Commerce Administrative Management System (CAMS) Program Management Plan (PMP)

• The CAMS Executive Board – serves in oversight capacity to the CFO and DCFO and is made up of Bureau CFO’s and the CAMS Program Manager. The Executive Board is responsible for setting policy for the CAMS Program and providing the budget and resources to implement CAMS. They also provide guidance on resource utilization, especially when there is a conflict with priorities.
  
• The CAMS Project Manager – reports to the DOC DCFO and is responsible for managing and providing overall guidance to the CAMS Support Center (CSC), providing support to DOC executive level management, promoting CSC initiatives with DOC executive and Bureau managers, and providing executive level support for the CAMS Implementation and support at DOC Bureaus.



• The CAMS Support Center (CSC) – is responsible for the day-to-day management of DOC CAMS development, maintenance, and support of the Bureau implementation efforts. The staff consists of technical and functional personnel skilled in systems analysis and design, programming, and database management. The functional team members, who represent the end-users, work in tandem with the technical members to address various issues that affect the Implementation of the DOC CAMS modules. This staff includes both Federal and contract personnel. The CAMS Implementation at NIST is dependent on the CSC for fixes and enhancements made to the Core CAMS software. All changes to Core CAMS software and documentation are completed at the CSC and forwarded to the other DOC Bureaus.



• Bureau Implementation Managers – serves in advisory capacity to the CAMS Program Manager. In this role, the managers carry the responsibility of managing a successful CAMS Implementation, including: the roll-out and operation of the CAMS software at respective Bureaus; management of implementation plans, resources, schedules, new software requirements, and software changes.

Figure 6.1 Administration/CFO Organization

The mission of the DCFO is to work with NIST managers to obtain financial resources for the agency’s programs; to enable their use in a financially sound manner in support of the Institute’s and its customers’ goals, consistent with legislative constraints; and to report relevant and reliable information. The DCFO promulgates financial policies and procedures to promote the efficient use of resources, provides advice to management and other organizational units on financial matters, and assures that all systems and outputs comply with applicable Departmental, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Treasury, and Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) regulations, policies, and requirements. The DCFO is also responsible for assuring NIST’s compliance with various legislative mandates for financial management.

The Business Systems Division (BSD) is responsible for the implementation and operations of CAMS at NIST, as well as the management and oversight of other administrative business systems (i.e. CSTARS, GMIS, web T&A, and NIST legacy Cost system) and a variety of feeder systems throughout NIST. These systems are comprised of several major and minor application software components and associated interfaces. The staff performs business process reengineering reviews and assessments as part of defining systems requirements and design or in selecting and implementing COTS applications. The CAMS Implementation Team serves as the liaison to DOC in the design, development, and implementation of Department-wide administrative and financial management systems.

The Financial Operations Division provides financial and accounting services to NIST and several other Bureaus within DOC (Office of the Secretary, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Computer Services, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Economic Development Administration, Economic and Statistics Administration, Minority Business Development Agency, Technology Administration, and National Telecommunications and Information Administration). This division ensures that NIST and its customers maintain effective internal controls, maintains accurate data for financial reporting, and provides adequate financial data for management purposes. The Financial Operations Division provides advice on financial matters to the NIST DCFO and management levels of all its cross-serviced Bureaus. It administers major portions of the NIST financial system (AP, AR, and travel) and CAMS CFS, which are used for accounting, payments, billing, collections, and financial reports. The Division certifies the official accounting records and reports, and implements financial policies.

The Financial Policy Division ensures the accuracy of financial and managerial reports for NIST, TA and NTIA. It provides accountability for assets and working capital fund investments, records and monitors interagency agreements, and develops financial policy guidance for NIST management and financial operations. The division is responsible for the preparation and certification of internal and external reports including Treasury reconciliations, the OMB financial reports, and the presentation of required financial statements to be audited by an independent auditing entity. The Financial Policy Division oversees the NIST Working Capital Fund and other NIST appropriated funds by maintaining a complete system of subsidiary ledgers and journals that are reconciled to the Standard General Ledger (SGL) accounts. In addition, the division establishes appropriate leave rates and performs audits of NIST inventory accounts.

