FEDERAL SECTOR REPORT

IN THIS ISSUE

The Federal Document Explosion
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THE FEDERAL DOCUMENT EXPLOSION

Federal agencies are experiencing an explosive growth in the number and complexity of documents required for budgets, information technology (IT), and security. Many of the requirements are driven by legislation and defined by guidance and schedules from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Individually, the purpose of each type of document makes sense: plan carefully how your agency will spend millions of dollars, maintain coherent documentation for your agency's information systems and applications throughout their life cycle, assure security measures that protect our government's IT infrastructure, safeguard sensitive and Privacy Act information, and establish performance metrics that enable accountability for your agency's results.

The challenge for federal managers is that the sheer numbers of plans, reports, and other documents required can be overwhelming. The pace of deadlines is fast and furious, and staffs can quickly become overloaded without careful planning.

Agency staffs and contractors can help each other handle the documentation challenge if they understand the trends and cooperate to work smarter.

Driving Forces

Legislation over the past 10 years is the basic driving force for the rapid increase in requirements for documents. Basically, lawmakers got sick and tired of appropriating billions of dollars and seeing mixed results–spending with unknown results, seat-of-the-pants budget decisions, IT systems that failed or didn't fit together with other information resources, and inefficient government operations.

As a result of this frustration, lawmakers enacted a boatload of legislation: The Government Performance Reporting Act establishes the framework for identifying and documenting performance of government programs. The Clinger-Cohen Act (Information Technology Management Reform Act) calls for increased accountability for investments in IT, and it directs agencies to designate Chief Information Officers (CIOs) to implement procedures for accountability. Just a few of the other important laws affecting IT planning and operations in particular are the Government Information Security Reform Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act, and the Government Paperwork Elimination Act. Copies of federal legislations may be found at FedLaw, http://www.legal.gsa.gov/. References to IT-specific legislation may be found at the federal CIO site, http://www.cio.gov.

The legislation has had a snowball effect. While it has taken several years for some of the laws to be fully implemented and have a real-world impact, the momentum is now in full swing. OMB has had time to develop and distribute its circulars, memoranda, and reporting requirements. Agency CIOs have had a few years to set up shop, and the best have made a real difference in how IT resources are planned, integrated and managed.

Congress and OMB are using IT as a wedge to push for management reforms that go far beyond technology. Acknowledging that automating dumb manual processes will result in dumb automated systems, the Paperwork Reduction Act and other legislation calls for IT management to bring about increased business efficiency and process improvements.

The President's Management Agenda has also had a major impact on boosting the requirement for improved and expanded agency documents. The Agenda calls on agencies to make government services more streamlined and citizen-centered, to reduce the layers of government, and to deploy a more responsive electronic government. The Agenda becomes a major overlay for planning and budget documents, as agencies work to align their programs and priorities with the presidential priorities for spending. The President's Management Agenda is available at OMB, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2002/mgmt.pdf.

Virus attacks, hackers, the 9-11 tragedy, and other problems have also converged to make federal information security a priority. As a result, most federal IT managers are actively updating and improving their risk assessments, risk management plans, system security plans, access control procedures, standard operating procedures, contingency plans, etc.–all of which require documentation. Agencies also have to report their progress quarterly to OMB.

(Some contractors are disappointed that agencies have not rushed out to buy huge supplies of computer security products and services, but agencies are nonetheless busy. Security is often a matter of improved enterprise architecture, rules of behavior, physical access controls, and good system administration–which do not necessarily result in a buying spree.)

Federal agencies are also taking various IT management "Maturity Models" seriously (such as that promulgated by the Software Engineering Institute–see Carnegie Mellon's web site at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmm/ for the Capability Maturity Model for Software. The government's emphasis is on a repeatable, documented process–which requires good system development and life cycle (SDLC) management documentation.

Examples of Documents Required

Following is a short list to give readers an idea of the types of documents that agencies are currently creating for IT resource management:

BUDGET/PERFORMANCE	INFOSEC	SDLC
Decision Papers	Risk Assessment	Statement of Concept
IT Capital Asset Plan (Requires SDLC and INFOSEC Documents)	Plan of Action and Milestones (for fixing problems)	Risk Management Plan
Annual Performance Plan	System Security Plan	Project Management Plan
	Contingency Plan	Cost Benefit Analysis
	Certification & Accreditation Document	Functional Requirements Document
		Acquisition Plan
		Design Documents

Higher Expectations

The government is doing a better job of preparing documents that are useable and readable, and we are seeing fewer examples of gobbledygook. We attribute this in part to the webification of Information Technology: the public's access to government information through the World Wide Web has placed a high value on clear writing, and government documents overall seem to be benefiting from the growing emphasis on readability.

Suggestions

There is no magic bullet for producing effective documents quickly and effectively, but here are some general tips:

Templates. People hate to start with a blank sheet, and a well-constructed template saves time and improves quality in situations where many documents of the same type must be developed. The template needs to be developed by an expert who knows the technical or regulatory requirements ... but who is also sensitive to the diverse types of agency situations where it will need to be used.

Model Documents. A model is a sample document that can be revised and adapted to a new situation. The user may need to exercise substantial judgment when adapting the model.

Re-Useable Information. Libraries of reusable information can be helpful. For example, if your computer System Security Plans all need to describe the physical characteristics, fire alarms, and security procedures of your agency headquarters building, it would be smart to let the building manager provide the same information to all IT managers developing plans ... rather than asking each to reinvent the information.

Style Guides. Some of the Web writing style guides are mercifully brief but extremely helpful. In general, these are useful guides that all federal staffs and contractors could follow to assure clear, relatively consistent writing.

Cooperation. We all tend to get stuck in our own little niche. Yet, we could often work smarter and more productively when all employees and contractors in an agency take a few minutes to help each other, share ideas, and suggest shortcuts.

Better Work Flow. Another approach is to improve work flow for federal planning and document preparation. One of our federal customers, for example, has retained Planmatics, Inc. (Rockville, MD) to document the budget preparation process and collaborate with federal representatives regarding how to improve the process for budget preparation and documentation.

Divide and Conquer. Obviously no one is good at everything, and this is true for developing documents. Some people may have the knowledge but not the writing skills. Others may be good reviewers but not good writers. Organize a team strategy, and you can get the whole job done–usually quicker and better.

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CONSULTING SERVICES

We provide enterprise-level management consulting services for federal agencies and the contractors who support them. Our areas of specialization are Capital Planning and Investment Control, Enterprise Architecture, strategic planning, performance evaluation, and acquisition support including work statements. Our consulting specialty includes experience in many related areas such as CIO program support, earned value management, risk management, the C&A process for security, and customer satisfaction surveys.

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