The FEMA website (www.fema.gov), which was developed to share
information on the internet with the public.
The automation of grants management, which has been added to the
NEMIS system.
The development of a capital planning and investment control
process, which provides guidance for investment in IT.
The use of wireless technologies to improve mobile computing and
communications support for FEMA operations.
FEMA published its architecture in 2001, but has not fully updated it to reflect
its integration into DHS. FEMA is working to transition this paper based
document to an electronic format so that it can be easily shared among DHS
officials via the intranet. The EP&R CIO established an Enterprise
Architecture Office in 2003 and hired a Chief Enterprise Architect in 2004 to
help further the progress of FEMA's enterprise architecture program. The
Enterprise Architecture Office has completed the as is portion of the
enterprise architecture and has begun to use an electronic version to guide
day to day operations.
17
FEMA is currently working to develop the to be
portion of the enterprise architecture in line with the DHS enterprise
architecture.
18
Without a defined to be environment, FEMA is unable to
provide a comprehensive road map for its proposed IT initiatives. These
initiatives include NEMIS web enablement, which involves consolidation of
some of the geographically dispersed servers, as well as a number of IFMIS
improvements as defined in the system's 2006 business case.
Additionally, without a complete, communicated, to be road map, FEMA
may not be able to address how its initiatives support or integrate with DHS
wide initiatives. As FEMA works to update its enterprise architecture, it must
also consider departmentwide initiatives, which may impact on its key
response and recovery processes and systems.
Centralization of NEMIS Servers
The
Office of Management and Budget Circular A 130
requires agencies to
develop information systems to facilitate interoperability across networks of
17
An as is enterprise architecture details an organization s mission, organizational structure, business processes,
information exchanges, software applications, and underlying technical infrastructure.
18
A to be enterprise architecture describes an organization s desired architecture for meeting strategic goals and future
needs.
Emergency Preparedness and Response Could Better Integrate Information Technology
with Incident Response and Recovery
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