Functioning of Office of Management and Budget and Federal Enterprise Architecture - Essay Example

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY- E-GOVERNMENT PAPER of FEA & OMB Office of management and budget (OMB) is an agency in the executive stream of the government of the United States. OMB is specially designed to support the president in constructing the federal budget; it administers and controls the administration in Executive Branch Offices and also assists in framing the president’s spending plans. Furthermore, it gauges the efficacy and implementation of agency programs, policies, and procedures; it evaluates the funding demand among agencies and then sets the funding priorities. Office of management and budget (OMB) manages, directs and supervises the data and information, financial management, the administrative procurements, and different managerial and directive rules and strategies. Moreover, it helps to develop administrative management, builds up enhanced performance measures, manages mechanism and eases redundant burdens on the public. The largest constituent of OMB is the four resource management offices; namely, office of information and regulatory affairs, office of federal procurement policy, the office of federal financial management, and office of e-government and information technology. Other wide support offices of OMB are office of general council, office of legislative affairs, the budget review division and legislative reference division. Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) is the subdivision of OBM federal government and it was emerged in response to a legislation called, “Clinger-Cogen Act of 1944”. This provided a common methodology for information technology acquisition in the United States federal government. It also instructed the federal agencies to develop a master plan for integrating technologies, managing information technology, and measuring and reporting performance. FEA is established so that businesses’ performance could be improved and agencies could implement their core missions in an enhanced manner; FEA helps to achieve these goals. Moreover, through FEA the information and resources are easily shared across federal agencies which not only reduce the costs but citizen services are also enhanced. FEA is built using five different models; performance reference model, business reference model, service component reference model, data reference model, and technical reference model. These models help to develop a common taxonomy and ontology that describes the IT resources elaborately. These models can be enabled using different modeling tools that would help to align the enterprise architecture. Some of the Federal enterprise architecture reference model tools are Adaptive Inc, Future Tech Systems, Inc, IBM System Architect, and Troux Technologies Architect etc. FEA Models and Implication for Federal Agencies FEA consists of five interrelated reference models that facilitate the cross-agency analysis and identify the duplicative investments, gaps, and opportunities for collaboration within and across agencies. These reference models describe the most important element of FEA in a consistent and common way. There are five basic FEA reference models, each one of them will be described in detail. Performance reference model (PRM) measures the performance throughout the federal government. With the help of PRM, agencies try to manage the business of the government at strategic level, which can be accomplished by using the agency’s EU to measure the success of IT investments and their impact on strategic outcomes. There are three main objectives of PRM: to improve the strategic and every-day decision making by enhancing the performance information, creating a clear line of sight and achieving the preferred results by improving the alignment, and articulating the contribution of inputs to outputs. Lastly PRM identifies those performance improvement opportunities that extent the traditional organizational structures and boundaries. Business reference model (BRM) helps to facilitate a functional view of the federal government lines of business, including internal operations and services for citizens, independence of agencies, bureaus and offices performing them. It not only promotes the agency collaboration but also serves as the underlying foundation for FEA and government strategies. Even though it is stated that BRM does not provide an improved way of thinking about government operations, however its utility is best used when agencies effectively use it. SRM is defined in the consolidated reference model in the following words: “Service component reference model (SRM) is a business driven functional framework classifying service component according to how they support business and performance objectives” (Consolidated reference model version 2.3, 2007). This model is specially designed so that it can help in recommending the best service capabilities. This way it will not only assist in supporting the re-use of business components but would also help services across federal government. SRM identifies and classifies the horizontal and vertical Service Components and moreover it supports the federal agencies and Information Technology (IT) investments and assets. Within this model the IT investments can be either service providers or consumers. SRM is independent of business functions; it provides a leverage-able foundation when re-use of application is done (Consolidated reference model version 2.3, 2007). Technical reference model (TRM) is such a component driven model where its technical framework categorizes the standards and technologies so that the service component and capabilities delivery can be well supported and enabled. TRM unifies the existing agency terms and E-Gov guidance; this can be done by providing them a foundation for reuse and standardization of technology and service components. TRM not only leverages common and standardized vocabulary but also allows interagency discovery, collaboration, and interoperability. With the help of TRM, the agencies and federal government will benefit from economies of scale, and with the help of reusing the best solutions and technologies they will be able to support their business functions, missions, and