Policy Integration

Introduction • Even in the good times, governing is hard and complicated – often, success is difficult to achieve even in the best of circumstances. • In times of crisis, the challenges become exponentially more difficult. • The United States is facing its most dire and complex set of challenges since WW2 & The Great Depression. • Extraordinary times require extraordinary solutions. Copyright 2009, Semantech Inc. 2

Policy Integration - Defined “The ability to define, reconcile and manage policy interactions and relationships. This approach ensures that unified goals aren't jeopardized by actions delegated to policy ‘Stovepipes.’ Policy Integration dramatically reduces the risk of unintended consequences arising from potentially conflicting objectives.” Copyright 2009, Semantech Inc. 3

Government 3.0 • Was anyone sure what Government 2.0 was? • The next generation of governance is more than automation, more than interactive collaboration – it is a reevaluation of process & practice infused with technology & innovation. • Government 3.0 is both the platform and mechanism for change – it is the facilitating medium through which policy is both defined and executed. It is more than technology, it is enlightened, transparent governance… Copyright 2009, Semantech Inc. 4

Who is Semantech Inc. • Semantech Inc. is a small, woman-owned business founded in 2006. The company is located near Dayton, Ohio. Since our inception we have supported clients in a variety of industries nationwide. • Our charter is to provide enterprise-level solutions and to develop innovative approaches to better solve IT’s most troubling problems. • Our underlying premise is founded upon the realization that traditional IT is largely an exercise in chaotic semantics. The unification of process, logic and data is Semantic Integration or Semantic IT. 5

Innovation is our Business… Innovation is more than thinking outside of the box, it’s about building the world that holds the box… 6

The Challenge of Governing • Governance is a collection of programs, projects and information – it is an exercise in management. • Small projects are sometimes just as difficult to run as large programs, managing 100’s or 1000’s of projects of all sizes is the real challenge. • Not only must we run all of these projects well, we must coordinate them all to produce desired effects at a national level – that is more than challenging, thusfar it has seldom been achieved with a high degree or rate of success. 7

Complexity is Public Enemy #1 8

Lack of Accountability • Never has the issue of government accountability been more important or more visible than it is right now. • Despite many attempts to improve accountability or traceability, the government still suffers from a serious credibility gap due to past failures. • The chances for program, project and ultimately policy success are often directly dependent upon maintaining the goodwill of the American people. 9

Accountability is more than a catchy slogan; it’s very, very hard work… 10

What is Policy ? • Policy is the foundation for action – it is both the vision and the plan. • Policy occurs in increments, as part of larger initiatives or grouped across many policy elements or details. • Policy is the manifestation of public political will to action – as such it is central to the nature of our Democracy. • Policy is first and foremost, information and as such can be better organized. 11

Policy is both Unique & Ubiquitous 12

The Intersection of Policy & Technology • The United States government owns thousands of information systems. It stores or manages billions of documents. Within those systems or documents exist trillions of discrete pieces of information. • Democracy is described by many as access to information and the opportunity to exchange ideas. In the IT world, that sounds a lot like databases & collaboration, but of course, it’s more… • Technology is not merely an ancillary part of the governance process, it is becoming the process. 13

Policy Architecture is the Ultimate EA 14

Policy Architecture • Policy is the ultimate conceptual architecture. • Enterprise Architecture is in reality merely a reflection of the policy elements that are eventually manifested into programs and projects. • Policy Architecture applies the techniques and tools of enterprise architecture to better organize policy management at a Cross-Domain level. This has been the key element that has been missing in ALL previous federal EA efforts. 15

The Initiative Set • A single policy may comprise many policy elements, so too may an initiative encompass many policies. • The Initiative Set recognizes the highest level of policy coordination. The initiative set represents multiple initiatives that are chartered to achieve the same or largely similar results. • If these pieces are broken apart and managed separately from one another we end up with a fractured group of “policy stovepipes.” 16

Policy Reconciliation • If we had the luxury of only concerning ourselves with one policy or one program at a time, governance wouldn’t be quite so hard… • Unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury. • Policy reconciliation refers to the inevitable coordination that must occur both within and between policies in order to achieve the desired effects both individually and synergistically. • If it was easy, it would have been done before… 17

Policy Reconciliation… 18

The Policy Integration Practice • Policy Integration as a discipline is a recognition that policy can and ought to be managed with today’s technology in a new and more effective manner. • The Semantech Policy Integration Practice is designed to address this through a revolutionary methodology and an evolutionary set of Semantic technologies. • Policy Integration can be applied to achieve a new plateau of results – it is specifically constructed to take synergy into consideration. 19

Policy Solutions • Viewing Policy Management and Integration as an Information Technology solution is a new and perhaps novel way of addressing this problem space. • Policy solutions are specific tasks, processes, techniques and deliverables designed to achieve various policy management and integration objectives. • The Semantech Policy Integration practice is focused entirely on simplification of those challenges through “enlightened automation.” 20

Technology w/o Process Doesn’t Work 21

The Value Proposition • The stakes are as high or higher than anything that could be imagined – policy outcomes will determine the disposition of Trillions of dollars worth of investments. • More importantly, policy outcomes will either better or worsen the lives of most Americans. • The business case for Policy Integration is as simple as asking oneself, ‘can this be done better’ – if the answer is yes, then why aren’t we doing it? 22

Conclusion • There is a great challenge before us now and there is a call to action – everyone needs to explore ways to do things better. • We believe that innovation can start at the beginning and at the top, we believe that anyone can contribute to that process. • Policy Integration is a discipline whose time has truly come. We can exploit this practice to solve today’s problems – right now… 23

Contact Information Thank You… For more information, contact: Stephen Lahanas slahanas@semantech-inc.com (937) 554-4673 Slide 36 24

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Policy Integration

by Stephen Lahanas

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Policy Integration Presentation Transcript