Chapter 3 - Information Resources Management Planning

8-3.1  INTRODUCTION

1. PURPOSE.  This chapter establishes policies and responsibilities for Information Resources Management (IRM) planning.  Such planning will support the Indian Health Service's (IHS) need for the effective and efficient use of assets and will ensure compliance with legislative mandates and executive-level guidance.
2. BACKGROUND.  Information resources must be managed along with capital, material, labor, and other enterprise assets.  The annual IHS strategic planning process may be viewed as one of a series of interrelated planning processes.  The integration of business and IRM planning will be accomplished through the integration of planning processes and products.
3. SCOPE.  This chapter applies to all IHS organizational components including but not limited to Headquarters, Area Offices, and service units conducting business for and on behalf of the IHS through contractual relationships when using IHS Information Technology (IT) resources. The policies contained in this chapter apply to all IHS IT activities including the equipment, procedures, and technologies employed in managing these activities. This policy includes teleworking, travel, other off-site locations, and all IHS office locations. Agency officials shall apply this chapter to contractor personnel, interns, externs, and other non-Government employees by incorporating such reference in contracts or memorandums of agreement as conditions for using Government-provided IT resources.
4. AUTHORITY.
   1. Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, Public Law (P.L.) 103-62
   2. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), IRM Circular No. IRM-102, “IRM Planning,” March 1999
   3. “Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,” P.L. 104-13
   4. “Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996,” Clinger-Cohen Act, Division E, P.L. 104-106
   5. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars:
      1. Circular A-11, Part 1, "Preparation and Submission of Budget Estimates," Part 2, Preparation and Submission of Strategic Plans and Annual Performance Reports," Part 3, "Planning, Budgeting, and Acquisition of Capital Assets," and the supplement to Part 3, "Capital Programming Guide"
      2. Circular No. A-130, "Management of Federal Resources"
   6. Memorandum M-97-16, "The Raines Rules," October 25, 1996
5. ACRONYMS.

   (1)    BNS	Business Needs Statement
   (2)    CCA	Clinger-Cohen Act
   (3)    CFO	Chief Financial Officers
   (4)     CIO	Chief Information Officer
   (5)    COTS	Commercial-off-the-Shelf
   (6)    CPIC	Capital Planning and Investment Control
   (7)    IRM	Information Resources Management
   (8)    IT	Information Technology
   (9)    ITA	Information Technology Architecture
   (10)   LAN	Local Area Network
   (11)  OMB	Office of Management and Budget
   (12)  P.C.	Personal Computer
   (13)  P.L.	Public Law
   (14)  ROM	Read-Only-Memory

