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GCN Home > 03/20/06 issue

Defense's business transformation chugs forward

By Dawn S. Onley, GCN Staff

In sending Version 3.1 of its business enterprise architecture to Congress last week, the Defense Department took another incremental step toward better data standardization and interoperability.

As with the previous version of the BEA, the Business Transformation Agency is focusing on making sure Defense component agencies are using common data rules, data standards and business rules to perform transactions.

“We focused on a couple of key areas,” said David Fisher, director of transformation planning and performance at BTA. “Intragovernmental transactions needed attention because when the Army and Navy, for instance, do transactions or when DOD does transactions with other agencies, it has been a problem for us. It all ties back to not having common data standards and common transaction processes.”

Paul Brinkley, deputy undersecretary of Defense for business transformation, said the vast majority of BEA, from financial management to personnel management, is about standardizing data and the elements people are required to adhere to and use in the systems.

Filling the gaps

Version 3.1 also addresses an architecture gap within environmental safety and occupational health from the earlier 3.0 version presented to Congress last September. In addition, some architectural clean-up work was completed under six business enterprise priority areas.

“Every six months over the next 10 years, things will get better,” Brinkley said at the FOSE trade show in Washington this month. “I don’t think this stuff ever ends. We continue to improve.”

Later this month, DOD plans to release a federation strategy to the services and agencies outlining how they will certify that their business systems are compatible with the overarching BEA.

Dave Scantling, director of information and federation strategy for the Business Transformation Agency, said the federation strategy aligns business rules and processes with service and agency components for what he called “tiered accountability.” He likened the set of interoperable rules with the levels of government—federal, state and local—working in tandem to achieve a common goal.

More news on related topics: Business Process Management, Defense IT, Enterprise Architecture



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