VUE-IT

FAQ | Glossary

VUE-IT Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Tell me about the Q4 FY2008 Management Watch List (MWL) Tell me about the Q4 FY2008 High Risk List (HRL) How do I use VUE-IT? What about data quality? If I have a question, comment, or feedback, how and to whom should I ask it? Can OMB put VUE-IT in context to OMB's other data visualization and transparency sites? Has a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) been conducted on VUE-IT? Has OMB published a Schedule of Records (SOR) for VUE-IT? Tell me about the Q4 FY2008 Management Watch List (MWL) As of September 30, 2008, there were 216 major IT investments remaining on the Management Watch List, representing over $20 billion in FY 2009 IT budget requests. The 216 investments represent a 63 percent decline from the original Management Watch List of 585 investments announced in February with the President's Budget release. This large decrease was largely due to improved agency inspector general (IG) assessments of the agency's Certification and Accreditation process and the agency's Privacy Impact Assessment process. Tell me about the Q4 FY2008 High Risk List (HRL) The High Risk List (HRL) now includes 549 projects that were determined to be high risk due to varying factors, such as complexity of the project, scope or level of importance. There was a significant jump in the number of projects (216) on the Final FY 2008 HRL, due to OMB's policy of moving all Q4 MWL investments to the HRL. These 549 projects represent over $26 billion in FY 2009 IT budget requests. Even with the list including the Q4 FY2008 MWL investments, the 549 HRL projects still represent a 9 percent decline from the original High Risk List of 601 projects announced in February with the President's Budget release. To continue to foster transparency, OMB has continued to release the reasons for inclusion on the High Risk List. How do I use VUE-IT? VUE-IT provides users with a drill down browsing capability. This capability allows users to navigate from higher levels of summarized data to reveal detailed information. For example, users may view all investments being made by the FBI within the Department of Justice, or all investments across the entire Federal Government with a primary mission of supporting Law Enforcement. On each page, users can enable filters associated with the HRL and MWL. Turning on the filters for both the HRL and MWL will produce the intersection between these lists, or the collection of investments that are on both lists. Alternatively, users can select the filter for both the MWL and the HRL - this filter shows the union of the two lists, or investments that are on either list. Users can also sort the tables shown on most pages to display in ascending or descending order for each column. Further, on the agency-based pages, there is a column showing "unmapped HR" projects. These are projects that are on the HRL but are as yet unmapped to a specific investment in the agencies Exhibit 53. Users can also drill out to see detail on unmapped HRL projects, including the rationale for their inclusion on the HRL. At the lowest level of drill down, VUE-IT provides the users with details about the IT investment or project. For example, for High Risk Projects, VUE-IT provides the reasons why the agency or OMB views the identified project as high risk. For the Management Watch List, VUE-IT provides the OMB identified weaknesses in the Major IT Investment planning information and the evaluations OMB provided the investment as part of OMB's review of the agency Exhibit 300. Links to those Exhibit 300s are provided on this page as well. On each webpage, users have the capability of downloading a CSV file of the data contained on the page they are viewing. Users also have the option to download the Management Watch List or High Risk List as either a PDF file or a CSV file by following the "Download Other Lists" link. What about data quality? Overall, the quality of the data is good for drawing general conclusions, or identifying areas to use as points of departure where stakeholders are pursuing targeted outcomes. However, a few caveats should be kept in mind: In some cases there is missing data. Two examples are: i. Unmapped HRL projects as previously described ii. in the agency - bureau hierarchy, some missing bureau designations Agencies have traditionally had discretion in how they choose FEA mappings for their investments. This leads to a certain level of inconsistency across agencies. In some cases, agencies map to the mission area of the agency rather than the mission area of the investment when they select their FEA categorization. These are primary mappings. In some cases the investments are intended to work across organization units, or will support multiple mission areas. Some of the HRL projects are included as part of larger agency investments on the Exhibit 53. (These can be identified at the lowest level of drill down as items with UPIs ending in "-07"). Therefore, the investment counts may be slightly different than the number of investments indicated in other information technology spending reports, as the more detailed layer of projects are included. OMB intends to work with the agencies and enhance VUE-IT, to continually improve data quality, completeness, and validity. Also, with stakeholder use and inquiry, OMB and agencies will be able to identify further opportunities for improvement. If I have a question, comment, or feedback, how and to whom should I ask it? Please feel free to direct comments or questions about specific investments, and their status on the MWL or the HRL, to the agencies in question. Contact information for agency CIOs can be found on the CIO Council website ( cio.gov ). OMB is committed to improving the utility, quality, and usefulness of VUE-IT. Please direct any comments, questions, or other feedback to OMB via the VUE-IT Requirements Community Wiki. Can OMB put VUE-IT in context to OMB's other data visualization and transparency sites? OMB recognizes that it is uniquely positioned within the Federal Government to integrate and make accessible data and information to help stakeholders gain insight into Federal budgetary planning, spending, and performance. OMB publishes the President's Budget at www.budget.gov. Federal spending is consolidated and published at www.usaspending.gov. Performance of agencies is measured and reported upon at www.expectmore.gov. Information about earmarks can be found at earmarks.omb.gov. The Federal IT Budget information can also be found on Egov.gov (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/g-9-budget_highlights.html). Has a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) been conducted on VUE-IT? The Privacy Impact Assessment associated with VUE-IT can be found here. Has OMB published a Schedule of Records (SOR) for VUE-IT? The Schedule of Records for VUE-IT may be accessed here.

