Key Issues > Modernization Blueprints
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Modernization Blueprints
A key to successfully leveraging information technology for organizational transformation is having and using an enterprise architecture—or modernization blueprint—as an authoritative frame of reference against which to assess and decide how individual system investments are defined, designed, acquired, and developed.
Experience has shown that attempting to modernize and maintain information technology environments without an architecture to guide and constrain investments results in mission operations and supporting systems that are duplicative, not well-integrated, and costly to maintain, and thus are inefficient and ineffective in achieving institutional goals and performance measures.
- Work across the federal government shows that federal agency enterprise architecture efforts can be viewed as a work in progress, with much remaining to be accomplished. Further, leadership is key in overcoming specific long-standing enterprise architecture challenges, such as receiving adequate funding and attaining sufficient senior leadership understanding.
- GAO’s Enterprise Architecture Management Maturity Framework emphasizes the need for agencies to measure and report the results and outcomes attained by their enterprise architecture programs to assist in demonstrating the value of their respective programs and identifying what, if any, enterprise architecture program changes are needed.
- While some progress has been made across the government, more time is needed for agencies to fully realize the value of having well-defined and implemented architectures. Such value can be derived from realizing cost savings through consolidation and reuse of shared services and elimination of antiquated and redundant mission operations, enhancing information sharing through data standardization and system integration, and optimizing service delivery through streamlining and normalization of business processes and mission operations.
- Knowing whether benefits and results are in fact being achieved requires having associated measures and metrics. However, while some agencies have established a method or metrics for measuring outcomes resulting from the use of their enterprise architectures (e.g., cost savings), most are still not measuring and reporting these outcomes and benefits based on established methods and metrics.
For more on GAO's reports and recommendations, see the key reports tab above.
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Organizational Transformation: Enterprise Architecture Value Needs to Be Measured and Reported
GAO-12-791: Published: Sep 26, 2012. Publicly Released: Sep 26, 2012.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-791
GAO-12-791: Published: Sep 26, 2012. Publicly Released: Sep 26, 2012.
Organizational Transformation: Military Departments Can Improve Their Enterprise Architecture Programs
GAO-11-902: Published: Sep 26, 2011. Publicly Released: Sep 26, 2011.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-902
GAO-11-902: Published: Sep 26, 2011. Publicly Released: Sep 26, 2011.
Information Technology: HUD's Expenditure Plan Satisfies Statutory Conditions, and Implementation of Management Controls Is Under Way
GAO-11-762: Published: Sep 7, 2011. Publicly Released: Sep 7, 2011.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-762
GAO-11-762: Published: Sep 7, 2011. Publicly Released: Sep 7, 2011.
Organizational Transformation: A Framework for Assessing and Improving Enterprise Architecture Management (Version 2.0) (Supersedes GAO-03-584G)
GAO-10-846G: Published: Aug 5, 2010. Publicly Released: Aug 5, 2010.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-846G
GAO-10-846G: Published: Aug 5, 2010. Publicly Released: Aug 5, 2010.
More Reports
Information Technology: Better Management of Interdependencies between Programs Supporting 2020 Census Is Needed
GAO-16-623: Published: Aug 9, 2016. Publicly Released: Sep 8, 2016.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-623
GAO-16-623: Published: Aug 9, 2016. Publicly Released: Sep 8, 2016.
Financial Management Systems: HUD Needs to Address Management and Governance Weaknesses That Jeopardize Its Modernization Efforts
GAO-16-656: Published: Jul 28, 2016. Publicly Released: Jul 28, 2016.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-656
GAO-16-656: Published: Jul 28, 2016. Publicly Released: Jul 28, 2016.
IRS 2017 Budget: IRS Could Improve Presentation of Budget Data in Its Congressional Justification
GAO-16-695: Published: Jul 21, 2016. Publicly Released: Jul 21, 2016.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-695
GAO-16-695: Published: Jul 21, 2016. Publicly Released: Jul 21, 2016.
Social Security Administration: Effective Planning and Management Practices Are Key to Overcoming IT Modernization Challenges
GAO-16-815T: Published: Jul 14, 2016. Publicly Released: Jul 14, 2016.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-815T
GAO-16-815T: Published: Jul 14, 2016. Publicly Released: Jul 14, 2016.
Information Technology: IRS Needs to Improve Its Processes for Prioritizing and Reporting Performance of Investments
GAO-16-545: Published: Jun 29, 2016. Publicly Released: Jun 29, 2016.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-545
GAO-16-545: Published: Jun 29, 2016. Publicly Released: Jun 29, 2016.
Veterans Affairs: Sustained Management Attention Needed to Address Numerous IT Challenges
GAO-16-762T: Published: Jun 22, 2016. Publicly Released: Jun 22, 2016.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-762T
GAO-16-762T: Published: Jun 22, 2016. Publicly Released: Jun 22, 2016.
Information Technology: Management of Interdependencies between Programs Supporting 2020 Census
GAO-16-723T: Published: Jun 9, 2016. Publicly Released: Jun 9, 2016.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-723T
GAO-16-723T: Published: Jun 9, 2016. Publicly Released: Jun 9, 2016.
Information Technology: Federal Agencies Need to Address Aging Legacy Systems
GAO-16-696T: Published: May 25, 2016. Publicly Released: May 25, 2016.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-696T
GAO-16-696T: Published: May 25, 2016. Publicly Released: May 25, 2016.
Information Technology: Federal Agencies Need to Address Aging Legacy Systems
GAO-16-468: Published: May 25, 2016. Publicly Released: May 25, 2016.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-468
GAO-16-468: Published: May 25, 2016. Publicly Released: May 25, 2016.
Information Technology: FEMA Needs to Address Management Weaknesses to Improve Its Systems
GAO-16-306: Published: Apr 5, 2016. Publicly Released: May 5, 2016.
More...http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-306
GAO-16-306: Published: Apr 5, 2016. Publicly Released: May 5, 2016.
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