News
Transforming Program Performance through Enterprise Architecture
Bethesda, MD—April 7, 2006—Digital Management, Inc. co-sponsored a two-day conference of industry and Government thought leaders to discuss how Enterprise Architecture (EA) can guide improved business performance in Federal Agencies.
Throughout the Federal Government, Agency EAs are maturing. IT professionals understand the increasing importance of a solid architecture to govern technology management investments. However, articulating an EA's value to overburdened program and business offices can be challenging. Conference attendees discussed the importance of fully defining the EA's role by moving it out of the IT shop and into an Agency's business areas—where its value in driving improved business performance can become clear. This entails transitioning EA from its most common use—as an information technology tool—to a more ubiquitous business tool used to guide the development of mission-driven solutions.
Digital Management's Debra Stouffer, Senior Vice President of Business Development, participated in a panel of Industry thought leaders who discussed strategies Agencies might apply to demonstrate the impact and value of an EA on program results.
Workforce issues were also discussed. Ms. Stouffer pointed out that Agencies are only starting to integrate the workforce component into their EAs. Understanding how people integrate with the business, applications, and technology is critical to planning and transforming government services. Significant skills gaps currently exist, especially among enterprise and solution architects. Gaps also exist among program managers and security architects. The EA must be used to guide skills development (both in industry and in government) and align people with the transformational work to be done.
Ms. Stouffer emphasized such transformation cannot be achieved solely through an Agency's IT shop. It requires advocacy, executive authority, and clear alignment with business objectives. Asked about the changing roles of the Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer, Ms. Stouffer suggested that they might be reconstituted to reflect its enterprise-wide scope: Chief Transformation Officer, or better, Business Transformation Officer, reflecting the OCIO's ongoing shift from infrastructure management to business intelligence leadership.
This conference provided an important step in facilitating communication and collaboration as Government and industry take the next important step in the maturation of Agency EAs: implementing the tools and methodologies that will drive measurable business results.
About Digital Management
Founded in 2002, Digital Management is a best-of-breed information technology services firm providing strategy and solutions that are transforming government operations in more than a dozen Federal Agencies. Digital Management applies its expertise in Internet and secure information systems technologies to help create an increasingly interoperable, responsive, and cost-effective government. Digital Management provides secure end-to-end information technology services and solutions in three key areas: Strategic Consulting, Network Infrastructure, and Application Development. Digital Management is an SBA-certified minority-owned, 8(a) small business.
Contact:
Andrew J. Musliner
240.223.4809 (office)