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Working with Access Idaho

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What should an agency do before the project can get started?

  1. The agency needs to develop a strong idea of what it wants to accomplish.
    At this stage, the objective should be high-level without being vague. The objective might be to produce an online professional license renewal or an online payment for a specific product or service.

  2. Identify the key project members.
    At this stage, the agency should at least have identified the Executive Project Sponsor and the Agency Project Leader. In small agencies, these roles may be filled by a single person.

    The Executive Project Sponsor is a senior manager serving at the director level and is responsible for:

    • • making agency employees available to work on the project
    • • approving the requirements of the project
    • • signing the Service Level Agreement with Access Idaho
    • • giving formal acceptance to the final product of the project

    The Agency Project Leader is an employee who works daily in the project's domain. Often, this person will be a manager of other employees who will be doing some of project work. The Agency Project Leader is responsible for:

    • • making sure the work the agency agrees to do gets done
    • • communicating with the Access Idaho Project Manager

    In larger agencies, the IT Manager and the Financial Manager should also be identified so that they can be involved in the project from the very beginning. These four key project members along with the Access Idaho General Manager and Project Manager form the project's Management Team.

  3. The agency must have a detailed plan for making data available to Access Idaho.
    This becomes especially important if the agency plans to grant Access Idaho only indirect access to its data. The agency IT Manager should be deeply involved in this process.

  4. Choose a billing option.
    If the users of the proposed application will be paying online, the agency should decide what billing option will be used. Various billing options are available for your review. The agency Financial Manager should be deeply involved in this process.

  5. Submit a signed Letter of Engagement to Access Idaho.
    The Letter of Engagement [DOC] represents the agency's commitment to the project, and should be signed by the Executive Project Sponsor, the Project Leader, the IT Manager, and the Financial Manager. It should include the high-level objectives of the project, the data accessibility plan, and the billing plan. When this letter is received, a meeting will be scheduled for the project's Management Team to discuss the agency's objectives. If the needs of the agency mesh with the skills of Access Idaho, the project will be added to the Access Idaho project queue.