http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/ en-us Nucleus CMS v3.23 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/ http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=29 GIS Regional Pilot Project is Moving Statewide
In our March and May 2008 articles, we shared our work on a regional GIS (geographic information system) strategy that started with a pilot project funded by the South Central Region Homeland Security Council.

The goal? Obtain critical GIS data layers region-wide, backed up in multiple locations, and accessible to emergency responders when needed.

Why? GIS data is vital when disasters strike and critical infrastructure needs to be located (sometimes by responders from other jurisdictions) for response and recovery.

Now what? Because of the success of this pilot project, similar projects have recently been approved by three more Regional Homeland Security Councils: Northwest, Southwest and North Central.

Each region-wide GIS project will begin to create a critical information network about infrastructure, assets and key populations for use by the Incident Management Teams (IMTs), first responders and decision makers. The information will then be available to aide in timely response to any event, natural or man-made, across the region and eventually statewide.

Each project will utilize the regional Homeland Security Council’s allotted grant dollars to work on eight objectives:

• Complete a county-level GIS Inventory of all related data, equipment and personnel (State-level GIS data is provided during the inventory visits. Inventory visits to the 18 Northwest counties are set for the week of December 1.)
  
• Encourage the use of the free back-up service for GIS data at DASC so when needed for responders, the data will be available regardless of the destruction at the local level.
  
• Form a GIS Technical sub-committee in each homeland security region to facilitate discussions between decisions makers, responders and GIS personnel. The South Central region found this committee improved cooperation, communication and networking among responders and GIS personnel.
  
• Hold Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Meetings to introduce the project to local responders and GIS personnel and allow them the opportunity to identify their disciplines’ critical data needs.
  
• Complete a GIS Data Gap Analysis to determine what data gaps exist in the region and to develop a plan to close these gaps.
  
• Develop Region and Statewide GIS applications for use by the IMTs, Emergency Management Managers and decision makers at all levels of government.
  
• Provide GIS and GPS Training opportunities at no charge to participants (except travel expenses).
  
• Purchase GIS Equipment (ArcGIS Software, mapping-grade GPS units, etc.) for use by GIS professionals to support emergency management activities.

We look forward to seeing you at the Kansas Association of Counties conference, November 16 – 18, in Wichita! More information on this and other Kansas Collaborative projects will be available at our six booths in the Exhibition Hall on Sunday. You can also hear more about our work at the five Educational Workshops that are scheduled for Monday.

Until next month…

Kathleen and Joel]]> General http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=29 Sat, 1 Nov 2008 23:56:00 -0700 http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=28 Where to Look for The Kansas Collaborative at the 33rd Annual KAC Conference
The KAC Annual Conference will provide several opportunities to interact with The Kansas Collaborative. We wanted to take the opportunity of this article to provide you with an overview of what will be available.

It all starts at 2pm on Sunday when the doors open on the 33rd Annual Exhibition Vendor Showcase. Here is the line up of booths under The Kansas Collaborative banner.

The first three booths represent the work of Kansas Collaborative Breakthrough Teams:

• Booth 59 will introduce you to a new Breakthrough Team. KDOT has asked The Kansas Collaborative to work with them in public transit. Three pilots are in the process of getting started and you will want to stop by and see first hand. You can follow up your interest in Public Transit by attending a workshop at 10:15 am on Monday where additional details of the transit pilots will be shared.
  
• Booth 58 will highlight the work of the Local Road Engineer and the Transportation Breakthrough Team. There will be the usual info on 1R projects and state contracts but in addition a chance to talk to Norm and benefit from the experience he has had over the last year. The Monday (8:30am) workshop will give everyone a chance to continue the dialogue on Transportation.
  
• Booth 57 will share the results of the SouthCentral Homeland Security GIS Breakthrough Team. 19 counties have been working to complete a GIS capacity audit. You will want to hear about the gaps they discovered and what they are doing about them. The GIS conversation will continue on Monday at 8:30am when the GIS and Emergency Management workshop highlights the work of Dickinson County in the Chapman F-3 tornado and the GIS/Emergency Management coordination efforts beginning in western Kansas.

The second three booths represent the work of Kansas Collaborative Partners:

• Booth 56 will be staffed by the Data Access and Support Center (DASC). This is the third year DASC has been a part of the vendor showcase. DASC continues to be a critical partner in the statewide GIS effort. Stop by to learn more about their free GIS data back-up services and view their new (and free) web-based applications.
  
