The GovLoop Guide: Government Technology in Review 2012 by GovLoop

Government Technology Year in Review

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WELCOME CONTENTS About GovLooP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 4 Executive SummarY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5 The Year in Review – Results of 2012 GovLoop Technology Survey - - - - - - - 7 What has been the most important technology trend in 2012? What technology trends are you watching for 2013? What is your greatest challenge implementing new technology? Communicate Value of Project Agile Methodology Training Expert Insights: David Graziano of Cisco Talks BYOD

Expansion of Mobility: The Perfect Storm for Government Agencies - - - - - 15 Challenges Case Studies – The Digital Government Strategy Case Study - U.S. Census Bureau 5 Great Mobile Apps from Microsoft

Turning Data into Power: Unlocking Big Data for Agencies - - - - - - - - - - 23 Challenges Predictive Policing: Santa Cruz Police Department NASA’s Human Spaceflight Imagery Collection Looking Ahead to 2013 3 Keys to Big Data: Quick Wins, Clear Scope, Communicate

Finding New Efficiencies, Cost Savings and Improved Services with Cloud Technology - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 29 Challenges Case Studies: FedRAMP Case Studies: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Looking Ahead to 2013 Cloud Computing Offers Cost Savings for Public & Private Sector

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Changing Traditional Project Management: Bringing Agile Methodology to Government - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 37 Agile Best Practices Case Study: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) BlueCRUSH Program Redefining Analytics in Government

The Year of Social Government: Social Media in 2012 - - - - - - - - - - - - 45 Challenges Case Study: Public Engagement Lessons Learned from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanual and President Obama How to Derive Value from Everyday Interaction with Citizens

Final Thoughts & Acknowledgements - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 50 GovLoop Resources - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 51 HP & GovLoop Develop Telework App

Bibliography of Report - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 54 Expansion of Mobility: The Perfect Storm for Government Agencies Turning Data into Power: Unlocking Big Data for Agencies Finding New Efficiencies, Cost Savings and Improved Services through Cloud Technology Changing Traditional Project Management: Bringing Agile Methodology to Government The Year of Social Government: Social Media in 2012 GovLoop Resources

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ABOUT GOVLOOP Location GovLoop is headquartered in Washington D.C with a team of dedicated professionals who share a commitment to connect and improve government.

GovLoop 734 15th St NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005 Phone: (202) 407-7421 Fax: (202) 407-7501

GovLoopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mission is to connect government to improve government. We aim to inspire public sector professionals by acting as the knowledge network for government. The GovLoop community has over 60,000 members working to foster collaboration, solve problems and share resources across government. The GovLoop community has been widely recognized across multiple sectors. GovLoop members come from across the public sector. Our membership includes federal, state, and local public servants, industry experts and professionals grounded in academic research. To-

day, GovLoop is the leading site for addressing public sector issues. GovLoop works with top industry partners to provide resources and tools to the government community. GovLoop has developed a variety of guides, infographics, online training and educational events, all to help public sector professionals become more efficient Civil Servants. GovLoopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2012 Technology in Review Report is sponsored by Cisco, Google, GovDelivery, HP, IBM, Oracle and Microsoft.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2012 has been an exciting year for government technology, everything from Todd Park becoming the Federal CTO, the release of the Digital Government Strategy, FedRAMP launching, the White House Innovation Fellows Program, and countless examples of mobile application development, open data initiatives, and cloud adoption. In this report, GovLoop set out to perform a year in review of government technology, identifying the core trends, themes and what to anticipate for 2013. The GovLoop team wanted to stay true to our mission at GovLoop of sharing knowledge and resources to empower government employees. With that said, not only did we want to identify and tell great case studies of government work in 2012, we also wanted to facilitate the sharing of resources, best practices, ideas and solutions to improve how government operates. We believe this report not only will highlight some of the best case studies for 2012 and technology initiatives, but also encourages the government community to share ideas and work collaboratively to improve the way that government functions. In late September 2012 GovLoop ran a survey asking our community for their insights to top technology trends in 2012. The survey had 250 respondents from the government community. Further, GovLoop reached out to key thought leaders in government for their expert insights. This report contains comments from the following leaders in government: Bernie Mazer, Chief Information Officer, Department of the Interior Jim Ropelewski, Chief Procurement Officer, Department of Education

Linda Cureton, Chief Information Officer, NASA Malcolm Jackson, Chief Information Officer, Environmental Protection Agency Our report continues with overviews of five core trends in government technology in 2012, mobile, big data, cloud adoption, agile methodology, and social media. Each trend is highlighted within this guide and identifies best practices, common challenges, and top case studies from 2012. In 2012 we saw incredible innovations from government. GovLoop wants to thank the innovators, front line staff, leaders and agency heads working hard to improve how services are delivered to citizens. In times when budgets are constantly tightening, demand is increasing, and the mantra is to do more with less, government leaders are challenged like never before to implement new technology to facilitate cost savings, efficiencies, and improved reliability. Technology has become essential to meeting organizational objectives. As such, this report should serve as a roadmap to help you tackle some of your agencies most pressing challenges and provide a year in review for government technology in 2012, and what to expect in 2013. Be sure to check out GovLoop.com for more technology related resources, and to join the conversation and collaborate with peers. If you have any questions about this report, please feel free to reach out to Pat Fiorenza, GovLoop Research Analyst at pat@govloop.com.

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Expansion of Mobility

Turning Data into Power

Efficiencies of Cloud Technology

Agile Methodology for Government

The Year of Social Government

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The Year in Review Results of 2012 GovLoop Technology Survey

ovLoop recently conducted a survey from 250 members of our community as part of our year-end technology report. Not only did we reach out to the GovLoop community, we also reached out to key decision makers in government, and have incorporated their insights. The following government thought leaders were interviewed for this report:

Linda Cureton, Chief Information Officer, NASA

Bernie Mazer, Chief Information Officer, Department of the Interior

What has been the most important technology trend in 2012?

Jim Ropelewski, Chief Procurement Officer, Department of Education

Our survey asked respondents to select the

Malcolm Jackson, Chief Information Officer, Environmental Protection Agency Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be able to listen to their interviews in full by visiting GovLoop.com. This section of the report provides a snapshot of technology in government in 2012 and shares the results from our 2012 technology in government survey.

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Other responses identified as leading trends were mobile initiatives, such as BYOD and collaboration tools. Malcolm Jackson, CIO, EPA, backed up these findings, stating, “At the EPA we are looking at ways to make it easier for people to do their work. In the past people were chained to their desks. They would leave their desks to go to a meeting. Collaboration would happen in conference rooms. Where I see the federal government going today is to a mobile workforce. Mobile in that they can take their devices with them. Walk down the hall and have conversations with people and have instantaneous meetings because you could loop anyone via a virtual conference. Plus if they have their devices they have

continue to grow.”

a/ at i c s g D ly t a An

NASA was not alone implementing cloud technology, Bernie Mazer, CIO, Department of Interior, stated, “This year we moved our email to the cloud. And cloud will just continue to expand. We are also looking at adding applications to the cloud. And with the Digital Government Strategy the role of cloud as cost savings will

30%

Linda continues, “I think we started to enter that in 2012. We are getting beyond the hype. And commercial products are now giving offerings that are very sensible and economical. So we’re not making decisions about cloud or not cloud, we are looking at the best service offerings for our agency and our environment.”

40%

become the normal operating procedure.”

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top technology trend, respondents could select all that apply with the options of agile development, big data/analytics, bring your own device (BYOD), cloud computing, collaboration tools, cyber security, and data center consolidation. At 56%, cloud computing was the leading response (see graphic for full findings). In a recent interview, Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA, also stated the importance of cloud technology in 2012, “The thing everyone was looking at in 2012 was cloud computing. We are all responding to the OMB mandate of cloud first. That coupled with the maturity of cloud products in the commercial space made cloud pretty exciting. I look forward to when the hype goes away and we stop looking at cloud as this cool one off thing and make it

60%

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What Are The Most Important Technology Trends of 2012 and 2013?

2013

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their data with them.” As Jacksons indicates, mobile is truly a transformational trend for government. Along with the move to mobile, there has been a boom in the kinds of data that has been created. Jim Ropelewski CPO, Department of Education, expanded on how in 2012 there has been an increasing need for real insights and improved decisions from the data created, “Right now there is a desire for a great deal of data. Data analytics is really the big buzzword this year. We don’t suffer from a lack of data but what to do with it. We are still figuring out what’s the best way to crunch the numbers in order to make strategic decisions.” Bernie Mazer continued about the impact of mobile at the De-

partment of the Interior, “We are also actively courting the use of consumer devices into our world. We will have tablets and smartphones within our department; those devices are subject to security constraints and life cycle management. We are also looking at BYOD and how we can protect the federal database and individual private space.”

