FAQ

Background

1. What is the IT Dashboard?
2. Why did we launch the IT dashboard?
3. Who is the intended audience for the IT Dashboard?
4. What information does the IT Dashboard display?
5. What is the Exhibit 53?
6. What is the Exhibit 300?

CIO Evaluations

7. How are CIO evaluations determined?
8. How often should an Agency CIO enter the Evaluation for an investment?

Contracts

9. What kind of contract information is available in the IT Dashboard?
10. How often should contracts be updated?
11. What is the meaning of a red “X” on the contracts page?
12. What data structure should agencies use to help identify contract numbers in USASpending?
13. An interagency agreement is similar to a contract. Do I report those too with my contracts information?

Cost, Schedule, Performance

14. What is a project?
15. Should FTEs costs be included in the Project/Activities costs?
16. What is operational performance?
17. What is the reporting period for performance metrics?
18. How does the IT Dashboard Color Coding System work?
19. How are the cost calculations determined?
20. How are the schedule calculations determined?
21. What determines whether an investment’s status is “Current” or “Update Required”?

Submitting Data to the IT Dashboard

22. Who can update agency information on the IT Dashboard?
23. How do agencies submit data to the IT Dashboard?

Data Feeds

24. How are the Exhibit 53 and Exhibit 300 data feed elements populated?
25. What data feeds are made available to the public

Handling Pre-Decisional Information

26. What is the "pre-decisional period"?
27. How do we prevent the release of pre-decisional information during the pre-decisional period?

Handling Sensitive Information

28. Does the IT Dashboard publish classified or national security sensitive information?
29. Will the Integrated Program Teams (IPT) and/or the Program/Project Manager (PM) personal information be published on the IT Dashboard?
30. Does the IT Dashboard display procurement-sensitive information?
31. Should agencies redact sensitive contract data in submissions to OMB to avoid release to the public?

Current and Upcoming Features

32. What information is found on the portfolio page?
33. What information is included on the investment dashboard?
34. What information is displayed on the Trends chart?
35. What is a Treemap?
36. Are there any new features planned for the IT Dashboard?

1. What is the IT Dashboard?

   On June 1, 2009 the Obama Administration launched the IT Dashboard. Through the IT Dashboard, Federal agencies and the public have the ability to view details of Federal information technology (IT) investments online and to track their progress over time. The IT Dashboard displays data received from agency Exhibit 53 and Exhibit 300 reports, including general information on over 7,000 Federal IT investments and detailed data for over 700 of those investments that agencies classify as "major." Agency Chief Information Officers (CIO) are responsible for evaluating and updating select data on a regular basis, which is accomplished through interfaces provided by the IT Dashboard.

2. Why did we launch the IT dashboard?

   We launched the IT Dashboard to shine light onto the performance and spending of IT investments across the Federal Government. If a project is over budget or behind schedule, you can see by how much money and time, and you can see the person responsible--not just contact information but also their picture. The IT Dashboard gives the public access to the same tools and analysis that the government uses to oversee the performance of the Federal IT investments. The transparency and analysis features of the IT Dashboard make it harder for underperforming projects to go unnoticed, and easier for the government to focus action on the projects where it’s needed most.

3. Who is the intended audience for the IT Dashboard?

   The IT Dashboard is a website enabling federal agencies, industry, the general public and other stakeholders to view details of federal information technology investments.

4. What information does the IT Dashboard display?

   The IT Dashboard displays a subset of data from agency Exhibit 53 and Exhibit 300 reports, and agency updated activity information, agency CIO evaluations, and other investment information reported by agencies. For a list of data feeds available to the public on the IT Dashboard, see "Publicly Available Data Feeds".

