COVID-19 Planning and Response Guidance for State CIOs (v2 3.26.20)

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Today we are facing a COVID-19 (coronavirus) global pandemic. The situation is dynamic and moving fast.

  • What is the role of the state chief information officer (CIO) in coordinating a response with the Governor’s office and other state agencies?
  • What is the role of the state CIO when planning for reduced staff?
  • What are the critical issues that need to be prioritized to ensure continuity of operations for your organization?
  • What are challenges related to expanded remote access for employees?
  • What are the potential cybersecurity risks?
  • How does the current circumstance impact the current project portfolio?

State CIOs have an obligation to ensure that IT services continue during this pandemic outbreak and planning for such a scenario has become essential. As such is it imperative that state CIOs have a seat at the table with government leaders and take an active role in the state response to COVID-19. There are simple steps that state CIOs can follow during the next days and weeks.

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Award Recipient | Pennsylvania: IT and HR Shared Services Transformation

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State IT Recognition Awards Recipient in the category Enterprise IT Management Initiatives

State CIO as Broker: A New Model

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Multisourcing is emerging as the discipline for managing a complex and diversified portfolio of services and service providers.  These services are being employed to meet the continual evolving demand for creatively delivering government services through new channels with new functionality.   In this evolving circumstance there is the need for a new operating model the state chief information officer can employ to bring together agencies needs and demands with available emerging technologies and management disciplines.  This report opens the door to this discussion and explores the underlying forces of change that are driving the need for a new operating model.

 

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Advanced Cyber Analytics

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This report examines the subject of advanced cyber analytics.  It makes the case for states to invest in such capabilities and maintain ongoing maturity in advanced analytics.  All organizations, including state government must also develop and maintain response capabilities that continuously mature in sophistication in order to keep pace with an ever changing threat landscape. State government remains in a defensive position.  With the advent of multi-vector strategies by cyber criminals, state government now more than ever needs the ability to correlate disparate data sources generated from the myriad of security tools agencies have already invested in.  Examples of advanced analytics tools are provided.  The report includes a call to action list, a checklist, key questions, and recommendations.

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Cyber Disruption Response Planning Guide

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State government must now view cyber attacks that are more than cyber incidents.  We must prepare for larger magnitude events.  These can be termed cyber disruptions, disasters or even catastrophes.  This publication includes the following:

  • A call to action for states to develop state cyber disruption response plans that include: a governance structure that clearly designates who is in charge in a given event or phase of an event; development of a risk profile for state assets; collaboration among the various agencies that have cyber responsibility; and a communication plan to ensure the right people have the right information as early as possible so they can response effectively.
  • A checklist for states to work with in developing progress toward a cyber disruption response operating discipline.
  • A cross functional process description that can be used as a starting point for states to develop their own unique cross functional process for orchestrated planning and response at various threat levels.

 

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Is State IT Working on the Right Things?

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What does it mean to be working on the right things? This determination is often difficult when considering the state as both an enterprise and a collective of individual agencies. Through interviews and formal surveys, NASCIO and Infosys Public Services gained insight from state IT leaders on the fundamental processes, mechanisms and criteria necessary to ensure that state IT is working on the right things. The resulting report will help state IT decision makers understand the key factors needed to identify the right things to do, see how they and their peer states stand against these factors and what can be done to bridge the gap.

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Building Successful Relationships: State CIO Advice for IT Partners

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Given today’s fiscal environment, states are turning to their IT partners to provide cost-effective delivery of citizen services. This brief focuses on the best strategies for IT partners to engage with state CIOs while building successful business relationships.

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A Call to Action: Information Exchange Strategies for Effective State Government

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NASCIO Recommends State Government Adopt the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) to Enable Government Information Sharing

The National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) provides a broad range of products and capabilities for planning and implementing enterprise-wide information exchanges. Government effectiveness and citizen centric government services require effective cross line of business collaboration and communication. Use of national standards will avoid redundant investment and unnecessary variation. What is needed is a common discipline for information sharing that is employed by all government lines of business. NIEM exists as that discipline for federal, state and local government.

 

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DO YOU THINK? OR DO YOU KNOW? Improving State Government Operations Through Business Analytics

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Business analytics provides an evidence-based approach for decision making. With the current emphasis on transparency and visibility into the operations of government, government leaders need to anticipate more questions and evaluation related to not only what decisions are being made, but also what rationale was applied in making those decisions. As stated in this issue brief, intuition alone is not adequate for evaluating alternatives and making decisions. Effective implementation of a business analytics capability will promote an enterprise-wide culture of fact-based decision making. State government is encouraged to seriously look at business analytics as a means for fully understanding current circumstances and make predictions about the future. The predictive nature is particularly important as we continue to face ongoing fiscal challenges and increasing demand for state government services.

 

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