The Department of Technology Services (DTS) continually seeks ways to use technology to improve the County’s business processes and the services it provides to the public.  

In addition, DTS is committed to the necessary maintenance and support of existing mission-critical technology systems. Key objectives include:

1. Enabling the fulfillment of County services through well-considered technology investments
2. Providing for the easy and efficient access to information for residents, businesses and County staff
3. Ensuring the continuity of County services in an emergency

Here is our list of 2011 accomplishments. For a more comprehensive list of past achievements, see our list of 2004-2010 Achievements.

Enabling the fulfillment of County services through well-considered technology investments

1. Affordable Housing Tracking System - A new system delivers an integrated affordable housing loan portfolio system that provides a unified interface for managing information regarding the County’s housing loan portfolio and related affordable housing unit data.
2. Expanded Financial Reporting – DTS accessed existing financial data to create a series of customized reports designed to streamline and facilitate the creation of the County’s annual Consolidated Annual Financial Report for all groups involved in the process.
3. Automating and Improving Tax Billing and Revenue Collection – DTS automated several processes in the County Treasurer and Commissioner of Revenue offices to provide residents with timelier Personal Property and other tax billing information. In addition, the new streamlined processing freed up staff time for enhanced customer service support.
4. Automation of Human Resources Performance Appraisal Process – In 2011, the staff performance appraisal process was moved to a paperless environment. The system provides an automated workflow for the creation, review, and approval of personnel performance evaluations.  Previous and new evaluations are centrally stored to provide a continuous history of performance.
5. Improvements in the HR and Financial Management Systems – Every year there are legal, financial and administrative changes required to support the County’s HR and financial systems. In 2011, over 40 changes and upgrades were made to address these requirements, along with improvements to enhance customer support.

Providing for easy and efficient access to information for residents, businesses and County staff

1. Expanding Online Access – In order to improve service to Arlington residents, several existing forms were enhanced and new forms added to make it easier to register for camp, pay fees and manage residents’ requests for environmental services.
2. Public Internet Access for Community Centers – DTS, Libraries, PRCR and Schools collaborated to provide PCs, furniture and wireless Internet access for students and the public at seven community centers – Aurora Hills, Carver, Drew, Gunston, Langston-Brown, Lubber Run and Thomas Jefferson.
3. Adoption of Mobile Consumer Technology in the Workplace – DTS has embraced the expanding use of smartphones, iPads and other mobile devices in the workplace to better serve the community. In addition to assisting departments in their migration to mobile devices, DTS established security and usage policies and expanded online support for mobile workers.
4. Handicap Vehicle Tax System Enhancement – The revenue collection system was updated to allow qualified tax payers to take advantage of Tax Relief for Handicap-Equipped Vehicles. Owners of vehicles specially adapted to transport individuals with disabilities will qualify for tax relief on personal property taxes effective with the 2011 tax year.
5. Wireless Printing for Library Patrons – DTS worked with Libraries to enable wireless printing for Central Library patrons using their personal laptops and wireless devices.

Ensuring the Continuity of County Services in an Emergency

1. Moving Staff Email to the “Cloud” – In a continuing effort to move technology support facilities off-site and alleviate the costly burden of large data storage facilities, DTS moved the County email to a Microsoft-hosted site, reducing hardware, storage and support costs.
2. Infrastructure Development for New Facilities – DTS collaborated with the Department of Environmental Services on the construction or enhancement of network, infrastructure and computer services in approximately five County facilities, including Fire Station 3, the Fire Academy and multiple water department buildings.
3. Activating the New Network Operations Center (NOC) – A new NOC was built to provide expanded capacity for County, Schools and public safety systems and to provide a secondary site to facilitate redundancy. Migration of infrastructure and applications is underway, taking advantage of new, advanced technologies to enhance availability and energy conservation measures for improved operational and cost management.
4. Executing the Telecommunications Master Plan – The Comcast franchise agreement will run out as of June 30, 2013 and, if service is to be continued, a new agreement will need to be renegotiated. In anticipation of a move to a more commercial agreement, the County is constructing its own fiber network to enhance capabilities and manage its own capacity. Accordingly, the first phases of construction and conduit installation have begun. The network will provide a flexible, scalable, high-speed network supporting data, voice and video traffic for County operations, public safety and intelligent transportation systems.
5. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) – DTS and DES worked together to conduct a Security Audit of all of the County’s SCADA networks, which monitor several County environmental systems. This was the first ever complete inter-departmental risk assessment, and the remediation of identified risks is now underway.
6. Disaster Recovery Plan – DTS completed the first County-wide disaster recovery plan that covers IT vulnerabilities across all County agencies. In addition, a formal disaster recovery exercise for DTS was designed to ensure successful execution in the case of a disaster.