• Booth 55 will introduce a partnership with Johnson County Government. This booth and the Client Coordination for Health and Human Services workshop (10:15am Monday) will showcase the work of the JoCo/State HHS Breakthrough Team to link information and processes across agencies and units of government to streamline HHS client service processes and increase client success. Come and hear more about their vision, process and achievements.
  
• Booth 54 will be staffed by KALHD. You will want to visit this booth to hear first hand about the work of the Public Health Summit held on September 24th and 25th of this year. KALHD and the State of Kansas are receiving national attention. Hear more at the Public Health workshop, Monday at 8:30am.

So what do you think about the line up? We are excited and look forward to seeing you in the booths and at the workshops.

Until next month….Kathleen and Joel]]> General http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=28 Wed, 1 Oct 2008 23:54:00 -0700 http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=27 Johnson County/State HHS Breakthrough Team is launched
The Kansas Collaborative has another new Breakthrough Team effort underway…this one in Health and Human Services (HHS) in partnership with the Governor’s HHS Cabinet Team and Johnson County. The Johnson County/State HHS Breakthrough Team officially launches on September 26th, though a number of strategy meetings have already taken place.

Team purpose: To explore opportunities for coordinating human services within Johnson County provided to individuals and families by state agencies, local governments and non-profit organizations for the purpose of increasing client and client family success; To share lessons learned, information sharing models, and service delivery models with other counties or groups in Kansas.

How this team started: At a Strategic Information Management (SIM) Plan focus group we were facilitating this spring, Hannes Zacharias (Johnson County’s Deputy County Manager) mentioned the work they were doing to build a GIS based map of HHS services, linked to United Way 211 data, and their exploratory work to create a common HHS client database. Hannes also stated that he was interested in being a pilot site for innovative projects. As you would expect from The Kansas Collaborative, we followed up to see how to leverage these points of innovation.

The Johnson County/State HHS Breakthrough Team is sponsored both by the HHS Cabinet Team and Johnson County’s Human Services Coalition. We believe this effort will break ground in helping local/state HHS information systems “talk” to one another so dual entry becomes a “thing of the past” and caseworkers receive a more comprehensive picture of the client and their family so client success is increased. As we have learned in the collaborative, innovation that happens closest to the point of service delivery has the greatest chance of helping the citizens it serves. When this innovation is supported by the state, it has a greater chance of being leveraged and sustained.

We wish to thank Hannes Zacharias for sharing his vision, the HHS Cabinet Team and their agency staff for their support and SRS Secretary Don Jordan for funding this Breakthrough Team.

Look for a workshop and additional information at The Kansas Collaborative booth at the KAC Annual Conference, November 16 – 18 in Wichita.

Until next month…
Kathleen and Joel]]> General http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=27 Mon, 1 Sep 2008 11:43:00 -0700 http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=26 $4.00 Gas Confirms Need for Transit Talks
In the early days of The Kansas Collaborative we did a series of “Sharing Approaches That Work” meetings around the state. The morning agenda focused on getting the word out about the potential savings on prescription drugs for the inmate population. People came, listened and chose options. It was these initial meetings that paved the way for the nearly $21 million saved to date. In the afternoon, we met with commissioners and county staff to brainstorm other issues that required the attention of The Kansas Collaborative. Transit needs were very high on everyone’s list. Well here we are three years later and transit is having its day. It does not take long for gas to be at $4.00 a gallon before real attention can be focused on making transit more efficient and effective in serving the needs of Kansans.

The Kansas Collaborative has been working with KDOT to identify a small number of pilot projects that could show promise for many parts of the state. The pilots are still being determined but what can be shared are the project types. Here is a run down.

1. Workforce Transportation
Transportation is a key issue to both employers and employees. KDOT has had interest from major employers around the state. Further, this pilot will provide a concrete example of the role transit can play in supporting economic development.

2. One Stop Call Center
This pilot would test using a large provider as a one stop call center for smaller specialty providers in the region. This would allow for effective use of scarce resources by assigning customers and trips while balancing needs and resources. Chaining trips instead of providing demand response service (often less than two riders) could heighten efficiency. An additional value of this pilot would be to gather information on the transportation needs of people.

3. Rural Coordination
Coordination is key to being efficient and effective. This pilot would seek to create coordination in two arenas.
a. Maintenance: Creating a center for specialty maintenance that is able to provide potential savings to all transportation providers in the geographic region.
b. Beyond County Rides: The challenge—learning how to coordinate systems across jurisdictions i.e. between counties and cities.

KDOT plans to announce the pilot project locations in September. Once that is done The Kansas Collaborative will share through the County Comment much more detail on each of the pilots. We welcome your feedback. Feel free to email Joel Wright with comments or questions.

