U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce
Training and Development Policy
Report On The Establishment Of A Governmentwide Information Technology Training ProgramGOVERNMENTWIDE IT TRAINING PROGRAMSThis report addresses existing IT training programs available to Federal
employees on a Governmentwide basis as required by the E-Government
Act of 2002. In consultation with the Federal CIO Council and GSA, we
have identified five IT training programs that fall within the scope
of this report. These programs are the CIO University, the Strategic
and Tactical Advocates for Results (STAR) Program, the Information Resources
Management (IRM) College, the Graduate School, USDA, and the Federal
Executive Institute (FEI) and Management Development Centers (MDCs).
The training programs addressed in this report are those that address
the core IT competencies required by the Clinger-Cohen Act. Finally,
this report will address the IT Workforce Development Roadmap in its
role as a performance support tool within the Gov Online Learning Center. The CIO UniversityProgram Description The CIO University, administered by GSA, is a consortium of universities that offer graduate level programs that directly address the Clinger-Cohen core competencies at the executive level. Seven universities are currently participating: Carnegie Mellon University, George Mason University, George Washington University, LaSalle University, Loyola University in Chicago, Syracuse University, and the University of Maryland University College. Sample course offerings are available in Appendix C 2. GSA and the CIO Council have asked these selected graduate institutions to tailor their respective academic strengths to meet the specific requirements of the Federal IT sector and its leaders. This is a unique partnership without precedent. This is the first time the Government has directly translated its requirements for its senior IT corps into a map for universities to use to develop a special curriculum. The process by which this special curriculum was developed involved senior executives, industry representatives, and academic partners. Upon reviewing the work done by the CIO Council to identify core competencies that met the requirements of the Clinger-Cohen law, GSA and the CIO Council concluded that universities would need more specific guidance to guarantee the full intent of the law would be met. To do that, it was necessary to add specificity to the curriculum. Focus groups consisting of representatives from academia, industry, and senior executives from Government were used to review and provide input on each of the major content areas. Program objectives reflecting the group consensus were developed based on adult learning theory and behavioral learning. The CIO University learning objectives are:
The seven universities offer three types of programs:
Participants include high achieving professional employees from Federal, State, and Local Government, industry, and academia who occupy mid-level through senior executive positions. Employees of comparable rank in private industry can also participate. All participants must be selected by a university based on the university's admissions standards for executive development programs. Graduate degrees, graduate credits, continuing education units, and a CIO University Certificate may be granted upon completion. Since its inception in 1999, more than 450 students have participated in this program. While 42 percent of graduates have come from the public sector, the remainder has come from the private sector. This is particularly important for the IT industry where a symbiotic relationship exists between the public and private sectors. Government is well served by enhancing the skills of IT executives in both sectors so that they can work together more efficiently. Furthermore, a cadre of private sector professionals trained in Government-oriented IT competencies provides a potential recruiting pool for future Federal hiring initiatives. Selected CIO University Certificate recipients were contacted for the CIO Council's Workforce and Human Capital for IT Committee's Update 2002 on Federal IT Initiatives 3. Although the sample was limited, all ten respondents said they were better able to perform their current jobs and better prepared to take on additional responsibilities after completion of the program. At the end of 2002, six out of ten had been given additional responsibilities since receiving their certificates. Half of the respondents said their CIO University education had a moderate impact on their ability to influence their organization's products, processes, and/or services. The other half was split between having a significant influence or none at all. Notably, the program does appear to be successful in teaching to the Clinger-Cohen core competencies. On average, the recipients felt their CIO University education had improved their knowledge and/or skills in 7 of the 12 competency areas. The CIO University's capability to adapt to new demands of emerging technology and technological trends is accomplished through its partnerships. Every two years, experts from Government, industry, and academia collaborate to translate emerging technology trends into learning objectives that CIO University graduates must achieve. These objectives are then incorporated into each university's coursework. Costs Tuition: The cost of tuition varies by university and is paid by either the organization or the student or both. A sample list of tuition costs by university is provided in Appendix C. Operational costs: GSA spends approximately $22,000 per year to administer this program. Strategic and Tactical Advocates for Results (STAR) ProgramProgram Description The STAR Program, also administered by GSA, is an interdisciplinary course of study that covers IT and project management leadership. The STAR Program is a seven day residential course, sponsored by the CIO Council and GSA. The STAR Program promotes internal agency IT efficiency and effectiveness. The course offerings available are shown in Appendix D 4. Most attendees are at grades GS-14 through SES or a military equivalent. Due to the leadership responsibility of IT employees in the field, the STAR Program also accepts a small number of field employees in grade GS-13 and military equivalent positions. The STAR Program includes the following modules:
The Capital Planning Process module provides the latest information
on preparing the A-11 Circular submission and Exhibit 300, and emphasizes
Federal IT initiatives such as the Federal Enterprise Architecture,
e-Government, and the President's Management Agenda.
