Nasir Kenea, Chief Information Officer, addressed the Committee and introduced the Feasibility of Piloting Microsoft 365 Cloud Service report which was a follow up item from the May 19, 2020 General Committee Meeting. Staff’s assessment is that it is feasible to pursue this opportunity. There is a competitive process underway to select a third party Microsoft partner to undertake the pilot implementation. Mr. Kenea provided details of the negotiated terms with Microsoft 365 Office that include 50 free licenses which will be tested by selected Members of Council and a cross section of staff for six months
Mayor Scarpitti requested clarification on whether the Microsoft consulting partner has been selected in order to determine if it is necessary to disclose a pecuniary interest. The Mayor noted that he will wait until the consultant has been selected to make this evaluation.
The Committee made inquiries on the following items:
- The overall software and its capabilities;
- Whether the hybrid approach can be integrated with other existing software programs;
- The cost implications of migrating to this system in consideration of the capabilities that are available to the City today;
- Consideration of the elimination of existing software;
- The prospect of obtaining a volume discount in relation to the use of Microsoft Office by the federal and provincial government; and,
- The possibility of conducting lunch and learn sessions for Council and staff to optimize the use of current technology tools.
Staff discussed the establishment of a small user group comprised of Council members and staff to support the pilot, which would provide input on the implementation process, and criteria for evaluation of the pilot, and to identify training and change management needs.