BUREAU OF INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY

The Bureau of Information Technology provides leadership in the development of powerful, cost-effective technical services and business solutions for City staff and policy makers. Our mission is to simplify the operations of City Government and improve citizen access to the essential services while managing growth.

Business Applications
The IT Applications Team works with all City departments to develop and maintain the City’s municipal computing applications, including: Building Permits, Code Enforcement, Planning, Zoning, Cash Receipts, Utility, Property and Mercantile Tax Billings, Accounts Receivable, Purchasing, Inventory, Payroll, Human Resources, General Ledger, and Budgeting, as well as the METRO police information system. The METRO police information system was established and is owned by the City, and includes police dispatching, police reports, citations, warrants, criminal histories, traffic accidents, and parking tickets. The METRO system allows numerous suburban, municipal and county agencies to tie in to a common database.

Network Administration
More than 1,000 users and 2,000 devices are supported on the City of Harrisburg's wide-area and local-area network which provide staff e-mail and Internet capabilities in addition to access of a wide variety of specialized applications, and financial systems as well providing municipal and county agencies access to our METRO police information system. The most visible and immediately accessible Network support comes from our Help Desk. Behind the scenes, a number of technical staff is dedicated to enhancing the network thus ensuring smooth and efficient operation of all systems.

As our network grows in size and complexity, the tasks associated with ensuring efficient operations also increases. There are dozens of servers, switches, hubs, gateways, and other equipment configured and continuously monitored to keep downtime at an absolute minimum. Senior technical staff often work nights and weekends to perform tasks that must be done when network traffic is low. Our goal is to continue identification and evaluation of network management tools that allow for early problem isolation and resolution, reconstruction of the physical infrastructure along with development of a solution to simplify external/remote connectivity while managing risk and minimizing technical related issues. Technology staff looks ahead and plan for the future and design solutions that enable the City of Harrisburg to provide effective information and technology services to its employees and citizens.

Help Desk
The Help Desk is the front line of technical support available to City employees as well as municipal and county agencies accessing our METRO police information system. Telephone and e-mail queries are answered to facilitate employee's utilization of network resources. Technical staff also researches problems for users, and makes on-site calls when necessary.

Lifecycle Management
All City hardware to include Mainframe, Server, PCs and other related equipment has been placed on a 3 - 5 year lifecycle.

We continue to standardize on software applications and operating systems on all City equipment.