IT Consolidation

2011 legislation requires the consolidation of executive branch information technology under the State Chief Information Officer. Planning for this initiative began July 25, 2011. Ongoing updates will be made available on this site.

FAQ for State IT Employees #3, March 16, 2012

Agency Centralized IT Reference Model, March 14, 2012: This document is designed to create a common vocabulary and structure that each individual executive branch agency will use as it centralizes IT functions within the agency.

State IT Strategic Planning Summary December 9, 2011: An outline of the planning process for the State IT Master Plan and State IT Strategic Plan.

Phases Two and Three Tactical Plan,  October 28, 2011: This plan identifies the steps for Phases Two and Three of IT consolidation, with a focus on the immediate Phase Two tasks. It also provides a high-level strategy for the overall two-year milestones. Note: this plan is subject to change as Phase Two gets underway.

FAQ For State IT Employees #2, September 15, 2011

Phase One Tactical Plan, August 17, 2011: This plan outlines the overall strategy and approach for IT consolidation, and provides planning details for Phase One. This version 1.0 may be updated through the months of August and September.

State CIO Carolyn Parnell Memo to Employees, August 12, 2011

Legislative Language: Scroll to Article 4 - Consolidation of Information Technology Services

FAQ for State IT Employees, August 1, 2011

Data Center Relocation

Executive branch agencies have developed a plan to condense 36+ data centers to 2-4 within the next five years.

OET's Data Center objective is to create a safe and secure environment for the information technology that runs the primary business of state government, and to improve the overall technology performance of our vital systems. Specific goals are to:

• Reduce risk, increase security, and aggregate risk management

• Maintain service levels

• Reduce costs and aggregate savings

• Increase the agility of ongoing systems management

• Leverage existing investments

March 2012 update: OET is in the process of procuring data center space and optimizing the power and cooling in existing data center space. These steps are needed to make data center space available to host the State's most highly critical computer systems. Co-location of other State data centers will be planned in conjunction with State IT Consolidation.

Read more in the November 4, 2010 press release on State of Minnesota strategy.

If you have questions on the executive branch data center co-location initiative, please see the Frequently Asked Questions or the Co-location Overview.

Unified Communications

The State of Minnesota has received national attention for a successful project that was a public-private partnership with Microsoft and the State’s executive branch. As part of its Enterprise Unified Communications and Collaboration (EUCC) strategy, the State of Minnesota has recently completed the migration of all executive branch agencies to a single enterprise email system.

A new case study published by Microsoft highlights the project that moved the entire State of Minnesota’s executive branch and its 35,000 employees to the cloud-based services of Microsoft Office 365. The project was also featured in a white paper published by the National Governor’s Association, titled  Top IT Actions to Save States Money and Boost Efficiency.

Read more in the September 2010 press release announcing the State / Microsoft agreement, or find additional information in the UCC to EUCC overview.

8-17-2011: Read the service bulletin for agencies: Migration preparation for Enterprise Unified Communications and Collaboration (PDF)

Identity Access Management

In November, 2009, OET's Enterprise Security Office assembled a team to focus on more efficient user access to the State's online services. Computer users mainly experience identity and access management during the login process. Login virtually 'opens the door' to all online interactions with the State, whether you're a state employee accessing payroll and benefits, a state business partner, or a citizen seeking state services.

The Identity and Access Management (IAM) Strategy Team, consisting of CIOs, CISOs, business and technology managers from multiple interested agencies, determined that the Oracle Identity Manager (OIM) Suite was the best solution for Minnesota’s state-wide identity access needs. Recently, OET and the Department of Administration's Materials Management Division partnered to enter into an Enterprise Agreement (EA) license with Oracle on behalf of the State.

• Overview of IAM

Goals of this intiative

• Provide a simplified, single sign-on for all state of Minnesota employees and citizen-customers.
• Improve the State of Minnesota's overall security profile and reduce security risks using proven industry-standards for user-authentication
• Standardize statewide system management to improve security, maintenance and reduce costs
• Achieve compliance with IT security best practices
• Provide further cost savings by incorporating Minnesota's existing use of Oracle products

Eligibility for using the Oracle agreement 

The enterprise agreement for the Oracle Identity Manager (OIM) Suite covers all state identity and access management applications and the state employees, citizens and business partners that use them. It includes all government entities in Minnesota with the exception of local (county/city) governments and the University of Minnesota.

You can read details about the agreement in Up to the MN.IT or in the IAM Oracle overview (PDF). For more information or if you have questions about how your organization can benefit from the Oracle Enterprise Agreement, please contact your Account Manager.