Rural values cut IT staffing costs

Technology tends to be an individualistic career, driven by big salary expectations and limited loyalties. But sharing and co-operation are what keep the IT systems running smoothly in a rural municipality about half an hour's drive south of Ottawa.

The original European settlers of Rideau Township were farmers who shared a sense of community, often pitching in to help neighbours get things done. While some of the farms are still there, towns in the municipality of 12,500 are now bedroom communities for the government bureaus and businesses of Silicon Valley North. But according to Philip Dudgeon, Rideau's treasurer and resident IT manager, that original feeling of community is alive and well - even when it comes to supporting technology needed by the municipal government.

The spirit of co-operation begins with the township's employees. The municipality has about 20 users on a Microsoft NT network powered by two servers. Software includes Corel's office suite, Internet access packages, user-specific programs and an Oracle-- based finance and administration system from Ottawa's Vailtech Inc.

"The financial package is really, in our case, close to being an enterprise system. It looks after taxation and all of the taxation accounts, but it also does accounts payable, accounts receivable, and so on,' says Dudgeon. let's more or less a financial backbone system. It can't go down, because that would make all the account information inaccessible."

To maintain this critical system, Rideau has a support contract with Vailtech but no IT staff of its own.

"About three years ago we identified a need for ongoing IT support of some sort, and we discussed hiring a contractor,' says Dudgeon. "But we ended up opting for a small committee made up of five members of staff, the Rideau Information Systems Committee (RISC).'

Each RISC member is the point person for a major system. For example, the deputy clerk is responsible for the phone system, while the clerk and treasurer handle desktop issues.

Some of the assignments worked out naturally. People with word processing and spreadsheet experience took on desktop support and received minor training, for example. But in the case of more complex systems, RISC evaluated the best people for the job and sent them for in-depth education.

In each case, the people in charge have the expertise necessary to troubleshoot minor problems and handle day-to-day administration. If trouble strikes or a major upgrade is needed, these same people help decide when to bring in skilled help.

"It has reduced the dependence on outside sources for a lot of the simple work, which has a cost benefit. But it also provided our staff with highly useful skills, so there's a personnel development aspect to it as well," says Dudgeon.

There are other benefits. The people managing IT understand the business processes intimately. People on staff often get advice by phone and fix things themselves, rather than paying a consultant to drive out from Ottawa.

Headhunters looking for experienced IT staff are less likely to poach a county treasurer who can troubleshoot Quattro Pro than a single technician who looks after all a municipality's technology needs. And if a member of RISC does leave, the township's entire IT knowledge base isn't walking out the door.

The big drawback is the lack of an IT guru on staff who can evaluate projects or decide whether prices demanded by consultants are reasonable. But co-operation plays a role here.

What are the chances of finding good-hearted IT volunteers with time on their hands when human resources departments across Canada are desperately seeking skilled workers? Pretty good, it seems, in Rideau Township.

al think we're rather unique, perhaps because we're on the outskirts of Silicon Valley North. We've had a number of volunteers from the community come into the township offices to assist us - they often aren't complex things that required attention, but nonetheless they are things that we would have had to contract somebody else to do," he says.

By lan Johnson

Special to Technology in Government

Copyright Plesman Publications Ltd. Jul 2000
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