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Many agencies today are looking for ways to streamline their operations and new methods of reaching out to the users they serve. Many of them have embarked on transforming their operations from manual based to an electronic based one. Turn-key applications like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), e-commerce portals and others have made a mark on how agencies operate and the services they offer. These systems also automate many operational functions within the agency allowing them to run more efficiently and at lower costs.
These solutions typically have data sets which grow at rapid rates, are persistent and can be relatively complex. As the agency matures in its integration of its IT environment, the data stores would have to provide functionality for concurrent access.
Many application solutions today are modular in nature and often leverage on other solution areas. For example, solutions which require some form of web-based interface would typically use web server software (infrastructure solution) already available in the market to serve the appropriate web pages.
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Increase Operational Productivity and Efficiency
Many agencies seek to improve productivity and efficiency as human resource costs are rising year on year. Application solutions such as Human Resource Management and Enterprise Resource Planning systems help organizations automate many trivial tasks allowing them to redeploy human resources to other parts of the agency where they are needed.
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Better data management and analysis
As an agency’s electronic data grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage and generate information meaningful enough to make decisions and within a useful timeframe. Agencies in this situation would be looking for solutions to help them manage and analyze the large amounts of data. Solutions such as Business Analytics or Business Intelligence help produce data that management can use to base their decisions on. Additionally, it can help reduce the time to generate such information so that these decisions are made in a timelier manner.
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Better public services
Agencies who have direct interface with the public and are striving to provide better services to them may consider deploying application solutions like Customer Relationship Management (CRM). CRM solutions allow agencies to improve the public interactive experience by allowing service staff to have a view of necessary information pertaining to an individual.
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End User Platforms
These are platforms that end users would use to interact with the application solution. Remote site client PCs, end user devices (e.g. tablet PCs, touch screens, self-checkout devices, etc.), automated teller terminals, staff workstations and handheld devices (e.g. PDAs, pagers, mobile phones, etc.) would fall under this category.
There are a range of operating systems available (Windows, Linux, PalmOS, UNIX, etc.) for the devices in this category but the choice of which would depend on which operating system the proposed application’s client program will be able to run. Certain devices, particularly the hand-held ones, due to their specialized embedded microchips, would have a very limited choice of operating systems that would run on them. However, if the solution is based on open standards, typically web-based, then the dependencies on the client operating system can be reduced as long as it would support a capable browser. In this situation, agencies can deploy OSS operating systems (e.g. Linux, FreeBSD, etc.) using OSS web browsers (e.g. Mozilla).
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Central Servers
These servers would host the application and perform the bulk of the processing and data management for the solution. There are some OSS alternatives such as Compiere (ERP and CRM), Applix (CRM) and osCommerce (e-Commerce) to traditional commercial applications. Where possible, agencies should ensure that solutions are based on open standards for easier integration with existing and future application systems. Also, due to the business-critical nature of these solutions, agencies should ensure that an appropriate amount of redundancy is built in to prevent total failures.
Before finalizing on the solution, a technical feasibility check should be performed. This should involve the existing system administrators and engineers designing the solution. The check would highlight any interoperability issues and would ensure a smooth deployment.
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System administrator and user training:
System administrators must be thoroughly trained in the new solution including the knowledge to maintain the solution if a specific vendor is not identified to support the agency. This would include software updates, security patches and bug fixes. User would need to be trained on how to operate the solution and how to use its features to the fullest.
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Implementation plan:
A detailed implementation plan should be in place in order to ensure smooth transition to the new production environment. This should involve downtime avoidance/contingency plan, hardware and OS deployment plan, user data migration plan, Application Migration plan, etc.
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Functional requirement study:
A detailed functional requirement study should be carried out to determine the essential features of the proposed solution. Where possible, the use of open standards should be defined to promote easier interoperability with current and future applications.
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Define Data Flows and Formats:
The flow of data between each component of the proposed application solution must be clearly defined in order to ensure that proper standards are followed when communication occurs. Additionally, data format requirements should be specifies so that necessary conversions can be made at appropriate communication paths.
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Master Plan 
