FAQ: Business Transformation Agency (BTA)

PDF version of this FAQ

What prompted the stand-up of the Defense Business Transformation Agency (BTA)?

With the recognition by the Department's leadership that the Business Mission Area (BMA) needed to enhance support to the warfighter and provide better financial accountability to the American people, the Defense Business Systems Management Committee (DBSMC) approved the establishment of a defense agency to lead and coordinate business transformation efforts across the Department of Defense (DoD). Deputy Secretary of Defense, Gordon England directed the establishment of the Defense Business Transformation Agency (BTA) in a memorandum effective October 7, 2005. The mission of this Agency is to transform business operations to achieve improved warfighter support while enabling financial accountability across the Department of Defense. The BTA announced its organizational structure February 3, 2006.

What are the goals of the BTA? What does the Department hope to accomplish?

The BTA enables support to the warfighter and provides accountability to the American taxpayer by systematically improving DoD's business processes, systems and investment governance. To achieve goals providing consistency, consolidation and coordination across the Department of Defense, the DoD produced the Enterprise Transition Plan (ETP), an integrated and executable roadmap aligned to the Business Enterprise Architecture (BEA). The ETP and the BEA enable the Department to transform business operations to achieve improved warfighter support while enabling financial accountability across the Department of Defense.

What will the make-up of the BTA be?

Mr. David M. Fisher was named Director of the BTA on February 22, 2007. Mr. Fisher reports to the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Business Transformation (AT&L).

Directorates within the BTA include the Defense Business Systems Acquisition Executive (DBSAE), Enterprise Integration, Transformation Planning and Performance, Transformation Priorities and Requirements - Financial Management, Transformation Priorities and Requirements - Human Resources Management, Transformation Priorities and Requirements - Supply Chain Management, Investment Management, Warfighter Support, and Chief of Staff. For information on leadership of the BTA, click here.

In regards to BTA personnel, how many people are expected to staff the BTA? Where will the BTA be headquartered?

It is estimated that the Agency will be staffed by approximately 350 personnel, which includes government and contract staff. The BTA is headquartered in Arlington, VA.

How will the establishment of the BTA improve the Department’s business transformation initiative?

The BTA has been established to a) ensure consistency, consolidation and coordination of DoD Enterprise-level business systems, and b) reduce redundancies in business systems and overhead costs. The Agency is responsible for integrating the work of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Principal Staff Assistants (PSAs) in the areas of business process re-engineering, Core Business Mission (CBM) activities and Investment Review Board (IRB) matters, as determined by the DBSMC. The BTA encourages further collaboration across the Department, by working to achieve centralized visibility to investments in enterprise-wide business transformation efforts.

What will be the role of the Business Management Modernization Program (BMMP) in defense business transformation? What will change within the program now that the BTA has been established?

The Business Transformation Agency represents an evolutionary step forward in the Department's efforts to transform its Business Mission Area (BMA). Previously, the Business Management Modernization Program (BMMP), BMMP served as the basis for transformation within the Department's BMA.

However, with the establishment of the BTA, BMMP ceases to exist as a program. Through the BTA, DoD is able to further refine the scope and approach defined within the ETP and the BEA, through the consolidation, coordination and integration of the Department's Enterprise-level business transformation activities. The stand-up of the BTA provides for a formal, centralized approach to the Departments business transformation goals, providing greater streamlined processes and tiered accountability.

This is not the first business transformation initiative that the Department has undertaken. How is the current defense business transformation initiative different from previous attempts?

In transforming its business operations, the DoD faces many of the same issues that confront large corporations. As it is not economically or organizationally possible to make sweeping changes all at once, successful transformation focuses on a clear set of priorities aligned to the most urgent customer needs. Additionally, change must be driven from the top with a clear accountability of what functions, systems, and standards will be centralized versus decentralized.

The Department's most recent business transformation effort embodies these principles and, since its inception in 2001, has become the vehicle for change. The ongoing DoD Enterprise and Component partnership has resulted in the development of a clearer understanding of the expansive business and financial systems environment of the Department and where opportunities exist to leverage information technology (IT) assets to deliver improved capabilities to the warfighter. System reductions will be a by-product of successful business transformation. Guided by the DBSMC's structured approach of focusing on priority capabilities and through the leadership of the BTA, transformation to a modern defense business infrastructure is fully underway.

Is DoD creating a new bureaucracy through the establishment of the BTA?

No. The establishment of the BTA does not create a new bureaucracy, it creates a focused vehicle for business execution and accountability. Previously, defense business transformation efforts and system investments were executed across a number of separate organizations within the Department. This structure created challenges for the organization as it worked to integrate its historically disparate business processes and systems. The BTA shifts the resources working on business process and system modernization into a unified, focused organization. In doing this, the Department is encouraging further collaboration, and achieving centralized visibility to investments in DoD-wide business modernization efforts. Establishing the BTA also provides an opportunity to minimize redundancy and reduce overhead.