What technology trends are you watching for 2013? Survey respondents were also asked which technology trends to watch in 2013. From our survey, cloud computing is anticipated to be one of the key trends in 2013, just like in 2012. Other results included BYOD, collaboration and big

data. In her interview, Linda Cureton mentioned, “In 2013 we will see more software as a service headed to the cloud. Lots of interest in apps stores in the cloud because it offers that type of capability now. NASA is also looking at our website and trying to take advantage of the platform as a service layer.” Linda was also aligned with our survey respondents, citing BYOD as a trend to watch in 2013, “Mobile and BYOD will become how the government does business. CIOs will stop looking at endpoint devices but look at data applicants and capabilities to deliver more reliable internet technology,” she continued, “At this point a lot of people do BYOD anyway so in 2013 we want to do it in a better more managed way.” Fi-

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10. nally, Linda mentioned the importance of big data in 2013, stating, “We’ve been dealing with big data for decades. But now with the capabilities of the cloud, big data has become a big deal.”

park rangers who are in the field. We want them to have the ability that they can take their devices with corresponding capabilities with them and have content and data accessibly anywhere.”

Mobility was also a core finding, especially in terms of BYOD. Our government experts also believed that mobile will be critically important in 2013. Malcolm Jackson stated, “The continued evolution of mobile. And growth of apps. We realized there is a tremendous opportunity to build a publicprivate partnership. We are looking for opportunities to leverage the private sector from a technology perspective.” Jim Ropelewski mentioned, “Agencies will likely move to more mobile workforce in the next few years. We’ve already introduced some iPads and other tablets. The other big trend will be BYOD. But BYOD brings a whole host of security challenges. We will have to partner with CIOs even more than we do now to make sure that added complications don’t arise from BYOD.”

What is your greatest challenge implementing new technology?

Finally, Bernie Mazer adds additional insight to the role of mobility in 2013, stating, “Mobile will define 2013. As part of the Digital Government Strategy government as a whole is trying to reduce the number of workstations. And at the Department of Interior our people work outside. We have biologists and geologist and

Although technology exists to transform how government operates, there are a lot of challenges for government agencies to implement technology initiatives. Respondents stated the budget as a core challenge, followed by culture, leadership, workforce and no government precedent. Our experts added in some additional insights as well, Linda Cureton and Malcolm Jackson both mentioned the budgetary challenges. Linda states, “With budget cuts we have to get over the IT strategies that are based on hope. We “hope: we can get a big influx of money to x,y and z. We’ll that’s just not going to happen anymore. We have to change our mindset. CIOs need to become brokers of services and have a business savvy.” Jackson adds, “Budget cuts will always be a challenge. We are always looking at ways to carve out funds for innovation. Because innovation is what really drives technology.” An additional challenge for

government, which was mentioned in the “other” category of the GovLoop survey, is the workforce. Jim Ropelewski also mentioned this challenge during his interview, stating, “It’s not a new or cutting edge challenge. But our real area of concern is finding and maintaining a highly skilled workforce. Right now because technology is getting so sophisticated we need to start thinking of our staff as strategic business officers.” Bernie Mazer also mentioned some of the challenges related to legal and security for BYOD initiatives, “We are concerned about the legal and security ramifications of BYOD and mobility. We are presently issuing a directive where we are looking at these concerns. We are actively examining how we can put access apps on a person’s individual device. We are also looking at native clients and how we put those on an individual’s device.” In our survey, we wanted to stay true to what we do at GovLoop, sharing knowledge, ideas and resources to empower government employees to do their job betters. In the survey, we asked what are some best practices that government employees have learned throughout the year. We found three common trends from the responses by government employees, communicate the value of projects, adopt agile project management philoso-

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phy, and train appropriately. Communicate Value of Project One of the core themes in the survey was the need for leaders to communicate the value of the technology initiative that is taking place within the agency. This is true from senior leaders to front line employees, the need for proper communication channels is clear. One respondent stated, “Support from management and key player buy-in; starting small; referencing organization change management resources to address cultural barriers.” Yet, in the end, the initiative needs to show results. One survey respondent stated, “Start small, rack up a few wins.” Racking up a few wins is key, having some quick wins to point to and share across a team will ultimately help show the value of a project and get support for the initiative. Agile Methodology This was a really interesting finding in the report. Many survey respondents identified the importance of bringing agile methodology into government. We found this to be such an important trend; we expanded one of sections in this report to solely agile. The key for government agencies is to iterate and adapt, one re-

spondent stated, “Show (not tell) your organization the value through a low risk demo/ pilot and enlist an early adopters group to implement the pilot and advocate for the new technology.” Another additional comment was, “Do real agile development and use real user-centered design. Don’t modify well-used processes just because you are not used to them.” Finally, a more concise response about the need for agile was stated by a respondent as, “Test. Pilot. Analyze. Then implement.” Training Another core theme from the survey, and one that has been echoed during GovLoop webinars, events, and through surveys done this year, was the need for training on how to best leverage new technology. “Training is key, identify the strengths and weakness of people or teams. Look for experience and proper leadership and mentorship. Identify and engage the people working the project,” stated one survey respondent. Finally, the survey explored an ongoing and critical challenge for government, recruiting and retaining top IT talent into government. There is no question that the workforce is changing. Whether it is from Baby Boomers retiring or new

technology in the workplace, the way government operates continues to evolve and impact the current workforce. In our survey, three core findings appeared as to how to best recruit top IT talent into government. The three core findings were, offer competitive pay, offer flexible work schedules and tell top applicants about the amazing opportunity working for government offers. Survey respondents stated that in order to attract top talent, there must be competitive pay for employees. One respondent stated, “Attractive pay packages and opportunities to grow,” as one solution to attract talent. Although competitive pay is certainly important, unfortunately, government is not always in the position to compete financially. With that said, government does offer other benefits than private sector counterparts. Flexible work schedules could be used as one way to recruit, a respondent stated, “Alternative work schedules, telecommuting opportunities,” another stating, “Be creative. Offer telecommuting, flexible hours, training.” A final trend from the survey was to have people tell their story. One respondent stated, “Recruitment is a difficult challenge in today’s climate -- but we still offer some of the most exciting projects, and amazing growth opportunity.”

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Expert Insights: David Graziano of Cisco Talks BYOD This post is an excerpt from GovLoop’s recent report, Exploring Bring Your Own Device in the Public Sector.

Recently, David Graziano, Director, Security and Unified Access, US Public Sector, Cisco, spoke with Pat Fiorenza of GovLoop on the state of BYOD in the public sector. David provided expert insights on how to best manage, control and implement a BYOD program for a public sector agency. Graziano’s insights provide further evidence that although challenges still remain for BYOD, this is one of the most important trends occurring in government. You can find the complete interview by visiting the blog post, and the complete BYOD guide. David advised that agencies must start by embracing BYOD, and accept that BYOD is a trend that they must act upon, “Embracing BYOD is really important, because if they don’t, then the agency is actually moving away from technology rather than leveraging it to achieve their mission,” states Graziano. Embracing BYOD is essential. BYOD initiatives show a commitment to becoming an innovative workplace and allowing people to work on the platform they desire. “If you embrace BYOD and make it very easy for people to get on the network and enforce policies to protect data, that is the best thing,” David keenly acknowledges. Once BYOD is embraced by agencies, he advises that it is essential that the organization create a simple user experience. David states: “You need to create a simple user experience. This involves guest access and onboarding, this means potentially allowing people access who do not work for you and limiting information they can access. If it is an employee, it is simple onboarding, managing the user experience of getting on the network, establishing and confirming their identity and authenticate who they are and their device, just making this a very smooth process.” David highlighted four core challenges for BYOD, the loss of control, protecting government data, limited access, and changing work practices for new employees. The loss of control is absolutely one of the most critical concerns with BYOD. Graziano states, “Typically loss of control is related to policy, if you are going to let these things on your network, how do you possibly control where they are allowed to go, and what they are allowed to do?” These are important considerations to make while crafting a BYOD policy, and as David mentioned, the importance of a well-crafted policy is essential to the success of any government BYOD initiative. Closely linked to the challenge of a loss of control, is the need to protect government data. David states, “If you are going to allow people access to data and in theory they could pull it down, you run the risk of losing that government data.” Additionally, Graziano advises that policies will differ for government furnished devices and personal devices. “If the devices are government furnished, you can establish one set of policies, and if it is literally BYOD, then you have to establish a different set of policies for that,” stated David. Beyond operational and efficiency gains, BYOD also may contribute to tackling the challenges to recruit and retain top talent in government. GovLoop’s report: Exploring Bring Your Own Device in the Public Sector is an important read for government agencies considering BYOD at their agency. The report will guide agencies through the common challenges and roadblocks faced by peers in government, helping agencies consider all the numerous aspects of BYOD.

