The City of Lewisville has adopted cloud computing services to reduce costs and improve functionality. They use Google Apps for email, calendar, document collaboration and more. This has saved over $14,000 annually on email alone. Other cloud services like YouTube, Dropbox and Vision Internet help share council meeting videos, packets and host the city website with minimal IT support. The cloud allows information to be accessible from anywhere and updates are handled by the vendors.

1. City of
Lewisville
Use of the Cloud

2. The 'Cloud'
• SAAS - Software as a Service
• PAAS - Platform as a Service
• Our simple definition: Any app we use that
runs in someone else's data center
accessed through the internet.

3. History
Challenges to address:
• Server administration workloads
• Cost (budget restrictions)
• Lack of portability and mobility
• Lack of collaboration
• Licensing challenges

4. Benefits

5. Benefits we've experienced
• Budget savings
• Information accessibility
• Reduction in support calls
• Frequent feature updates/additions

6. Benefits
Budget Savings Examples
• Google Apps (Email/Calendar) - $14,000
o Annual savings from discontinuing legacy system
o Also, $1,275 annual savings by eliminating our
Blackberry server maintenance contract
• Google Maps (GIS) - $4,800
o Annual savings by making our own online GIS app
• City Council Videos - $20,000
o Annual savings by moving our City Council video
recordings to Youtube

7. Benefits
Information Accessibility
• Cloud-apps are, by default, accessible and
securable outside the network.
• Apps installed in our data center are more
difficult to make accessible and secure
outside the City network.
• Google's apps, in particular, are easily
accessible on mobile devices
• Employees can access cloud-apps from any
computer with a browser.

8. Benefits
Reduction in Support Calls
• Less to break with cloud apps.
• Major cloud apps are run by companies who
have more resources available to ensure
availability.
• No client software to keep updated

9. Benefits
Frequent feature updates/additions
• Cloud apps are easier for the vendor to
update frequently (they're just websites)
• Google Apps receives frequent updates, bug
fixes and new features
• Limited IT support for desktop users.

10. Our Cloud Apps

11. Our Cloud Apps
Email / Calendar: Google Apps
Email Archive: Google Apps (Postini)
Council Meeting Video: Youtube (free)
Council Meeting Packets: Dropbox (free)
Mapping App (for end-users): Google Maps API +
Fusion Tables (free)

12. Our Cloud Apps
Intranet: Google Sites
Office Productivity Suite: Google Docs
City Website: Vision Internet
CRM: GovQA
Employment Application: NeoGov

13. Email
Google Apps - Gmail
Previously used in-house Lotus Notes system
Gmail:
• No clients to manage
• Accessible (and 'live') outside the network
• Everyone on the same version
• Employees can set it up themselves on their
personal mobile devices (very broad
compatibility)
• Virus detection on attachments

14. Email Retention
Google Apps - Postini
• Emails archived for 1 year
• Built-in spam detection
• No onsite storage and storage-backup
needed

15. Calendar
Google Apps - Calendar
• Much more user friendly than our legacy
application
• Easy to share calendars and to create
special-event calendars
• Easily accessible on most mobile devices
• Email / text message notification of events

16. City Council Meeting Videos
Youtube
• Council meeting videos hosted on Youtube
• Free
• Saved $20,000
• Youtube serves the videos in the appropriate
format depending on the device
(Flash, HTML5, etc)

17. City Council Agenda Packets
Dropbox
• Cloud-based file storage/syncing
• Free (up to 2GB)
• Council agenda files put into Dropbox
• Council accesses files on iPad via Dropbox
app
• Changes made by City Sec are instantly
available to Council

18. City WebsiteDesigned/Hosted by Vision
Internet
• Hosted website means no servers to
maintain
• Website now administered by PIO's office.
• IT involvement now minimal
• WYSIWYG editor means non-technical
employees can create decent-looking
content

19. CRM
Designed/Hosted by GovQA
• Hosted app means no servers or databases
to maintain
• Application now run by PIO's office.
• IT involvement now minimal

20. Intranet
Google Apps - Google Sites
• Intranet now designed with / hosted by
Google Sites.
• WYSIWYG editor means quick and easy
page/content creation
• Changes instantly available
• Employees can access from outside the
network (home, mobile, etc)

21. Office Productivity Suite
Google Apps - Google Docs
• Web-based - No client-side apps to manage
• Spreadsheets
• Word Processor
• Presentations
Advanced:
• Scripting (Google Apps Script)
• APIs (use them plain or with libraries like .NET, Python, Java, Javascript, etc)

22. GIS
Google Maps API + Fusion Tables
• Users are familiar with G-Maps
• Very easy to code
• Can add GIS layers via Fusion Tables
• No direct access to GIS servers/data
• Use Google Spreadsheet / API to control
layer visibility and settings (labels, zoom levels, etc)

23. Apps created using google tools.
• Public Safety Unit Tracking interfaced with
message switch leveraging google map
tools.
• Public Safety informational maps with vital
resource information.
• Public Safety EOC applications leveraging
google sites for emergency management
center operations.
• Txdot links for highway camera access.
• All City GIS layers are available on google

24. Apps Continued
• Self service applications for employees
outside of network using google api's and
oauth (open authorization) for authentication.
• Internet applications leveraging google sites
and docs to launch .net apps and reporting
services.
• Apps using web forms and spreadsheet
features of google docs. (Replace most
small database applications).
• Information sharing through shared services

25. Contacts
Larry Buchanan ITS Director
lbuchanan@cityoflewisville.com
Chris Lee ITS Operations Manager
clee@cityoflewisville.com
Jason Kirkland Projects Manager
jkirkland@cityoflewisville.com