An Open Systems Environment Improved Information
Management for this State Regulatory Agency.

New York State Department of Public Service Case Study

"When the new system is fully implemented, the New York State department
of Public Service will become the first agency in New York to run its
operations entirely on open systems, and will enjoy an anticipated
$250,000 savings annually."

The New York State Department of Public Service is the regulatory arm of
the Public Service Commission. Its mission is to ensure customer access
to reliable and reasonably-priced utility services.
   The Department was within 6 months of outgrowing its minicomputer
network, and a study of the marketplace indicated that simply upgrading
the existing system was not the most cost effective solution.
   The goal was to migrate away from a proprietary environment to an
open systems environment with a client/server architecture, both to cut
technology acquisition costs and to increase flexibility.
   By selecting a client/server solution from Hewlett-Packard, the
department immediately saved $200,000 as compared to an equivalent
capacity increase using the existing system. When the new system is
fully implemented, the New York State Department of Public Service will
become the first agency in New York to run its operations entirely on
open systems, and will enjoy an anticipated $250,000 savings annually

Background
The New York State Department of Public Service is the regulatory arm of
the Public Service Commission. The staff of the Department numbers
approximately 700, the majority of whom are engineers, lawyers,
accountants and auditors. Its mission is to ensure customer access to
reliable and reasonably-priced utility services, and to provide fair and
responsive service to consumers.
   The rates and services of electric, steam, gas and water corporations
are regulated by the Commission. Additional responsibilities include
jurisdiction over the siting of major electric and gas transmission
lines as well as the safety of natural gas facilities and liquid
petroleum pipelines.
   Information Resource Management is particularly significant to the
measuring and monitoring of utility efficiency and responsiveness.

Outgrowing a minicomputer network
In early 1990, the Department was within months of outgrowing its
proprietary minicomputer network, and had budgeted approximately
$600,000 to upgrade the existing system. However, two factors made them
reconsider that approach:
o Past history had demonstrated that an upgrade would only temporarily
  solve the capacity problems
o A study of the marketplace revealed other solutions within the
  $600,000 budget that promised greater potential for cost savings over
  the long term
   In addition, the Department wanted to migrate away from the existing
proprietary hardware to an open systems environment with a client/server
architecture. This would put them in a better position to react flexibly
to future needs, and to reduce computer system acquisition costs.

Converting to an open systems environment
A formal Request for Information was issued. Nine hardware vendors and
three software vendors responded. In September of 1990, the EDP Steering
Committee, a senior management level oversight committee, assembled a
technical subcommittee to assist in the evaluation of vendor responses.
This subcommittee consisted of several key people from the Information
Resource Management staff.
   Many vendors were eliminated early on in the process for reasons
varying from bidding at the top of the product line with no room for
growth, to relying on proprietary operating systems. After a round of
management-oriented and technical presentations, the Steering Committee
asked the three finalists to convert a large application program from
the existing proprietary system to their platform, and run it against
the Oracle database.
   All of the vendors performed to the satisfaction of the Steering
Committee, but Hewlett-Packard was able to offer significant cost
savings. Other strengths that played a major role in the selection of HP
were:
o reliability
o stability of the company
o a dedication to open systems
o strong local support staff
o outstanding hardware performance

A cost saving client/server solution
The department purchased several HP 9000 Series UNIX(R) database
servers. They ran exactly the same applications as the legacy system:
case management, complaint tracking, and workload management programs.
In fact, except for response time, the change was completely transparent
to the users.
   From a budgetary point of view, however, the change was highly
visible. By selecting the client/server solution with HP 9000 UNIX
database servers, the Department immediately saved $200,000 as compared
to an equivalent capacity increase using the existing system. In
addition, the Department has been able to preserve its investment in the
legacy system, utilizing existing terminals, PCs, and communications
networks. Over time, however, the old network will be retired. When this
takes place, the Department projects an annual savings of $250,000 per
year on maintenance alone.
   The initial $200,000 cost savings allowed the Department to make
significant strides in other Information Resource Management areas,
including:
o installation of X/terminal programming environments for systems
  development people
o launching of a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) initiative
o implementing the infrastructure for an Ethernet network (using HP
  communications equipment such as bridges and terminal servers)
o upgrading of the Oracle environment with CASE and Data Dictionary
  tools

The first N.Y. State agency to run entirely on open systems
The Hewlett-Packard servers, combined with an Ethernet backbone, have
provided the infrastructure that the Department needed to revolutionize
the way it manages its information resources.
   For example, in 1992 a pilot Executive Information System was
implemented using client/server technologies involving PCs, the Oracle
database, and the HP servers. This system combined the best of two
worlds in that it is both powerful and easy to use. Future plans focus
on two main objectives:
o developing an infrastructure, including hardware, software and data
  communications, capable of providing a wide range of information
  resource management services to the staff
o developing applications and custom-written software that specifically
  support the goals and objectives of the Department

Building on a history of independence and innovation
Since 1987, the Department has uniquely positioned itself to become as
vendor-independent as possible, selecting 'C' as their language and
Oracle as their database when the rest of the state relied on COBOL and
proprietary database solutions. This history of independence and
innovation continues. When the existing system is retired 1994, the
Department will become the first state agency in New York to run its
entire operation on an open system.
   The power, performance and price of a Hewlett-Packard open systems
solution has empowered the New York State Department of Public Service
to meet its objectives and has provided the framework needed to move
forward into cutting edge technologies that make a real difference in
the field of regulation.

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U.S.A. and other countries.

Technical information in this document is subject to change without
notice.

(c)  Copyright Hewlett-Packard Company 1993  All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction, adaptation, or translation without prior written
permission is prohibited except as allowed under the copyright laws.

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5091-6828E

Associated files:  50916828.DOC
An Open Systems Environment Improved Information Management for this
State Regulatory Agency. New York State Department of Public Service
Case Study