Most of the items in the PTI Store are PDF files for you to use with the Adobe Reader or compatible viewer software such as Foxit Reader or Apple Preview.

Read more    03-02-2009

PTI Staff Contact: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), Executive Director, 202-626-2445.

"With this important new book, PTI brings much needed advice, support and companionship to the lonely government CIO!"
Bill Schrier, CTO, City of Seattle

CIO Leadership for Cities & Counties: Emerging Trends & Practices contains 30 chapters by 36 authors that address the transformation of the CIO role; CIO as innovator; IT governance; managing expectations; “green IT”, policy, security, legal issues and more.

The authors are leading local government CIOs, former CIOs and experts from the technology sector and academia. Each chapter concludes with talking points or questions to help the reader retain key material.

Read more    04-30-2010

Strategies for Building a Multi-Channel Contact Center offers insight for local governments on integrated communication channels and technology approaches that empower citizens through direct interaction with government.

This paper was produced as part of PTI’s Citizen-Engaged Community Designation program. The goal of this program is to challenge local government to achieve high standards in citizen participation, seamless service delivery and democratic accountability.

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02-02-2009     Send a link     Topics:  Telecommunications & IT  Citizen-Engaged Communities     Print version

A new TechBrief outlines how the WiMax wireless technology will use the Educational Broadband Service (EBS) frequencies reserved for educational institutions.

Read more    12-23-2008

Citizen call centers, along with integrated online and interactive voice response telephone systems, provide local governments with an opportunity to significantly enhance citizen services and improve government accountability and transparency.

Through call manager telephony systems, CRM/work order systems and web-based applications, local governments can coordinate service delivery and generate excellent, real-time performance data to identify high complaint areas, specific improvement needs and customer communication requirements.

Read more    11-04-2008

The Municipal & Utility Guidebook to Bringing Broadband Fiber Optics to Your Community is a free, comprehensive guide to the economic and quality-of-life benefits of robust fiber infrastructure. It examines in detail four communities that have successfully deployed fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services to their citizens and businesses.

“This guidebook helps government leaders build a strong case for investing in FTTH infrastructure,” said Alan Shark, Executive Director of PTI. “With thorough analysis, interviews and painstaking research, it sets forth strategies that, if followed, will help American communities whose broadband needs are not being met by current market dynamics to prosper in the information age.”

Read more    09-09-2008

Alan R. Shark, D.P.A. & Sylviane Toporkoff, Ph.D., executive editors and contributing authors

With 27 chapters from 44 authors and contributors from ten countries, this exciting book captures the latest in theory and practice in how governments can use the latest technology to reach out to citizens, and the many methods and benefits of doing so.

Order now from Amazon.com

Paperback: 346 pages, published by Public Technology Institute and ITEMS International: $39.95

Read more    06-30-2008

2007-2008 Technology Solutions Awards: Telecommunications & IT provides examples of how PTI member local governments are employing technology to improve operations and services.

Each example describes the problem or issue the local government needed to solve, details of how it addressed the problem, and the results of that solution or implementation.

These projects were submitted in the PTI 2007-2008 Technology Solutions Award competition. This annual program recognizes PTI members that have demonstrated how, through the use of technology, government has improved community services, improved internal operations or reduced costs.

Read more    06-12-2008

2006-2007 Technology Solutions: Telecommunications and Information Technology provides examples of how PTI member local governments are improving IT and telecom operations.

Each example describes the problem or issue the local government needed to solve, details of how it addressed the problem, and the results of that solution or implementation.

These projects were submitted as part of the PTI 2006-2007 Technology Solutions Award competition. This annual program recognizes PTI members that have demonstrated how, through the use of technology, local government has improved community services, improved internal operations or reduced costs.

Examples contained in this report:

Read more    08-06-2007

In December 2006 the City of Corpus Christi, Texas celebrated the completion of the City’s 147-square-mile multipurpose wireless broadband network at a PTI seminar.

Corpus Christi (population 293,000) began work on this innovative project in 2003 while investigating how to improve its meter-reading system. The project grew as City officials identified uses for municipal wireless networks and established partnerships with private industry to develop and bring it to fruition.

One outcome from the seminar is the PTI publication Wi-Fi Done Right: Experiences from the Field. It describes more than twenty Wi-Fi applications that Corpus Christi has tested, developed and/or implemented via its wireless network.

PTI served as the City’s primary consultant for the project. Build-out took 18 months to complete. Now the single largest municipal-scale wireless network anywhere in the world, its users include public and city personnel, public safety officers, building inspectors and other departments.

Corpus Christi also received a PTI Innovation Lab recognition, awarded for both completing the wireless network, and for sharing the results of the application testing and pilot demonstrations with other local governments as the network was being developed.

Price: $20.00 for members and $40.00 for nonmembers.

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01-31-2007     Send a link     Topics:  Telecommunications & IT  Recognized Innovation Labs     Print version

This handbook is for local government officials responsible for wireless E9-1-1 implementation.

