EPA STRATEGIC INFORMATION PLAN
A FRAMEWORK FOR THE FUTURE
JULY 29, 2002
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UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
<; matf."
I HE AUMISI& I
Foreword
1 am pleased to present the Environmental Protection Agency's Strategic Information Plan. This
plan charts the course the Agency will follow in the coining years to increase the public's access to
high-quality real-time environmental data-
President Bush has laid out a vision to improve the management anil performance of the federal
government and provide the public with access to information (hat they need, when they need it,
LPA's Information Plan provides the necessary framework to meet the President's goal of providing
government and citizens with fasL relevant, and integrated information about environmental and
public health conditions, trends, and potential threats. The plan will help us meet the goal of linking
program performance and environmental results, thus making programs and efforts more transparent
to the public- It will also help us address complex environmental problems by giving us a clearer
picture of the slate of the environment.
At a time when the already enormous amount of electronic information is growing every day, our
information management efforts will help us manage that information and achieve our goal of
delivering valuable environmental information, including measurable results, to the American people.
Christine Todd Whitman
Administrator
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UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY'
WASHINGTON, D C
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Dear Reader:
As the bnvironmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Chief Information Officer, I am committed to
establishing a system that advances the creation, management and use of information as a strategic
resource a! EPA, t am pleased to release EPA's Strategic Information Plan as a road map to help us
achieve this goal of managing our Agency's information and resources,
fcPA's goal is to protect human health and ihe environment ami the Information Plan will help us
meet this goal by improving our access, analysis, and dissemination of quality information. The plan
charts the course the Agency will follow in the coming years to actively and energetically design and
implement systems .
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Acknowledgement
The Environmental Protection Agency's Administrator and Chief Information Officer (CIO)
extend their appreciation to the individuals who devoted their time and talent to developing this
Strategic Information Plan. The dedication of these individuals enabled the timely and
thoughtful development of this framework for the future management of EPA's information.
The following group of principal contributors includes representatives from the majority of the
Agency's offices:
Jay Benforado, OPEI
Wendy Cleland-Hamnett, OEI
Tom Curran, OAR
Peter Durant, ORD
Samantha Fairchild, Region 3
Jim Hanlon, OW
Walt Kovalick, OSWER
Lisa Lund, OECA
Margaret Schneider, OEI
MaryEllen Weber, OPPTS
David Ziegele,OCFO
The Office of Environmental Information served a leadership role in bringing together partici-
pants from across EPA to develop this plan. This leadership team included:
Oscar Morales, OEI/OIC, Director of the Collection Strategies Division
Brion Cook, OEI/OTOP, Director of the Information Policy and Planning Division
Doreen Sterling, OEI/OIC, Associate Director of the Collection Strategies Division
Joe Sierra, OEI/OIC, Chief of the Information Strategies Branch
Thanks also go to the OEI team who managed the project and helped to develop the plan based
on input from the primary contributors:
John Moses, OEI/OIC, Project Manager
Shivani Desai, OEI/OIC
Constance Downs, OEI/OIC
Patrick Grimm, OEI/OIC
AmyHaseltine, OEI/IO
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary iii
Introduction 1
Vision 2
Guiding Principles 2
Goals 3
Goal 1: Use 4
Goal 2: Data 6
Goal 3: Technology 9
Goal 4: Access 12
Goal 5: Governance 14
Goal 6: People 17
Situational Analysis Capability Summary 18
Conclusion 21
List of Figures
Figure A- Strategic Information Plan Conceptual Map iv
Figure B - Using Information as a Strategic Tool 5
Figure C - Data and Information Quality Life Cycle 7
Figure D - Network Overview 10
Figure E - Enterprise Architecture Program - Conceptual Framework 15
Figure F - EPA Situational Analysis Capability - Schematic Diagram 20
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ECUTIVE SUMMARY
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) faces many challenges in managing its vast
information resources to support its mission of
protecting human health and the environment.
Increasingly, EPA must address complex
environmental problems that cut across media
and geographic locations, requiring information
that is integrated across its traditional media-
oriented programs.
In the current world of e-government, EPA must
respond to growing public demands for easily
accessible, integrated information on environmen-
tal conditions, and must take full advantage of
advances in information technology (IT) to
collect and exchange information with its partners
and stakeholders. At the same time, the Agency
must also be responsive to the compelling needs
of homeland security, preparing for possible
terrorist threats to environmental facilities and
public health.
The Agency responded to these challenges by
convening an Advisory Group to develop a new
vision for managing the Agency' s information
over the next two to four years:
Provide government and citizens with fast, relevant, and
integrated information to better protect human health
and the environment.
To achieve this vision, EPA must use information
as a strategic resource, working closely with
other Federal agencies, States, Tribes, and other
partners and stakeholders. The Agency also must
deliver its information operations and services as
efficiently as possible, while enhancing its ability
to provide useful information. This includes
actively supporting the President's Management
Agenda and Federal e-government projects to
better leverage limited resources. This Strategic
Information Plan is an important step in fulfilling
the Agenda and e-government initiatives.
This document outlines six over-arching information
management goals:
(1) Use: Improve the use of environmental informa-
tion to support decision-making, activity cost
accounting, and results-based management;
(2) Data: Collect appropriate data and provide
high-quality and integrated information;
(3) Technology: Strengthen EPA's information
infrastructure to improve Agency operations and
the security, collection, and exchange of
information;
(4) Access: Enhance public access to useful and
understandable information;
(5) Governance: Adopt an enterprise-wide
approach to make and implement information
management decisions; and
(6) People: Invest in human capital.
Together, these goals and the accompanying
objectives will guide the way in which EPA collects,
manages, disseminates, and invests in information.
Significantly, the Agency has made progress toward
achieving some of these goals, including:
• establishing the State-EPA Network to improve
the collection and exchange of environmental
information;
• supporting projects to improve integration of
environmental data (e.g., data standards, system
of registries) to create a single, integrated, multi-
media core of environmental data and tools (e.g.,
Window to my Environment);
• launching an Enterprise Architecture program to
ensure that EPA's technical infrastructure is aligned
with the Federal Enterprise Architecture and Agency
business processes and data needs; and
• Creating a Situational Analysis Capability to
enhance the use of environmental information for
decision making and results-based management.
With continuing support from senior leadership, EPA
will succeed in fulfilling its vision for information
management and transform how the Agency and its
partners protect human health and the environment.
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STRATEGIC INFORMATION PLAN
JULY 2002
Figure A —Strategic Information Plan Conceptual Map
VISION:
PROVIDE GOVERNMENT AND CITIZENS WITH FAST, RELEVANT, AND INTEGRATED INFORMATION TO BETTER
PROTECT HUMAN HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT.
GOAL 1. Use
Improve the use of environmental
information to support decision-making,
ictivity cost accounting, and results-based
management
1 .A. Identify and provide the right data
and information at the right time to EPA
decision-makers, States and Tribes, other
partners, stakeholders, and thepublic.
