Title
Information Technologies Department recommending the Board:
1) Receive a presentation from the Director of Information Technologies articulating the cost and business analysis related to Google and Microsoft products used countywide;
2) Based on findings herein, provide approval to the IT Department to start planning activities to begin to migrate from Google to Microsoft, full migration must be completed by February 2022; and
3) Direct staff to complete the competitive bid process to choose a vendor and return to the Board with a contract for Microsoft 365 and migration costs.
FUNDING: General Fund with partial offset from the A-87 cost plan.
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
El Dorado County utilizes many Microsoft and Google products. Microsoft products include databases, operating systems, SharePoint, Active Directory for Identity Management services, cloud services and productivity desktop applications, such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
In 2007, El Dorado County migrated from Lotus to Google-mail, procuring the entire G-suite of tools leveraging the productivity tools such as Sheets, Google Drive, Google Doc and Google Presentations. Productivity tools provide employees the functionality needed to conduct county business and the ability to interact with our community. These products require annual user licenses, which include maintenance and updates to the environment to protect the organization against continuously changing cyber security threats.
El Dorado County Information Technologies (IT) Department is responsible for maintaining the licensing of these software products and support on behalf of all county departments.
In 2018, the pricing model for Microsoft changed, whereas it became more cost effective to purchase the suite of Microsoft’s productivity tools rather than purchasing the desktop applications separately. Both Google and Microsoft offer similar tools, however the maturity and the security of the Microsoft products are far beyond the capabilities of the Google Suite. Microsoft has one of the largest compliance portfolios in the industry, to name a few: HIPAA, CJIS, FIPS 140-2, IRS 1075, FedRAMP Moderate and High, and many more. To meet the compliance requirements within the Google Suite requires several third party solutions, adding to the total cost of ownership. In addition, Google users encounter fidelity issues; requiring the use of the Microsoft Office desktop tools.
The current Enterprise Agreement (EA) with Microsoft will expire in August 2021, and the contract with Google is set to expire in February 2022. The IT Department is requesting approval to standardize on one productivity tool, seek out the best value in securing a new Microsoft EA for the upcoming 3-year term, and begin the migration activities from Google to Microsoft as soon as possible. The analysis to reach the recommendation included the following:
Employee survey
Research
Costs Analysis
Business and Security requirements
Soliciting competitive quotes from multiple resellers
The IT Department presented the findings to the Department Head leadership team, who unanimously found it more cost effective to move to one productivity tool, and Microsoft met both the business requirements and security requirements. Therefore, the IT Department is recommending the Board authorize the IT Department to start the planning activities to begin to migrate from Google to Microsoft, to be completed by February 2022.
ALTERNATIVES
Alternative 1: The Board could opt to continue with the current model, which continues to have impact on IT resources, and will require at least one (1) additional resource to support. In addition, due to the changes in the licensing model for both Microsoft and Google, there will be an increase in both contracts upon expiration.
Alternative 2: Migrate from Google to Microsoft to leverage the Microsoft productivity tools, eliminating several third party tools required to meet the security demands within the Google Suite. By standardizing to Microsoft, the IT Department will not require additional resources to support both productivity suites, minimizing the technical solutions the IT Department supports, and allowing the Department to become more proficient by standardizing to one productivity suite.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
18-0027 01/09/2018 18-19 Perpetual Contracts
19-0039 01/29/2019 19-20 Perpetual Contracts
19-1379 10/08/2019 20-21 Perpetual Contracts
20-1260 10/06/2020 21-22 Perpetual Contracts
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
On January 22, 2021, the IT Director presented the analysis to County Department Heads, and there was unanimous support to standardize on the Microsoft products to meet the security and integration requirements of the business.
CAO RECOMMENDATION / COMMENTS
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The cost savings over 5 years is projected at approximately $1.6 Million dollars, which includes support staff. The one-time migration costs will be largely offset by savings in the amount to renew the Google contract in FY 2021-22.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
N/A
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Good Governance - Implement systems that improve system-wide process, data sharing and departmental collaboration.
CONTACT
Tonya Digiorno, IT Director
x5575