[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",5984514,"mediaKeyId","5775188-6d590ef27e4125164790108c3b436c68","parentId",5775188,"title","IT director reports data-center delays, cloud migration and Zoom phone rollout; archival of legacy records planned","audioSeconds",779,"startMs",1864000,"endMs",2643000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=5775188-6d590ef27e4125164790108c3b436c68&start=1864&end=2643","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5775188-6d590ef27e4125164790108c3b436c68/thumbnail_1864000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/5984514/Town-of-Needham/Norfolk-County/Massachusetts/IT-director-reports-data-center-delays-cloud-migration-and-Zoom-phone-rollout-archival-of-legacy-records-planned","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/5984514-2029dfcf1d69c75635f565f1da4d3fc3/orig.mp4?Expires=1770892009&Signature=A8ozXiI2eOE-qt9DpDFHZ9IRxFjoKD7ZHeb30zo7G5zIy3tYBSNcNthwTY~FwsopR449Y0-mJFHGwPVm5E823TPInKQPtNgCMGsK5UOdXu-3u9PvdE2XCrNZgbh5MN~ZYMu-~B4q~B3Fpej3nbhxBcI-fXaPH6BnPbO2Lf75ookow~RL6hsu8ZEbQrFTYLFIYWNT4Uo~tudF71GD8gdd2OStSm7BTxzw7Edt1QbXbGeukSkbhLdbmYF9nTv4vB2R8OBVCC1ggQTzbbKGwy78V9X8o3i5MVQxhCWi~jBbnJ9CiucNgc8KkveE1L1VsGoYybMbmq4ydS9e6SOJy4b2QQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Town of Needham, MA","date","2025-09-16T00:00:00Z","article","Town IT staff provided multiple infrastructure updates: one on-premises data center build is on hold while HVAC work is completed, and the team will use an alternate data-center location until HVAC is finished. Staff said they are finishing a Zoom phone migration and expect the town'wide phone system to go live the following day; the schools have been on Mitel and staff said the goal is one unified phone system.

Staff described a staged cloud migration in which legacy on-premises file shares will move to OneDrive and the town will later migrate Active Directory to a cloud-based solution to reduce common attack surfaces. The schools currently use Google Workspace, staff said. The migration planning included a storage-profile review and prework preparations.

IT staff described replication and backup plans: some systems already have full replication, which staff said they pay for, and the new cloud procurements will include backup and replication requirements. Committee members raised concerns about cloud-hosting locations, vendor financial stability and subscription continuity; staff acknowledged those risks and said they will review vendor hosting locations and financials in the ERP procurement process.

A major long-term task identified by staff is archiving decades of legacy data so the town can decommission older systems. Staff said the archive must make records accessible and satisfy public-records retention rules, which may require paper or convertible formats for official retention. The archive and migration work are prerequisites for decommissioning legacy applications and for removing annual fees currently budgeted for older systems. Staff also described capacity: a network team of four within a total IT staff of 19, about eight computer technicians and an applications team; capital purchases over $5,000 are treated as capital items with a multi-year replacement schedule.

Staff asked committee members with vendor contacts (for example, Dell) to assist with part replacement for a data-center hardware shipment that arrived with incorrect power supplies. Staff also invited committee members to tour operations and to participate in future vendor demos and evaluations.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Technology Advisory Board 09/15/2025","oneSentenceSummary","Town IT staff reported one data center is on hold pending HVAC fixes, cloud migration and OneDrive/Active Directory moves are underway, the Zoom phone system will go live tomorrow, and staff plan a major archival effort for legacy records before decommissioning older systems.","taxTitle","Town of Needham, Norfolk County, Massachusetts","taxId",54445,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},5984519,"Town and school to issue RFQ for consolidated technology policies after cybersecurity review",298,406000,704000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5775188-6d590ef27e4125164790108c3b436c68&start=406&end=704","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5775188-6d590ef27e4125164790108c3b436c68/thumbnail_406000.jpg","/articles/5984519/Town-of-Needham/Norfolk-County/Massachusetts/Town-and-school-to-issue-RFQ-for-consolidated-technology-policies-after-cybersecurity-review","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/5984519-060743201f61b03a8d5863f257d78175/orig.mp4?Expires=1770892009&Signature=KIVKJNWEjwsan4fkP74VR8UX4fQHOWHBeTo97Vm0jWHxw~BLU5uqeh1NBfVQ45NiTme-8MKh1Zm9ywmb-xRBFnPnp72qkcxaG~nYXcSuYyJ4ZYz0TFt-ypsv00Ne~DZC5LM6B1lY7Tic~UYwShK945QCcCONbt52C4Tj4lH5tfeTT~3UWmGbnJjHVE6XeXA1fn8BbuPmEE~XsUqBvj6glSujIx9UWTc9FxMxj9bXf6FKtbCckJzx5q1Zfl0h6vB5IqWxs1pbokSACfcDUS2bSTEvX7ACzwZ3OuUqy45j7UqU2xaOiAbTvcjiVx3glE4C4VfhuEWwJKxKcopHnJhNWA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Town and school officials said they will release a request for qualifications to hire a consultant to write and consolidate technology policies and procedures for the town and schools. Anne Galati, assistant superintendent for finance and operations, and other staff said the RFQ will cover cybersecurity and related policy areas identified in a recent assessment, and that the work is intended to produce formalized, board-adopted policies and procedures.

