1. No Data Left Behind: Federal Student Aid A Case History
Holly Hyland, Federal Student Aid
Lisa Elliott, Federal Student Aid

2. Agenda Federal Student Aid Overview Data Strategy Initiative
Enterprise Data Management Program
Description of the End Game
Lessons Learned
DAMA Impact
Questions

3. Who We Are…
The Higher Education Amendments of 1998 established Federal Student Aid as the federal government’s first Performance Based Organization (PBO) to modernize the delivery of the Department’s Title IV federal student aid programs. As specified in the authorizing legislation, the purposes of the PBO are to:
Increase accountability
Improve service to students and parents
Integrate business processes and information systems
Strengthen program integrity
Reduce costs
Each year Federal Student Aid is required to establish a specific performance plan for that year and to monitor its performance against that annual plan. We also issue a report on our performance each year.
We are required to have a five year plan and we do. Federal Student Aid has committed to a Five-Year Strategic Plan which describes our strategic direction, objectives, goals, and success measures for the Fiscal Years 2004 – Each year we update this plan so that, in effect what we have is a rolling Five year plan. When we issue our update this year it will be for 2005 – 2009.

4. Who We Are…
As a PBO, Congress grants Federal Student Aid certain limited managerial flexibilities over its human capital management, budget and procurement activities
Our focus is on:
Delivering world-class customer service
Developing award-winning products and services that are of value to our customers
Effectively managing the programs to ensure fair, effective and appropriate oversight, and service delivery at the lowest cost without sacrificing service levels or quality
Each year Federal Student Aid is required to establish a specific performance plan for that year and to monitor its performance against that annual plan. We also issue a report on our performance each year.
We are required to have a five year plan and we do. Federal Student Aid has committed to a Five-Year Strategic Plan which describes our strategic direction, objectives, goals, and success measures for the Fiscal Years 2004 – Each year we update this plan so that, in effect what we have is a rolling Five year plan. When we issue our update this year it will be for 2005 – 2009.

5. Our Mission…
Our federal grant and loan programs represent the largest sources of student aid in the United States, annually providing approximately $74B to more than 11M students/parents, including nearly $13B in Pell Grants to the most needy students. We provide this aid through and with the nearly 10,000 program participants.
6,130 Schools
3,200 Lenders
35 Guaranty
Agencies
36 Secondary
Markets
45 3rd-Party\
Servicers
We oversee (directly and indirectly) the management of the $402B loan portfolio of 80M loans to more than 26M borrowers.
FSA Scope of Operations (Examples)
$321 billion in outstanding loan guarantees (FFEL, Direct Loan, and Perkins Programs)
$60 billion in new federal aid annually
34 million customer service calls to FSA Customer Support Centers
25 million Direct Loan borrower payments processed
41 million pieces of outbound aid delivery services mailings
33 million unique visits and over 20 billion hits to FSA web sites

6. Our Critical Functions…
Federal Student Aid is responsible for a range of critical functions that include, among others:
Processing millions of student financial aid applications
Disbursing billions of dollars in aid funds to students through schools
Enforcing financial aid rules and regulations
Partnering with schools, financial institutions and guaranty agencies to prevent fraud, waste and abuse
Educating students and families about the process of obtaining aid
Servicing millions of student loan accounts
Securing repayment from borrowers who have defaulted on their loans
Operating information technology systems and tools that manage billions in student aid dollars

7. Our Environment
FSA's technology environment is understandably complex:
21 different information systems provide services.
140 internal exchange points across FSA’s computing environment, and 175 external exchange points entering into our environment.
60 million FAFSA’s processed a year – 97% on-line applications
Different identifiers are used to identify partners based upon particular system and type of business transaction.
Multiple procedures required to enroll and register for access to FSA systems.
FSA systems require different user credentials and enforce different policies using different User ID formats.

8. Our Integration Challenge
The Higher Education Act (HEA) legislation of 1998 specifically called on Federal Student Aid to integrate, and defined three principal goals with respect to integration of Federal Student Aid’s information systems:
To integrate the information systems supporting the Federal student financial assistance programs.
To implement an open, common, integrated system for the delivery of student financial assistance under Title IV.
To develop and maintain a student financial assistance system that contains complete, accurate, and timely data to ensure program integrity.

