OMB details first level of federal enterprise architecture

The Office of Management and Budget today released a fresh version of its e-government business reference model, the first component in OMB’s stated goal of a complete federal enterprise architecture. Mark Forman, the Office of Management and Budget’s associate director for IT and e-government, called it “a quantum leap for the federal government.”The document outlines what it calls the business lines, or chief missions, each agency engages in and how each line relates to programs at other agencies. It lists 35 external and internal lines of business and 136 subfunctions within those 35 lines. All of the functions call into three main business areas, OMB said. One goal of the eventual enterprise architecture is elimination of redundancy in the various functions.The three main business lines are citizen services, delivery services support, and internal operations and infrastructure. Examples of citizen service business lines are asset management, law enforcement, mail delivery, public health, social services and transportation.“OMB can now work hand-in-hand with agency officials to look strategically at federal business operations and understand the gaps, overlaps and opportunities,” Forman said in a written statement. “The BRM provides OMB and the agencies with an invaluable new tool for improving the business of government.”OMB detailed the model on the new Federal Enterprise Architecture Program Management Office Web site, at . It also will release other documents later this fall, such as performance reference, data reference, application capabilities reference and technical reference models.