Public Safety and Technology: Creating a Foundation for Success

1. Public Safety and Technology: Creating a Foundation for Success Kelly Harris William Romesburg

2. Agenda • About this conference • About the grantees • Technology…The means to the ends • Challenges to successful technology implementation • Critical Success Factors (CSF)

3. About the Conference • Goals • Create awareness of myriad of activities impacting projects • Learn from others • Critical success factors • Provide tools and resources • Conference strategy • Build the foundation • Understand the technology • Procure, evaluate and implement • Grantee requirement: PARTICIPATE!

4. Who’s Here? • 134 individuals from 57 cities representing 26 states • Initiatives: • Radio communications • Data sharing • Mobile data network • Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) • Records Management Systems (RMS) • Dispatch centers • Funding range $175,000-$6 million

5. COPS 2007Tech Grants

7. Your Funding Supports • Better decisions… • Via information sharing • Daily operation of the justice system • Major criminal events • Man-made and natural disasters • Terrorism • Decision-making at all levels • Technology • The means to the ends!

8. Information Sharing… Right information to the right people all the time Exchanging key information at critical decisions points throughout the process A series of conversations, i.e., discrete exchanges of information between two or more agencies Conversations occur at regular events The transactions are remarkably consistent across the nation

9. Barriers to Information Sharing The success of information sharing initiatives depends on multiple independent partners, each with its own mission and capabilities, creating a shared vision for their common enterprise

10. Barriers to Information Sharing It’s critical to take an enterprise view Many partners, diverse missions Traditional roles and boundaries Systems optimized for agency business needs, not necessarily the needs of the integrated enterprise Multiple funding streams

11. Technology Must • Support and enable strategic vision • Be driven by business needs • Involve executive sponsorship • Incorporate enterprise architecture • Be effective Clear requirements provide the stable foundation for design, implementation, and deployment of information sharing solutions

12. The Reality Is… • There are challenges on every level • Policy • Operational • Technical • Technology changes the way you do business • Technology is often the scapegoat for an initiative gone bad…

13. What We Hear • The technology we bought: • Doesn’t work! • Doesn’t do what we want it to do! • Is worse than the old technology! • “The users hate the new system” • “We’ve been planning for more than a year and are nowhere near purchasing a system” • “The vendor (blanked) us”: • You fill in the blank • Didn’t deliver a system • Didn’t meet their promises • Took our payments, but didn’t deliver the goods • “Our Chief/Sheriff didn’t support the project” • “It’s been like building an airplane in flight…”

14. Finding Answers • 20 years of research • Standish group • Why technology projects fail • How to succeed • Project management institute • PMBOK • 30 years of technical assistance • Conferences, focus groups

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16. Critical Success Factors (CSF) • Institute formal leadership and decision-making • Develop and manage a strategy • Understand the enterprise • Commit resources • Communicate • Deploy effectively • Assess performance CSF

17. Pages 24-36 CSF 1: Institute Formal Leadership and Decision-making • Develop a structure • Identify leaders • Leading vs. managing • Formalize governance • Engage a project manager CSF1

18. Action Items • Identify an executive sponsor • Identify governance participants • Key stakeholders • Subject matter experts • Establish a decision-making structure • Research controlling documents • Identify the project manager CSF1

19. CSF 2: Develop and Manage Strategy • Build a strategic project plan • Tactical methodology • Prioritize • Scope • Build realistic timeframes • Budget • Recognize dependencies • Assumptions and constraints • Procurement and contracting • Professional management CSF2

20. Action Items • Use the COPS Tech Guide and SEARCH template • Evaluate your abilities • Consider outsourcing • Convene the project’s governance • Define the fundamentals • Meet with finance and procurement experts CSF2

21. CSF 3: Understand the Enterprise • Information sharing beyond agency boundaries • National strategies • Local impact • Regional efforts • Exciting developments • N-DEx • Fusion centers • Standards CSF3

22. Action Items • Visit the Global Justice Information Sharing Web site: www.ojp.it.gov • Visit the FBI’s N-DEx Web site: http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/ndex/ndex_home.htm • Research fusion centers in your state/region • Contact your “neighbors” and learn about their initiatives • Consult your tech support team • Consult the CIO CSF3

23. Pages 37 137 CSF 4: Commit Resources • Human • Staffing • Subject Matter Experts (SME) • Financial • Initial • Recurring • Sustainability CSF4

24. Action Items • Identify key attributes for project personnel • Consider available time and impact on organization • Consider funding opportunities • Grants • Local initiatives (i.e., Bonds) • Total cost of ownership elements CSF4

25. CSF 5: Communicate • Communications plan • Internal/External • Risk management • Quality control CSF5

26. Action Items • Gather templates • Communications plan (in your binder) • Contact vendor references • “Borrow” risk management • Evaluate internal skill set • Third party evaluators vs. internal staffing CSF5

27. CSF 6: Deploy Effectively • Statement of work development • Project management approach • Vendor relationships • Quality assurance • Objective, preferably external • Gauge project health • Time, cost, scope, many others CSF6

28. Action Items • Develop comprehensive Statement of Work (SOW) documentation • SEARCH • Previous customers • Establish regular discussions • Establish performance measures (See next CSF!) CSF6

29. You Get What You Measure Keep large-scale initiatives on track Answer questions/solve the problem Process evaluations Impact evaluations Technical acceptance testing Performance Measurement, in simplest terms, is the comparison of actual levels of performance to pre-established target levels of performance. To be effective, performance must be linked to the organizational strategic plan. The Performance-Based Management Handbook, Volume 1 CSF 7: Assess Performance CSF7

30. Action Items • Start at the beginning • Define where you are going • Measure along the way • Read the Performance Measures Tech Guide • Create baseline measures • Establish a plan for ongoing assessment and monitoring • Think about 6-8 week cycles CSF7

31. Process, not a Project