The Annual IT Review process consists of a series of steps, and there may be several iterations of consultation and review within each step.  Although this process applies only to the annual fiscal year Operating Budget preparation, many of the same steps are relevant for IT Requests received outside the normal budget cycle.

Preparation & Kickoff

• Confirm Points of Contact (POC).  Each department designates point(s) of contact to coordinate the preparation of the department’s IT Requests.  Preferably, this includes both a department IT and administrative contact to cover the technical aspects as well as a person responsible for producing and coordinating the department’s entire budget request.  In addition, DTS assigns an Account Manager for each department to work with the appropriate OMB Analyst to coordinate and review IT budget submission requests.

• IT Review Kickoff Meeting.  OMB and DTS will lead a discussion on looking ahead to next year’s fiscal challenges, an update on countywide IT enterprise approaches and strategies, and any changes to the annual IT budget review process from prior years. Department staff will also have an opportunity to meet their DTS Account Managers and OMB Analysts.

Step 1 – Enter IT Budget Requests

• Departments Submit Budget Requests to OMB.  All departments will submit the budget requests at the MARC to OMB by their submission deadlines.  Departments will identify all IT Requests submitted in their budget via BASIS (the characteristic titled “IT” must be checked) and forward those requests to DTS for IT Review. 

• Departments Enter IT Requests into the MITIRPS System.  The departments IT Review contacts will submit all IT Requests into the MITIRPS system, which is the DTS IT Review system.  Instructions and system access are available using the County’s Intranet Portal.

Step 2 – Initial Review Process

• Initial Review. DTS will perform an initial review of all IT Requests entered in the BASIS (with “IT” characteristic checked) and MITIRPS systems. The DTS Account Manager will contact the department IT Review contact to schedule a review session. The purpose of the review session is to discuss department IT strategies and priorities and ensure that enough information has been provided from the department to support the request’s business case and technical solution.
   
• Initial Scorecard Ranking. The DTS Account Manager will provide an initial scorecard ranking for each IT request. The scorecard ranking considers the following factors: priority, urgency of need, overlap with existing technology projects, cost/benefit, project risk and security vulnerability compliance. Following the initial scorecard rankings, DTS and OMB will jointly determine which IT requests qualify to proceed to the more detailed review. Note: It is assumed that equipment requests have been verified against the County price list and that departments can provide sufficient proof of need for all Support and Maintenance contract requests.

• Detailed Review. The DTS Account Manager will conduct a detailed review for all IT requests that have qualified to move forward from the initial review process. DTS Account Managers will work with the department IT contacts to obtain additional details about their funding requests. This review will drill down into each of the scorecard categories as well as discussing alternative solutions (build vs. buy, cloud services, etc.) Note: If a large IT initiative is being considered in the budget or is in a self supported enterprise fund (DLC, DPS, Solid Waste Services), OMB analysts will forward the IT request to DTS as soon as possible to give adequate time for the full Expert Panel Reviews.

Step 3 – Final Review Process

• Expert Panel Review. DTS will conduct a full IT Expert Panel Review on the qualified IT requests in the January timeframe. The Expert Panel consists of the Chief Technology Officer (DTS), all DTS division chiefs and all relevant technical personnel required to properly analyze the requests. In addition to providing technical input on the proposed requests, the Expert Panel will be looking to identify patterns across departments and determine if a single enterprise or thematic solution can address many department-specific proposals more efficiently and for less cost. The Expert Panels will either confirm or revise the Initial Scorecard Ranking. In addition, the Expert Panel will provide a recommended OMB ranking and estimate the level of effort to complete the proposed project.

• Chief Information Officer (CIO) Review. The Chief Information Officer (CIO) will review and either confirm or revise the Expert Panel’s rankings and recommendations. These final rankings and recommendations will be delivered to OMB prior to their deadline for departmental budget decisions. Department directors will also receive notification of the final rankings and recommendations. OMB will make any necessary adjustments to the estimated cost of an IT project request based on the estimates provided in this process.

Post IT Review

• Exceptions. Department Directors will be able to request an exception review if they do not agree with the DTS rankings and recommendations. These exception requests should be directed to the DTS Project Management Office (PMO) Manager.

• Funding Approved / CIO Approval Process. Any IT Request which has received approval for funding and requires DTS effort to implement must be entered into the CIO Approval Process to prioritize and schedule the work. Projects with the highest Scorecard Rankings will be given priority when evaluating resource availability conflicts. Additional detail on the CIO Approval Process can be found in the DTS Project Management Methodology (PMM).