Author Archive
Digital Government
Driving to a National DMV
You might call Arizona the first R&D lab of the online department of motor vehicles movement. Since 1996, the state has been busy automatingnow 'Webifying'licensing services for which citizens used to spend hours waiting to access. Most experts agree that Arizona has gone further than any other
Digital Government
Street-Smart Tech
In city work, having as much information as possible on the history of criminal activity at a particular address could be a matter of life and death, especially for police officers, building inspectors and other city workers whose jobs involve entering properties uncertain about the risks inside. T
Digital Government
States Shop for OBI Solutions
State and local government agencies that have taken the first steps toward Internetbased procurement know that even basic electronic commerce applications have the potential to cut bid times, lower costs and improve interagency cooperation. Massachusetts, for one, claims it can lower its transacti
Digital Government
Data warehousing unites agency data
Data warehousing solutions have not had broad use among federal agencies, but they have proven extremely successful at helping a number of agencies achieve their missions. Agencies using data warehousing, which combines databases across an enterprise to support management decisionmaking, report th
Digital Government
Taming Enterprise Data
In state and local governments, a consolidated view of all the data and records generated by individual constituents is a distant, idealized goal. Yet it is a service vision that holds a powerful grasp on government executives. Like corporations that have integrated large chunks of customer data, p
Digital Government
Are You Ready for Web Workflow?
State and local government staffs are intrigued by the idea of using Internet technology to improve agency workflow, but few have actually taken the plunge to commit to the beguiling new technology at least for now.
Digital Government
Tools for managing the desktop
As federal agencies struggle to gain better control over the desktop computers on their networks, they are increasingly choosing products and services to help give them a global, enterprise view of all systems, down to the desktop level. The trend toward improving desktop systems management has bec
Acquisition
Financial Software: Adding up the Cost of Public Services
Providing a true picture of the cost of government services has long been the holy grail of state and local government finance departments.
Digital Government
Net Associates ships Sniffer for high-speed nets
Network Associates Inc. last week started shipping the Sniffer Pro 98 analysis suite and the optional Gigabit Sniffer Pro to assist network managers troubleshooting applications and network devices, even on highspeed networks. Announced in June, Sniffer Pro 98 and Gigabit Sniffer Pro are part of
Digital Government
Java Makes an Entrance
Hailed as a giant step forward for software code reuse, Java, the objectoriented programming language launched in 1995, is just starting to creep into state and local governments as a development tool for enterpriseclass, missioncritical projects.
Featured eBooks
Digital Government
A new angle on network management
A new class of network monitoring tools based on the World Wide Web has given administrators a window into the health of their networks. Having a browserbased interface makes network device management easier because it enables network managers to log onto a system from anywhere on the network and
Digital Government
App development tools ease move to the Web
While client/server computing has dramatically improved the productivity of application development in most organizations, the Internet is providing the wideopen network needed to deploy those applications to a wider audience.
Digital Government
Rethinking federal desktop computing
When the General Services Administration awards its seat management contract this spring, federal agencies finally will be able to evaluate if handing off responsibility for the management of the desktop environment can work. NASA and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) already have f
Digital Government
Is Your Intranet a Trojan Horse?
Intranets promise to bring elite applications to users more easily than traditional network systems.
Digital Government
Custom solutions dominate Internet-based electronic commerce arena
The Air Force and Hughes Data Systems Irvine Calif. have been working for six months to establish an electronic ordering system that allows federal buyers on the Desktop V contract to order products over the Internet. Using the International Merchant Purchase Authorization Card (IMPAC) and a recent
Digital Government
Michigan Data Center Consolidation: How Did They Pull It Off?
The state of Michigan has almost completed a massive data center consolidation effort which has reduced 17 mainframe data centers to two and will save an estimated $79 million in its first five years of operation. The effort started five years ago and incorporated a chargeback revolving fund that
Digital Government
Agencies hail browsers for information access
At the Department of Health and Human Services Bill Boyle financial systems analyst for the Program Support Center appreciates a key benefit of World Wide Web browsers: They reduce the need to teach communications processes so he can focus on teaching how to use key applications.The distinction is