Staff said they will outsource the policy writing rather than use a state contract; they described the procurement as a \"real RFQ\" to ensure a comprehensive, holistic review. The consultant that conducted the earlier cybersecurity assessment has posted a public report on the school technology department website, staff said. Committee members discussed the balance between producing a single, comprehensive cybersecurity policy (much of which may be available in prewritten templates) and grouping policy updates by priority given budget and time constraints.

Staff said the RFQ scope remains under development and has not yet been released; they will return with a refined scope to the committee. The consultant engagement is expected to create a baseline of policies that the town and schools can maintain, with a proposed major review every other year to update policies as technology changes. Credit-rating agencies, insurers and auditors were cited as external parties that have asked for evidence of IT security policies, which staff said contributed to the priority of formalizing written controls.

Richard Ducci and other committee members offered to review the public cybersecurity findings and provide input. Staff noted there are public and confidential parts of some security assessments; staff will determine how much of the consultant materials can be shared publicly with the committee and the general public.

No formal RFQ release or contract award was voted at the meeting; staff described next steps as scope refinement and an upcoming planned RFQ.","Officials said they will issue a real request for qualifications to write and consolidate town and school technology policies and procedures after a cybersecurity assessment, with the goal of producing formal, board-adopted policies and a scheduled periodic review cycle.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},5984524,"Town and schools narrow financial-software search; three vendors set for multi-day demos",2380,880000,3260000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5775188-6d590ef27e4125164790108c3b436c68&start=880&end=3260","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5775188-6d590ef27e4125164790108c3b436c68/thumbnail_880000.jpg","/articles/5984524/Town-of-Needham/Norfolk-County/Massachusetts/Town-and-schools-narrow-financial-software-search-three-vendors-set-for-multi-day-demos","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/5984524-a187a891da31d41b6d45686f383e178f/orig.mp4?Expires=1770892009&Signature=UChfCAGVu4aluwFULGjF4gFUanq51otjzymzD~OguzbqmaqeNRf04jCxRDUUR1pXzD8mqSHB-3ILMqUyBH-Zf2ZIzvN4imKxet-a~YGH4FRpunEEODxRZQUu9kAgk49rOT9HZG9fi1ESFHUdBLW6RWml~gmeB7zTvzy0ePkOKGo1lq-8r3iKIx3GhARfSGGDcHuCsiKlfPIEVWn9goMQGkLlfribjg7nlmqQi30xDSCsbHaiHd7WlVNHfays~LHWPcnvLxn7oPJ2bDaq91WTXdtCyj-Qc3YIMI3gg9IJJ1xMEyB8~L5VH3tHhErT2~ek8fFHLRCmnDzoW876ugbmnw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Town and school technology and finance staff said they received four proposals in response to a request for proposals for a unified financial and human-resources system and will invite three vendors for multi-day demonstrations and interviews spread over several weeks. Cecilia, who is coordinating the vendor schedule, told the committee the evaluations will group similar modules on the same days so staff can directly compare general ledger, billing and collections, document management and reporting capabilities.

The demonstrations will be held in modules over six days across three weeks; two of the three vendors have already confirmed dates, Cecilia said. The schedule posted to committee participants lists demonstration dates beginning Oct. 30, with additional benchmark dates on Jan. 29, March 26 and May 28 (dates provided in the meeting). Committee members will include town accounting, treasury and utilities staff, payroll and HR staff from the schools, and other end users in the module-by-module reviews.

Committee discussion focused on data migration, legacy-system archiving and evaluation criteria. Staff said the current environment includes multiple systems: a revenue-side product used for about three years, a spending/expenditure system in use since July 2013, and older payroll/legacy data stored on an AS/400-style system that will require archiving. Cecilia and other staff said the town has budgeted the first-year implementation cost in a standalone appropriation already approved by Town Meeting; as modules come online, annual support and operating costs will be folded into subsequent budgets. Staff estimated approximately $200,000 per year in new operating costs as the ongoing net annual expense after phasing out legacy annual fees.

Officials said the RFP required a single contract and single point of contact; one proposer was excluded from further consideration because it proposed multiple reseller contracts rather than a single, direct contract. The committee also discussed how to evaluate vendors on nonfunctional criteria, including financial stability, cloud-hosting arrangements and future product road maps (including AI integration). Staff said two of the responding companies are long-established providers; one is a newer entrant identified as Dynamic Consultants Group. The committee intends to check firms'financial credentials and hosting arrangements as part of the evaluation process.

Cecilia and other staff emphasized that the procurement follows the evaluation criteria published in the RFP and is subject to procurement rules that require scoring vendors according to the stated criteria. Several committee members asked to see evaluation materials and to participate in vendor demonstrations and scoring; staff said the methodology will follow the same approach used in prior revenue procurements.

Implementation will be phased. Staff said migration and final decommissioning of legacy systems cannot occur until all modules and archival work are complete; payroll and long-term record retention needs are a specific constraint. Staff noted the town plans to archive approximately 30 years of records before decommissioning older systems in order to meet public-records retention requirements.

The committee scheduled demo and follow-up meeting dates and asked staff to distribute Outlook invitations and the posted RFP materials to committee members.","Town and school officials said they received four proposals for a unified financial/HR system, will invite three firms to multi-day demonstrations over several weeks, and expect phased implementation with roughly $200,000 per year in new operating costs once fully deployed.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

IT director reports data-center delays, cloud migration and Zoom phone rollout; archival of legacy records planned

Town and school to issue RFQ for consolidated technology policies after cybersecurity review

Town and schools narrow financial-software search; three vendors set for multi-day demos