   The following 27 agencies have data available on the IT Dashboard:

   • Department of Agriculture
   • Department of Commerce
   • Department of Defense
   • Department of Education
   • Department of Energy
   • Department of Health and Human Services
   • Department of Homeland Security
   • Department of Housing and Urban Development
   • Department of the Interior
   • Department of Justice
   • Department of Labor
   • Department of State
   • Department of Transportation
   • Department of Treasury
   • Department of Veteran’s Affairs
   • U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
   • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
   • Environmental Protection Agency
   • General Services Administration
   • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
   • National Archives and Records Administration
   • National Science Foundation
   • Nuclear Regulatory Commission
   • Office of Personnel Management
   • Small Business Administration
   • Smithsonian Institution
   • Social Security Administration

5. What is the Exhibit 53?

   The Exhibit 53 is composed of two parts: Exhibit 53A, “Agency IT Investment Portfolio,” which includes IT investment budget and architecture information, and Exhibit 53B, “Agency IT Security Portfolio,” which includes a summary of agency and bureau IT security information, including IT security costs.

6. What is the Exhibit 300?

   The Exhibit 300 is composed of two parts: Exhibit 300A, “IT Capital Asset Summary,” which includes Investment Detail, Summary of Funding and Acquisition/Contract Strategy, and Exhibit 300B, “Performance Measurement Report,” which includes Projects, Activities, Project Risk, Operational Performance and Operational Risk.

7. How are CIO evaluations determined?

   The Agency Chief Information Officer (CIO) rates each investment based on his or her best judgment, using a set of pre-established criteria. As a rule, the Evaluation should reflect the CIO's assessment of the risk and the investment's ability to accomplish its goals. CIOs should consult with appropriate stakeholders in making their evaluation, such as Chief Acquisition Officers, program managers, etc.

   The following factors and supporting examples should be used to inform the Evaluation:

   Evaluation Factor	Supporting Examples
   Risk Management	Risk Management Strategy Exists Risks are well understood by senior leadership Risk log is current and complete Risks are clearly prioritized Mitigation plans are in place to address risks
   Requirements Management	Investment objectives are clear and scope is controlled Requirements are complete, clear and validated Appropriate stakeholders are involved in requirements definition
   Contractor Oversight	Acquisition strategy is defined and managed via an Integrated Program Team Agency receives key reports, such as earned value reports, current status, and risk logs Agency is providing appropriate management of contractors such that the government is monitoring, controlling, and mitigating the impact of any adverse contract performance
   Historical Performance	No significant deviations from planned cost and schedule Lessons learned and best practices are incorporated and adopted
   Human Capital	Qualified management and execution team for the IT investments and/or contracts supporting the investment Low turnover rate
   Other	Other factors that the CIO deems important to forecasting future success

   Evaluation ratings are based on a five-point risk scale, as follows:

   Evaluation (By Agency CIO)	Color
   5-Low Risk	Green
   4-Moderately Low Risk	Green
   3-Medium Risk	Yellow
   2-Moderately High Risk	Red
   1-High Risk	Red

8. How often should an Agency CIO enter the Evaluation for an investment?

   CIOs should update the rating as soon as new information becomes available that affects the assessment of a given investment.

9. What kind of contract information is available in the IT Dashboard?

   Agencies provide contract information on “Awarded Contracts” and “Pre-awarded, Post-Solicitation” to the IT Dashboard. Any “Future Planned Contract” or “Sub-contract Award” is not required to be reported, however an agency may provide information on “Future Planned Contracts” or “Closed Contracts” if desired. Future Contracts will not be made public as this information is “Procurement Sensitive”.

10. How often should contracts be updated?

    Contracts should be updated as they are awarded. Both, the FAR and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 require reporting of these contracts within thirty days of award. As soon as this information is available on USAspending.gov, agencies should update the IT Dashboard. The IT Dashboard links to www.USAspending.gov for contract information.

