Information Technology Advisory Committee - Mar 16th, 2017

This summer, we'll be getting an assistant director of IT, a project manager, and 2/3's of a GIS position. This will bring the number of town IT staff to around thirteen. That's enough people to start considering changes to the department's organizational structure.

On the school side, students and parents are becoming IT customers -- it's not just teachers and faculty anymore.

The Munis group has been very successful. There's a combined view of having better toolsets and better processes. The effort has involved a large number of departments within the town.

We'd like ITAC to be more involved in future strategic plans, particularly in the area of technology and work processes. More focus on people's daily jobs, and how to improve.

The forthcoming high school renovation will pose some logistical challenges. The town data center is located in the high school. What happens to that infrastructure during the renovation? Of course, that's not the only challenge -- the town also needs to decide where to put the students during the renovation.

We had a short discussion about regionalization. Regionalization is the process where communities within a region can help fulfill each other's IT needs. Is it better to outsource to (say) Amazon rather than (say) Worcester or Belmont?