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Expansion of Mobility

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Expansion of Mobility The Perfect Storm for Government Agencies

he progress surrounding employee mobility in 2012 has been astounding to watch unfold. With the launch of the Digital Government Strategy, increased adoption of cloud technology, and growing implementation of bring your own device policies government is in a great position to capitalize upon mobile technology. The ability to increasingly work from any digital device has given employees greater flexibility for telework, more effective communication from the field, and connectivity from almost anywhere they go, providing significant op-

portunities for increased productivity. The launch of the Digital Government Strategy earlier this year underscored the federal governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unparalleled support for greater efficiency and innovation through mobility. Their goal of building a 21st century government that works better for the American people highlights the need for increased efficiency in government, achievable through mobile technology. With this in mind, one of the greatest innovations seen throughout 2012 has been the increased utility and functionality of tablets for

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government work. The portability of tablets has enormous potential, especially when looking toward streamlining the collection and digitizing data. In particular, the use of tablets is having a dramatic impact for employees in the field. One great example comes from the State of Indiana. For the State of Indiana Police Department, the process of inspecting 17,000 state school buses was vastly simplified when the state partnered with a local college computer class to create a customized tablet inspection application. The Department plans to take it a step further, integrating quick response (QR) codes into the application functionality to track bus information. With these technology upgrades, the Illinois Police Department has come a long way from using checklists on paper forms just a few years ago. This example highlights an additional technology mobility trend this year, the development of productivity applications within government. Agencies throughout government have capitalized on new mobile technology to demon-

strably increase efficiency, notably through cost savings and better employee recruitment, among other measures of success. Throughout the year, GovLoop Insights has highlighted a number of incredible apps produced throughout government, starting with GSAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work launching the USA.gov Mobile Apps Gallery. With government apps relating to categories as diverse as education, finance, medical, travel, and reference materials, government has increased the accessibility and mobility of public information. This coincides with the Digital Government Strategyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal to unlock government data to spur innovation in and beyond the public sector. Even on the local level, employees have increased access

to mobile apps. In the City of Minneapolis, for example, the city government has opened up a mobile application store, where work-related productivity applications can be found. They offer city employees a range of apps, from file browsers and PDF readers, giving tablets the same functionality as laptops and desktops. For government employees in Minneapolis, this significantly increases work mobility.

Challenges While mobile technology has presented fantastic opportunities for increasing efficiency, challenges still remain to fully capitalize on these advances. Some agencies have been able to easily demonstrate the impact of mobile adoption on their mission, clearly establishing value. For example, the

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Unlock the power of government data to spur innovation across our Nation and improve the quality of services for the American people

Government Printing Office has been able to provide greater access to public information through mobile applications. Other agencies, however, need to ensure they have a clear understanding of the mission value, as well as the impact of mobile adoption on their bottom line. Another obstacle for integrating mobile technology into agencies is addressing information security. With many additional devices accessing enterprise data, security is a real concern. Going forward, agencies will need to continue tracking device access, addressing the variety of applications available on those devices, and other measures to ensure the security of enterprise information.

Case Studies â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Digital

Government Strategy As previously mentioned, this year the White House launched its new Digital Government Strategy: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People. The strategy was put in place to accomplish three major goals: Enable the American people and an increasingly mobile workforce to access high-quality digital government information and services anywhere, anytime, on any device Ensure that as the government adjusts to this new digital world, we seize the opportunity to procure and manage devices, applications, and data in smart, secure and affordable ways

With these three goals in mind, the strategy has created a framework and timeline for agencies to build a technology infrastructure to open their data, adopt common standards, and produce device agnostic content and data for the public. The framework will allow government to get in front of technology adoption and provide tools to help others innovate. Having a clear framework across government will dramatically increase efficiency, especially for initiatives that span agencies. Previously, information silos in government created distinct barriers for collaboration, but this new approach will allow both public and private organizations to access information and spur innovation.

Case Study - U.S. Census Bureau

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Malcolm Jackson EPA CIO

from a recent interview with GovLoop on the DorobekINSIDER.

e a r e i n t h e m i d d l e o f a m o b i l e e xplosion. From the perspective of the size (they continue to get smaller), to the perspective of capabilities and price point. It’s the perfect storm for technolo-

gists. Platforms should be agnostic; that gets to the whole BYOD mantra. CIOs should be focusing on safe and secure delivery of information in a manner that doesn’t necessarily factor in the various operating systems. The big ask becomes. How do we provide a secure tunnel into our systems through the endpoints of mobile devices that our users have available to them and deliver the capabilities they need in a fashion that they can use to meet their mission goals.

This year, the Census Bureau released an app to enable citizens to access real time, accurate economic data to help people more efficiently do their jobs, and understand their complex data with greater ease. The app is called America’s Economy, and it provides updated statistics from the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It includes 16 monthly economic indicators, such as house sales, personal income, international trade, Gross Domestic Product, and the unemployment rate. Stephen Buckner, Director of New Media and Promotions at the Census Bureau, told Chris Dorobek that in the first month of its release the app was downloaded more than 45,000 times. “The app allows you to be the first to know what’s really happening in

the economy,” said Buckner. It is part of the Census Bureau’s approach to increase mobility of data and accessibility of information. The Bureau wants to connect with the public in a way that they actually consume data. “We need to provide data anywhere, anytime on any device,” said Buckner. The app is the latest step the census has taken to use the Internet more in both collecting and disseminating statistics. The data is only as valuable as it is accessible, and this new format allows others to access that information more efficiently than ever before. Last month, the White House cited the Census Bureau as an example of a federal agency that is “making great strides towards putting a solid foundation for a 21st Century digital government in place.”

Looking to 2013 As the Digital Government Strategy is further implemented throughout government in 2013, it will be exciting to see whether the promise of greater efficiency materializes. There is a tremendous amount of opportunity, but agencies will need to address the challenges outlined in order to fully capitalize on mobile technology. If government is able to get ahead of the tech curve by fully implementing the outlined strategy, they will be in a great position to take advantage of new tech trends and move to the forefront of technology innovation.

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GovLoop Mobility Resources BYOD New GovLoop Report: Exploring Bring Your Own Device in the Public Sector White House Releases Bring Your Own Device Tool-Kit BYOD @ EEOC: case study featured in official WH guidance BYOD Pilot: Five Lessons Learned 3 Tips for Your Bring Your Own Device Strategy

MOBILITY Digital Government Strategy Yammering On About Mobility, But No Real Solutions... Think Again

APPS Want Real-Time Economic Data? Census Launches An App for That Text My Bus: Using Open Data to Improve Citizen’s Lives United We Ride: Making Transportation Easier With Intra-Collaboration Wildfire Danger - There’s An App For That Can Tech Really Help You Engage? Insights From The Knight Foundation Meet Textizen -- A new way to get citizen feedback in the digital age Ten Steps to Creating Insanely Great Mobile Apps The NASA Mobile App University

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5 Great Mobile Apps from Microsoft An article over on the Microsoft Government Blog reports about apps built exclusively for Microsoft Phone 7. The blog was written by Parul Bhandari, Government Industry Solutions Lead, Worldwide Public Sector. I thought it was an interesting look at some of the apps built for Microsoft mobile devices, and also a look at how much smartphones have impacted our professional and private lives. Parul states, “According to Forrester Research, one billion

consumers will own a smartphone by 2016—that’s roughly one seventh of the world’s population! For government, this represents a massive constituency of citizens who are increasingly accustomed to— and now expect—having access to mobile services served up via their smartphones.” This statistic shows the importance of government to continue to move towards developing mobile applications, mobile friendly websites and continue to work towards providing services on mobile devices. Parul talks briefly about the role Microsoft has played in the developer community, “For

several years now, we’ve even held developer competitions to help catalyze mobile app development in government. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out what our developer community has dreamed up for both federal and state and local government from recent competitions. Below are some of my personal favorite government apps that have been developed for Windows Phone 7.” Parul closes out his post by sharing some apps developed for Microsoft Phone 7. The five apps he identifies is Advanced Mobile 311, United Nations News, Eye on Earth, Love Clean Streets, and World of Politics. All of the apps are really cool examples of citizen engagement in the mobile space. Advanced Mobile 311 United Nations News Eye on Earth (Click to download PDF) Love Clean Streets World of Politics

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Real for Lean Government Simplify, reduce costs while providing new agency capabilities

3 Ways Microsoft Can Help 1. Use What You Already Own t

If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re government organization has a Microsoft enterprise license agreement, you may already own some of the most powerful solutions on the market. Microsoft Financing can help you tailor a payment plan to meet your agency needs, realizing the technology benefits as you pay. Software Assurance can help improve worker productivity, streamline development and help reduce costs with fast, efficient access to the most current technology.

2. Lighten Your Technology Load in the Cloud

3. Work Without Walls t

With little to no infrastructure investment, you can quickly add powerful software and computing resources. Save on hardware, maintenance, IT management, and facilities cost, in addition to software licensing fees. Offer services faster and stay on the latest technology using Microsoft cloud services.

Learn more www.microsoft.com/govcostsavings

Telework solutions can help reduce travel costs and close gaps in a dispersed workforce. Keep teams and resources better connected wherever people are located. Virtual workspaces reduce infrastructure costs and give staff options during disruptions in service due to weather or emergencies.

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Turning Data into Power

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Turning Data into Power Unlocking Big Data for Agencies

ig data has been a hot topic this year, with many individuals and organizations discussing what it is and how best to use it in their particular industry or agency. Though there’s no official definition of big data, there are a few key points that many experts agree constitute big data, otherwise known as the “Three V’s”: volume, which refers to the large amount of data that an organization or agency amasses; velocity, the rate at which data is being generated and how quickly it must be received

and processed; and variety, or the multitude of sources from which the organization or agency receives data, which can include anything from sensor readings to posts on social media sites to cell phone GPS signals and much more.

Challenges Although big data has many benefits for government agencies, challenges exist to fully unlock big data and turn information into power. One of the main challenges with big data is having the technology and staff available to capture, store, distribute, manage, and analyze

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all of the information. This often requires agencies to invest both time and money, something many agencies lack in today’s difficult fiscal environment. Keeping up with the constant stream of data can also prove to be rather difficult. Though big data is voluminous, fast moving, complex, and often requires investing time and resources, government has made effective use of it. In the next section, we detail two case studies demonstrating ways in which government has successfully used big data.

Predictive Policing: Santa Cruz Police Department In the summer of 2011, the Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) began a six-month pilot project, using large datasets and a complex algorithm - based on the same model used to predict earthquake aftershocks - to try to predict and prevent crime. This approach, called predictive policing, is being adopted across the country, as police departments realize the value of big data in their efforts to catch criminals and ensure public safety. The process used by police officials in Santa Cruz is pretty

straightforward. According to Zach Friend, crime analyst with SCPD, “We’re inputting data into this algorithm and producing hotspot maps that tell our officers where to patrol, hopefully to help prevent crimes before they occur.” Hot spots, Friend noted, are 500 foot by 500-foot areas in which the probability of crime occurring is higher than in any other locations. The police department originally created ten hot spots a day, but eventually bumped that number up to 15 in order to increase buy in from officers. Though predictive policing does not replace officer intuition, Friend believes that it does normalize information across two important elements of law enforcement - experience level and talent level. Friend calls the process a “great equalizer for law enforcement agencies to ensure that everybody’s patrolling the areas that they should be patrolling at the times that they can.” SCPD’s use of the system has had positive effects. Without adding more officers to the streets or changing beats and shift times, SCPD realized a 19% reduction in property theft when comparing crime statistics from the first six months of 2012 to the same

timeframe in 2011, before the advanced analytics and prediction technology was being used. In July 2012, The Santa Cruz Police Department shifted its predictive policing program from pilot phase to fully operational. The system is now fully automated, and is used to predict gang activity and street crimes for specialty units within the department, in addition to property theft.

NASA’s Human Spaceflight Imagery Collection The

Information

Resources

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Directorate (IRD) at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) is responsible for managing the human spaceflight imagery collection, one of the largest archives of its kind in the world. Images are used by industry and the general public to educate and entertain. The collection currently contains “over 4 million still images, 9.5 million feet of 16mm motion picture film, over 85,000 video tapes and files representing 81,616 hours of video in analog and digital formats,” and is growing exponentially. JSC’s efforts to collect and manage imagery data led to the creation of the first green

photo processing system in the federal government, as well as an imagery organizational structure, after which both FEMA and FAA’s programs are modeled. JSC has successfully collected and catalogued data for quite some time while meeting both federal and agency requirements for records retention and archiving.

Looking Ahead to 2013 In March 2012, the Obama administration unveiled the “Big Data Research and Development Initiative,” which provided $200 million in funds for R & D investments. The initiative

has three broad goals: 1) Advance state-of-the-art core technologies needed to collect, store, preserve, manage, analyze, and share huge quantities of data. 2) Harness these technologies to accelerate the pace of discovery in science and engineering, strengthen our national security, and transform teaching and learning. 3) Expand the workforce needed to develop and use big data technologies. Given these investments as well as the ever expanding

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26. pool of big data success stories, we can expect that agencies will begin and/or continue to examine how Big Data might be useful in their work and start making investments in the technology and staff necessary to take full advantage of Big Data’s potential.

3 Keys to Big Data: Quick Wins, Clear Scope, Communicate For centuries, government organizations have been collecting data from a variety of sources, and using the collected data to inform their decision-making. With the boom in non-traditional forms of data such as social media, video, digital photographs and email, government agencies are now challenged how to best collect, manage, and drive decisions from data. Today, government leaders are increasingly exploring innovative ways to use big data to glean insights to improve efficiency within their agency. Further, as more kinds of data on the web become transactional, government agencies are pressed to develop a multidimensional view of their customers and citizens. For instance, a government agency that provides permits online can track dozens of statistics about visitors. The agency can see how customers arrive, page views, collect comments, exit paths and nearly

any type of interaction on the website. Armed with this kind of knowledge and a long history of user behavior, organizations can have a full view of the customer. This information can then be used to improve services for the end user, driving improved productivity and efficiency for the agency. GovLoop and Oracle recently collaborated to produce the Big Data Industry Perspective, which you can view online below or download as a PDF. The brief talks with Big Data experts Peter Doolan, Group Vice President, Chief Technologist, Oracle Public Sector and Izzy Sobkowski, CIO, New York City Department of Health and Human Services. Peter and Izzy share their experiences using Big Data and identify common challenges and provide some best practices for government agencies. Quick Wins Izzy mentioned the importance of having quick wins while running your big data program. Izzy states, “Like everything in the government, just really showing the value of what you’re doing. This is the quick win. Show the impact that it’s having on the agency.” By pointing to quick wins and being able to quickly identify ways the big data initiative is enabling the agency to become more productive and efficient, the team will be energized and will be able to

gain support across the organization. Have a Clear Scope Izzy advises to start with a clear scope of the project, “Don’t start with an open-ended project. Try and solve one problem and answer one question. You can expect some kind of iterative approach as you go forward. Big data is a data discovery exercise and it almost becomes like a habit.” Having a clear scope and knowing what problem is trying to be solved is critical for big data. With so much data and information that agencies collect, having a clear scope and project goals is essential to success. Communicate Izzy identified numerous best practices related to clear communications. Izzy suggests to set reasonable goals, meet deadlines, control cost and value of the project, deliver on budget, and to build the project with confidence. Izzy states, “Setting reasonable goals, not over promising in terms both of time and cost and value, but getting consensus that these are items which are valuable and then delivering them on time and on budget, built a lot of confidence and have allowed this program to thrive.

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Cloud Technology Finding New Efficiencies, Cost Savings and Improved Services

echnology can certainly help facilitate innovation, and cloud technology has become essential to facilitate innovation and to build a 21st century government. With the â&#x20AC;&#x153;cloud firstâ&#x20AC;? mentality being endorsed by the highest levels of government, agencies have looked to embrace innovative technologies such as cloud technology to optimize internal processes, which in turn will re-define how services are delivered by government.

Cloud technology has certainly made waves this year in the government IT space. Whether it is for improved collaboration, cost savings,

facilitating open data initiatives, or mobility, the cloud has certainly made an enormous impact for government employees, and continues to transform how government operates. Ajay Budhraja, CTO at a US Government Agency, described on GovLoop the impact cloud computing is having in government: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cloud has dramatically changed how we think about and utilize services. Cloud facilitates rapid deployments due to quick availability of scalable services. It provides the high service velocity to manage changes incrementally and less time for provisioning storage and applications. Cloud can enhance productivity by providing the infrastructure or application platforms and related tools to respond to customer needs

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30. faster, giving organizations an edge over others that have not assessed such mechanisms. In addition, the on-demand capabilities can lead to efficient utilization of resources. I have seen applications that traditionally would take months to deploy, being rolled out in several weeks due to the cloud and new environments being set up very quickly, the key is to carefully assess existing capabilities and focus on service and process integration.â&#x20AC;?

