Thursday, December 05, 2002

Moving to Real Time Phil Windley talks about the real time enterprise in his weblog.  I have been focusing on this concept for years with mixed results.  In 1990, we created a statewide fuel network that allows users (state, federal, local, and school districts) to access fuel anywhere in the state seamlessly at both state-owned facilities and private gas stations.  I used to come in each morning and review the fuel sales of every site in the state and any failure issues.  The goal also included real-time monitoring of fuel storage tanks, automated ordering, and just-in-time delivery of fuel to the facility.  That part of the vision is only partly in place.  Next, in 1993 we worked to develop online ordering for the state's central stores operation and eventually outsourced the operation.  State and local agencies now order all office supplies online with 24-hour delivery.  I collaborated with OnStar consultants on concepts that would enable fleets to track and respond to all kinds of vehicle issues.  In 1994 we moved to online printing with Xerox Docutechs.  Since then, our divisions have continued to make progress with the implementation of web-based and enterprise systems that focus on moving to real-time.  Fleet Operations provides real-time online reports of fleet-related information.  We are looking forward to expanding employee services in real-time with the implementation of the new payroll system in January.  What we have not done very well yet is the aggregation of all this information in ways that are truly useful to high-level managers.  At the same time, roadblocks are keeping us from achieving that vision across the board.  We need to improve our network monitoring and security capabilities.  The move to wireless demands that as we increasingly rely on connectivity for homeland security and law enforcement.  All of our enterprise projects play to this vision.  I would like to create an enterprise console, beginning with Administrative Services that gives the Executive Director a comprehensive view of everything important that is going on in the department with an automated priority schema that filters and places the most importance on the most critical issues.  I envision a similar console for the homeland security portal.  Web services and XML can help make this all happen but we need the skills and cooperation to get it done. 2:49:53 PM

NECCC Al Sherwood is blogging from the NECCC conference in New York City.  Yesterday, Governor Leavitt gave the keynote speech on homeland security.  Michael Bloomberg spoke on New York City's 311 customer support system. 9:15:50 AM

NIST's Recommendations for 802.11 and Bluetooth Security Matt Croydon points to NIST's standards for wireless security.  We need to be all over this with the rate that we are pushing wireless in the state. CNET makes some new projections about WIFI industry growth. Blue Mug has some interesting services. 8:28:53 AM

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