Key Points of US Government Plan to improve IT Governance
Source: 25 POINT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN TO REFORM FEDERAL
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT (DECEMBER 9, 2010) (PDF)
The US Government's IT Dashboard and Techstat Model provide useful detailed guidance on the Governance of ICT, consistent with the AS8015/ISO2800 model and framework, in particular the emphasis on monitoring projects - providing a heads up status of normal, needs attention, significant concerns. It also recognises the need to be able to fund opportunities as they arise rather the speculatively budgeting.
- Moving forward, Federal IT programs must be structured to deploy working business functionality in
release cycles no longer than 12 months, and, ideally, less than six months, with initial deployment to
end users no later than 18 months after the program begins . - Part ii: Effectively managing large-scale IT Programs
- A primary challenge impacting the successful delivery of IT programs is the need to manage a broad set
of stakeholder communities, including agency leaders, business process owners, IT, acquisition, financial
management, and legal . The typically siloed nature of government stakeholder communities is ill-suited
for the multi-disciplinary and rapidly evolving needs of major IT program management processes .
- Require integrated program teams
- When evaluating acquisition strategies, agencies will need to prioritize those solutions that promote
short deadlines for deliverables (generally less than three months), allow for responsiveness to rapidly
evolving program and technical requirements, and facilitate a streamlined award process .
-Align the acquisition Process with the Technology Cycle
- Unlike larger, more established firms, new entrants have little at stake in current technological systems
ranging from software standards, to operating system and file standards, to business processes . While
large firms drive many incremental improvements to the status quo, smaller firms are more likely to
produce the most disruptive and creative innovations . In addition, with closer ties to cutting edge,
ground-breaking research, smaller firms often have the best answers for the Federal Government .
- Reduce barriers to entry for small innovative technology companies
- Within six months, Agency CIOs and CFOs will identify programs at several agencies for which added
budget flexibility could save money and improve outcomes . OMB and agencies will work with Congress
to develop proposed budget models to complement the modular development approach . In addition,
OMB and agencies will evaluate mechanisms for increased transparency for these programs .
-Identify Programs for which to pilot flexible budget models
- Currently, Agency CIOs and the Federal CIO Council spend a majority of their mindshare on policymak-
ing and maintaining IT infrastructure . As we move forward with the IT reforms, CIO focus must shift
towards portfolio management . This shift will be encouraged by activities such as the restructuring of
the Investment Review Boards . Similarly, agencies will be increasingly freed from low-value activities
(e .g ., building redundant infrastructure) as they adopt technologies such as cloud computing .
- Streamline governance and improve accountability
- The fact is that the statutory and regulatory framework for communications between industry and government allows significantly greater engagement than current practice . The government therefore needs to raise awareness of these
flexibilities to its workforce .- Launch "myth-busters" education campaign
As outlined in the 25-Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal IT Management, agency leaders must stand up the TechStat model at the departmental level to turn around or terminate at least one-third of underperforming projects in their IT portfolio within the next 18 months, by June 2012. To assist agencies in reforming Investment Review Boards (IRBs), we have developed this TechStat Toolkit....
Techstat Overview
Full Length Training Video - http://www.cio.gov/modules/TechStat/
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