ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: August 30, 1995
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: General Manager, Corporate Services
SUBJECT: Establish a Data Administrator/Data Base
Administrator Position
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT the Clerk II position in Information Services (#0116) be
abolished, at an annual saving of $34,500 (1995 savings of
$11,500).
B. THAT a regular full-time position of Data Administrator/Data
Base Administrator (Systems Analyst II) be established in
Information Services at an estimated cost of $58,800 (1995
cost of $14,700), including benefits, subject to job
evaluation by the General Manager of Human Resources.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager, Corporate Services RECOMMENDS approval of A
and B, noting that the Corporate Management Team fully supports
this proposal.
COUNCIL POLICY
On February 3, 1994, Council approved that during the term of the 1994-
1996 Budget Management Program, any recommendations for increased staff
or for new enhanced programs be fully offset by corresponding
expenditure reductions or increase in non-tax revenues within the City's
operating budget, subject to Council discretion.
BACKGROUND
The Information Systems Plan dated September, 1994 recommended the
establishment of a Data Administrator position to be responsible for all
data base management issues.
Through a comprehensive review of the administrative process in
Information Services, a Clerk II position (#0116) has been identified as
redundant and has been vacated as of August 30, 1995.
DISCUSSION
The Information Systems Plan, approved by Council on December 8, 1994,
included a recommendation to hire a Data Administrator. The report
stated "Data must be managed to be useful. Information is a corporate
asset. However, improperly represented, used or distributed, it also
represents a risk. In order to effectively share information, its
accuracy, currency and availability must be managed."
This position has an important role in managing information as an asset.
The volume of information stored on the IBM Mainframe exceeds 50 billion
characters. In addition, the 40 Local Area Networks and the 1,400
personal computers located throughout the City, store at least another
40 billion characters of information. This volume of data is growing
rapidly. An information directory is required to describe the
information, where it is located, and who is responsible for that
information.
The Data Administrator will be responsible for:
- ensuring that data is both stored and deployed in ways consistent
with the Freedom of Information Act and other legislation or
policies applying to information;
- building the information directory, and working with departments to
help them find the information they need or providing information
for use by others;
The Data Base Administrator will be responsible for:
- the selection, installation, definition, tuning, security, and
reorganization of physical data bases.
Information Services plans to combine the duties of both the Data
Administrator and Data Base Administrator into one position.
FUNDING
Annual recurring salary and fringe benefit costs for the Data
Administrator/Data Base Administrator are estimated at $58,800 ($14,700
in 1995). Corporate Services intends to add this position with no
increased cost to the operating budget. It is proposed to utilize the
savings from the eliminated Clerk II position to fund $34,500 ($11,500
in 1995) of this cost. The balance of the 1995 cost ($3,200) can be
accommodated from within Corporate Services budget. Offsets to the
ongoing incremental cost ($24,300) will be identified as part of the
1996 operating budget process.
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