Until next month…
Kathleen and Joel]]> General http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=26 Fri, 1 Aug 2008 11:39:00 -0700 http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=25 Over $20 million Saved
With the start of the new fiscal year it is time for an accounting of the results achieved through the Breakthrough Teams of The Kansas Collaborative. As you will recall, there are three primary goals of any Breakthrough Team effort:

• Solving problems,
  
• Saving money, and
  
• Networking leaders.

In this article, we are focusing on the money saved.


Saving Money
Over $20 million has been saved to date.

41% or $7.8 million of these savings accrued to county governments.

The savings breakdown as follows:

• Prescription drug for inmate populations: $14.4 million saved
  
• HB 2893, Medicaid rates for medical services for inmates: $5.9 million saved
  
• 1 R projects: $575,783 saved
  
• State contract purchasing: working to document these savings

We are focusing on documenting the savings from the 1R projects and state contract purchasing for FY09 so please let Joel know or call 816-914-5344 if you have realized savings.

It is harder to document the “savings” from our efforts to coordinate activities, for example in the area of GIS implementation. We are confident that efficiencies are being gained and resources are being utilized more effectively as local and state governments work together.


A Special Thank You
We want to extend a special “thank you” to the agencies and organizations that have provided funding for the Collaborative’s efforts in FY08 and those that have already committed funding for FY09.

• Don Jordan, Secretary, Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, for FY08 and FY 09 funding
  
• Deb Miller, Secretary, Kansas Department of Transportation, for FY 08 and FY09 funding
  
• Information Network of Kansas’ Board of Directors for FY 08 funding
  
• SouthCentral Homeland Security Regional Council for their support of the regional GIS effort for FY 08
  
• Kansas Association of Counties’ Board of Directors for providing office space for FY 08 and FY 09

When you see these individuals, please tell them “thank you” for their on-going support.

Until next month….

Kathleen and Joel]]> General http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=25 Tue, 1 Jul 2008 19:00:00 -0700 http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=24
This was truly an international event including presentations from Vicente Fox Quesada, former President of Mexico, and Thomas Vilsack, former Governor of Iowa.

There was so much information to absorb so here is just a sampling of the insights from this gathering of global innovators.

• It takes both market-based economics and transparent government to grow the economic prosperity of countries. Corruption and lack of transparency in government are the biggest obstacles to development. The rule of law is a critical precursor to transparency and freedom of information.
  
• Citizen participation in government is key. There are important differences in citizen engagement between developing and developed countries. 68% of participants felt their country’s local governments engage citizens effectively or moderately effectively with 31% reporting minimally effective engagement or none at all.
  
• Facilitating innovation within government requires a mindset that encourages reasonable risk-taking and allows for mistakes. How these are handled in an atmosphere of transparency is important to determining if innovation continues or not.
  Certainly The Kansas Collaborative and your involvement provide one avenue for transparency and reasonable risk-taking.

We are committed to using these insights as well are our membership now in the Ash Institute’s 7,000 member network of Global Government Innovators to inform and share the work of The Kansas Collaborative with a global audience. Thanks to each of you for your support and continued participation.

Until next month…

Kathleen and Joel]]> General http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=24 Sun, 1 Jun 2008 10:44:00 -0700 http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=23 Regional Project Brings over $71,000 of Assistance to Local GIS Efforts

In our March article we shared the five key goals and outcomes for the South Central Homeland Security Regional Council GIS project. In this article we want to share how a majority of the funding is being spent.

The goal for this regional GIS project is to make available critical GIS data layers to emergency responders (especially Incident Management Teams) so important landmarks, streets, infrastructure, shelters, etc. can be quickly located in an emergency by both those familiar and unfamiliar with the effected area.

We have finished the data inventory and gap analysis. These results will aid counties in determining priority GIS data layers that need to be developed. During this process, a consistent theme has been the need for software, equipment and training to help local governments “build” critical GIS data layers. Following is how help is being provided through a grant from the South Central Homeland Security Regional Council:

Equipment purchases:

• Eleven counties will receive single-use ArcView software including two additional years of maintenance
  
• Two counties will receive an ArcReader Extension
  
• One county will receive a Maplex Extension
  
• Four counties will receive Mapping Grade GPS units
  
• ArcView software with the two additional years of maintenance is being provided to the regional 911 back-up site and the Incident Management Team trailer
  
• The region will acquire four additional Mapping Grade GPS units that will be available to counties within the region to use in building critical GIS data layers
  
• Two 1 terabyte external hard drives will be acquired to provide regional data layers to the Incident Management Team and the regional 911 back-up site
  
• 24 USB flash drives will be purchased so that the critical GIS data layers can be made available to emergency responders literally “at their fingertips”

Training opportunities:

• Beginning hands-on GIS training is being provided throughout the region. 13 individuals attended the 2-day training in Pratt. 24 individuals are set to attend this same training in Wichita in May.
  