6. DEFINITIONS.
   1. Annual Performance Plan.  The annual performance plan covers each program activity identified in the IHS budget and describes the actions and goals the IHS will undertake during the year to work towards the long-term goals established in the IHS strategic plan.  Specifically, the annual performance plan establishes the IHS's performance goals for the year, describes strategies the Agency will use to meet those goals, and identifies performance measures to measure or assess the relevant service levels, outcomes, or outputs that are to be achieved and to compare actual program results with the established performance measures.
   2. Annual Program Performance Report.  Submitted with the IHS budget submission, this report compares actual Agency performance to the annual goals established in the IHS's annual performance plan.
   3. Business Plan/Case.  This is a structured proposal for business improvement that functions as a decision package for organizational decision makers.  A business case includes an analysis of business process performance and associated needs or problems, proposed alternative solutions, assumptions, constraints, and a risk-adjusted, cost-benefit analysis.
   4. Business Process.  This process is a collection of related structured activities or a chain of events that implements a project (as identified in the business case).
   5. Federal Information Processing Resources.  Federal Information Processing Resources is an umbrella term established by the General Services Administration to define automatic data processing and telecommunications equipment, software, services, and related resources.
   6. Financial Management Systems.  These are financial systems and the financial portions of mixed systems necessary to support financial management.
   7. Financial Systems.  These systems support the financial functions required to track financial events and provide financial information significant to the financial management of the IHS and/or required for the preparation of financial statements.
   8. Firmware.  Firmware is Read-Only-Memory (ROM)-based software that controls a computer between the time it is turned on and the time the primary operating system takes control of the machine.  The firmware's responsibilities include testing and initializing the hardware, determining the hardware configuration, loading (or booting) the operating system, and providing interactive debugging facilities in case of faulty hardware or software.
   9. Information Resources.  These consist of information and related resources such as personnel, equipment, funds, and IT.
   10. Information Resources Management.  This is the process of managing information resources to accomplish agency missions and improve Agency performance, including the reduction of information collection burdens on the public.
   11. Information System.  An information system is a discrete set of IT, data, and related resources such as personnel, hardware, software, and associated IT services organized for the collection, processing, maintenance, use, sharing, dissemination, or disposition of information.
   12. Information Technology.  This technology consists of any equipment, interconnected system, or subsystem of equipment used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information by the Agency.  Information technology includes computers, ancillary equipment, software, firmware and similar procedures, services (including support services), and related resources.  It does not include any equipment that is acquired by a Federal contractor incidental to a Federal contract.  For purposes of this definition, equipment is “used” by the IHS whether the Agency uses the equipment directly or it is used by a contractor under a contract with the IHS that:
       1. requires the use of such equipment; or
       2. requires the use, to a significant extent, of such equipment in the performance of a service or the furnishing of a product.
   13. Large Infrastructure Investments.  Large infrastructure investments include items such as major purchases of personal computers (PC) or Local Area Network (LAN) improvements.
   14. Major Information System.  A major information system is one that requires special management attention due to its importance to the HHS or the IHS mission; its high development, operating, or maintenance costs; or its significant role in the administration of programs, finances, property, or other resources. Large infrastructure investments, e.g., major purchases of PCs or LAN improvements, should also be evaluated against these criteria.
   15. Operational Planning.  Operational planning is planning for the current-year allocation and deployment of organizational resources to conduct the full range of IRM activities underway or funded in the organization's budget.
   16. Strategic Planning.  Strategic planning is long-term planning (spanning the present through 5 years and beyond) that integrates organizational IRM requirements and activities over the planning period.
   17. Tactical Planning.  Tactical (or mid-term) planning (often tied to the budget cycle) identifies priority IRM activities, initiatives, and acquisitions, as well as their associated funding for the current year and budget year.  Tactical plans should also consider the out-year funding implications of included initiatives.  Tactical planning formulates the near-term initiatives to achieve the strategic IRM direction.
   18. Technical Risk.  The technical risk factor is influenced by the maturity of the technology being applied, the complexity of the project, the frequency with which the technology is used, the amount of customization required, and other technical factors. Systems relying heavily on commercial-off- the-shelf (COTS) components instead of custom-designed components usually reduce risk potential.  Risk is further reduced by taking advantage of fully tested prototypes, pilot demonstrations, or simulation.
7. MISSION.  The responsibility of IHS IRM is to support program mission accomplishment by ensuring the following:
   1. Efficient and effective technology resources are available to the IHS;
   2. resources are properly used to support the technology needs of the programs; and
   3. the American people are well served by the funds expended for these systems and services.
8. OBJECTIVE.  The IHS will institutionalize an integrated IRM planning process that maximizes value and is able to assess and manage the risk of IT acquisitions while stressing mission outcomes.
9. INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE-WIDE STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS.  Each year the Division of Information Resources (DIR) and the ISAC will coordinate an IHS-wide IRM strategic planning process.  (See Manual Exhibit 8-3-A.)  The process will culminate with the review of IRM funding requirements in the context of other resource requirements; revisions to this plan will reflect anticipated funding levels.  The plan includes the following:
   1. Investments.  The IHS shall plan IRM investments consistent with Part 8, Chapter 4, “Capital Planning and Investment Control,” Indian Health Manual.
   2. Strategic Plan.  The IHS will prepare an IRM strategic plan and update it annually.  The plan should be based on mission needs and be consistent with IHS goals, strategies, and planning guidance.  The IHS shall first determine the mission needs of its programs and then the information resource needs (databases, applications systems, and technical architecture) to support them.  Plans should emphasize both current and long-term information resource needs along with the current and future IHS initiatives necessary to meet these needs. Guidance for the content and structure of the IHS IRM strategic plan is provided in the HHS, “Call for the Five Year Plan.”
   3. Linking IRM Strategic Plans to the Business Plan.  The IRM strategic plan will support the IHS's strategic business plan.  The goal is to institutionalize the planning processes so that each plan may simply reference the applicable portions of the other to avoid unnecessary duplication.
   4. Information Resources Management Strategic Plans in Support of Budget Requests.  The IHS IRM strategic plan will be used as a basis to support information resources funding requirements included in the annual IHS program budget request to the Office of the Secretary. The IHS shall identify all major information systems, major IRM initiatives, supporting IRM initiatives, and large infrastructure investments in its IRM strategic plan and budget request, and ensure that major acquisitions of FIP resources are in accordance with their plan, except in unique situations such as responding to emergencies or the passing of legislation.  In these situations, the IHS should notify the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Resources Management (DASIRM) as soon as possible.  Together they will determine whether the IHS should amend the IRM strategic plan with a major IRM initiative or a supporting IRM initiative that supports the acquisition requirements, or if the procurement request should describe how it supports the IRM strategic plan and why the acquisition was not initially included in the plan.
10. CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.  The IHS Chief Information Officer (CIO) shall do the following:
    1. Establish and coordinate an IRM planning process for the IHS.
    2. Provide leadership in establishing strategies for managing information resources within the IHS, including the identification of planning assumptions and IHS-wide IRM goals and strategies with associated measures of success.
    3. Ensure that the IHS IRM planning process identifies both near- and long-term information needs, along with the current and future resources, initiatives, and activities to meet those needs.
    4. Provide for the cooperation and participation of IHS, Tribal, and Urban managers, program managers, IRM managers, and end-users in the IRM planning process.
    5. Review and approve the annual IHS IRM strategic plan before its submission to the HHS to ensure that it is based on program needs, consistent with IHS and HHS planning guidance and IRM goals and strategies.
    6. Ensure that IHS IRM strategic plans are coordinated with the budget process.
    7. Ensure the IHS IT Architecture (ITA) plan is developed and sustained as a component of the HHS ITA.  In addition, the IHS ITA plan must conform, as does the HHS ITA, to the HHS Architecture Framework contained in HHS IRM Circular Number IRM-102, “IRM Planning,” and must contain the elements of the Enterprise Architecture, Technical Reference Model and Standards Profiles, as described in the OMB Memorandum M-97-16, that are relevant to the IHS's business and technical operations.
    8. Establish mechanisms to track IHS progress against plans and monitor whether initiatives are meeting their intended purposes and objectives.
    9. Provide for IHS participation in Department-wide planning initiatives coordinated by the DASIRM.
    10. Provide for the planning and execution of the IHS IT Security Program (formerly known as Automated Information System Security).