Plans for Derived

1
Plans for Derived XML Registry Prototype

• Problem
• Proliferation of Narrowly-Focused Standards,
  Policies, Legislation, Registries, Portals, etc.
• Adoption Uneven Across Federal Government
  Departments Agencies.
• Reaction TO vs. Setting Requirements FOR IT
  Standards.

2
XML XML-based StandardsOffer Solution, but No
Panacea

• XML Salvages Legacy Databases, Applications,
  Crosses Platforms, but
• XML Schema Standard is Complex.
• Inconsistent Validation Remains.
• Work-arounds for Toolsets cause Backward
  Compatibility Issues when Standards are Refined
  and Toolsets Improved.
• Lack of Best Practices Risks of Duplicate Terms
  in Vocabularies Possible.
• Still, Improvement Continues.

3
Needs Drive Rush for Domain-Specific Standards

• Similar Concerns Breed Similar Standards.
• Overlap Scope Creep Inevitable.
• Specialization Standards Can be Separate from the
  Generalized Standards in the Same Domain, such as
  Optometry in Healthcare.
• Key Terms can have many Standards, such as
  Person.

4
Government Cross Department, Cross Agency Effort
Small, Voluntary but Growing.

• Presidential Management Agenda for
  Citizen-Centric Government Emphasizes
  Importance of E-Government, Continues Second
  Decade of IT Efficiency Effort.
• Transition Underway from Early Adoption to
  Leadership in Open Standards Adoption Post Y2K.

5
Interrelated Legislation, Policy Mandates
Continue...

• Government Performance Results Act-1993.
• Requires Strategic Plan with Periodic Reviews.
• Requires Outcome-Related Goals Objectives.
• Government Paperwork Reduction Act-1995.
• Office of Information Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)
  in OMB Reviews ALL Governmental Agency
  Information Collection.
• Requires ONLY Information Collection Necessary
  for Proper Practical Utility for Agency.

6
Interrelated Legislation, Policy Mandates
Continue...

• Clinger-Cohen Act-1995.
• Information Technology Management Reform Act
  Repeals 1949 Brooks Act Section 111-- GSA No
  Longer Responsible for Government-Wide Automated
  Data Processing Purchasing.
• Requires Agencies to use Capital Planning
  Investment Control Policies (GPIC).
• Government Paperwork Elimination Act-1998.
• Allows Electronic Information Submission
  Transmission in Government Agency Interactions.
• Agencies Allowed Electronic Records Maintenance.

7
Interrelated Legislation, Policy Mandates
Continue...

• Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA)
• Clinger-Cohen-Based FEA Framework Formed-1999-CIO
  Council (CIOC), Program Management Office
  (FEAPMO)-2002 under OMB, Returning to CIOC.
• Zachman-Based, Promotes Interoperabilty, Sharing
  Common Federal Processes, Information.
• Aids Capital Planning Investment Control
  Policies (CPIC).
• Common Federal Reference Models Provided-2002
• Performance Reference Model (PRM)
• Business Reference Model (BRM)
• Service Component Reference Model (SRM)
• Data Reference Model (DRM)
• Technical Reference Model (TRM)

8
Interrelated Legislation, Policy Mandates
Continue...

• OMB Circular A-11 Part 7 - 2002
• Planning, Budgeting, Acquisition, and Management
  of Capital Assets for Reaching Strategic
  Results-Based Goals at Lowest Life-Cycle Cost and
  Least Risk.
• Section 300 Requires
• CPIC FEA-Based Documentation of Business Case
  Justification for IT Investments.
• Performance Measurements.
• Using FEA Reference Models in Relation to
  Specific Lines of Business (Implied. Not
  Explicit).
• Identifying Cross-Agency Resources to Share.

9
Interrelated Legislation, Policy Mandates
Continue...

• OMB Identified Lines of Business-2004
• Lines of Business for CPIC FEA-Based Reports
• 2004-2005
• Financial Management.
• Data Statistics.
• Human Resources.
• Monetary Benefits.
• Criminal Investigations.
• Public Health Monitoring.
• 2006
• Financial Management.
• Human Resources Management.
• Grants Management.
• Federal Health Architecture.
• Case Management.

10
Interrelated Legislation, Policy Mandates
Continue...

• OMB Circular A-119
• Federal Participation in the Development Use of
  Voluntary Consensus Standards in Conformity
  Assessment Activities.
• National Technology Transfer Advancement
  Act-1995
• NIST Coordinates Conformity Assessment.
• OMB Revised Circular Directing Agencies to use
  Voluntary Consensus Standards in lieu of
  Government-Unique Standards Except Where
  Inconsistent with Law or Otherwise Impractical.
• Purpose Reduce to Minimum Government Reliance on
  Government-Unique Standards.

11
Legislation Policy Results

• Well-Intended, very Smart in some Specifics,
  Overly Specific in others.
• Creates Confusion-What to do First?
• Duplicated Provisions, Restated Objectives,
  Unstated Implications.
• Specifies Process and Outcomes such as Sharing
  Resources among Agencies without Clear Priorities
  Criteria.
• Overall Normal, Improving.

12
A Start XML Registry of Existing Standards
Specifications

• Using Firstgov.gov
• Evaluate Methods to Automate or Assist in
  Populating an XML Registry of Governmentally-Used
  or -Related Documents, Standards.
• Evaluate Making the Registry Selectively
  Available using ebXML Registry and eXtensible
  Access Control Markup Language (XACML) to
  Restrict Access by Identity Authentication and
  Role-Based Permissions.
• Evaluate the Extent of the Task of Using a
  Prototype Process to Develop a Centralized and
  Federated XML Standards Registry to Support the
  IT Investment Tasks of Governmental Agencies.

13
A Start XML Registry of Existing Standards
Specifications

• Using Firstgov.gov
• Method 1 WSRP Standard- Plumtree Web Crawler
  Portlet Makes Results Available by Web Browser in
  Humanmarkup.org Public Service Portal.
• Method 2 Use OWL to Search site by Ontological
  Rules to identify and sort .xml and .xsd files by
  Relationships to Criteria Keywords or Phrases,
  such as Healthcare Services or Emergency Event
  Types.
• Method 3 Use Strawman Search Standard(s) to
  Discover Requirements for an XML-Specific Search
  Standard from this Registry Use-Case to be used
  in a Prototype Government XML Standards Registry.

14
A Start XML Registry of Existing Standards
Specifications

• Using Firstgov.gov How many which documents?
• Are or Refer to XML?
• Are or Refer to XSD?
• Identify, Sort, Index.
• XSDs that are Standards.
• XSDs that are Agency- or Company-Specific.
• Extract XSD Elements, Attributes, complexTypes,
  simpleTypes, etc.
• Check for Duplicate Terms Definitions-Compare
  and Contrast.

15
A Start XML Registry of Existing Standards
Specifications

• What does Our Search Tell Us?
• Apply Ontological Categorization
• Make Ontology of Lines of Business.
• Make Ontology of Cabinet Departments and their
  constituent Agencies.
• Search by Ontological Criteria for Terms.
• Identify Similar or Identical Terms.
• Identify Number of Occurrences of Terms.
• Identify Departments Agencies using Specific
  Terms.