Archived News

Nebraska CIO brings private sector skills to state government

… “The governor explained, ‘You’re a process improvement guy. You’re a six sigma black belt. Your background in education is industrial engineering. So process improvement is in your blood, and with all these targets of opportunity, I think you’d have a fun time,'” Toner said. “How could he say ‘no’ to that?”… ...
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NASCIO Day One: Collisions Breed Collaboration

Collaboration was the theme that ran through the afternoon session featuring Nebraska Chief Information Officer Ed Toner and Ohio Deputy Director of Enterprise Shared Solutions Deven Mehta. More specifically, each described instances where the state took the lead on projects....
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Moving agile beyond IT: The secret to successful software delivery

Ed Toner expects his IT workers to embrace agile principles, but he also wants his business-side colleagues to do the same… So much so that Toner, CIO for the State of Nebraska, stipulates agile principles (specifically the need for their ongoing participation in software development and deployment) in the contracts IT signs with the various state departments it serves...
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At different stages in consolidation, states look to a more efficient future

Mississippi and Nebraska are at very different parts of their consolidation efforts, but their goals and ambitions as they change the way their governments work along the way couldn’t be more in line. “[Consolidation really enables] the strategy piece of where can you go next?” Mississippi CIO Craig Orgeron says on the first episode of the third season of StateScoop’s Priorities podcast. “If those things are aligned and government is pulling ...
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Partnership aims to close homework gap for rural students

Two Northeast Nebraska public libraries are among five that will participate in a year-long project designed to help rural students be on equal footing when it comes to internet access. The libraries in Bancroft, Verdigre, Genoa, Imperial and Wymore have been selected to work together as partners to increase internet speeds at their facilities as part of a Nebraska Library Commission project that kicks off June 1...
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Project could lower schools' internet costs

Several area stakeholders in education are talking with Network Nebraska about building additional Internet infrastructure in northeast Nebraska with the hope of reducing Internet costs and increasing reliability for the region’s schools…
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“Fueling Paperless Processes and Faster Service for Citizens”: CIO, State of Nebraska Case Study (pdf)

…led the state to embark on a digital transformation that simplified and modernized its IT infrastructure. With this transformation, the state has saved more than $11.3 million annually and has delivered paperless services to Nebraskans in record time. From hikers who use Nebraska state parks to new mothers who apply for Health and Human Services programs, all citizens are benefitting from the optimized IT environment…
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Nebraska’s Playbook for IT Centralization

In 2016, the Nebraska state government began an 18-month journey to consolidate its data centers, servers, desktop support and engineering staff. Incident management, core surge requests, problem management and change management functions were also centralized...
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A Roadmap for IT Modernization in Government (pdf)

Recent U.S. federal legislation and focus at the highest levels of government has fueled activity across agencies, who spend on average 75–80 percent of their IT budget on operations and maintenance (O M). This activity can significantly improve a public sector environment where new systems development lags behind the private sector, the federal government has excessive costs and significant vulnerability to cyberattacks, and agencies often trail industry in their abil-ity to implement advanced technologies that could dramatically reshape government operations...
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Video: 2017 Tech Year in Review

 


Lead Developer at State of Nebraska Caleb Wederquist talks IT Challenges at Future of State’s IT Approach

Communicating with your end users, your customers, the teams that are supporting you, your own team. You have to build on that transparency and keep the lines of communication open and clear, so that people really understand what’s going on across the board and what’s changing. That’s how you avoid any of those “Oh, by the way…” moments that take everyone by surprise and send people running…
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The State of Nebraska Sheds Light on their approach to swift Digital Transformation

Wederquist spoke with us about how they are utilizing information and case management solution OnBase to ultimately improve their interaction with the residents of Nebraska through digital transformation. To give you an idea of how much information that actually entails, here’s a stats card…
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Let’s Talk: Nebraska’s Adoption of Agile Methodology for Agency Success