U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

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Migration Planning Guidance

1. Overview

The primary purpose of this Migration Planning Guidance (MPG) is to assist customer agencies to prepare for, and manage, a migration of their human resource management operations to a shared services environment under the Human Resources Line of Business (HR LOB) initiative. The MPG provides tools and guidance to agency human resources (HR) executives, their management teams, and the management teams of public and private shared service centers (SSCs). The MPG should be helpful to all organizations involved with Federal human resource management. The MPG is a living document and will be updated periodically.

The HR LOB initiative was launched in 2004 to support the vision articulated in the President's Management Agenda. The HR LOB is expected to help the Federal government realize the potential of electronic government by significantly enhancing human resources service delivery within the executive branch. The HR LOB Concept of Operations (CONOPS), summarized in Section 3, proposes a near-term service delivery model in which HR services relating to human resources information systems (HRIS) and payroll operations move from the agencies to HR shared service centers.

The HR LOB Business Reference Model (BRM), version 2, provides the detailed business activities that inform the Concept of Operations (CONOPS). It also provides the structure for operational placement decisions (e.g., retain at agency or move to shared service center). Some activities will continue to be performed by customer agencies; other activities will be performed in the future by shared service providers; and some activities will be performed jointly by customer agencies and shared service providers. Additionally, BRM activities in this end-to-end process offer a tangible basis for identifying provider requirements: the specification of technology, process, role and service level expectations of the service providers.

This MPG document provides stakeholders:

• An overview of the HR LOB vision, scope, goals and objectives.

• A description of enterprise architecture design.

• The Concept of Operations.

• The proposed migration guidelines.

• A task order template.

• The migration roles and responsibilities.

• A migration roadmap.

The HR LOB Migration Planning Guidance contained herein will allow customer agencies to effectively and efficiently migrate to SSCs and increase their focus on the Strategic Management of Human Capital. In turn, HR shared service centers will deliver the HR core and non-core services defined in the HR LOB CONOPS in an efficient and cost-effective manner with a focus on customer and service quality.

1.1 Strategic Vision, Scope, Goals and Objectives

The vision of the HR LOB initiative is to provide "Governmentwide, modern, cost-effective, standardized and interoperable human resource solutions providing common core functionality to support the Strategic Management of Human Capital and addressing duplicative and redundant HR systems and processes across the Federal Government." The scope of the migration guidance is both organizational and functional. It applies to all customer agencies and public and private shared service providers. The major goals and objectives of HR LOB are outlined in the table below.

GOALS	OBJECTIVES
Improved Management of Human Capital Improve the Government wide Strategic Management of Human Capital	Faster decision making More informed policy making More effective workforce management Improved resource alignment with agency missions
Operational Efficiencies Achieve or increase operational efficiencies in the acquisition, development, implementation and operation of human resources management systems	Improved servicing ratio/ response times Reduced cycle times Improved automated reporting
Cost Savings / Avoidance Achieve or increase cost savings/avoidance from HR solution activities	Reduced duplicative software / hardware / operations / labor resources Increased competitive environment
Improved Customer Service Improve customer services	Increased accessibility to client and value Improved communication and responsiveness Enhanced quality Enhanced timeliness Enhanced accuracy Enhanced consistency

Table 1. HR LOB Goals and Objectives

The benefits of achieving the goals and objectives outlined above include:

• Preserving the benefits of competition.

• Providing economies of scale gained through SSCs whose utilization, performance and cost efficiencies will be maximized.

• Building upon the enterprise architecture that is standards based and scalable in terms of additional functionality and utilization by all customer agencies.

1.2 Governance

The HR LOB governance structure establishes the oversight and development of the common solution(s) for the transformation of the Federal Government a duplicative, dispersed HR IT environment to a standardized solution or set of solutions characterized by interoperability, efficiency, and service excellence. The governance structure described below was developed to enable a competitive environment in which customer agencies will have the option to choose from a public or private shared service center for their human resources functions (core and non-core) and to facilitate a seamless integration of HR solutions. It ensures each Federal agency has a voice in determining how the common solution(s) will be developed and implemented while enabling existing SSCs to participate in the process. The current governance structure of the HR LOB includes three tiers.

The Strategy, Policy, Planning and Oversight tier:

• The Multi-Agency Executive Strategy Committee (MAESC) is composed of 24 member agencies with OPM and OMB as co-chairs. The 24 participating agencies are Agency for International Development (USAID), Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Commerce (DOC), Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Education (ED), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Labor (DOL), Department of State (State), Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Treasury (Treasury), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), General Services Administration (GSA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Intelligence Community, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Science Foundation (NSF), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and Social Security Administration (SSA).

• The MAESC is co-chaired by the OPM HR LOB Program Director and the OMB Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness (IEE) Portfolio Manager.

• The MAESC includes ex-officio members from divisions within OPM, as well as liaisons to the CIO Council, CFO Council, Small Agency Council, Federal Acquisition Council, and Budget Officers Advisory Council.

• The MAESC ultimately reports to the OPM Director, who chairs the Chief Human Capital Officers' Council (CHCOC).

