June - 20198GOVERNMENT CIO OUTLOOKIN MYOPINIONBuilding One City: A Digital Transformationrom the towering skyscrapers that shape New York City's skyline, to the mom-and-pop shops that line our main streets, to the apartment buildings and single-family homes that form our neighbourhoods, the Department of Buildings works with New Yorkers to promote the safe construction and maintenance of a built environment that includes over 1.1 million buildings and 45,000 active construction sites. Our core mandates are broad and significant: spurring economic growth by regulating the city's construction and real estate industries, which contribute more than $60 billion annually to the city's economy; promoting safety on construction sites so that every worker who leaves for the job site in the morning comes home safely at night; facilitating the development of affordable housing; improving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions; helping our buildings and neighborhoods withstand sea-level rise and other consequences of climate change; and much more.But in the midst of a historic building boom, beginning in 2012, it became evident that the Department's existing IT infrastructure was ill-suited to meet these core mandates. For example, our staff would receive paper applications and supporting documents and then enter the resulting mountains of data into the mainframe, green-screen applications. Our inspectors could be spotted around our city carrying reams of paper forms on which to record their inspection results ­ and they would then need to drop these forms off at the office for data entry. These and other time-worn practices made us dependent on massive amounts of paper records and manual data entry, giving DOB a lumbering reputation in New York City, where speed is always a high priority. In short, DOB was a prime example of how the public sector has traditionally lagged behind the private sector in delivering innovation and the latest digital services.DOB's "Building One City" plan seeks to fundamentally reform the agency and expedite the technological development needed to meet the critical challenges we face. FLeena Panchwagh, Chief Information Officer, NYC Department of BuildingsByDOB's "Building One City" plan seeks to fundamentally reform the agency and expedite the technological development needed to meet the critical challenges we faceJune - 20198GOVERNMENT CIO OUTLOOK
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