Current IT Projects

Project Description: DTI is comprehensively addressing the broadband infrastructure challenges throughout Delaware. The broadband funding stream is the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). This provides a singular opportunity to fund many of the initiatives identified by DTI as critical to achieving best-in-class broadband access for all Delaware residents. Over 11,600 addresses have been identified, and DTI will be working with several federal funding opportunities to provide service over the next several years. ARPA 18 month project will see the installations for at least 4318 constituents.

Current Status: Given the additional funding made accessible through several federal programs specifically targeting broadband efforts, Delaware has revised its original investment plan of ARPA dollars to maximize the potential of all available resources. Beginning in September 2022, an 18-month project using ARPA funding began. The ARPA project started with planned deployments to 4318 households/businesses and has grown to over 6700 addresses. The state engaged with three carriers for broadband deployment using ARPA funds: Comcast, Mediacom, and Verizon. Regular project meetings with each carrier are underway. The broadband internet sites are updated with the latest information regarding broadband deployment and mapping. Based on the initial SOWs, the project is nearly complete at 99 percent of ARPA designated addresses now having access to a wired high speed broadband connection. 6700 addresses are now broadband served with only 500 remaining. Each carrier is preparing to complete the required end-of-project speed and latency testing. As a result of additional available ARPA Broadband funds, DTI is currently working with each carrier on ARPA SOW amendments to serve additional locations. These additional funds will bring broadband to another approximately 500 locations. The team expects planning work completed January 2024 and the additional 500 locations are expected to complete by August, 2026 or before.

Project Description: Secure End User Services (SEUS) is the active phase of IT centralization. SEUS offers the greatest chance for Delaware to modernize and evolve its IT infrastructure and resources in a way that best supports agency business needs to meet citizen expectations now and into the future. SEUS will equitably deliver the essential technologies and tools for a productive, secure State workforce. Agencies and workers benefit from standard enterprise tools, security, training, governance, and 24x7x365 support. SEUS is comprised of six enterprise components: Service Desk, Desktop, Network and Connectivity, Voice Services, Email and Collaboration, and Security Suite. These critical services are funded by a consumption-based (per-employee/month) cost recovery model. In accordance with Senate Bill 153, all Executive Branch technical personnel and assets will be centralized to deliver technology in the most efficient and consistent manner possible with the resources the state has available. IT centralization offers the greatest chance for Delaware to modernize and evolve its IT infrastructure and resources in a way that best supports agency business needs to meet citizen expectations now and into the future.

Current Status: DTI has effectively analyzed the organization, infrastructure, services, vendor contracts and financials to develop target state objectives. The IT Centralization program is moving forward in a phased approach with focus on a Secure End User Service package and the resources required to support its enterprise-wide delivery. Cost model user consumption level information was provided to OMB in August to support target budget discussions that will determine agency funding for SEUS agency deployments for three of the six service towers. This process will be activated in fiscal year 2025 (July 2024) for Email and Collaboration, Security Suite, and Voice services.

Project Description: The purpose of this project is to select and implement a system that allows for the Department of Agriculture's Poultry and Animal Health unit to conduct their routine operations digitally.

Current Status: USAHERDS production go-live successfully took place on 4/22. The project team is monitoring a few post go-live action items and will schedule a meeting track the status of those items.

Project Description: DTI continues to centralize non-essential systems from the DSHA environment to the state environment and establishing connectivity to those systems.

Current Status: DTI current work scope is focused on two final efforts; Community Room computers, and migration of four applications, which have been prioritized by usage. The remaining effort is scheduled for approximately four months and once complete should complete the centralization project.

Project Description: DTI is going to create a Citrix Platform to allow remote State users access to applications that require special access and other platforms that may need firewall rules to access. The goal is to move away from the need for remote desktops to access these apps and streamline the management processes.

Current Status: DTI is has defined the scope of phase 2 and is working on finalizing the SOW with the vendor. The project s due to be completed by December 2024.

Project Description: This project addresses the third phase of development for the Department of Safety and Homeland Safety Grant Management Suite tool. The project will address improvements to the Office of Highway Safety grant management budget module, incorporation of the Car Seating Fitting Station database, and implementing a new workflow to support the Office of Highway Safety Paid Media Campaign project management functionality.

