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THE PAR GROUP The PAR Group - Paul A. Reaume, Ltd. is a national public management consulting firm which consults exclusively in the public sector, serving the needs of local government nationwide with corporate offices located in suburban Chi- cago. Principals of The PAR Group have been providing consulting search services to local gov- ernments nationwide continuously for thirty years-since 1972. Our Principals have over 300 years' cumulative operations and consulting experience in the field of local government. The PAR Group's services can be divided into two main categories: executive search and public man- agement consulting. All services are provided exclusively for public jurisdictions, related orga- nizations, and not-for-profit entities. Clients have included local governments of under 5,000 to over one million population, with budget responsibilities exceeding several billion dollars, The firm's quality of work and sensitivity to Clients' needs and concerns are recognized hall- marks-our firm was a pioneer in local govern- ment recruitment and is considered a leader in the public management consulting field. To date we have served over 700 jurisdictions and agencies in a variety of contemporary issues, providing management, financial, and human resource assistance to progressive and challenged organizations in 1,100 recruitment and consulting projects. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT The PAR Group has seen an increasing demand from its clients for services related to the use of information technologv (IT). In response, we ha\'e strengthened our ability to provide technogv-related services and have recently added Jerome A. Schulz as a part-time Senior Consult- ant to our group of local gm'ernment consultants. Mr. Schulz has a career emphasis in IT manage- ment and will focus on IT assignments in his consulting assignments. Using technology effectively is a challenge for local governments All glwernments want to be able to identify tech- nologv goals and determine what they need to do to start working toward those goals. Yet of all the issues that confront local governments, technol- ogv use is often the most challenging. Informa- tion technology is e\'er-changing, presenting a bewildering arrav of choices across a govern- ment's broad array of programs. And, smaller gm'ernments often have no full-time technolog\' staff to help in IT planning, and even the in-house or contract technology staff the gm'ernment mav be depending on for day-to-day IT support often lacks the time or expertise to effectivelv address strategic IT planning issues. The PAR Group can help governments develop Strategic IT Plans A question that local gO\'ernment decision- makers are asking with increasing frequency is, "Where should we be going with information technolog\' and what will we need to do today, tomorrow, and O\'CJ' the coming vears in order to get there' A strategic IT planning process works out the answer to these questions, The planning project leads decision-makers and others through a plan- ning exercise with the focus on IT, resulting in a final plan that specifies needed projects. The key success factor for this work is to find what in IT work is called "business alignment," that elusive way in which technology can provide the optimal support for the larger goals of the government. The PAR Group can help design an information technology planning process, facilitate the plan- ning work, develop the final plan documents, and assist in presenting the plan to interested audiences. Some governments may need help with technology issues in their overall strategic planning A related service that The PAR Group can offer is to facilitate the technology component of a government's larger overall strategic planning process, This assistance can include briefing plan- ners in each of the government's areas on emerg- ing technology opportunites in their areas, Smaller governments can seek help in managing technology The PAR Group can also provide consulting to help smaller governments manage their day-to- day IT use, especially in cases of governments with no full-time technology staff. At these sites the City Manager or similar official often in effect doubles as the IT manager, The PAR Group can review how well this is working and recom- mend appropriate practices to make this work better. Such an engagement might also include some one-on-one or small group training, strengthening your ability to "be your own tech- nology manager."