The consolidation of State Data Centers

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1 Margaret Morrissey NYS Office for Technology State Capitol ESP PO Box 2062 Albany, NY Fax New York State Data Center Consolidation Executive Summary The Consolidated State Data Center (SDC) is the result of execution of a threeyear plan begun in 1998 to consolidate the State s agency-specific mainframe data centers into a consolidated, centrally managed, monitored and staffed data center. The Center is used to support numerous agency programs and customer service applications. Through the consolidation of the various computer operations, the State is able to utilize its technology resources, people and investments more cost-effectively to the benefit of the individual agencies and to the State. Benefits of the consolidated data centers include more consistent service delivery, improved access to technology, improved personnel management, leverage technology investments and improved security. Overall, the consolidation of the State data centers is an excellent example of a major effort undertaken across a variety of agencies and under a wide variety of circumstances that is resulting in a more efficient and effective management of the State s technology resources. A. Description of the project The Consolidated State Data Center (SDC) is the result of execution of a threeyear plan begun in 1998 to consolidate the State s agency-specific mainframe data centers into a consolidated, centrally managed, monitored and staffed data center. The Center is used to support numerous agency programs and customer service applications. Through the consolidation of the various computer operations, the State is able to utilize its technology resources, people and investments more cost-effectively to the benefit of the individual agencies and to the State. 1

2 The Data Center Consolidation effort began with an assessment of the State s technology infrastructure, focusing on continuous improvements of the information technology service levels supplied to the State s agencies and their constituents. Our strategies included reducing the number of individual data centers, investing in the professional workforce, deploying state-of-the-art hardware and software, and construction of a single command center from which the technological core assets of the State are to be managed on a 7X24 basis. Prior to the launch of this project, there was limited centralized coordination or integration of the State s data centers. There were 21 different centers serving 24 agencies using three major architectures: IBM (MVS, VM), UNISYS 2200 and UNISYS A Series. Agencies negotiated individual software and hardware contracts, with significant cost variance based on individual agencies size and usage. There were varying degrees of disaster recovery protection, again, with costs varying significantly among the 24 sites. In the formal, pre-project assessment review, staffing was measured at 645 FTEs among the unique sites. The level of technology experience and sophistication of the staff also varied widely among the sites. Governor George E. Pataki announced in January 1998 that the State would undertake a three-year effort to consolidate the majority of the State s mainframe data centers under the direction of the New York State Office for Technology. This plan called for the consolidation of physical assets as well as staff. Consolidation of Architectures In 1998, the State s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) consolidated their data center operations onto an upgraded IBM mainframe located at DMV s existing Swan Street (Albany) location. In 1999, the State s Human Services Application Service Center (HSASC) consolidated its New York City and Albany operations onto a production UNISYS mainframe located at HSASC s 40 North Pearl Street (Albany) site. These two initiatives demonstrated that the process of consolidation was, in fact, viable in the State s environment. In 1999, the decision was made to use three of the State s existing centers as interim sites upon which the consolidation efforts would focus: The State Campus (Tax and Finance), the Empire State Plaza (DMV) and 40 North Pearl Street (HSASC), all located in Albany. Investments in hardware were made at all three sites, which supported Y2K development and testing. In 1999 and early 2000, DMV and DOCS were joined at the Empire State Plaza (ESP) site by the following agencies: Office of General Services, New York Power Authority, 2

3 Department of State, Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Law, Insurance Department (VM), the Department of Health (VM), Crime Victims Board and the Office of Mental Health (VM & MVS). The Division of Housing and Community Renewal, Department of Transportation (operational support only) and Department of Labor joined the Department of Tax and Finance at the State Campus Data Center. The Pearl Street site is home to the Office for Temporary Assistance and the Office of Children and Family Services. Architecture consolidation for the Department of Civil Service and the State Education Department will take place at this site shortly. Activities during Fiscal Year 2000 continued to build on the foundations established in 1998 and 1999 at all three of the interim data center sites. Upgrades were made to the existing mainframes and storage devices at the ESP, Campus and Pearl Street sites to support the relocation of processing from the remaining agencies. These upgrades supported the move of Department of Health to the ESP site and pending Department of Civil Service, State Education Department and Department of Transportation moves. Additionally, a satellite location is supported by the Data Center for the Division of Lottery. In addition to the mainframe consolidation efforts, consolidation and networking of print services was deployed in 2000 between four major sites: the three data centers and the Department of Labor. This effort served to both reduce the number of printers and improve service levels by elimination of single points of failure. An integral part of the data center project is the construction of a single, state-ofthe-art Command Center, from which all data center agency mainframes will be controlled and monitored on a 27x7 basis. Command Center design was completed in December The Command Center will be constructed during 2001 in the ESP site and will be used to facilitate centralized monitoring and control of all three data centers, servers farms, the State s network, the NYeNet, and security/intrusion detection. 3