• The CAMS Implementation Team will work closely with the DA/CFO organization and CAMS project management to design the roles required by the CAMS Implementation and to develop and implement the organization needed to support all functions of the DCFO. The following steps highlight the process to be used to identify the new organization; more detailed plans will be developed as the Implementation proceeds.



• Establish Vision/Mission/Goals – The vision, mission, and goals describe the future of the organization. The vision, mission, and goals should be clear, concise, and realistic, and should take the organization’s culture into consideration. These ideas will be formed and communicated with the organization as the change is taking place.



• Define Metrics – Defining metrics involves developing performance measures that will help determine the success of implementing organizational changes. The performance measures will be tied directly to the vision, mission, and goals. The metrics can also help determine if financial and non-financial goals are met. Specific goals of the DA/CFO include implementing a balanced scorecard measurement approach throughout the organization during FY02.



• Perform As Is/To Be Analysis – This process allows the organization to identify its current structure and map it to where the organization needs to be in the future consistent with the MEO framework. The As Is/To Be Analysis identifies the processes necessary to complete day-to-day tasks. This analysis involves target setting, which is taking the vision, mission, and goals, and mapping key objectives that can be measured.



• Complete Task Analysis – This identifies redundant tasks, unnecessary tasks, and those areas where checks and balances may be necessary. The task analysis documents the process used to complete tasks. By studying these tasks, areas are defined which can be changed and strategies suggested to develop and implement an improved process.



• Define Roles – Role definition involves taking the task analysis and deciding which responsibilities to tie together. Included in this role definition will be the specific traits that an employee in this role should possess. This role definition will include the checks and balances that may be needed for each role.



• Organize Around Processes – The new organizational structure will center on the newly defined processes as opposed to the processes of the “old” organization.



• Link Roles to Employees – New roles will be assigned to employees within the organization with emphasis on alleviating redundant and unnecessary tasks.



• Establish Training – After roles have been identified, it is necessary to establish a means to communicate the new process to employees. This allows them to learn the new process and provides an opportunity to develop and build new skills.



• Identify Performance Requirements – It is important to identify within each role, how performance will be measured. The metrics that were defined earlier in the Balanced Scorecard process will help determine if the organization’s goals are met, however to be successful, a procedure to observe the individual performance of each employee must be implemented. This also determines if the training plan was effective and if more training is needed.



• Collect Data – In this stage, earlier defined measures are used to actually collect information. Comparisons of new data are made against measures taken prior to the organization’s change to identify areas that are truly successful and those that are less successful.



• Feedback – Analyze the results of the collected data to see if the organization is successfully implementing the new organization and make changes as appropriate.

Relationship – The Senior Management Board is made up of OU Directors, a Program Office representative, and an Office of NIST Counsel representative. Councils, led by OU Directors, meet to discuss specific topics and make recommendations on policy to the Senior Management Board for a vote and decision, as necessary. The CFO and the DCFO provide Phase III Implementation information to the Business Policy and Information Technology Policy Councils through presentations. At key decision points throughout the Implementation, these two Councils will serve in a consultative capacity to the CAMS Program.

Relationship- The Change Control Board is made up of members of the Leadership Council plus a representative from the CIOs office and NIST Security Office with members of the CAMS Implementation Team facilitating the monthly meeting. The Change Control Working Group is made up of system experts and members of the CIO group which support those systems as well as Security representatives. This group meets monthly before the Change Control Board in order to review DA/CFO wide systems documents and communicate upcoming changes and communicate general information to all participants. Change Control Board Task Groups (Technical Architecture and Security Consolidation) convene to produce the documents for review such as Technical Architecture Diagrams and Security Consolidation Recommendations. The Task Groups are made up of a subset of individuals from the Change Control Board Working Group.

Relationship – The ITSPT serves in an informational capacity during Phase III of the CAMS Implementation. The group is made up of various technical leads from different Operational Units representing a cross section of system users. The ITSPT receives Phase III Implementation information from the BSD Chief during team meetings.