a pilot in mid fiscal year 1994, and if successful, certify the system for Senate wide implementation by the fall of fiscal year 1994. In addition to a Macintosh environment for correspondence management, we are planning to introduce support for DOS and Windows workstations. We estimate that 30 more offices will migrate to some combination of these new systems during the course of fiscal year 1994 with the remaining third of the Senate converting to a new CMS system in fiscal year 1995 (see chart, Mail Systems Base). In addition to the new offices coming aboard we will be very proactive in ensuring that the applications stay current and reflect the offices' changing requirements. In support of this effort user groups have been established to prioritize system enhancement efforts and central facilities support such as off-site letter, label and report production. Contracted PC Hardware and Software Support The contract provides for hotline/help desk services and onsite installation, maintenance and support for LAN and microcomputer-based hardware and software in Senate offices located in Washington, D.C. and nationwide. The award consolidated services previously provided by several vendors and the Computer Center allowing us to provide more coordinated and effective support of Senate offices. The contractor began work in December 1992 during a period of unprecedented activity. Several transition problems emerged as the new vendor began to assume many of the day-to-day hardware and software support responsibilities that typically increase at the beginning of a new Congress. We worked very closely with the vendor to resolve problems with service delivery, and continue in this effort to ensure that the Senate receives the highest level of service possible. Review and Evaluation of New Technologies The Computer Center's testing laboratories are used for the evaluation and certification of hardware and software for use in the Senate. These facilities provide support for several new initiatives planned through fiscal year 1995 including, the evaluation of next generation of microcomputers, optical disks, pen laptop systems, multimedia, imaging systems, new network operating systems, Windows 4.0, additional Windows application software, forms routing software, groupware (such as scheduling packages) and many other products that will meet emerging office needs. In addition, we also plan to evaluate color laser printers, centralized electronic distribu tion of software, and continue our on-going review of hardware and software to assist the Senate in complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act. We will work with the Rules Committee to determine which technologies are appropriate for acquisition and implementation in the Senate. User Support Activities During fiscal year 1993, the number of monthly calls to Computer Center hotlines increased from 4,000 to 5,000 resulting in staff responding to nearly 60,000 calls. As minicomputer systems are phased out and new LAN's are installed, it is expected that this level of activity will continue, if not grow through fiscal year 1994 and into fiscal year 1995 (see chart, Total Hotline Calls). TOTAL HOTLINE CALLS Monthly Thousands 7 Mar-92 Mar -93 7 Mar -94 0 Training requirements continued to grow throughout 1993 with the Computer Center providing classroom instruction for nearly 2,200 Senate staff in Washington, DC, and over 250 Senate staff in the state offices (see chart, Training). 1 2 3 4 5 6 Over 400 classes were conducted in Washington, DC, nearly 6,300 self-instructional training packets were provided to staff, and over 360 staff received one-onone coaching for specific software packages. Fewer than 200 Senate staff attended vendor-provided training in 1993 (excluding mail management training). During fiscal year 1994 and fiscal year 1995, the Computer Center will focus heavily on providing additional Windows training courses and in-office coaching. Also, more training will be available for office systems administrators and a core curriculum will be implemented for these staff. In addition, a user satisfaction program has been instituted to monitor the effective delivery of services in offices when staff is dispatched to provide on-site support. Improved Senate Legislative Information Services—LEGIS During fiscal year 1993 and early fiscal year 1994, the SCC together with Secretary of the Senate staff concentrated on refining the official recordkeeping portion of the LEGIS requirements plan. Additionally, attention was focused on upgrading the SCC development environment to support a LAN-based application development effort, and the modelling of four of the ten LEGIS subject areas. In fiscal year 1994 we will be completing the detailed system specifications, conducting a platform analysis and begin writing and testing the new system code. Our goal is to design LEGIS as a LAN-based system using state of the art development techniques and tools and allowing the application to be portable to other operating and hardware environments. The Computer Center will be working very closely with the Secretary of the Senate's staff on this effort. Central Services A central LAN server control facility has been established at the Computer Center's main data center located at Postal Square. The facility provides a stable and secure platform from which many centralized services can be offered to Senate offices including: LAN administration, software distribution, and LAN backup/restore capabilities. To date, twenty Member offices and three