Department of Natural Resources and Conservation

Update: We partnered with SITSD to implement ServiceNow's IT Case system at DNRC. This enabled faster, more proficient IT service with better communication and professionalism. We also built out a number of catalog items and workflows to streamline work processes with automation.

Update: We have worked on developing KB articles and such, but not a formal IT training program. We did achieve Objective 1b, however, by partner with HR we have an onboarding process that has made great progress toward a seamless onboarding experience.

Update: DNRC made great strides in this area with Zoom, MS Teams, OneDrive. There is still a need for a better platform for collaboration with non-state entity partners at DNRC, but in general our collaboration platforms have worked tremendously well for 90% of department needs. The ESRI Hub platform has enhanced our efforts at communication effectively with the public to disseminate information and data.

Update: One program has received such an analysis, and that is the Fiscal Management Office.

Update: The need for this has become increasingly apparent, and some preliminary efforts have been made to develop this. Much more work is needed here still, and this objective has become a primary goal in the 2022 IT Strategic Plan.

Update: Technologically we have engineered for the capability; adoption by program staff is still developing, and without the demand to drive this it is largely on pause except for a few visionary program areas.

Update: The department has engaged with 3rd party vendors to rebuild two key business applications. Trident (new Water Right system) went live in spring of 2022. Heartwood (new Trust Lands Business Management System) is in the 60-70% completion phase. Both started with a business analysis to determine the best development path.

Update: Trust Lands and Water have the capability for online payments, but only in a one-customer-at-a-time method. DNRC is working with SITSD to develop a more robust, automated, and widespread online payment capability for all major DNRC systems.

Update: Some progress; still in need of better data management, This objective has become part of a primary goal in the 2022 IT Strategic Plan.

Update: Staff are using ESRI's ArcGIS platform and have implemented a process to verify which datasets are authoritative.

Update: DNRC has launched and developed its UAS program which now has roughly 9 UAVs across the department programs in various locations for natural resource management work. DNRC's CIO chaired the Governor's Council on UAS to help Montana formulate policy recommendations for the use of the technology. DNRC's Office of Information Technology has implemented acquisition workflows that are efficient and responsive to process collected imagery and disseminate it to program operations.

Update: DNRC follows the SITSD model using SITSD tools, and is heavily dependent on SITSD for DR.

Update: DNRC follows the SITSD model using SITSD tools, and is heavily dependent on SITSD for security. DNRC staff implement critical patches and alerts with expediency and timeliness.

Update: DNRC staff do this as warranted. DNRC also achieved its best rating for CyberSecurity training with 99% of staff taking it successfully.

Update: DNRC tested virtual desktops with several dozen staff and determined this solution is not ideal for such a remote workforce in Montana. Solutions need to work when bandwidth is thin or unavailable. But DNRC did move the standard desktop model to a laptop with a docking station to maximize mobility of all staff as needed. And key offices and devices have obtained necessary bandwidths, including Libby and Olney offices.

Update: DRNC built a Docker environment on Linux to host containerized applications in an CI/CD workflow environment. The Heartwood system is currently running in this environment, and additional application migration to this platform is still needed. Ideally SITSD will develop their containerized application hosting environment and we can consider migrating to a more enterprise solution that is more robustly supported.

Update: The Water Rights scanned documents was migrated to FileNet. Additional configuration is needed by SITSD/IBM before any further applications can leverage the environment for DNRC. This objective is needed but still outstanding.

Update: DNRC has adopted the reuse-buy-build model for software development, with SaaS as a first consideration. DNRC has outsourced their website hosting to a common platform to reduce the need for department staff to manage this. We are proposing a new Financial system built off of a customized SaaS solution. DNRC is heavily invested in the ESRI/ArcGIS cloud platform.

Update: DNRC has leveraged the new Enterprise Hardware Asset Management solution to track our physical IT assets. DNRC is in the process of leveraging the new Enterprise Software Asset Management solution to track our software assets and lifecycle management.