U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program October 16, 2002 eGovernment Working Group Meeting Chris Niedermayer, USDA eGovernment Executive

U.S. Department of Agriculture

eGovernment Program

October 16, 2002

eGovernment Working Group Meeting

Chris Niedermayer, USDA eGovernment Executive

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U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program

Welcome

Smart Choice Update

Agency Updates – Round 1

Q&A

Next Steps and Wrap-up

Agenda

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Smart Choice Update — Funding/OMB

• Initial investment reviews and scores on Exhibit 300s for most Smart Choices received from OMB last week

• Partnering with the CPIC Team, the eGovernment Program worked with the business case leads to ensure that OMB’s issues were addressed: Revised 300s, addressing specific comments, issues, and weaknesses mentioned by

OMB were returned to business case team leads on Friday

Team leads reviewed the changes made to the 300s and are working to get their agencies’ CIOs to “re-certify” the 300s

The eGovernment Team is entering the revisions into the I-TIPS system for re-transmission to OMB

Attempting to make process of revisions as painless as possible

• Our goal after this round of revisions is for all Smart Choice 300s to receive a score of 4 or 5 on OMB’s scale, ensuring that they are in a good position to be included in the President’s budget.

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Define Functional (Business) Requirements

•Educate stakeholders• Identify best practice requirements

•Review best practices with mission areas

•Gather agency specific and strategic functional requirements

•Synthesize functional requirements and disseminate for review

•Finalize functional requirements

Define Select-Level Business Case Section Templates

• Review CPIC guide• Create templates• Obtain sign-off from IRM• Publish final templates

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Marketing and Communications

Document Best Practices for completing select-level business case

*Includes Workplan, Project Scorecard, Status Reports, quality assurance and general project management activities

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Project Management*

September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 Dec 2002

Smart Choice Update—Select Business Cases / Implementation Planning Gameboard

Define Technical Requirements

•Technical Requirements

•Security Plan•Telecommunications Plan

•Analysis of Existing Systems (if applicable)

•Technical Architecture Plan

•eGovernment Plan

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Enterprise Solutions Center Planning• Define enterprise services to be offered based (in part) on functional and technical requirements• Architecture schema to support enterprise services• Organizational requirements, governance, and communications to support enterprise services

Complete Cost/Benefit Analysis

Complete Risk Assessment

Complete ImplementationProject Planning

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Obtain Approval & Submit

• Complete OMB 300• Enter in to ITIPS• Obtain approval from CPIC

• Obtain approval from EITIRB

• Submit to OMB

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Finalize Business Cases

• Complete executive summary and one page overviews

• Disseminate to agencies for final review and comments

• Complete final drafts of all sections

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Agenda

Welcome

Smart Choice Update


Q&A


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Agency Updates

• Today’s agencies:

Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service

Departmental Administration

Forest Service

Office of the Executive Secretariat

Risk Management Agency

Rural Business-Cooperative Service

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Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service

Name of highlighted initiative: Research, Education, and Economics Information System

Purpose: A Congressionally mandated, comprehensive, integrated system to assist USDA, its partner institutions, and the public in monitoring and evaluating the research, education, economics, and extension activities conducted or supported by USDA.

Stakeholder groups involved: Citizens, business partners, and employees Benefits: Single point of entry for evaluation and accountability information about

agricultural research, economics, education, and community outreach programs, projects, and activities

Time/cost to create: Approximately $26.9M when complete Links to eGov Program: Data Management, Information Management, Knowledge

Management

General eGovernment challenges/lessons learned: Strong Federal project management

Working chunk by chunk, rather than trying to address everything from the outset

Sound development of system requirements and traceability of requirements through testing

Develop guidelines and standards as appropriate to promote high quality, stable data structures throughout evaluation and accountability data sources; robust data standards are key

Web-enabled metadata from the outset

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Departmental Administration

Name of major initiative: eProcurement (Integrated Acquisition System-IAS) Purpose: Provide backend processing capability for procurement staff Stakeholder groups involved (citizens, business partners, or employees): Employees Links to eGov Program (Smart Choices, Tactical Plans, etc.): Smart Choice, also

complements Federal eProcurement initiative

Awards and achievements: Contract awarded; progressing to pilot

General eGovernment challenges/lessons learned: Challenge: Convincing OMB that the Federal eProcurement is a front-end system, and IAS is a back-end system.

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DA: Office of Administrative Law Judges

Name of highlighted initiative: Agriculture Decisions On-Line Purpose: To provide a web-based publication of Agriculture Decisions to the general

public. Stakeholder groups involved (citizens, business partners, or employees): Citizens,

litigants, enterprise employees Benefits: Research at no cost. Open & transparent access. Time/cost to create: Initial Year $8,000, thereafter $1,500 Lessons learned and future direction: Add decisions that are not currently in electronic

format; explore appeal filing Links to eGov Program (Smart Choices, Tactical Plans, etc.): Contained in DA Tactical

Plan; Quality Search Engine is essential (link to Portals/Web Presence initiatives)

Awards and achievements:

eGov Expos or other activities (past or future):

General eGovernment challenges/lessons learned: A lot can be done with very little expense, but a quality environment and tools (search engine) are critical.