committees have expressed interest in relocating their LAN servers to the Center's server facility. The central LAN server control center also houses production and development servers used by various applications and for access to services including: The Internet Anonymous FTP Gopher server, the Internet Net News server, Internet Mail services, and a Senate-wide cc:Mail server. A Senate-House E-Mail service was also established in fiscal year 1994 which benefits staff on both the Senate and House sides of Congress. To implement many of 200 100 the following initiatives, Central Services worked closely with the House, the Secretary of the Senate and other Sergeant At Arms departments. Internet. The Center's Central Services plan includes two Internet services with plans to add additional Internet services through 1995. An FTP server is available as a repository of information stored by Senate offices and made accessible to subscribers of the Internet service. At present, seven member offices and four committees have registered for the FTP service, and forty offices use Internet E-Mail. Electronic Mail. -A central cc:Mail gateway server, connected to the Senate Fiber Network has been installed. This server allows offices to quickly send electronic mail to any office or committee that has been connected to the Senate Fiber Network with greatly improved speed and reliability. Wire Services. - Virtually every day, over 500 search sessions are conducted on the Senate's in-house Wire service. A current initiative is to provide users with improved real-time retrieval and distribution of news wire information quickly using a common, easy-to-use access screen. The service will provide the capability to build profiles for stories of interest which will be captured and distributed via the Senate's electronic mail system. Central Services LAN. - The Computer Center is reviewing reviewing centralized software that will enable offices to backup and restore data located on in-office servers to the Senate's central mainframe system, if desired by an office. Centralized software distribution services will also be implemented when commercial tools become available. An office survey is presently being conducted to determine the level of interest in member offices and committees for these and other services. Systems Modernization The Computer Center will continue in its efforts to modernize mainframe applications, and where applicable, move the application to a LAN environment. Current re-engineering efforts include the Correspondence Management Systems, LEGIS and the SAA's expense control systems. The SAA's Equipment Inventory and Records Management System (EIRMS), the Personnel and Leave Tracking System (PERSIS), and the Secretary of the Senate's financial systems will all be actively reviewed for modernization and replacement. Applications Development The SCC recently developed a Paradox based application: Senator's History and Accomplishments Program (SHARP), that is now in pilot. Working closely with offices interested in tracking their Member's achievements, Computer Center staff designed and developed the system in four months. The SHARP application will be available in spring 1994. Working with the staff from the Secretary of the Senate's office, we are planning for a major payroll system upgrade in fiscal year 1994. Senate offices have demonstrated an increasing desire for developed applications using off-the-shelf software to meet their unique in-office needs. With the advent of a PC/LAN development environment, the increasing and maturing market for PC development tools, and the ability to outsource some development and maintenance work using the application support contracts, we plan on being more aggressive in the coming year in filling this demand for small applications. Summary SENATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS The Telecommunications Department funding request for fiscal year 1995 maintains the current funding level of $26.1 million. Personnel and operating expenses of $3.5 million and $22.6 million, respectively, remain the same for fiscal year 1995 as in fiscal year 1994 while staffing declines by five. This no growth funding request is attributable to further savings achieved by bringing management of the Senate Data Communications Network completely in-house and reducing local service funding for both Washington, DC and state offices. These reductions are sufficient to offset increases in equipment purchases and maintenance. Cost Management Evaluation and implementation of new technologies, ongoing negotiations with vendors and competitive procurement of goods and services, as well as increased staff productivity have enabled the Telecommunications Department to provide better services to more users with no increase in this funding request. For example, both local directory assistance charges and message unit charges, incurred for local calls, time and weather, have declined over the last few years due to the Department's efforts to contain these costs. Some of the increased demands on the telecommunications infrastructure are evidenced by the telephone switch call volumes and user work order requests. Annual Senate telephone switch call volumes have increased by 20 million calls from fiscal year 1990 to fiscal year 1993 (see chart, Senate Telephone Call Volumes). SENATE TELEPHONE CALL VOLUMES The number of work orders for telecommunications equipment and services has doubled from fiscal year 1990 to fiscal year 1993 (see chart, Requests For Assistance). |