Situational Analysis Capability
OSWER Review of
Superfund Information Holdings
Geospatial Blueprint
OECA "Using Measurement
Data as a Management Tool"
l.B. Develop indicators of
environmental conditions and
trends, and other performance
measures.
Information is a strategic asset.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES:
Collaboration with partners and
stakeholders is essential.
EPA must manage its information resources
as efficiently and effectively as possible.
GOAL 2. Data
Collect appropriate data
and provide high quality
and integrated information.
Data and Information
Quality Strategic Plan
Infonnation Quality Guideline
Integrated Error
Conection Process
Best Practices Guides
2.B. Integrate data within and
across EPA programs and with
partners and stakeholders.
• Environmental Indicators
Initiative
• State of the Environment Report
• Managing for Improved Results
Initiative
Information Integration Program
Data Standards
System of Registries
(e.g.,FRS,CRS)
Environmental Data Registry
Environmental Information
Management System
RCRAInfo
Goals
Objectives
Illustrative Projects • (bullets)
GOAL 3. Technology
Strengthen EPA's information
infrastructure to improve Agency
operations and the security, collection,
and exchange of information.
3.A. Build network to improve
exchange of environmental
information.
National Environmental Information
Exchange Network
Central Data Exchange
3.B. Promote processes and
applications resulting in more
efficient collection and exchange
of information.
Cross Media Electronic
Reporting and Records Rule
Toxics Release Inventory —
Made Easy
3.C. Explore potential cost savings
or efficiency gains that can be
achieved through consolidation/
integration of administrative and
programmatic data, systems, and
services.
Standard E-Mail System
Integrated Grants Management
System
Financial Data Warehouse
HR-Pro
EDOCKET
OW's Information Strategic Plan
OECA Integrated Compliance
GOAL 4. Access
Enhance public access to useful
and understandable information
4. A. Solicit and consider public
input on the Agency's information
dissemination activities, products,
and initiatives.
>n Products:
Web Site Usability Assessment
Public Access Strategy
AirNow Web Site
Window to My Environment
Envirofacts Data Warehouse
4.C. Develop tools and
approaches to enhance access to
environmental science, research
and engineering information.
4.D. Ensure security of EPA's
information, applications, and
systems while providing access.
TT
Technical Infonnation Security Staff
Information Security Action Plan
Information Security Officers
GOAL 5. Governance
Adopt an enterprise-wide approach
to make and implement information
management decisions.
• Established OEI and Quality
and Information Council
• Fonned State-EPA Information
Management Workgroup
• Environmental Data Standards Capital
5.B. Make key information
management and technology
decisions at Agency-wide level.
T
Enterprise Architecture Plan
GOAL 6. People
Invest in human
capital.
6A. Identify, develop, and
mplement plans to provide basic
IT skills and training for all EPA
employees, as well as specialized
IT skills and training needed for
unique functions
IT Compentency Needs Assement
National Defense University
6.B. Identify core data and IT
tools that EPA employees need
at desktop.
Situational Analysis Capability
6.C. Explore methods to improve
the recruitment and retention of
employee with specialized
information technology skills.
Human Capital Strategy
Federal Raise for IT Employes
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RODUCTION
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) faces many challenges that require it to
develop better integrated, more comprehensive
approaches to environmental data and informa-
tion management. These challenges include:
• addressing complex environmental
problems that cut across media and
geographic locations;
• addressing the compelling needs of
homeland security and preparing for
potential terrorist threats to public health
and the environment;
• meeting growing public demands for
high-quality information;
• linking program performance and
environmental results;
• using advances in information technology
(IT) to enhance EPA's business practices
and information services; and
• ensuring that the Agency's data, applications,
and IT infrastructure are secure.
Meeting these challenges requires EPA to re-
examine how it collects, manages, and uses
information; how it operates its information
systems; and how it makes IT investment
decisions. In addition, several reviews of EPA's
information management by the U.S. General
Accounting Office (GAO) and the National
Academy of Public Administration (NAPA)
called for the development of a comprehensive
plan that would present a vision for enhancing the
Agency's information resources and a detailed
strategy for achieving that vision.1 >2 -3
In response, EPA initiated a multi-phase effort to
develop an Agency-wide information vision and
strategy. In the first phase, EPA's Office of
Environmental Information (OEI) completed a
preliminary assessment of how the Agency
manages its information (described in the
Strategic Choices white paper). Following this
assessment, OEI convened an Advisory Group of
senior managers from EPA program and regional
offices to discuss the most pressing information
issues and to begin developing a new vision for
the future.4 These discussions covered a wide
range of information management issues from the
content and quality of the Agency's information;
to information policies, technologies, operations,
and services; to human resources. The Advisory
Group prepared a draft Strategic Information
Plan, providing a framework for addressing
EPA's major information challenges in the coming
years. EPA's Chief Information Officer (CIO)
reviewed and revised this plan to reflect her
vision for information management.
1 U.S. General Accounting Office, EPA is Taking Steps to Improve Environmental Information Management, but Challenges
Remain, GAO/RCED-99-261, Washington, B.C., September 1999.
2 U.S. General Accounting Office, Major Management Challenges and Program Risks—Environmental Protection
Agency, GAO-01-257, Washington, B.C., January 2001.
3 National Academy of Public Administration, Transforming Environmental Protection for the 21st Century, November 2000,
www.napawash. org/napa/
4 The Advisory Group included representatives from the Office of Air and Radiation (OAR); the Office of Prevention,
Pesticides, and Toxic Substances (OPPTS); the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER); the Office of
Water (OW); the Office of Research and Bevelopment (ORB); the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO); the
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA); the Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation (OPEI); and
Region 3 (lead Region for information issues).
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ION
EPA's vision for information management is to
provide government and citizens with fast,
relevant, and integrated information about
environmental and public health conditions,
trends, and potential threats. To achieve this
vision, the Agency will use the latest advances in
IT to manage its information resources with
maximum efficiency. Additionally, EPA will
pursue an enterprise approach to provide
employees with the necessary skills to deliver
high-quality, timely, and meaningful information.
As EPA integrates its vision elements into its
business functions, the Agency will be even better
prepared to deliver on its mission of protecting
human health and the environment.
Vision
Provide government and citizens
with fast, relevant, and integrated
information to better protect human
health and the environment.
Guiding Principles
A. Information is a strategic asset.
B. Collaboration with partners and
stakeholders is essential.
C. EPA must manage its information
resources as efficiently and
effectively as possible.
IDING PRINCIPLES
The following principles guide EPA's approach
to achieving its information vision.
A. Information is a strategic asset.
Information and IT are essential in carrying out
EPA's mission of protecting human health and
the environment. The Agency's success depends
on the availability of high-quality, timely, and
reliable information. This information is
needed to:
• develop environmental quality standards;
• promulgate environmental regulations;
• issue permits and monitor compliance;
• track environmental conditions and
trends; and
• assess programmatic performance.
