The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) AIO helps develop the overall strategy and policy direction of the department and is “responsible for the day-to-day development and implementation of, and enhancements to, the CDFA’s IT applications, systems, enterprise architecture and infrastructure in support of the business strategic plan and direction,” the job posting says.
The position, in CDFA’s Office of Information Technology Services (OITS), “provides centralized oversight for the local area network and wide area network (LAN/WAN) systems and is responsible for the development, codification and distribution of all department IT policies, standards, practices and procedures and coordinates and prepares all mandated IT reporting requirements,” the duty statement says. “Additionally, OITS provides leadership for the IT Strategic Initiative and coordinates the review and approval of IT initiatives and IT procurement requests.”
The position had most recently been held by Jennifer Chan, a veteran of state service and the private sector.
The AIO’s responsibilities that are related to policy oversight and strategic planning include:
- Develop a vision and provide leadership for developing and implementing enterprise policies and administrative guidelines, practices and standards for information technology polices and project activities, ensuring proper analysis, business integration planning, information security, and application development and support.
- Participate in establishing and maintaining CDFA’s IT Strategic plans and policy direction. Advise the Executive Team, individually and collectively, on IT policy formulation and implementation, and in the identification and resolution of key policy and operational issues affecting IT operations.
- Provide presentations on initiating and implementing statewide IT policy initiatives.
- Convene work teams with CDFA executives and program managers, other state and federal departments, the Legislature and local governmental agencies to assess IT needs, establish priorities, develop a project plan, and identify and assign resources.
- Represent CDFA at various statewide forums/organizations that address the state’s information technology issues and statewide policy (i.e., IT Council, Department of Technology Customer Council meetings, California Government Enterprise Network Board meetings, Statewide Enterprise Leadership Committees, and the National Association of State CIOs).
- Plan, organize, lead and control CDFA’s IT program operations. Manage supervisors and managers and a number of independent contractors in the development and implementation of technology to meet customers’ needs.
- Direct the planning and implementation of enterprise IT systems in support of business operations to improve cost effectiveness, service quality and business development.
- Responsible for designating and supervising an agency information security officer to oversee and monitor all information security policies at CDFA and ensure they are in sync with those policies established by the state information security officer.
- Responsible for CDFA’s application development, public-facing and internal websites, security, network and production support, project management office, client/customer services, telecommunications, enterprise architecture, database administration, implementation support, change management, quality assurance and testing, and client server applications functions.
- Develop staff and management skill sets by working through subordinate managers; ensure effective staff development, performance management and appraisals, and provide staff feedback.
- Advise management, staff and clients on matters regarding IT trends and best practices of enterprise services solutions to maintain operational readiness and to continuously prepare for future technologies.
