Digital Government Strategy Report

Introduction

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On May 23, 2012, the President issued a Presidential Memorandum on “Building a 21st Century Digital Government”. It launched a comprehensive Digital Government Strategy (pdf/html5) aimed at delivering better digital services to the American people. The strategy builds on several initiatives, including Executive Order 13571, Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service, and Executive Order 13576, Delivering an Efficient, Effective, and Accountable Government.

The strategy lays out actions in a 12-month roadmap and has three main objectives:

Enable the American people and an increasingly mobile workforce to access high-quality digital government information and services anywhere, anytime, on any device.
Ensure that as the government adjusts to this new digital world, we seize the opportunity to procure and manage devices, applications, and data in smart, secure and affordable ways.
Unlock the power of government data to spur innovation across our Nation and improve the quality of services for the American people.

Digital Strategy Initiative at the Department of Education

The Department of Education's mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. Digital services, open data and technology have great potential to help accomplish the mission. The Digital Government Strategy aligns with many of the Department's digital projects and initiatives already underway and spurs us to refine our strategic and tactical coordination.

To spearhead the Department's response to the Digital Government Strategy, the Department assembled a team of core staff from:

the Office of Communications and Outreach,
the Office of the Chief Information Officer, and
the Office of Planning and Education Policy Development.

The team collects input and feedback from:

the Department's customers,
the Office of Education Technology
the office of Federal Student Aid,
the Institute for Education Sciences,
the principal offices,
the Data Strategy Team,
the Open Government Steering Committee, and
senior leadership.

The Department's progress towards meeting the Digital Government Strategy Milestones will be reported at least once a month.

Share your ideas with the team and get additional updates on the Homeroom Blog.

Last revised: August 23, 2012

2.1. Engage with customers to identify at least two existing major customer-facing services that contain high-value data or content as first-move candidates to make compliant with new open data, content, and web API policy.

Overall Status: in-progress

2.1.1. Customer engagement approach

The Department of Education (ED) Office of Educational Technology, the White House, and the George Washington School of Business hosted a Data Jam in July 2012. The event brought together educational technology experts and entrepreneurs to brainstorm and commit to developing new products, services, and product features that utilize open data to improve student performance. This customer input will inform how ED prioritizes making online systems and data more accessible through web APIs. The purpose of the Data Jam was to prepare for a larger "Data Palooza" event which will be held in October 2012 at the White House. Data Palooza will be an opportunity to highlight open educational data sets (education.data.gov), individual electronic student data (MyData), and data about learning content (LearningRegistry) - as well as tools and services that use these data to improve student choices around learning. Data Palooza will be streamed live (and posted online afterwards) for anyone who wants to attend. ED plans to engage with the broader education community and other interested developers and entrepreneurs through social media outlets and the ED official Homeroom Blog. For more than two weeks, blog visitors will have the opportunity to comment on the blog post and provide feedback about services and data to open through web APIs. The blog post will be promoted via ED's flagship Twitter and Facebook accounts and the latest news links on the ED.gov (http://www.ed.gov) homepage. Representatives from ED's Office of the Chief Information Officer, the Office of Communications and Outreach, and other key offices will collect, analyze, and synthesize the feedback from the blog and social media comments and incorporate public support for data more accessible through web APIs as a factor in how they prioritize the systems.

2.1.2. Prioritized list of systems (datasets)

System Name: EDFacts
System Description: The purpose of EDFacts is to collect and report K-12 education performance data for use by policymakers and Department of Education program offices. With relevant, actionable data supplied by EDFacts, decision-makers can identify which programs are working, have insight into education progress at the state and district levels, identify gaps and best practices, and make sound education policy and budgetary decisions to improve education outcomes. http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/edfacts/index.html
System Scope: internal
Main Customer: Internal Customers
Unique Investment Identifier: 018-000001010

System Name: State Education Data Profiles
System Description: Web-based search tool for statewide information in elementary/secondary education, postsecondary education and selected demographics for all states in the U.S. using a variety of NCES data sources including NAEP, IPEDS, and CCD data. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/stateprofiles/
System Scope: external
Main Customer: General Public
Unique Investment Identifier: 018-000002590

System Name: College Navigator
System Description: A web-based tool for searching all colleges and universities in the United States. College Navigator consists primarily of the latest data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), the core postsecondary education data collection program for the National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/
System Scope: external
Main Customer: General Public
Unique Investment Identifier: 018-000002590

