The history of information technology within Dauphin County closely parallels private sector and other public sector organizations. Dauphin County entered into the era of modern-day electronic data processing during the 1970s using general purpose mainframe computers to deliver new automation to financial and property tax operations. During this period, there were few terminals and the majority of data input was done by keypunchers with data submission to the mainframe for batch processing.

The first computer room/data center was located in the Courthouse, sandwiched between two courtrooms. With no environmental controls and limited room for growth, the County's first true data center was built in 1984 in the Veterans Building across the street from the Courthouse. Additional departmental applications were developed by in-house programming staff to serve various business functions that reached into the areas of Courts, criminal justice, voter registration, human services and many others. A data communications network was developed to get data entry and on-line processing using terminals into the hands of end-users to provide for more timely information and improved workflows.

These software applications served the County well for many years as commercially packaged software for local governments was either not available or was not ready to meet the needs of our users. Two significant applications that were developed by County staff during this time period were in the area of Tax Assessment and the County Prison. These systems were developed as comprehensive solutions that revolutionized the methods of these departments and provided integrated data services that resulted in cross-functional improvements throughout County government.

In 1988 the County acquired its first commercially-available Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution that did provide complete integration of all financial services of County government including general ledger, accounts payable, purchasing, personnel & payroll, and budget functions. Of course, today, there are many solutions available for local government across the full spectrum of operations making custom development of software unnecessary.

By the mid-1980s, an industry makeover was beginning to take hold as micro-computing was becoming widely accepted. Office automation software that modernized routine business tasks could now also improve operations as well as the departmental specific software. Dauphin County had decentralized islands of users that had formed and begun to experiment with this technology. Although it is a foreign concept today, it was difficult to imagine or gain support for a network of personal computers where all information workers would be equipped with technology at their desktop.

In 1993, Dauphin County installed its first local-area-network (LAN) for 25 users. This network consisted of 10BaseT Ethernet with fiber optic connections between the entire downtown Harrisburg campus. Maximum growth was estimated to be 100 users. By mid-1994, this number had already been exceeded and Dauphin County was seeing the benefits of an integrated network that delivered enterprise technology solutions such as electronic mail and office productivity software to the desktop.

The growth of the network had reached over 750 users and touched every building in the County by the year 2000. At that time, additional funding for equipment and personnel was provided and a new data center was created in the County Administration Building that provided a state-of-the-art infrastructure that would support over 1100 County users and new client-server applications that were now available to County departments.

New financial software, tax software, and Court-related software were installed to boost productivity. Also, Internet processing became an important method of delivering services to citizens.

In 2003, Dauphin County began to focus on the deployment of advanced enterprise solutions including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and document management. Dauphin County had long been considered a "black-hole" for GIS data with disparate systems operating in Tax Assessment, Emergency Management, and Tri-County Planning. The IT Department began a process to develop standards amongst these departments and provide a mechanism to share data. By 2005, a county-wide tax parcel layer had been developed that could be integrated with all departments and data sharing had begun. Now, Dauphin County is leading the way in new GIS infrastructure techniques and providing web-based services for this valuable data.
Also, the introduction of an enterprise-wide document management solution enabled new possibilities for electronic storage and retrieval, as well as improved workflows, that can benefit every County department and operation.

Today, IT has become an integral part of every facet of County government. By its very nature, IT is working across departmental boundaries and helping to create cross-functional solutions that improve operations and bring better services to the citizens of Dauphin County.