Current Status: The DSHS Office of Highway Safety (OHS) team is working to enhance their instance of the DSHS Grant Management Suite to improve their budget management module, add additional fields that will support federal reporting requirements, and enhance their Schedule B reporting process. OHS will also be incorporating three new workflows into their application to include the Paid Media Campaign project management, the Car Seat Fitting Inspection work process, and the Seat Belt Survey collection process. Additional milestones were added to the project scope with the most recent Change Request that was completed. The project is in the Execution phase. The project is due to be completed by end of May 2024.

Project Description: The Delaware Emergency Management Agency is seeking to implement a grants management solution for their grant funding opportunities. The goal is to integrate the DEMA workflows into the DSHS Grants Management Suite application, which has been implemented for the Office of the Secretary and the Office of Highway Safety. The project has also operationalized the State of Emergency Driving Waiver Program within the same application. The targeted implementation date for all DEMA workflows is October 2024.

Current Status: The DEMA Homeland Security Grant and Non-Profit Security Grant Programs are live production. The Emergency Management Grant Program is fully tested and will go live in production in May 2024. The Radiological Emergency Preparedness program is in the final stages of testing and will be live by the end of May. The team will progress through the remaining grant programs on a schedule of one per month until project completion. In parallel, the team is also in the planning phase for the Public Assistance Grant Program and will begin project scoping sessions with the vendor in early May. The targeted implementation date for Public Assistance is September 2024. The anticipated completion date for all 8 grant programs has been updated to October 2024.

Project Description: This project is to develop the Firearm Transfer Approval Program (FTAP) making State of Delaware a point of contact for firearm transfers.

Current Status: The technical team continues with application development. Working on the user interface and integration with external government systems.

Project Description: The new Fire School and Fire Commission 'Learning Management for Emergency Professionals" (LMEP) application went live for phase 1, July 2021. We are now in phase 2 which includes several new features including a Client and Student portal. Phase 2 will also include online payments.

Current Status: The new Client Portal is live which allows registered clients to view online their account information, affiliated students, invoices, and renew their annual ambulance certificates. The new Student Portal is in testing which will allow Students to register for classes online, renew EMT certificates, and view their student transcript. The client and student online payments module is currently under development.

Project Description: NICUS is going out of support January 2025. Currently DTI uses this system for IV chargeback for expenses that are incurred from IT services that are delivered to State Agencies. The system is on version 5 and in need of an upgrade. DTI would like to move to NCUS version 6 which will be a SaaS solution.

Current Status: The DTI CES team is currently identifying primary, secondary, and testers from each agency for the implementation phase. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is scheduled to take place from the end of May to the end of June in 2024.

Project Description: DNREC WHS seeks a more consistent method of tracking response to environmental incidents, including field report submission.

Current Status: The project team continues to work with Earthsoft on some issues that have prevented the team from releasing the application and workflow to the Emergency Response Branch for user acceptance testing. The team continues to persevere through the issues while continuing to work on the pieces of the workflow that are not impacted by the issues. The team is very close to completion and has met with upper management to demonstrate the requirements that will be met once completed. The team plans to bring this project to completion with the assistance of EarthSoft by the second quarter of 2024.

Project Description: DNREC Division of Waste and Hazardous Substance Tank Compliance Section wishes to develop a means to collect tank inspection data in the field and store that data in a centralized environmental database. This project will include the migration of currently stored data as well as communication to/from an existing environmental database.

Current Status: DNREC Division of Waste and Hazardous Substance Tank Compliance Section initially contracted with a vendor to implement two tank inspection forms within an existing environmental database. The project team shifted to move this development work in-house. The DTI Team has completed review and documentation of the requirements for one form and is currently working on developing that form while the DTI Project Manager works with the client to gather and document the requirements for the second form. The team plans to have the two forms completed and to the client for user acceptance testing by 3rd quarter of 2024.

Project Description: The OMB Land Inventory project is working towards a solution that will establish a centralized enterprise geodatabase to address the realty property and asset data needs of various state agencies.

Current Status: The Office of Management and Budget, Office of State Planning (OMB OSPC) business area is fully engaged with a vendor who is currently conducting discovery efforts with stakeholder agencies towards implementation of a land inventory project solution. This effort involves OMB OSPC, DTI resources, and multi-agency stakeholders and it is anticipated that the project solution will be implemented by end of year.