target architecture (Consolidated reference model version 2.3, 2007). Furthermore, it can be stated that these five reference models arrive at the core set of terms, strategies, and technologies at both higher and lower level in any particular business domain that separates one agency from the other (White paper, 2009). Whether Such an Article Would Work For State Government or Country Local Government FEA models are an extremely helpful tool for the federal and local government; they equip the former with common language and framework. This describes and analyzes IT investments, helps to enhance the collaborations, and transforms the federal government. If such kind of articles are going to work in these two types of governments then it would not only help to improve performance but also increase cross agency analysis, identify duplicative investments, eliminate redundancies, reveal gaps, as well as help to reduce costs (Federal Enterprise Architecture, 2009) Every reference model holds significant contribution for government; these models not only help in enterprise transformation but also assist in case of the Army. They identify gaps in the current capabilities and allow disparate domains in order to recognize the commonality and opportunity, so that consolidation and efficiency could be achieved. Within the reference model, BRM specifically illustrates the business operations of the federal government, which are independent of the agencies that perform them, while SRM supports the business and performance objectives and is beneficial at the local government level. Both these models compliment each other, as BRM describes and mentions those functions that need to be completed, while SRM illustrates those services that support these functions (Federal Enterprise Architecture, 2009). FEA Policy Implications for Federal Agencies & CIO’s Federal agencies use inefficient processes to manage their records; either their Agency Business Resources and Information Technology Resources are not integrated, or they are unable to manage these records properly from scratch. Due to this, agencies expose risk to business operations and mission success. To cover such loss, Record Management should be established within Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) so that consistent management procedures and practices could be recorded within the agency business processes. In order to implement any project, different set of policies and regulations are developed under various organizations so that a desired set of standards is achieved. Similarly, ICGI’s Electronic Records Policy working group (ERPWG) recommended that NARA (National Archives and Record Administration), OMB, and Federal CIO Council’s AIC should support the creation of RM profile. Thus, NARA overlooks all the management’s federal records as well as malfunctioning in the processes, by issuing policies and regulations to assist federal agencies with the management of federal records in all different kinds of formats. For this purpose, it published the Code of Federal Regulations & NARA Bulletins mentioning the rules, regulations, and policies (National Archives and Records Administration & Architecture and Infrastructure Committee, 2005). These policies help federal agencies to record management guidance and help them in implementing best processes. Furthermore, these policies help in understanding the importance of documenting business process; they ensure accountability to stakeholders, assess the value of information assets, and help to determine appropriate record management approaches. Apart from NARA, other agencies also record management in the government, such as General Service Administration (GSA) and OMB, where OMB is promoting the coordination of Federal Information policy (National Archives and Records Administration & Architecture and Infrastructure Committee, 2005). The policies and regulations set by these organizations not only provide a set of pattern and guidance for them but also benefit them for all programs and processes. They help to retrieve and access records for as long as they need, help managerial decision making, conduct business environment effectively and efficiently, as well as create authentic and reliable records that support the agency business processes. They also help to establish such frameworks that support the growth of institutional knowledge and preserve the institutional memory. At the time of disasters, these policies also assist by promoting informational assurance, such as by preserving the vital records and by applying the continuation of operations records in the process. Thus, these policies not only develop such successful programs that would promote efficiency within the federal agencies but also provide responsiveness to external stakeholders and customers. They provide guidance and training to both federal agencies and CIO’s, achieve the performance objectives, and thus reach desired results. The CIO will also face similar benefits that federal agencies face, but above all, with the help of FEA’s policies it would be able to generate best practices that assure alignment and adherence to these set of policies and guidelines (National Archives and Records Administration & Architecture and Infrastructure Committee, 2005). Thus it can be stated that FEA’s policies play an important role in dealing with federal agencies and CIO’s because they help and assist them in all the maximum ways they can. They provide them guidance and a set of limitations that help them reach desired levels and standards. REFERENCES FEA Consolidated Reference Model Document Version 2.3, 2007, accessed on March 6, 2010 from http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/fea_docs/FEA_CRM_v23_Final_Oct_2007_Revised.pdf Federal Enterprise Architecture, 2009, accessed on March 6, 2010 from http://www.army.mil/armyBTKC/enablers/pm/fea.htm White Paper, 2007, Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) and Network Services, accessed on March 6, 2010 from http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns414/ns859/C11-542359-00_FEAnetsol.pdf National Archives and Records Administration & Architecture and Infrastructure Committee, 2005, Federal Enterprise Architecture Records Management Profile, Version 1.0 Read More