city redesigned its portal in 2001, organizing information and services based on customer need, not departmental function. The design and development of the portal came from the expertise at the state of Iowa, not from an outside firm. "The spark was the payment engine we needed for one of the applications," Armstrong said. The state ended up hosting a number of the city's applications, providing them with great value at low cost.

Proof of the portal's success is in the numbers. Nearly 2,000 visitors come to the city's Web site every day. Proof also is evident in the breadth of services available online. These include live webcasts of city council meetings and a host of transactional services, such as permit requests and parking ticket payments. Des Moines also has a robust GIS system that provides maps and data for a number of important government operations.

To support the traffic and the applications, the city has constructed a solid infrastructure of networks, servers and databases that take advantage of the city's extensive fiber-optic backbone. Armstrong also singled out a well-enforced standards policy as another reason technology has worked so well to enable government services.
competition is -- all within a certain radius of the parcel. It's a clever and effective tool, and it cost the city just $30,000 to develop.

Harrington credits the mayor's vision in calling for a virtual version of Honolulu and having the fortitude to make it happen. And he credits his staff, which has become so innovative with few resources.


Tampa
Ranked 10th in the 2001 Digital Cities Survey, Tampa, Fla., tied Honolulu for top honors this year. The city is the largest in Hillsborough County and the third most populous in the state.

When it comes to digital innovation, the city is just as big. For example, the city received top marks in the survey for digital democracy and online services. Residents can contact elected leaders via e-mail, check an online calendar for the latest events and meetings, and watch council meetings either on the Web or via TV.

Business taxes, parking permits and parking tickets can be paid online. Residents can also request police reports while businesses can secure a wide range of permit and code inspection services via the Internet.

Like many digital cities, Tampa not only has a citizen-centric Web portal that's easy to navigate, it also has a robust geographic information system that drives many critical applications that support government operations, as well as citizen services.

Tampa Chief Information Technology Officer John McGrath was unavailable for comment.


Des Moines
Words such as "stable," "hard-working" and "resourceful" are often used to describe America's heartland. Those same words describe the IT and e-government programs in Des Moines, Iowa, which won in the category for mid-size cities with a population range of 125,000 to 250,000.

Successful IT begins at the top, and it also helps if the leadership has been around for a while. "There's not been a lot of change here," said CIO Michael Armstrong. "The city manager [Eric Anderson] has been here as long as I have, and it's the same for much of my staff."

That stability allowed IT strategies and plans to coalesce around teamwork without problems that can erupt from frequent change both at the top and within. It also helps to have a city manager who understands the value of IT, and how it can enhance and extend public services in the short term and lower costs in the long term.

Unlike Honolulu's highly centralized IT structure, technology governance in Des Moines is based on consensus with the various departments that control key government functions. They have a hands-on role in shaping the city's IT policies; the support from these departments is unparalleled, making IT projects easier to manage, Armstrong said.

The city's leadership and team-based management structure have produced results. First, the city redesigned its portal in 2001, organizing information and services based on customer need, not departmental function. The design and development of the portal came from the expertise at the state of Iowa, not from an outside firm. "The spark was the payment engine we needed for one of the applications," Armstrong said. The state ended up hosting a number of the city's applications, providing them with great value at low cost.

Proof of the portal's success is in the numbers. Nearly 2,000 visitors come to the city's Web site every day. Proof also is evident in the breadth of services available online. These include live webcasts of city council meetings and a host of transactional services, such as permit requests and parking ticket payments. Des Moines also has a robust GIS system that provides maps and data for a number of important government operations.

To support the traffic and the applications, the city has constructed a solid infrastructure of networks, servers and databases that take advantage of the city's extensive fiber-optic backbone. Armstrong also singled out a well-enforced standards policy as another reason technology has worked so well to enable government services.

"We built [e-government] from the ground up and did it by sticking to fundamentals," Armstrong said. "I also don't have to fight internal battles; I get along with the mayor and the city manager, and I've had some luck. A lot of things have gone right."


Roanoke
Although it's the smallest city to win top honors, Roanoke, Va., has the same principles for IT as the big cities: sound leadership; team-based management structure; well-designed, standards-based applications; and a solid infrastructure that can help services grow and expand over time.

Roanoke also has a few rules of its own. Director of Technology Joe Slone said Roanoke first tried outsourcing as the way to launch e-government, but eventually brought the project back into the department. "Our goal was to be as flexible as possible and to build on our own," he said. The only way to do that, Slone added, was to depend on his staff to do the work.

He and Kathy Cox, Roanoke's technology planning administrator, also tout the city's content management system as a key reason for the city's success with e-government. It allows the individual departments to control their online information and services by providing them with the tools to manage all the documents and information coherently.

The city also did what few jurisdictions do -- look at e-government from its business impact, not just from the perspective of the person behind the browser. "We focused on business re-engineering so we could streamline our business processes," Cox said.

This philosophy has worked in many ways. The city launched a new police accident report system online, linking the Web to the department's imaging system and back-end legacy systems. Like Honolulu, Roanoke re-engineered its city job service into a Web-based service that eliminates paper retrieval. Roanoke also leverages its GIS system to benefit more departments than ever.

Like the other winners, Roanoke achieved much of this on a shoestring budget. Slone's advice was to avoid expensive consultants. More importantly, however, he said the key to success is to start small, build applications that fit into the city's information architecture and stay focused on the goals once underway.

Slone, who is a sailor, said simply, "once you've plotted your course, stay on it."

With more than 20 years of experience covering state and local government, Tod previously was the editor of Public CIO, e.Republic’s award-winning publication for information technology executives in the public sector. He is now a senior editor for Government Technology and a columnist at Governing magazine.