Sidebar 3: Learning From Other States

In planning how to consolidate its IT systems through legislation, Colorado consulted with states that had gone through similar experiences: Michigan, Texas, Delaware, North Dakota, Virginia and Missouri.

Key findings from discussions with these states included:

· Communications on multiple fronts are essential.
Communication is key when consolidating. Officials must speak frequently with and address the needs of the governor and the legislature, executive directors, employees and reporters.

· Planning will reduce the number of problems that develop.
Developing a high-level plan that initially targets numerous issues will help to avoid facing these issues during consolidation.

· Funding remains a key issue for consolidation.
The CIOs discussed developing funding strategies for addressing procurement activities. Addressing funding issues before consolidation is preferable.

· Service is sufficient and improving.
While most agency directors believe they had more responsive service before consolidation, they also acknowledge that the service they receive now is sufficient to support program operations. Most also stated that service continues to improve.

· Some functions must still reside within the departments.

Some departmental representatives maintain that they have certain functions they want and need to remain within the department. A key example of this is desktop support, but some departments also maintain applications development staff.

· Safety in numbers: The capabilities of the enterprise are greater than those of the department.
While departments continue to face funding challenges to acquire needed personnel, the perceived importance of an enterprise garners more attention from funding sources and allows the enterprise to provide greater organizational capabilities than a department. For example, certain types of programmers were scarce in the departments, and it was difficult to secure funding to increase their numbers. In the enterprise organization, however, "the greater number of resources available reduced the reliance on the limited number of programmers."

· IT costs are higher than expected in some areas, but lower in others.
"Once standards are developed and implemented, the cost of IT is often higher than expected." This occurs for a variety of reasons. For example, individual departments may not execute their IT functions consistent with best practices, which reduces cost but increases risk.

Source: Colorado Consolidation Plan