9. Enterprise Architecture
Business Architecture
Strategy & PRM
Alignment
BRM
Shared Business
Processes
Information Architecture
Data Architecture
DRM
Shared Data
(CPIC and Business / Technology Alignment)
Governance
Technology Policies Standards
And Products Guide
Application Architecture
Application
Portfolio
SRM
Shared
Services
Technology Architecture
FSA’s EA describes and documents the Current State (Baseline) and Target State relationships between business processes, and information technology.
It's a blueprint for systematically and completely defining an organization's current (baseline) or envisioned (target) business environment and IT architecture.
It Includes:
Technology Policy Standards and Products Guide
Governance Processes
Business Architecture (BRM: Business Reference Model)
Information Architecture (DRM: Data Reference Model)
Application Architecture (SRM: Service Component Reference Model)
Technology Architecture (TRM: Technical Reference Model)
Security Architecture
This presentation covers some salient features of the 4 IT architectures.
Technology
Inventories
TRM
Shared
Infrastructure
Security Architecture

10. FEA DRM Standardization Areas
The work that we have been doing with the Community of Interest feeds directly into the Data Reference Model. We are able to map our processes and data artifacts directly to the DRM Abstract Model. So, again, while this result wasn’t a goal when we started our standardization work several years ago, we are certainly benefiting from this relationship at a federal level. One of the things that is reassuring to us at Federal Student Aid is that there is a natural alignment. This gives us an indication that we are doing things right. The work that we’re producing is of benefit to our organization, is of benefit to the Education Community of Interest, and is of benefit to the federal government. We are very pleased with this outcome.

11. The Target State Vision (Architecture)
The TSV is based upon the following business goals:
Deliver student aid in an efficient and cost-effective manner;
Provide the best access to customers; and
Maintain appropriate levels of oversight.
To achieve these goals, Federal Student Aid identified the following objectives:
Integrate and reengineer business processes to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness, and provide a better experience for those who interact with Federal Student Aid.
Improve data quality and integrity to provide enhanced analytics and reporting capabilities.
Integrate and reengineer information systems to enable target business processes.
Implement an integrated, standards-based technical infrastructure that emphasizes enterprise reusable shared assets.
Federal Student Aid has adopted a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) approach to support implementation of the TSV. SOA enables a collection of standard reusable services that will be shared across all of Federal Student Aid.

12. Information Exchange
A single access point for online information and services for
Federal Student Aid customers, partners, and the general public

13. Enterprise Development Support Services (EDSS) Model

14. Getting to the Data 2000 Modernization Blueprint – “the wall”
2003 Terry Shaw (former COO) – “the data is missing”
Representatives from all business areas “vision without constraint” to determine how things should work.
Bumblebee Chart (Integration Vision Framework)
Target State Vision (TSV)
2004 Data Strategy
2006 Enterprise Data Management