Challenges Three core challenges for the cloud continue to be information management, data privacy, and interoperability as more business functions mi-

grate to the cloud. The cloud also relates to governments ability to recruit and retain talent, as the entering workforce expects cloud technology to be the norm for improved collaboration and efficiency. Further, training employees on how to use cloud technology to best improve internal efficiency and performance is critical for the success of government cloud initiatives. Although these challenges exist, there are dozens of great cases studies for government agencies to learn from. Additionally, the implementation of FedRAMP in 2012 has helped guide agencies in their cloud adoption, and help them work through common challenges.

Case Studies: FedRAMP With the implementation of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), cloud adoption will hopefully continue to be embraced by government, and work to remove some of the common challenges faced by government employees while adopting cloud technology. FedRAMP is a government wide program that helps government agencies implement cloud based technology. At the core of FedRAMP is providing government officials with a standardized approach to security, authorization and monitoring of cloud-based services.

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Linda Cureton NASA CIO

from a recent interview with GovLoop on the DorobekINSIDER.

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ith clou d w e a r e a b l e t o t a k e a d va n t ag e o f flexible, scalable, elasticity of the cloud is nothing to sneeze about. As commercial providers make that secure and affordable and easy to pro-

vision that puts it within very accessible reach for agencies. Security concerns in the cloud are more emotional than real at this point.

With the implementation of FedRAMP, government wide acquisition of cloud technology is expected to increase. With FedRAMP, cloud service providers will have to use a third party to verify the company meets basic security requirements. FedRAMP is an extension of the Obama Administration’s “Cloud First” strategy, detailed by the memorandum released on December 8th, 2011. FedRAMP.gov states the following program goals: Accelerate the adoption of secure cloud solutions through reuse of assessments and authorizations. Increase confidence in security of cloud solutions. Achieve consistent secu-

rity authorizations using a baseline set of agreed upon standards to be used for Cloud product approval in or outside of FedRAMP. Ensure consistent application of existing security practices. Increase confidence in security assessments. Increase automation and near real-time data for continuous monitoring. FedRAMP.gov states the following program benefits: Increases re-use of existing security assessments across agencies. Saves significant cost, time and resources – “do once, use many times.”

Improves real-time security visibility. Provides a uniform approach to risk-based management. Enhances transparency between government and cloud service providers (CSPs). Improves the trustworthiness, reliability, consistency, and quality of the Federal security authorization process. FedRAMP is important as it aids government agencies in cloud adoption. With a uniformed security measures and protocols, more agencies will adopt cloud computing, and retain security.

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One great example of cloud technology comes from NASA. According to Linda Cureton, NASA CIO, NASA has used the cloud to help connect with citizens through the “Be a Martian” initiative. This initiative is being run by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the laboratory loaded 250,000 pictures of Mars into a cloud platform, and shared the images with the public. “This “Be a Martian” initiative has been very popular, serving over 2.5 million data queries from crowd-sourcing applications and proving that the cloud can be a terrific way to reach and engage the public and support STEM activities in our schools,” Linda acknowledged. By starting with a small pilot, NASA has been able to take this quick win and expand the scope to dozens of fascinating cloud projects that deeply serve the mission. For example, NASA has entered into a strategic partnership with USAID to deploy a geospatial information technology infrastructure called SERVIR. “SERVIR integrates satellite and ground-based data with forecast models to monitor environmental changes and im-

prove world-wide response to natural disasters,” stated Linda.

Looking to 2013 As new technology enters the government IT space, it is essential for agency leads to acknowledge how technology changes the function of the CIO’s role, and what the true business value is for the agency. Cloud has a great business case as it allows CIOs to move from focusing on commodity IT to focus on delivering deeper mission value. Malcolm Jackson, CIO of the EPA, recently spoke with Chris Dorobek on GovLoop’s Daily Podcast regarding cloud technology in government. Malcolm stated, “[Cloud] does change our job…We don’t have to worry about commodity IT services, that part of it we can allow a vendor to provide

“

those services, as a CIO, that enables us to shift our focus on other types of more mission critical areas.” In 2013, cloud computing will continue to shape the government IT landscape. Cloud computing, in tandem with other technologies like mobile devices, is a game-changer for government. The promise of cutting cost and working through fiscal austerity is appealing to all in government. The cloud is part of the solution, leveraging cloud technology can help agencies cut cost, increase productivity and assist in cross-agency collaboration. We are living in a fascinating time for government innovation. The ability to connect individuals, resources and information is unlike any other time in history. In many ways, cloud technology is at the heart of this transformation.

[ C lo u d ] do e s c ha n g e o u r jo b… We don’t have to worry about commodity IT services, that part of it we can allow a vendor to provide those services, as a CIO, that enables us to shift our focus on other types of more mission critical areas.

“

Case Studies: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

- Malcolm Jackson

EPA CIO

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From GovLoop.com

Cloud Computing Offers Cost Savings for Public & Private Sector Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at the MIT Sloan School of Management, recently shared some of his research on the Google Policy by the Numbers blog. His findings showed how the private sector is expecting significant cost savings by moving on-premise IT to the cloud. Andrew’s blog post had a lot of interesting insights that can be applied to government. The study focused on small and mediumsized business (SMBs), which Andrew states account for 99.6% of businesses in the U.S. (Government was not included in his study). Andrew states, “SMBs lack the constraints and legacy costs of

their larger counterparts, allowing them choose the type of IT that fits best; thus, SMBs are typically the bellwethers for the future of enterprise computing.” Andrew states, “To determine how the costs of the cloud compare to on-premise IT, the model allows users to select a number of cloud computing services that cover the most common needs of SMBs, including email, office productivity software, accounting and finance software, CRM software, and file and print functionality.”

to the cloud to cut costs and become more efficient. Although the cloud offers dozens of great opportunities to advance the mission of the agency, there are a lot of questions about how to make the transition to the cloud. Below is a great government case study about cloud adoption. The case study highlights the Idaho National Lab, and some of the success they have had with cloud adoption.

It is always interesting to take a look at the private sector and what lessons learned can be found. The private sector is not alone in the push to move

Posted by Denise Stephens, CIO, Idaho National Laboratory

Idaho National Lab has Gone Google

Editors note: Today’s guest blogger is Denise Stephens, CIO and

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34. Information Management director of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). INL joins a growing number of government agencies that have made the switch to Google Apps for Government. Located in southeastern Idaho on nearly 900 square miles of desert, the Idaho National Laboratory is the lead lab for nuclear research for the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE). Employees at INL work on diverse projects that include making batteries used on United States space missions, developing new technologies for nuclear reactors, protecting critical infrastructure and operating the world’s 64th fastest supercomputer. System integrator Unisys recently completed the migration of nearly 5,000 INL em-

ployees to Google Apps for Government from Lotus Notes. INL has not taken this transition lightly. We have spent the better part of a year developing requirements, engaging in internal pilots to mitigate risk and overcoming emerging challenges as a cross-organizational team to smooth our move to the cloud. Google Apps is the right investment to move the laboratory forward while meeting the lab’s important requirements. Due to our remote location, having a reliable, redundant email system is paramount. Google Apps’ track record of 99.9% uptime gives INL employees’ confidence that their email will be there when they need it. Some INL employees work in facilities in the city of Idaho Falls, while many oth-

ers work at our complex in the desert, some 30 miles away. In the past, this geographic separation made it harder for employees to share information. Google Apps is improving communications by allowing employees to work together in real-time with voice and video chat, calendar sharing and simultaneous document editing. In this case, INL simply couldn’t afford not to go to the cloud. This move is less expensive, and allows the lab to take a flexible, nimble and cost effective approach to lab communications. Instead of managing infrastructure, INL has chosen to invest in capabilities that support the lab’s critical mission areas.

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Bring Google innovation to your agency! Google products help government agencies organize information and make it accessible and useful to citizens or to authorized employees. Our solutions for search, geospatial data, and messaging and collaboration are easy to use, quick to deploy, fast and scalable. Government agencies across the US and around the world use Googleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s enterprise solutions â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Google Apps for Government, Google Earth & Maps, or the Google Search Appliance. Google Learn more at www.google.com/federal Contact us at: federal@google.com 202-346-1100

helps take the hassle out of managing IT solutions, letting you focus resources on your core mission.

