5. Case Studies: Government
DE + IA (INFO 243) - 31 January 2007
Bob Glushko
Plan for Today's Lecture
- Using the D-O-C-U-M-E-N-T Checklist
- Integrating America
- UBL in Denmark
- IRS Modernized e-File
- E-government in California
D-O-C-U-M-E-N-T in Knowledge Management
D-O-C-U-M-E-N-T in Analysis
The Need for a "Universal Business Language"
- Too many redundant and incompatible document models of common business documents like catalogs, orders and invoices
- Too many redundant adapters and gateways to enable trading relationships across domain boundaries
UBL
- 31 document types needed for supply chains (European) and International Trade (Asia and US)
- These document types use a library of XML schemas for reusable aggregate data components such as "Address," "Item," and "Payment"
- The library is a standard implementation of the ebXML "core components" types ("Amount," "Code," DateTime," etc.
- An OASIS standard
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
- Before the Internet the most important technology for inter-enterprise document exchange and automation was Electronic Data Interchange or EDI
- EDI's roots in the 1960s with freight industry standard electronic formats for bills and other documents
- By 1970s banking and grocery / retail industries
had standard messages and private networks for
exchanging them
- In 1979 ANSI initiates US national EDI standards (ASC X12)
- 1987 - EDIFACT -- UN standards body created to consolidate national standards
- late 1990s EDIFACT collaborates with XML community to develop syntax-neutral libraries: ebXML
EDI's Successes
- EDI is widely used to automate routine transactions between established trading partners
- Reduce costs of interconnecting business systems because connection is via document
exchange instead of via direct integration
- EDI reference models for business processes and standard documents
provide starting points for relationships between trading partners
"Adoption of UBL in Denmark" -- Optimal Req-to-Pay Process
"Adoption of UBL in Denmark" -- Manual Invoice Process
"Adoption of UBL in Denmark"
- What is the overall goal that motivates this project?
- What are the key technical pre-requisites for this project?
- Is Denmark proposing to completely automate invoice processing?
- How are the technological and legal "infrastructure" interrelated?
- How much does it cost to process an invoice?
- What will happen next with this project?
- Would this kind of project be possible in the US?
"Integrating America"
- The Department of Homeland Security was created in late 2002 to unify diverse and overlapping security functions of the federal government
- Twenty-two agencies that were formerly in the Depts. of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Justice, Transportation, and Treasury or in independent bodies were combined and reorganized in the new department.
- "...the success of the proposed department -- and the security of the nation -- will, in large part, hinge on IT"
The "Enterprise Architecture" Challenge in Integrating America
- OVERALL GOAL: take a functional view rather than an agency-by-agency view
- Identify business processes in the merging agencies and defer technology discussions
- Identify the information that is consumed by the processes and produced by them
- But this is easier said than done; the "same" process can be done differently in many agencies
- (The "Federal Enterprise Architecture" effort emerged from this mandate and has been pretty successful)
The "Legacy Systems" Challenge in Integrating America
- Inventory and assess existing systems
- Example: 22 agencies have 22 personnel and 7 payroll systems
- Reduce the number of current enterprise licenses
- Decide "which assets could form the basis for integration efforts"
The "Information Overload" and "Data Quality" Challenges in Integrating America
- Potentially relevant information will come from all the DHS parts, as well as from the FBI, CIA, and NSA
- "...Much of the data will be dirty, redundant and useless" or already filtered according to outside biases that potential internal users might not share
- To "capture once, reuse many" first you have to decide which information sources are the authoritative "databases of record"
The "Culture Clash" Challenge in Integrating America
- The agencies and departments to be brought into DHS "have never had any reason or incentive to think of themselves as part of a larger enterprise"
- Their interactions in many cases have been minimal
- ,Many have long histories with organizational identities, cultures, traditions that they won't easily give up
- "... a merger, acquisition, and a startup all coming together at the same time"
Electronically Managing Enterprise Resources for Government Efficiency and Effectiveness (EMERGE2)
IRS E-File
- Who benefits from automated filing of tax returns?
- How many forms and supporting documents are contained in a typical corporate tax return? In a large return?
- Why was XML chosen as the implementation technology for these document models?
- Are there XML schemas for every type of form and supporting document?
- Will it be possible for the IRS to replace human auditors with XML-powered ones anytime soon?
- What sorts of XML naming and design rules are being followed by the IRS?
Readings for 5 February
- "Key Capabilities of an Electronic Health Record System" Committee on Data Standards for Patient Safety.
National Academies Press (2003)
- "Electronic Health Records: Just around the Corner? Or over the
Cliff?" R. Baron, E. Fabens, M. Schiffman and E. Wolf. Annals of Internal Medicine 143 (August 2005)
- "XML in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Structured Product
Labeling" K. Thomas. XML 2004 Conference (2004)
-
"Cracks in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain" Susannah Patton. CIO (January 15, 2006)