4 Printing Swan Street Networks Printing Disk Disk Bldg. 8 Networks Tape Tape Tech Support Console Operations Consoles Incident Room Tech Support Printing Disk Consoles 40 N. Pearl Networks Tape Command Center Tech. Support Tech Support Consoles Consolidation of Staff Following a successful Year 2000 transition, efforts focused on staffing the data centers and developing mini-command centers at each to the sites. This effort culminated on October 26, 2000, with the official transfer of staff from the participating agencies to the Data Center. This critical step moved the appointing authority for the computer operators and technical support staff from their former agencies to the State s Office for Technology (OFT). An initial step in the transfer of function of staff into one (logical) Data Center was the establishment of a Management Board comprised of senior staff from each participating agency. An initial decision of the Management Board was to establish a personnel sub-committee. The sub-committee was charged with the responsibility of planning the transfer of function as prescribed in section 70.2 of New York State Civil Service Law. The personnel sub-committee held its initial meeting in February 1998 and recruited agency human resources representatives from all impacted agencies as well as from the Governor s Office of Employee Relations and senior management from the Department of Civil Service and the Office of the State Comptroller. 4

5 During the planning phase the OFT and the Governor s Office of Employee Relations met on a regular basis with representatives from both the Civil Service Employees Association and the Public Employees Federation AFL-CIO. The purpose of these meetings was to share information on the progress of data consolidation as well as to review our plans for the formal notification of impacted employees. In addition, the work rules established for the OFT were also reviewed and discussed with the employee organization representatives prior to formal publication of these rules. Staff from the Division of the Budget were kept apprised of the ongoing activities. In May 1999, the OFT conducted a series of general employee briefings to review the progress and plans for the consolidation with impacted employees. We provided an overview of the consolidation effort and responded to questions from employees. The actual formal transfer of function process commenced in March/April The process began with a posting of all positions in agencies impacted and an opportunity for employees to volunteer for transfer to the State Data Center. During this period staff from the OFT met on-site with all impacted employees to further explain the process and respond to additional questions. Following the formal notification process employees were welcomed to the OFT and informed that the effective date of the transfer would be as soon as practicable after passage of the Executive Budget and resolution of cost allocation issues related to federal funding. All issues were resolved in early October and employees were notified that effective October 26, 2000, they would be formally transferred to the OFT. The OFT executed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with each impacted agency to affect the transfer of function. The MOA included a roster of positions that were mutually agreed would be transferred to the State Data Center. Effective October 26, 2000 the formal transfer of function of items and employees to the OFT was completed. The number of FTE s supporting the data center is now reduced from 645 prior to the consolidation effort, to

6 B. Significance to the improvement of the operation of government: Through the consolidation of the various computer operations, the State is able to utilize technology investments more cost effectively to the benefit of individual agencies and to the State. C. Benefits realized by service recipients, taxpayers, agency or state: More Consistent Service Delivery: Consistent, high-quality computer services are now available to all participating agencies through leveraged technology investments. The SDC has been able to replace older, less efficient technologies, hardware and software, with state-of-the-art architectures and, through economies of scale, to do so more cost effectively than the individual agencies could have done. Each data center operates on a 24x7 basis, thereby providing continuous monitoring services that many agencies nearly half did not have prior to consolidation. Improved Access to Technology: Smaller agencies, that typically have limited technology budgets, can now, through the State Data Center, enjoy the same access to sophisticated technology as larger agencies, without the fiscal burden required to operate and support the required infrastructure. At the same time, larger agencies, through combined upgrades and acquisitions completed at the enterprise level, have more timely access to these new technologies. Improved Personnel Management: By centralizing the management and support of the State government s critical technology resources, State government is better able to: Utilize the technical expertise that previously was spread across agencies to varying degrees of expertise and localized focus; Create a coordinated and effective workforce development effort to plan for recruitment, training and retention of technical staff in a highly competitive technology job market. Leveraged Technology Investments: Consolidation enables not only a coordinated approach to expensive technology acquisitions, but also provides more efficient staffing and reduced facilities requirements. Increased Security: Through the implementation of a Security Policy, there are now standards regarding access to data centers facilities. This Policy takes the place of many individual, and varying security polices of the individual agencies. A secure entry-system has been installed at two sites to control access. 6

7 D. Return on investment, short-term/long-term payback: The resulting paybacks for the consolidated data center initiative will be increased efficiencies in State resources. By consolidating agency data centers, the need for agencies to negotiate their own request for proposals and contracts is eliminated; the critical mass of technology resources both equipment and staff--will be maintained; and service levels will be improved. Some specific examples of measurable benefits include the consolidation of printers in the data centers. In two of the interim data centers which were using a laser print solution, the number of printers was reduced from nine to five. In addition, the equipment was networked, so outages will have minimal impact on the customer agencies. Enterprise Service agreements have been implemented, which will reduce costs for maintenance. In another example, two of the data centers using impact printers were able to achieve cost savings of approximately $30,000 per year by bidding for seven printers as a package whereas prior to consolidation, agencies would be bidding on only one or two, and therefore could not take advantage of volume leverage buying. Throughout the consolidation process, equipment was able to be surplussed, thereby reducing unnecessary maintenance costs. Overall, the consolidation of the State data centers is an excellent example of a major effort undertaken across a variety of agencies and under a wide variety of circumstances that is resulting in a more efficient and effective management of the State s technology resources. 7