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Agile Project Management

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Agile Project Management Changing Traditional Project Management:

Bringing Agile Methodology to Government

ederal agencies depend on IT to support their missions and spent over $76 billion on IT in fiscal year 2011. Although agencies have invested billions into government IT initiatives, almost 50% of IT projects fail. Far too often lengthy IT projects incur cost overruns and schedule delays and contribute little to mission-related outcomes. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) study reports that roughly forty-eight percent of all IT projects fall behind schedule and must be rebaselined, and of those

rebaselined projects, 51% must be rebaselined a second time. Agencies simply cannot afford these project failures during a time of shrinking resources and increased technology expectations. The days of the 10-year government IT plan and project are over. With the rapid pace of technology and changing requirements, the technology is outdated by the time it is implemented. Leaders such as White House CIO Steve VanRoekel and White House CTO Todd Park have pushed government to embrace modular development, prototyping, and lean

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38. startup methods. To reduce the risk of such problems, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recommends modular software delivery consistent with an approach known as agile, which calls for producing software in small, short increments. Agile development is based on the practice of shorter software development and delivery. Agile breaks projects into short duration springs to deliver functioning components and evaluate this functionality firsthand. Agile emphasizes this early and continuous software delivery, as well as using collaborative teams that can quickly respond to valid changing requirements, and measuring progress with working software built incrementally. In contrast, with the traditional waterfall approach, IT gathers the requirements up front, gets approval from business unit, and goes off to build and test the system. Six months or a year later they come back with a solution, but often during that time the requirements have changed. There are three main differences between agile and traditional development: 1. Timing and scope of software delivery – Agile works in sprints of eight weeks or less which provides some piece of functionality while waterfall produces in no consistent, fixed duration and doesn’t

The Agile Manifesto 1.

complete a full functionality. 2. Timing and scope of planning – Agile plans at a very high level of planning with most of planning done at each iteration, while waterfall plans the whole project in detail at beginning. 3. Project status evaluation – In agile, project status evaluation is about working functionality while waterfall is about completing milestones against a plan.

Agile Best Practices The agile approach was first articulated in a 2001 document called the Agile Manifesto. The manifesto is still relevant to-

Individuals and Int Over Processes and

day and has four core values: (1) individuals and interactions over processes and tools, (2) working software over comprehensive documentation, (3) customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and (4) responding to change over following a plan. Agile development is more of a philosophy than a rigid methodology. However, there are some key features of successful agile projects. The GAO recently completed a report “Effective Practices and Federal Challenges in Applying Agile Methods” and part of their findings identified 10 key practices of an effective agile initiative in government agencies:

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eractions d Tools

Responding to Change Over Following a Plan

Working Software Over Comprehensive Documentation

1. Start with agile guidance and an agile adoption strategy. 2. Enhance migration to agile concepts using agile terms and examples. 3. Continuously improve agile adoption at project and organization levels. 4. Look to identify and address impediments at the organization and project levels. 5. Get stakeholder/customer feedback often. 6. Empower small, cross-functional teams. 7. Include requirements re-

Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiation

lated to security and progress monitoring in your queue of unfinished work. 8. Gain trust by showing value at the end of each iteration. 9. Use tools and metrics to track progress. 10. Track progress daily and openly. Agile development is not only a quickly growing trend in the United States, it is also growing in popularity in UK government. In March 2011, the Institute for Government advocated the use of agile methods for government ICT projects because existing â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;best practicesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cannot deal with

systemic flaws in traditional methods. The UK Cabinet Office committed to using agile delivery in half of all major ICT-enabled change programs by April 2013.

Case Study: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) At the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, IT Program Manager Brent Bushey turned to agile development for the aCRIME systems. The mission of aCRIME is to provide quick responses to state and local law enforcement officers who have a subject in custody for a criminal offense and have a question of

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Within a year, aCRIME began delivering vast more functionality and started to change the culture of development. One key value of agile is improving on failure. “You can’t be afraid to fail. The key is to fail fast and fail small. The smaller the risk and iteration the easier it is to course correct mid-project,” said Bushey.

their immigration status. ICE IT had been using the traditional waterfall method for years and it no longer was working. They gathered all the requirements up front and deliver functionality 1-2 years later and by then, the requirements had changed and no longer meet user needs. ICE switched to an agile approach, breaking up the work into small manageable functions and had end users involved in a daily process. They co-located with their end user, and even had daily morning stand-up meetings to prioritize the top functionality needs and build towards improved solutions. ICE had a simple goal, for every sprint,

they focused on making sure there was deployable code that works in production, approved by the customer and drives mission value. When asked for tips on implementing agile in government, Bushey stated 5 key pieces 1. Develop a strong and cohesive mission.

Further, there are other great case studies on government using agile. The FBI Sentinel project had taken over ten years, cost over $1 billion and ten years and still was not successful. They were close to killing the project when they moved to agile, dropped the number of project staff from 125 to 55 and brought in private-sector consultants to implement agile using 2-week sprints. Less than a year later after 21 successful sprints, this likely failure has been declared a success.

Challenges with Agile

4. Create a rigorous methodology and terminology.

Agile development does not lack challenges. Agile requires a shift in thinking that does not always fit with other processes. For example, government contracts are not written for agile – they often require significant lead times, stable requirements up front, and difficult to structure in pay as you go.

5. Set a defined time period.

In addition to procurement

2. Identify the highest priority items and tackle those first. 3. Work with the end users and the development team to accomplish the tasks.

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practices, GAO found three other major challenges with agile. 1) Customers did not trust iterative solutions as they had been trained in thinking in other approach 2) Standard compliance reviews in government are difficult to execute within an iteration as the compliance processes aren’t built for agile 3) Traditional artifact and status reviews do not align with agile. Government agencies have numerous document requirement and standard gate review processes that do not match agile standards.

Leading Through Connections – Adopting Agile Recently, IBM released its Global CEO Study “Leading Through Connections,” which compiles interviews from over 1,700 CEOs in 64 countries across 18 industries, including the public sector. The report looks at how leading CEOs are responding to an increasingly open and interconnected world, where customers, em-

ployees and partners are all connected to the organization in new ways. This shift puts pressure on an organization to digitize and adapt to changes in technology, but also develop opportunities to innovate and lead. To outperform the competition, the report identifies three imperatives to success: Empowering employees through values. Engaging customers as individuals. Amplifying innovation with partnerships. At the core of this report is agile methodology, the development of user centric design and incorporating stakeholders throughout the process. Critically, the report identifies the need to develop partnerships and internal processes that can quickly be adopted to meet the complex needs of customers. Below are some of takeaways from the report

(here is the executive summary and full version of the report.) There’s a lot of excellent data and insights that can help organizations improve citizen engagement and navigate changes in technology. Technology is #1 The number one factor impacting organizations is changes in technology. According to the report, 71% of CEOs rank it as the most critical external factor, just ahead of people skills and market factors. Like a double-edged sword, CEOs see immense promise with advancing technology, but also fear falling behind. Across the spectrum, CEOs also noted that technology was no longer just a means to improve efficiency, but an “enabler of collaboration and relationships— those essential connections that fuel creativity and innovation.” The boom in social media allows organizations to engage citizens and customers individually, and changes how employees share ideas and

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42. work together. Empower Employees to Open Up Your Organization To meet customer expectations and stay competitive, organizations are working to become more transparent and collaborative. In fact, many organizations are encouraging a collaborative environment at all levels, including the C-suite. CEOs hope to see innovation and hard ROI by opening up their organization and empowering employees to share ideas and “think outside the box.” But how do you empower employees? A large majority of CEOs believe instilling the mission and values of the organization into every employee is the most effective way to draw the very best from them. Moreover, CEOs are seeking employees that are naturally communicative, collaborative and most importantly, flexible. With technology advancing rapidly, CEOs are unable to predict what technical skills will be most valuable, because they don’t exist yet. Therefore, they are emphasizing flexibility and creativity to

ensure employees can learn from experience and keep up with the changing times. According to the report, 75% of CEOs listed collaborative as the most important personal characteristic of an employee. Engage Customers as Individuals One common theme is that CEOs across all organizations are investing heavily in their organization’s ability to draw meaningful insights from customer data. According to the report, 73% of CEOs prioritize customer insights above all other decision areas. A notable difference from previous years is that with technological advances, organizations are better able to understand customers based on actual behavior and engage them as individuals. According to one CEO, the value of understanding the customer as an individual is not simply “about differentiating ourselves—it’s about how we can help our clients be different.” Despite, or perhaps because of advances in technology, organizations still struggle to fully capitalize on all the available data. Many

compared trying to make sense of all the available customer data to drinking form a fire hose. For this reason, improving analytical capabilities and the ability to extra meaningful information from various sources is a top priority for most organizations. Another common theme was the increasing importance of social media. Currently, social media is the most underused of all customer interaction methods. However, CEOs predict within the next five years, social media will become one of the top ways to interact and engage customers, just behind face-to-face interactions. Many CEOs noted that the real value of social media was not distributing information, but collecting information about customers to target services on an individual level. Again, be sure to read the full report, which dives much deeper into the responses of CEOs. It is interesting to see how leading CEOs are navigating changes in technology without any specific direction.

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Smarter governments interact dynamically with citizens and businesses in real time to spark growth, innovation and prosperity. They also collaborate across departments, communities and businesses to take full advantage of the available opportunities.

