REPORT TO General Committee

 

 

 

 

 

TO:

Mayor and Members of Council

 

 

 

 

FROM:

Andy Taylor, Commissioner Corporate Services

James Allen, Chief Information Officer

 

 

 

 

PREPARED BY:

James Allen, Chief Information Officer

 

 

 

 

DATE OF MEETING:

2005-Apr-04

 

 

 

 

SUBJECT:

Evaluation of  OneYork

 

 

 

 

 

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the report dated April 4, 2005, entitled “Evaluation of OneYork ” be received;

 

AND THAT Council direct staff to participate on the OneYork Board and Task Force to develop a governance model;

 

AND THAT the Town contribute financially to OneYork conditional on participation of the other proposed MUSH sector partners;

 

AND THAT the emphasis of the mandate of OneYork be on a MUSH sector (Municipalities, Universities, School Board and Hospitals) Community Technology Infrastructure;

 

AND THAT the CAO or his designate be directed to report back on a proposed governance structure;

 

AND THAT Council receive quarterly updates from the OneYork Board, once implemented;

 

AND THAT OneYork Project Support Data proposal submitted by Pacomm Consulting Inc. be received;

 

AND THAT funding be provided from the 2005 ITS Capital Budget Account #49-5350-6764-005 for the OneYork initiative up to $25,000.

 

AND THAT the minutes of OneYork Meeting, February 25, 2005 be received;

 

AND THAT the report be circulated to the Region of York and other  York Region local municipalities, the three hospital boards, the two school boards, Seneca College, York University, Police Services Board as well as the CIO of the Province of Ontario and the CIO of the Federal Government of Canada;

 

AND THAT Staff report back to Council, once the data collection and RFI process is completed.

 

 

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to investigate the “OneYork Concept” that was presented to the General Committee on February 14, 2005.  This report provides Council with a recommendation on the role of the Town in the start-up activities of OneYork, the steps the Town should take in support of this initiative and the recommended focus for the start-up period.

 

BACKGROUND:

At its meeting on December 2, 2004, the Region of York e-Government Sub-Committee  discussed ways and means of investigating the creation of a dedicated community technology infrastructure, in the Region, for the MUSH sector. The MUSH sector includes municipalities, utilities, school boards and hospitals.

 

The Region of York e-Government Sub-Committee passed the following recommendations that were subsequently adopted by York Regional Council at its meeting on January 20th, 2005.

 

“The e-Government Sub-Committee recommends as follows:

 

1.         The presentation from Regional Councillor Jim Jones on a MUSH (municipalities, universities, school boards, hospitals) Public Sector Telecommunications Utility “OneYork” be received;

2.         The presentation from Lev Gonick, Ph.D., Vice-President for Information Technology Services and CIO, Case Western Reserve University on “One

North-East Ohio” be received;

3.         A Task Force be formed to make the vision of a 21st Century high-speed broadband network (OneYork) for the MUSH sector a reality.

4.         The e-Government Sub-Committee work with other MUSH sector agencies to move this initiative forward.

5.         The Region and other MUSH sector agencies explore joint opportunities in applications, hardware, resources and facilities.

6.         The Region and other MUSH sector agencies coordinate our individual network activities to avoid long term commitments that keep us from participating in the OneYork high-speed broadband network.

7.         The Region and other MUSH sector agencies look at both non-profit, public sector-owned utility and public-private partnership options.

8.         The Region and other MUSH sector agencies explore funding and joint opportunities with the provincial and federal levels.

9.         The Region and other MUSH sector agencies explore the opportunity of engaging an integration design team based on the One Cleveland/North-East Ohio model.

10.       The Region and other MUSH sector agencies explore donation of fiber, equipment and design by potential partners.

11.       The Region and other MUSH sector agencies prepare and issue an RFQ for an Integrator who can design, implement and manage the OneYork Vision.”

 

On February 14th, Regional Councillor Jones made a presentation to the General Committee of the Town of Markham on the OneYork Fibre Community Infrastructure and the following resolution was carried:

 

“Regional Councillor Jim Jones distributed an information package and gave a presentation on an initiative for an ultra high-speed broadband infrastructure of networking services and applications which would improve the way services are provided within the Region of York.  He advised that this would be a fibre-based network that would transmit data thousands of times faster than traditional broadband, and improve services throughout participating municipalities, universities, schools and hospitals.

 

Moved by Deputy Mayor F. Scarpitti

Seconded by Councillor A. Chiu

 

That staff be authorized to provide an evaluation of the One York Concept, for an ultra high-speed broadband infrastructure of networking services, and report back to the General Committee as soon as possible.”