In order to maintain and enhance the value of its
information assets, EPA must continue to
improve data quality, implement data standards,
enhance the compatibility of data systems, and
identify and fill major data gaps.5 At the same
time, EPA must stay abreast of new technologies
and invest in technologies that can best support
the Agency's business processes and changing
information needs.
B. Collaboration with partners and stakehold-
ers is essential.
EPA's ability to protect human health and the
environment depends on strong collaboration
with the Agency's partners and stakeholders.
State and Tribal agencies:
U.S. General Accounting Office, Maj'or Management Challenges and Program Risks—Environmental
Protection Agency, GAO-01-257, Washington, D.C., January 2001.
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• collect much of the data that EPA uses;
• play a key role in implementing programs
and monitoring compliance;
• help disseminate environmental information;
• provide important scientific and technical
expertise in identifying and addressing
emerging environmental problems.
Federal partners:
• collect complementary information;
• implement a range of related
environmental statutes; and
• require information from multiple sources
to support better decision-making.
EPA must continue to strengthen its partnerships
to ensure that the data it collects, uses, and
disseminates are accurate, reliable, and available
when needed. Collaboration will continue to be a
key in carrying out the Agency's mission and
realizing its information vision.
C. EPA must manage its information resources
as efficiently and effectively as possible.
EPA must manage its information resources
more effectively in order to:
• address both single-media and cross-
media environmental problems;
• meet growing public demands for timely,
high-quality information;
• provide greater accountability for the
Agency's performance and results; and
• support homeland security and fully
integrated e-government.
Advances in IT and the expansion of the Internet
provide new opportunities to collect, analyze, and
integrate information and deliver timely, meaning-
ful information to EPA's partners, stakeholders,
6 Stakeholders include groups such as the regulated community, industry,
non-governmental organizations, academia, and the general public.
and the public. These IT advances may also help
EPA reduce the information collection and report-
ing burden it imposes on States and the regulated
community. EPA must work closely with its State
and Tribal partners, other Federal agencies, and
stakeholders6 to ensure that the Agency's business
processes and IT infrastructure produce more
capable, streamlined, or more efficient operations
to support EPA's business functions.
ALS
In order for EPA to achieve its information
vision, the Agency must refocus its efforts in a
number of different information management
areas—from the collection, integration, and
exchange of high-quality information; to the
management of IT investment decisions; to
ensuring a well-trained workforce. The follow-
ing six goals describe the specific aims EPA will
strive to achieve in the coming years:
Goals
1. Use: Improve the use of environmental information to
support decision-making, activity cost accounting, and
results-based management.
2. Data: Collect appropriate data and provide high-quality
and integrated information.
3. Technology: Strengthen EPA's information
infrastructure to improve Agency operations and the
security, collection, and exchange of information.
4. Access: Enhance public access to useful and
understandable information.
5. Governance: Adopt an enterprise-wide approach to
make and implement information management decisions.
6. People: Invest in human capital.
Each goal is described in more detail below,
along with specific objectives for achieving the
goals and examples of activities that are planned
or under way. A number of challenges remain and
the Agency must continue to work closely with its
partners and stakeholders to develop the most
effective approaches for addressing them.
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Goal 1. Use
Improve the use of environmental
information to support decision-
making, activity cost accounting,
and results-based management.
EPA must ensure that the right types of informa-
tion are available to:
• meet statutory responsibilities;
• measure environmental performance; and
• make well-informed environmental decisions.
The Agency must continue to engage its partners
and stakeholders in determining what informa-
tion is really needed, to eliminate any unneces-
sary redundancies in data collection and to fill
any critical data gaps. Since so many of EPA's
responsibilities are delegated to the States, any
efforts the Agency pursues to fill data gaps must
be carefully planned and coordinated with State
and Federal partners. At the same time, the
Agency must ensure that no unnecessary data
collection requirements are imposed on States,
Tribes, or the regulated community, and must
continue working to reduce the Agency's overall
information collection and reporting burden. In
addition to collecting or accessing the right type
of data and information, EPA must enhance its
ability to integrate and interpret its scientific and
other data to support performance-based
management and multimedia approaches to
protecting the environment.
Goal 1 Objectives and Illustrative Projects
EPA will pursue the key objectives described
below to improve the Agency's, partners', and
stakeholders' overall ability to use environmental
information. Examples of current activities that
support these objectives are provided as well.
Identify and provide the right data and
information at the right time to EPA
decision-makers, States and Tribes, other
partners, stakeholders, and the public.
> Working in partnership with program and
regional offices, OEI is leading an effort to
develop a Situational Analysis Capability.
For instance, a desktop will organize and
display environmental and other relevant
information in a single, easy-to-access site
that can be tailored to the user's specific
preferences (e.g., public access, emer-
gency response, rule making). Initially, the
Agency will focus on presenting critical
information needed by emergency
responders, via a secure site, for internal
EPA users and other governmental
partners. Another module will focus on
public access, ensuring that citizens can
easily find, access, and review information
about environmental conditions at the
national, State, and local level (i.e., a
virtual state-of-the-environment report), as
well as obtain information on environmen-
tal incidents, how to respond to them, and
how they impact the public' s health.
> The Office of Solid Waste and Emergency
Response (OSWER) recently conducted a
comprehensive review of the Superfund
program's information holdings to ensure
that the information collected meets the
needs of program managers. This study
responded to recommendations issued by
Resources for the Future in a 2001 report
entitled The Future of Superfund. By
focusing on the information used by program
managers, OSWER hopes to reduce the
information burden on Regional site
managers (e.g., on-scene coordinators).
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The ability to analyze, compare, integrate,
and display environmental information by
geographic location is becoming critical to
tackling environmental problems that cut
across jurisdictional boundaries. EPA is
currently developing a Geospatial
Blueprint to improve the Agency's
geospatial data, tools, and applications.
This Blueprint will provide a framework
for making greater use of geospatial
information across the Agency. EPA
prepared an initial draft of the Blueprint in
March 2002.
Making better use of EPA's data to
evaluate and improve performance is
essential in determining how best to use
available funding and staff resources. The
Office of Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance (OECA) has developed the
report Using Measurement Data as a
Management Tool to help senior
managers evaluate the performance of
national and regional compliance and
enforcement programs. It includes a set
of performance-based questions, relevant
Figure B
Using Information as a Strategic Tool
Evaluate
performance
Generate indicators,
forecasts,
and warnings
measurement data, and programmatic
recommendations based on existing
performance data.
Develop indicators of environmental
conditions and trends and other
performance measures.
> Environmental indicators are an impor-
tant tool for simplifying, analyzing, and
communicating information about
environmental conditions and trends.
EPA recently launched an Agency-wide
Environmental Indicators Initiative and is
now in the process of examining
environmental indicator work that is
under way across the Federal govern-
ment. This effort will lead to the
development of a State of the Environ-
ment report by the fall of 2002.
