ADVANCING TECHNOLOGY FOR ARKANSAS
BYLINE: US States News
DATELINE: LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., issued the text of the following radio address:
Hello. This is Governor Mike Huckabee from my corner of the Capitol. During the past decade, Arkansas has faced numerous crossroads with regard to on-line technology. Although it is hard to remember what life was like before the Internet, it's easy to remember standing in long lines to renew car registrations and going through the hassles to even purchase a fishing license. Attempting to search state records was an all-day and tedious affair, and communicating with elected officials generally consisted of trading letters through "snail mail."
Nearly a decade ago, we had a choice - to embrace technological changes that would greatly enhance services to our citizens, or to maintain the status quo of providing average services to Arkansans. I am proud to say that Arkansas has been a frontrunner in many ways to provide electronic services to its citizens. When I first assumed office 10 years ago, there were few, if any, online services available, and our state government had yet to even have a Web site. Today it is a much different and brighter picture, mainly because of our successful transition to e-government.
The most important benefits of e-government have been the improved efficiency, convenience, and accessibility of public services. The move to e-government provided services to Arkansans 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You no longer had to drive to some government office between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on a weekday to complete your dealings with the state. Not only did dealing with state government become easier, we eventually did our work at less cost to Arkansas taxpayers. The Arkansas Administrative Statewide Information System, also known as AASIS, was the foundation of this transition to e-government. AASIS was the first statewide Enterprise Resource Planning system implemented anywhere in the nation. This was the largest information technology project in state government history and among the largest such efforts in the country. AASIS allowed us to automate many of the manual functions of state government, which increased government efficiency and enabled us to better account for how taxpayer money is spent. In essence, we standardized and streamlined the financial and administrative functions of state government. We reduced redundant data entry, simplified storage and processing procedures and improved financial controls. We brought functions such as financial management and accounting, asset management, procurement, payroll, and benefits administration into one single, Web-based system. Reports and records are now available on demand. It was so successful that Arkansas received the Pioneer Award from the eGov Institute for this program in 2003.
Another incredible program introduced during the pas decade is GeoStor, the nation's first statewide, seamless, enterprise-class geospatial information system. GeoStor was initiated in late 1998 as a two-year research project funded through the Governor's Telecommunications and Technology Infrastructure Fund. The objective of this research was to create an Internet accessible database or warehouse that could deliver geographic data suitable for use in a range of geographic information systems to the desktop machines in state agencies, local government offices and to teachers and students in K-12 education throughout the state. All available digital map data for the state of Arkansas is now in GeoStor, including roads, streams, aerial photography, satellite imagery, and elevation data. Just this year, this program exceeded the half million mark for feature and image views of map layers. GeoStor has helped state and local governments plan for natural disasters as well as help reconstruct areas of our state that have been significantly damaged by tornados and floods. City planners and developers also use this system, making it a common and necessary tool.
One of the programs I am most proud of is our Streamline Auto Renewal program, also known as STAR. The Department of Transportation and the Information Technology Office worked together to design this incredibly easy way for Arkansas residents to renew Motor Vehicle registrations, any time of the day or night, from the comfort of their home or office. Gone are the days of spending an entire afternoon standing in line or sitting in an uncomfortable chair while waiting for something as simple as a tag renewal.
Things have definitely changed for the better. Instead of having to wait a couple of days or sometimes even weeks for paperwork to arrive in the mail, we can now go online and download a form, or even better, complete an online form, submit it electronically and save a stamp or two. There are currently more than 400 state services available online and, on average, 50 more are added each year. Not only did I see our government become more efficient and accessible, Arkansas became a leading state in transitioning to the digital era. Every day more helpful information is posted on the Arkansas Web site, and making state services more accessible to Arkansans is something I am very proud to have been a part of during my decade as governor.
To see all of the state services offered on-line, go to the state's Web site at www.arkansas.gov. Until next time, this is Governor Mike Huckabee from my corner of the Capitol.