Chapter 7: Statewide Operations

The state government’s common administrative functions of budgeting, information technology, procurement and personnel are fragmented throughout the bureaucracy and have few standard policies and strategies. The state must coordinate these fundamentally important systems to create a government that is relevant in the 21st century.

The lack of coherent leadership and management in the state’s administrative functions has resulted in a host of problems symptomatic of poorly performing organizations: redundant and costly record keeping; inconsistent and confusing rules and procedures; incompatible data and computer systems; expectations of low productivity; and inefficient purchases of goods and services.

Modern solutions to these problems are available and have been applied in many cases in both the public and private sectors. These solutions include:

• Standardizing budgeting and accountability, with funding based on performance and desired outcomes
• Using state of the art information and communications technologies to deliver services to the public and within state government
• Creating a flexible, human resources system to recruit, select, compensate and train the best and brightest to serve in the state workforce
• Designing procurement policies and practices that enable the state to leverage its tremendous purchasing power to obtain the best value in goods and services

The pages that follow describe the current environment in the state’s administrative functions and recommend changes to align these functions and remedy organizational inefficiencies.