System Name: Program Information Publication System (Part of Program Information on the Web)
System Description: One of ED's core purposes is to inform the public about funding opportunities (programs). Currently program information is available on the Web in HTML web pages. ED is developing a central database repository (Program Information Publication System or PIPS) with a web API. ED.gov will call on the PIPS web API to publish program information on the website and provide an online search tool. Customers will be able to find more consistent, up-to-date program information quickly and easily. Information for this initiative is limited to programs authorized and funded under federal law as well as other related efforts, and encompasses several ED offices.
System Scope: external
Main Customer: Education Constituents
Unique Investment Identifier: 018-000001018

7.1. Engage with customers to identify at least two existing priority customer-facing services to optimize for mobile use.

Overall Status: in-progress

7.1.1. Customer engagement approach

The Department of Education (ED) plans to use ED's official Homeroom Blog and social media outlets to engage with customers and seek their feedback on the online services they would like to see optimized for mobile use. Regular readers of the Homeroom Blog include educators, the education community, researchers, students, and journalists. For more than two weeks, blog visitors will have the opportunity to comment on the blog post and provide feedback about sites and services to optimize for mobile. The blog post will be promoted via ED's flagship Twitter and Facebook accounts, the latest news links on the ED.gov (http://www.ed.gov) homepage, and a feature in the ED.gov (http://www.ed.gov) homepage slideshow. Representatives from ED's Office of the Chief Information Officer, the Office of Communications and Outreach, and other key offices will collect, analyze, and synthesize the feedback from the blog and social media comments and incorporate public support for mobile optimizing as a factor in how they prioritize the systems. The office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) Customer Experience Group has recently implemented the Department's first responsive design site at StudentAid.gov. The group has been engaging with customers in focus groups throughout the process of designing the new website. The feedback from the students in the focus groups indicated that websites, applications, and systems developed by FSA needed to be accessible and easy to navigate on a variety of mobile devices. StudentAid.gov is among several federal websites using responsive design by using technologies that the new Digital Government Strategy directs federal agencies to use in order to deliver digital services to any device, anytime, anywhere.

7.1.2. Prioritized list of systems (datasets)

System Name: G5 Grants Management System
System Description: G5 supports the Agency's grant making business process and is a full lifecycle end-to-end grants management system (from intake of applications, peer review, award, payment, performance monitoring and final closeout of the grant award. https://www.g5.gov
System Scope: both
Main Customer: Federal Grants Administrators
Unique Investment Identifier: 018-999991341

System Name: StudentAid.gov
System Description: StudentAid.gov is the first step in a multi-phase project to provide consumers with a one-stop website where they can access federal student aid information, apply for federal aid, repay student loans and navigate the college decision-making process. Whether you're a student, a parent, a borrower in repayment, an educator or a professional engaged in influencing and informing students and borrowers, StudentAid.gov has useful information for you. The site, available in English and Spanish, combines content and interactive tools from several U.S. Department of Education websites and makes it easy for you to find the information you need. It also features videos and infographics to help answer the most frequently asked questions about financial aid accessible via smartphones and tablets. http://www.studentaid.gov
System Scope: external
Main Customer: Education Constituents
Unique Investment Identifier: 018-000000054

System Name: Homeroom Blog
System Description: Homeroom Blog is the official blog of the Department. The purpose of these blog is to facilitate an ongoing dialogue on education issues.
System Scope: both
Main Customer: Education Constituents; Dept. of Education
Unique Investment Identifier: 018-000001018

System Name: College Navigator
System Description: Web-based tool for searching all colleges and universities in the United States. College Navigator consists primarily of the latest data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), the core postsecondary education data collection program for the National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/
System Scope: external
Main Customer: General Public
Unique Investment Identifier: 018-000002590

System Name: ED.gov
System Description: ED.gov is the Department's primary Internet portal and website. As such, it performs the following functions to ensure efficient and expanded public access and communication between the government and citizens: convey the Department's brand and key messages, provide relevant and timely information, hosts sites for ED offices and programs, and provide a unified entry point to other ED resources. http://www.ed.gov/
System Scope: both
Main Customer: Education Constituents; Dept. of Education Employees
Unique Investment Identifier: 018-000001018

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