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2022 Network News

March 2022
Volume 22, Number 3

From the Desk of the CAO

News_Dan Wolf-sm
CAO Dan Wolf
VITA is on the move – literally! We are moving out of our current facility, the Commonwealth Enterprise Solutions Center (CESC), and into a new office building located in North Chesterfield, Virginia.
 
With our lease at CESC expiring on June 30, we saw this as an opportunity to move closer to many of our customers in downtown Richmond and optimize our use of space as we no longer need to be co-located with the data center or service providers. This move will net a big cost savings to the Commonwealth, at approximately $2.6 million per year.
 
VITA employees are finalizing cleanup and packing of work spaces this week, which will provide ample time for processing and proper disposal of files, furniture and equipment in accordance with Department of General Services guidelines. We plan to move into our new facility in early summer.
 
In the meantime, we are all plugged in and working to support you and all of our customers in Virginia, and look forward to a productive and exciting spring 2022!  

Dan Wolf

VITA's biannual customer satisfaction survey scheduled for March

VITA’s biannual customer satisfaction survey will kick off Wednesday, March 23. This survey is an important tool that VITA uses to solicit customer input, monitor the performance of the multisourcing service integrator (MSI) model and suppliers and identify opportunities for improvement.
 
The survey will remain open until Wednesday, April 6.

Dell 3551 Mobile Precision laptops available to agencies

Approximately 350 Dell 3551 Mobile Precision laptops are available to assist agencies with onboarding staff and other agency-specific needs. Here are the ordering guidelines, as well as the device specifications and pricing: 
 
  • Ordering through the catalog – For quantities of 20 or fewer, agencies should submit orders for net new devices using the catalog. Please note: Orders will be filled on a first-in, first-out basis. The average fulfillment time from when the order is placed until the device is installed for the customer is 10 business days. 
  • Ordering through the request for solution (RFS) process – For quantities of more than 20 devices, agencies must submit orders using the RFS process. 
 
Agencies should plan to keep the Dell 3551 Mobile Precision laptops for the full hardware lifecycle (three years). For device return requests, agencies will be required to pay the monthly hardware charges until the device can be redeployed. If the device cannot be redeployed, agencies will be required to buy out the remaining hardware charges.

Register for 2022 annual technology planning sessions

The Commonwealth of Virginia (COV) annual technology plan (ATP) process for 2022 has begun and agencies can now schedule their technology planning session. The sessions are taking place now through March 4 and are one hour in duration. Attendance is optional but recommended for agency stakeholders who would like to contribute to the technology direction of the Commonwealth.  
 
The MSI's goal for the ATP sessions is to ensure that each agency has an opportunity to provide input and direction on agency priorities about current and future technology to our platform suppliers. Collaboration with agency information technology resources (AITRs) to gather input is a critical component of this process. Agency input will also be available through the MSI customer satisfaction survey scheduled during the first quarter of 2022.  
 
Register for a planning session
 
Please register for the session you would like to attend. There is a 20-person maximum for each session. If the session is full, you will receive a notice on the registration page and you will need to select another time slot. Once you successfully register for a session, you will receive an email confirmation. 

VITA transitioning publication of telephone directory services to Verizon

As of February 2022, the VITA-managed voice, data and network provider has assumed the day-to-day responsibility for publishing directory services listings for all agencies. Verizon has designated Tracey Blades as the point of contact for these services. Verizon and Tracey are fully authorized to perform publication of directory services on behalf of VITA in all matters related to these services. 
 
VITA will continue to provide oversight of directory services in conjunction with our managed services provider. 
 
For questions related to the publication of a telephone number in a directory, please contact Tracy.Blades@verizon.com.  
 
For questions related to the billing of directory services, please contact billing@vita.virginia.gov.

ESA data availability requirements now on ORCA

A new information technology resource management (ITRM) Enterprise Solution Architecture (ESA) Data Availability Requirements document has been posted to VITA’s online review comment application (ORCA) for comment. The review period ends on March 14. 
 
Overview of document 
 
Ensuring the Commonwealth’s data availability to end users and applications is critical to supporting the business of the Commonwealth.
 
The focus of these requirements is to promote consistent, documented backup capture and recovery/restore services for all Commonwealth of Virginia (COV) data. The intent of these requirements is to guide the purchase, design, implementation and on-going operation of COV IT services and utilized technologies. The 53 requirements and 48 supporting definitions cover the following enterprise architecture data availability perspectives:
  • Business 
  • Design/architecture
  • Capacity
  • Continuity
  • Integration/interoperability
  • Technology 
  • Security

The scope of the requirements document covers the steps of data backup through the testing and restoration to operational performance. The requirements in this document apply to: 

  • Agencies that manage storage services
  • Agencies that contract with suppliers that provide storage services 
  • Suppliers and managers of COV storage
  • Cloud service providers
  • Third-party service partners offering software as a service (SaaS), backend as a service (BaaS) and disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) solutions 

Information Security Tips

This month’s information security tips focus on tax season – a time of year when bad actors go into overdrive.
 
Find out about the most common tax scams, warning signs that you may be a victim and steps you can take to protect yourself, your identity and your finances.