OMB moves forward with e-gov architecture

The Office of Management and Budget by October expects to issue the first complete version of an enterprise architecture for its 24 e-government projects.Bob Haycock, new manager for OMB’s federal enterprise architecture initiative, said today that drafts of business, technical and application capability reference models likely would be done by the fiscal year’s end. He spoke at an Oracle Corp. Government Executive Forum in Washington.“Each model is more specific or granular,” said Haycock, who is on a 90-day detail at OMB from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation. “The technology will underpin the business process instead of the other way around.”Haycock, who officially took over for Debra Stouffer June 17, said OMB is putting the finishing touches on the second version of the business reference model, which it expects to release in mid-July. Stouffer finished the first version and in April sent it to agencies for comment.Based on the responses, OMB simplified the model by combining some of the more than 30 functions and 100 subfunctions that the model uses to outline agencies’ missions along lines of business.The technical and application capability models are in the beginning stages of development, he said.Haycock also said OMB later this week will assign what it calls solution architects to some e-government projects. “The solution architect is someone who understands the broader implications of the technology and project as it relates to all 24 projects,” Haycock said. “Their role is to facilitate the project, not oversee it.” He would not name the projects being assigned architects but indicated it would be projects nearer completion.