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Strategic Plan

EIA supports Strategic Theme 1 (Energy Security) in the 2006 Department of Energy (DOE) Strategic Plan.  Theme 1 is “to promote America’s energy security through reliable, clean, and affordable energy.” EIA provides dependable and timely energy information that measures, analyzes, and projects the supply, delivery, price, and consumption of energy.

EIA’s 2008 – 2012 Strategic Plan focuses on changes that EIA will make in the next 5 years to meet challenges or benefit from opportunities which are expected to occur.   The following currently have the most impact on EIA: 

  1. EIA replaced approximately one-third of its 375 employees during the past five years and expects to replace an additional one-third during the next five years. Our primary workforce planning focus is staff retention and employee development
  2. Changing energy markets have resulted in growing customer demand for more and value-added energy information.
  3. The customer base and expectations are changing—they want more convenient, understandable and useful data, analyses, and projections, presented for a variety of expertise levels.
  4. EIA needs to implement information technology and dissemination options that provide better products and services without significant funding increases.
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Goal 1

EIA has a diverse, highly-skilled and motivated workforce that innovates and improves our products, processes, and services ("Workforce" goal).


EIA’s most serious challenge over the next 5 years is maintaining a highly skilled workforce at high proficiency levels in an exceedingly competitive recruiting and retention environment. Maintaining an excellent workforce is critically important for the other goals.

Objectives

  1. EIA has an effective approach to recruitment.
  2. EIA has an effective approach to retention.
  3. EIA has an effective approach to staff development and knowledge sharing.

Strategies

  1. Implement an EIA-wide recruitment program designed to identify and attract qualified candidates.
  2. Implement an EIA-wide employee retention program.
  3. Implement employee training and knowledge-sharing programs specifically linked to workforce proficiency.
  4. Enhance staff capabilities and opportunities through collaborative projects, job rotations, mentor-protégé relationships, and challenging assignments.
  5. Develop useful, easily updatable and locatable documentation for all EIA products and processes.
  6. Implement approaches to enhance project management and process improvement.
  7. Encourage innovation through recognition.

Performance Measures

  1. Milestones for developing and implementing a recruitment and retention plan.
  2. Percent of new hires that are retained for at least three years.
  3. Employee Organizational Assessment Survey results.
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Goal 2

EIA products and services are responsive to the needs of stakeholders, customers, and partners (“Customer” goal).


EIA employees recognize and strive to meet the needs of its many stakeholders, customers, and partners. Over the past 15 years, the number of people and organizations seeking information from EIA has increased significantly. Additionally, their interest and need for different types of energy information constantly change and expand. This goal emphasizes the importance of identifying and providing information products and services to meet such needs.

Objectives

  1. EIA uses multiple methods to obtain input from stakeholders, customers, and partners.
  2. EIA improves products and services, within resource constraints, based on response to identified user needs.

Strategies

  1. Use customer surveys, cognitive techniques and other relevant means to identify customer groups and their needs, and to develop target products and services.
  2. Increase collaboration and/or partnerships with Federal agencies, academia, associations, and others while upholding EIA’s standards for objectivity and policy neutrality.
  3. Develop and implement an EIA-wide customer outreach strategy.
  4. Every major EIA product and service implements a customer outreach plan.

Performance Measures

  1. Customer survey results.
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Goal 3

EIA is the key source of relevant energy analysis to inform policymakers, industry, academia, and the public (“Analysis” goal).


Much information on the EIA website consists of data from EIA’s 70+ statistical surveys that have always been the core of EIA’s information. However, customers are increasingly asking for more analyses of energy issues and trends and explanatory information about the data. In addition to serving customers better, performing analysis provides a vehicle for in-house staff to learn and, sometimes, to discover errors, anomalies or data gaps whose resolution improves EIA data and projections.

Objectives

  1. EIA identifies, produces and disseminates relevant and objective analysis.
  2. EIA has a cross-Office approach to energy analysis and analysis product design.
  3. EIA has a synergistic analysis and data program.

Strategies

  1. Identify and regularly update relevant energy analysis topics.
  2. Develop and implement a coordinated EIA-wide energy analysis process.
  3. Solicit customer feedback on analytical products.
  4. Develop, implement, and continually improve energy modeling and analysis tools.
  5. Enhance analytical staff capabilities and cross-Office collaboration.

Performance Measures

  1. Milestones for developing an EIA catalog of current and future analysis products and an efficient process for approving, tracking, and reviewing analysis projects.
  2. Milestones for developing a branded product line for EIA’s analysis outputs.
  3. Quantity of updated and new analysis products as measured against the analysis catalog.
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Goal 4

EIA is a model for the innovative use of communication and information technologies to enhance organization performance and efficiency, product quality, and service delivery (“Tools” goal).


All EIA information products are available through the EIA website, but its design and function need to be improved—customers sometimes have difficulty locating information, or can’t find it. Additionally, different customer groups require different levels or types of information and interactivity. EIA’s goal is for its website to disseminate comprehensive information quickly and easily to a variety of customer groups.

In support of the information technology aspect of this goal, EIA will have an enterprise suite of tools for data collection, processing, storage, dissemination, communication, and lifecycle management to support the mission critical functions of the agency.

Objectives

  1. EIA has a world-class Web site.
  2. EIA’s data and information are integrated and readily accessible to the appropriate customers.
  3. EIA’s products and services are accurate, timely, targeted and meet the needs of a wide variety of customers.
  4. EIA utilizes appropriate common technologies and processes to effectively support operational functions.

Strategies

  1. Develop and implement an EIA-wide plan to guide the development of the public website.
  2. Develop and implement EIA-wide IT plans in a collaborative manner and in support of both EIA and DOE mission and strategic goals.
  3. Define and implement new online products that embody a “web-centric” approach to disseminating information.
  4. Implement and expand common processes and systems for data collection, processing, storage, dissemination, and internal communication.
  5. Proactively share best practices and lessons learned about new communication and information technologies.

Performance Measures

  1. Milestones for implementing standardized Internet Data Collection EIA-wide.
  2. Cost savings realized from a subset of surveys or programs.
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Goal 5

EIA provides relevant, timely, and reliable data that are consistent with industry changes and end use markets and its data products are easily accessible to all customers (“Data” goal).


Data quality and data accessibility are integral to EIA’s mission. EIA must ensure that data quality is maintained (or improved) at historic high levels across all surveys and data programs and that all its data products are accurate, reliable, timely, and accessible to meet a wide range of customer needs.

Objectives

  1. EIA provides relevant, reliable, high-quality, and timely data and information.
  2. EIA identifies and explores emerging energy data needs based on changes in the industry, economy, and legislation.
  3. EIA seeks to improve the efficiency of data collection by applying state-of-the-art methodologies and information technologies.

Strategies

  1. EIA conducts regular evaluations of its information collection programs and periodically reviews current data series against customers requests to eliminate data that are no longer required or add data if appropriate.
  2. EIA looks for opportunities to review its data collection systems to provide efficiencies in collection, maintenance—including use of the EIA-wide Internet Data Collection system where warranted—and to reduce respondent burden.
  3. EIA implements best-practice guidance to consolidate data into common data repositories for easier access for all customers.
  4. EIA improves its data collection and editing to reduce the need for respondent follow-up.
  5. EIA establishes a feedback loop on data quality issues and on data relevance so that concerns from users both within and outside of EIA are identified and addressed. EIA provides specific information about data quality (including error measures) and timeliness on its website.

Performance Measures

  1. Milestones for enhancement of electronic data editing in the context of EIA’s enterprise-wide Internet Data Collection system.
  2. Milestones for implementing an expanded feedback and evaluation program.
  3. Percent of selected recurring products meeting their release date targets.
  4. Customer survey results.