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Assembling a business case

By David Essex, Special to GCN

OMB-compliant budgeting requires more than filing the right forms. Software tools provide the data and analysis to justify, plan and execute IT investments

In recent years, several government performance initiatives, including the President’s Management Agenda, have focused on IT as both a means to an end and a cost center that must be brought under control.

The need for savings is clear. “IT expenditures at the federal level alone are $65 billion,” says Carl DeMaio, president and founder of the Performance Institute, a think tank that promotes performance-based management practices in government. “That is the third-largest program that is run by the federal government.”

To better match government performance with IT investments, the Office of Management and Budget, in its Circular A-11, issued copious requirements that agencies must meet before getting OMB approval for budget requests. Of late, the parts of Circular A-11 getting the most attention are its Exhibits 300 and 53, which prescribe how agencies shall justify a business case for the funding requests.

“The agencies have had OMB 300 on the brain,” says David Hurwitz, chief marketing officer of Niku Corp., which makes portfolio management software. “It’s necessary, but not enough, to automate your business case process.”

The push for solid business cases meshes neatly with other federal IT initiatives such as the federal enterprise architecture, which is meant to encourage resource sharing. “OMB is interested in looking across business lines to see if there’s duplication,” said Caine O’Brien, vice president of marketing at ProSight Inc., another portfolio management software vendor. “They’re looking to classify taxonomically where each of these investments fit.”

Integrate budget, performance

Other federal mandates, such as the Government Performance and Results Act, seek to ensure that agencies follow up with results. “The big thing the federal government cares about is integrating budget and performance,” says Robert Clay, vice president of marketing at CorVu Corp. “They want to make sure that all of the resources of the agency are aligned with the mission of the agency.”

Exhibit 300 is for federal agencies, but vendors report that some state and local governments are starting to follow the OMB format to build business cases in grant requests to federal agencies, especially the Homeland Security Department. But state and local governments are far more likely to use business case tools to support their own, ongoing efforts to justify IT investments and better align them to their business needs.

One local government that has begun to transform its business is Sarasota County, Fla. According to county CIO Bob Hanson, the county purchased Pilot Software’s PilotWorks to add an easy-to-use graphical front-end and performance management capabilities to GovMax, a budgeting program it had developed in-house. Hanson says the combination has allowed Sarasota County to enhance cross-departmental collaboration and avoid wasteful duplication.

More news on related topics: Software Applications, IT Infrastructure, New Products / Technology, Product Reviews, Products Central



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