Tag Archives: federal agencies

If Data is the New Currency, How Are We “Spending” It?

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The government is at no loss for data. And, over the last decade, there has been a concerted effort to use that data more efficiently to improve decision making and service to the citizen. Chief Data Officers are in place across government to shepherd the changes in process and technology needed to achieve the goals set forth in the Federal Data Strategy.

Meeting the Plan to Plan

Department-level data strategies have been borne out of the federal guidance to mature data governance and infrastructure and publish those plans. In fact, the report "CDO Insights: 2021 Survey Results On the Maturation of Data Governance in U.S. Federal Agencies," found that 75 percent of respondents said they had started or completed five of the six action items named in the Federal Data Strategy 2020 Action Plan. The report found that constituting a data governance body (completed by 75%) was the least challenging action. Getting these bodies in place means that beyond department-level plans, some agencies are moving to making plans for critical subsets of data much like the State Department did for geospatial data.

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10 Stats You Should Know about Federal IT

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Here's what CIOs told Congress about their current IT investments.

Federal agencies plan to spend at least $82 billion on information technology this year, including high-priority projects to improve health care delivery and national security.

But the botched rollout of Healthcare.gov and growing concerns about the government's use of IT to provide veterans better access to care have again spotlighted how agencies buy, manage and deliver IT services.

The Senate Subcommittee on the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Federal Programs and the Federal Workforce held a hearing June 10 to understand how IT investments are being monitored and coordinated governmentwide, what lessons agencies have learned from experiences and what IT workforce challenges they face. CIOs from the departments of Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs and the Office of Personnel Management were among those who testified at the hearing.

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The Future of Mobility Goes Far Beyond BYOD

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Originally posted on FedTech Magazine by Brad Grimes.

What does GSA know about a mobile workforce that others may not? Work is wherever the worker is. 

Just as government agencies get a handle on bring-your-own-device initiatives, which allow employees to use their own mobile technology to perform work, some say the BYOD issue is almost moot.

"On BYOD, I think that conversation is going to be outdated before we figure out the answer to it," said Tony Macri, workplace and organizational strategist at the General Services Administration, at the Intel Security Through Innovation Summit in Washington, D.C.

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Agency Mobility Made Easy

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Originally posted on FedTech Magazine by Brad Grimes

Federal agencies can hone their mobility strategies. Mobility today is a critical factor in enabling effective government, from the Defense Department to the Census Bureau. Whether used to support telework policies or facilitate emerging applications in the field, mobile devices allow agencies to work smarter and more efficiently.

But successful mobility initiatives require planning and a thorough understanding of the technologies and processes required to maintain a secure, productive mobile workforce. By some measures, 90 percent of federal workers use mobile devices in their jobs, but a mere 11 percent of those devices are considered secure.

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GSA Offers Online Training in Conference Etiquette

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Originally posted by Brittany Ballenstedt on GovExec

This year has not brought the most positive of headlines for the General Services Administration, particularly after revelations agency officials spent excessively at an over-the-top Las Vegas training conference that featured a mind reader, bicycle giveaways and extravagant receptions.

But now the agency is using that "mistake" as a catalyst for an effort to train other employees on conference etiquette, a topic that will serve as one of the first courses of its new virtual training program set to launch in January, Lauren Concklin, a marketing analyst with GSA, said Thursday during a webinar sponsored by GovLoop.

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