OMB seeks feedback from agency chief architects
The Office of Management and Budget is seeking feedback by the
end of the month on the draft Federal Segment Architecture
Methodology (FSAM) and the Segment Architecture Reporting
Template.
The FSAM is a step-by-step process for developing and using
segment architecture that leverages best practice analysis
techniques from federal agency chief architects. The Reporting
Template enables agencies to report on the performance and progress
of this development by using a standardized format.
The FSAM will be instrumental in helping chief architects
'deliver actionable, secure architectures to meet the next
administration's, the public's, and our agencies'
needs,' said Colleen Coggins, chief architect with the
Department of Interior, and chair of the Federal Segment
Architecture Working Group, which developed FSAM.
Coggins spoke on a panel about FSAM today at the Enterprise
Architecture 2008 conference in Washington. The conference is
sponsored by Government Computer News' parent company, 1105
Government Information Group.
A segment architecture is a detailed results-oriented
architecture and a transition strategy for a portion ' or
segment ' of an organization. FSAM guidance supports three
segment types as defined by OMB: core mission area, business
service and enterprise service architecture.
The goal is for the FSAM, the Reporting Template and the new
Enterprise Architecture Assessment Framework (EAAF) to all work
together, Kshemendra Paul, chief architect, in OMB's Office
of E-Government and Information Technology, wrote in a Sept. 4 memo
for agency CIOs and chief architects.
'Agencies using the FSAM will produce as a by-product the
data needed to complete the Reporting Template. In turn, the data
in the Reporting Template will be used, together with existing
datasets, to compute the Key Performance Indicators in the
EAAF,' Kshemendra said.
FSAM is available for review via a wiki. All comments from the appropriate
stakeholders should be submitted via e-mail by Sept. 30.
About the Author
Rutrell Yasin is senior technology editor for Government Computer News magazine.