Defense business EA version 3.0 is on the way

The Defense Department will unveil version 3.0 of its business enterprise architecture to Congress by Sept. 30. The BEA will come complete with a transition plan and new process for senior Defense officials to evaluate IT systems for compliance with the overarching architecture.

Paul A. Brinkley, deputy defense undersecretary for business transformation, said the architecture would include a transition plan for Defense agencies, including the departments of the Army, Navy and Air Force, the Defense Logistics Agency, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, and the U.S. Transportation Command.

The new version will set data standards, financial accounting structures and business rules with corresponding implementation schedules that can be spread out over six, 12 or 18 months, Brinkley said.

"It creates a baseline of new thinking for how we're going to approach business transformation in the department," Brinkley said at a keynote luncheon address yesterday during the E-Gov Institute's fifth Enterprise Architecture Conference and Exhibition.

Defense officials will also tell Congress about the department's new investment review process, which would require Gordon England, deputy secretary of Defense, to review DOD systems on a monthly basis for compliance.

The Defense Department has 4,700 business systems, including databases that handle accounting, logistics and personnel functions. In a report earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office found redundant systems, little standardization and manual data entry into multiple systems.

In a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2005, Congress mandated that DOD provide its latest BEA version by Sept. 30.

Starting Oct. 1, senior Defense leaders could be held in violation of Title 31 of the Antideficiency Act and face jail time and fines if they fail to review all business projects worth more than $1 million to make sure agency initiatives are aligned with the BEA.