State of Michigan

Don Purvis

Don Purvis, PMP, is an IT Manager with the State of Michigan and a technical IT professional with more than 25 years of experience. His credentials include project management and business relationship management, reflecting a career that connects technical delivery with the needs of the organizations those systems support.

Keeping Modernization Tied to the Work

For Purvis, managing government IT means working where technology decisions meet established agency processes. It becomes especially challenging when there are legacy systems that serve a crucial role in carrying out key operations.

His work sits within the Michigan Department of Corrections’ broader modernization efforts, where older applications are being replaced as part of a longer-term effort to move away from aging platforms. A current project involves transitioning six MDOC staff applications from legacy Sybase and PowerBuilder platforms to the Corrections Offender Management System platform. The work is designed to reduce dependence on outdated technology while creating room for changing business requirements.

The scale matters. MDOC has more than 13,000 employees, making application changes more than a technical exercise. Systems supporting employee information, access management and related administrative functions have to remain aligned with the department’s day-to-day needs while the underlying technology changes.

Managing Change without Losing the Business

Legacy modernization can easily become technology-led if the business requirements are treated as a secondary concern. Purvis’ role places that connection closer to the center of IT management.

A State of Michigan position description for a team he manages identifies business analysis as a core function, including developing requirements, examining data to support projects and building agreement around business and system needs. The position also calls for coordination between agency clients and DTMB professionals while maintaining adherence to state technology standards.

This structure places more responsibility on Purvis than just managing the progress of various projects. This includes translating the needs of the agency in terms of its systems into requirements that can be implemented by technical teams. In the context of government systems that have been supporting certain processes for many years, this translation can mean the difference between solving a problem and merely replacing a system.

Making IT Decisions Accountable to Service

Purvis’ professional background also points to a management style grounded in both technical knowledge and structured delivery. His Project Management Professional certification and Business Relationship Management Professional credential sit alongside earlier ITIL and Security+ certifications, while his LinkedIn profile describes more than two decades in technical IT.

That combination matters in public-sector technology because modernization decisions have to account for project scope while remaining connected to the people and functions relying on the systems. His earlier career included IT management work in healthcare, where his profile records responsibility for major system transitions and IT startups involving multiple hospitals.

The same discipline carries relevance in state government, where technology projects often span years rather than months. Michigan’s current information technology investment portfolio includes active modernization work within MDOC, including the replacement of legacy systems and the broader Corrections Offender Management System project. Purvis’ role sits within that longer cycle of deciding what should change, how the change should be managed and how technology can remain useful to the agency while that work takes place.

For government IT managers, the practical lesson is less about adopting new technology for its own sake. It is about keeping modernization connected to the work that the technology must support. Purvis’ responsibilities illustrate that distinction, particularly when replacing established systems requires the business side of an agency to remain visible throughout the technology decision.