The world isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just getting smaller and flatter, it is also becoming more instrumented, interconnected and intelligent. As we move toward a globally integrated economy, all types of governments are also getting smarter.

IBM provides a broad range of citizen centered solutions to help governments at all levels become more responsive to constituents, improve operational efficiencies, transform processes, manage costs and collaborate with internal and external partners in a safe and secure environment.

Recent reports and whitepapers: Smarter Public Safety: Enabling And Enhancing Crime Fighting Capabilities Learning to do more with less is the new normal in government. Read our latest report. (604KB) The power of analytics for public sector: Building analytics competency to accelerate outcomes Opening up government: How to unleash the power of information for new economic growth Smarter computing to support 21st century governance: Modernizing IT Infrastructures to meet critical imperatives

Governments can leverage the unparalleled resources of IBM through IBM Research, the Center for the Business of Government, the Institute for Electronic Government and a far-reaching ecosystem of strategic relationships. To learn more, visit ibm.com/ government

(1.2MB) Available contracts US State and Local contracts US Federal contracts Canadian contracts Analytics SMEs and Analytics to Outcomes group members: Frank Stein- fstein@us.ibm.com Nathan Greenhut- nrgreenh@us.ibm.com

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Social Media 2012 The Year of Social Government

ocial media continues to be one of the most important trends in government. Whether it is looking at how to calculate the return on investment of social media, proper metrics, or underlying business value of social media, the conversations around social media are critical to success of agencies. One way social media has transformed government is through improved citizen engagement. Government agencies are increasingly leveraging social media to directly

communicate with citizens, improve their public image, and get feedback from the community. GovLoop partnered with OhMyGov to create the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Government Social Media Leaderboard.â&#x20AC;? It compares government agencies in terms of their social media presence and rate of growth in social media. The data shows that throughout the year, agencies are posting more information across social channels and witnessing increased participation. These statistics point to the increasing relevance of social media as a

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platform for interactions with the public. In the end, social media is about connecting and collaborating, developing a twoway conversation with citizens and learning from citizen experiences to create change as to how government operates. Social media allows agencies to connect with citizens, share common challenges, and allows agencies to tackle complex problems with the help of citizens.

Challenges Given the extent to which social media outlets have permeated popular culture, governments at all levels would be doing itself a disservice to not

utilize social media to reach citizens and provide information. Although wider adoption has been seen throughout 2012, challenges remain on how to best identify value, measure effectiveness, and how to best support social media campaigns. Social media offers the chance for government to increase transparency, boost public opinion, and facilitate conversations with the public digitally.

Case Study: Public Engagement Lessons Learned from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanual and President Obama On June 30, 2011, Mayor Emmanuel became the first may-

or of a large city to host a live online forum to answer his citizens’ questions and hear their concerns. It became the first of now three Facebook Town Halls hosted by the Mayor. The first town hall touched on issues of the budget and general concerns about the city. His next Facebook Town Hall had a more specific focus on education. The Mayor asked citizens to submit questions online at www.AskChicago.org before the meeting so he could prepare to address them. His latest town hall, which was held on May 1, 2012, was to discuss Emmanuel’s first year in office. The meeting was an effort to gain insight from the people he serves on how to keep the city moving forward.

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In addition to these livestreaming Facebook events, the Chicago Mayor’s Office Facebook page has livestreams announcements and press conferences for citizens to listen in on and post comments on. A scroll through the Chicago Mayor’s Office Facebook page shows that the Mayor’s Office takes engagement on Facebook seriously. It is rare to see an image uploaded or a post made that does not have at least a dozen “likes” and multiple comments. The dialogue is often a thread of interactions between the Mayor’s Office and citizens. A year after his first Facebook Town Hall, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel announced

the launch of an Office of Public Engagement. It is modeled after the White House department that has the same name. The mission of the organization is to provide a point of contact for citizens and community groups to interact with local government agencies. In his press release, Emmanuel explained: “One of our goals is to ensure we are doing everything possible to reach out to each and every community, engage them in working to improve our city, and to make government services and assistance available.” As the former chief of staff to President Obama, Emmanuel is embracing the shift towards open government and transparency that is also seen in our federal government. President Obama has made “open government” a priority. This January, the White House hosted the first Presidential Google+ Hangout. The President took in questions from the White House’s YouTube channel and used Google Hangout to speak live with citizens. Hosting a Google Hangout was a bold strategy for the President. Even though there was a moderator who read the submitted questions before they were asked, the live nature of the Hangout left the possibility open for people to

ask inappropriate or damaging questions that could have a negative impact on the President’s image. GovLoop member Andreas D. Addison spoke to this in his blog post: “Regardless of your political affiliation, the candid nature of which the President had live conversations with normal Americans shows a true understanding of the democratic process. Mr. President took a risk. Going live to stream to the world a conversation postState of the Union, was to me a sign of a leader understanding his position and role to the country. Having open discussion about key concerns and situations that face many Americans today created an opportunity have a glimpse at the true human side of President.” The President’s candid approach to citizen involvement was a testament to his commitment to transparency. Yet, the fielding of questions with promises is only useful so long as he follows through. For example, Jennifer told President Obama about her husband’s struggle to find employment. He is a semiconductor engineer with ten years of experience, yet has been unable to find work in his field for three years. The President responded with a promise to act:

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“If you send me your husband’s resume, I’d be interested in finding out exactly what’s happening right there. Because the word we’re getting is that someone in that kind of high tech field, that kind of engineer, should be able to find something right away.”

Looking to 2013 Given the growth of social media use by government agencies this year, the expectation for next year is for this trend to continue. With the recent successes of Mayor Rahm’s Facebook Town Halls and President Obama’s first Google+ Hangout, other government organizations on the local, state and federal level will likely look to adopt similar virtual engagement strategies. The digital age gives government the power to go to where the people are. It is up to the individual agencies to take the initiative to use this opportunity.

How to Derive Value from Everyday Interaction with Citizens GovDelivery recently featured an IDC Report that contains questions posed by GovDelivery to Adelaide O’Brien, Research Director of Smart Government Strategies at IDC Government Insights. I’d encourage you to download the report to check out the full report, which had a lot of inter-

esting information. Below I’ve shared one of the questions posed in the report: How does everyday interaction with government information and data sets create a larger opportunity for government service value? A. In addition to disseminating information through electronic channels, government is leveraging everyday citizen interactions to inform citizens of road closings, snow emergency parking rules, and school closures; improve services; and increase citizen satisfaction. Social media by its nature is about communication and rapid information sharing, and it enables communication through many channels. Social media technologies such as widgets seamlessly integrate and manage massive amounts of information; Facebook connects affinity groups; and blogs and tweets provide immediate alerts and take information viral. The technology is ubiquitous and intuitive to use. The choice among these social media tools is about the outcome of the use, not the embedded technology. Citizen redistribution of critical information through social media technologies can allow vital information to spread more quickly to broader audiences than possible through traditional communications. Collaborative interfaces pro-

vide workspaces that foster information exchange, provide consistency across channels and devices, empower citizens and employees, and connect with citizens on a personal level. Social media is about connecting people to information and each other and providing multi-way communication for feedback and evaluation — critical success elements of citizen service. By fulfilling requirements for relevant information and quality citizen services through proactively listening and responding to citizens in the channel they choose, government not only emulates successful social media strategies but also supports mission delivery. Government has consistently shown that providing information to citizens the way they want to receive it makes the information more relevant, and when information is relevant, it is shared with affinity groups, thus supporting the government mission. Finally, social media, as well as government delivery of information and services, is about adding value; that is, efficiently increasing services, providing trusted information to and educating citizens, and increasing citizen involvement in government — all aspects of successful citizen engagement.

Meet your mission by maximizing direct connections with the public Do you face the challenge of sharing information with stakeholders and the public while dealing with significant resource constraints? Are you confident that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re delivering the right messages through the best communication channels? Do you find yourself wishing you had better tools that leveraged technology to make the task of distributing information easier? Are you developing a significant asset for your organization by building a large, direct audience of subscribers? Wherever you stand with your communications, GovDelivery can help. Download our Digital Communications Best Practices Guide for some of our best strategies and tactics. Contact us at info@govdelivery.com or learn more at govdelivery.com.

reachthepublic.com

facebook.com/govdelivery

@govdelivery

ÂŠ GovDelivery 2012

youtube.com/govdelivery

govloop.com

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Final Thoughts & Acknowledgements

As technology continues to evolve at an unprecedented speed, government agencies will be forced to modernize current infrastructure and keep pace with new innovations. In order to do so, government will have to re-imagine how technology is purchased, implemented and perceived in government. Although government has made great strides in 2012, this report shows that there is more work to be done by government. Technology has the power to transform how government operates, providing a vehicle to cut costs, im-

The GovLoop team is thankful to all of those who contributed to the development of this report. We thank everyone for their participation in our survey, active community engagement, input and knowledge shared while developing this guide. This guide would not have been completed without your assistance and sharing of knowledge about government IT in 2012. Special thanks to our government experts interviewed for this report: t Bernie Mazer, Chief Information Officer, Department of the Interior t Jim Ropelewski, Chief Procurement Officer, Department of Education t Linda Cureton, Chief Information Officer, NASA t Malcolm Jackson, Chief Information Officer, Environmental Protection Agency

prove efficiencies, and develop new and innovative solutions to deliver on agency wide objectives. Looking to 2013, GovLoop challenges the government IT community to build on the success of 2012 and continue to transform government. Like never the year 2013 will inspire citizens to take a stake in their communities, and empower government to tap into the collective knowledge and energy that modern technology has to offer.

