Information Architecture Provides a Potential Approach for Developing a Federal Program Inventory

The principles and practices of information architecture—a discipline  focused on how information is organized, structured, and presented to  users—may offer an overarching approach for developing a useful federal  program inventory. Each of  these steps is described more fully in the sections following. Such prioritization, for example, could also involve examining  costs that agencies might face in collecting information for certain facets. Decision rules for determining what should be identified as a  program for purposes of the inventory will need to balance usefulness  and costs, if this approach is implemented. For example, Education  generally has consistent, program-focused alignment across its  organizational structures. However, collecting program information for each facet may pose  challenges for agencies. As we developed our hypothetical inventory, we  found that a greater range of program information was readily available  for some of the selected programs than for others—often depending on  the extent to which programs were included by name in the documents  we reviewed (e.g., budget documents, performance and strategic plans,  and agency websites). In  some cases, activities may need to be allocated differently among  programs. These examinations can lead to improvements in the inventory over  time. This program  could be tagged to highlight these and other attributes of the program  collected in facets related to activities and services and to eligible  beneficiaries. Figure 4 provides an illustrative example of this  concept. Agency Comments

We provided a draft of this report for review and comment to the Director  of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Departments of  Education and Homeland Security, the U.S. Agency for International  Development (USAID), and the General Services Administration. USAID  provided technical corrections, which GAO incorporated as appropriate. OMB agreed to consider this information architecture approach as it  develops plans for the next iteration of the federal program inventory. GPRAMA requires the Office of Management and Budget  (OMB) to present a coherent picture of all federal programs by making  information about each program available on a website. For this report,  we examined how the principles and practices of information architecture  can be applied for the development of a useful federal program inventory. Our analysis included the following:  the extent to which consistent and complete lists of agency programs  could be identified using budget-related information and the impact of  the agency’s organizational structures on these lists; a review of the types of activities that could be characterized as  programs within each agency and how activities are grouped into  programs or overarching program areas with underlying programs;  and a general review of the alignment of possible programs identified by  budget documents with other ways agencies organize their efforts,  such as performance reports and CFDA programs. Identifying, Compiling, and Organizing Program Information

As part of our effort to apply relevant principles and practices from  information architecture to identify, compile, and organize information  about federal programs, we identified information that can be included in  a useful federal program inventory, tested the collection and organization  of that information by developing a hypothetical inventory with selected  programs, and used the hypothetical inventory to illustrate aspects of how  a federal program inventory could be validated using an information  architecture approach. More specifically,  our analysis included the following:  Identifying needed information: We identified the types of  information about programs that could be included in an inventory to  make it useful (e.g., budget, performance, and operations information)  by examining OMB and GAO guidance for developing program lists,  including OMB’s guidance for the first inventory effort; examining state  efforts to develop and use inventories; interviewing potential users;  and summarizing examples of the types of program information that  have been identified in our past work as being useful. Validating the form and content of the hypothetical inventory: To  illustrate aspects of the validation step in the information architecture  approach to developing an inventory, we developed sample materials  to illustrate what the content and structure of an inventory might  include, and we presented these materials to congressional staffers  with committees overseeing programs providing early education and  child care services (i.e., the Senate Committee on Health, Education,  Labor, and Pensions and the House Committee on Education and  Workforce). Appendix II: Recommendations for the Office of Management and Budget from GAO-15-83: Government Efficiency and Effectiveness: Inconsistent Definitions and Information Limit the Usefulness of Federal Program Inventories (Oct. 31, 2014)

Appendix II: Recommendations for the Office  of Management and Budget from GAO-15-83:  Government Efficiency and Effectiveness:  Inconsistent Definitions and Information Limit  the Usefulness of Federal Program Inventories  (Oct. 31, 2014)

Appendix III: Observations on Using Budget Information to Identify Federal Programs for an Inventory

We examined budget documentation to identify possible programs in  three agencies: the Departments of Education (Education) and Homeland  Security (DHS) and the U.S. Agency for International Development  (USAID). Second, the  GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 requires specific budget information to  be included in an inventory.
Why GAO Did This Study

Each year the federal government spends trillions of dollars through dozens of agencies and thousands of federal programs. Given its sheer size and scope, providing a clear and complete picture of what the federal government does and how much it costs has been a challenge in the absence of a comprehensive resource describing these programs. The GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to present a coherent picture of all federal programs by making information about each program available on a website to enhance the transparency of federal government programs.
Congress included a provision in GPRAMA for GAO to review the implementation of the act. GAO has chosen to conduct this study now because OMB has not yet developed an inventory that meets GPRAMA requirements. For this report, GAO addresses how one potential approach for organizing and structuring information—the principles and practices of information architecture—can be applied to develop a useful federal program inventory. To present illustrative examples of what programs and program information could be included in an inventory, GAO examined budget, performance, and other resources that could be used to develop an inventory. These examples were also used to illustrate the potential content and structure of an inventory and to identify any challenges.
GAO is not making recommendations in this report.
We provided a draft of this report for review and comment to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Departments of Education and Homeland Security, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the General Services Administration. USAID provided technical corrections, which GAO incorporated as appropriate. OMB agreed to consider this information architecture approach as it develops plans for the next iteration of the federal program inventory.

What GAO Found

A useful federal program inventory would consist of all programs identified, information about each program, and the organizational structure of the programs and information about them. The principles and practices of information architecture—a discipline focused on organizing and structuring information—offer an approach for developing such an inventory to support a variety of uses, including increased transparency for federal programs. GAO identified a series of iterative steps that can be used to develop an inventory and potential benefits of following this approach. GAO also identified potential challenges agencies may face in developing a full program inventory.
To identify potential benefits and challenges to applying these steps, GAO developed a hypothetical inventory, focusing on three case study agencies—the Departments of Education (Education) and Homeland Security and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Potential benefits of using such an approach to develop a federal program inventory include the following:
Stakeholders have the opportunity to provide input into decisions affecting the structure and content of the inventory. For example, congressional staff told GAO that an inventory with 5 years of budgetary trend data on programs would be more useful than 3 years of data.
A range of information through program facets is available for cross-program comparisons, such as budget, performance, beneficiaries, and activities.
An inventory creates the potential to aggregate, disaggregate, sort, and filter information across multiple program facets. For example, the figure below illustrates how program facets could be used to identify programs that provide similar services—in this case, early learning and child care services—and discover budget and other information for each of the programs identified.
An iterative approach to development and governance of the federal program inventory can result in improvements and expansions of the inventory over time.
GAO also identified potential challenges agencies may face when using this approach to develop an inventory, including the following:
Challenges in determining how agencies should identify and structure their programs in an inventory will need to be addressed, including how to treat spending categories not clearly linked to specific programs, such as administrative support. This may occur because agencies vary in their missions and organizational and budget structures and in how they organize their activities.
Challenges in collecting information for each program facet may occur for some agencies and programs. This may happen because a greater range of program information may be more readily available for some programs than others. GAO found that this was often dependent on the extent to which certain programs were included by name in budget documents, strategic plans, and agency websites.
Challenges related to determining what should be identified as a program and the structure and content of the inventory will need to be balanced with usefulness and costs. Agencies may need to weigh the costs that they might face in collecting and reporting program facet information as they establish priorities.