LTC 094-2020 Reorganization of the Information Technology Department, ·'
MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. L Tc# 094-2020 LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO: Mayor Dan Gelber and Members oft
FROM: Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
DATE: February 19, 2020
SUBJECT: Reorganization of the Information Technology Department
The purpose of this Letter to Commission (L TC) is to provide the Mayor and Commission
with an update on the reorganization of the Information Technology Department.
Background
On June 26, 2019, the City of Miami Beach appointed its first Chief Information Officer
(CIO), Chris Sarandos. The hire was made in part to assess the team's talent pool,
identify staffing needs, create an open data program, deliver on digitization strategy, and
deliver on cyber security initiatives. As part of the change in leadership, the CIO was
tasked with performing a complete assessment of process, personnel and technology to
position the Information Technology Department for success. The evaluation included
not only how IT operated, but why it functioned the way it did. The evaluation concluded
that while IT had many operational strengths, it lacked fundamental structure and skills
required, such as an established Project Management Office and Information Security
organization. Additionally, the assessment confirmed that the current siloed structure
prevented the Department to smoothly function as a cohesive unit. As such, the re-
organization strategy will address the need to eliminate silos, improve team
performance, foster more collaboration among business units and establish critical
Project Management and Information Security teams for future success.
Analysis
The new structure will help focus and apply technology resources with added cross
functional teams in order to deliver greater value to the City and focus on executing
strategic goals efficiently. In order to accomplish these goals, the Information
Technology department will realign existing resources and combine IT Support and
Application Development into a single collaborative unit as IT Operations. Frank
Quintana, who has managed IT Support as its Division Director will be promoted to
Deputy Chief Information Officer and oversee all IT Operations. IT Operations will be
responsible for enterprise systems, core technical infrastructure, public safety support,
field operations and application development. IT Operations will also include a dedicated
team that will manage the Munis and EnerGov platforms. Additionally, a new Data,
Integration and Analytics team will be composed of realigned staff to reflect the
increased dependency on centralized data management and integration services, as
well as open data initiatives. Information Technology will also formalize a new IT Project
Management Office (PMO) to address and manage the growing technological
requirements needed for a modern city. The PMO, led by Division Director Andrea
e « Lowry, will assist in business analysis, project management, technology assessment,
coordination with the Procurement Department and coordination with IT Operations for
technology implementations. In order to fulfill the structure and skill gap required to
position the City more effectively to address governance and cyber security, the IT
Department will also create a new Information Security Office. The Information Security
Office will be led by a new Chief Information Security Officer and include Ariel Sosa,
formerly IT Director, as Manager of Information Security.
JCS2