s 328.3 L73lbcs 2000 Legislative Branch Computer System Plan A Report to the 57th Legislature from the Legislative Branch Computer System Planning Council October 2000 Prepared by Montana Legislative Services Division State Capitol, Room 1 10 PO Box 201706 Helena MT 59620-1706 Legislative Services jTATE documents collection Division MAR 1 3 2003 MONTANA STATE LIBRARY 1515 E. 6th AVE. (406)444-3064 HELENA' M0NTANA 5962° FAX: (406)444-3036 INTERNET (Home Page): <http://leg.state.mt.us> lV J) MONTANASTATELIBRAR 3, j0ra8i6ii4iii0if0fl1l4llii9ii0,,7,,6,,5 .. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 II. . ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 7 III. IV. LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS FUNCTIONS 9 A. Research 9 B. Fiscal Analysis 9 C. Legislation and Policy Development 10 D. Information Distribution 10 E. Oversight 10 F. Administration 11 V. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONTRIBUTION TO THE LEGISLATURE'S BUSINESS 13 VI. CURRENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENT 15 A. Review of Legislative Branch Automation Process 15 B. Organization 17 C. Information Technology Equipment 19 Computer Hardware 19 1 2. Computer Software 19 3. Telecommunications 20 D. Information Technology Accomplishments 20 1 Information Collection 20 2. Information Analysis 21 3. Information Dissemination 22 VII. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DIRECTION AND VISION 25 VIII. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACTION PLAN FOR THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH 27 IX. FY 2002-03 CENTRAL COMPUTER BUDGET PROPOSAL 33 APPENDICES APPENDIX A Montana Code Annotated 1999 - Title 5, Chapter 1 1, Part 4 Computer System Planning 43 APPENDIX B 2000-01 Biennium Legislative Branch IT Accomplishments 49 APPENDIX C Legislative Branch Standards 55 INTRODUCTION I. A Legislative Branch Computer System Plan is required by Title 5, chapter 1 1, part 4, Montana Code Annotated (MCA). The Legislative Branch Computer System Planning Council (Planning Council) has developed a plan in accordance with the requirements ofthat part. In addition, the Planning Council recognizes that a plan is necessary to direct the substantial investment in technology toward providing the maximum return and to best address the information needs of the Legislative Branch (Branch). In developing the plan, the Planning Council recognized that planning is an active process. Publius Syrus said, "It is a bad plan that admits of no modification." (Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 1980.) The Planning Council recognizes the plan as more a process than a product. As such, the plan also provides a process for continual evaluation, communication, and review, rather than a blueprint for a specific configuration of hardware and software. Evaluation of existing and potential applications is both technical and managerial in nature. Recognizing this, the Planning Council relied, to a great extent, on the technical staff of the Branch to review existing systems and to recommend technological directions and solutions to identified problems. The Planning Council reviews and approvesthe recommendations of the Technical Planning Group (TPG) before information technology (IT) resources are expended. Thisplanrepresentsthecollectivevision, planning, actions, and achievementsof bothgroups as well as each division in the Branch. It should be noted that because of the Consumer Counsel's remoteness and separate and distinct mission, it has not been incorporated into this plan. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY II. The mission ofthe Branch isto provide a consolidated administrative structuretosupportthe mission of the Legislature. The Legislature's mission is to exercise the legislative power of state government vested in the Legislature by The Constitution of the State of Montana. In order to carry out this mission, the Legislature depends on the collection, processing, and distributionofinformationtoandfromindividualcitizens,businesses,andorganizationswithin the state. IT plays an ever-increasing role in collection of information by the Branch, as well as facilitating the analysis of that information and the subsequent distribution of the laws, policies, and conclusions of the legislative process. In the past, IT has been successfully used by the Branch primarily to allow staff to respond more quickly to requests for information, to produce more complete fiscal and operational analyses, and to expedite and reduce the costof information processing. Examples ofthese types of activities include the Bill Drafting and Engrossing and Enrolling Systems, part of the Legislative Automated Workflow System (LAWS), which allows quicker and more accurate processing of new and changed bill text, and the Legislative Audit Division Statewide Accounting, Budgeting, and Human ResourcesSystem (LAD SABHRS), which has increased the efficiency of audits. More recently, IT has begun to be used effectively to improve both the collection of information from other government agencies and the dissemination of information to the public. For example, direct accessto agency systems by the Legislative Audit Division staff has improved audit efficiency; access to a wide variety of information on the Internet has improvedtheresearchprocess; e-mail response byagenciestofiscal noteshasdecreasedthe