• A one-day “hands-on” GPS training is being provided three different times within the region.

The 19 counties in the South Central region are Barber, Barton, Butler, Comanche, Cowley, Edwards, Harper, Harvey, Kingman, Kiowa, Marion, McPherson, Pawnee, Pratt, Reno, Rice, Sedgwick, Stafford and Sumner.

What can you do?
If this information piques your interest as being important to your jurisdiction, take a minute and share this article with your county’s representative on your Regional Homeland Security Council. This is a project that can be easily replicated in other Homeland Security regions. For more information on replication, please contact Jessica Frye, Kansas Adjutant General’s Department, Geospatial Technologies Section.

Joining The Kansas Collaborative in this South Central regional GIS collaborative effort are the following state and federal partners: Kansas Adjutant General’s Department – Division of Emergency Management, State GIS Policy Board, Data Access and Support Center (DASC) and the U.S. Geological Survey. Shelly Abbott-Becker, KAC Board member, was also instrumental in gaining local buy-in for this effort. Documents related to this project can be found here.

Until next month…

Kathleen and Joel]]> General http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=23 Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:21:00 -0700 http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=22 Hamilton County Saved $250,000 on a 1R Paving Project.

The Kansas Collaborative has been saying for some time that the 1R Project could mean real savings to counties. Now we are beginning to get the documentation to back up this belief. As you read this article remember that KDOT has well over fifty projects every year that can produce savings if the road superintendent and the commissioners are willing to do their homework. The Kansas Collaborative and KDOT will do everything we can to let you know when KDOT will be in your county. Now enjoy reading about how Hamilton County took advantage of such a situation.

Delmar Hammond, Road Superintendent of Hamilton County, used the information provided by the 1R Project Notification Initiative of the Kansas Collaborative to save the county $250,000 on an 11 mile paving project located approximately 9 miles south of Coolidge. This initiative involves the advance notification of KDOT highway projects so that locals can take advantage of the economies involved in having a highway contractor move into the county.

Hamilton County is located next to the Colorado border west of Garden City, and has a population of 2,600. There is rarely a highway contractor set up in the county, so it is difficult to obtain good pricing on county projects. If a contractor bids a county project he has to include the mobilization cost of moving his operation to the county for just one project. Hamilton County needed to overlay 11 miles of road to some dairies that was getting heavy truck traffic. The estimated cost of the paving project was $2 million.

In 2006 Delmar was informed of upcoming KDOT projects in Hamilton County and he began forming a plan on how to use this knowledge to reduce the cost of the county’s paving project. He worked with his consulting engineer, Jon Halbgewachs of Kirkham Michael, to schedule the letting at the optimum time to receive the best bids. There were actually two highway contractors working in the county when the bids were received for the project, and they received 6 bids. The low bid was from APAC at a bid price of $1,750,000, APAC was one of the contractors working on a KDOT project in the county. This bid was $250,000 less than the initial estimate made two years earlier. This was a win-win situation, with APAC not having to include mobilization for the county project they could do the work cheaper and still make a profit.

Hamilton County also utilized the State Transportation Revolving Fund to finance the project rather than selling bonds locally. Use of the revolving fund resulted in a lower interest rate as well as legal fees involved in selling the bonds.

We want to congratulate Delmar Hammond and the County Commissioners on the success of their project. We hope that many other counties will take advantage of the 1R Project. Please feel free to call Norm Bowers (785-272-2585) or Joel Wright (816-914-5344) if you have questions.]]> General http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=22 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:03:34 -0700 http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=21 GIS: Shifting to a Regional Focus for 2008

Last month we mentioned that our GIS (geographic information systems) efforts would be taking a regional focus for 2008. This turn follows funding that has been provided by the South Central Homeland Security Regional Council in response to a proposal by The Kansas Collaborative. This South Central project is already getting some attention from other Homeland Security Councils as they begin to recognize the importance of GIS information to disaster planning, response and recovery.

This regional GIS project has five key goals and outcomes:

1) Inventory current GIS efforts (software, hardware and data layers) within each county in the region so policymakers and responders know what is available where.
With this web-based information, you would know what information is available not only in your county but in the neighboring counties as well. You can’t actually view or download data, you will be able to tell, for example, that “street centerlines” are in GIS format in a neighboring county and who to contact for more information.

