RNR Consulting is engaged in a contract to prime and manage the Cleveland Division of Water’s (CWD), IT General Services II, contract. During CWD’s previous IT General Service engagement, we identified over 60 ideas and project investments. Every month these projects are compiled and presented to CWD’s IT Governance to vote and prioritize in order to identify projects to initiate under the current IT General Service II contract. RNR Consulting is assigned as contract manager with the responsibility to staff each project as they are approved and task proposals are released.

Currently, RNR Consulting is staffing and providing project management for the following projects:

• Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) - We provided and managed an Infrastructure Engineer to upgrade and implement CWD’s VOIP system. The Engineer will consulted with CWD’s VOIP administrators to gather requirements, conduct CISCO and AT&T workstation, conduct testing, and conduct capacity planning.

• CISCO ASA Virtual Private Network (VPN) Upgrade – We managed the installation of the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) as the VPN tool for CWD’s current VPN infrastructure. CWD’s current VPN is obsolete and no longer supported. This lack of support directly affected end-users as it prevented them from working productively from remote locations. We staffed and are managing the entire implementation of the Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) VPN solution which includes gather requirements, evaluating and documenting current state, building SSL portals, configuring IP-Sec for Remote Desktop, testing portals and applications, developing laptop and remote access policies, and deploying the solution. We are also ensuring all test cases are completed and defects are managed. Additionally, are managing the procurement of SSL certificates for security enhancement and leading the effort to obtain additional sets of user licenses.

• Developing SDLC and PMI Frameworks and conduct Training – Currently RNR Consultants are developing System Development Life Cycle and Project Management frameworks to present to guide CWD project managers through the various project phases. We will update their current SDLC and PMI documentation, create and/or standardize on PMI and SDLC templates. Ultimately, we will develop training materials to train the IT Project Managers and Technical Managers on the how to manage the SDLC from start to finish.

• Business Intelligence Implementation – RNR is currently undertaking the implementation of BusinessObjects XI 3.1 as the future Business Intelligence tool at the Division of Water. The objective of this implementation is the organization wide standardization of the reporting mechanism. As a part of this effort the team will create an enterprise reporting environment, design a BI governance model, create Universes for the CC&B, Kronos and IPCC applications, create the data model, ETL and a data warehouse, train users on the application and provide stabilization support. During the course of this project, KPI(s) measuring operational, financial and strategic performance at the enterprise and the business function levels will be determined by the project team. These will serve as an essential yardstick for the long term progress of the organization. The uniform reporting tool will enhance transparency and availability of quality data enabling the Division of Water to make informed decisions across the board. The RNR project team has successfully introduced the product and project to the various business functions across the Division. In order to customize the product to suit the end user requirements the team is involved in an effective information gathering effort. Multiple business units are involved in interviews, focus groups, discussions, questionnaire reviews, brainstorming sessions. The objective of each activity undertaken is to make the product as suited as possible to the needs of CWD.

• CC&B Implementation Support - CWD went live with the implementation of Customer Care & Billing (CC&B) application in the month of September 2009. RNR consultants were involved in providing post implementation support for the application. The support involved identifying and understanding the errors in the system as well as correcting the errors by making adjustments in the system.

• Cognos Planning Support - RNR Consulting is managing the Cognos updates to interface with the Financial Management System recently implemented by the system. The project includes updating account codes, cubes/universes, and modifying user views. RNR Consulting is managing the project plans, facilitating update meetings, and will oversee the migration process from the Development environment to Production.

For the various projects that are released or that will be released, RNR Consulting will pull from the pool resources from our entire project team which consists of (5) consulting and IT firms. We will manage budgets, contract negotiations, and provide the staffing as needed. 

RETURN TO SERVICE AREA: BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE