OMB wants more EA reports

The Office of Management and Budget wants to see proof of enterprise architecture at work.

OMB will evaluate agencies’ enterprise architecture plans in March using an updated assessment framework known as the Federal Enterprise Architecture Program Enterprise Architecture Assessment Framework 2.0 document. An OMB memo dated Jan. 11 states that OMB will require quarterly progress reports in addition to an annual assessment. The first quarterly progress report is due Feb. 28.

“Overall, I am encouraged by what I am seeing,” said Michael Tiemann, a senior associate at Booz Allen Hamilton and former chief architect at the Energy Department.

But departments' chief architects may have a tougher time getting the top assessment scores under the new framework, said Tiemann, a longtime proponent of enterprise architecture. But he added that OMB will give agencies opportunities to improve scores through the quarterly reports.

The assessment will ask agencies about their architectures’ implementation and how well they align with their missions.

“An effective agencywide EA must incorporate the content of all the agency’s constituent organizational units, such as bureaus and offices, or else EA becomes just another ‘stovepipe’ within the enterprise,” the framework document states.

Established almost four years ago, enterprise architecture aims to make government more citizen-centered and customer-focused by maximizing technology investments to achieve mission outcomes.