Project Description: Delaware wants residents and visitors to be at the center of everything we do. The design and functionality of Delaware’s digital government experience must be well-crafted, intuitive, accessible, and offer fast and focused transactions that result in a satisfying experience. Delivering on this outcome requires partnership across state agencies, and a commitment to the on-going evolution of Delaware’s digital platform. The Digital Government Foundation Program will draw from best practices found in successful agency initiatives such as the Department of State’s One Stop and Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s Digital DNREC. These programs highlight both the demand for an improved digital experience and an increase in customer usage and satisfaction. In addition, user experience research, application and transactional data analysis and resident dialog will derive priorities and expectations. The culmination of this multi-layered technology and end user platform will result in a transformative experience for Delaware’s residents and visitors by providing digital access to an increasing number of government services.

Current Status: The Digital Government Platform Foundation program is in the implementation phase with the release of Pay with Go DE completed on April 22nd. Agencies and schools are now integrating applications and Go DE web forms to execute online transactions. Incremental releases will continue to build upon payment use case requirements while the full Go DE portal functionality will launch in 3Q’24.

Project Description: This project will modernize the Parks web site. The design focus will be on mobile-first given that 70% of web site visitors utilize a mobile device during peak seasonality.

Current Status: Working with the selected vendor, Delaware has completed extensive design reviews. A final theme and design has been approved that includes revised menu options, improved Park Finder, and consistent look and feel throughout. Development by vendor of template web pages has begun. Content review by Delaware team has begun.

Project Description: The purpose of this project is to develop a Licensing Management / Enforcement system with workflow for the Office of the Marijuana Commissioner (OMC) and Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement (DATE).

Current Status: Requirement gathering continues to run in parallel to development. OMC application phases and timelines, policies and processes have been finalized. The development team is working on delivering a demo of all components of the system on May 8th.

Project Description: DNREC seeks to replace most, if not all, of its permitting, licensing and registration applications with a dynamic and customer friendly portal. This cloud based solution will interface with online payment acceptance, First Map, EQuIS, compliance monitoring, as well as document management systems.

Current Status: Development continues for the Division of Air Quality's Natural Minor (REG 2) programs and the Division of Water Permits and Licensing Testing Module. Proposed timeline shows project completion by the end of 2024.

Project Description: This project will encompass three 13 to 20+ year old statewide PeopleSoft applications – Payroll Human Resource Statewide Technology (PHRST), First State Financials (FSF), Comprehensive Retirement Information System (CRIS-Pension). We will capture as-is business processes, conduct fit-gap effort with critical statewide stakeholders, and identify and review customizations for possible business process standardizations. The deliverables are complete statewide requirements and recommendation(s) to ERP Executive Sponsors for next steps including RFP.

Current Status: The Pension Administration System (CRIS) Request for Proposal (RFP) is progressing as planned and is scheduled to be publicly released in the near future. Additionally, the RFPs for the Financial Management and Accounting System (FSF) and the Payroll/Human Capital Management System (PHRST) have been divided into two separate proposals: software provider and systems integrator. These are currently in the review phase.

Project Description: Most of CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioner) units that cool the Biggs data center are from the 1980s and are no longer supported by warranty or vendors. The CRAC units are not functioning at full capacity and are not located in proper alignment to the servers to be able to cool properly. Servers are scattered throughout the whitespace making it difficult to cool the areas effectively, and this increases the risk for downtime for IT equipment in the data center. This effort will upgrade the critical infrastructure hub’s carpentry, electrical systems, mechanical (HVAC, etc.), Fire Suppression and Telecommunications systems to avoid catastrophic failure.

Current Status: All contracts have been signed and work is starting on the Biggs data center. Starting in May 2024, demolition will being for the new electrical room, fire supression systems and generator pad. The overall project is projected to be an 18 month effort.

Project Description: DTI Telecom Team purchased and will roll out Cisco Webex Cloud voice. Present day State of Delaware Voice customers utilize Cisco on premises voice services. Our goal in implementing cloud voice is to address the following: Ray Baum's Act e911 compliance issues End of life phone hardware in February of 2024; Allow for secure and scalable use of softphones statewide; Reduce the workload on the Enterprise Voice team. Cloud based voice services will allow DTI to roll out Softphones in both state facilities and to remote users. This would drastically reduce the need for purchasing and life cyling agency handsets. It will also allow customers greater flexibility in where they can access voice services and reduces/eliminates the need for on premise hardware, while immensely increasing our levels of redundancy for voice centric operations.

Current Status: Work to set up and test the cloud based version of Webex and transiton the first three agencies to the new system has completed. DTI performed the inital roll out of the cloud based system internally to DTI staff on Jan 18, 2024. The Departmetn of Agriculture (DDA) was then migrated in April 2024 and work is being done to migrate the Delaware State Housing Authroity (DSHA) in May 2024.