CBC-01

NIEHS will maintain a well-characterized inventory of commodity business computing software, hardware, systems, and devices. An accurate inventory is required for lifecycle management, to facilitate bulk purchasing and on-time license renewals, ensure appropriate and timely maintenance, define support requirements, ensure security and architecture compliance, support strategic business and technology planning, support out-year budgeting, and drive economies of scale. Success will be determined as inventories are in place, licenses do not lapse, hardware does not pass its end of service, demonstrated compliance with security and architecture, effective budgeting, and customer satisfaction.

CBC-02

NIEHS will develop inventory profiles that map to the business owner and program, as well as the functional capabilities and mission domains. Adding this level of detail will allow the institute to create a comprehensive management structure for the entire inventory, and know nothing has been lost and everything can be included in an appropriate roadmap for budgeting. Success will be determined by the percentage of mapping of inventory items to profiles.

CBC-03

NIEHS will review the commodity business computing inventory regularly to assess compliance with the approved architecture, and update or retire inventory items that do not conform. Review will ensure that assets conform to the architecture. The institute will keep the I&IT ecosystem healthy and right-sized by retiring or removing what is no longer used or presents an unacceptable security risk. Success will be determined by the rate of compliance.

CBC-04

NIEHS will establish and maintain purchasing guidelines that provide appropriate constraints, policies, processes, technical specifications, and contract vehicles for acquiring software, hardware, systems, and devices that are used for commodity business computing. Improved purchasing systems will promote cost savings, make purchasing more efficient, ensure proper acquisition management, prevent disallowed uses, and maintain as much flexibility as possible. Current lack of guidance creates inefficiencies, lost staff time, and unevenly administered policies. Success will be determined by readily available guidelines, as a communications plan is developed and implemented, and user satisfaction.

CBC-05

NIEHS will educate the community on the availability and capabilities of the current commodity systems inventory. Enhanced education will maximize the use of the inventory, increase staff productivity, and increase return on investment. Success will be determined by development and implementation of a communications plan and measurement of utilization.

CBC-06

NIEHS will ensure regular training of users and business owners on the use of commodity software, hardware, systems, and devices. Training will maximize the use of the inventory, increase staff productivity, and increase return on investment. Success will be determined by regular needs assessment and related training.

CBC-07

NIEHS will encourage the use of currently supported technology. Use of supported technologies will reduce costs and risks associated with bringing on new technologies. Success will be determined by development and implementation of a communications plan, the speed and effectiveness of development projects, and measured utilization.

CBC-08

NIEHS will increase cloud usage when purchasing commodity functionality. Cloud use enables a business model that can be more efficient because the Government pays for only what it uses. Cloud-based services typically cost less than the total cost of ownership of data center−hosted services. Reducing the data center footprint complies with federal data center consolidation goals. Success will be determined by use of cloud services with relevant data, comparing the total cost of ownership trajectory after moving to the cloud, and customer satisfaction.

CBC-09

NIEHS will coordinate the use of PaaS and Software as a Service (SaaS) with other I&IT efforts, ITARG, and PMO. Increased coordination will ensure that the institute is purchasing cloud services that comply with federal policy for I&IT security and controls, planning cloud migrations effectively, and coordinating cloud strategy across NIEHS for economies of scale. Success will be determined by the percentage of compliance with policy that are managed as projects and conform to schedule and budgets, and with demonstrated economies of scale and cost savings (compare projected costs without PaaS/SaaS to actual costs with these services).

CBC-10

NIEHS will establish or verify organizational capacity to support commodity business computing goals and priorities. Organizational gaps currently put these capabilities at risk, while organizational support and leadership will ensure success. Success will be determined by demonstration that staff positions support these capabilities.

CBC-11

NIEHS will ensure that commodity systems lifecycle management includes appropriate levels of federal project management. Project management practices are essential for lifecycle management. Project managers will be assigned sufficient resources and have authority to manage lifecycle successfully. Success will be determined by identification of project managers, understanding resource requirements, and as the backlog of noncompliant machines is reduced.

CBC-12

NIEHS will develop and maintain a three-year plan for prioritized enterprise architecture changes in coordination with the ITARG and create standard parameters to prioritize commodity business computing. The institute will facilitate discussions of application transition and adoption as part of planning processes. NIEHS will develop a roadmap to rationalize its investment over the next three years in commodity business computing. Success will be determined as enterprise architecture changes are prioritized, planned, and well executed.

CBC-13

NIEHS will establish procedures and opportunities to elaborate commodity business computing needs and requirements so they are serving the needs of users and stakeholders. Users will drive the requirements by articulating functional needs, so the institute invests in what is actually needed for mission success. I&IT providers cannot drive these requirements. Success will be determined by evaluating requirement definition processes and as commodity and non-commodity software procurements are coordinated to prevent gaps in service and access.

CBC-14

NIEHS will provide improved systems for I&IT staff to provide feedback on commodity business computing services. The institute will better understand how services are perceived and how users are experiencing services, to make continual process improvements. Success will be determined by enhanced effectiveness and user satisfaction, and the implementation of additional features in ServiceNow.

CBC-15

NIEHS will analyze feedback, use it to improve service delivery, and report results back to the user community. The institute will better understand how commodity business computing services are perceived and how users are experiencing these services to make continual process improvements. Success will be determined as improvements are made and reports are provided to the community.