Government Spending and Management Research Paper

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Technology and Software

Identify How the Data Will Be Collected Before and the After Solution States

Synthesis of data

Research analysis and synthesis methods

Discuss analysis and synthesis of measurement results

Discuss findings of the measurement results

Discussion and Conclusion on Approach (Week 4)

Compilation of Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations (Week 5)

The pace of technological development, inclusive of both hardware and software advances, has been rather unrelenting and chaotic in the last generation or two of modern human existence. Whether it be in the West or the East, the rich nations or the poor, in Africa or in North America, the pace of change and evolution of technology and software has been very fast. However, one group and type of people that have problems keeping up at times are the governments. The unwillingness or inability to keep up can manifest in terms of enforcement, the laws that are on the books, the spending that is allocated to adding or updating software and so on. Indeed, no less than the Internal Revenue Service in the United States was still using Windows XP as of a few years ago. The operating system is so old (circa 2001), it is not supported at all, let alone sold, by its creator Microsoft. Such lumbering, resistance or falling behind, however, can be very expensive and costly in ways including money and other currencies. Even so, budgets can ebb and flow along with who is in power, the economic fortunes of the jurisdiction in question and so on. Thus, the question becomes how to best stay modernized and equipped in the digital age while at the same time being prudent and diligent about how the money is spent and how the related programs, both information technology-related and otherwise, are affected.

Problem Identification, Impacts, Design of Research and Literature Research (Week 1)

Problem

There is an ever-greater reliance on Information Technology (IT) and organizational prowess in today's fast-paced business environment. This sentiment particularly applies to organizations operating in the public sector, in which technology and data-driven applications are required to monitor increasing amounts and types of germane data. However, the effectiveness of organizational IT services and software asset management is oftentimes circumscribed by government spending.

There is an innate tension between how much funds are budgeted and allocated to a particular organization and its ability to provide the sort of cutting-edge IT and software asset management services to do its job well. The chief problem explored within this research study is how government spending influences IT services and software asset management in the FBI. Not enough spending limits the ability of this organization to use the digital resources it needs to perform its job functions. It is typically difficult for most public-sector entities to procure the funding necessary to enable them to operate at maximum capacity.

Statement of the Issue to Be Resolved

The issue to be resolved is how to best demonstrate to funding organizations of the federal government that the FBI needs a certain amount of monies to support its IT infrastructure. This bureau constantly needs to update its infrastructure for IT in order to perform its basic safeguarding functionality for the United States of America. Without adequate funding it cannot help to ensure the safety of millions of Americans across the country. The basic problem is this organization needs consistent funding for its IT services and software asset management, and it needs it in a timely manner which will enable it to perform well. Actually, getting this funding in a timely manner is difficult because of standard bureaucratic challenges.

Impact of the Unresolved Issue

The bureau will be disadvantageously impacted if the issue of regularly procuring the necessary funds to maintain and update its IT system is not resolved. Ultimately, its infrastructure will become unreliable. Such unreliability will ineluctably lead to a lack of trust in the information technology and data which this organization requires to operate (Harper, 2016). Additionally, without a dependable IT system upon which to utilize, employees of the bureau should rely upon intuition and hunches instead of empirical data.

It is critical to understand that the bureau necessitates information due to the classified nature of the work it conducts. If it is not able to consistently attain the funding to sustain its IT systems, national security will become compromised. The risk is far too great to the country to allow such things to happen, especially when there is a readily available solution -- to simply disseminate the necessary funding for a contemporary, state of the art IT infrastructure upon which the very country itself can depend.

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Consequences of Not Resolving the Problem

The negative consequences of not solving the problem of providing adequate funding to the bureau's IT solutions are considerable. Firstly, they may allow its computing infrastructure to become much more susceptible to cyber-attacks and other forms of security breaches, which are consistently increasing (Osborne, 2015). Without funding to provision the most effectual security measures, valuable departmental data may become compromised. Furthermore, failing to issue the necessary funding for the FBI's IT infrastructure could result in a dearth of efficacy in the operation of this technology.

By utilizing technology that is data, the bureau may not be able to access data as efficiently and regularly as it needs to. Ramifications of this issue include reduced performance and increased difficulty in achieving organizational objectives. Additional negative consequences include a lack of coherent data governance, which can result in poor data quality and an overall lack of trust in the data yielded from existing IT systems. Moreover, failure to consistently procure the funding necessary to maintain state of the art IT systems can result in those systems becoming obsolete.

Qualitative Research

The qualitative research for this paper will take the form of CTU's online library and other media resources such as Worldlibrary.org and Safaribooksonline.com. Articles and books written by industry experts for IT services and software asset management in the private and public sectors will be the focus of this research. For example, consultants from the CMMI Institute has a lengthy history of involvement with public and government sector clients for comprehensive information assets management (Harper, 2014) and would be an important resource that can be leveraged for additional credibility.

Fixed searches will be conducted on the necessary requirements for maintaining IT systems in the current age. They will also focus on security issues and the requisite architecture for ensuring IT services and software asset management needs are readily met. Similarly, short interviews with current Bureau employees working in the IT services unit will be conducted and utilized to gain information regarding current IT systems and the processes involved in providing ITIL services. Additionally, those in managerial positions for this department will be solicited for their input, to denote what sort of bureaucratic measures typically arise when attempting to procure funding Bureau resources for such purposes.

Problem Impact and Findings from Research (Week 2)

Government spending and budgetary concerns can have a substantial impact on IT Services and Software Asset Management in the FBI. Six recent article highlight that influence by providing the potential effects of government spending and how it plays a part in the actualization of services performed within this sector of the FBI. By analyzing the various findings and conclusions of each article, the recognition of certain factors at play will provide increased understanding of the overall situation. Additional aspects of analysis like identification of underlying themes will also be covered.

In "A review of state procurement and contracting", authors Bartle and Korosec explored the management of procurement and contracting activities by states. They decided to see if said management was effective in several key areas such as training, monitoring, delegation, and procurement. Through a multi-state survey, they discovered five key findings:

1. Some states struggle to adapt to the ever-changing information technology needs.

2. They noted most states need to improve staff training.

3. Restrictions should be removed that prohibited 'best value' purchasing.

4. Improvement of practices and learning of new practices/guidelines can be gained from collaboration and increased communication between private organizations and governments.

5. The majority of states utilize a hybrid version of decentralized and centralized management structures for procurement and contracting (Bartle & Korosec, 2003).

When compared to budgetary concerns, government spending can influence how often such agencies collaborate between each other leading to a second article that highlights weaknesses within such areas (procurement).

"Toward a more agile government: the case for rebooting federal IT procurement" by Balter, research in the article revealed the need to reboot IT procurement within the US federal government. "Like many government computer systems, the US federal information technology (IT) procurement model is slow, outdated, and long overdue for a reboot" (Balter, 2011, p. 149). While government spending in the 2010 fiscal year proved high in regards to IT procurement ($77.1 billion), most of the features and equipment procured are underutilized. Estimated figures are almost 45% leading to Balter's conclusion that only one-third of procured IT….....

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