Products...Target...Transition Plan

The previous Target Architecture Strategy section established that the IT target end-state would be achieved by conceiving, developing, and implementing IT investments that provide the capabilities and features identified in the end-state.

This Target Transition Plan recognizes that some parts of the target end-state are closer to completion than other parts.  The transition plan allows more mature initiatives to be described in more detail then less developed initiatives; it allows the newest initiatives to be in the concept/discovery state while more established initiatives are completing implementation.  Conceptually this is described in Figure 1.1 "Target Architecture Completion Phases", below.  The figure illustrates three phases within the Target Transition Plan that are used to manage completion of these initiatives, the intervals are:

• Near-Term Phase (BY2006-BY2008): The IT investments identified within this interval have approved budgets, and in many cases, are well along in their development; 

• Mid-Term Phase (BY2009-BY2010): The IT investments identified for completion within this interval, have approved budgets in some cases, and are developing requirements or identifying solutions but may not be in full scale development;

• Long-Term Phase (BY2011-BY2012): The IT initiatives in this interval are most often in the information gathering and concept development stage; many of these initiatives still require socialization across the Department.

The transition strategy will vary on an initiative-by-initiative basis depending upon the level of acceptance and the stage of development that an initiative has achieved.  Figure 1.1, below, indicates existing and proposed IT investments being completed across the three phases of the Target Architecture implementation window (a large version of this figure is linked below).

Reference(s):

• Target Transition Phases.pdf

The Near-Term Phase will produce substantial standardization in enterprise-level shared infrastructure and will begin the processes of developing standardizing regional and local computing and network infrastructure, as well. For example:

• The Telecommunications Modernization Program (TMP) has recently completed installation and centralized management of the VA WAN backbone, and has standardized and reduced the number of external network gateways, firewalls and DMZs;

• A Project is underway to upgrade VA's IP network to support the IPV6 (in addition to the IPV4 protocol) by 2008;

• The Exchange server Consolidation program is in the process of reducing the number of Microsoft-Exchange e-Mail servers.  Phase-I is complete, reducing the number of servers from 127 to 24 as well as reducing the number of exchange management sites to 23.  Phase-II will eventually reduce the number of sites to 6.  This program has also standardized e-mail addresses across VA;

• The Regional Data Processing Center (RDPC) is a new initiative which will establish 6 standardized regional computing centers around the nation (eventually reducing this number to 4).  These regional facilities will take over most local facility data processing responsibilities and will dramatically improve processing efficiency and cost of operations.  It will also simplify deployment of human resources and will simplify security and network operation functions.

In the near term, VA will complete standardization of COTS software acquisition under the GSA SmartBuy program and under various commodity purchase contracts.  VA will also standardize configuration management of COTS software maintenance and security patch management.

The near-term phase will also introduce the Enterprise Data Layer (EDL) concept, which involves establishing sharable data stores for all VA business data as well as standard application interface specifications, which will be used by various business line systems to access this data.  The Enterprise Data Layer concept, currently being socialized by the Chief Architect, will emerge at the end of the near-term phase as a fully adopted concept.  Currently:

• The Registration/Eligibility program is being transformed into a comprehensive identity management program.  This program will centralize the collection and management of person identity, demographic, service history and family data into a common data store and will provide standard VA-wide data collection processes to support it (beginning with EA V4.2, this program is defined within the corresponding Identity Management Services Segment Architecture);

• A new program (VAMPS) has been established to remediate VA's legacy benefit applications to utilize this identity management data store;

• A new Financial Management Replacement initiative (FLITE) has been established which will provide a comparable enterprise repository for financial, logistics and budget data;

The Near-Term Phase is also establishing the consistent use of PMA e-Gov and LOB solutions for routine business requirements that are common across Federal Departments and Agencies.  These include:

• E-Travel has been recently implemented within the current budget cycle;

• E-Training has also been recently implemented;

• E-Payroll is being implemented within VA's Payroll Replacement Initiative;

• E-Electronic Records Management is in planning;

• E-Authentication is also under evaluation.

