NASA Chief Information Officer: Opportunities to Strengthen Information Resources Management

Since the report was issued, NASA has taken steps to strengthen the CIO process for setting and enforcing IT-related policies and procedures. A CIO operating model was instituted, which establishes a structure for agencywide implementation of IRM policies, guidelines, standards, and architectures. A number of IRM directives have already been instituted in the form of CIO executive notices, and a CIO action registry has been set up to track actions taken on these directives throughout the agency. Enterprise and center CIO representatives periodically report to the CIO on implementation of the IRM directives within their component organizations. The CIO operating model also provides for resolving conflicts by elevating them to progressively higher levels within the organization.

NASA's August 1996 Information Resources Five-Year Plan includes the agency's official inventory of existing major information systems projects. NASA is also conducting an inventory of all desktop systems in the agency. The inventory will be turned over for future maintenance to the new agencywide standard desktop system contractor. Recent work to identify the vulnerability of NASA information systems to the Year 2000 problem is also resulting in systems inventories at the field center level.

Since the report, the CIO has been closely collaborating with the CFO to acquire commercial software for an integrated financial management program (IFMP). As a member of the CFO Council, the CIO directly participates in oversight of the acquisition and helps ensure IFMP adherence to CIO-directed architectures and standards. The CIO also coordinates with the IFMP team on issues such as the impact of the proposed financial management system on existing NASA information systems, data conversion, full cost accounting, and year 2000 issues. The CIO and CFO offices are also working to integrate IT planning with the budget planning process to enhance visibility and accuracy in assessing IT expenditures. The FY 1999 budget will be the first NASA budget developed from the integrated processes.

The NASA CIO has established a framework for defining IT performance measures through the annual budget process. IT performance measures for agencywide services are included in the NASA Performance Plan and were formally reported for the first time in the NASA Accountability Report for FY 1998 and the NASA Performance Plan for FY 1999.

Since the report was issued, the CIO has begun to get involved in additional mission-critical information systems areas. For example, the CIO has been involved in an effort to get a replacement for the Launch Processing System at Kennedy Space Center. Further, the CIO has been involved in discussions about instituting a standard desktop engineering environment, included standard software for computer-aided design/computer-aided engineering, etc. As of April 1997, no standard had yet been established, however. The CIO-designated Center for IT Excellence, Ames Research Center, with support from the Office of the Chief Engineer, is also developing a special engineering workstation standard for collaborative environments.

In its August 1996 Information Resources Five Year Plan, NASA stated that new budget realities have made it necessary to focus on new ways of doing business and emphasized reducing the NASA infrastructure and implementing all initiatives through a "faster, better, cheaper" approach that improves efficiency and eliminates redundancies. In line with this approach, NASA's CIO infrastructure provides a framework for helping the agency accomplish its missions and programs through efficient and cost-effective IT that yields the best return on the agency's IT investments. The CIO has instituted various initiatives to improve business practices and reduce IT spending. These include standardizing and consolidating administrative IT at the desktop and file server levels; consolidating mainframes, supercomputers, and telecommunications networks; and enhancing computer security. Finalization or completion of many of these initiatives is a CIO objective for 1997.