15. Evolution to the Target State
The Target State outlines the vision to achieve integration.
Awareness
Disbursement
Application
Origination
Servicing
Eligibility
Monitoring
Participation
Oversight
Management
Application for Participation
Partner Eligibility
Participation Management
Enrollment/Access Mgmnt
Performance Mgmnt*
- Closed School Processing
- Oversight Reviews/Actions
- Risk Management
- Ongoing Monitoring
- Default Rate Calculations
- Accountability For Funds
Partner Management
Partner Payment Processing
- ACA Payments to Schools
Bulk Payment Calcs
Payments & Tracking
P-Note Processing
Award Processing
Disbursement Processing
- Calc & Monitor Funding Chngs
- Award Processing
Funding Level Management
- Payments & Tracking
- Student Based Pymnt Calcs
School Payments (Pass-Through)
& Disbursement
- Paper Processing & Fulfillment
- Electronic Processing
Application Processing
Applicant/Recipient Eligibility
- Paper Processing/Fulfillment
Student Authentication & Access Mgmnt
Inbound Payment Processing
Consolidations
Loan Assignment Processing
Collections
Default Aversion
Mgmnt
Delinquency
Death, Disability & Bankruptcy
Accounting
Mgmnt*
Performance
Common Services
for Borrowers
Borrower Refund Processing
Financial Management
- Funds Control
- External Financial Reporting
- Accounting
- Internal Controls
- Budget
- Awareness
- Counseling
Business Process Awareness
- Acquisition & Planning Strategy
- Contract Management
Enterprise Performance Management
- Performance Analytics & Reporting
Support Functions
- Program Analytics & Reporting
- Aggregated Recipient Data
Portfolio Data Management
Servicing
Trading
Partners &
Servicers
Guaranty Agencies
Student Aid on the Web
Call Centers
Collections
Origination &
Disbursement ED
Financial Management
Lenders
(Lender Servicers)
Other External Partners
To-Be Financial
Aid Life Cycle
DRAFT
High-Level Business View
State Agencies
Schools
( School Servicers)
Common Services for Borrowers
Origination & Disbursement
Trading Partner Management
Delivery
FSA Gateway
Award & Disbursement
Processing
School Aid Payments &
Funding Level Mgmt
Partner
Enrollment
Partner Eligibility
& Oversight
Funds & Internal
Controls
Service
Loans
Recovery &
Resolution
ITA
Integrated
Technical
Architecture
VDC
Virtual
Data Center
EAI
Enterprise
Application
Integration
Internal Transfer
Life-
cycle
Phase
Applicant/
Borrower
Process
Department of Education
Help Desk
Financial Partners Portal
Schools Portal
FSA
Trading
Partner
Partner Application
Oversight
Aid Education
Submission
Eligibility
Repayment
Consolidation
Aid Awareness & Application
Institution
Participation
Case Tracking
(Ombudsman)
Policy Changes
Recommend
Planning Strategy
Acquisition &
Enterprise Analytics and Research
Enterprise Performance
Management
Analytics
Enablers
Send/Receive from Matching Agencies
Generate/Distribute ISIR/SAR
Credit Check
History
Audit
Transfer Monitoring
Process Promissory Notes
Servicing Reporting (FFEL & Campus Based)
SSCR
Enterprise Shared
Functions
Common Data Architecture
Students
Transactions
Partners
Trading
Warehouse/Data Marts
NSLDS
FMS
Enterprise Shared
Functions
Edit Checks
SSIM Logic
Match Against CDA (FAH)
Distribute Eligibility
Computation Edits - EFC
RID Mappings
Authentication & Access Management
Partner Payment Calculation/PrePopulation
CDR
Aid
Application
Authentication &
Access Tools
Awareness
Establish
Person
Record
Determination
Aid Eligibility
Consolidate
Loans
CSB
Intelligence Tools
Business
Application
Process
Relationship
Mgmt
Partner Payment
Admin
Partner Payment Management
State Agency
Processing
Funding
Payment
Ancillary Services
AR Management
Payments
Process
External Financial
Reporting
Budgeting
Accounting GL
FMSS
GAPS
External Transfer
Business Function
Integration Vision Framework
Business Architecture
Enterprise Target State
Business Architecture Drives Technology Solution

