In continuing my review of the hot topics at the recent National Contract Management Association’s (NCMA) Government Contract Management Conference, next up is the issue of Data Quality & Standardization.

This has become a key initiative inside the DoD acquisition community.  It was very interesting to hear Nancy Gunderson’s (HHS) comments regarding the subject from the civilian agency side.  One of her comments was that we’re only as credible as our data, and that the demand for data and transparency will only increase.

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Tags: , BPM for Federal Acquisitions, BPM for Government, Business Process Management, government contract management conference, national contract management association

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the annual National Contract Management Association’s (NCMA) Government Contract Management Conference in Bethesda, MD.  Appian was again a sponsor and exhibitor at the event.  It was great talking to so many acquisition professionals and catching up with people – some of whom I hadn’t seen in years.

As always, the conference provided excellent speakers, panel discussions, and breakout sessions.  Of note, I thoroughly enjoyed GSA Administrator Martha Johnson’s keynote, the insights from Nick Nayak and Nancy Gunderson on a panel discussion regarding “the Future of Acquisition Policy,” and the Joanie Newhart-led panel on “Building Tomorrow’s Contracting Management Workforce Today.”  Common themes were presented throughout both days of the conference, and in particular, I was struck by the speakers’ focus on change, data quality/standardization, and budget concerns.

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Tags: , BPM for Federal Acquisitions, BPM for Government, Business Process Management, government contract management conference, national contract management association

Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel is pushing a “single door” policy for contractors doing business with U.S. federal agencies through the creation of vendor management organizations (VMOs). Federal acquisition/procurement is something we think about all the time at Appian, for a number of reasons.

First, like the rest of the country, we are concerned about federal fiscal policy and wringing out wasteful spending. Second, we believe BPM software provides a new opportunity to transform agency acquisition practices. Our Acquisition Business Management (ABM) solution allows federal purchasing organizations to increase the efficiency, visibility and mission-alignment of all pre-award, award, and post-award activities within the acquisition lifecycle.

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Tags: , Appian 6, BPM for Federal Acquisitions, BPM for Government, Business Process Management, Government 2.0, steven vanroekel

This morning we announced the under-budget and ahead-of-schedule deployment of our BPM software at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA).  The solution was designed and rolled out in six weeks, with full agency deployment in under four months. NOAA is using Appian across its National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS). NESDIS collects global environmental data from satellites and other sources and provides information services regarding Earth system monitoring and official assessments of the environment.

Appian is now instrumental in supporting NESDIS’ mission to be “the world’s most comprehensive source and recognized authority for satellite products, environmental information, and official assessments of the environment in support of societal and economic decisions.

This is a very cool use case for BPM, and it made me start thinking about the ever-widening types of applications for which our on-premise and Cloud BPM, Mobile BPM and Social BPM is being used.

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Tags: , Appian 6, BPM for Energy, BPM for Financial Services, BPM for Government, BPM for Healthcare, BPM in the Cloud, mobile BPM, NOAA, Social, Social BPM

New Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel has pledged to continue the policies of his predecessor, Vivek Kundra – and to extend them even further in driving innovation in government IT. In Silicon Valley for his first public speech earlier this week, VanRoekel outlined a vision that includes continuation of Kundra’s “Cloud First” policy, while also emphasizing utilization of the latest innovations in mobile devices and collaboration tools to create what he called a “Future First” agenda. This is precisely the agenda that Appian has been advocating to our government (and commercial) customers through our Cloud BPM, Mobile BPM and Social BPM.

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Tags: , BPM for Government, BPM in the Cloud, Government 2.0, mobile BPM, Social, Social BPM, steven vanroekel

Today, government IT pros have a great opportunity for a crash-course on best practices in building secure, on-demand clouds for their federal agencies. InformationWeek is hosting the GovCloud 2011 event at the Reagan Pavilion in Washington, D.C. Appian is an event sponsor, in keeping with our strong commitment to Cloud BPM for the federal market.

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Tags: , BPM for Government, BPM in the Cloud, Cloud Computing, Government 2.0, Informationweek

There has been some recent discussion in the media about the status of the Army Knowledge Online (AKO) program. Certain organizations are trying to diminish one of the most successful knowledge and process management systems ever launched in the federal government; one that has saved the U.S. Army more than $500M per year according to congressional reports.

There is no question that the AKO criticism is coming from parties that stand to gain financially if the Army spends hundreds of millions of dollars to substitute this system with inferior technology. The fighting men and women in the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, and state-side service personnel, have too much hanging in the balance to be subjected to these sorts of self-interested machinations.

For what it’s worth, the truth is this: the AKO discussion is an issue regarding a program for enterprise email for the Army and DoD. It is not an issue related to AKO’s other functions, or Appian’s BPM software. More »

Tags: , Appian, Army Knowledge Online, BPM for Government

The New York Times has published an excellent op-ed piece from former Federal CIO Vivek Kundra on the national and global importance of cloud computing. He points out that, in the midst of a very slow economic recovery, governments here and abroad continue to waste enormous amounts of money on unnecessary information technology. Citing one particularly outrageous $850 million dollar fiasco as just one example, he blames the “I.T. cartel” – a “powerful group of private contractors [that] encourages reliance on inefficient software and hardware that is expensive to acquire and to maintain.”

His answer is to embrace Cloud Computing (this is Vivek “Cloud First” Kundra talking after all). My advice is to remember that Cloud BPM is an excellent way to initiate a cloud strategy.

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Tags: , Appian Cloud, BPM for Government, BPM in the Cloud, Cloud Computing, Government 2.0, vivek kundra

Cloud computing isn’t just good for the bottom line; it’s also good for the planet — that’s according to the Government Accountability Office. It’s tough to reduce the carbon footprint left by an organization’s information technology use, and the stakes are higher for federal agencies. The GAO recently released a report that took a critical look at how federal agencies are measuring their efforts to meet goals of cutting energy use. Cloud computing is a primary method. Cloud BPM is an excellent on-ramp for commercial and government organizations looking to develop a solid cloud strategy.

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Tags: , Amazon Web Services, Appian Cloud, AWS GovCloud, BPM for Government, Cloud Computing, Green IT

More federal employees may be working from home this year — at least in some areas of the country (I’m thinking about anywhere up and down the Atlantic Seaboard). Thanks to a busier than normal hurricane season, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry issued a memorandum to chief human capital officers reminding folks about the telework policies created to help federal workers during natural disasters.

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Tags: , BPM for Government, BPM in the Cloud, Business Process Management, Government 2.0, mobile BPM, Telework