Data Analytics of Strategic Information Technology Asset Reviews

Brian Bissett

Staff AnalystSocial Security Administration

Office of the Chief Information Officer

Overview

Background & Goals Qualitative Data Collection

SharePoint Surveys & Lists

Quantitative Data Collection InfoPath/SharePoint Excel Templates

Data Analysis & Scoring Resource Maximization Data Reporting & Dashboarding Action Items, Lessons Learned, & References

Background

The Social Security Administration has had Administrative Expenses of combined expenditures from its trust funds of less than or equal to 1.0% since 1989, an enviable record that few (if any) organizations in the private or public sector can match. 1

As the Agency is tasked with legislative mandates to take on more Health Care related IT programs, care must be taken to select the best IT programs to maintain low administrative expenses and maximize the benefits to the public.

1. http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/admin.html

Why We have not been Privatized

Sources: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/06/administrative-costs/http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/04/14/administrative-costs-good/

Pay for Performance?Not All the Time!

The Government Accountability Office has concluded that private plans channel extra subsidies towards increased profit, not improved benefits.1

Just as with a mutual fund, paying an administrative fee does not pay for better performance, it pays for a salesman.

1. GAO-08-827R June 24, 2008.

Reality and Consequences

SSA is a conservative agency. The Checks have to go out. SSA has legacy systems that use 60 million lines of

Cobol computer code. SSA continues to heavily utilize mainframes.

With such low administrative expenses, SSA is intolerant of poor funding choices. Failure to make the right IT investments for both

the present and the future can handicap an organization to the point where it can no longer accomplish its mission directives.

GOAL OF SITAR: Keeping Admin Costs Low

The Strategic IT Asset Review (SITAR) process was created to evaluate the programmatic costs and benefits of proposed IT programs and to ensure a uniform process is utilized in selecting the best efforts for the agency to start or continue funding. Determine the Bottom 1/3 Performing IT

Investments at SSA and then. . . . . Turn them around or KILL them.

Survey

There are two methods of easily Collecting information in SharePoint, a Survey or a List.

Survey ListBranching No BranchingAnalysis Limited Data Exportable to ExcelCannot Name Files Can Name List ElementsCan Limit Responses Cannot Limit ResponsesCan Display Information No Native Info Display

Conditions to Survey

Has the Scope of the initiative changed? (From what the PSA specified.)

Changes to the Initiatives Schedule. Concerns regarding government or

contractor resources. Concerns regarding user acceptance. Concerns regarding risk. (how have risk mitigation strategies impacted)

Data Collection: Excel Web Access

Data Collection – InfoPath

Data Collection: PID Information

Data Analysis – OCIO Excel Tab

SME MatrixPID Level ROI

CBA PID RollupReport Card

Scoring Algorithm

Initiatives are evaluated by components within SSA by answering a series of questions about various conditions in the initiative with four possible answers.

Has the condition changed from specifications? Yes/No Initial Question; No = 100 Yes - Minor Changes = 50 Yes - Some Changes = 25 Yes - Major Changes = 0

Scoring Algorithm

A Final Question assesses the Overall Project Health which has three possible answers: The overall health of this initiative is:

a) Acceptable = 75b) Questionable = 50c) Poor = 25

This question is answered by the AC in charge of the initiative.

The answers to the questions are then averaged and binned. Bins for Icons:

Red 25 > Score (Average) Yellow 50 > Score (Average) >= 25Green Score (Average) >=50

Reporting: Traffic Light Style

Subject Matter Experts - SMEs

Subject Matter Expert – is any non-Systems person or persons who understand the business process or area well enough to describe it to the IT Staff and answer questions as they arise. They are also the persons who are in the critical path of the project and provide input and feedback during the many steps of a project’s lifecycle. Does not include casual meeting attendees.

SME MATRIX Initiative/Component

Resource Utilization Modeling

Many Resource Utilization Models assume linearity.

This is done because Linear Behavior is very predictable where as non Linear Behavior is seldom predictable with the exception of exponential growth and decay.

But few things in life exhibit the regular recurring predictable behavior associated with Linearity, most often they are Skewed.

Resource Modeling Right Skew

Typical Behavior, Lots of Resources at the Beginning, fewer Resources utilized toward completion.

Resource Modeling Left Skew

Less Frequent, more indicative of projects that are resource intensive on the back end such as construction projects.

Resource Modeling No Skew

Resembles a Normal Distribution. Planning, Building, Integrating, Testing type of Model.

Resource Modeling Notch

The Failure Curve. Build, Test, Rebuild. Same effort level at Beginning and End.

How much can be Supported?

Question: We have 10 Automation SME resources, and 30 Projects, each of which require 1/3 of a Automation SME Man Year. How many Projects can be supported? Answer: It Depends on the Skew. If all projects are left skewed we can only

support 10 projects. If 1/3 of the projects are skewed left, 1/3

skewed right, and 1/3 skewed center, we can support all of them.

Dilemma

Obviously, the case where all projects can be supported is optimal. So it would be best to have a situation where

resources are distributed equally across all potential time frames which mimics linear behavior. Linear Behavior is desirable for Analysis. But Linear Behavior in Life is Uncommon.

“Faking Linearity”

Burn Rates – Ideal Case

Burn Rates - Reality

Resource Utilization (Burn)

Key Points: Projects will not burn resources in a linear

manner. The PM should be aware if the project is over

burning or under burning its resources, and take appropriate action if the burn rate is not appropriate for the phase of the project. When over burning occurs, are SME and

other resources being deprived to other more critical projects?

Data Reporting: Rollup

Data Reporting: Presentation

IT Health DashboardExcel Conditional Formatting

RANDOMLY GENERATED DATA

RANDOMLY GENERATED DATA

RANDOMLY GENERATED DATA

RANDOMLY GENERATED DATA

IT Health DashboardExcel Published HTML

RANDOMLY GENERATED DATA

RANDOMLY GENERATED DATA

RANDOMLY GENERATED DATA

RANDOMLY GENERATED DATA

IT Health DashboardLimitations of Implementation

Functionality HTML XL Web

Excel Conditional Formatting

Multiple Sheet Viewing

Sparklines

Vertical Text

Downloadable Template

Embedded Objects

Worksheet Functions

Component/Project Breakdownby Work Years

SSA Open Government Dashboards – Top Level

SSA Open Government Dashboards – Investments

The Government Really is Open, just look at this rating.

Candidates for Termination

Has Limited Strategic Value Based on the current Agency Strategic Plan

(ASP).

Is on the line and has not been started. Is on the line and is not doing well. SME Hog Unfavorable ROI

When Termination is not Possible

Some Projects simply cannot be killed because they are legislatively mandated, or so called “Sacred Cows.” While these projects must get done,

flexibility exists in that we can change how they are done if they are underperforming. It is important to identify underperforming

programs even when they are mandated by Congress.

Lessons Learned

SharePoint Functions well as a document repository, but needs improvement for efficient data collection. InfoPath is not a mature product and lacks

many basic functions that would be expected in a third generation product. Excel can function well as a Data Analysis

tool when used with VBA, but Worksheets must be Locked down.

Lessons Learned Continued

How a SharePoint site is administered can have grave consequences in terms of limiting the ability of groups to create custom solutions to complex agency initiatives. It is always easier when deploying a new

solution to incrementally feed a component a piece of the new pie than to try to stuff the whole pie down their throat at once.

Recommended Third Party Tools

SparkLines for Excel http://sparklines-excel.blogspot.com/ Add-Ins for Excel Productivity Suite http://www.add-ins.com/ Bamboo Solutions http://store.bamboosolutions.com/ Excel Web Services http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa973804(office.12).aspx

Qdabra qRules http://www.qdabra.com/en/products/qRules.aspx

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information – Edward Tufte

Edward R. Tufte, Ph.D., Yale University http://www.yale.edu/polisci/people/etufte.html

http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/index Four Books on Data Visualization: The Visual

Display of Quantitative Information, Envisioning Information, Visual Explanations, Beautiful Evidence.

Books

Practical Pharmaceutical Laboratory Automation Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: CRC Press (May 2003) ISBN: 0849318149

Automated Data Analysis with Excel

Softcover: 442 Pages Chapman & Hall (June 2007) ISBN: 1-58488-885-7

Acknowledgements

Lester Diamond – Associate CIODonna Meekins – Director OCIO/OIMDon Ingraham – Director OCIO/OIMJeff Wilhide – SharePoint Administrator OIMS. Jennifer Haggerty – IT Specialist OCIO/OIMSue Meekins – IT Specialist OCIO/OIMWayne Slechter – IT Specialist OCIO/OIMDavid Ordonio – IT Specialist OCIO/OIMCarla Sateriale – Research Assistant at IMFBrandon Williams – IT Specialist OCIO/OIM