Each year NASCIO conducts a survey of the state CIOs to identify and prioritize the top policy and technology issues facing state government. The CIOs top ten priorities are identified and used as input to NASCIO’s programs, planning for conference sessions, and publications.
Based on a survey of the states, this report examines the use of innovative, alternative and financing funding models for technology projects that enable states to deliver savings, and improve IT services to citizens. The results update NASCIO’s 2003 report on innovative funding, “Innovative Funding for Innovative State IT: New Trends and Approaches for State IT Funding,” and provide state CIOs with information and insights for the facilitation of innovative funding initiatives in their own states. A product of NASCIO’s 2008 Innovative Funding for State IT Working Group, this report was developed based on results from an all states survey of state CIOs; thirty-one states responded concerning their IT funding initiatives.
This brief underlines the criticality of managing states’ digital assets and identifies key, high-level elements for establishing better data security programs within states. The brief covers data ownership and governance issues, recommends grounding data protection efforts in states’ enterprise architecture frameworks, and outlines nine primary elements that a comprehensive data protection program must incorporate or address. It describes data classification frameworks that have been developed in both state and federal agencies, and includes summaries of operational data classification and security initiatives in the states of Ohio, Arkansas, and Iowa.
Medicaid transformation, and incorporating information technology into these efforts, is among the fastest-growing trends in healthcare today. With the introduction of the federal Medicaid IT Architecture (MITA) initiative, states are beginning to assess their current Medicaid systems and explore how the MITA initiative can foster information exchange and improve healthcare quality outcomes. This brief, a product of NASCIO’s Health IT Working Group, examines the ways in which state CIOs can play a role in the MITA effort, and how their enterprise view contributes to the holistic vision that MITA promotes across state agencies and all levels of government.
States continue to struggle with new challenges presented by a growing portfolio of electronic records and digital content that must be preserved. Within this context, the issue of electronic records management has emerged as a high-priority policy and technology issue for State CIOs. This issue is now driven by emerging trends such as of new Web 2.0 collaboration tools that create e-records in forms that are transitory, yet still document the business of government, the vulnerability of essential e-records during disasters and a growing emphasis on transparency and accountability in state government, including online public access to records on spending, performance, procurements and contracts. This research brief underscores the need for enterprise collaboration for e-records management, provides information on fundamental concerns, outlines a framework for action and provides best practice examples from the states.
Geospatial resources refer to a whole discipline around managing data with a spatial orientation or component to support better decision making. Geospatial resources include a field of knowledge, people, policies, processes, standards, and technology that are not only necessary for everyday decision making but also critical for continuity of operations and disaster recovery. A new emphasis on location aware is evidenced further as State CIOs named “GIS” on their Top Ten list of Priority Technologies for 2008. Geospatial resources are so ubiquitous anymore that state government as well as citizens and industry think “where?” regarding almost every issue. This issue brief explores government’s demand for geospatial resources and offers recommendations and calls to action for the state Chief Information Officer to meet that demand.
Green IT has become one of the fastest-growing trends in IT today, across all sectors and levels of government. Examining the ways in which state CIOs can become involved in shaping and promoting green IT practices and policies, this brief explores the critical role that state CIOs play in reducing their state’s carbon footprint. Featuring examples of successful green IT initiatives in state enterprise practices today, this brief highlights the many ways in which states are managing their IT hardware as well as utilizing technology to reduce their carbon footprint. With the states taking the lead in many aspects of green efforts nationwide, state CIOs have an opportunity to move the green benefits of an initiative to the forefront of strategic thinking and project planning, and this brief provides several starting points from which state CIOs can begin on the path to incorporate green IT efforts into their enterprise practices.
Data governance entails a universe of concepts, principles, and tools intended to enable appropriate management and use of the state’s investment in information. Part I on data governance presents an introduction that describes the basic concepts. Governance, and particularly data governance, is an evolutionary process. It begins with an understanding of the current investment and then manages that investment toward greater value for the state.
An upcoming shortage of state IT government workers is predicted by many to be evident and quickly approaching. As the state IT workforce begins to face the challenges of a potential worker shortage, and as it evolves to reflect the modern workforce of the future, employee recruitment and retention tactics must be examined in order to attract and retain top IT talent. A product of NASCIO’s State IT Workforce Working Group, this brief focuses on these recruitment and retention tactics for state CIOs by examining traditional and innovative recruitment strategies, successful retention initiatives and state best practices in each of these areas. By taking steps to augment a potential state IT worker shortage, state CIOs will be better prepared to face these challenges as they arise.
IT Governance is all about ensuring that state government is effectively using information technology in all government lines of business. This requires that the decision rights for IT investments and deployment are properly shared between the business and IT functions within state government. This issue brief provides an introduction to this very broad topic.