11. What is the meaning of a red “X” on the contracts page?

    Each contract submitted to the IT Dashboard that is not matched by the agency with USAspending.gov is clearly indicated with a red "X" symbol () as an invalid Contract Number. This symbol is displayed unless a contract with a matching combination of the following fields is submitted to the IT Dashboard:

    • Procurement Instrument Identifier
      (PIID)
    • Contracting Agency ID
    • Indefinite Delivery Vehicle Procurement Instrument Identifier
      (IDV PIID)
    • Indefinite Delivery Vehicle Agency Identifier
      (IDV Agency ID)
    • Submitting Agency ID (derived as the agency of the investment pertaining to the contract)

    If this combination of fields for each contract record is not a one-for-one exact match with data in USASpending, the IT Dashboard displays the red “X” symbol with the following note: “Agency-provided contract information does not match with a www.USASpending.gov record.”

12. What data structure should agencies use to help identify contract numbers in USASpending?

    To assist in the linkage of contract and task order numbers from the Exhibit 300 Contracts Table to USASpending, agencies should provide the following information to the IT Dashboard for "Contract/Task Order Numbers," based on the FPDS-NG data requirements (as specified in the FPDS-NG Data Element Dictionary https://www.fpds.gov/downloads/Version_1.4.2_specs/FPDSNG_DataDictionary_V1.4.2.pdf).

    Part of Indefinite Delivery Vehicle (IDV)?	Procurement Instrument Identifier (PIID)	Example
    No	Data Element 1A (NTE 50 characters)	"00063200203DNBCHC020042"
    Yes	Data Element 1A, and the Referenced PIID, Data Element 1C (NTE 100 characters)	"GS09Q08DN0165-IDV-GS10F0216N"

13. An interagency agreement is similar to a contract. Do I report those too with my contracts information?

    No, Agencies are not required to report interagency agreements to the IT Dashboard. However, OMB expects agencies to report all interagency agreements as contributions in the Exhibit 53.

14. What is a project?

    A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to accomplish a unique product or service with a defined start and end point and specific objectives that, when attained, signify completion. Projects are undertaken for development, modernization, enhancement, disposal, or maintenance of an IT asset. Projects are composed of activities. Agencies should provide an update to project activities and operational performance when the activities occur or when performance metrics are measured; atleast once per calendar month.

15. Should FTEs costs be included in the Project/Activities costs?

    Yes, Full Time Equivalent (FTE) costs should be included in the Projects/Activities costs.

16. What is operational performance?

    Operational performance identifies performance targets for major investments. Each metric indicates how often actual measurements will be reported (monthly, quarterly or semi-annually) and provides a unit of measure. There are two essential types of operations metrics:

    Results Specific: A minimum of two metrics must be provided, which measure the effectiveness of the investment in delivering the desired service or support level; if applicable, at least one metric should reflect customer results (e.g.; “Service Quality”).

    Activities and Technology Specific: A minimum of three metrics must be provided, which measure the investment against its defined process standards or technical service level agreements (SLAs) (e.g.; “Reliability and Availability”). At least one of these metrics must have a monthly “Reporting Frequency.”

17. What is the reporting period for performance metrics?

    At least one metric must have a monthly reporting frequency and no metric should be reported less frequently than semi-annually (i.e., twice yearly).

18. How does the IT Dashboard Color Coding System work?

    Project Level Cost and Schedule Variance Rating	Evaluation (by agency CIO)	Color
    ≥ 30%	1 or 2	Red
    ≥ 10% and < 30%	3	Yellow
    < 10%	4 or 5	Green

19. How are the cost calculations determined?

    The IT Dashboard shows whether each project is over or under budget. Project cost variance is a roll-up of the variance of the activities within the project. This percent cost variance is calculated as follows:

    Cost Variance	“Projected or Actual Total Cost” – “Planned Total Costs”
    Cost Variance (Percentage)	(“Cost Variance” / “Planned Total Cost”) x 100

    Additionally, projected values are used only when actual values are not provided.
    Roll-ups are obtained by summing the costs of all the included lowest level child activities.

