1.2: Web Resources Management
Ensure that Agency-wide web resources are managed efficiently. Other Information:
How does your agency currently ensure that Agency-wide web resources are managed efficiently (e.g. governance, technology/infrastructure,
hosting, staffing, operations, etc.)? The action directive has had a positive impact at DHS. It resulted in a first-of-its-kind
data-call and benchmarking report to evaluate the state of the Web at DHS, completed in April 2011. It also spurred the creation
of a unified governance structure with participation by the component units and HQ support offices through a Web Council and
an Executive Steering committee, both of which are formally chartered. The Web Council has four standing committees - platform
requirements, metrics and user experience, web workforce and enterprise content. The Content committee has been charged by
the ESC with formulating a web strategy document. We are working to transform web team staffing from OCIO contract employees
to federal positions that will be detailed to OPA from OCIO. There are four core content management positions: content strategist,
web community outreach manager, standards and practices specialist and metrics officer. When fully executed, this change will:
* map functional responsibilities to the proper organizational unit * shift from expensive contract support to a sustainable
federal civil service staff model * assure Web publishing subject matter expertise will reside with civil servants, so OPA
will enjoy enhanced continuity of operations and provide for inherently governmental activities to be handled by civil servants
with release authority instead of contract employees DHS Public website technologies are overseen by the DHS CIO and Component
CIO organizations. This oversight of technology, by DHS CIO and Component CIOs is complementary to how Public Affairs’ offices
within DHS manage content and the business aspects of web management. The Web Steering Committee consists of senior IT and
Public Affairs officials from across the DHS Components and is Co-Chaired by the CIO and Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.
Our workforce committee has been charged by the ESC with examining best practices at other agencies for managing the public
web function and a conducting a web workforce survey to gain a better understanding of staffing levels, sources and other
relevant information to build a stronger workforce. Recommendations from the benchmarking study and workforce survey will
be made to the ESC after this research is complete. One staffing structure concept under exploration is at use by the White
House: a public web directorate reporting to the OCIO. We are making incremental reforms to structure more traditional workflows
at headquarters. Our operational components have a mix of staffing tactics, with some running centralized operations and others
operating highly decentralized publishing. We learned from our benchmarking survey completed in early 2011 that a large percentage
of our workforce is part-time, which we believe has significant impact on our performance. In fact, the datacall and benchmarking
report found the web workforce is effectively a collateral duty as assigned. We identified 1100 people across DHS with some
responsibility for web, but 93% of them are part-timers and some units report there is effectively zero.
Indicator(s):
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