16. The Target State VisionL i f e - c y l P h a s A p n t / B o r w
Aid Education
Submission
Eligibility
Repayment
Consolidation
Aid Awareness & Application
Institution
Participation
Servicing
Communications
Publications
Press
Releases
Department of Education
Help Desk
Financial Partners Portal
Schools Portal
Partner
Application
Oversight
Guaranty Agencies
Origination &
Disbursement
Financial Management
Other External Partners
Target State Vision
High-Level Business
View of the
Financial Aid Lifecycle
Revised Sept 2005
State Agencies
Schools (School Servicers)
Common Services for Borrowers
Origination & Disbursement
Integrated Partner Management
Federal Student Aid Gateway
Award & Disbursement
Processing
School Aid Payments &
Funding Level Management
Partner Participation
& Enrollment
Funds
Management
Service
Debts
Recovery &
Resolution
Internal Transfer
External Transfer
Business Function
Financial
Reporting
Run Credit Check
Common Logic Edit Checks E S d u F
Information Framework
Generate
Distribute ISIR
SAR Data
Send
Receive from Matching Agencies
SSIM Logic
Consolidate
Loans
Enterprise Analytics and Research
Acquisition &
Planning Strategy
Enterprise Performance
Ombudsman
Case Research
Recommend
Policy Changes
Establish
Person Record
Partner Payment and Reporting Management
Payables
State Agency
Funding
Analytics
Calculate EFC
Receivables
Manage Promissory Notes
One Financial
GAPS
RID Legacy Identifier Crosswalk
Audit History
Analytical Data
Transactions
Person
Org
Metadata
Repository
EDW
Distribute Student Eligibility
Campus-Based
Aid
Awareness
Financial Aggregates
& Reporting
Financial Aid
History
Student Enrollment
Default Rate
Calculation
Distribute School Eligibility
Review Information
Student Aid History Management
OIG
Aggregate Relevant Information
Determine Student Eligibility
OPE
CDA/ODS
(NSLDS II)
Integrated School View
Integrated Student View
Guaranty Agency Payment &
Reporting Administration
Budget Formulation
Credit Report
Manage
Monitor Aid
Aid Eligibility
Determination
Lender Payment &
Enterprise Access Management
Conference
Planning
Lenders (School Servicers)
ITA
Integrated
Technical
Architecture
Business
Intelligence
Tools
ESB
Enterprise
Service Bus
Authentication
Access
VDC
Virtual
Data Center
Ancillary
Services
Content
Enablers
Data
Marts
Student Portal
Call Centers
Aid Delivery
Collections
Federal Student Aid Target State Vision

17. Data Strategy Purpose
Develop an overall approach towards data to ensure that accurate and consistent data is available to and exchanged between Federal Student Aid and our customers, partners, and compliance and oversight organization.
Get the Right Information
To the Right Person
At the Right Place and Time
At the Right Cost

18. Data Strategy Initiatives
Data Strategy evolved into the integration of five core initiatives:
Data Framework
As-Is and Target State Data Flows
Refine Target State Vision
Data Quality Mad Dog
Develop Quality Assurance Strategy
Implement Data Quality Assurance Strategy
XML Framework
Develop XML ISIR
Develop XML Registry / Repository
Production Deployment of XML Registry / Repository
Common Identification
Standard Student Identification Method
Routing ID
Trading Partner Enrollment and Access
Enrollment and Access Management
Technical Strategies
Data Storage, Web Services, Web Usage, and FSA Gateway
Web Consolidation Options
Enterprise Analytics Architecture
CDA Operating Guidelines
Data Strategy is comprised of five core initiatives as you can see. Today, we will be focusing our attention on the Technical Strategies component of Data Strategy

19. Data Strategy Key Findings
The Data Strategy team confirmed several key findings:
Data should be organized by business process, not by system.
Providing data access to business experts is the key component of improving the enterprise’s ability to make informed business decisions.
Need to develop a single enterprise solution for all trading partner/person identification and access.
“As-Is” data flow discussions have facilitated a broader understanding of end-to-end business processes across all Federal Student Aid program areas.

20. Benefits of the XML Framework to Data Quality
Federal Student Aid will use XML, via a single set of enterprise and community standards, to simplify and streamline data exchange across postsecondary education.
Benefits
Data Exchange Standard – Standardize FSA’s data exchange using XML as the data exchange technology standard.
Consistent Accurate Data – Define data standards, as XML Core Components, for data exchange to achieve consistent and accurate data.
Standard Data Tools and Processes – Establish standard data tools and processes to support consistently performed data/XML modeling.
Ease of Maintenance – Simplify future interface changes, and support new application and data exchange requirements, through standardized XML-based data modeling.

21. Enterprise Data Management
Formalized October, 2006
Building off of the work that we’ve been doing informally for the last four years with PESC and adding formal discipline with the Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBOK)
EDM is a service to the business with the following goals:
Support the improvement of enterprise analytics and
Decrease the cost of and improve the quality of new development projects
Focus on data as an enterprise asset.
At Federal Student Aid, we have essentially been piloting our data standardization work and participation with the Education Community of Interest for about 4-5 years. All of the work we’ve been doing has been voluntary. In October of 2006, we decided to formalize the work that we’ve been doing and created an Enterprise Data Management program at Federal Student Aid. As we do new development work, we want to make sure that we are focusing on data as an enterprise asset. This first year is a foundational year. We’re doing strategic planning, we’re creating best practice documentation that will service business units regarding data standardization, we’re creating a data governance group based on the PESC model, and we’re developing policies and procedures that will help institutionalize and advance the “data work” we’ve been doing over the last several years. In addition, we’re taking that practical experience we have and comparing that to the Data Management Body of Knowledge to ensure that we balance experience and study.

