While in Washington, I met Bob Haycock, the program manager of the Federal Enterprise Architecture, FEAPMO. His work is important, and is inspirational.
Today, OMB published the E-Gov Enterprise Architecture Guidance (Common Reference Model, download pdf), which describes a Federal-wide E-Gov target conceptual architecture, about which is said:
“The architecture is based on the business requirements derived from the initiatives as well as system engineering design best practices. It provides a workable description of the components needed by E-Gov Initiatives and business activities to move rapidly into the web service-enabled business transaction environment.”
This is a must-read.
OMB has also just published a CBA (Component-Based Architecture) White Paper, which outlines a set of recommendations encompassing the selection of tools, technologies and standards that should be considered when implementing new systems and/or components to support the 24 Presidential priority E-Gov initiatives. This document is more or less what UK would call an e-GIF.
Quote:
“Success can be based on the extent to which the CBA will support the efficient and
effective development, acquisition, use, and operation and maintenance of IT to support
business operations. For that, the FEA-PMO has recommended a set of technologies that
support both industry-proven standards and emerging technologies. Together, these
technologies provide a forward-thinking set of capabilities targeted at completing the 24
Presidential Priority E-Gov initiatives, while providing a foundation for growth,
interoperability, integration and expansion. The list is intended as a starter set based on
their relevancy to E-Gov. It was intended that this serve as a point to begin considering
relevant standards and to serve as a place wherein appropriate and obvious voluntary
industry standards can at least be included in an architectural context.”
It will be interesting to follow how the guidelines and the CBA will be implemented.
It will also be interesting to see how the preference for open standards will be handled.
