County archive software paid for but waiting for set-up

Published 8:47 am Tuesday, February 9, 2010

EVERETT — Snohomish County spent more than $87,000 on an e-mail archiving system that it sidelined last year because the program was deemed a low priority.

The system was supposed to save computer server space and staff time spent tracking down information for public-records requests.

Snohomish County councilmen were surprised to learn last month that the county’s department of information services halted the project after initial testing. Councilmen demanded to know how much the system cost, who authorized it and why it was never used.

A memo sent late Friday from County Executive Aaron Reardon’s staff, more than two weeks after councilmen raised questions, explained the cost, but failed to clear up confusion on other fronts.

“The memo left me scratching my head,” County Councilman John Koster said Monday. “It gave rise to more questions that it answered.”

The department of information services has come under scrutiny over the past few months, with elected leaders wondering aloud how well it is serving the county.

The County Council is looking at possibly moving the $21.6 million department away from Reardon’s control and putting it under the Auditor’s Office.

Seattle consulting firm Moss Adams LLP recently began work on a $50,000 contract to conduct a performance audit of the department. The work was commissioned by the county council, which could use the results to make a decision on moving information services.

The recent memo from Peter Camp, one of Reardon’s executive directors, explains that the county paid about $29,000 for its first e-mail archiving software in 2004. The early version crashed the county’s computers, and the software maker was unable to provide a solution.

“Always, when you roll out software, there are challenges,” Camp said.

In 2008, the county paid nearly $2,500 for licenses on the archiving software plus another $56,000 to upgrade to a newer version made by Symantec of Mountain View, Calif.

Symantec’s retailer, Texas-based Dell Inc., told the county that if it waited until 2009, the price would rise to $120,000.

“We actually got a heck of a deal,” Camp said. “We see this as an investment in technology and an investment in productivity and an investment in storage.”

The system would offer vaulting and journaling services. Vaulting means storing an electronic record in another location. Journaling means making a duplicate electronic record in a second location.

The e-mail archiving project came out of a total budget of $335,000 that the County Council had authorized in 2008 for records automation.

“It was authorized in 2008, purchased in 2009, tested in 2009 and is moving forward,” Camp said. “It’s a pending project.”

Managers in information services decided to put the e-mail archive system on hold in June, he said, so they could focus on higher-priority projects such as software for the sheriff’s office.

If the County Council directs information services to start using the e-mail archiving system the county already paid for, staff will do so, Camp said.

The county follows all applicable state rules regarding public record retention, Reardon spokesman Christopher Schwarzen said.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.