IT upgrades to overhaul state’s computer systems

Paula Peters, deputy chief information officer of the Office of Administration’s Information Technology Services Division, poses for a picture. (Submitted photo)
Paula Peters, deputy chief information officer of the Office of Administration’s Information Technology Services Division, poses for a picture. (Submitted photo)

The state of Missouri is at the threshold of a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" to scrap its outdated computer system in hopes of improving Missourians' interactions with state government, as well as how state employees work with each other.

The Office of Administration's Information Technology Services Division (ITSD) has undertaken a project to entirely overhaul Missouri's digital government platforms with high expectations and heightened pressure to make the most of the $126 million investment.

By the end of Fiscal Year 2022, digital operations for the state government will look very different, said Paula Peters, deputy chief information officer of ITSD.

Passed as a part of Gov. Mike Parson's FY2022 budget, the project to modernize Missouri's digital government operations will leverage a chunk of the $2.6 billion the state received in 2021 American Rescue Plan Act funds, according to the budget.

The funding would go toward a new, streamlined portal for residents to access state agency services and implementing modern tools to eventually assist in updating 1,200 systems. The funds would also replace the state's outdated Microsoft Office software and solicit public input on digital government operations.

"We don't get this kind of money often; it's a once-in-a-generation opportunity," Peters said. "We need to make sure that we're putting the right stuff in for the long haul."

She added, "These changes would hugely improve both Missourians' interactions with their government and the way state employees interact and work with each other."

Limitations of the current systems

The earliest computer application in the state's current portfolio is a COBOL mainframe application, first implemented in 1978. Peters said there are almost a dozen systems from 1980.

Many of these mainframe systems have been upgraded over the years, but the old technology is tougher to manage and costs more for the state and taxpayers to maintain, she said.

For instance, the current mainframe application for processing driver's license renewals is high on the list to be replaced since it's one of the older technologies and doesn't allow for the kinds of updates and digital interactions Peters would like to see. She said the new system they're pursuing would be cheaper to maintain, easier to interact with and would include more features.

Not everything is totally ironed out for the overhaul, Peters said. But she envisions a day where she won't have to carry her driver's license with her everywhere. Perhaps it'll soon be on her phone, she said.

The pandemic further exposed the need for modernizing a number of state IT systems.

State employees were unable to show up to government offices and needed to access work remotely. Residents in the public sector faced those same obstacles in their own workplaces, but state government offices found it more difficult to interact with the public.

In 2021, ITSD interviewed state lawmakers, conducted market research and looked at how other states set up their own online services.

"I don't know if I've ever seen something that we've brought forward that has received so much support," Peters said. "The general consensus was: Yes, this is the opportunity. This is the time to be able to make these investments."

All of these upgrades won't take place all at once, Peters said. She said they're in the midst of finalizing contracts with companies that will solicit public input, called citizen journey mapping, and replace the updated version of Microsoft Office with a more modern productivity and collaboration suite. They're also in the process of reviewing companies that would build more modern application infrastructure and the citizen portal, which would allow members of the public to log into a single portal to access the wide variety of government services they might need.

She said all of those are slated to be worked on and some completed during this fiscal year.

"As someone who's worked for the state for over 27 years, this is very exciting," Peters said. "But I'm also a taxpayer, so I can't wait to see some of the things we put in place."

Breakdown of the transformation

The digital government transformation will take place through a number of compartmentalized investments.

The first investment involves citizen journey mapping, a process of obtaining the public's input, in this case, on what they expect from government.

Do they prefer physically showing up to offices or do they prefer online options? Do they prefer having digital information on agencies siloed or would it be worth spending ARPA funds to amalgamate and streamline the information?

These are the kinds of questions the project would ask of Missourians, Peters said.

This part of the project is expected to start late fall and run into the summer of 2023, and the price will depend on the bids ITSD receives.

The second investment would bring the state a newer, up-to-date productivity and collaboration suite. The state currently operates on an outdated version of Microsoft Office, which isn't upgradable in its current form, Peters said.

The newer version would be available online and include more collaboration opportunities, which will generally allow state workers to be able to work more efficiently, said Chris Moreland, public information officer for the Office of Administration.

"If we're going to pursue the advantages of a more digital government, we've got to have a more modern collaboration and productivity tool," Peters said.

Moreland said they expect to select the tool in September and implement it throughout the fall. The total investment is not yet known because it depends on the tool selected and the options implemented.

The third investment would implement a modern application infrastructure and establish a new citizen portal. The state currently has about 1,200 applications currently in its portfolio that it uses to do work, which includes the 1978 COBOL mainframe application, as well as newer applications that have been implemented over the years.

Peters said the state is currently sifting through those 1,200 applications to assess their business value and technical viability, and they plan to create a roadmap for modernizing them in the upcoming years.

The next piece of that puzzle involves a new citizen portal, which would allow someone to view and manage all their forms and applications for taxes, motor vehicles, a driver license, and hunting and fishing licenses in a single portal.

Peters said this system would help bypass bureaucratic confusion the average Missourian might have about which agency they need to do business with. A person applying for a hunting and fishing license might not immediately know that they'd need to go to the Department of Conservation's website. Instead, the portal would eliminate any confusion about state government operations.

Last year, a pilot citizen journey mapping for the project highlighted the complications of opening a new restaurant in Missouri. Currently, that process could involve multiple steps with four different state agencies. In the new portal, users might instead see the streamlined 10 steps to opening a restaurant and know that they're on, say, step two.

The citizen portal platform is expected to be selected in early fall and be implemented by 2023 with citizen services being added for the next few years as the systems are modernized and able to connect to the portal.

The fourth and final step of the digital government transformation would establish data lakes. This would enable the portal to connect and aggregate information, so people wouldn't have to give the state the same information over and over again for each of the different forms. If someone were to move and change their address in the portal, this would be reflected on all the forms, instead of having to change it with each individual agency.

This technology is being decided during the fall and, like the citizen portal, be implemented over the next few years as systems are modernized.

"We still wouldn't give access to anyone who's not supposed to have access to the data," Peters said. "We're not talking about giving further or freer access to data. It's purely a matter of making it better for citizens."