Information Technology

The Office of the CIO provides leadership and strategic direction for the City of Palo Alto's use of technology. OCIO advises City Departments about opportunities to leverage technology to improve government services. Also, this division sets IT policies and directions for the IT Department and the City. OCIO works with the public to foster mutually beneficial public-private, technology-related partnerships. These services include:

• IT Strategic Planning
• Financial Management
• Contract Management
• Communications
• Work Force Development
• Department Administration
• Data Analytics

Project managers are stewards of the public trust for IT projects. Our IT PMO ensures successful execution of the right technology projects at the right time. We also help enable the success of department technology projects. IT PMO aspires to be a center of excellence for IT project management through the promotion of standards, awareness, and education. These services include:

• Strategic Planning and Alignment
• Resource Management
• Risk Management
• Performance Measurement
• Data Management
• Project Life Cycle Management
• System Development Life Cycle Management
• Solution Research, Evaluation, and Recommendation

Maintains and supports all deployed back-end and front-end City technologies. The team also ratifies standards working alongside other IT divisions. These services include:

• Enterprise Architecture
• Service Desk
• Infrastructure Support
• Server Hosting
• Office Automation Software Support
• Technical Training and Support
• Asset Management

Maintains a large Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The ERP system supports financial business processes, information flow, reporting, and data analytics for the City. These services include:

• Enterprise Systems Governance and Roadmap Planning
• Enterprise Systems Administration, Support and Maintenance
• Enterprise Systems Integration
• Business Intelligence System Management
• Master Data Management and Dissimilation
• Systems integration with business partners, customers, and agencies
• Enterprise Systems Security Compliance
• System Change Management

Maintains the City's Enterprise GIS and the public-facing Open GIS. IT provides essential geospatial information to support several mission-critical business operations, information, including Utilities Engineering and Operations system monitoring, land use analysis, preventive maintenance, public safety, police computer-aided dispatch, utilities billing, and overall management of City operations and infrastructure. GIS also provides information to numerous external agencies, cities, counties, and public utilities to meet compliance requirements. These services include:

• GIS governance, architecture, strategy, and roadmap planning
• Internal and external system integration with GIS
• Web and mobile enablement of GIS solutions
• GIS data management and data migration
• Geospatial analytics

Develops and implements the citywide information security program, including the preservation of the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of the City's information resources. These services include:

• Security Policy and Procedures
• Legal Compliance
• Risk Management
• Disaster Recovery
• Security Audit