State IT Policy Introduction
Through this website, Office of the State Chief Information Officer (OCIO) brings greater clarity to the information technology (IT) policies, instructions, and guidelines regarding IT operations, security, project approval, and oversight. Additionally, the OCIO provides a single source for lookup of IT policy, instructions, and guidelines. The OCIO will continue to review and update both:
- The State Administrative Manual (SAM)*, which contains statewide IT policy.
- SAM Section 4800 contains general IT policy.
- SAM Section 6700 contains fiscal IT policy.
- Information Technology Policy Letters (ITPL) which, as defined in SAM Section 4819.2, contain new or changes to existing IT policies and procedures.
- The Statewide Information Management Manual (SIMM), which contains the instructions and guidelines needed to implement IT policy.
- Sections numbered from 05 to 80 contain schedules, instructions, forms and templates that must be used to comply with policy.
- Sections numbered from 110 to 200 contain guidelines, models and forms that state agencies will find useful, but their use is not required.
The instructions and guidelines are provided in read-only format. Forms, samples and spreadsheets can be downloaded, some as Microsoft Word and others as Microsoft Excel files.
Generally, updates are made to reflect changes in state IT policy and procedures, to ensure consistency between the policy (SAM) and the instructions and guidelines (SIMM), and to clarify IT policy and procedures.
Also contained on the Web pages are links to IT-related Governor's Executive Orders, Budget Letters, and Management Memos.