DOL Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2003
Outcome Goal IT

Provide Better and More Secure Service to Citizens, Businesses, Government, and DOL Employees to Improve Mission Performance

As discussed in the President's Management Agenda, effective management of information technology is a critical success factor for nearly every facet of our operations.

The Department uses information technology to improve program performance — with the aim of providing better service to citizens, businesses, other governments, and our federal partners and employees. The Department is transforming the way we serve our customers, with the ultimate aim of becoming a "Digital Department." Our E-Government Strategic Plan, published in February 2003, presents the roadmap for this transformation — the Department's E-Government Framework. The Framework offers a comprehensive approach that articulates the partnership between the Department's mission specialists and information technologists to improve organizational performance and customer service delivery. Our E-Government Framework will ensure that E-Government at DOL is not a collection of independent projects, but an integrated approach to conducting business that serves the mission, goals, and objectives of the Department.

The key elements of DOL's E-Government Framework include:

• Better Customer Relationships. Developing capabilities that help the Department identify customers more precisely, and improve customer service.
• Improved Organizational Capability. Improved policies, planning, and management to better develop, implement, and sustain a high level of digital services in support of the Department's mission.
• Better Enterprise Architecture. The methodology used to ensure that information technologies are aligned with the mission, goals, and objectives of the Department and the broader Federal government.
• Improved Security and Privacy. An integrated planning approach to develop and implement policies and procedures that enhance security and privacy to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of data, and availability of services. The integrated approach also includes the analysis of threats and vulnerabilities integral to risk mitigation and management.
• Reduced Burden. An integrated planning, development and implementation approach to streamline, simplify, and reduce public burden by elimination of collection duplication through the use of information technology and reengineering of business processes.

The IT performance goal and measures are designed to support quality administrative and management services that further the mission of the Department. While the goal was not achieved, most targets were reached, and efforts earned a “green” progress rating in the most recent PMA Scorecard. More detailed discussion of Performance Goal IT results and strategies follow.

Effective Information Management

Performance Goal IT (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management)) – FY 2003

Improve organizational performance and communication through effective information management and deployment of IT resources.

Indicator

Improve customer access to DOL information and services by automating 90 percent of the manual processes designated under the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) by September 30, 2003.

Streamline acquisition management and facilitate vendor and grantee access to DOL opportunities by completing 90 percent of the Department wide E-Procurement system.

Reduce severe unauthorized intrusions by 50 percent from the baseline.

95 percent of IT initiatives completed during FY 2003 deliver intended benefits.

80 percent of in-process IT initiatives operate within 10 percent cost, schedule, and technical performance parameters.

Results

The goal was not achieved. Targets for three of five indicators were reached, and a fourth was substantially reached. DOL reached its target to reduce severe unauthorized intrusions by 50 percent and it reached its improving customer access target by automating 90 percent of GPEA designated manual processes. DOL also reached its target for in-process IT initiative performance, as 84 percent of these initiatives operated within 10 percent of the selected performance parameters, compared to a target of 80 percent. Ninety four percent of DOL IT initiatives completed during FY 2003 delivered their intended benefits, just short of its 95 percent target. The target to complete 90 percent of the E-Procurement system was not met, but DOL did successfully pilot the new system.

Program Description

The Department's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management provides leadership, policy guidance, and assistance to DOL agencies to promote the efficient and effective use of information technology (IT). DOL strives to use the latest technologies to further its mission by improving customer access to automated solutions, strengthening IT investment planning, and protecting DOL information through enhanced computer security policies and practices.

Analysis of Results

DOL is successfully linking IT investments to Departmental missions, priorities, and strategies. Improved security measures have helped to facilitate a secure computing environment that provides confidentiality, integrity, and availability of DOL information and systems. Intrusion detection and tracking logs are built into our IT environment and workflow along with standard auditing capabilities. To further improve customer access to DOL information and services, 90 percent of the manual processes designated under the GPEA have been automated.

The original target to complete 90 percent of the Department wide E-Procurement system was established over two years ago. Because the vendor selection process took much longer than anticipated the pilot and implementation schedule was delayed. The initial target was to identify and procure the solution in FY2001, conduct the pilot and start the rollout in FY 2002, and nearly complete the implementation in FY 2003. The timing for the release has not changed substantially. The majority of the system rollout is now scheduled for FY 2004, and completion is scheduled for early FY 2005.

Strategies

The Department continued to plan, acquire, and implement new information technology, business solutions, services and capabilities. DOL conducted post implementation reviews to ensure that IT investments achieve their intended results. The Department applied a “Defense in Depth” security strategy that leverages the capabilities of people, operations and security technologies to establish multiple layers of protection. The Department's layered security approach includes security technology, such as intrusion detection devices, firewalls, public key infrastructure (PKI) authentication mechanisms, and virus scanning. These security devices help protect the Department's networks and computer systems from malicious attacks, denials of service or unauthorized access from internal and external sources.

The Department identified a total of 254 transactions subject to GPEA. The Department is on course to automate 100 percent of these transactions by 2005. DOL has contracted with a commercial-off-the-shelf procurement software vendor. The pilot demonstrated that this web-based procurement solution allows users to initiate purchase requests, electronically route for approvals, and submit for final processing. This system will help streamline, standardize, and automate the Department's procurement process, and provide greater management tools and more accurate financial information.

Management Issues

DOL monitors its progress meeting IT goals through quarterly reviews, which assure that current IT initiatives operate within cost and deliver their intended benefits. The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) relies on the self-reporting of initiatives' cost, schedule, and performance by the various project teams. The Department intends to implement a new core accounting system by FY 2006, which will assist with capturing project cost-related information electronically.

Goal Assessment and Future Plans:

The Department will maintain our objective to improve organizational performance and communication through effective information management and deployment of IT resources. Implementation of our E-government Strategic Plan will support achievement of DOL's goals relating to Customer Relationship Management, Enterprise Architecture, Organizational Capability, Security and Privacy. We are currently developing indicators for this IT goal. These new indicators will be implemented in FY 2004 and directly relate to the Administration's E-government scorecard and DOL's E-government goals.