By the end of this near-term phase, most of VA's IT infrastructure improvements will be defined and in place, for the remainder of the decade.  The pattern for development, access, and governance of the Enterprise Data Layer will be established, and the use of PMA e-gov and LOB solutions as well as shared component based solutions will be institutionalized.

In the Mid-Term Phase, infrastructure standardization will be expanded to include:

• Campus-Area network and metropolitan-Area network design and deployment.  This is necessary to assure end-to-end quality of service from enterprise and regional data centers to end-user work areas, and to permit VPN control of traffic under contingency operations.

• Telephony standardization will be complete and may introduce Voice over IP (VoIP) as an enterprise communications standard;

• RFID-Tagging will be investigated for its potential use in asset management and control as well as for managing and dispensing perishable inventories;

The Mid-Term phase will complete the implementation of the Enterprise Data Layer (EDL) concept, which involves establishing sharable data stores for all VA business data as well as standard-application interface specifications.  By Mid-Term, socialization of the concept will be complete and sharable data stores will be established for four of the five major information domains identified with this initiative.

During the later Near-Term and Mid-Term intervals, VA will perform a Business Process Engineering Review for all Business Lines in conjunction with a review of all legacy business applications.  As areas are reviewed, projects will be proposed as necessary to reengineer business processes and to alter or retire applications as necessitated by the results of the study.

By the end of the Mid-Term, VA will have established a standardized application development workbench and application development methodology - this may occur with minor variations within several of the business segment architectures, established at the Administration level.  VA will also begin to utilize some of the additional capabilities available with IPV6.

The end of the Long-Term Phase (by BY2012) will complete the current target architecture vision.

• All aspects of the VA WAN, MAN, CAN and LAN network facilities should be standardized across the enterprise, and all local and central network management should be integrated through the Network Operations Center and the Security Operations Center;

• Exchange server consolidation Phase-II should be complete with no more than six Exchange server support facilities distributed across the national network;

• All regional processing centers should be operational and should have subsumed all functions designated for their support;

• An integrated COOP and Disaster Recovery program will be operational across all enterprise and regional processing centers;

• A unified voice transmission (telephony) policy will be implemented and centrally managed across VA;

• The usage of wireless networking and RFID-tagging should be regulated by well-defined enterprise level standards.

All Platform Enablement Software (Server Operating System Software, Network Operating System Software, Database Management Software, etc.) will be managed under a centralized configuration management system.

• Application of software upgrades and security parches will be centrally coordinated and server software content will be monitored by auto-discovery servers capable of comparing actual server content with software profiles maintained within the configuration management system;

• Some level of extended application functionality should be deployed which exploits the capabilities of IPV6 extended addressing.

• Programmer workbench standards and SDLC methodology will be in place across the enterprise.

The Enterprise Data Layer (EDL) will be completely deployed.  The EDL will support shared data stores for Identity information management, financial and logistics information management, health care information management, and capital asset and facility information management.  The EDL will provide standard interfaces for business line applications to access and update this information.  The EDL will also manage the acquisition of veteran registration and military history information and will assure that the veteran accomplishes these activities without repetitive data submission.

By this time, all business lines will have been surveyed for business process re-engineering activities. Wherever process re-engineering is recommended projects will be identified, some of these re-engineering efforts will be complete or underway.  All redundant business applications will be identified and many will be replaced by PMA solutions or by custom-developed, component-based solutions.  Standard systems will be developed and deployed, by this time, for Financial and Logistics Management and for Veteran Registration functions.

Within the Service Access Layer, Standard technologies will be available for telephone and PDA access to veteran servicing applications. User Authentication and Application Access will be provided by a standard enterprise-wide application, and static web content will be managed by a centralized web-content management system.

Beginning in FY-2007, with EA Version 4.2, VA is developing a series of segment architectures for the purpose of facilitating target architecture implementation. 