20. How are the schedule calculations determined?

    The IT Dashboard shows whether each project is ahead of or behind schedule. Project schedule variance is calculated as follows:

    Schedule Variance in days for an Activity:	“Planned Completion Date” – “Actual or Projected Completion Date”
    Schedule Variance in days for a Roll-Up:	“Latest Planned Completion Date of all activities”– “Latest Actual OR Projected Date of all activities”
    Schedule Duration in days for an Activity:	“Planned Completion Date*” – “Planned Start Date”
    Schedule Duration in days for a Roll-Up:	“Latest Planned Completion Date* of all activities” – “Earliest Planned Start Date of all activities”
    Schedule Variance (Percentage):	(Variance in Days/ Duration) x 100

    *Additionally, projected values are used only when actual values are not provided. If Planned Completion Date has passed, then today’s date is used instead.

21. What determines whether an investment’s status is “Current” or “Update Required”?

    The investment status will show that the investment is "Current" IF:

    1. The investment has only Projects/Activities and there has been an update to activities since the beginning of the last month
    2. The investment has only Performance Metrics and there has been an update to performance metrics since the beginning of the last month
    3. The investment has both Projects/Activities and Performance Metrics and BOTH activities and performance metrics have been updated since the beginning of last month
    4. The investment has neither Projects/Activities nor Performance Metrics.

    If these conditions are not met, the investment status will display as “Update Required”

22. Who can update agency information on the IT Dashboard?

    Only agency-authorized users have access to submit updates to the IT Dashboard.

    To receive access to IT Dashboard, agency users should log into the main MAX Portal and request access to ITWeb: (https://max.omb.gov/maxportal/sa/appsChangeForm.do). Once access is requested, the agency user should coordinate with their agency administrator to approve access. Agency users are assigned the appropriate role in order to view or submit data to the IT Dashboard.

23. How do agencies submit data to the IT Dashboard?

    All agency related IT Dashboard information are CIOs are submitted and updated using an xml API (System-to-System Integration or manual xml upload).

24. How are the Exhibit 53 and Exhibit 300 data feed elements populated?

    The majority of the Exhibit 53 data elements are populated by agencies during the yearly Exhibit 53 submissions. The majority of the Exhibit 300 data elements are populated by agencies during the full Exhibit 300 submissions and monthly investment updates. However, there are some exceptions where fields are calculated, system-derived, system-generated or originate from the Exhibit 53 submission.

25. What data feeds are made available to the public?

    The following feeds are available in the public view:

    Exhibit 53	An overview of each Exhibit 53 submission
    Exhibit 53 Funding Sources	Funding source information to include; Total IT Spending for the PY, CY and BY, and a breakdown of DME and O&M costs.
    Activities	Activity data to include; cost, schedule and variance information
    Investment Baseline History	Provides a history of investment rebaselines, replans and corrections.
    CIO Evaluation History	Provides a history of the evaluation by CIO ratings and comments.
    Contracts	Overview of contract information including information matched with USAspending.gov
    Exhibit 300A	Exhibit 300A submission information, as well as Evaluation (by Agency CIO) information, and dates of last change to activities, contracts, and performance metrics.
    Projects	Project data to include; cost, schedule and variance information
    Summary of Funding	Summary of funding information broken down into planning costs, DME, O&M, and Government FTE costs.

26. What is the "pre-decisional period"?

    The "pre-decisional period” refers to the period between October and February when agencies submit data to OMB for the following Budget Year, as part of the annual Federal budget formulation process. Exhibit 53 and Exhibit 300 data that agencies submit for the Budget Year cycle is considered "pre-decisional" and is not publicly posted on the IT Dashboard until after release of the President's Budget in February.

27. How do we prevent the release of pre-decisional information during the pre-decisional period?

    Agency Exhibit 53 and Exhibit 300 submissions for the Budget Year are based on Presidential Budget decisions. Future spending, defined as beyond the Budget Year requested and provided in the Summary of Spending table of the Exhibit 300 is considered predecisional. Future activities are also considered to be pre-decisional and until the activity has started. In addition, variances and planned value data for in-progress activities are considered pre-decisional. Predecisional data is only made available through the IT Dashboard to OMB and the submitting agency, and is not available to the public.

