Operations Department

As the Operations Department, we are in charge of the IT infrastructure of the canton of Zug. We offer IT support and guidance. We also ensure that IT systems are secure, stable and up-to-date.

Our employees and seven trainees work diligently every day to ensure high-quality, state-of-the-art IT services. They follow national and international standards such as ITIL, HERMES, ISO27001 (IT security) and ISO20000 (IT service management).

The INE team provides the basic IT infrastructure in the canton, providing a robust foundation to users in the Office for Information Technology and Organization, in the departments and offices of the Zug cantonal administration, to users in the eleven Zug municipalities and to some third parties.

Our varied tasks are:

• Engineering: We deliver creative and flexible solutions that address the dynamic world of technology and complex customer requirements.
• Logging and monitoring: We provide the basic infrastructure for monitoring systems with modern technology.
• Network: We ensure seamless and efficient networking of all systems, whether in data centers, offices or on-the-go. Our current focus is on ‘ZugNETx’, where we are developing and implementing the next generation of network infrastructure for our customers.
• Data centers: We continually upgrade the basic infrastructure of our three data centers to ensure it supports present and future needs. This allows us to provide a dependable operating environment for our customers' systems. As a result, even in challenging conditions, the services and applications of the Zug cantonal administration will continue to function.

…, our additional responsibilities include:

• Supporting our INM colleagues in troubleshooting as 3rd level support.
• Together with SEE, we ensure a promising future for the cantonal IT infrastructure.

Our work philosophy is based on:

• Transparency: our infrastructure is clearly defined, well-structured, and properly documented. Data and information are easily accessible, regardless of the technological constraints.
• Automation: Our components are designed to function with minimal human intervention, and they can be modified fully automatically using standardized processes. We consistently follow the 'Infrastructure as Code' approach whenever possible.
• Open Source: We rely on open source solutions such as Linux, Python, Kubernetes, GitLab, Elastic and Ansible. Advantages of this strategy: Using widely available products with the option of customizing them. Furthermore, we can benefit from the extensive knowledge of the respective communities.
• Best of Breed: We prioritize cost-effective and sustainable products and seek long-term partnerships. This gives us a solid and dependable foundation.

Our team motto ‘Built to last’ reflects our ambition and our commitment to creating enduring and reliable solutions, which we passionately pursue every day by leveraging our knowledge and experience.

We are responsible for continually developing IT platforms and client engineering. We develop projects and plans in these areas and provide third-level support.

Our tasks include:

• Overseeing the planning, engineering, installation and ongoing development of IT platforms (virtualized and containerized server infrastructure, Azure/M365, central storage systems, and data backups).
• Managing the Active Directory as a centralized directory service and continuing to develop it.
• Ensuring optimal use of the available resources and keeping the basic software such as operating systems, Microsoft Office and firmware up-to-date.
• Implementing geo-redundancy for critical systems to ensure quick switching in case of a failure.
• Developing and maintaining the basic image for clients of the Zug cantonal administration and its associated companies.
• Training apprentices, who are an integral part of our team.

… Additionally, we also:

• Undertake projects within our areas of expertise to expand our existing infrastructures and research and introduce new ones.
• Lead the ‘Journey to the Cloud’ initiative and support the automation and modernization of IT and business processes with our knowledge and innovations.
• Serve as the technical bridge between suppliers and service providers.
• Ensure the functioning of the IT platforms and train our operations team.
• Support our customers and suppliers in developing solutions that are cost-effective and also beneficial to customers.

And last but not least, we lead the way in implementing agile working methods in our office to increase efficiency and ensure the requisite quality.

We operate and develop IT platforms, offer assistance in client and server engineering, and manage the packaging and distribution of software. We provide comprehensive second-level support to 2,800 users and undertake projects and plans in all areas. 

Our tasks include:

• Operating, installing, developing IT platforms (virtualized and containerized server infrastructure, central storage systems and data backups).
• Managing the Active Directory as a central directory service and developing it further. 
• Overseeing the cantonal network, including firewalls, to ensure a stable and secure IT infrastructure.
• Managing the central MS SQL database infrastructures.
• Ensuring optimal use of the available resources and keeping the basic software such as operating systems, Microsoft Office and firmware up-to-date.
• Training apprentices, who become an integral part of our team.
• We also handle all aspects of software packaging and distribution.
• Whether it's e-mail, VoIP, Skype or Microsoft Teams, we're familiar with them all.
• With VPN and VDI access, we enable remote working.
• We manage and support traditional telephony systems.
• We are always looking ahead to future technologies, for example, our IoT project based on LoRaWAN.
• We lead in second-level support.

… and we also do the following tasks:

• We are the point of contact for problems and incidents within our areas of expertise that cannot be solved directly by Team Support.
• We undertake projects to develop our existing infrastructures and research and introduce new ones.
• We serve as the technical bridge between suppliers and service providers.
• We support our customers and suppliers in introducing solutions that are cost-effective and also beneficial to customers.
• And last but not least, we lead the way in agile working methods in our office to increase efficiency and ensure the requisite quality.
• As part of the on-call team of the Office for Information Technology and Organization, we are also available beyond our regular working hours.

To maintain a stable infrastructure, we record events in detail and monitor all systems thoroughly. This allows us to identify problems early and avoid system disruptions.

This team is being formed this year as part of the ‘Introduction of a Security Operations Center (SOC)’ project.

We provide application support and maintenance for about 70 IT applications, which are primarily used by all employees across the organization. Our goal is for the applications to seamlessly support the business processes of the offices and, depending on the business process, to provide or simplify public access to digital services. To achieve this, we work closely with process owners (process support) and technical managers (ensuring secure and reliable operation). We manage the cantonal application portfolio, which has approximately 800 IT applications in use.

Our tasks include:

• Providing support for applications throughout their lifecycle, from development to operation and upgrade, and eventual replacement.
• Ensuring compliance with data protection requirements, IT security and IT architecture specifications, and managing the budget for approximately 70 IT applications.
• In partnership with the process owners, we adapt applications as needed to meet evolving requirements and conditions. We identify these adaptations to applications together with the process owners and technical managers, and jointly plan their implementation. During the implementation phase, we are part of the project team and support the project's realization up to the launch.
• Additionally, we offer second-level support, conduct user training, and manage supplier relationships (in collaboration with central support)

… and we also handle the following tasks:

• Overseeing application maintenance (including the technical part) of approximately 70 IT applications assigned to us.
• Implementing technical optimizations and improvements to the applications (such as performance) and overseeing patch and release management.
• Ensuring the secure and reliable functioning of the application and its interfaces.