Unisys launches initiative, unveils public-sector tech solutions

By Gail Repsher Emery

| June 10, 2003

Unisys Corp. unveiled a new strategy, called Business Blueprinting, and four related public-sector technology solutions that the company said would help government agencies streamline business processes.

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Unisys provides IT products and services to more than 1,500 government agencies worldwide. About one-third of the company's revenue is comes from its Global Public Sector business. The company employs 37,000 people and had revenue of $5.6 billion in 2002.

Unisys Corp. unveiled June 10 a new strategy, called Business Blueprinting, and four related public-sector technology solutions that company officials said would help government agencies streamline business processes and capitalize on technology investments.

Through Business Blueprinting, digital models are built that link business processes to the software and systems that support them, allowing agency customers to see how changes would affect not just the information technology infrastructure, but also the agency's business operations.

The blueprinting methodology will help identify and eliminate redundancies in legacy systems, and can cut the time needed to implement new systems by up to 40 percent, said Joe McGrath, president of the Blue Bell, Pa., company's Enterprise Transformation Services unit.

"What constituents want is for leadership to deliver results. This blueprinting can help do that. It maps very directly" to the federal government's enterprise architecture, said Pat Schambach, assistant administrator and chief information officer of the Transportation Security Administration, at a Washington event where the initiative was announced.

The blueprinting initiative will offer government agencies reusable technology components based on industry best practices, said Greg Baroni, president of Unisys Global Public Sector. The component-based approach will allow the company to integrate new technology with legacy systems, he said.

"It boils down to doing things better, faster and cheaper. This approach is going to help realize cost savings, improved service and better margin for the business," Baroni said.

According to the company, the four new public-sector solutions based on the blueprinting initiative are:

Health and Human Services, which will provide specific case management functions, such as intake and eligibility determination processes; improve the efficiency and accuracy of those processes; and facilitate cross-program data sharing;

Justice and Public Safety, which allows integration of Unisys's justice and public safety applications, off-the-shelf components and agency legacy systems so that information can be shared across local agencies and with other local, state and federal jurisdictions.

Registry and Identification, which will address the requirements of large-scale registry and civil identification programs, such as motor vehicle departments, and immigration and border control operations. It will permit integration of commercial products with Unisys components to help agencies identify citizens and residents and reduce identity theft and fraud.

Tax Administration and Workforce and Employment Security, which includes components that enable tax processing, including registration and accounting. The labor tax solution, for example, automatically notifies workers of required actions and eliminates redundant data entry.

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