• The Requirements Board oversees and approves the policy requirements for HR LOB SSCs. The Requirements Board reports to the Director of OPM through OPM's Strategic Human Resources Policy (SHRP) division. The Requirements Board, which does not have authority over the MAESC or its subordinate bodies, has a dotted line relationship with the HR LOB MAESC.

• The Chief Human Capital Officers Council (CHCOC) Subcommittee on the HR LOB supports governmentwide efforts to transform the delivery of HR services within the Federal government so that agencies can devote their time and effort to the more strategic management of human capital. This Subcommittee, as part of the governance structure of the OPM HR LOB Program, is focused on ensuring that this transformation is implemented successfully across Government.

The User Requirements tier:

• The requirements workgroups develop the policy requirements for SSCs.

• The Customer Council that represents the voice of the customer, consists of 13 representatives from across the Federal Government including OPM, and reports directly to the MAESC.

• The following workgroups developed the enterprise architecture (EA) and will continue to provide updates to the EA when required:

  • Business Reference Model Workgroup.

  • Data Model Workgroup.

  • Performance Model Workgroup.

  • Service Component Model Workgroup.

  • Technical Model Workgroup.

The Operations and Delivery tier:

• The Shared Service Center Advisory Council/Payroll Advisory Council (SSCAC) represents the voice of the providers and includes representatives from the five Federal SSCs and DOD's Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) and the GSA as payroll providers. The SSCAC reports directly to the MAESC.

Figure 1: HR LOB Governance Structure

1.3 Frequently Asked Questions

HR LOB published the Frequently Asked Questions document that covers the following issues:

• HR LOB Overview.

• HR LOB Structure and Governance.

• Accomplishments and Next Steps.

• Migration to Shared Service Centers.

The complete HR LOB Frequently Asked Questions document is available on http://www.opm.gov/egov/HR_LOB/FAQ/HRLOBFAQMarch07.pdf [226 KB].

The below questions pertain to migrations to SSCs and are taken directly from the HR LOB Frequently Asked Questions document.

Who are the current SSCs and how were they selected?

The HR LOB has thus far selected five public sector SSCs to provide HR services for the Federal Government. These five SSCs are:

• Department of Agriculture (National Finance Center and partnered with Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service).

• Department of Defense (Civilian Personnel Management Service and partnered with Defense Finance and Accounting Service).

• Department of Health and Human Services (Program Support Center and partnered with Defense Finance and Accounting Service).

• Department of the Interior (National Business Center).

• Department of Treasury (HR Connect and partnered with Bureau of Public Debt and National Finance Center)

A panel composed of representatives from the MAESC agencies reviewed and qualified the current public sector SSCs.

OPM and GSA have partnered to establish and administer a schedule of private sector SSCs on Multiple Award Schedule 738.X, for which the Federal Acquisition Service at GSA is the responsible party. Currently, the schedule contains four private sector SSCs to provide HR services for the Federal Government. These four private sector SSCs are:

• Accenture National Security Services.

• Allied Technology Group, Inc.

• Carahsoft Technology Corporation.

• International Business Machines.

A panel composed of representatives from the MAESC agencies reviewed and qualified the current private sector SSCs. More information about the schedule and SSC offerings is available on GSA's website.

Are the HR LOB SSCs identical to the e-Payroll providers?

The HR LOB currently has five Federal agencies qualified as HR LOB SSCs and four Federal agencies qualified as e-Payroll providers. Two out of the four e-Payroll providers are also qualified as HR LOB SSCs. The Department of the Interior's National Business Center and the Department of Agriculture's National Finance Center are both SSCs as well as e-Payroll providers. The remaining two e-Payroll providers - The Department of Defense's Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), and the General Services Administration's National Payroll Branch (NPB) - are e-Payroll providers but are not HR LOB SSCs. In addition to the four e-Payroll providers, Accenture National Security Services in partnership with ADP, Allied Technology Group, Inc. in partnership with Ceridian, and Carahsoft Technology Corporation in partnership with Ceridian also offer payroll services.

How will agencies select an SSC?

Specific guidance for the SSC selection process and public-private competition is included in the Competition Framework section of this document.

When and how will agencies move their HR services to an SSC?

The migration dates will depend on each agency. Migration decisions are made by the agency and should be based on the state of an agency's current HR systems and how imminently the agency needs to modernize or replace their systems. Each agency is expected to work closely with the HR LOB and OMB to determine its readiness for the selection of, and migration to an SSC.

How will the migrations be funded?

The migration costs will be borne by the migrating agencies. Agencies should take this into consideration during their budget formulation process and coordinate their planning activities with OMB and OPM. More information is provided in Section 4 of this document.

When may it be appropriate to engage Labor Relations at the Customer Agency?

It may be appropriate in the Assess, Define, Select, and Migrate phases documented in the Migration Roadmap to engage Labor Relations at the customer agency. In particular, it may be appropriate during activities around organizational readiness assessments, change management strategies and plans, and the identification and revision of job roles and responsibilities.