General Manager�s Report

July, 2000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

���������������� ������ REPORT ��� ����������������������������������������������������������� ������PAGE #

 

 

�������������� Management Report������������������������������������������������������������������������� 3

 

 

 

� Marketing Report������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 5

 

 

 

�������������� Technical Report������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 8

 

 

 

���������� ����Financial Report������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 9

 

 

 

����������� �� New/Outstanding Issues������������������������������������������������������������������� 10������������������� �����������������������������������

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MANAGEMENT REPORT

 

 
Rapid Renewal

After great attention to detail and collaborative planning, Rapid Renewal is nearly ready for production.� Much work has gone into the signing of the SLA�s with municipalities and working closely with the electronic registration vendors to be sure that we confident that the specifications we have developed will meet all the requirements of the system.

 

Increased local interest

The City of Portland asked for an InforME demonstration.� Apparently the City Council has placed a strong directive on the City management to put more services online, including paying parking tickets, various permits, and property tax.� Likewise there has been a push from some professional associations wondering what property tax and assessor services might be done by InforME in the future.� Over the next few months, these plans will be dissected to decide the role of InforME and New England Interactive in the development of local eGovernment services.

 

Subcontractor Chosen

Due to the very tight staffing scenario in central Maine, we have chosen a subcontractor to work on some of the projects that have been holding since we are down one developer.� The company, AIS.PL, has a long and fruitful relationship with other NIC states including Indiana, Virginia, and Utah.� Romuald Dabrowski, the president of the company, used to be a systems administrator/web developer in our Indiana sister network.� He had to return to his native Poland, and started a development company there.� The greatest benefit to working with AIS.PL is that they fully understand our operating environment and our eGovernment focus.� The labor is also quite inexpensive.� ���������

 

ePayment Seminar a Success

The Alternative Payments Seminar was organized in response to a growing concern on the part of many Maine state agencies about the acceptance of credit cards online and the burden of absorbing merchant fees.�� A new statute was passed in Maine mandating the acceptance of credit cards by all state agencies without passing on any additional fees to the consumer.� Thus, we looked to examine alternatives to credit cards, and discovered two relevant initiatives:� electronic checks and online debit card payments.� We identified two electronic check vendors and one debit card vendor and invited them to the seminar.�

 

E-Check Vendors:

Chexpedite � a division of NDBS (National Bank Drafting System)

Virtual Pay � NPC

 

Debit Card Vendor:

SafeDebit � NYCE, the ATM Network

 

Attendance from the State of Maine included Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky, Chief Deputy Secretary of State Rebecca Wyke, State Treasurer Dale McCormick, State Controller Carol Whitney, and members of their respective staffs.� Several NIC visitors attended by conference call, and Kara La Pierre from NIC Corporate attended in person.

 

SUMMARY:

Based on cost, service, and experience, NPC was hands down the most impressive vendor at the seminar.� The other two have service that are either not yet launched or as yet untried.� They were also expensive (as you can see from the notes below).� Maine had no hesitation in proceeding to develop a contract with NPC.

 

NIC Task Forces Doing the Job

The NIC national Task Forces are providing a great deal of research and support to individual state networks.� Here is a brief update on the progress of those initiatives and the impact on InforME.

 

Top Tier Applications

Of the top four pilots chosen by this group, InforME is a participant in one, and will be a direct beneficiary of another.� The coordination of national Rapid Renewal efforts will allow us to share the wisdom and design of our unique service with other states.� The Web iVR pilot being done in Utah will show us the facility of using that technology for the Online Violations Payments.� Shopping Cart and Property Tax are the two other applications.� InforME is contributing and will be involved in the shopping cart application.� Property Tax has a September deadline for the states involved, so we will not be using the app this year, but it will be available for us to roll out next fall should interest support it.

