Information Technology
320 Ottawa Avenue, NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49503-2301
Phone: (616) 632-6500
Fax: (616) 632-6505
Mission Statement
The mission of the Kent County Information Technology (IT) Department is to provide quality, responsive and cost-effective information technology solutions and services that enable County departments, agencies, and local government units to be successful in achieving their respective missions, striving always to exceed expectations.
2010 Vision & Strategic Plan (PDF)
Acceptable Use Policy (PDF)
Overview
The Kent County Information Technology (IT) Department links County services to the general public by providing a secure and robust computing environment to more than 30 departments and several local governments. The Information Technology Department is organized into work teams that facilitate delivery of application and infrastructure services.
- Applications Teams
- Financial Systems Team: Maintains software for the County’s accounting, payroll, and human resource systems
- Justice Systems Team: Supports applications for the County Prosecutor’s Office, multiple courts, the Sheriff’s Department, and the Correctional Facility
- IT Service Desk: Responds to user problem reports and service requests, and provides support for staff computers, printers, and desktop applications
- Geographic Information Systems Team: Supports the design, implementation, and maintenance of GIS.
- Specialty Applications: Provides customer applications design, support, and implementation capabilities to County staff
- Infrastructure Teams
- Network Support Team: Supports the networks which connect systems within the County, the County’s connection to the Internet, and secure connections to local governments and the State of Michigan, as well as the County’s PBX telephone system
- Systems Team: Operates, administers, and maintains the servers, storage, archival, and backup systems that support the County’s computing environment
Major projects planned for 2010 include continued upgrades to the County’s network infrastructure, support for the implementation of the Kent County Central Dispatch systems, improvements to our internal directories, security enhancements to maintain compliance with all applicable regulations and industry best practices, further implementation of our virtualized server infrastructure, and efforts aimed at reducing cost and increasing efficient operations..
Strategic Goals
- Provide a robust and fl exible computing infrastructure that is capable of handling current and projected needs of internal customers and client agencies
- Provide a full range of application services, including consulting, project management, and business process analysis/re-engineering
- Provide leadership to the county in applying technology to the challenges of local government in the 21st Century
- Provide responsive and cost-effective support of installed applications, services, and hardware
Operational Goals
- Provide an increasing level of service to those that use the County’s computing resources when they experience problems or require additional services
- Provide an attractive, easy-to-use online portal that assists citizens and other interested parties
- Provide high quality, cost effective application development, integration, and maintenance services to County departments and agencies
- Provide a stable, reliable, secure, and cost-effective computing infrastructure environment that supports County departments, agencies, and local units of government
2010 Adopted Uses: $5,183,126
2010 Adopted Revenues: $1,340,178
Selected Performance Measures
Performance Measure |
2007 Actual |
2008 Actual |
2009 Actual |
2010 Expected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adoption rate for Vital Records | 14.50% |
15.30% |
16.40% |
16.50% |
| Adoption rate for Deeds | 60.20% |
62.00% |
63.60% |
65.00% |
| Service Level Achievement (all categories) | 85.97% |
86.81% |
90.56% |
90.00% |
| Average server availability | 99.90% | 99.95% | 99.99% | 99.99% |
| Servers supported per staff | 23.43 | 24.00 | 29.71 | 30.00 |
Department History of Uses
| Uses |
2007 Actual |
2008 Actual |
2009 Adopted |
2010 Adopted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Personnel |
$3,650,512 | $3,615,943 | $3,747,332 | $3,406,406 |
Commodities |
12,486 | 18,011 | 27,800 | 24,898 |
Contractual |
1,566,380 | 1,658,910 | 2,053,383 | 1,624,822 |
Operating Capital |
461,382 | 163,945 | 206,800 | 127,000 |
Other Charges |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Total Uses |
$5,690,760 |
$5,456,809 |
$6,035,315 |
$5,183,126 |
Personnel FTE |
43 |
42 |
42 |
37 |
Significant Budget Issues
We anticipate pressure on the budget as costs continue to mount and revenues decline. Our information storage requirements continue to rise; that increase is fueled by both an increase in applications as well as the capability to store information in a wide variety of formats, including audio, still pictures, and full-motion video. In late 2009 we leased a replacement storage system that significantly increases our storage capacity. However, this move also means that we will have to live within that total capacity for the next four years. Also of concern is how we handle funding for replacement servers, as original acquisition is typically handled via CIPs for given projects. However, there is no set funding mechanism for on-going replacements as equipment reaches the end of its useful life or capacity limitations. Finally, there are still older PCs in many departments that are either approaching or are past the end of life, which creates a higher demand for IT support. With tight funding many departments elect to forego replacements.
Furthermore, six full-time positions were eliminated for 2010 and one full-time Customer Service Technician was moved from the Courthouse to Information Technology. The eliminated positions include a Client-Server Programmer, a Telecommunications Technician, a Customer Service Technician, a Team Leader, an Operations Analyst, and an Applications Support.
History of Uses (in millions)
