FAQ - For Agencies

Background:

On June 1, 2009 the Obama Administration launched the IT Dashboard. Through the IT Dashboard, Federal agencies and the public will have the ability to view details of Federal information technology investments online and to track their progress over time. The IT Dashboard displays data received from agency Exhibit 53 and 300 submissions, including general information in over 7,000 Federal IT investments, and detailed data for nearly 800 of those investments agencies classify as "major". Agency Chief Information Officers are responsible for evaluating and updating select data on a regular basis, which is accomplished through interfaces provided by the dashboard. Below are the frequently asked questions (FAQs) and answers related to the agencies use of the dashboard.

General Questions

1. What information will the IT Dashboard display?
2. Who has access to update information in IT Dashboard?
3. Can data quality updates be made to BY 2011 data?

Handling of Sensitive Information

4. Should we be redacting sensitive data in our submissions to OMB?
5. How do we prevent the release of pre-decisional information?
6. What about procurement-sensitive information?
7. Does the IT Dashboard publish security information on the individual investments?
8. How does the IT Dashboard protect private data?
9. Is Program/Project Manager information displayed to the public?
10. Does IT Dashboard display cost data for each milestone, including future ones?
11. Does the dashboard display performance metrics beyond the current execution year?

Submitting Data to the IT Dashboard

12. How do we submit data to the IT Dashboard?
13. Is there an ability to feed data via XML as an alternative to data entry screens?
14. Does monthly reporting also apply to cost/schedule data for non-major investments reported on the Exhibit 53?
15. How do we update information regarding the agency CIO?

CIO Ratings

16. What is the "Evaluation by Agency CIO" (Evaluation) rating?
17. What factors does a CIO use to rate an investment?
18. How often should a CIO enter the Evaluation for an investment?

Cost and Schedule and Performance

19. What is the difference between an IT investment and an IT project?
20. At what level should information be reported to the IT Dashboard?
21. How does the IT Dashboard calculate Cost and Schedule ratings?
22. How is the overall rating calculated?
23. Is there a process for requesting and/or approving baseline changes within the IT Dashboard?
24. Does the Dashboard differentiate between development, modernization, and enhancement (DME) and steady state (SS) costs?

Contracts

25. Should interagency agreements be included, even if they cannot be found in FPDS/USA Spending?
26. How will the IT Dashboard handle contract numbers that do not match the FPDS database?
27. What data structure should we use to help identify contract numbers in FPDS?

Publicly Available Data Fields

Answers:

General Questions

1. What information does the IT Dashboard display?

The IT Dashboard displays a subset of data from agency Exhibits 53 and 300, and agencies update milestone information, agency CIO evaluations, and other collected investment information. For a comprehensive list of data elements available to the public on the IT Dashboard, see "Publicly Available Data Fields" at the end of this document.

The following agencies have data available on the IT Dashboard:

2. Who has access to update information in IT Dashboard?

Only agency-authorized ITWeb users will have access privileges to the IT Dashboard "My Investments" screen, where data updates are made. This screen will not be visible to those without access, or the general public.

3. Can data quality updates be made to BY 2011 data?

Agencies will be given an opportunity to update full investments until April 30th. After this, agencies will only be able to do monthly updates using XML API or IT Dashboard interface. It is the agency’s responsibility to maintain the consistency between the data in their internal systems and the data on IT Dashboard.

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Handling of Sensitive Information

4. Should we be redacting sensitive data in our submissions to OMB?

No. The IT Dashboard does not include data regarding the security or privacy investments (as reported in Section E of the Exhibit 300). Furthermore, procurement information is provided for active contracts only (as reported in Section C of Exhibit 300) and out-year milestone costs are not displayed. USAspending.gov is the source of the award information for much of the procurement data. USAspending.gov pulls data from the publicly-accessible Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) every two weeks. To prevent the exposure of potentially sensitive data, agencies should always review submissions for possible sensitive data in inappropriate data fields and proper identification of data in published fields as sensitive (e.g., avoid identifying contracts not yet awarded as "awarded" or aspects of the agency acquisition strategy.)