The Office of the Chief Financial Officer
(OCFO) is leading a complementary
effort to identify appropriate measures of
Agency performance. This effort—the
Managing for Improved Results Initia-
tive—will help EPA offices
develop the measures (e.g.,
output and outcome measures)
that are most useful in
evaluating how well they are
doing in achieving intended
Change behavior
based on
new knowledge
Receive and assess
data and information
Public and private entities use
information to monitor and
observe environmental health;
generate indicators, forecasts
and warnings; receive and
assess data and information;
change behavior based on
new knowledge, thereby
impacting the environment.
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goals and objectives. This initiative will
include an examination of the Agency's
current planning, budgeting, and priority-
setting processes and focus on improving
EPA's ability to manage its programs for
improved results.
Continuing Challenges
EPA will continue to face a number of challenges
in ensuring that the right information is available
for environmental decision making and perfor-
mance-based management. Examples of these
challenges include the following:
• Providing environmental managers and
policymakers with the types of
information they need to make well-
informed decisions (e.g., location-
based, performance-based, or
multimedia information).
• Developing easy-to-use information tools
for use by decision makers and the public,
while also maintaining the flexibility to
address ad hoc questions about
environmental issues.
• Reaching agreement among EPA and its
many partners and stakeholders about
what types of data and information are
most critical as the basis for environmental
indicators of conditions and trends.
• Reducing information collection and
reporting burdens, while also ensuring the
availability of the data and information
needed to fulfill EPA's environmental
protection mission.
• Developing the scientific understanding
necessary to establish clear links between
programmatic activities and
environmental outcomes.
Goal 2. Data
Collect appropriate data and
provide high-quality and
integrated information
The demand for high-quality, integrated
information is greater than ever before. The
public has an interest in obtaining easy-to-
understand health and environmental informa-
tion, and the EPA and its partners have a
mandate to address complex environmental
problems. In addition, EPA recognizes that
information can add value and that using
information in the right ways can be a key
strategy for environmental protection. Using
information in ways that can cause changes in
behavior can supplement our regulatory and
enforcement approaches to environmental
protection. EPA must ensure that the data it
collects, generates, and uses are accurate,
representative, reliable, and rapidly available;
and implement procedures for identifying and
quickly correcting any errors that may occur.
The Agency must also be able to draw connec-
tions among the various types of data it collects
to provide a comprehensive picture of environ-
mental conditions or performance at the national,
regional, State, Tribal, or facility level. Geo-
graphic data, various environmental and health
data, demographic/census data, and data on other
indicators of public health and environmental
conditions are essential for supporting informed
environmental decision making. Obtaining
comparable and compatible data requires
coordination between and among the progam
and Regional offices that are developing the
monitoring and data collection efforts. These
programs are delegated to regulatory partners or
responded to by the regulated community, which
can lead to important differences in implementa-
tion. It is essential to find ways to integrate and
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STRATEGIC INFORMATION PLAN
JULY 2002
analyze environmental data at a variety of levels
to understand the state of the nation's environ-
ment and to enlist the full support of EPA's
partners and stakeholders in protecting and
enhancing the environment.
Goal 2 Objectives and Illustrative Projects
The Agency has identified critical objectives to
set priorities for collecting the most appropriate
data and provide high-quality and integrated
information. The following objectives and
supporting projects illustrate the path EPA is
taking to collect and provide relevant and high-
quality data and information that will most
effectively serve its partners, stakeholders, and
the public.
Promote Agency efforts to improve data
and information quality.
> The Agency has established a Quality
System that applies to the collection and
use of environmental data, either by EPA
staff or by organizations that receive EPA
funds (e.g., grantees, peer-review
studies). Quality System requirements
can be found in Agency orders, manuals
and regulations, which represent the
building blocks of the Data and
Information Quality Strategic Plan and
the Information Quality Guidelines.
The Agency is developing a Data and
Information Quality Strategic Plan, which
represents a first step in determining how
best to improve EPA's data and informa-
tion. This plan recommends the formation
of an Agency-wide network to facilitate
collaboration among programs and
Regions in improving data quality. It also
calls for a standardized approach for
assessing data quality and greater
emphasis on quality-related activities.
Also, EPA is developing Information
Quality Guidelines to respond to a new
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) requirement. These guidelines will
focus on how the Agency uses data to
generate information and disseminate it to
the public. Draft guidelines were
Figure C
Data and Information Quality Life Cycle
Acquisition Cycle Usage Cycle
Design the
Collection
Collect
Data
Data Transaction:
Populate the database,
etc.
DQOs — Data Quality
Objectives
DQIs — Data Quality
Indicators
OMPs — Quality Mgmt. Plan
Error Corrections
Data Standards
Etc.
Data Management:
Data Storage and Maintenance
IPB — Information
Products Bulletin
Peer Review
OPA Review — Offic
of Public Affairs
Develop product:
Present results
Retrieval
Data Use:
Aggregating, sorting,
reformatting, analysis
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announced in the Federal Register on
April 30, 2002. Once finalized, these
guidelines will apply to all the
information EPA disseminates beginning
in October 2002.
> The Agency has worked in partnership
with States to develop an online integrated
error correction process. This process
allows EPA's partners, stakeholders and
the public to notify the Agency if they
identify any errors in EPA's data and
information. EPA then sends reported or
suspected error notifications to the
responsible program, Regional office or
State agency for review and needed
correction. This process will help ensure
that the data and information that EPA
posts on the Internet are accurate and
reliable, as well as provide EPA's partners
and stakeholders with an easy way of
alerting the Agency about potential data
errors or misinterpretations.
> OEI is preparing a series of Best Practices
Guides that describe methods and
procedures for planning, designing,
developing, reviewing, releasing, and
maintaining environmental information
products. These Guides and a related EPA
Intranet Web site draw from the wealth of
Agency experience in developing
information products and provide practical
suggestions for EPA information product
developers and managers.
Integrate data within and across EPA
programs and with partners and stakeholders.
> EPA launched the cross-Agency Informa-
tion Integration Program (IIP) to foster the
development of an information integration
strategy that identified tools and ap-
proaches that can be used across the
Agency and by States to support
improved decision-making and increase
efficiency. This program culminated in
the creation of a Model for Information
Integration TM4I). which provides a
framework for the Agency's integration
efforts and establishes a vision for EPA's
target architecture.
The Agency is developing data standards
to promote the use of common data
element definitions and formats. These
data standards will help integrate
information from different databases and
sources. Thus far, the Agency has
approved seven data standards (i.e.,
biological taxonomy, chemical
identification, date, facility identification,
latitude/longitude, permitting, and
Standard Industrial Classification/North
American Industry Classification System
[SIC/NAICS]) and is supporting the
development of five additional data
standards (i.e., enforcement/compliance,
Tribal identifier, reporting water-quality
results for chemical and microbiological
analytes, contact, NPDES).