28. Does the IT Dashboard publish classified or national security sensitive information?

    The IT Dashboard does not collect or display any classified or national security-sensitive information.

29. Will the Integrated Program Teams (IPT) and/or the Program/Project Manager (PM) personal information be published on the IT Dashboard?

    Personal information of IPT members or PMs is not publicly accessible.

30. Does the IT Dashboard display procurement-sensitive information

    No, the IT Dashboard does not share procurement-sensitive information with the public. Procurement sensitive information is any information related to Federal procurements that, if released to the public would adversely impact the Government’s negotiating position.

31. Should agencies redact sensitive contract data in submissions to OMB to avoid release to the public?

    Agencies should not redact information sent to the IT Dashboard. Processes have been put into place to ensure sensitive information will not be publicly displayed. To prevent the exposure of potentially sensitive data, agencies should always carefully review submissions for inclusion of data in inappropriate data fields (e.g., avoid identifying contracts not yet awarded as "awarded" or aspects of the agency acquisition strategy).

32. What information is found on the portfolio page?

    The portfolio page provides an aggregate view of IT investments reported to the IT Dashboard. The Evaluation (by agency CIO) pie chart shows the current distribution of Red/Yellow/Green investments according to the Evaluation rating (see the CIO Evaluations section for additional information on the evaluation colors). Similarly, the Project Cost and Schedule pie charts show a distribution of Red/Yellow/Green projects according to their Cost/Schedule variance.

    Evaluation trends are shown starting from October 2009 as these ratings have been recorded since the initial launch of the IT Dashboard. Project trends are available only from September 2011 since they were first introduced as part of the new FY2013 budget reporting schema.

    By default, the portfolio charts show the distribution based on the count of investments/projects. This view can be adjusted via the radio button below the charts to see a cost based view of investment/projects.

33. What information is included on the investment dashboard?

    The investment dashboard displays detailed information on a single IT investment. The investment’s Evaluation (by agency CIO) is graphed alongside the Agency and Government-wide evaluation averages for comparison purposes. Baseline Change Occurrences are plotted on the same chart. The timeframe can also be changed to by the user. Additional features on the investment dashboard include: Investment title and description, Project information, Operational Performance, Contracts, the Exhibit 300 archive, and the Current Exhibit 300PDF.

34. What information is displayed on the Trends chart?

    The Trends chart under the “Visualization” navigation dropdown is a multi-dimensional chart which allows users to explore several indicators over time. Users can select the desired indicators and view their values for each agency based on the X-axis, Y-axis, Color, Size, and Fiscal Year. The data can be visualized as a bubble chart, bar graph or line graph.

35. What is a Treemap?

    The Treemap is a hierarchal chart composed of blocks and sub-blocks which represent various drilldowns. The data displayed on the Treemap may be customized by selecting a Fiscal Year, Size/Color indicator, and up to three Drilldowns. Users can then explore the selected criteria by clicking a box and viewing the corresponding results. The table below the chart lists the investments based on the box selections and chosen criteria. The Drilldown options include :

    • Agency
    • Bureau
    • FEA BRM Functions
    • FEA BRM Sub-Functions
    • FEA Service Types
    • FEA Service Components
    • FEA Standard Segment
    • Funding Source Agency
    • Funding Source Bureau
    • Funding Sources

36. Are there any new features planned for the IT Dashboard?

    The IT Dashboard team is always looking for ways to improve analytical capabilities and user experience. Some additional features the public should expect to see in the coming months include: visualizations for operational performance and activities, additional improvements in search capabilities, Treemap enhancements, etc. User feedback is always appreciated and can be submitted via the Feedback link at the top of each page.

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