Current and Proposed Organizational Activities
The Government of Manitoba is consolidating technology services and technical staff resources from all Departments to gain service delivery efficiencies. The outcome of this initiative will combine department-based technical and support resource staff into a centralized organizational unit. The transition to the new organizational structure began in January, 2007 with completion expected by the end of May 2007.
At the Department level there has been significant change as well. The Department is now responsible for all major provincial infrastructure, including all major water-ways and control structures, dams, etc. as well as provincially owned buildings, including correctional facilities, colleges, institutions, etc..
Infrastructure (Desktop, Networking, Server/Storage, etc.)
The Desktop Environment (workstations, file and print services, e-mail, networks, standard software suite, support, security, Internet services, etc.) has been outsourced. Manitoba is operating on a four-year workstation refresh cycle and this seems to be adequate with a bit of augmentation or cascading if required.
The Application Server Infrastructure of the Department primarily consists of Intel-based server-class computers running MS Windows Server 2003 and UNIX operating systems. Database management systems include Oracle, SQL Server and Sybase. The Department uses advanced technologies in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) as well as Global Positioning Systems (GPS). The infrastructure also includes CITRIX Metaframe and Internet Information Servers to provide 3-tier applications.
As part of the IT Restructuring Initiative, server consolidation and application migration will bring together a large number of IT infrastructures (hardware and software) into a new configuration. This initiative is expected to give the Government of Manitoba the opportunity to significantly reduce the number of system administrators, servers and server-room locations required throughout government. The server consolidation portion of the amalgamation relies heavily on server virtualization.
New Systems (Just Completed, In Progress, or Preparing to Start)
Carrier Profile System Upgrade - Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation is responsible for the operation, maintenance and enforcement of the National Safety Code within the Province of Manitoba. The Transportation Safety and Regulation Branch of Infrastructure and Transportation has been delegated the authority to establish a comprehensive safety program for monitoring and regulating the performance of motor carriers, drivers, vehicles and Short Line Intra-Provincial Railways. The Branch uses a risk management software application known as the Carrier Profile System (CPS). This system compares the operation of carriers with similar fleet sizes while taking into consideration that smaller carriers must operate differently than larger carriers.
The CPS captures data on railroad and motor carrier demographics, vehicles, commodities, dangerous goods, road side inspections, convictions, accidents, liability insurance, investigations and facility audit results. Manitoba gathers this information from Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI), Manitoba Justice, the Canadian Data Exchange (CDE) and the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and through declarations from the carriers. The CPS, through a complex series of algorithms and incident weighting (pointing) identifies those carriers which pose the greatest safety risk to the general public. As a result, inspection resources can be targeted at those carriers most in need of departmental intervention.
This project is an enhancement to the existing Carrier Profile System. It will fulfill the Canadian federal government’s ongoing reporting and performance requirements on extra–provincial (federal) trucking companies. Manitoba monitors extra-provincial trucking on behalf of the federal government and the federal government. Reporting through the Canadian Data Exchange (CDE) is a requirement for federal funding.
Bridge Management - The Department has limited funds set aside for maintaining provincial bridges and structures. The Water Control and Structures Branch needs to maximize the use of these funds and in turn maximize the life of the bridges and structures infrastructure. There is no computerized system for bringing all information together and running Life Cycle Costing Models.
A bridge management system will assist the Water Control and Structures Branch to make sound, fact-based decisions about maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement of structures. The system stores complete bridge inventory and inspection data, including detailed element conditions; formulates network-wide preservation and improvement policies for use in evaluating the needs of each bridge in a network; and makes project recommendations to derive maximum benefit from scarce funds. Additionally, the system reports network and project-level results and forecasts individual bridge life-cycle deterioration and costs.
The Department is currently evaluating several Bridge Management Systems.
Special Crew Progress Tracking - Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation employs a highly mobile workforce that is distributed throughout the province. This includes maintenance and construction assets such as plows, painting trucks, graders, salt and sand trucks, as well as government owned fleet vehicles. MIT employees frequently work in remote locations where communication is difficult or impossible. The safety of these employees is of great concern to the Department.
The Department requires outfitting mobile resources with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and wireless communication devices. By combining this with the Geographical Information System the Department will be able to track these assets in real time. This initiative is aimed at reducing costs by automating existing processes with proven GPS/GIS technologies and improving employee safety.
Automated Routing and Permitting - The ARPS system supports the Permit Office and enables permitting and routing of oversize/overweight vehicles. This includes the province of Manitoba and the City of Winnipeg and the City of Brandon. This system provides the ability to submit a permit application for oversize/overweight permits via the Internet. The permit office and compliance staff and enforcement agencies are able to review analyze and issue permits for the applicants.
The core system was implemented in 2006-07, but a number of planned features were deferred due to other priority areas and difficulty obtaining required data for completion of automated routing. The required features being carried forward include: eCommerce, automated routing, (on all provincial highways) design/development of new management reports and analysis of City of Winnipeg routing database (by internal IT GIS experts) to determine compatibility with integration routines for routing through the City.
Record of Exchange
There has been no formal exchange that has been recorded, although informal exchange of information has occurred.
Information Wanted
Manitoba would like to receive information on what other agencies are doing in the areas of Enterprise Architecture and use of automated tools for Business Requirements gathering.