22. Enterprise Data Management
Three year strategy:
Concentrate on fundamentals and foundation/communication materials.
Start an Enterprise Data Governance Workgroup and improve and expand Metadata Management.
Develop and implement Data Quality policies and procedures (started in year two).
At Federal Student Aid, we have essentially been piloting our data standardization work and participation with the Education Community of Interest for about 4-5 years. All of the work we’ve been doing has been voluntary. In October of 2006, we decided to formalize the work that we’ve been doing and created an Enterprise Data Management program at Federal Student Aid. As we do new development work, we want to make sure that we are focusing on data as an enterprise asset. This first year is a foundational year. We’re doing strategic planning, we’re creating best practice documentation that will service business units regarding data standardization, we’re creating a data governance group based on the PESC model, and we’re developing policies and procedures that will help institutionalize and advance the “data work” we’ve been doing over the last several years. In addition, we’re taking that practical experience we have and comparing that to the Data Management Body of Knowledge to ensure that we balance experience and study.

23. Target State EDM
This is our latest draft of the Target State Enterprise Data Management program. We are wanting to develop a program that is very practical and works as a service to the business units and advances enterprise analytics. Currently, Federal Student Aid is a reactionary organization. We believe with improved data management, we can become a more proactive organization.
We have listed here the broad categories of Strategic Planning, Data Administration (defined as Data Governance and Metadata Management), Data Architecture, Data Warehousing, Data Quality, and Data Security. I won’t go into detail about these categories. Just know that where we have items related to data standardization, we will continue our work with the Community of Interest on these topics.

24. Data Policy and Strategic Planning
Defines EDM strategic direction and promotes compliance with EDM policies, procedures and standards.
Drafted of an EDM Strategic Plan.
Developed an EDM Concept of Operations.
Drafted Enterprise Data Policies.
Developed EDM Language for inclusion into Contracts.
Maintained EDM Business Case.
Published Performance Metrics.

25. EDM Monthly Status Report

26. Data Governance
Implements data governance processes to maintain standardized data definitions and associated metadata.
Started two years ago with a Data Governance Pilot tackling – Enterprise Address.
Developed Data Standardization Policies and Procedures.
Developed Data Dictionary Standards.
Developed Data Governance Plan.
Formed Enterprise Data Governance Workgroup.
Business people agreed to learn basic to intermediate data modeling concepts.
Joint development of data-related artifacts with business and technical staff.

27. Data Governance Framework
Data Governance Management Structure
Requires:
Collaboration
Commitment
Consistency
Executive
Council
Escalation Path
Enterprise Data Management
Program Management, Quality Assurance
Strategic Steering
Committee
Our data governance framework includes 3 levels. Working our way through the pyramid, we’ll start with the top level.
The Executive Council sets the overall mission and strategic goals from an enterprise perspective to ensure that Federal Student Aid objectives are supported and addressed. This group will resolve strategic problems as they arise and will serve as the highest point of escalation.
The next level will be the Strategic Steering Committee. This group receives guidance from the Executive Council and as such, their role is to plan, guide, prioritize, and sequence the data governance efforts and work (which we’ll talk a bit more about in a few minutes).
We see a direct relationship between the work that will be done by the Steering Committee and the EOCM group, therefore we’ve started conversations around utilizing the same group for the Data Governance Steering Committee.
Finally, we have the Tactical Working Group. The role of this group is to execute the plans and policies defined by the Strategic Steering Committee.
We believe the work necessary for this group will be most effective if carried out by the department subject matter experts. Therefore it is our plan to come and talk to each business owner and request the participation of their data experts.
Enterprise Data Management will facilitate and/or chair the Tactical Work Group and the Steering Committee.
Tactical Working Group