 

Local Government

Upon the increased interest by Portland and other municipalities from the Rapid Renewal pilot, I attended the Local Government Task Force call last week.� This group has done fast work and has listed four business models for portals to consider, as well as financial modeling, application inventories, etc.� This is exactly the kind of groundwork and research we portals don�t have time to do individually, but can certainly profit from.

 

ePayments

Maine has made a significant contribution to this group by hosting the Alternative Payments Seminar.� This group will be recommending NPC�s Virtual Pay as the preferred electronic check vendor for all NIC state portals.� Maine will very likely be the first state to implement this payment method in an application.

 

Hunting and Fishing Licenses numbers growing

InforME processed over 100 hunting and fishing license orders over the holiday weekend!� This service continues to grow in demand.�

MARKETING REPORT

 

 

Web Design Projects

The design team continues to experience an increase in interest from agencies since the delivery of the State web portal. The month has proven to be a month of initial meetings and quote negotiations for fee web design projects. Web site design descriptions are as follows:

 

The Department of Agriculture, Marketing and Production

Site has launched.

 

Webmaster Galley

The Webmaster Galley has been delivered to the Web and content editing efforts continue.�

 

Governor�s Virtual Office

A virtual tour of the Governor�s office has been completed and approved by the Governor. Additional content is being added before launch. The Virtual Office will be posted on the Governor�s site at http://www.state.me.us/governor.

 

InforME web site

Projected launch for the new and improved InforME web pages is August 15th.

 

Office of Licensing and Registration

The design and content are complete. Waiting on the technical piece to be completed before launching site. Estimated launch date is August 1st.

 

Phase II, �find a licensed professional�, discussions have been completed and project steps defined. Development will begin once phase I is complete.

 

Department of Professional and Financial Regulation

Quote and deliverables have been agreed upon. Design work for PFR and four Bureaus will begin right away with sub contracted web designer, Gary Guzzo. . Design will follow the OLR template to create consistency throughout the Department�s web site.

 

The Department of Public Safety

The template prototype has been accepted. This enables us to begin design work with the Department Bureaus.

 

The Department of Public Safety � Bureau of Drug Enforcement

Initial information gathering with the agency team has been held, followed by the project quote and its acceptance. Team will begin work on this piece.

 

The Department of Public Safety � E911

The template has been approved and site prototype is undergoing its last revisions. Photography session is scheduled to capture images for the site�s home page.� Basic design completion date is projected for August 1st.

 

The Department of Public Safety � Fire Marshall

Initial information gathering with the agency team has been held. Team will gather information.

 

Departments of Education and Human Services, Coordinated School Health Programs

Design template has been approved. Completing calendar, feedback form, and images. Also meeting with all eight components to consult with content layout.

�

Department of Human Services, Bureau of Health � WIC Program

Initial meeting to begin design work on a new website for the WIC program has been scheduled. Agency team is completing site map and project questionnaire.

 

Department of Accounts and Control

Initial meeting held. Agency team is gathering information.

 

Department of Conservation, Parks.

Initial meeting to discuss redesign has been scheduled.

 

Department of Education, Facilities and Management

Initial meeting to discuss redesign completed. Agency team is gathering information.

 

Virtual Tour of the Blaine House

All day photography session scheduled.

 

Application prototypes:

 

Rapid Renewal

Corps/UCC interactive

 

 

OTHER MEETINGS AND PRESENTATIONS

6/22/00 � ISPB (Information Services Policy Board) � the presentation to the ISPB went very well.� The Board was interested in hearing how everything was going, what we felt the general reception of the network has been among state agencies.� Of course, we were able to report that response and support for the network is excellent in Maine.� We commended the ISPB in their role in the creation of the network from inception to legislation to fruition.� We were able to demonstrate some of our recent projects including the Professional Licensing site.� Commissioner Waldron mentioned that InforME was an initiative strongly supported by the Governor and said if there was anything the Board could do to support our efforts to let her know.