GovLoop Team Authors t t t t t t t t

Pat Fiorenza, GovLoop Research Analyst Emily Jarvis, GovLoop Online Producer Steve Ressler, GovLoop Founder and President Jeff Ribeira, GovLoop Content/Community Coordinator Chris Dorobek, Editor at DorobekINSIDER.com and host of GovLoopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Daily Podcast, DorobekINSIDER Ami Wazlawik, GovLoop Fellow, Fall 2012 Lindsey Tepe, GovLoop Fellow, Fall 2012 Hannah Ornell, GovLoop Fellow, Fall 2012

For more information on this report, please contact Pat Fiorenza, GovLoop Research Analyst, at pat@govloop.com

2012TECHREVIEW

GOVLOOP RESOURCES The following links are some of GovLoop’s best resources of 2012. Be sure to take a look at some of the blogs, webinars, guides and trainings and join the conversation. 1. A Path to Insights and Improved Decision Making: Predictive Analytics 2. 3 Keys to Big Data: Quick Wins, Clear Scope, Communicate 3. Exploring Bring Your Own Device in the Public Sector 4. Navigating the Digital Government Roadmap 5. GovLoop Research Report: Re-Imagining Customer Service in Government 6. GAO Releases Report Providing Best Practices for Agile Development 7. Interactive Infographic: How GIS Influences our Daily Lives 8. The Digital Government Strategy Timeline - An Infographic 9. Journey Mapping: A Process to Re-Imagine Customer Service in Government 10. GAO Releases Report on Status of E-Government Act 11. New IBM Report: A Manager’s Guide for Using Twitter in Government 12. Gov 2.0 - Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going? 13. Managing the Mobile Workforce: It’s all about grapes, cucumbers, monkeys and rocks 14. Telework Calculator Shows Your Savings Gained from Teleworking 15. The Rise of Social Government - Fels Institute Social Media Report Sneak Peak 16. Learn How You Can Leverage API’s at Your Agency 17. 3 Lessons Learned for Government Communications 18. Google’s Data Center Revealed 19. How Do We Define A Digital Citizen? 20. GovTransformer Case Study - “When The Economy Gets Tough - The Tough Get Innovative” 21. Using Technology Infrastructure to Solve Public Sector Challenges: Microsoft Blog Series 22. Strategies to Increase Digital Literacy and Accessibility 23. How Do You Retain Security With BYOD? 24. New Models for Government IT: Government IT is at a Tipping Point? 25. Transitioning to IPv6 - Are You Ready?

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HP & GOVLOOP DEVELOP TELEWORK APP

GovLoop, in partnership with HP, recently launched a telework calculator. The calculator will help you state your case to your supervisor, and show the potential cost savings by teleworking. Be sure to visit the calculator to run your own calculations. The calculator will show you the annual total cost savings, hours of productivity saved, productivity gained from timesavings, annual vehicle savings and annual pollutant reduction levels. In a recent GovLoop blog, Is Telework a Critical Benefit?, Lindy Kyzer stated, “A decade ago, the idea of telework wasn’t even a consideration for many people, especially workers in the federal government. Presence was seen as a key aspect of employment and productivity, for su-

pervisors as well as employees themselves.” Today, the idea of telework and a more flexible schedule has become common across all sectors and by numerous employers. Although telework is now easily attainable due to advancements in technology, there are still certain challenges. Trust continues to be a challenge for teleworkers, but through proper communication, the use of video, and periodic check-ins, teleworkers can overcome the challenge of trust. Be sure to take a look at the telework calculator, and run through the calculations. By showing the cost savings, employees can work to develop a better case to telework

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creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. Federal, state and local government IT decision makers trust HP’s timetested legacy of innovation and proven global hardware leadership to help them answer the call to deliver a more streamlined, transparent and secure government through the strategic use of technology. Follow HP Government on Twitter at @christinaatHP or on GovLoop at HP for Gov. “HP technology is helping us deliver dramatic changes in the way we do business and serve the public. We can deliver services faster, and do it more efficiently than ever before.” - Dorothy Brown, Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County (Clerk’s Office), Ill.

“We’re getting high quality products and services from an industry leader, improving our ability to manage the environment, and getting more value for our dollar. Developing a closer relationship with HP is one of the best decisions we’ve made.” - Garry Beaty, Chief Information Officer, City of Boise, Boise, Idaho

“It’s great to have HP partners at hand for my day-to-day needs, but it’s also incredibly valuable to have access to a company with HP’s broad expertise in technology. It’s the best of both worlds.” - Scott Smith, Director, Information Systems, City of Bristol, Conn.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY OF REPORT Expansion of Mobility: The Perfect Storm for Government Agencies: GPO Mobile: U.S. Government Printing Office | Keeping America Informed Indiana School Bus Inspections Rev Up With New App: Government Technology, Sarah Rich. April 4, 2012 The Digital Government Strategy Timeline - An Infographic: GovLoop: The Knowledge Network for Government, Jeff Ribeira. August 9, 2012 Census Bureau Releases Its First Mobile App Providing Real-Time Statistics on U.S. Economy: United States Census Bureau, Press Release. August 9, 2012. Census Bureau App Leads Digital Transformation: Random Samplings: The Official Blog of the U.S. Census Bureau, Avi Bender. August 23, 2012. Dear Government: Do you have an app for that?: Microsoft on Government Blog, Parul Bhandari. July 10, 2012. One Billion Smartphones by 2016: Here Comes the Mobile Arms Race: Time Magazine, Sam Gustin. February 12, 2012.

Turning Data into Power: Unlocking Big Data for Agencies Predictive Policing a Success in Santa Cruz, California: Government Technology, Brian heaton. October 8, 2012 TechAmerica Foundation: Final Big Data Case Study: NASA Human Spacefligh Imagery [PDF]. Larry Sweet, NASA JSC CIO and Maura White, Imagery Systems Lead. Obama Administration Unveils “Big Data” Initiative: Announces $200 Million in New R & D Investments: Office of Science and Technology Policy [PDF], Executive Office of the President, 2012. 3 Keys to Big Data: Quick Wins, Clear Scope, Communicate: GovLoop: The Knowledge Network for Government, Pat Fiorenza. October 5, 2012.

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Finding New Efficiencies, Cost Savings and Improved Services through Cloud Technology Major impacts of Cloud Computing: GovLoop: The Knowledge Network for Goverment, Ajay Budhraja. August 18, 2012 U.S. General Services Administration: Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). IT Reform at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration: NASA CIO Blog, Linda Cureton. June 8, 2012. The Changing Role of the CIO -- Insights from EPA’s CIO Malcolm Jackson. GovLoop: The Knowledge Network for Government, Emily Jarvis. July 17, 2012.

Changing Traditional Project Management: Bringing Agile Methodology to Government Save Your Project And Money With Agile: GovLoop: The Knowledge Network for Government, Josh Nankivel. August 22, 2012. FBI Sentinel Programme Saved by Agile?: Brian Wernham: Research notes on ‘Agile Project Management for Government, Brian Wernham. May 31, 2012. Governance for Agile Delivery: National Audit Office, Publications. July 2012. You Know You Are Agile If...: GovLoop: The Knowledge Network for Government, Emily Jarvis. October 25, 2012. Effective Practices and Federal Challenges in Applying Agile Methods: US Government Accountaiblity Office (GAO), David A. Powner and Nabajyoti Barkakati. July 27, 2012. Balter, Ben “The Case for Rebooting Federal IT Procurement” 41 Pub. Cont. L.J. 149. The Public Contract Law Journal, Fall 2011 Agile Document Development: Part 1 of 2: What is Agile?: GovLoop: The Knowledge Network for Government, David Tallan. September 17, 2012.

The Year of Social Government: Social Media in 2012 City of Chicago: The Official Site: AskChicago.org. Accessed October 2012. GovLoop: The Knowledge Network for Government and OhMyGov: Government Social Media Leaderboard. Accessed October 2012.

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