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

2. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 2  Welcome  Smart Choice Update  Agency Updates – Round 1  Q&A  Next Steps and Wrap-up Agenda

3. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 3 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.

4. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 4 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 1 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 2 Project Management* September 2002 October 2002November 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 3 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 Implementation Project Planning 4 Obtain Approval & Submit Complete OMB 300 Enter in to ITIPS Obtain approval from CPIC Obtain approval from EITIRB Submit to OMB 6 Finalize Business Cases Complete executive summary and one page overviews Disseminate to agencies for final review and comments Complete final drafts of all sections 5

5. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 5 Agenda  Welcome  Smart Choice Update  Agency Updates – Round 1  Q&A  Next Steps and Wrap-up

6. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 6 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

7. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 7 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

8. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 8 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.

9. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 9 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.

10. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 10 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 1 st – 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

11. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 11 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

12. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 12 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.

13. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 13 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.

14. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 14 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.

15. ©Accenture 2001 All Rights Reserved 15

16. ©Accenture 2001 All Rights Reserved 16  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.

17. ©Accenture 2001 All Rights Reserved 17

18. ©Accenture 2001 All Rights Reserved 18

19. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 19 Rural Business-Cooperative Service 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.

20. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 20 Rural Business-Cooperative Service 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.

21. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 21 Agenda  Welcome  Smart Choice Update  Agency Updates – Round 1  Q&A  Next Steps and Wrap-up

22. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 22 Questions and Answers

23. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 23 Agenda  Welcome  Smart Choice Update  Agency Updates – Round 1  Q&A  Next Steps and Wrap-up

24. U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program 24 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.