5. How do we prevent the release of pre-decisional information?

The final Exhibits 300 and 53 for the FY 2011 Budget Year (as submitted in March 2010) should be based on Presidential Budget decisions. Exhibit 53 and 300 data that agencies submit this fall for the FY 2012 Budget cycle will be considered pre-decisional and will not be publicly posted on the IT Dashboard until after release of the FY 2012 Presidential Budget. At this point, future spending, defined as beyond the budget requested year and as provided in the Summary of Spending table in Section B of the Exhibit 300, will not be displayed on the IT Dashboard. Future milestones (as provided in Section C of the Exhibit 300) are not considered pre-decisional and will be displayed on the IT Dashboard, with the exception of the associated cost data (see also Question #13.)

6. What about procurement-sensitive information?

The IT Dashboard displays no procurement-sensitive information from Exhibit 300. Additional acquisition data associated with contracts identified in Exhibit 300 (e.g. contractor name,) are pulled from publicly available USAspending.gov (see Question #7.)

7. Does the IT Dashboard publish security information on the individual investments?

The IT Dashboard displays no security-related information. Any decisions related to publication of security data, in the future, will be done in coordination with submitting agencies and reflected in future guidance.

8. How does the IT Dashboard protect private data?

The IT Dashboard only displays information that has been authorized to be released via application and database controls. As always, it is incumbent upon the agencies to review their submissions for the inadvertent inclusion of private data in an inappropriate field.

9. Is Program/Project Manager information displayed to the public?

The IT Dashboard does not provide the name of the Program/Project Manager of an investment. Release of this information will be decided on in the future and will be done in coordination with agencies and reflected in future guidance.

10. Does the IT Dashboard display cost data for each milestone, including future ones?

No. Planned cost date for future milestones will be obscured in the ITDB public views, but will be displayed at the aggregate level. However, schedule data for future milestones is displayed.

11. Does the dashboard display performance metrics beyond the current execution year?

All performance metrics will be displayed on the IT Dashboard for all years reported in Exhibit 300.

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Submitting Data to the IT Dashboard

12. How do we submit data to the IT Dashboard?

For the IT Dashboard, cost and schedule data, contracts data, Performance Metrics, Reports and Evaluations by Agency CIOs (Evaluations) will be updated using XML API (System-to-System Integration or Manual XML Load) or the built-in interface available via the application. Only to users with valid MAX credentials will be able to do the data updates.

13. Is there an ability to feed data via XML as an alternative to data entry screens?

Yes. Details of the XML API can be found on the IT Dashboard in the manual "Updating Agency Data in the IT Dashboard".

14. Does monthly reporting also apply to cost/schedule data for non-major investments reported on the Exhibit 53?

Cost and schedule reporting are only required for major investments, on a monthly basis. At this time, there are no plans to enable monthly updates to non-major investments.

15. How do we update information regarding the agency CIO?

Agency CIOs’ biographical information, photos, and contact information available on IT Dashboard will be supplied via data feeds from www.cio.gov. Make any necessary updates to CIO.gov

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CIO Ratings

16. What is the " Evaluation by Agency CIO " (Evaluation) rating?

Evaluations are one of three component ratings driving the overall investment score; the other two are "Cost" and "Schedule." The agency CIO should rate each investment based on his or her best judgment, using a set of pre-established guidelines (see Question 20.) As a rule, the Evaluation should reflect the CIO ’s assessment of the risk of the investment ’s ability to accomplish its goals. While cost and schedule reflect past and current performance, the Evaluation should consider these as only two of several key indicators of future investment success. CIOs should consult with appropriate stakeholders in making their evaluation, such as Chief Acquisition Officers, program managers, etc.