Also, EPA is developing a system of
registries that serve as repositories for
commonly used data element definitions
and metadata. The registries will be
available for EPA programs and regions,
as well as for information exchange with
the Agency's partners and stakeholders.
Existing registries include the
Terminology Reference System; the
Substance Registry System, which
includes chemical and biological
registries; the Facility Registry System;
and the Environmental Data Registry
fEDR). EDR contains descriptive
information about the data managed by
the Agency, with special emphasis on the
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data elements used by EPA's national
systems. EDR is the primary tool used by
the Agency for implementing data
standards. Collectively, these integration
efforts will enable the exchange of data
critical to the development of the
Situational Analysis Capability.
> ORD has developed the Environmental
Information Management System (EIMS),
which provides descriptive information
(metadata) about various data sets,
databases, documents, models,
multimedia projects, and spatial
information. This metadata enables users
to identify and use the data that are most
useful to them.
> OSWER created RCRAInfo. which
streamlines and combines the
information in the Resource Conservation
Recovery Information System and the
Biennial Reporting System and provides
an example of how EPA is working with
States to promote integration at the
programmatic level.
Continuing Challenges
Developing high-quality, integratable information
will continue to pose a number of challenges for
EPA. Examples include the following:
• Assuring that the information collected by
EPA and its partners and stakeholders is
appropriate, documented, and of
consistently high quality.
• Ensuring the utility and availability of
environmental information to support both
its original intended use as well as the
broader uses available through integration
with other information.
Providing needed ambient air- and water-
quality monitoring data through data
exchange partnerships with
environmental stakeholders.
Developing the organizational and
technical infrastructure to allow EPA,
States, Tribes, and other partners and
stakeholders to integrate and exchange
environmental information easily and
seamlessly across media and geographic
and political boundaries.
Goal 3. Technology
Strengthen EPA's information
infrastructure to improve Agency
operations and the security, collection,
and exchange of information
The increasing complexity of many environmen-
tal issues requires EPA to collect and integrate
data from a variety of sources at the State,
Tribal, and Federal level as well as by media
sector or geographical area. Fortunately,
advances in technology are making it possible to
collect, analyze, and integrate information more
easily and effectively than ever before. At the
same time, given the rapid changes in technol-
ogy, information systems can quickly become
obsolete, and must be designated to be more
flexible and modular.
EPA must examine both the long-term viability
and the implementation time required for new
information systems and applications before
making new investments. In addition, the Agency
must ensure that new technologies do not place
unnecessary burdens on States or the regulated
community. Success in building the most
appropriate information infrastructure will
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STRATEGIC INFORMATION PLAN
JULY 2002
depend largely on EPA's ability to work in close
collaboration with other Federal, State, and
Tribal partners, and support the President's
Management Agenda.
GoalS Objectives and Illustrative Projects
Implementing the key projects below will
enhance and support the collection and exchange
of information.
Build a network to improve the exchange
of environmental information.
> Efforts to develop a network that allows
the States and EPA to share information
are well under way through the National
Environmental Information Exchange
Network (NEIEN or Network). This
Network will facilitate environmental
information sharing between EPA, States,
Tribes, localities, and other entities. The
network will improve data quality since it
will rely on the use of data standards and
automated data checks. EPA and the States
anticipate that the Network infrastructure
will be nearly complete and accept major
data flows by September 2003.
> An important component of the NEIEN is
the Agency's Central Data Exchange
(CDX). CDX provides a central point
within EPA for collecting, exchanging,
and streamlining many distinct data
collection processes. It will also serve as
the Agency's connection to the Network
(known as EPA's "node" on the
Network). It will be linked to EPA's
registries, which will further enhance the
Agency's integration efforts. CDX is
expected to accept one major data flow
from data reporters on behalf of each
program office by September 2003, such
as National Emission Inventory data
Figure D
Network Overview
(Office of Air), Permit Compliance
System data (OECA), and Toxic Release
Inventory data (OEI).
Promote processes and applications that
result in the more efficient collection and
exchange of information.
> EPA is moving forward on its proposed
Cross-Media Electronic Reporting and
Records Rule (CROMERRR) rule, which
would establish criteria for voluntary
electronic environmental reporting and
allow the regulated community to submit
required reports to EPA electronically.
This rule is a key to enhancing the
Agency's ability to foster electronic
government operations with an expected
completion in 2003.
> Another effort designed to simplify and
improve reporting is the Toxics Release
Inventory—Made Easy (TRI-ME). This
interactive expert system helps the
regulated community understand
Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) reporting
obligations as well as helping them
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complete the required reporting forms.
Such expert systems can enhance
compliance and reduce the public's time
and costs involved in reporting data to EPA.
Explore potential cost savings or efficiency
gains that can be achieved through the
consolidation or integration of
administrative and programmatic data,
systems, and services.
> In support of the President's Mangement
Agenda, EPA has initiated a number of
efforts to reduce costs, increase efficiency,
and enhance government service to the
citizen. For instance, the Agency recently
implemented a standard e-mail system.
improving the ability of EPA employees to
exchange mail and documents. In addition,
the Agency has developed several
consolidated administrative systems, such
as the Integrated Grants Management
System (IGMS), the Financial Data
Warehouse (FDW), and HR-Pro. a system
for managing Human Resources.
> OEI and EPA program offices will
consolidate seven docket facilities into
one physical location in August 2002.
This is the next step in a process that
began with the integration and
automation of business functions through
a state of the art imaging and electronic
document management system, the EPA
Docket system (EDOCKET). EDOCKET
was launched in April 2002 and provides
citizens with the ability to review,
retrieve, and comment on the Agency's
rule-makings and non-regulatory
activities. It streamlines government
operations and is an example of EPA's
efforts to meet the objectives of the
Federal government's e-government rule-
making initiative (e-government defined
as being focused on business to
government, citizen to government, and
internal efficiencies).
> Program offices also are exploring ways
to improve the efficiency of their
information processes. For example, OW
is currently developing the OW
Information Strategic Plan (ISP) to
improve its collection and exchange of
high-quality information. OECA is also
developing an Integrated Compliance
Information Sytem (ICIS) to streamline
access to EPA compliance information.
Continuing Challenges
EPA faces important challenges in ensuring that
its technical infrastructure provides efficient and
effective services and supports the delivery of
high quality information. Examples of these
challenges include the following:
• Reaching agreement among EPA and its
partners on the most appropriate policies,
procedures, standards, and technologies
to exchange information.
• Ensuring adequate investment in EPA's
information infrastructure, operations,
and services over the long-term.
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Goal 4. Access
Enhance Public Access to Useful
and Understandable Information
Technology has created new public demands on
government to provide more information and
services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and in a
variety of formats (e.g., the Internet, facsimile,
voicemail, toll-free phone lines, and print). In
addition, there is an expectation that government
business should be conducted electronically, not
only with the public, but also within EPA, with
our State and Tribal partners, the regulated
community, and with other Federal, State, and
local government agencies. EPA is increasingly
expected to follow the private sector's lead in
implementing IT to transact government business,
improve customer service, and provide transpar-
ent access to environmental information. The
general public wants and expects the Federal
government to provide easy-to-use information
and services electronically.7 To meet this demand,
EPA will need to identify and set priorities among
the various e-government services that it could
potentially provide, and based on this assessment,
develop innovative information systems and Web-
based tools that meet public needs for meaningful
environmental information.