VUE-IT Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Tell me about the Q4 FY2008 Management Watch List (MWL)
Tell me about the Q4 FY2008 High Risk List (HRL)
How do I use VUE-IT?
What about data quality?
If I have a question, comment, or feedback, how and to whom should I ask it?
Can OMB put VUE-IT in context to OMB's other data visualization and transparency sites?
Has a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) been conducted on VUE-IT?
Has OMB published a Schedule of Records (SOR) for VUE-IT?

Tell me about the Q4 FY2008 Management Watch List (MWL)

As of September 30, 2008, there were 216 major IT investments remaining on the Management Watch List, representing over $20 billion in FY 2009 IT budget requests. The 216 investments represent a 63 percent decline from the original Management Watch List of 585 investments announced in February with the President's Budget release. This large decrease was largely due to improved agency inspector general (IG) assessments of the agency's Certification and Accreditation process and the agency's Privacy Impact Assessment process.

Tell me about the Q4 FY2008 High Risk List (HRL)

The High Risk List (HRL) now includes 549 projects that were determined to be high risk due to varying factors, such as complexity of the project, scope or level of importance. There was a significant jump in the number of projects (216) on the Final FY 2008 HRL, due to OMB's policy of moving all Q4 MWL investments to the HRL. These 549 projects represent over $26 billion in FY 2009 IT budget requests. Even with the list including the Q4 FY2008 MWL investments, the 549 HRL projects still represent a 9 percent decline from the original High Risk List of 601 projects announced in February with the President's Budget release. To continue to foster transparency, OMB has continued to release the reasons for inclusion on the High Risk List.

How do I use VUE-IT?

VUE-IT provides users with a drill down browsing capability. This capability allows users to navigate from higher levels of summarized data to reveal detailed information. For example, users may view all investments being made by the FBI within the Department of Justice, or all investments across the entire Federal Government with a primary mission of supporting Law Enforcement.

On each page, users can enable filters associated with the HRL and MWL. Turning on the filters for both the HRL and MWL will produce the intersection between these lists, or the collection of investments that are on both lists. Alternatively, users can select the filter for both the MWL and the HRL - this filter shows the union of the two lists, or investments that are on either list.

Users can also sort the tables shown on most pages to display in ascending or descending order for each column. Further, on the agency-based pages, there is a column showing "unmapped HR" projects. These are projects that are on the HRL but are as yet unmapped to a specific investment in the agencies Exhibit 53. Users can also drill out to see detail on unmapped HRL projects, including the rationale for their inclusion on the HRL.

At the lowest level of drill down, VUE-IT provides the users with details about the IT investment or project. For example, for High Risk Projects, VUE-IT provides the reasons why the agency or OMB views the identified project as high risk. For the Management Watch List, VUE-IT provides the OMB identified weaknesses in the Major IT Investment planning information and the evaluations OMB provided the investment as part of OMB's review of the agency Exhibit 300. Links to those Exhibit 300s are provided on this page as well.

On each webpage, users have the capability of downloading a CSV file of the data contained on the page they are viewing. Users also have the option to download the Management Watch List or High Risk List as either a PDF file or a CSV file by following the "Download Other Lists" link.

What about data quality?

Overall, the quality of the data is good for drawing general conclusions, or identifying areas to use as points of departure where stakeholders are pursuing targeted outcomes.

However, a few caveats should be kept in mind:

In some cases there is missing data. Two examples are:
Agencies have traditionally had discretion in how they choose FEA mappings for their investments. This leads to a certain level of inconsistency across agencies.
In some cases, agencies map to the mission area of the agency rather than the mission area of the investment when they select their FEA categorization.
These are primary mappings. In some cases the investments are intended to work across organization units, or will support multiple mission areas.
Some of the HRL projects are included as part of larger agency investments on the Exhibit 53. (These can be identified at the lowest level of drill down as items with UPIs ending in "-07"). Therefore, the investment counts may be slightly different than the number of investments indicated in other information technology spending reports, as the more detailed layer of projects are included.

OMB intends to work with the agencies and enhance VUE-IT, to continually improve data quality, completeness, and validity. Also, with stakeholder use and inquiry, OMB and agencies will be able to identify further opportunities for improvement.

If I have a question, comment, or feedback, how and to whom should I ask it?

Please feel free to direct comments or questions about specific investments, and their status on the MWL or the HRL, to the agencies in question. Contact information for agency CIOs can be found on the CIO Council website ( cio.gov ).

OMB is committed to improving the utility, quality, and usefulness of VUE-IT. Please direct any comments, questions, or other feedback to OMB via the VUE-IT Requirements Community Wiki.

Can OMB put VUE-IT in context to OMB's other data visualization and transparency sites?

OMB recognizes that it is uniquely positioned within the Federal Government to integrate and make accessible data and information to help stakeholders gain insight into Federal budgetary planning, spending, and performance.

OMB publishes the President's Budget at www.budget.gov. Federal spending is consolidated and published at www.usaspending.gov. Performance of agencies is measured and reported upon at www.expectmore.gov. Information about earmarks can be found at earmarks.omb.gov.

The Federal IT Budget information can also be found on Egov.gov (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/g-9-budget_highlights.html).

Has a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) been conducted on VUE-IT?

The Privacy Impact Assessment associated with VUE-IT can be found here.

Has OMB published a Schedule of Records (SOR) for VUE-IT?

The Schedule of Records for VUE-IT may be accessed here.