Sustainability of database, communications systems

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Ike Seneres

On the upside, I have built many database and communications systems for several government agencies. On the downside however, most of these systems are gone by now, after becoming victims to the change of administrations, and the unavailability of budget supports. This seems to be the problem when it comes to personal computers that are purchased by government agencies. Without provisions for maintenance and repair, many of these computers just end up being useless, in effect thrown to a category referred to in government jargon as “unserviceable”.

It would actually be inaccurate to say that there is no budget, because all government agencies have a provision for “maintenance and other operating expenses” (MOOE). The problem is, this budget is seldom used for what it is intended to be. It could therefore be said that what is lacking is not the money, but a culture of maintenance that is not there, even if it is supposed to be there. To some extent however, it could be said that the main cause of the problem is the lack of trained and capable personnel who could do the professional maintenance work from within these agencies.

Generally speaking, hardware and software assets are easier to acquire because anyone could just buy these. What are more difficult to acquire are the people, the manpower base that is needed to keep the systems running in good order and condition. This is easier said than done, because the more skilful these people are, the more expensive they are, and are harder to get. The irony here is that the better they are, the more attractive they become to the private sector. To some extent, it could even be said that if they are really that good, they would already be pirated by the private companies and they would no longer be in the government agencies. Of course, the circumstances would vary from one agency to another.

Very good or not so good however, most maintenance people in the government agencies are good enough to train, and they become better if they are trained very well. While this appears to be a chicken and the egg situation, there is actually a way out, and the way out is good training. Why am I talking about computers when in fact I am talking about the work of the government agencies? My answer goes back to my opening statement that I have built many database and communications systems for government agencies in the past, but few have survived the test of time, hence there is no permanence. Why are database and communications systems so important, that’s because most of what the government agencies do today are backed up by these two assets.

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There is a big difference between systems based computing and web based computing. The good news is, web based computing is less expensive, and is easier to maintain and sustain. To add to the good news, many companies all over the world have invested (or may have over invested) in cloud based infrastructure; the backend that supports web based computing. Even if you are not yet familiar with cloud computing, you might as well know that you are already using it (or you are already being served by it), as you connect to the internet, and as you use your mobile phones.

To some extent, it could be said that technology has actually turned full circle, as it moved from the old client-server architecture that used dumb terminals connected to mainframes to the present cloud based architecture that uses remote servers and browser-based devices. This might be too technical for most people to understand, but what is important is for everyone to know that government agencies could now maintain and sustain their database and communications systems without buying their own servers and without hiring too many technical people for maintenance tasks.

There is an old saying in the digital work that in the end, content is going to be king. That is actually a comparative statement, because it refers to the relative importance of content, compared to both the hardware and the software. While I do not argue against this old saying, I want to add that manpower is important too, because in effect it is the kingmaker. Even if database and communications functions are now easier because of cloud computing, our government agencies would still need well trained manpower to administer the content.

Almost everyone is now on Facebook, and it is the king of the moment. While it is good for government agencies to have their own group pages in the popular social networking sites, nothing beats the advantage of having their own social networking site that is linked to their own agency website. The challenge nowadays is to maintain a website that is good not only for posting information, but also for offering online transactions. In other words, government agencies should now level up towards having dynamic sites that are transactional, not just static sites that are informative.

For feedback, email iseneres@yahoo.com or text +639083159262