Mini Case Studies
The Internal Revenue Service was plagued by poorly aligned and poorly defined Exhibit 300 performance measures for many of its most high profile investments. “Too often the performance measures were unclear or were not meaningful representations of the agency’s investment goals,” noted Eric Thomas, partner at Vergys LLC. With the firm’s guidance, IRS improved their performance measures to better demonstrate results and align with the agency’s aims for greater transparency and accountability.
Congressional reporting can be lengthy and time consuming, none more so than budget justifications. In fact, DHS spends over 20,000 man hours and uses 3,000 pages to develop their budget each year. A team of consultants led by Vergys redefined DHS processes by implementing budget software that reduced workload to 4,000 hours and eliminated printed pages. Kevin Sawyer, partner at Vergys, stated, “these results have spurred interest from other agencies looking for similar efficiencies.“
The 2007 IT Strategic Plan at US Secret Service had collected dust for over 2 years. “Some elements were still relevant but many were not. The organization no longer used the document to drive decisions,” said Eric Thomas, partner at Vergys. Vergys supported the new CIO in defining an IT Strategic Plan that contains performance metrics, an accountability framework, and budget references. As a result, the new IT Strategic Plan is reviewed during monthly executive meetings.
