Modernization

XRBL holds future promise for A-123 internal controls

Federal financial and IT executives risk falling behind their commercial-sector counterparts by being slow to develop the use of Extensible Business Reporting Language (XRBL) in their financial-reporting systems.

Modernization

Online extra | Security initiative looking for direction

The Office of Management and Budget plans to focus on training and Federal Information Security Management Act reporting over the next eight months under the Security Line of Business Consolidation initiative.<@SM><@SM>

Modernization

The dervish is in the details

Despite funding cuts, Susan Smoter updated the irs.gov site and recently earned a five-point increase in customer satisfaction on the American Customer Satisfaction Index.<@SM>

Modernization

Online extra | Justice to make Case Management more inclusive

While the Justice Department was bogged down in awarding a $305 million contract for its do-over case management system called Sentinel, the Line of Business Consolidation initiative for a similar effort was treading water.<@SM>

Modernization

Online extra | Federal Health Architecture gets Version 1.0 ready for release

The Federal Health Architecture, established in June 2003 as a Line of Business, aims to align federal health IT investments with the president’s health IT plan.<@SM>

Modernization

Online extra | Financial management ahead of the pack

The Office of Management and Budget hopes the Financial Management Line of Business initiative will improve the cost, quality and performance of agencies’ financial systems.<@SM>

Modernization

Bottom-line results

Avie Snow and her team really had to move after 9/11 when the Coast Guard was reassigned from the Transportation Department to the Homeland Security Department and had to migrate off DOT’s accounting system. In nine months, they built the Core Accounting System (CAS) for about $7 million.<@SM>

Modernization

Recasting the privacy officer

Privacy officers can shed the naysayer stereotype by helping IT officials build privacy controls earlier in the systems development life cycle.<@SM>

Modernization

Online extra | Florida case offers lessons-learned for outsourcing

While Florida’s contract with Convergys Corp. of Cincinnati to consolidate and process human resource services for 32 state agencies has produced substantial benefits, it also serves as a stark example of what can go wrong when a government agency outsources certain functions to the private sector.

Modernization

Straight shooter

An engineer at Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support realized that he could write an open-source encryptographic module that secures data. Debra Bonner, director of operations for DMLSS, was the catalyst for moving the program forward.

Modernization

Online extra | Moving to a COE easier through change management

Part of Treasury’s overall plan to migrate to HR Connect was a two-pronged change management plan.<@SM>

Modernization

Intel enterprise platform debuts

VPro will include Active Management Technology, virtualization, the upcoming Conroe microprocessor and the Intel Core 64-bit processor.

Modernization

The Pipeline

Need a lift?; GI, phone home.

Modernization

In-Q-Tel head resigns

Just months after taking the position to lead CIA ventures, Yoran unexpectedly steps down, citing a desire to be home more.

Modernization

Apptis wins $16M IT contract with FTC

The company will provide support services, including a managed call center and on-site support.

Modernization

USDA takes aim at infrastructure consolidation

Agriculture Department CIO David Combs’ plan is to take the complex issues, worry and costs out of the hands of the department’s agencies and offices, and let them concentrate on their mission priorities.

Modernization

XO subsidiary looks for federal market

Nextlink is offering broadband wireless service to government agencies.

Modernization

Step-by-step migration

With the Office of Management and Budget expecting more agencies to migrate over the next few years to shared-services providers—otherwise known as centers of excellence—for human resources and financial management, the Housing and Urban Development Department's successful migration to the Treasury Department’s HR Connect presents a valuable case study.<@SM>

Modernization

Private sector gets into the game

As more and more agencies consider the move to centers of excellence under the Office of Management and Budget’s Lines of Business initiatives for human resources and financial management, some are finding the private sector a viable alternative.<@SM>

Modernization

Q&A: Education working from the ground up

When the Office of Management and Budget named three consortia to lead the Grants Line of Business initiative, it marked a clear direction for the program. Agencies will have to use one of three shared-services providers for grants management systems or justify to OMB their rationale for building their own systems. GCN asked program managers from the Administration for Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education and the National Science Foundation to describe their focus and how they are different from each other.<@SM>