It provides policy background on what the FCC requires and why local action is necessary. It provides technical background on basic concepts of telephony and wireless location technology, discusses challenges and gives implementation guidance and where to go for more information.

"We would like to thank you for the informative Guidebooks that were sent to us. The Committee was very pleased with them, and feels that they are an excellent benefit to not only your customers, but to any community that is planning for Wireless 9-1-1 and Phase II Readiness. We appreciate all the effort that has gone into these books. Would you object if we wanted to circulate these books at some of our Wireless Deployment Symposiums? In addition, so as not to interfere with your distribution plan, would it be possible for us to order through your vendor, another 1000 copies to be circulated thru the APCO Office?"

William A. Cade Jr., Director
9-1-1 Services and Communication Center Operations
APCO, Intl. - Association of Public Safety Communications Officials

Price: $20.00 for members and $40.00 for nonmembers.

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11-02-2006     Send a link     Topics:  Public Safety Technology  Telecommunications & IT     Print version

This guidebook is designed to help jurisdictions create and deploy governance for the integration of their justice information systems. Survey data, coupled with case studies, combine for a compelling study of how to accomplish better information integration through governance.

Local jurisdictions that do not have structures in place or are not engaged in justice information integration can use the guidebook to assist them in developing successful data integration and governance structures. Jurisdictions that already have structures in place can use the guidebook as a tool to help them improve their structures.

Jurisdictions that have integrated justice information systems can compare their efforts and ascertain what can be learned from the experiences of other jurisdictions. In addition, the book can be used as a local governance training tool for justice information integration.

Published 2002. Price: $25.00 for members and $50.00 for nonmembers.

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06-18-2002     Send a link     Topics:  Public Safety Technology  Telecommunications & IT     Print version

As E-government activity matures and increases, jurisdictions will come under growing pressure to maximize the return on these investments (ROI). This publication describes the factors affecting E-government ROI, and makes recommendations for maximizing those returns.

Advice contained here comes from the experiences of a diverse range of local jurisdictions while collected through interviews with city and county IT officials. The final form of this document was shaped by a focus group conducted by PTI in 2002 that brought together CIOs and IT directors from a number of leading local government jurisdictions and private-sector experts.

The result of this broad spectrum of input is a collection of practical ideas for defining E-government ROI and ensuring that E-government spending delivers the most bang for the buck.

Price: $25.00 for members and $50.00 for nonmembers.

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02-22-2002     Send a link     Topics:  Telecommunications & IT  Web Management & E-Government     Print version

Why Not Do it Ourselves? A Resource Guide for Local Government Officials and Citizens Regarding Public Ownership of Utility Systems addresses critical public services such as electricity, natural gas, water, wastewater and sewage treatment and telecommunications.

While these services are very different, the steps a community should pursue when considering whether to provide these services as a city, town or county are generally the same. Therefore, the first half of this book deals with utilities generally.

The second half presents the decisionmaking process that one should consider separately for each type of utility. It includes case studies that address each of the five types of utilities with actual examples of the processes that real communities have undertaken in determining whether public ownership and operation was right for them.

Published 2001. Price: $25.00 for members and $50.00 for nonmembers.

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12-05-2001     Send a link     Topics:  Sustainability  Telecommunications & IT     Print version

Obsolete PCs that are incapable of running modern applications, file formats that can’t be shared among departments, users who struggle with inadequate support – these are some of the IT-related barriers that hinder local government’s ability to deliver services that citizens demand.

This guidebook offers an in-depth look at a strategic technique for resolving these issues: seat management. This practice was pioneered by the federal government to upgrade and standardize desktop computing resources while controlling total IT expenses.

Under seat management, governments form close partnerships with service providers to implement best practices and outsource some or all of the tasks associated with providing desktop computing capabilities to end-users.

Included in this guidebook are the expected benefits from seat management programs, some challenges jurisdictions are likely to face along the way and some keys to successful implementation.

Published 2001. Price: $25.00. This publication is available to members only.

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07-03-2001     Send a link     Topics:  Telecommunications & IT     Print version

How Can We Work Together? A Guidebook to Smart Response through Coordinating Local Public Safety Transportation Communications and Technology

When someone needs help in your community, survival may depend on how fast local public safety and transportation agencies can respond. This guidebook seeks to help your community coordinate its deployment of powerful new information and communications technologies for improving both emergency response time and the quality of day-to-day services.

This guidebook was written for local government officials who must provide the leadership to break down turf barriers and encourage local transportation and public safety agencies to engage in cooperative planning, investment, and operations.

Section I of this guidebook introduces local public officials to the range of new information and communications technologies, the benefits they offer, and some current technical challenges and opportunities.

Section II presents case studies which illustrate how public safety and transportation agencies in large and small communities across the country are currently implementing new technologies together. Section III suggests leadership tactics that can facilitate the partnership-building and long-range planning needed to realize the full potential of new technology.

Price: $25.00 for members and $50.00 for nonmembers.

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05-23-2000     Send a link     Topics:  Public Safety Technology  Telecommunications & IT  Transportation     Print version