 

On March 16th, the Region of York e-Government Sub-Committee approved the following recommendations:

 

  1. Regional Council direct staff to participate on the OneYork Board and Task Force.
  2. The Region contribute financially to OneYork conditional on participation of the other proposed MUSH sector partners.
  3. The emphasis of the mandate of OneYork be on a MUSH sector Community Technology Infrastructure.
  4. The CAO or his designate be directed to report back on a proposed governance structure.
  5. Regional Council, through the e-Government sub-Committee receive quarterly updates from the OneYork Board, once implemented.
  6. The Region offer to reimburse the Town of Markham for the full cost of the data collection project to be undertaken by Pacomm Consulting Inc., to a maximum of $25,000 plus G.S.T.;
  7. The report be circulated to local municipalities, the three hospital boards, the two school boards, Seneca College, York University, Police Services Board as well as the CIO of the Province of Ontario and the CIO of the Federal Government of Canada.

 

These recommendations will be going to York Regional Council on March 31 for approval.

DISCUSSION:

A OneYork Community Technology Infrastructure has the potential to provide significant benefits to the Town. The Community Technology Infrastructure (CTI) or as it is also commonly referred to as Information Communications Technology (ICT) includes a number of elements that will continue to evolve in support of OneYork’s business environment. The elements that currently dominate the infrastructure include servers, storage devices, clients, operating systems, middleware, connectivity, comprehensive database structure, portals, messaging and collaboration. Joint opportunities to share applications, resources and facilities with other MUSH sector participants are seen as a way to lower the Town’s current operating costs in the future. A shared, community technology infrastructure, at affordable rates, positions the Town to rapidly build e-Government services and capabilities that will be of benefit to citizens. In addition, OneYork could be an economic development “spring-board” for the development of new technology, from the MUSH sector, that will attract new investment and new employment to the Town.

 

Based on experiences elsewhere, including OneCleveland, it will take time and effort to fully implement the complete OneYork vision. During the implementation stage of OneYork, it is essential to have the MUSH sector partners evolve to a common strategic enterprise architecture, based on open standards, while maintaining their ability to operate their current information technology systems without precluding effective participation in OneYork as it evolves.

 

It is recommended that the Town participate in the Task Force that is proposed by the Region of York e-Government Sub-Committee.  The Town’s participation should be both at the Board level, to help form the structure and governance of a OneYork entity as well as providing technical representation to participate in the implementation of a community technology infrastructure and in exploring opportunities to move to shared applications that are of interest to the Town.

 

The participation of MUSH sector partners in the formation of OneYork is critical to the success of this endeavour. The establishment of the Interim OneYork Board is the first milestone which must be achieved to move on to the next steps. To help crystallize the feasibility and costs of the OneYork initiative, it is recommended that the Town support the issuance of the OneYork RFI for a Business Architect and Systems integrator approved by the OneYork Board once it is officially formed.

 

The role of the Town is seen as a leader, but not the sole implementer. Staff recommend that Council provide initial funding to OneYorkin accordance with a formula that will see the Town’s contribution as one of many partners. The Town’s financial contribution should be determined following the “Discovery Step” which is to take place over the next 2-3 months. The Discovery Step will entail a data collection including but not limited to existing inventories of voice/data hardware, services, applications, I.T. resources and future requirements. Opportunities to supplement any support from the OneYork partners with participation from the provincial and federal levels should be pursued.

 

It will be necessary to establish a steering committee with representatives of the MUSH sector partners to recommend a governance structure and a cost allocation methodology.

 

The emphasis of OneYork should initially be on designing and implementing a community technology infrastructure foundation (a broadband network). This emphasis should include both options of planning, implementation and operation of a MUSH sector community technology infrastructure (ownership option), as well as the option of securing discounted pricing for community technology infrastructure services from existing providers for all MUSH partners (lease option). Once implemented successfully the Town could collaborate with other OneYork partners on common applications, processing centres of expertise and shared resources.

 

 

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

 

Staff recommend that funding be provided from the 2005 ITS Capital Budget Account #49-5350-6764-005 for the OneYork initiative up to $25,000.

 

 

ACCESSIBILITY CONSIDERATIONS: 

OneYork has the potential to improve online access to services all of the MUSH sector within York Region.  This would have a very positive impact for all citizens in Markham and York Region that require any of these new services that would be moved online. Having all these services centralized from one portal should make it much easier for them to be accessed in a timely manner.  There will also be a better opportunity to improve the accessibility features of the OneYork Portal, considering the resources that would be available.

 

ENGAGE 21ST CONSIDERATION:

None

 

BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:

Finance

 

ATTACHMENTS:

Appendix 1 - Minutes of OneYork meeting, February 25, 2005

Appendix 2 – Proposal from Pacomm Consulting Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James Allen

Chief Information Officer

 

Andy Taylor

Commissioner of Corporate Services