Goal 4 Objectives and Illustrative Projects
EPA is currently pursuing the following objec-
tives with the goal of enhancing access to
information. The illustrative projects that support
these objectives demonstrate the work that has
already begun in pursuit of this goal.
Regularly solicit and consider public input
on the Agency's information dissemination
7 Sharrard, J., J.C. McCarthy, M. J. Tavila, J. Stanley. "Sizing U.S
e-Government," The Forrester Report, August 2000, p. 6.
activities, as well as on new information
products and initiatives.
> EPA developed the Information Products
Bulletin (IPB) to notify stakeholders and
the public of significant, upcoming EPA
information products and inform them
about opportunities to provide input on the
development of these products.
> EPA has also initiated an effort to assess
the usability of EPA Web sites. This effort
is designed to determine whether existing
sites provide the kinds of information that
partners and stakeholders want and need.
Usability assessments have already been
completed for a number of Web sites,
including the EPA homepage, Window to
My Environment (WME), Envirofacts,
and education sites for children, students,
and teachers.
> Building on input from partners and
stakeholders, EPA is now developing a
Public Access Strategy. This strategy will
lay out the direction and scope of the
Agency's public access activities,
including the development and evaluation
of information products and services.
Provide online information that is easy for
EPA's partners, stakeholders, and the
public to understand and use to make
informed decisions about protecting human
health and the natural environment.
> Web-based sites such as AirNow, WME,
and Envirofacts will help make EPA's vast
array of environmental information more
accessible and usable to the general
public. Tools such as these serve as trail-
blazers leading to the development of an
interface for the Situational Analysis
Capability tool.
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> The Office of Air and Radiation launched
the AirNow Web site, which provides the
public with easy access to national air
quality information, including daily air
quality forecasts and real-time air quality
data for more than 100 cities across the
United States. This information is routinely
used by the nation's weather reporters in
issuing air quality alerts. In the future,
access to AirNow may be broadened to
include access via wireless technology such
as Personal Digital Assistants (e.g., Palm
Pilots) and cellular telephones.
> The Window to my Environment (WME)
Web site provides environmental informa-
tion to help the public make informed
decisions. The site currently contains
geospatially linked information from
multiple government sources on issues
such as air and water quality, watershed
health, and access to government services.
> EPA's Envirofacts Data Warehouse
provides the public with a single point of
access to information from EPA databases
on topics such as air quality, drinking
water, toxic releases, hazardous wastes,
industrial facilities, Superfund sites, and
Agency grants and funding. This
information can be requested via online
queries, retrieved from several databases
simultaneously, and presented in the form
of integrated maps and reports.
Develop tools and approaches to enhance
access to environmental science, research,
and engineering information.
> ORD has led the development of the
EPA Science Inventory to enhance
access to information about EPA
program, regional, and ORD science
projects, as well as to foster internal
coordination among these projects. This
inventory should help the Agency and its
partners and stakeholders plan and
coordinate future scientific research
more effectively.
> In an effort to facilitate public access to
information about environmental status,
trends, and drivers, EPA has developed
the Visualization Lab (VisLab). This
office designs and presents complex
environmental data sets in the form of
easily interpretable images. Such
visualization techniques are essential in
EPA analysis and decision making as well
as in communicating environmental
information visually to policymakers and
the public in ways that are easy to
understand and use.
Ensure the security of EPA's information,
applications, and systems, while providing
appropriate access.
> The security of the Agency's information
is critical to its mission of protecting
human health and the environment. Over
the past several years, the Agency has
devoted extraordinary attention and
resources to improving the technical
information infrastructure and building the
management framework for an improved
security program. In 2000, OEI estab-
lished the Technical Information Security
Staff (TISS) to review Agency security
accomplishments, manage EPA's security
efforts, and examine future security
governance. EPA also developed the
Information Security Action Plan to guide
the Agency's revised security program and
respond to GAO's July 2000 audit.
Finally, the Agency designated program
and regional Information Security Officers
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(ISOs). ISOs are responsible for
coordinating security activities, providing
guidance, reviewing security practices,
and informing colleagues of their
information security responsibilities.
> As part of the National Environmental
Information Exchange Network Imple-
mentation Plan, EPA and its State and
Tribal partners have defined levels of
security that must be met for the exchange
of information across the network. These
levels range from Level 1: Public
information, available to all users without
authentication, to Level 4: Information
requiring the highest level of non-
repudiation as well as confidentiality and
integrity checks.
Continuing Challenges
EPA faces important challenges in ensuring that
timely, meaningful information is readily available
to its partners, stakeholders, and the public.
Examples of these challenges include the following:
• Meeting growing public interest in
environmental information that is easy to
use and understand.
• Presenting and visualizing environmental
data in ways that make it easier to use
and understand.
• Providing public access to a wide range of
environmental information, while also
taking steps that discourage the use of
this information in ways that could harm
either the environment or public safety
(e.g., the industrial production or release
of hazardous chemicals).
• Meeting the growing need for storing and
exchanging information with our
environmental partners and stakeholders
in a secure IT infrastructure.
Goal 5. Governance
Adopt an enterprise-wide approach
to make and implement information
management decisions.
The increasingly complex issues facing EPA
today require better-integrated, cross-media
approaches to environmental protection. Such a
shift from traditional single-media approaches
will entail significant changes in how the Agency
collects, analyzes, and uses information and
require major cultural changes in how programs
interact and relate to one another and to outside
partners and stakeholders. EPA's media offices
have traditionally taken the lead in designing and
developing their own information systems and
applications to satisfy specific statutory responsi-
bilities (e.g., under the Clean Air Act, the Clean
Water Act, etc.). As a result, while the Agency as
a whole maintains a wealth of environmental data,
these data are not always consistent or easy to
integrate across EPA programs. The result is a
mix of separate "stove-pipe" information systems.
Adopting an enterprise-wide approach to
information management will allow EPA to make
key information, technology, and funding
decisions at an Agency-wide level and improve
the efficiency and effectiveness of its governance
structure and operations. As EPA participates in
other Federal e-government projects, the
Agency's enterprise approach must expand to
include other Federal agencies. Such an approach
will also reduce burden on Federal, State, and
Tribal partners, as well as improve the Agency's
-------
ability to centrally track the performance of its
various information technology efforts.
Goal 5 Objectives and Illustrative Projects
EPA is actively pursuing the following objectives
and projects to enhance the Agency's enterprise
governance approach to making and implement-
ing information management decisions.
Strengthen EPA's governance approach to
information management to improve decision-
making, communication, and accountability.
