John Wilson is an IT Specialist and Project Manager at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). His previous federal government experience included management positions at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Institutes of Health.
Wilson pointed out that the federal sector spends a considerable amount of money on IT. For fiscal year 2005 they spent $65B and in 2006 they expect to spend over $200B. That is a lot of money and it underscores the strong need for business process management in the public sector.
The legal basis is driven by the Clinger Cohen Act which established the CIO position and made the CIO responsible for promoting improvements in agency work process. It also makes agencies responsible to the regulations and due process. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the central agency that puts the budgets together for all agencies of the federal budget and plays a central role in promoting improvements in processes and identifying common business processes to enhance E-Government, which concerns all web-enabled government activities. Wilson mentioned there have been several recent high-profile failures in government efforts to implement custom programs and the OMB is continually on the lookout to make IT in government less expensive and more productive.
Commercial Off The Shelf Software (COTS) and customized software solutions require two different approaches. To use COTS, it is necessary to:
- Understand COTS business process models
- Analyze agency business processes for adequacy of fit
- Be willing to modify agency processes
- Project management different than customized solutions
- BPMS suites
The other technological advance is from the Internet/Web. Using web technology the government is creating citizen friendly portals to make access to information easier for the public. The diagrams and concepts of business driven enterprise architecture are being used to simplify and reduce redundancies.
The BPM program Wilson is working with uses a draft methodology to take the As-Is and To-Be swim lane process flow diagrams and uses organizational management and process measurement to improve processes. Wilson said they looked at a variety of modeling tools to help them.
Integration with other programs is a high priority. These include portfolio management, project management methodology, and enterprise architecture. There is a formal process for getting new funding for IT investment. All proposed implementations are reviewed from an IT perspective along with cost, benefits, and security.
The project management methodology uses Rational Unified Process and Orderly Artifact Management and a Capability Maturity model. Successful projects end up in an enterprise architecture repository.
Two applications are being done now. The first is a Budget Formulation Application and the second is Correspondence/Task Tracking, which is a pilot using BPMS in a Total Quality Management (TQM) perspective. It is becoming obvious, according to Wilson, that the managers in government, just as it is in business, need education in seeing the processes as they are. In many cases, seeing that the As-Is processes are time consuming and inefficient has helped the adoption of BPM.
The future directions being taken include completing the pilot BPMS project, BPM training for managers, and continuing the integration of BPM into systems acquisition. The vision for government is to make BPM Standard Operation Procedures (SOP) which involves a whole cultural shift for government agencies.
