Philly gets new billing system

Philadelphia has a new water-billing system to replace a 30-year-old mainframe application that had forced city workers to continue using punch cards, states Computerworld.

The billing-system initiative, known as Project Ocean, was once a high-priced mess for the city, which suspended development from October 2005 to December 2006 in order to revise the project plan.

Philadelphia CIO Terry Phillis said the new system finally went live on 2 January.

Maryland's top judges are urging law makers not to give Governor Martin O'Malley's administration control over what the judiciary can spend on major IT projects, reports Maryland Daily Record.

The judiciary has requested nearly $9.7 million for such projects in fiscal 2009, down from an estimated expenditure of $11.4 million this fiscal year.

However, legislative analysts who examined the judiciary's proposed $445.9 million budget have recommended that the Department of Budget and Management should oversee IT projects for the judiciary.

It's going to be a tough year for IT project managers, according to a recent Computerworld US poll, says Computerworld.

IT managers cite a variety of reasons for their escalating concern, including growing globalisation, IT budget increases, budget decreases, an overall increase in the complexity of projects, and end-users who are simply demanding more.

The good news, some say, is they have found strategies and tactics for dealing with the difficulty of bringing in projects on time and within budget while keeping end-user complaints under control.