2) Provide on-going education about the power of GIS as an information management system supporting responders.
Four sub-regional stakeholder meetings are being held within the region for responders, GIS personnel and other policymakers. One of the primary purposes is to identify the information (and thus, data layers) that are most important to have available to responders.

In addition, two “Introduction to GIS” courses (ArcView-based) are being provided (April 15 and 16 in Pratt and May 12 and 13 in Wichita). This training will be provided at no cost to participants, though travel costs will need to be covered by participating counties. Entities within the South Central region have enrollment priority but open seats will be given to counties outside the region. For more information contact Jessica Frye, Kansas Homeland Security GIS Coordinator, at 785-274-1426.

3) Identify gaps in critical data layers.
A project support team, facilitated by The Kansas Collaborative, will compare the region’s current GIS inventory results with that of “critical data layers” as identified through the sub-regional stakeholder meetings. A report on the “gaps” in data layers will be provided to the regional council along with recommendations of how to close the gaps.

4) Make recommendations on closing gaps in critical data layers.
Funding was provided by the South Central Homeland Security Regional Council to provide for the purchase of some software and hardware to help county governments close important data gaps. We anticipate GIS software and GPS units will be the primary items purchased.

5) Provide for the purchase of a regional server so GIS data that needs to be shared across the region can be easily accessible to Incident Management Teams and others when an emergency situation arises.


What can you do?
If this information peaks your interest as being important to your jurisdiction, take a minute and share this article with your county’s representative on your Regional Homeland Security Council. As Adjutant General Tod Bunting has noted, the goal is to have “critical data layers statewide backed up in multiple locations.”

Joining The Kansas Collaborative in this South Central regional GIS collaborative effort are the following state and federal partners: Kansas Adjutant General’s Department, State GIS Policy Board, Data Access and Support Center and the U.S. Geological Survey. Shelly Abbott-Becker, KAC Board member, was also instrumental in gaining local buy-in for this effort. Documents related to this project can be found here.

Until next month…

Kathleen and Joel

One additional note, The Kansas Collaborative: February 2008 Overview is available on the KAC website.]]> General http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=21 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:13:15 -0700 http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=20 GIS: What’s New To Help You

“GIS (geographic information system) is the next important information management system for government.” A bold statement and one that captures the conclusion we have reached in our roughly two year journey in facilitating state/local GIS efforts.

The power of this technology to “knit together the courthouse” was demonstrated at the KAC annual pre-conference workshop, “Maximizing Your Use of GIS.” Thanks to a collaborative effort between The Kansas Collaborative and Jefferson County, this workshop highlighted uses of GIS in planning and zoning, emergency services, road and bridge and beyond. In fact the real power was in seeing the connections between departments and the efficiencies gained when information was shared and paperwork eliminated. Four county commissioners also discussed their county’s journey and experience with GIS (Coffey County Commissioner Kimberly Skillman-Robrahn, Dickinson County Commissioner Joe Nold, Jefferson County Commissioner Dave Christy and Rooks County Commissioner Pat Hageman) with each concluding in their own way that this technology is important to an effective courthouse and is worth the investment.

An important and lasting resource came from this workshop, the Map Book as we all fondly refer to it. The Map Book again was the result of a collaborative effort with the Jefferson County GIS Department and is now available via download from our web site. Visit the Resource Center, GIS and click on the link called “Maximizing Your Use of GIS – Map Book.” You will then be linked with the Jefferson County GIS home page. At the bottom of their home page in a blue box is the file for the GIS Map Book. It is worth the time to download and worth the time to study.

There are a couple other new resources in the GIS portion of the Resource Center to assist you in your GIS efforts. Check out the Aerial Imagery Guidelines and the Digital Color Orthoimagery Scope of Work documents. The first document provides a good overview of aerial imagery and the second provides a document you can utilize as a contract with an aerial imagery vendor if you are acquiring 6 inch color imagery. Your resulting imagery will meet national map standards. The E-911 Board has been provided both documents.

In our March article we will talk more about our 2008 GIS efforts. Suffice it to say that the funding for our statewide GIS efforts has come to a conclusion. We have, however, secured some funding for a regional strategy in partnership with the South Central Homeland Security Regional Council. We think these efforts will prove to be an important pilot for other Homeland Security regions. Stay tuned next month for an update on what we are doing there.

Until next month…

Kathleen and Joel]]> General http://thekansascollaborative.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=20 Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:21:00 -0700