17. What factors does a CIO use to rate an investment?

The following factors and supporting examples should be used to inform the Evaluation:

Evaluation Factor	Supporting Examples
Risk Management	Risk Management Strategy Exists Risks are well understood by senior leadership Risk log is current and complete Risks are clearly prioritized Mitigation plans are in place to address risks
Requirements Management	Investment objectives are clear and scope is controlled Requirements are complete, clear and validated Appropriate stakeholders are involved in requirements definition
Contractor Oversight	Acquisition strategy is defined and managed via an Integrated Program Team Agency receives key reports, such as earned value reports, current status, and risk logs Agency is providing appropriate management of contractors such that the government is monitoring, controlling, and mitigating the impact of any adverse contract performance
Historical Performance	No significant deviations from planned cost and schedule Lessons learned and best practices are incorporated and adopted
Human Capital	Qualified management and execution team for the IT investments and/or contracts supporting the investment Low turnover rate
Other	Other factors that the CIO deems important to forecasting future success

Evaluation (By Agency CIO)	Points	Color
5-Low Risk	10	Green
4-Moderately Low Risk	7.5	Green
3-Medium Risk	5	Yellow
2-Moderately High Risk	2.5	Red
1-High-Risk	0	Red

18. How often should a CIO enter the Evaluation for an investment?

The Evaluation can and should be updated at any time throughout the life of the investment. CIOs should update the rating as soon as new information becomes available that impacts the assessment of a given investment. Evaluation scores are be assessed on a five-point scale, as follows:

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Cost and Schedule and Performance

19. What is the difference between an IT investment and an IT project?

An IT investment can be made up of one or more IT projects. Each IT investment should be a discrete line item in the agency’s Exhibit 53. Projects are generally reflected as individual items in level 1 of an investment’s work breakdown structure (WBS). IT contracts are not necessarily IT investments but are generally used to support IT investments and IT projects.

20. At what level should information be reported to the IT Dashboard?

For each investment, provide the milestones used to measure cost and schedule performance, representing only one level of the investment’s Work Breakdown Structure. This should generally show Level 3 of the Work Breakdown Structure. See the Exhibit 300 for more information.

21. How does the IT Dashboard calculate Cost and Schedule ratings?

Cost Rating

Cost rating is calculated as the variance between the actual costs of an investment’s milestones and their planned costs to date in dollars as a percentage of total costs.

Using the above variables, the following calculation will be used to compute the Cost rating for each investment:

Field	Description
Planned Cost to Date	Planned Cost * Planned % Complete
Milestone Cost Variance	(Planned Cost to Date) - Actual Cost
Investment Cost Variance	sum(all milestone cost variances)
Investment % Cost Variance	(Investment Cost Variance) / sum(Planned Costs to Date)

Schedule Rating

Schedule rating is calculated as the variance between the investment’s planned and actual progress so far, in days as a percentage of the scheduled work so far.

Field	Description
Milestone Schedule Variance (Completed Milestones)	Planned Completion Date - Actual Completion Date
Milestone Schedule Variance (In-Progress Milestones)	(Actual Percent Complete - Planned Percent Complete) * (Planned Completion Date - Planned Start Date)
Investment Total Schedule Variance	sum(all schedule variances)
Investment % Schedule Variance	sum(all schedule variances) / sum(duration of completed and in-progress milestones)

The investment’s Cost / Schedule Rating (0-10) is determined by translating the Investment % Cost / Schedule Variance to 0-10 scale using a continuous scale described by the following values:

% Cost / Schedule Variance (use absolute value)	Cost / Schedule Rating (0-10)
3.33% to 0%	9.00 to 10
6.67% to 3.33%	8.00 to 9.00
10% to 6.67%	7.00 to 8.00
15% to 10%	6.00 to 7.00
20% to 15%	5.00 to 6.00
25% to 20%	4.00 to 3.00
30% to 25%	3.00 to 4.00
36.67% to 30%	2.00 to 3.00
43.33% to 36.67%	1.00 to 2.00
50% to 43.33%	0 to 1.00
>50%	0

Cost / Schedule Color is determined as follows:

Cost / Schedule Rating	Color
Greater than 7 up to and including 10	Green
Greater than 3 up to and including 7	Yellow
Greater than 0 up to and including 3	Red

22. How is the overall rating calculated?

The Evaluation, Cost, and Schedule ratings will each represent one third of the Overall Rating for the investment. Where the CIO's Evaluation is lower than or equal to both the Cost and Schedule ratings, it entirely overrides those ratings and represents 100% of the Overall Rating.

Any investment not yet rated will default to an Evaluation rating of "0".