28. Target State Target State:
Beginning with Federal Student Aid’s mission, an enterprise Data Model will be used as the basis for new development. This will be monitored through our data governance structure. Providing reusable metadata, consistent logical data models, quality data, and ease of integration.
Metadata:
Data about the data, it describes the content, quality, condition,
and other characteristics of the data we store.
Data Models:
Data models represent our business.
Data Quality:
Master Data:
Master data is core, non-transactional business data

29. Metadata Management
Uses metadata to guide, control and integrate data activities and products.
Donated metadata registry, the XML Registry and Repository for the Education Community, to the Education Community of Interest.
Published as Open Source on SourceForge.
Classification scheme extends beyond that used by Federal Student Aid.
Promotes use of common standards across the Education Community of Interest.

30. XML Registry and Repository for the Education Community

31. Metadata Management
Uses metadata to guide, control and integrate data activities and products.
Developed Enterprise Metadata Inventory.
Developing Master Data Management.
Purchased and testing IBM Information Server.

32. Data Architecture
Promotes sharing of database assets, the use of an integrated architecture to support enterprise-wide data movement, access to common data, data transformation and migration.
Developed an Enterprise Conceptual Data Model (signed off by the business areas).
Developing Enterprise Logical Data Model.
Data Modeling Standards and Procedures.
Developed Naming Standards.
Developed Data Model Registration Policies and Procedures.
Developed Data Migration Roadmap: A Best Practice Summary.
Developed Data Synchronization Policies and Procedures.
Researched Data Integration Services Best Practices and Recommendation.

33. Data Quality
Institutionalizes a set of repeatable processes to continuously monitor data and improve data accuracy, completeness, timeliness and relevance.
Developed Enterprise Data Quality Scorecard
Building upon previous work (Data Quality Assurance Strategy) to promote reuse
Developing Data Quality Policies and Procedures
Planning a Data Quality service for the for business areas (data profiling services, etc)

34. Future Areas of Focus The US Department of Education
Develop US Dept of ED Enterprise Conceptual Data Model – created from the business areas.
Form US Dept of ED Data Governance Workgroup.
Encourage PK12 and Postsecondary data alignment.
Encourage and contribute to PK 20 Data Standardization and Education Taxonomy.

35. When We’ll Be Done
Federal Student Aid is a proactive organization with sophisticated enterprise analytics that are used to inform Congress and help determine new policy.
An Education Taxonomy is not a misunderstood word.
Enterprise Data Artifacts are complete, of high-quality and used by the business areas often.
Federal Student Aid “owns” its data and it’s organized by Business Capability Area, Business Function, and Data. This information is in the SOW for development projects and creates high-quality, lower cost development.

36. Lessons Learned
If it’s not in business (plain) language and/or it’s not clear how it supports the business – EDM doesn’t pay for it.
True change takes time. Period.
The technology is not the hard part – the people part is the hard part. Have someone who’s really, really good with the soft skills at the table.
Luck is not a good business strategy.
Little and often.
It really does help when you have consistency of staff.
Collaboration is so worth the time it takes.
Business areas and Technologists can work together and develop really, really good work.

37. DAMA Impact Changed CONOPS after researching DMBOK.
Developed data definition standards after attending “The Dictionary: Heart of Data Quality.”
Felt better about EDM coming from a business area after attending “Mastering Master Data.”
Prioritized Data Quality work from year three to year two after attending “Introduction to Data Quality Tools and Technologies.”
Purchased “Data Modeling Made Simple” for members of Data Governance Workgroup.
Changed data models after attending “Make Your Data Model Diagram Really Communicate.”

38. Closing Remark
As you can gather from our presentation, Federal Student Aid’s data work did not begin as a mature Enterprise Data Management Program; in fact, it began in chaos. However, over time:
Opportunities were identified,
Huge goals were set,
Communities of interest were engaged
Purpose was communicated
Strategic decisions were made
Crazy ideas were tried and evaluated
Best practices were researched
Mistakes were made and course corrections were implemented
Baby steps were accomplished
Everyone was heard and valued

39. Questions Holly Hyland; Phone: 202-377-3710 Email: Holly.Hyland@ed.gov
We appreciate your feedback and comments.
Holly Hyland; Phone:
Lisa Elliott; Phone: