FAQ - For Agencies

Background:

On June 1, 2009 the Obama Administration launched the IT Dashboard. Through the IT Dashboard, Federal agencies and the public have the ability to view details of Federal information technology (IT) investments online and to track their progress over time. The IT Dashboard displays data received from agency Exhibit 53 and Exhibit 300 reports, including general information on over 7,000 Federal IT investments and detailed data for over 800 of those investments that agencies classify as "major." Agency Chief Information Officers (CIO) are responsible for evaluating and updating select data on a regular basis, which is accomplished through interfaces provided by the IT Dashboard.

General Questions

1. What information does the IT Dashboard display?
2. Who can update agency information on the IT Dashboard?

Handling of Pre-decisional Information

3. What is the "pre-decisional period"?
4. How do we prevent the release of pre-decisional information during the pre-decisional period?

Handling of Sensitive Information

5. Should we be redacting sensitive data in our submissions to OMB?
6. How is procurement-sensitive information handled?
7. Does the IT Dashboard publish security information on individual investments?
8. How does the IT Dashboard protect private data?
9. Is Program/Project Manager information displayed to the public?
10. Does the IT Dashboard display cost data for each milestone, including future milestones?
11. Does the IT Dashboard display performance metrics beyond the current execution year?

Submitting Data to the IT Dashboard

12. How do we submit data to the IT Dashboard?
13. Does monthly reporting also apply to cost and schedule data for non-major investments reported on the Exhibit 53?
14. How do we update information regarding the Agency CIO?

CIO Ratings

15. What is the "Evaluation by Agency CIO" (Evaluation) rating?
16. Which factors does an Agency CIO use to rate an investment?
17. How often should an Agency CIO enter the Evaluation for an investment?

Cost, Schedule and Performance

18. What is the difference between an IT investment and an IT project?
19. At what level should cost, schedule and performance information be reported to the IT Dashboard?
20. How does the IT Dashboard calculate cost and schedule ratings?
21. How is the "Overall Rating" calculated?
22. What is the process for requesting, and/or approving baseline changes within the IT Dashboard?
23. Does the IT Dashboard differentiate between development, modernization and enhancement (DME) and steady state (SS) costs?

Contracts

24. Should interagency agreements be reported, even if they cannot be found in the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) or on the USA Spending website?
25. How does the IT Dashboard handle contract numbers that do not match the FPDS database?
26. What data structure should we use to help identify contract numbers in FPDS?

Data Feeds

27. Which IT Dashboard data elements are made available to the public?
28. How are the Exhibit 53 data feed elements populated?
29. How are the Exhibit 300 data feed elements populated?

Answers:

General Questions

1. What information does the IT Dashboard display?

The IT Dashboard displays a subset of data from agency Exhibit 53 and Exhibit 300 reports, and agency updated milestone information, agency CIO evaluations, and other investment information reported by agencies. For a comprehensive list of data elements available to the public on the IT Dashboard, see "Publicly Available Data Fields"

The following 27 agencies have data available on the IT Dashboard:

2.Who can update agency information on the IT Dashboard?

Only agency-authorized users have access privileges to the IT Dashboard "My Investments" screen, where data updates are made. This screen is not visible to those without access, or to the general public.

Handling of Pre-decisional Information

3. What is the "pre-decisional period"?

The " pre-decisional period " refers to the period between November and February when agencies submit data for the following Budget Year, as part of the annual federal budget process. Exhibit 53 and Exhibit 300 data that agencies submit for the Budget Year cycle is considered "pre-decisional" and is not publicly posted on the IT Dashboard until after release of the President's Budget in February.

4. How do we prevent the release of pre-decisional information during the pre-decisional period?

The final Exhibit 53s and Exhibit 300s for the Budget Year should be based on Presidential Budget decisions. At this point, future spending, defined as beyond the Budget Year requested and as provided in the Summary of Spending table in Section B of the Exhibit 300, will not be displayed on the IT Dashboard public view. All variances and planned values for in-progress milestones are considered pre-decisional and will not be publicly displayed on the IT Dashboard. Future milestones are also considered pre-decisional and will not have any fields publicly displayed on the IT Dashboard until after the release of the President's Budget. Each agency can access only its own pre-decisional data and not other agencies' secured information.

Handling of Sensitive Information

5. Should we be redacting sensitive data in our submissions to OMB?

No. The IT Dashboard does not include security or privacy related information on investments. Furthermore, procurement related information is provided for active awarded contracts only (as reported in Section C of Exhibit 300) and out-year milestone costs are not displayed. USAspending.gov is the IT Dashboard's source for much of the procurement data. USAspending.gov pulls data from the publicly-accessible Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) on a daily basis. To prevent the exposure of potentially sensitive data, agencies should always review submissions for possible sensitive data in inappropriate data fields and proper identification of data in published fields as sensitive (e.g., avoid identifying contracts not yet awarded as "awarded" or aspects of the agency acquisition strategy.)

6. How is procurement-sensitive information handled?

The IT Dashboard displays no procurement-sensitive information from the Exhibit 300s. Additional acquisition data associated with contracts identified in the Exhibit 300 (e.g., contractor name) are linked to publicly available records on the USA Spending website.

7. Does the IT Dashboard publish security information on individual investments?

The IT Dashboard does not display any security-related information. Any decisions related to the publication of security data, in the future, will be made in coordination with submitting agencies and reflected in future OMB guidance.

8. How does the IT Dashboard protect private data?

The IT Dashboard only displays information that has been authorized to be released via application and database controls. As always, it is incumbent upon the agencies to review their submissions for the inadvertent inclusion of private data in an inappropriate field.

9. Is Program/Project Manager information displayed to the public?

The IT Dashboard does not provide the name of the Program/Project Manager of an investment.

10. Does the IT Dashboard display cost data for each milestone, including future milestones?

No. Planned cost data for future milestones are obscured in the IT Dashboard public views.

11. Does the IT Dashboard display performance metrics beyond the current execution year?

All performance metrics are displayed on the IT Dashboard for all years reported in the Exhibit 300, except during the "Pre-Decisional Period."

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Submitting Data to the IT Dashboard

12. How do we submit data to the IT Dashboard?

For the IT Dashboard, cost and schedule data, contracts data, performance metrics, Reports and Evaluations by Agency CIOs (Evaluations) are submitted and updated using XML API (System-to-System Integration or Manual XML Load). Only users with valid MAX credentials are able to submit data. Details of the XML API can be found on the MAX Portal at https://max.omb.gov/community/display/Egov/A-11+Schemas.

13. Does monthly reporting also apply to cost and schedule data for non-major investments reported on the Exhibit 53?

Cost and schedule reporting are only required for major investments, on a monthly basis. At this time, there are no plans to enable monthly updates to non-major investments.

14. How do we update information regarding the Agency CIO?

Agency CIOs' biographical information, photos, and contact information available on the IT Dashboard are supplied via data feeds from www.CIO.gov. Agencies should make any necessary updates to the Agency CIO information via the CIO.gov website.

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CIO Ratings

15. What is the " Evaluation by Agency CIO " (Evaluation) rating?

Evaluations are one of three component ratings driving the overall investment rating. The other two component ratings are "Cost" and "Schedule." The Agency CIO rates each investment based on his or her best judgment, using a set of pre-established criteria (see Question 16). As a rule, the Evaluation should reflect the CIO's assessment of the risk and the investment's ability to accomplish its goals. While cost and schedule reflect past and current performance, the Evaluation should consider these as only two of several key indicators of future investment success. CIOs should consult with appropriate stakeholders in making their evaluation, such as Chief Acquisition Officers, program managers, etc.

16. Which factors does an Agency CIO use to rate an investment?

The following factors and supporting examples should be used to inform the Evaluation:

Evaluation Factor	Supporting Examples
Risk Management	Risk Management Strategy Exists Risks are well understood by senior leadership Risk log is current and complete Risks are clearly prioritized Mitigation plans are in place to address risks
Requirements Management	Investment objectives are clear and scope is controlled Requirements are complete, clear and validated Appropriate stakeholders are involved in requirements definition
Contractor Oversight	Acquisition strategy is defined and managed via an Integrated Program Team Agency receives key reports, such as earned value reports, current status, and risk logs Agency is providing appropriate management of contractors such that the government is monitoring, controlling, and mitigating the impact of any adverse contract performance
Historical Performance	No significant deviations from planned cost and schedule Lessons learned and best practices are incorporated and adopted
Human Capital	Qualified management and execution team for the IT investments and/or contracts supporting the investment Low turnover rate
Other	Other factors that the CIO deems important to forecasting future success

17. How often should an Agency CIO enter the Evaluation for an investment?

The Evaluation can and should be updated at any time throughout the life of the investment. CIOs should update the rating as soon as new information becomes available that affects the assessment of a given investment. Evaluation ratings are based on a five-point risk scale, as follows:

Evaluation (By Agency CIO)	Points	Color
5-Low Risk	10	Green
4-Moderately Low Risk	7.5	Green
3-Medium Risk	5	Yellow
2-Moderately High Risk	2.5	Red
1-High-Risk	0	Red

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Cost, Schedule and Performance

18. What is the difference between an IT investment and an IT project?

An IT investment can be made up of one or more IT projects. Each IT investment should be a discrete line item in the Agency's Exhibit 53. Projects are generally reflected as individual items in the first level (Level 1) of an investment's work breakdown structure (WBS). IT contracts themselves are not necessarily synonymous with IT investments but, rather, they are generally used to support IT investments and IT projects.

19. At what level should cost and schedule information be reported to the IT Dashboard?

For each investment, agencies should provide the activities used to measure cost and schedule performance, representing only one level of the investment's work breakdown structure. This should generally correspond to Level 3 of the Work Breakdown Structure. (See OMB Circular A-11, Section 300 and the Exhibit 300 for more information).

20. How does the IT Dashboard calculate Cost and Schedule Ratings?

Cost Rating (Used only for the Overall Rating calculation)

Continuous, composed of line segments, connecting the following values:

% Cost Variance	Cost Rating (0-10 scale)
0%	10
10%	7
30%	3
>50%	0

Cost Color Coding

Cost Rating	Color
10 , > 7	Green
= 7 , > 3	Yellow
= 3 , = 0	Red

Milestone Color Coding (for Cost Summary milestones chart)

% Cost Variance	Color
0% , < 10%	Green
= 10% , < 30%	Yellow
= 30%	Red

Schedule Rating (used only for the Overall Rating calculation)

Continuous, composed of line segments connecting following values:

% Schedule Variance	Schedule Rating (0-10)
0%	10
10%	7
30%	3
>50%	0

Schedule Color Coding

Schedule Rating	Color
10 , > 7	Green
= 7 , > 3	Yellow
= 3 , = 0	Red

Milestone Colors (for Schedule Variance in Days milestones chart)

% Schedule Variance	Color
0% , < 10%	Green
= 10% , < 30%	Yellow
= 30%	Red

21. How is the "Overall Rating" calculated?

The Evaluation, Cost, and Schedule ratings each represent one-third of the “Overall Rating” for the investment. When the CIO's Evaluation is lower than or equal to both the Cost and Schedule ratings, the CIO Evaluation entirely overrides those individual Cost and Schedule ratings and represents 100% of the investment’s Overall Rating. When an investment has not yet been assessed by the Agency CIO, the average of Cost and Schedule ratings will determine the Overall Rating.

22. What is the process for requesting, and/or approving baseline changes within the IT Dashboard?

The IT Dashboard does not have an approval workflow function. Only baselines approved in accordance with OMB and Agency policy should be submitted to the IT Dashboard by authorized users.

23. Does the IT Dashboard differentiate between development, modernization and enhancement (DME) and steady state (SS) costs?

The IT Dashboard does not distinguish between DME and SS (as reported in Exhibit 53) for Cost and Schedule ratings. The Planning, Acquisition, and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) milestones from an investment's Exhibit 300 are used for Cost and Schedule calculations.

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Contracts

24. Should interagency agreements be reported, even if they cannot be found in the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) or on the USA Spending website?

No, Agencies are not required to report interagency agreements in the Exhibit 300 Contracts table. However, OMB expects agencies to report all interagency agreements as contributions in the Exhibit 53. Currently, there is no single authoritative source to validate these agreements.

25. How does the IT Dashboard handle contract numbers that do not match the FPDS database?

The IT Dashboard links to www.USAspending.gov for contract information. Each contract submitted to the IT Dashboard that is not matched by the agency with FPDS (or USAspending.gov) is clearly indicated with a red "X" symbol ( ) as an invalid Contract Number. This symbol is displayed unless a contract with a matching combination of the following fields is submitted to the IT Dashboard:

• Procurement Instrument Identifier (PIID)
• Contracting Agency ID
• Indefinite Delivery Vehicle Procurement Instrument Identifier (IDV PIID)
• Indefinite Delivery Vehicle Agency Identifier (IDV Agency ID)

If this combination of fields for each contract record is not a one-for-one exact match with data in FPDS, the IT Dashboard displays the red “X” symbol with the following note: “Agency-provided contract information does not match with a www.USASpending.gov record.”

26. What data structure should we use to help identify contract numbers in FPDS?

To assist in the linkage of contract and task order numbers from the Exhibit 300 Contracts Table to FPDS, agencies should provide the following information to the IT Dashboard for "Contract/Task Order Numbers," based on the FPDS-NG data requirements (as specified in the FPDS-NG Data Element Dictionary https://www.fpds.gov/downloads/Version_1.4.2_specs/FPDSNG_DataDictionary_V1.4.2.pdf).

Part of Indefinite Delivery Vehicle (IDV)?	Procurement Instrument Identifier (PIID)	Example
No	Data Element 1A (NTE 50 characters)	"00063200203DNBCHC020042"
Yes	Data Element 1A, and the Referenced PIID, Data Element 1C (NTE 100 characters)	"GS09Q08DN0165-IDV-GS10F0216N"

Data Feeds

27. Which IT Dashboard data elements are made available to the public?

Data Element	Source
Unique Project Identifier	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section A
Date of Submission	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section A
Investment Name	Exhibit 53
Investment Description	Exhibit 53
Agency CIO Name	www.CIO.gov
Agency CIO Email	www.CIO.gov
Agency CIO Photo	www.CIO.gov
Agency CIO Bio	www.CIO.gov
Awarded Contracts: Contract Number	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section C
Awarded Contracts: Award Date	www.USAspending.gov
Awarded Contracts: Action Obligation Amount	www.USAspending.gov
Awarded Contracts: Vendor Name	www.USAspending.gov
Awarded Contracts: Type of Contract	www.USAspending.gov
Awarded Contracts: Start Date of Contract	www.USAspending.gov
Awarded Contracts: End Date of Contract	www.USAspending.gov
Performance Information: Measurement Area	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section E
Performance Information: Measurement Grouping	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section E
Performance Information: Measurement Indicator	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section E
Performance Information: Baseline	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section E
Performance Information: Actual Results	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section E
Performance Information: Target	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section E
Performance Information: Rating	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section E
Cost/Schedule: Milestone Description	Exhibit 300, Part II: Section B
Cost/Schedule: Percent Complete	Exhibit 300, Part II: Section B
Cost/Schedule: Planned Completion Date	Exhibit 300, Part II: Section B
Cost/Schedule: Actual Completion Date	Exhibit 300, Part II: Section B
Cost/Schedule: Planned Start Date	Exhibit 300, Part II: Section B
Cost/Schedule: Actual Start Date	Exhibit 300, Part II: Section B
Cost/Schedule: Total Planned Cost	Exhibit 300, Part II: Section B
Cost/Schedule: Total Actual Cost	Exhibit 300, Part II: Section B
Cost/Schedule: Cost Variance	System Calculated
Cost/Schedule: Schedule Variance	System Calculated

28. How are the Exhibit 53 data feed elements populated?

The majority of the Exhibit 53 data elements are populated by agencies during the yearly Exhibit 53 submissions. However, there are some exceptions where fields are calculated, system-derived, or system-generated. The list of Exhibit 53 data elements with descriptions, source, and XML schema fields is available at http://it.usaspending.gov/faq-agencies/exhibit-53-fields.

29. How are the Exhibit 300 data feed elements populated?

The majority of the Exhibit 300 data elements are populated by agencies during the full Exhibit 300 submissions and monthly investment updates. However, there are some exceptions where fields are calculated, system-derived, system-generated or originate from the Exhibit 53 submission. The list of Exhibit 300 data elements with descriptions, source, and XML schema fields is available at http://it.usaspending.gov/faq-agencies/exhibit-300-fields.

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