A consultant is telling the Steamship Authority (SSA) that it will need to make changes to its “outdated” information technology (IT) infrastructure, and sooner rather than later.
During a joint meeting between the SSA board and the Port Council on Tuesday, Dec. 12, Thomas Innis from Gibbous, a firm tapped to review the authority’s IT infrastructure, showed there were various areas of improvement that were needed in a new draft report.
The review process began in June, and Innis said he was impressed with what the SSA’s technology team has been able to maintain over the past 20 years.
“At the same time … you’re at a point where you must change, you must transform,” he said. “You have a technology debt … basically, because of the strength of the team, you’ve been able to get away with an underinvestment in technology.”
The presentation showed that while the SSA’s spending on IT is comparable to the rest of the transportation industry, it has not been incorporated into capital planning. Innis also said this was an opportunity for the SSA to review how it is contracting with its vendors, and to develop a strategy for improvements. Up to now, Innis said, the SSA had been “reactive” when making technology decisions.
One of the critical and central parts that needed updating was the reservation system, which was originally built in 1997. Innis said since the current vendor for the system is planning to retire, there is a “new urgency” to find a replacement.
Additionally, the SSA’s technology has had an “organic growth” around the reservation system, which Innis said was built with “outdated” programming language. Similarly, the SSA uses a mixture of old and new hardware. Additionally, there are other members of the technology team nearing retirement.
“You’re now at an inflection point,” he said.
Also, simplifying the web of systems surrounding reservations into “one system” would help, which could also incorporate the new, $3 million SSA website under development.
Innis said customers want real-time communications from the SSA. They also want flexibility and certainty in their trips aboard ferries. Customers have expressed discontent over empty deck space on the ferries before. Considering the SSA doesn’t have the luxury to develop a big parking lot to meet these demands, like other ferry services, the SSA will need to invest in its technology to better meet customer needs.
Innis laid out several options the SSA could take to accomplish improving its systems, ranging from “quick wins” — like enhancing internal communications — to longer-term steps of varying degrees of difficulty. Innis suggested bridging the old system — replacing the reservation system and building improved functionality — in the interim, while a better system is developed. Innis also suggested adding some additional personnel to the technology team who weren’t developers, such as a business analyst, to get a full picture of the authority’s needs.
Overhauling the SSA’s information technology is expected to take a couple of years; Innis also recommended a six-month planning process.
SSA officials had their concerns. When SSA board Falmouth representative Peter Jeffrey asked about the costs associated with updating the systems while also recruiting personnel, Innis responded that the planning process would be the time for the Steamship to gather more information about costs; they could compare quotes from a request for proposals. Another possibility was adding a chief information officer to the SSA administration.
When Port Council Vineyard Haven representative John Cahill asked who owned the reservations system, SSA general manager Robert Davis said the source code — the commands to execute a computer program — belonged to Saber Tech. Davis said the authority would need to speak with the individual running Saber Tech about whether the SSA would want to buy the source code outright. Davis said the SSA had spoken with Saber Tech about helping in the transition, although there is nothing finalized.
“We have a guy, one guy … who owns the reservation system?” Cahill asked. “That sits in a basement of the Steamship Authority?”
Davis clarified the individual owned the software, and it is in an SSA server room.
“Just absorb that,” Cahill said. “That’s a big risk.”
Davis said an agreement made it so the SSA would gain the rights to the source code if something happened to the vendor.
Innis did say there were other vendors that could be considered,
SSA officials will meet again with Innis in January.
In other news, the new website will be launching after the summertime reservations in January are done, to avoid complications.
Some board members pushed at representatives of Stellar Elements, the firm tasked with making the new website, on why it was taking so long, and about the costs. The firm’s representatives pointed to unexpected differences between the initial request and the work that needed to be done as one of the reasons.
Jeffrey called for a review of who project managers were in the SSA for future projects. “It’s costing us way too much, and each opportunity cost impacts our ability for a vessel replacement,” he said.