> Over the last two years, EPA has taken
several significant steps to improve
information planning and decision making
across the Agency. In October 1999, OEI
was formed to consolidate Agency-wide
information collection and policy
functions, provide technology operations
and services, and provide public access to
EPA's wide array of data and information.
The Agency also formed the Quality and
Information Council (QIC) composed of
senior program and Regional managers,
which provides expertise and guidance to
the CIO in addressing Agency-wide
information management issues.
> EPA and State environmental agencies—
through the Environmental Council of the
States (ECOS)—formed the Information
Management Workgroup (IMWG) to
improve information management
between EPA and its State and Tribal
partners. The IMWG plays an important
role in defining data standards and in
designing the National Environmental
Information Exchange Network (NEIEN).
For instance, the IMWG established the
Environmental Data Standards Council in
November 1999 to facilitate the efficient
sharing of environmental information
Figure E
Enterprise Architecture Program -
Conceptual Framework
Conceptual Framework
Pyramid View
Environmental / Goals
Business Architecture
EPA's 10 Strategic Goals
1. Cleaner
2. Clean and Safe Water
3. Safe Food
4. Preventing and Reducing Pollution
5. Effective Waste Management
6. Reduction of Globa1 and Cross-
Border Pollution
7. Right-To-Know Initiatives
8. Sound Sderce
9. Oaterrentto Pollution and Greater
Compliance with the Law
10. Effective Maragercent
'Agency Processes^
Data
Information
Architecture
Applications
Technology
through the development and implemen-
tation of data standards.
Make key information management and
technology decisions at an Agency-wide level.
> EPA has developed and is now enhancing
the Enterprise Architecture Plan. This
planning process will yield and provide a
description of the Agency's business
processes, data applications, technical
infrastructure, and security architecture
and provides an initial framework for
designing and managing IT infrastructure
to meet the Agency's business goals and
functions. EPA will coordinate its
Enterprise Architecture Plan internally and
with Federal, State, and Tribal partners.
EPA will release a revised Enterprise
Architecture Plan, with a target
environmental information architecture by
September 2002, including the
subarchitectures of business, data,
applications, and technology/security.
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Continuing Challenges
EPA faces significant challenges in developing
an enterprise-wide approach to information
management. This is due in large part to the way
in which the Agency's programs have evolved
over the years to address media-specific statutory
responsibilities. Examples of these challenges
include the following:
• Developing a culture that fosters a
Federal-wide and Agency-wide
perspective and rewards cooperation and
collaboration across Federal agencies,
programs and regions, particularly in
terms of strategic planning, priority-
setting, and budgeting.
• Identifying impediments to integrating the
increasing role of information and IT into
EPA's organizational culture and operations.
• Improving decision-making processes to
ensure that EPA's information systems
planning and development efforts are
closely linked to the Agency's budgeting
and investment control processes.
Goal 6. People
8 U.S. General Accounting Office, EPA is Taking Steps to Improve
Environmental Information Management, but Challenges Remain,
GAO/RCED-99-261, Washington, D.C., September 1999.
Invest in human capital.
As with other public and private sector organiza-
tions, EPA faces continual challenges in
recruiting and retaining employees with
appropriate skills in data analysis and informa-
tion technology. It is particularly difficult to hire
high-tech employees who are attracted to the
private sector by higher salaries and rapid
advancement opportunities. GAO has recom-
mended that EPA "align its human capital
policies and practices to best support its mission
and help meet its strategic goals and objec-
tives."8 Specifically, EPA must:
• identify the skills it needs to accomplish
the Agency's strategic goals and objectives;
• ensure that its workforce is diverse and
appropriately trained; and
• work to retain good employees.
This involves hiring, training, and retaining
employees who are skilled in data analysis,
information management, and computer science
(from network configuration and maintenance, to
information security, to Web design and manage-
ment). EPA must also offer continuing education
opportunities to help employees stay abreast of
cutting-edge technologies, provide career
enhancement opportunities, and initiate programs
to foster high employee morale and productivity.
Goal 6 Objectives and Illustrative Projects
EPA is committed to investing in its workforce to
realize its information vision. The Agency
continues to demonstrate this commitment by
engaging in the following objectives and projects.
Identify, develop, and implement plans to
provide basic IT skills and training for all
EPA employees, as well as specialized
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IT skills and training needed for unique
functions (e.g., knowledge management,
information management, GIS, and
data mining).
*• OEI recently completed an Agency-wide
effort to assess and characterize the
information technology competencies of
senior managers who are responsible for
their organization's information manage-
ment projects, policies, and resources.
The initial report was completed in early
2002. Next steps will focus on the
development of a plan for information
management training to address apparent
skills gaps.
^ The Office of Human Resources and
Organizational Services (OHROS) is
leading an effort with OEI to identify IT
compentency needs to meet the
Agency's mission.
*• Also, EPA has partnered with National
Defense University (NDU) to offer EPA
employees advanced courses in
information management, strategic
planning, and technology to EPA
employees. These intense one-week
courses train students in a variety of IT
compentencies as well as provide an
introduction to the best information
practices across the government.
Identify and provide the core data and
information technology tools that all EPA
employees need at the desktop.
*• The proposed Situational Analysis
Capability will be a major step toward
providing core data and information to
EPA employees as well as to the
Agency's partners and stakeholders.
Explore methods to improve the recruitment
and retention of employees with specialized
information technology skills.
*• The Agency has developed a Human
Capital Strategy, which includes strategic
goals to ensure that all EPA employees are
competent, appropriately trained, and
motivated to achieve superior results.
*• The Office of Personnel Management
authorized pay increases for Federal IT
employees, effective January 2001. This
pay hike was designed to make the Federal
civil service more competitive in the labor
market for skilled IT workers, to bolster
the recruitment and retention of technol-
ogy workers, and to encourage younger IT
employees to join the Federal government.
Continuing Challenges
EPA faces important challenges in ensuring that
its workforce is appropriately trained in informa-
tion management and technology. Examples of
these challenges include:
• Providing EPA personnel with the
necessary educational and training
opportunities to stay abreast of rapid
advances in technology.
• Attracting, hiring, and retaining
employees with the requisite skills in data
analysis/interpretation and information
management and technology.
• Providing information and IT tools to
EPA employees and partners as new
environmental protection challenges
emerge, priorities change, and
technologies evolve.
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UATIONAL ANALYSIS
PABILITY SUMMARY
One of the most tangible manifestations of EPA's
information management vision and goals is the
planned development of a virtual and physical
Situation Room. This project links all of the
Information Plan's goals since it provides a clear
target for the use, acquisition, interpretation,
access, and exchange of data as well as the staff
skills, information technology, and governance
structure needed to establish this capability.
Further, the Situation Room relies upon the
successful completion of many of the Agency's
critical information management and IT projects
and policies, such as Information Architecture,
CDX, Data Standards, System of Access,
Registries, and EPA's Enterprise Repository.