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Forest Service

Recreation One Stop: Purpose: Help the public “find the fun” by providing authoritative and reliable information

about publicly-owned outdoor recreation areas, historic and cultural sites, museums and visitor centers, plus links about recreation activities.

Stakeholder groups involved: FS, NPS, BLM, FWS, BR, USGS, BIA, ACE, FHA, NOOA, Smithsonian, TVA

Benefits: Provide Recreation for America, improve customer service of the Federal Government by a “portal” web site and by simplifying computerized data sharing

Time/cost to create: $3 million at completion, 2 years Lessons learned and future direction: Need interagency agreements, need clear

governance, map-based navigation (GIS later?), driving directions Links to eGov Program: Tactical Plan, President’s Initiative, Smart Choice, ePermits

Awards and achievements: In the top 15 web sites – Government Executive, Hamer Award - Vice President Gore

eGov Expos or other activities: Multiple interagency and public demonstrations

General eGovernment challenges/lessons learned: federal 1st – extend to other government – and stop at private, XML standards needed to allow private web site use of government information, scope creep, think big – build small- scale up, get early successes, homeland security may cause additional cost

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Forest Service

Name of highlighted initiative: ConnectHR Purpose: A single sign on for web-based human resource applications Stakeholder groups involved (citizens, business partners, or employees): All USDA,

OMB, up to 110,000 end user potential Benefits: Secure SSL, SSO, WWW access, single system image, timeliness of

information Time/cost to create: $1 million, 2 years Lessons learned and future direction: need marketing plan, bridge between legacy and

future applications, retain intellectual property, expand to all of USDA Links to eGov Program (Smart Choices, Tactical Plans, etc.): Tactical Plan, Smart

Choice, HR Online

Awards and achievements: eGov 2002 Pioneer Award

eGov Expos or other activities (past or future): eGov 2002

General eGovernment challenges/lessons learned: remain vendor independent, avoid creating a stovepipe application, avoid proprietary systems

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Forest Service

Name of highlighted initiative: Volunteer.Gov Purpose: Provide a “clearinghouse of clearinghouses” for volunteer opportunities across

public, private, and non-profit organizations. Stakeholder groups involved (citizens, business partners, or employees): The President,

many federal, state and local agencies, and the public, over 300,000 volunteers. Benefits: A one-stop resource for citizens seeking volunteer opportunities in important,

satisfying projects that benefit this nation and its citizenry. Time/cost to create: $120,000 first year Lessons learned and future direction: privacy of public supplied information is important Links to eGov Program (Smart Choices, Tactical Plans, etc.): Tactical Plan, Smart

Choice

Awards and achievements: not sure

eGov Expos or other activities (past or future): White House ceremony.

General eGovernment challenges/lessons learned: support and coordination must start at the top levels of government to be successful.

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Office of the Executive Secretariat (OES)

Name of highlighted initiative: USDA Correspondence Management System (CMS) Purpose: To replace unsupported legacy correspondence management system with

an application that can serve as a pilot for a wider USDA document management effort, particularly in terms of developing “electronic” business practices and facilitating required cultural change.

Stakeholder groups involved: Initially all those who correspond with the Secretary and Deputy Secretary and employees and officers who answer and manage the correspondence.

Time/cost to create: About 18 months (thus far) and $1 million in development, management, and infrastructure upgrades to date from OES, ARS, and OCIO. OES has contributed about half of the funding to date.

Lessons learned and future direction: Application initially used to manage OSEC correspondence. The next logical users will be those who manage documents in similar administrative business processes. Eventually, all USDA employees who create, use, or manage documents, will do so electronically.

Benefits: Improved access to documents throughout their life cycles resulting in improved service. Administrative processes will be more transparent and efficient.

Links to eGov Program (Smart Choices, Tactical Plans, etc.): Not yet.

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Office of the Executive Secretariat (OES)

Awards and achievements: Prototype nearing completion. Implementation scheduled for later this year.

eGov Expos or other activities (past or future): Prototype demonstrated at 5th Annual USDA Agency Information Technology Showcase on October 9-10, 2002

General eGovernment challenges/lessons learned: Business needs must drive the development process and set priorities for changes and enhancements.

