Environmental Protection Agency Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Environmental Protection Agency - Assignment Example Following implementation of the Clinger-Cohen Act, the Agency did not revise procedures under Chapter 17 of the Information Resources Management (IRM) Policy Manual to have the Chief Information Officer evaluate information technology program performance (EPA Needs). There are still further problems that are brought to light in the report. First, the EPA should have dictated and required that the Chief Information Officer should have been monitoring the performance alongside the performance goals of the agency. Another problem that has come about because of the lack of monitoring is the fact that proper documentation was not utilized. This created further miscommunication: "Consequently, OEI did not know that System Sponsors did not require System Managers to completely document risks associated with system development" (EPA Needs). Therefore, there is no process of setting goals to monitor projects as they are completed, and this makes it difficult to implement any decision making strategies. In order to solve this problem, several key recommendations have been suggested in the memo. ... be made for the projects, and the agency needs to make sure that those concepts are placed into the documentation and then reviewed by the System Owners. The EPA agreed with the concepts suggested and began to take specific steps in order to resolve the issue. The EPA responded the way that it did because it understands that information technology, especially in today's increasingly technological world, is a very important part of a company's overall performance. In order to make sure the EPA continues to be successful, it does need to monitor its spending, and this is something that the EPA recognizes as a fault. Some items they have considered are as follows: "The Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-106) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130 both require agency chief information officers to oversee information technology investments" (EPA Needs). Further improvements included the need for projects to develop timetables and for System Managers to complete detailed paperwork that allowed for updates on system development, as well as reviewing the projects' effectiveness and cost. The System Sponsors must also make certain that they are agreeing with or rejecting decision papers (EPA Needs). The overall lesson to learn when reviewing this case is the fact that IT operations, with today's every-increasing world dependence on technology, are very important (Six Stigma). Not using or monitoring technology effectively can hurt a company's leadership, ability to complete projects, and cost the company excessive amounts of money. Therefore, it is very important to make sure that this information is streamlined, maintained, and monitored in order to make sure that the projects are successful. As the world is changing and technology