Interview with CIO Centre Val de Loire region

How did the CIO Région Centre Val De Loire manage telecommuting for local civil servants? Against the backdrop of the COVID19 containment, it took just two days for staff with priority missions at the Région Centre Val de Loire to switch to teleworking. It took just four weeks for CIO to return to "almost normal" activity. In order to pursue its own missions, starting with projects. Frédéric Daudin, Director of Information Systems for the Centre Val de Loire Region, shares his experience with us. How do you communicate remotely with "accuracy" in these times of crisis?

Find out more in this article:

Chronology of the transition to teleworking for civil servants in the face of COVID19

A look back at this unprecedented situation in a few key dates:

The foundations of successful responsiveness: Crisis management, digital transformation plan and broadband infrastructure

This massive switch to telecommuting would not have been possible without solid foundations:

"2019 has been an intense year for beefing up our infrastructure, strengthening security and establishing a digital service foundation."

Focus on the Digital Transformation Plan, a key element of teleworking in the local civil service

In 2018, when the Region launched the "Ensemble.cvl" digital transformation plan it set itself two objectives that would prove decisive for containment:

  1. 100% Mobility : facilitate telecommuting in the region and equip 100% of head office staff by 2021 by replacing workstations with laptops.
  2. 100% Collaboration : facilitate videoconferencing and chat via the Office 365° suite with Skype and Teams
office 365

"We have launched the first deployments of Teams with general management, directors and elected representatives. The region's democratic life continues in confinement. The work of elected representatives on committees is carried out using Teams.

This digital transformation plan will enter an operational phase in 2019. This vast project will be overseen by a specially recruited digital project manager. "Ensemble.cvl" will enable the deployment of equipment, digital services and software. But this plan is not just about technology. It will also include support for employees as they cope with the changes brought about by these new ways of working.

The CIO website will use two key levers to drive its digital transformation plan:

The organization of public service teleworking during this period of confinement COVID19

The proactive approach of CIO enabled us to react quickly to the constraints of the containment.

"We were able to react very quickly to this context. Since the region had already anticipated the need for teleworking since 2018. So, in the space of 2 days we set up the security rules and VPN for remote access, and we were able to make available around 100 laptops that were in stock."

At present, 200 portable workstations are still on order. Tension over the supply of equipment is the only constraint to widespread telecommuting. The region hopes to have 100% of its employees equipped by the end of 2020.

HR supports teleworking to "package" the service offer

The involvement of the human resources department from 2019 has made it possible to establish a deployment base complementary to the provision of tools :

Internal and external user support

The first few weeks brought many requests and calls for user support. This IT support is outsourced for the hotline part.

Only a few technicians remain on site, by appointment, to deal with equipment-related problems and apply sanitary protocols.

The internal communication plan to raise user awareness

Every Tuesday, news is sent out to users concerning best practices in terms of security and the correct use of one of our tools (one note, videoconferencing, etc.).

Webinars to support digital uses

Webinars are organized with ambassadors to discuss uses, needs and issues. These interactive meetings illustrate the potential of the new digital tools, and help to promote their appropriation.

"Containment has had an accelerating effect on the deployment of the digital transformation plan. For example, the president of the region now does his press conferences via Teams!"

Project management during the containment period

The whole community has adapted to this unprecedented situation: projects have been no exception. Project meetings and workshops switched from face-to-face to videoconference mode. Some projects were a little behind schedule, but with a maximum of 1 month's delay.

"We are in the process of adjusting our project schedule and roadmap, thanks in particular to Project Monitor, a project portfolio management (PPM) tool. Monthly steering committee meetings are held to monitor the project portfolio. Overall, this situation of confinement has had very little impact on our project management.

Project offices to monitor roadmap themes

We maintain our project methodology. In terms of governance, there are 4 project offices divided by week. This enables us to monitor the overall roadmap by theme. These steering bodies have been maintained:

Monitoring project portfolios using PPM software

Project portfolio management also continues under conditions that are almost identical to those prior to containment.

CIO projects are managed and steered by Project Monitor.

Automatic reports are generated integrating monitoring indicators, and we have flash reports produced by project managers directly within the PPM tool.

"With the project dashboards, I always know the progress and any alerts on the CIO projects."

IT master plan monitoring committees

Monitoring committees are organized once a year, depending on the theme. The aim is to review their project portfolio with general management, identify obstacles and how to overcome them, and anticipate the N+1 roadmap.

There are 11 monitoring committees, working on schedule projects, budgets and updates with project managers. The March and April meetings have been rescheduled to focus on containment management. But the committees will resume normal operations.

"We plan to maintain the community's information systems roadmap monitoring committee in September 2020, which will have to validate the 2021 plan."

Portrait of Conseil Régional Centre Val de Loire

The Centre Val de Loire regional council is

Its assembly and headquarters are based in Orléans. As defined by the NOTRe law (New Territorial Organization of the Republic), the region is responsible for the following areas:

The CIO value-added function for all the region's businesses:

The Information Systems Department is in charge of digital services. It covers the 3,600 employees of the Regional Council (including 2,700 in the high schools).

CIO is organized into 3 departments:

  1. Infrastructure & production. Engineers and technicians are in charge of maintaining operational conditions. As well as modernizing IT and telecommunications systems.
  2. Design and applications. Application project managers develop business information systems. They manage a pool of just over 100 business applications.
  3. User assistance . Organized as a service center, the department develops and supports users in the proper use of digital services.

(1) source Insee 2019

(2) Source: CCI - Centre Val de Loire Region