23. Is there a process for requesting and/or approving baseline changes within the IT Dashboard?

The IT Dashboard does not have an approval workflow function. Only baselines approved in accordance with agency policy should be entered into the IT Dashboard by an authorized user.

24. Does the Dashboard differentiate between development, modernization, and enhancement (DME) and steady state (SS) costs ?

The IT Dashboard does not distinguish between DME and SS (as collected in Exhibit 53) for Cost and Schedule ratings. The planning and acquisition, and operations and maintenance (O&M) milestones (from Exhibit 300) will be used for Cost and Schedule calculations.

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Contracts

25. Should interagency agreements be included, even if they cannot be found in FPDS/USA Spending?

The exhibit 300 has a field in the contracts table to identify interagency agreements and agencies should continue to report this data. Since this type of spending is not collected in FPDS, the IT Dashboard does not identify these contracts as invalid procurement IDs. OMB recognizes there is no authoritative source to validate these agreements at this time.

26. How will the IT Dashboard handle contract numbers that do not match the FPDS database?

The IT Dashboard clearly indicates an invalid procurement ID for those contracts for which a matching contract number cannot be found in FPDS, and there is no link available for further contract information. Each contract line item that is not matched by the agency with FPDS (or USAspending.gov) is clearly indicated with a red "x" symbol in the IT Dashboard as an invalid procurement ID.

27. What data structure should we use to help identify contract numbers in FPDS?

To assist in the linkage of Contract/Task Order Numbers from the Acquisition Strategy table to FPDS, agencies should provide the following information for "Contract/Task Order Numbers" based on the FPDS-NG data requirements (as specified in the FPDS-NG Data Element Dictionary-http://www.fpdsng.com/downloads/FPDS-Data-Dictionary-Version1.3.pdf):

Part of Indefinite Delivery Vehicle (IDV)?	Procurement Instrument Identifier	Example
No	Data Element 1A (NTE 50 characters)	"00063200203DNBCHC020042"
Yes	Data Element 1A, and the Referenced PIID, Data Element 1C (NTE 100 characters)	"GS09Q08DN0165-IDV-GS10F0216N"

Publicly Available Data Fields

Data Element	Source
Unique Project Identifier (to identify investment to update)	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section A
Date of Submission	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section A
Investment Name	Exhibit 53
Investment Description	Exhibit 53
Agency CIO Name	CIO.gov
Agency CIO Email	CIO.gov
Agency CIO Photo	CIO.gov
Agency CIO Bio	CIO.gov
Awarded Contracts: Contract Number	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section C
Awarded Contracts: Award Date	USAspending.gov
Awarded Contracts: Total Value of Contract/Task Order	USAspending.gov
Awarded Contracts: Vendor Name	USAspending.gov
Awarded Contracts: Type of Contract	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section C
Awarded Contracts: Start Date of Contract	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section C
Awarded Contracts: End Date of Contract	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section C
Performance Information: Strategic Goal Supported	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section D
Performance Information: Measurement Area	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section D
Performance Information: Measurement Indicator	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section D
Performance Information: Baseline	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section D
Performance Information: Actual Results	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section D
Performance Information: Target	Exhibit 300, Part I: Section D
Performance Information: Rating	System (input)
Cost/Schedule: Milestone Description	Exhibit 300, Cost/Schedule table
Cost/Schedule: Percent Complete	Exhibit 300, Cost/Schedule table & System (input)
Cost/Schedule: Planned Completion Date	Exhibit 300, Cost/Schedule table
Cost/Schedule: Actual Completion Date	Exhibit 300, Cost/Schedule table & System (input)
Cost/Schedule: Planned Start Date {NEW}	System (input)
Cost/Schedule: Actual Start Date {NEW}	System (input)
Cost/Schedule: Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (to date) or Planned Value (to date) {NEW}	System (input)
Cost/Schedule: Total Planned Cost	Exhibit 300, Cost/Schedule table
Cost/Schedule: Total Actual Cost	Exhibit 300, Cost/Schedule table & System (input)
Cost/Schedule: Cost Variance	Calculated
Cost/Schedule: Schedule Variance	Calculated

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