©Accenture 2001 All Rights Reserved

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U.S. Depa rtment o f Agr icultur e eGovernm ent Program


Name o f highl ig hted ini tiative: Web Content Managem ent

Purpose: Core method by which personali zed content is delivered via a portal

Stakeholder groups involved (c itizens, business partners, or employees): policyholders,prospective policyholders, private insurance companies, approved insurance providers,RMA employees and employees of private insurance companies or approved insuranceproviders

Benefi ts:

Al lows content providers to create and update pages without learning web authoringlanguages

Within a defi ned workflow, the content wi ll be up-to-date

Custom content can be delivered to core audiences

The webteam staff will spend less time clearing and post ing content allowing moretime to be spent on R&D, site improvements, and special website projects

Time/cost to create: Estimates will be available after the select -phase business cases arecomplete, and RFP is awarded, and available eGov funding is announced.

Lessons learned and future di rection: Planning phase; lessons learned wil l be sharedwi th staff implementing other eGov ini tiatives

Links to eGov Program (Smart Choices, Tacti cal Plans, etc.): (Combined with DocumentManagement, Data Management , Portals, and Web Presence) eGovernment StrategicPlan


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U.S . Departm ent of Agri cul ture eG overnm ent Program


Awards and achievements: Now in the 90-day select phase

eGov Expos or other activities (past or future): None

General eGovernment challenges/lessons learned: 1) establishing business requirements, 2) identifying content contributors, 3) performing a content audit, 4) establishing a corporate taxonomy, 5) budgeting for the initial startup and annual maintenance costs, 6) defining and testing workflow, 7) deploying a technology, 8) training staff on the new systems, 9) educating both management and staff on new processes.


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U.S . Departm ent of Agri culture eGovernment Program


Name of highlighted initiative: eLearning Purpose:To develop a business case and requirements for an enterprise-wide level of

educational service

Stakeholder groups involved (citizens, business partners, or employees): The eLearningInitiative is currently limited to extending eLearning capabilities and opportunities to USDAemployees. As a byproduct, that meets the RMA mission, eLearning has been or will beextended to other USDA employees, our business partners and special interest groups

Benefits: Pooling resources and requirements to obtain a cost effective and efficientLearning Management System

Time/cost to create: Estimates will be available after the select-phase business cases arecomplete, and RFP is awarded, and available eGov funding is announced

Lessons learned and future direction: Planning phase; lessons learned will be sharedwith staff implementing other eGov initiatives

Links to eGov Program (Smart Choices, Tactical Plans, etc.): eLearning is one of the 12eGovernment smart choice high prior ity enablers


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U.S. Department of Agri culture eGovernment Program


Awards and achievements: eLearning is one of the 12 eGovernment smart choicehigh prior ity initiatives

eGov Expos or other activit ies (past or future) : None

General eGovernment challenges/lessons learned: Some Agencies, such as RMA,have unique requirements that are required by legislation and mission-related goalsand objectives. System features should be broad enough to address these needs.

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• Name of highlighted initiative: Web Based Portfolio Information/Reporting

• Purpose: This initiative has converted paper intensive and complicated automated processes to a secure agency web site. The web site provides field staff with rapid access to loan portfolio information including status of obligations, applications, and borrower portfolio. In addition, the site provides a reporting mechanism for states to report on loans made in special initiative areas associated with annual appropriations and the agency annual performance plan.

• Stakeholder groups involved: Employees

• Benefits: Easy access by field staff from any location on applications pending, and active portfolio information. Paper based reporting processes on loans in special initiative areas are now tracked on the web.

• Time to Implement: 120 days.

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• Lessons learned and future direction: Stay involved with developers on a regular basis, even (especially) if they are in house

to make sure system is developed to specifications.

Use input from field staff in systems that they will have to use. Feedback from field staff was provided late in the process; it should have been provided earlier.

Future Direction: Incorporate web reporting into other automated systems, and change with annual funding appropriations to comply with Administrative Initiatives.

• Links to eGov Program: This initiative is identified in the RBS Tactical Plan.

• Awards and achievements: System went on line 9/15/02 and was implemented with minimal problems. Being used by State Offices. Reporting for FY 2002 activities ends 10/15 and is on schedule.

• General eGovernment challenges/lessons learned: Think “BIG” but start small. Build systems in phased- incremental approaches.

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Agenda

Welcome

Smart Choice Update


Q&A


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Questions and Answers

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Agenda

Welcome

Smart Choice Update


Q&A


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Next Steps

• We will continue the agency updates at our next meeting

• We have still not received a completed update template from many agencies—please send these in by next Wednesday, October 23, in preparation for the next Working Group meeting

• Two new eGovernment scorecards will be released soon

• One is for SES, part of 5-part PMA scorecard (eGovernment, Financial Mgt, Budget & Performance, Human Capital, Outsourcing)

• Second is for eGovernment Program; details on the scorecard will be coming soon

• We are reorganizing the eGovernment Web site and welcome your suggestions about additions or changes.

• Next EGWG meeting will be Wednesday, October 30, at 11am in room 108-A.

Documents

U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program October 16, 2002 eGovernment Working Group Meeting Chris Niedermayer, USDA eGovernment Executive