The STAR program measures its success in two ways. First, after each class the participants are asked to evaluate course content, delivery, and accomplishment of learning objectives. Second, the sponsoring organization and the CIO Council's Workforce and Human Capital for IT Workforce Committee evaluate the STAR Program for appropriateness and effectiveness in addressing some or all of the Clinger-Cohen core competencies. As part of the CIO Council's Workforce and Human Capital for IT Committee's Update 2002 5, selected STAR Program participants provided general information on their professional backgrounds and objectives for taking the course. Of the 30 respondents, one third had a predominantly technical background while two thirds indicated having a combination of skills. Most frequently this was a combination of technical and business/management skills, but a few participants had financial or acquisition backgrounds. All 30 STAR respondents indicated that they were better able to perform their current jobs because they had taken the STAR course. In addition, fully 90 percent believed they were better prepared to take on increased responsibilities and 77 percent said they had already been given increased responsibilities since taking the STAR course. This last percentage is particularly impressive given that nearly two-thirds of the respondents took the class in 2002. When asked to what extent their attendance at STAR had helped them influence their organization's products, processes, and/or services, 60 percent of the respondents indicated the course had a moderate impact with the remaining 40 percent evenly split between a significant impact and no impact at all. More importantly, participants evaluated the impact of the STAR Program in terms of the relevancy of its course curriculum to participants' current jobs. One third of the respondents said developing their leadership competency was their primary objective for taking the course. The remaining respondents were about evenly split between developing project management skills, career advancement, or some combination of the three as their principal objective for participating in the program. The STAR program has measures in place to ensure its adaptability to current and new demands based on emerging technology and technological trends. Based on professional "best practices," as collected and reviewed by GSA and the CIO Council, subject modules are updated and changed when appropriate. Additionally, the Capital Planning Process Module is modified and updated for each class offering to reflect policy changes. Costs Tuition: $2,950 plus per diem expenses. Operational costs: GSA spends approximately $55,000 per year to administer this program. Department of Defense (DoD) Information Resources Management (IRM) CollegeProgram Description DoD offers managerial level IT training primarily through the National Defense University's (NDU) IRM College. The IRM College is responsible for implementing the senior level educational requirement of the Clinger-Cohen Act under the policy guidance of the DoD CIO. To be eligible to attend, Federal employees must be at least at the GS/GM-13 grade level. Additionally, all potential students must possess a Bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution. Waiver requests may be submitted for one grade (GS-12) and/or degree. Students represent multiple communities, including functional managers planning to use the information within their organizations, information managers performing systems integration functions, and military officers planning information operations or protecting elements of DoD's information infrastructure. The IRM College accepts military and civilian students from DoD as well as senior level officials from other Government agencies and departments, foreign military officers, and private sector students from information systems companies doing business with the Government. All instruction is conducted by four academic departments: The Chief Information Officer Department focuses on the policy and planning processes, leadership and management competencies, and perspectives for information resources management for leadership positions in the offices of CIOs across DoD and the Federal Government. The E-Government and Technology Department is responsible for courses that explore the latest advances in computer hardware and software, simulation, expert systems, and communications technology through an examination of capabilities, uses, and related issues. The Information Operations and Assurance Department focuses on information operations, assurance, and security in planning and executing national strategy and military strategy. The Systems Acquisition Department is responsible for courses focused on the policies, principles, and issues surrounding DoD and interagency information technology program management and acquisition, enterprise architecture, and data management. Through these departments the IRM College offers both residential and distributed learning courses and programs that address the Clinger-Cohen core competencies for the Federal IT workforce. These programs are described in detail below. The Chief Information Officer Certificate Program The CIO Certificate Program, sponsored by the DoD CIO, is a source of graduate education for developing IT personnel. The CIO Certificate Program is organized around 11 subject areas directly related to the Clinger-Cohen core competencies identified by the Federal CIO Council. Each subject area is articulated as one or more courses in a particular subject or topic. Some courses are designed to be primary offerings, while others are considered enrichment courses in student programs. The E-Government Leadership Certificate Program The E-Government Leadership Certificate Program is designed to facilitate