At VA, a segment architecture may define:

• The architecture of a group of related Core-Mission Business Lines along with their IT projects and their business process improvements.  The benefit of this segment type is that it permits identification and implementation of common services among highly related business lines and it supports local, or Administration-determined, project implementation techniques.  This type of segment architecture is aligned with the FEA-BRM, as is its supported business lines; or
• The architecture of a cross-cutting Business Service or business-support discipline that is intended for shared-use across the entire enterprise.  The benefit of this segment type is that it will enforce the use of standardized processes and data sharing and re-use across the enterprise. This type of segment architecture is aligned with the FEA-SRM, as are the sharable (or common) services that it provides.

Segment Architecture development is discussed in detail within the previous Segment Architecture Development section of the target Architecture.

Proposed Segment Architectures

Relationship to Enterprise Architecture Layers

This section identifies the activities that the Enterprise Architecture Service (EAS) will perform, during the forthcoming year, in order to advance the development of Segment Architectures that implement the target architecture vision.  In general, the Enterprise Architecture Service (EAS) will assist in the development of each segment architecture, and will be responsible for publishing each segment architecture as part of the One-VA target architecture. The techniques employed by EAS include:

• Concept socialization activities, through conferences, briefings, panels and training sessions, will be employed to enlist support for establishing specific segment architectures, obtaining owner/sponsor relationships and associating each segment architecture with specific IT investments/projects; Each of these socialization activities is  developed, in detail, within the EA communications plan;

• Briefings to executive management to illicit support and obtain segment owner/sponsorship.

• Coordination with Business Stakeholders, Project Managers and IT development teams to identify segment boundaries, interfacing services and service acquisition methodologies;

• Developing and vetting segment architecture design and documentation across the stakeholder community;

• Updating FEA reference models to represent VA's segment architecture development;

• Assure IT project alignment with and use of segment services.

The following table outlines the specific actions planned or underway for each developing segment architecture:

This section identifies the activities that the Enterprise Architecture Service (EAS) will perform, during the forthcoming year, in order to advance the development of IT portfolio projects that implement the target architecture vision.  In general, the EAS will assist in the development of each target transition phase of each IT investment as is appropriate for the level of the initiatives development. The techniques employed by EAS include:

• Concept socialization activities, through conferences, briefings, panels and training sessions, will be employed to enlist support for major new concepts such as creating the enterprise data layer, and promoting key IT initiatives. Each of these socialization activities is  developed, in detail, within the EA communications plan;

• Business requirements analysis and brainstorming within stakeholder working groups to identify and articulate appropriate directions for new investments;

• New technology investigation and technology infusion through technical working groups and with industry leadership organizations to identify appropriate new resources and techniques;

• Working directly, as project-level architects, with investment sponsors and project managers to develop solutions that incorporate data reuse, that incorporate shared-component based solutions and that avoid redundant development;

• Assure that e-Gov and PMA-LoB solutions and Federal Transition Framework resources are considered and adopted, where appropriate, into VA investments;

• Participation in project milestone reviews to ensure project alignment with target architecture objectives;

• Participation in EX-300 IT budget request reviews to ensure that utilize existing solutions and avoid duplicate development within the portfolio;

• Propose innovative improvements that further the target architecture vision through EA portfolio recommendations; and

• Periodically review existing, legacy systems to assure that they continue to adequately meet current business requirements and that they represent a sustainable and manageable IT asset.

• Provide assistance to IT project teams in identifying business requirements, interpreting architecture necessities, analyzing alternative solutions, understanding project risks and identifying project benefits.

The following table outlines the specific actions planned or underway for each major concept and investment and the status of each.

The Transition Plan is revised periodically, between the annual Target Architecture publications, from sources such as:

• Changes in OMB guidance;

• Directives from the Chief Architect and the CIO;

• Resolutions or findings from the Enterprise Architecture Council;

• Initiation of new capital investments – the CPIC process;

• Requests for service from business and project stakeholders;

• Completion of planned transition activities;

• Changes in budgeting levels approved by OMB and Congress.

The following Section identifies Target Architecture accomplishments, achieved business outcomes and realized returns on investment that have occurred up to the publication date of EA v4.2. These accomplishments may involve completed IT investments or incremental implementation of a project currently under development.