The virtual Situation Room will provide each
employee with desktop access to environmental,
scientific, financial, and policy information in a
single, easy-to-access Web portal that can be
tailored for a specific purpose (e.g., writing
regulations, assessing risk, issuing permits,
emergency response). The physical Situation
Room will be a state-of-the-art analysis, commu-
nication, and meeting space where Agency
analysts and senior decision-makers can anticipate
or assess a particular issue or situation, communi-
cate with governmental partners and the public,
and craft an appropriate response.
In providing these things, the Situation Room will
transform how the Agency and our partners
protect the environment and homeland security
through data and technology. The Situation
Room will:
• make it easy for EPA and its stakeholders
to find, review, analyze, and understand
environmental conditions and trends at the
national, State, and local level;
• improve the ability to detect, prevent,
respond to, and inform the public of
imminent threats and long-term
environmental conditions and trends; and
• increase scientific understanding of
synergistic effects and cause-and-effect
relationships to improve Agency and
partner decision-making and
performance reporting.
This effort initially will focus on the timely and
compelling issues of emergency response and
homeland security, chiefly by delivering informa-
tion and providing analytical tools to enhance
EPA's and its governmental partners' ability to
detect, respond to, and prevent terrorist acts,
accidental releases, or natural disasters that result
in adverse environmental conditions or threats to
public health. Subsequent efforts will focus on
enhancing environmental information and
developing tools and analyses that improve
performance assessment and scientific under-
standing of causal relationships and emerging
environmental problems to support the Agency's
Environmental Indicators Initiative. OEI will
work in close partnership with programs,
Regions, and Federal, State, and Tribal partners to
design, develop, and operate the Situational
Analysis Portal and Room.
Comparing the Information Plan's goals and
objectives with the Situation Room's major
components9 reveals a nexus of eight project
themes that must be addressed. These theme
areas include both ongoing projects that will be
completed or modified to incorporate Situation
Room project needs as well as the initiation of
new projects.
Q
The six major components of the Situation Room include:
Data Needs and Sources;
Data Acquisition Mechanisms;
Data Storage;
Data Display and Analysis;
Communication and Information Exchange; and
Project Management
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1) Identify needed data and assess data
holdings. Assess data needs for the
Situation Room and the resulting impact
on the Agency's data acquisition strategy.
Build on efforts such as the Environmental
Indicators Initiative and the Geospatial
Blueprint to assess the implications of any
new data requirements on reporting
burden and on the Central Data Exchange
to identify and document data resources in
the appropriate data registries, and to
develop strategies for acquiring or gaining
access to additional needed data.
2) Assess strategies for ensuring data
quality. Examine existing resources such
as the Data and Information Quality
Strategic Plan under development, other
Agency information quality guidelines,
and the assessment of current error
correction processes to determine
additional needs for data quality assurance
processes or tools.
3) Assess the Agency enterprise repository
and related directories. Incorporate all
identified data needs into the design of
EPA's enterprise repository and ensure
that Situation Room needs are reflected in
tools such as data registries (e.g., Facility
Registry System, Environmental Data
Registry, Chemical Registry System) and
data standards development efforts.
4) Assess the Agency's ability to conduct
data analyses and to share that
information with its partners and
stakeholders. Assess the information
infrastructure implications of the
Agency's Environmental Indicators
initiative in developing indicators of
environmental conditions, trends, and
other performance measures.
5) Assess additional needed data standards
and implementation strategies. Study
and address potential impacts on data
acquisition, exchange, and storage.
6) Identify and enhance critical workforce
skill sets. Build on previous efforts to
inventory existing skills (including a
strategy for addressing gaps), modify or
develop training programs to address skill
needs, and develop strategies for sharing
skills and developing skill capabilities.
Potentially expand EPA's assessment of
the IT competencies of senior managers
by extending the study to division
directors and technical staff as well as
launching a full-scale assessment of IT
skills across the Agency.
7) Assess existing information access and
communication mechanisms. Examine
the usability assessment of EPA's current
Web sites to understand how the Situation
Room functionality can be included in
existing sites and in the Agency's
comprehensive public access strategy.
8) Assess the security implications of the
Situation Room on network
communications infrastructure.
Investigate procedures for handling
sensitive information in the context of the
Situation Room, including elements of
data acquisition, storage, public/virtual
access, and data exchange.
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STRATEGIC INFORMATION PLAN
JULY 2002
EPA must undertake a detailed project level
planning and development to fully implement
the new Situation Room. In addressing these
areas, it is recommended that the Agency:
• develop an overarching program
management strategy for the Situation
Room initiative;
• perform a more detailed assessment of
activities already under way in each of
the areas;
• appoint project teams and assign areas of
responsibility; and
• develop and manage detailed project
plans, including timelines and
quantifiable outputs, for strategies or
portions of strategies that have not yet
been addressed.
With continuing management and resource
support from senior leadership, EPA will
succeed in fulfilling its vision for information
management. This top management commit-
ment is essential to the success of this plan and
to the successful implementation of EPA's
Situation Room.
Figure F
EPA Situational Analysis Capability - Schematic Diagram
Data Needs/ Data Data Data Display/ Communication/
Sources Acquisition Storage Analysis Information Exchange
Users: EPA and partners
1 L 2-way direct connection Physical
\ 1 /
other/ \ r1 b|^_, /
commercial \ ill "* 1 ^ r '
\ jf X systems M S ~^
Facilities A J CDX | A \ Data t k Virtual
^^
t 7^
States T / ¥
/Users: stakeholders
Federal Agencies h. Virtual
Management
Extranet (States/Tribes)
Emergency
responders
Regulation
writers ^
j Agency work
< Permit writers products
makers
etc.
V
^ Public
understanding
and action
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NCLUSION
In recent years, EPA has made significant strides
in laying the foundation for an enterprise-wide
approach to information management and
decision making. Through the formation of OEI
and close collaboration with EPA partners and
stakeholders, the Agency has made notable
progress in developing the organizational
capacity, technological infrastructure, and
resources necessary to fully use its information as
a strategic asset. Yet, given that EPA has tradition-
ally focused on addressing environmental
problems one media at a time, much remains to be
done to create the type of robust, integrated, and
seamless information systems and processes that
are needed.
It will be essential for EPA to:
• identify the most critical data and
information needed to protect human
health and the environment;
• identify and fill data gaps to improve
performance-based decision making and
data quality;
• develop and implement advanced
technologies that will enhance the
Agency's efficient collection, use, and
dissemination of information;
• develop organizational approaches that
make it easier to set enterprise-wide
priorities for information and IT
investments; and
• measure for results.
Addressing these challenges will require major
changes in how EPA uses information and plans,
manages, and operates IT. This Strategic
Information Plan provides an initial blueprint for
pursuing some of the areas of greatest concern.
With continuing support and commitment from
senior leadership, the Agency is poised to pursue
its vision of harnessing information and IT to
better protect our nation's human health and
natural environment.
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