Developing and Implementing Well-Defined Modernization Blueprints

A key to successfully leveraging information technology for organizational transformation is having and using an enterprise architecture—or modernization blueprint—as an authoritative frame of reference against which to assess and decide how individual system investments are defined, designed, acquired, and developed.

• GAO’s experience has shown that attempting to modernize (and maintain) information technology environments without an architecture to guide and constrain investments results in mission operations and supporting systems that are duplicative, not well-integrated, and costly to maintain, and thus are inefficient and ineffective in achieving institutional goals and performance measures.
• GAO’s work across the federal government shows that the state of enterprise architecture development and implementation continues to vary considerably across departments and agencies, with some having more mature architecture programs than others. However, overall most departments and agencies are not where they need to be, particularly with regard to the content of their architectures and their approaches to assessing each investment’s alignment with them.
  
  Highlights of GAO-06-831 (PDF)
• Accordingly, GAO has made recommendations to departments and agencies that are aimed at improving the content and use of their respective architectures, some progress has been made in recent years.
  
  Highlights of GAO-07-564 (PDF)
• However, much remains to be accomplished before agencies will fully realize the value of having well-defined and implemented architectures.

^ Back to topWhat Needs to Be Done

To advance the state of enterprise architecture development and use in the federal government,

• senior leadership in the departments and agencies need to demonstrate their commitment to this organizational transformation tool, and
• they need to ensure that the kind of management controls embodied in GAO’s Enterprise Architecture Management Maturity Framework are in place and functioning.
  
  Full Report of GAO-03-584G (PDF, 32 pages)

GAO’s existing recommendations to departments and agencies are aimed at accomplishing this.

^ Back to topKey Reports

DOD Business Systems Modernization: Military Departments Need to Strengthen Management of Enterprise Architecture Programs

GAO-08-519, May 12, 2008

Summary (HTML)   Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 56 pages)   Accessible Text

Homeland Security: DHS Enterprise Architecture Continues to Evolve but Improvements Needed

GAO-07-564, May 9, 2007

Summary (HTML)   Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 82 pages)   Accessible Text   Recommendations (HTML)

Enterprise Architecture: Leadership Remains Key to Establishing and Leveraging Architectures for Organizational Transformation

GAO-06-831, August 14, 2006

Summary (HTML)   Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 182 pages)   Accessible Text   Recommendations (HTML)

Homeland Security: Efforts Under Way to Develop Enterprise Architecture, but Much Work Remains

GAO-04-777, August 6, 2004

Summary (HTML)   Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 91 pages)   Accessible Text   Recommendations (HTML)

Information Technology: A Framework for Assessing and Improving Enterprise Architecture Management (Version 1.1)

GAO-03-584G, April 1, 2003

Summary (HTML)   Full Report (PDF, 37 pages)   Accessible Text