 

6/23/00 � Alternative Payments Seminar � see management report

 

6/28/00 � National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) � Attended two days of the Baltimore conference.� NIC is planning on hosting the NASS website as well as a site focused on youth voting sponsored by the association.

 

7/12/00 � Presentation to City of Portland � see management report

 

UPCOMING MEETINGS:

 

7/18/00 � Maine State Retirement System � this upcoming meeting was spawned from the ISPB presentation.

 

7/18/00 � State Webmaster Retreat � Wolf Park, Freeport � Guest speaker from LLBean discussing eCommerce and making the most of your website.

 

7/19/00 � Judicial Branch Administrative Team Retreat � presenting to this group upon invitation of Board member Deb Carson.

 

8/10/00 � Legislative Branch � discussion of InforME and potential for projects/SLA.

 

8/16/00 � Jerry Dube U Maine Internet Service � discussion of connectivity options.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TECHNICAL REPORT

 

Technical Projects

 

 

�        The CEC Corporate, UCC and TradeMark bulk database Services continue to be well received.� The subscriber base continues to expand, as does overall general interest.

�        The SLA for the Judicial Branch�s on-line Violation Payment Service has been approved.� Discussions have continued on the Service�s technical details.� The FRS initial draft is in progress.� Initiated preliminary research on vendor IVR solutions.�

�        Operating System on BMV Fax-back has been upgraded.� Eight new phone lines were installed at InforME and the Box was transferred successfully, with minimal interruption in service.� The Service continues to function normally from its new home.� Follow-up technical reprogramming scheduled to transfer billing and account management functions from BMV to InforME.

�        Technical operations through Sprint (our T-1 carrier) have improved. The issues that prompted our research of other carriers have been resolved.� Performance statistics will continue to be monitored closely.��

�        Conducted discussions on Phase II of the OLR on-line License Service.� Primary new functions to include licensee change of address capability, �Find A Licensed Professional� and the ability to check the status of a licensed professional.

 

 

Meetings

 

Department of Conservation � On-line Camping Reservation System

Conducted initial information gathering session.� Follow-up meetings will continue to assess their complex system, with multiple reservation inputs and system guidelines.� A real-time system incorporating the current systems idiosyncrasies may require multiple project phases to complete.���

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Project Status

 

 

 

 

 

FINANCIAL REPORT

June, 2000

 

�

 

 

 

STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS

 

 

 

Month ending

YTD ending

 

31-May-00

31-May-00

REVENUES

 

 

COST OF REVENUES

 

 

GROSS PROFIT

 

 

OPERATING EXPENSES

 

 

INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS

 

 

OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE)

 

 

NET INCOME (LOSS) - PRETAX

 

 

������������������������������� VARIANCE FROM PLAN

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue Contribution (Current Month)

 

 

���� BMV (Batch)

 

 

���� BMV (Special Request)

 

 

���� BMV (Interactive & other)

 

 

������������������������������������ IF&W and subscriptions

 

 

���������� ��������������������������Web Design

 

 

 

 

 

BALANCE SHEET

 

 

 

 

 

ASSETS

 

 

CURRENT ASSETS

 

 

FIXED ASSETS

 

 

OTHER ASSETS

 

 

������� TOTAL ASSETS

 

 

 

 

 

LIABILITIES AND EQUTY

 

 

CURRENT LIABILITIES

 

 

LONG-TERM LIABILITES

 

 

EQUITY

 

 

������� TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

�����������������������������������������������������������������

 

 

 

NEW/OUTSTANDING ISSUES

AND UPDATES

 

 

 

 

FOR BOARD CONSIDERATION

 

Judicial Branch SLA

Final draft is attached.

 

Approval of Municipal SLA for Rapid Renewal

Final draft is attached.

 

 

 

 

ATTACHMENTS

 

�        Project Matrix

�        Judicial SLA

�        Rapid Renewal Municipality SLA

 

 

 

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Tamara Dukes

Network General Manager