Resources in Government

Local, state, and federal agencies are all subjected to varying degrees of pressure to improve upon the delivery of government services. The need to handle bigger workloads with fewer people, coupled with rapidly rising expectations for electronic access to government services, are having the combined effect of pressing government agencies to the forefront of technological innovation in the 21st century. Better services are constantly being demanded everywhere, and those services are expected to be delivered at lower costs to taxpayers.

Our goal is to provide valuable insights which will lead to successful initiatives within the government sector.

Displaying 21 - 30 of 125 resources matching your criteria.

Government Transformation Depends On Dynamic Portfolio Management

Contributed by:Ken Mullins, Senior Principal, MITRE Corporation

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein

In the 21st century, government transformation initiatives have become increasingly more common, rather than exceptional. Some ambitious public sector initiatives turn out to be at least partially successful, though many others do not. Even when transformation success is declared, the outcome is often plagued by significant limitations that must be dealt with for many years.

Building a Process Catalog: Moving Ahead

Contributed by:Karen Tricomi, Consultant, The Process Geek

This is the third in a series. The first installment, Building a Process Catalog – The Journey Begins, was published in the April BPM Institute’s online journal. The second installment, Building a Process Catalog, The Ongoing Journey, was featured in the August bulletin.

Recap

My first two features described how I use SIPOC (Supplier, Input, Process, Output, Customer) diagrams to capture some essential characteristics of major business functions.

Process Centric Enterprise Architecture: Aligning with Successful Customer Outcomes

Contributed by:Gerhard Basson, Process Architect, Old Mutual plc

Every primary process in the Enterprise Architecture should have some bearing on how it affects the customer. The process, its activities and the resources to perform the activities should be geared towards achieving Successful Customer Outcomes. When we state the requirements for the services, the processes, the resources and the IT systems or when we design or develop the solution, the interaction with the customer and the goals of the customer should be stated and represented clearly.

I discussed the process centric approach to Enterprise Architecture in a previous article. In this article I will focus on the solutions from such architecture.

How do we change our solutions to achieve Successful Customer Outcomes?

Business Rules: Going Old School with Expert Systems

Contributed by:Brian Stucky, Managing Director, Business Decision Management, Allegiance Advisory Group

During a recent client meeting, we were reviewing the proposed business architecture for a new system. Decision Management will play a crucial role in the application and the rule processing had been nicely delineated in the architecture. While the rules themselves had been fairly well articulated, their “insertion” in the requirements suggested quite a bit of work remained. However, I was generally pleased with the state of the work to date.

For Most Government Agencies, an IT Strategy Can Be One Too Many

Contributed by:Ken Mullins, Senior Principal, MITRE Corporation

For years, I’ve been telling my federal customers that an IT Strategy is often not very helpful, and that all of an agency’s resources (whether people, processes, technologies, services, or facilities) should be collectively aligned and applied to enable a single enterprise strategy that is driven by mission and business needs – in short, an Enterprise Business Strategy. “Instead of an IT Strategy,"1

I would go on to say, “What an agency needs is an IT Roadmap.” Despite that advice, which did go against the grain of prevailing government practices, nearly every CIO would persist in his or her efforts to promulgate an IT Strategy – as an emblem or accoutrement of the office they held, it often seemed.

Five Ways for the Business Analyst to Score in BPM

Contributed by:Shelley Sweet, Faculty Member, BPMInstitute.org and President, i4 Process

Business Analysts provide a critical role in organizations. In fact, without this role, Business Owners and Developers must work together on a software project, which can be frustrating to both sides. Indeed, Business Owners may not get what they want and Developers may spend time building functionality that was not needed. OUCH! Why is that? Because the Business Owners and Developers have not learned to communicate to their mutual benefit. Enter the Business Analyst whose role is to define the needs and recommend solutions that deliver value to the stakeholders (e.g., Business Owners, users, customers, etc.)

According to the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) BA’s do the following

Rules, Decisions and... Standards?

Contributed by:Brian Stucky, Managing Director, Business Decision Management, Allegiance Advisory Group

While pondering the difficulties still faced by enterprises employing a business rule management system (BRMS) and attempting to fully enable business users, I see yet another wave of standards coming our way. Standards for rules have been attempted in a variety of ways over the years. Each attempt provided some valuable insight but none really answered the call. This got me to thinking about the how far the field has come in terms of approach and execution but not in terms of standardization.

I have been fortunate to be involved with rules long enough to see a tremendous evolution in how the technologies are labeled, presented, integrated, and ultimately utilized. We have truly seen a sweeping move across the spectrum from purely academic research platforms to a boutique niche technology to its current place as a mainstream part of everyday business.

Business Politics Before Projects Success: The Games Executives Play

Contributed by:Imtiaz Abdul Kader, Head Core Banking PMO, Standard Bank Group

Business Politics, Organisational Politics, Workplace Politics, irrespective of what noun you place in front of the word “Politics”, an association can be drawn that there will be some decisions taken within organisations that are based on robust debates that are based on biased agenda’s and contrasting behaviours and personalities. Belsky G and Gilovich T in their book, “Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes”, infers that it is human nature to make decisions based on our personalities, self-motivated objectives, ego’s, peer pressure, fear and regret irrespective of the irrationality of the outcome. The inference can be generalised against any decisions we as individuals need to make and is supported by Belsky G and Gilovich T when they succeeded statements made in their book with, “financial and or otherwise”.

The Importance of Being Earnest - About Enterprise Governance

Contributed by:Ken Mullins, Senior Principal, MITRE Corporation

If the purpose of Government is to serve the needs of the public, as many agree, the main objective of Governance is to ensure that public needs are efficiently, effectively and impartially served.

Governance mechanisms can help to achieve that objective by providing well-defined processes and structures for all aspects of procuring, deploying, and managing the use of government resources. A recent study by the World Bank found a strong relationship between good Governance and good Government performance. Other studies have revealed similar findings[1]. The purpose of this article is to underscore the need for investing adequate resources in (and leadership of) an agency’s Governance processes.

Government Missions Should Drive the Lifecycle Management of Agency SOA-Services

Contributed by:Ken Mullins, Senior Principal, MITRE Corporation

This article explains how a mission-focused approach to Service Lifecycle Management and Service Governance effectively complements a business modeling mentality. For example, a business service should be designed to be fully aligned with the way a businessperson thinks about business transactions, rules, and queries, etc. So, when the time comes for a government agency to integrate its business processes with its partners’ processes, or when internal business rules are changed, the enabling application services (e.g., Case Management or Claims Processing tools) are designed to enable the immediate implementation of such new connections, modified business logic, or updated business rules.