How to Manage Information to Achieve High Performance in Government

This well-managed information leads to more efficient performance and higher levels of citizen service. With the wealth of data in their systems, government CIOs are poised to teach their private-sector counterparts a thing or two.

The first step is defining an information management strategy to support high performance.

An information management strategy for the public sector must take into account current realities. Consider the challenges of managing information in the public sector today:

• Proliferation. Government agencies are storing more information than ever. Unstructured data in e-mails, instant messages, images and audio must now be managed along with traditional structured data in enterprise systems.
  
  
• Disorganization. Information is often scattered throughout different technology platforms and multiple systems dedicated to specific purposes such as enterprise resource planning, supply chain management and citizen service management.
  
  
• Isolation. Government organizational structures may impede the ability of agencies to share information with each other. Yet the need to cooperate is expected to grow dramatically in the coming years.
  
  
• Regulation. Data security is a must for government CIOs. There is also a need to comply with continually evolving regulation, such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Basel II and the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA).
  
  
• Frustration. Pressure continues to deliver higher levels of citizen service without increased funding. Decision makers are having difficulty finding timely, accurate information in a rapidly expanding sea of data.

Many public-sector CIOs are overcoming these challenges by adopting an enterprise-wide approach to information management.

Accenture's research finds that an overarching information strategy best supports high performance. Working with leading government agencies around the world, we take an enterprise-wide approach that includes:

• All types of data—from internal and external to structured and unstructured.
  
  
• The entire information life cycle—from acquisition to storage to cleansing, integration and analysis to, ultimately, deliver timely and relevant information for decision making.
  
  
• Technology—for managing information and providing security, governance models, enterprise standards and practices, as well as the roles and responsibilities associated with these activities.
  
  
• Integrating people, structures, processes and technologies—to regain control of information and drive high performance for the long term.

Accenture's framework for implementing information management has two phases. The first phase consists of defining the information management strategy in three steps:

1. Ensuring common definitions and approach through educational grounding.
2. Conducting a thorough diagnostic of the current situation.
3. Forming a holistic strategy to manage information across the enterprise.

In the second phase, Accenture works with government agencies to establish the people, processes and technologies needed to support an enterprise-wide strategy.

Our framework allows government agencies to define an information management strategy effectively and then support the strategy, even over discontinuous periods of leadership.

Educational grounding is the usual starting point. Even government executives with information management experience need to find common ground in their understanding and approach. Executive sponsors have a better chance of managing change over an extended period once they agree on:

• Information needs
• Expected challenges
• Definitions of key terms and concepts

Diagnosing an agency's existing information management situation is also vital. Such an analysis begins with a series of broad questions:

• How could better information help this organization perform at a higher level, or carry out its operations with greater speed, effectiveness and efficiency
  
  
• How could service to citizens improve if government employees had the information they need at their fingertips?
  
  
• How could management decision making supported by more timely data enable the organization to take advantage of new opportunities more quickly?

The Accenture Information Management Diagnostic was developed based on a series of information management implementations at large government clients. The diagnostic enables an assessment of strengths and weaknesses of existing information management capabilities across six core areas:

• Strategy
• Governance
• Delivery
• Data
• Storage
• Security

The diagnostic then supports public service decision makers as they envision a new end state for information management and develop a business case for specific improvement opportunities.

Next, a comprehensive strategy is created. A typical strategy explains how advanced analytics, content management and knowledge management systems will enable integrated and high-quality data to be made available to decision makers and service employees via a comprehensive information portal.

Today's government and public service agencies need an integrated strategy to manage all types of data across the enterprise. By spending time up front defining the information strategy in detail, project teams find that the next phase of work, which includes the implementation and support of new information management capabilities, proceeds smoothly and they are able to achieve greater buy-in from key stakeholders.

In planning an information management strategy, there are numerous areas where information can dramatically improve performance for public service agencies. Some of our client successes illustrate the impact of well-managed data:

• The Belgian Federal Government consolidated information from 14 government agencies into a single web portal. This saved the cost of maintaining separate portals for each department and agency, and is creating numerous additional operational efficiencies.
  
  
• New York City's 3-1-1 call center supports more than 40,000 calls a day. Accenture helped create a searchable knowledge repository for the call center workers that structures information on more than 6,000 services and division offices.
  
  
• A measurement standards and technology agency adopted a new portal, allowing users at 10 agencies to access current data and more than 15 business systems. Before the portal, decisions were based on data that was up to three weeks old and reconciled manually.
  
  
• A monetary bureau selling collectible coins replaced ineffective direct marketing programs and aging IT infrastructure with an integrated information management system. The solution included improved data management, data warehousing, analytics and an online store. In the first year, revenues increased 23 percent and operational costs dropped by more than 50 percent.
  
  
• A national taxation agency reduced costs, enhanced case selection and improved customer service satisfaction through a comprehensive information management solution. The solution included a portal, a central enterprise data warehouse, predictive analytics and new CRM applications.

As these examples illustrate, information is at the heart of governments' activities, programs and mandates. That is why the right strategy for enterprise information management can be a first step toward high performance.

Learn more:

• Public Service Business Intelligence Services and Solutions
• Podcast: Information Management for High Performance Public Service Organizations.
• Accenture Information Management Services Home