The Association for Federal Information Resources Management
report also explores the use of agency and federal
enterprise architectures in achieving breakthrough
performance. The participants of the discussion, which
included 10 senior government leaders, said they used key
elements of both to change business practices in their
agencies.
The report said the first guideline is to establish clear
goals to solve business and programmatic problems
creatively while establishing baseline standards for
measuring progress.
A clear plan “should include a comprehensive management
framework that cuts across organizational lines,
establishes accountability and uses the federal enterprise
architecture and other resources such as people, processes
and technology as tools to enable business line leaders to
make go/no-go decisions,” said the report.
It said agency leaders — beginning at the very top — must
communicate the plan and give a strong and consistent
message about organizational goals and communicate
progress on an ongoing basis.
The roundtable consensus also involved inter-agency
collaboration: “To solve problems and create new value to
customers, agencies must cross-fertilize, or share,
creative and innovative approaches. This cross-fertilization
must take place within and among agencies, and may be
facilitated by government-wide organizations such as the
chief information officer, the chief financial officer, the
chief human capital officer, and the federal acquisition
council. It should also include federal communities of
interest and government-business partnerships such as the
Association for Federal Information Resources Management,
the American Council for Technology and others.”
The report can be accessed at affirm.org