time needed to process a fiscal note; and direct public access to the text and status of bills via the Internet (LAWS) has allowed quick and direct access by interested citizens. The Planning Council anticipates that in the future, substantial time, effort, and money will continue to be focused on the speed, quality, and reliability of the internal information processingsystemsthatthe Legislaturereliesontoconductits business. Asbothtechnology andthe processesofthe Legislaturechange,thesesystemsmustbe keptuptodatetoensure their reliability andthatthey will continueto meetthe ever-changing and ever-growing needs for timely and accurate information analysis in the Branch. It is also expected that the level of public demand for immediate and directaccessto government information will continue to grow and thatthis demand will consume a greater percentage of information resources than ithas inthe past. Finally, itisexpectedthatthe public will also requestmore directinputinto the government process through technologies such as e-mail and interactive video conferences. These opportunities will needto be evaluated in the future based on theirvalue and cost-effectiveness. The Planning Council believesthatthe Branch ispreparedtotacklethese challengesin IT. An active Planning Council, supported by a well-qualified and professional technical staff, will ensure that both the processes in place andthe systemsthatsupportthem are reviewed and updated and that opportunities to improve public access to government are evaluated, cost- justified, andimplementedwhenfeasible. The Branchisnotonlycommunicatingandworking together internally, but also externally with the Executive Branch and other local, state, and national government agencies to ensure coordination. The Branch plan for automation includes guidelines and established standards that have been designed to support a smooth transition to the future as technology advances. Technologically, the Branch is supported by a large base of valuable microcomputer technology and a replacementplan thatensures adequate and up-to-datecomputerhardware in the future. Software is largely standardized and current as well. Recent upgrades to the communicationwiringinfrastructureintheCapitolhave broughtthecommunicationcapability in the Capitol up to and in some cases beyond industry standards. The centralization of the computer network support and systems development staff, servers, budget, and other resources provides a high degree of efficiency in delivery of IT services. In order to support this information infrastructure, the Planning Council has requested one central IT biennial budget of $3,935,307 for the Branch for computer and network needs. Based on the approval of the central budget concept by the Legislature in 1991, the Legislative Services Division has again included the centralcomputer budget proposal as part of its budget. Major projects and goals for the FY 2002-03 biennium include maintaining the operational statusofthecurrentcomputerenvironment,conversionfromWindows95toWindows 2000, putting more of the Branch's data on the Internet/Intranet, SABHRS interface work, broadcastingaudio andvideoofsessionactivitiesviathe Internet, implementingaGeographic Information System (GIS), and beginning the process of automating the job of the legislator. Support for legislator-owned computers has been one of the more difficult issues to address over the past several years. The Planning Council anticipates growing difficulties and opportunities in this area. Recognizing this fact, the Legislature adopted House Joint Resolution No. 23 in 1991, directing a specific study of the question of legislator use of computers. The study document, A Study on the Use of Computers by Legislators can be , obtainedfromthe LegislativeServicesDivision. Thestudydescribed a pilotprojectand afully implementedsystem with associated costs. The study alsoconcludedthatthere wasagreat need to work toward making data services more readily available to legislators. Since then, the Internet has become available and the Branch has made almost all of the session proceedings available via the Internet. This satisfies the need for making data services more readily available. There is still a need for legislatorsto havethetools available to access this information, i.e., an Internet-ready personal computer (PC) with access to the Internet. The Planning Council recognizes that providing PCs to 150 legislators will require considerable planning. It would be difficult to accomplish this effort just before a session. The Planning Council recommends that if this effort is undertaken, it should be planned at leastasession in advance. Withthisinmind,the Planning Council isincluding abudgetinthis plan to implement a pilot project of 18 laptop computers and associated services for legislators for the 2003 Legislative Session. In summary, the Planning Council believes that the Montana Legislature has taken a conservative and prudent, but effective, approach to IT use in the past. Cooperation and coordination both within the Branch and with other agencies and organizations have ensured botheffectiveandcost-effectivedecisions. Theplans, processes, andvisionsofthe Planning Council, as detailed in this report, should ensure that the current investments and opportunities are successfully used and form the basis for more efficient and effective legislative processes.