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ITS outlines IT operations, cybersecurity and cautious approach to AI adoption
Summary
Information Technology Services described its management of about 1,200 PCs, hundreds of servers and dozens of applications, outlined an IT strategic plan and said the city is piloting Microsoft Copilot while publishing an AI policy and training for city staff.
Beaverton ' The city's Information Technology Services (ITS) presented department operations, cybersecurity staffing and how the city is approaching generative artificial intelligence at the council's workshop.
ITS Director Travis Lucky said the department supports roughly 1,200 desktop and laptop devices, about 85 servers and dozens of enterprise applications, and highlighted an ongoing enterprise-resource-planning (ERP) project to replace many legacy systems.
Why it matters: Technology and cybersecurity underpin city operations and factor into long-term cost and staffing plans; ITS told council it is pursuing modernization while managing risk from cloud migration and new AI capabilities.
Key points from the presentation: - Scale and services: ITS manages the public web presence, GIS datasets and mapping, enterprise applications (about 75 in-house and 50 off-the-shelf platforms cited), the data center and network, and an IT service desk that handles about 600–700 tickets per month. - IT strategic plan and ERP: ITS completed a 2025–28 IT strategic plan and is beginning a major ERP project to consolidate HR, finance and payroll systems and replace multiple legacy applications. - Cybersecurity and compliance: ITS created the city's first dedicated security analyst position and runs vendor/security reviews for procurement; staff said ITS and the City Attorney's Office coordinate on privacy, contract terms and post-contract data handling. - AI policy and pilots: ITS described an AI strategy of "responsible adoption," noting the city published an AI policy last year and ran a 4-month pilot of Microsoft Copilot with about 40 users. Early pilot feedback cited content creation and productivity gains but identified inaccurate outputs as the principal drawback. - Data center migration: ITS said it is designing a multi-year project to migrate the city's data-center functions from the Griffith Park building to the Public Safety Center; staff cautioned this will be complex, likely costly and involve multiple external parties.
Councilors asked about application counts, consolidation targets, vendor risk reviews and the environmental and ethical implications of AI. ITS said it is tracking technical debt from in-house custom apps and will use the IT strategic plan to prioritize consolidation.