the development of new knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by leaders
in the e-Government arena. The program is designed to build capacity
for leaders to be systematic thinkers who thrive on partnerships and
networks in complex environments, and who have energy to collaborate,
integrate, and redesign processes and policies. The program promotes
participants' broad vision and commitment to performance measurement
and collaboration with their colleagues in innovative and bold ventures
across department, agency, and sector boundaries. The E-Government Leadership
Certificate Program seeks to develop cross-boundary leadership to achieve
the vision and goals of transformation in e-Government for citizen interaction
and customer satisfaction. In addition, it fulfills the requirements
of the Clinger-Cohen core competencies listed under The Information Assurance Certificate Program The Information Assurance Certificate Program consists of a series of courses that emphasize security concerns and approaches fundamental to protecting the information infrastructure. The Committee on National Security Systems has certified that the curriculum is compliant with the NSTISSI No. 4011 Standard for Information Systems Security Professionals. This program also fulfills the requirements of the Clinger-Cohen core competencies listed under "IT Security/Information Assurance." The Advanced Management Program The 14 week graduate level Advanced Management Program (AMP) provides functional and technical information resource managers with an integrated understanding of policies and imperatives, such as the Clinger-Cohen Act, and their impact on the organization. The program prepares graduates to form effective managerial partnerships with stakeholders to ensure effective allocation and application of information resources to mission requirements in compliance with policy, regulatory, and ethical standards. The AMP curriculum provides comprehensive coverage of the core competencies identified by the Federal CIO Council as needed to become a successful Federal CIO or other senior IRM official. These competency areas include:
Students completing the AMP are awarded the CIO Certificate. Graduates of IRM College programs may transfer up to15 graduate level credit hours, toward selected Master's or Doctoral degree programs at partner institutions (see Appendix E 6). Enrollment For fiscal year 2003, the IRM College enrolled approximately 3,200 students. Of that number, approximately 24 percent were from non-DoD Federal agencies. The Federal Aviation Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency provided the bulk of those students, enrolling approximately 200-250 students each. Other Federal agencies that sent students to the IRM College include the Department of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Internal Revenue Service. To date, the CIO Certificate Program has 999 graduates and the IA Program has 424. The newer eGov Leadership Program has five. Costs Tuition: For FY04, federal agency students paid $995 per each intensive course within the CIO Certificate Program, the E-Government Leadership Certificate program, and the Information Assurance Certificate Program. Tuition for the Advanced Management Program is $9,000.00. Agencies that contract with the college for 25 seats or more receive a discounted tuition rate. DoD students pay no tuition fee. Operational costs for the college were not available. The Graduate School, USDAProgram Description The Graduate School offers career-related and continuing education courses to Federal, State, and local government employees throughout the country. The Graduate School annually enrolls 200,000 students in nearly 1,000 courses. Courses are available in a variety of convenient formats to fit any schedule:
Established in 1921 by the Secretary of Agriculture, the Graduate School's mission is to improve the performance of Government and to provide opportunities for individual lifelong learning through education, training, and related services. The Graduate School does not grant degrees and has never sought that authority. The school's focus is on continuing education and training for working adults. Although associated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Graduate School is self-sustaining and receives no Federal funds. Its only source of income is tuition and fees. The Graduate School offers a number of courses and programs designed to focus on the Clinger-Cohen core competencies. A complete list can be found at Appendix F. The Graduate School, USDA, is governed by a General Administration Board appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture. Board members are drawn from senior positions in Government, business, and academia. The Graduate School, USDA, has an ongoing relationship with the Federal CIO Council. They present new program proposals to the Council and hold meetings and discussions with the various members to review their needs and requirements. The Graduate School's IT Advisory Committee draws its members from Federal agencies, industry leaders, and academia. Members meet and discuss changing IT trends and how those trends affect the school's IT curriculum offerings. Feedback is also solicited from Federal agency clients regarding their IT training needs. Student evaluations are regularly reviewed, and the feedback received is used both to identify needed updates to current course materials and to target new training needs. The faculty consists of practicing professionals who are attuned to new and emerging technologies. Staff members belong to a number of professional associations and attend training events and conferences to review current training initiatives. In FY03, 6,356 students attended the Graduate School's IT courses. The top ten Federal agencies sending students were:
Costs Tuition costs at the Graduate School vary. Prices can range from $275 for the self-paced Introduction to Information Systems Technology Course to $9,500 for a nine week Webmaster Certification Program. Federal Executive Institute (FEI) and Management Development Centers (MDCs)Program Description OPM's Federal Executive Institute and Management Development Centers develop career leaders for the Federal Government. The three centers, in Charlottesville, Virginia; Shepherdstown, West Virginia; and Denver, Colorado, all offer residential learning environments and are staffed with program directors, seminar leaders, and facilitators. Specific objectives of the FEI and MDCs are to:
The attendees of these programs are high performing supervisors, managers, and executives who attend from a few days to four weeks, depending on the course, to enhance their leadership and management skills. They may do so at any stage of their careers from first line supervisor through the Senior Executive Service. While the FEI and MDCs are not specifically tailored to IT training, two courses, Managing Complex Projects and Maximizing IT Investments, deserve mention under IT Training. (See Appendix G for a sample of other courses that address the leadership and managerial aspects of the Clinger-Cohen core competencies.) Managing Complex Projects (Insuring the Success of Information Technology and Other Major Projects) "Managing Complex Projects" is designed to meet the needs of project managers charged with major project implementation such as information technology. It provides participants with key project management concepts, tools, and techniques that are used to manage complex projects successfully. The course focuses on the purpose of the project and its relationship to the organization's strategic direction as well as techniques for planning, organizing, and implementing significant projects. Project managers learn skills required to effectively lead project teams. Major topics include project manager responsibilities, measuring project success, project planning, work breakdown structure (organizing project elements into outcomes), cost control, financial impact, and risk analysis. The learning objectives of this course are:
This course was offered for the first time in December of 2003. To date, 20 Federal employees between grades GS-12 and 15 have enrolled. The course does not attempt to address current and emerging technological trends. Rather, it is designed to help IT and other project managers charged with implementing complex projects using project management tools that will enable them to manage the project successfully. Cost Tuition $2,900. Maximizing IT Investments (People, Processes, and Technology) This seminar assists Federal managers involved with the acquisition and management of IT resources. Participants learn how to develop appropriate criteria for assessing and determining their organization's IT requirements. This seminar is of particular value to those individuals who have responsibility for implementing selected provisions of the Clinger-Cohen Act. Attendees learn about Federal IT legislation and how it affects their agency or work unit. They develop an in-depth understanding of how to effectively implement IT guidance. Participants examine the methods for conducting a management-level system requirements analysis for their organizations, and learn a business case approach for justifying IT investments and analyzing return on investment. The learning objectives of this course are to:
This seminar does not attempt to address current and emerging technology trends. Its focus is specifically tailored to policies associated with the Office of Management and Budget, development of the business case, and project management. In calendar year 2002, approximately 120 Federal employees in grades GS-12 through 15 participated in this program. Cost Tuition $2,600. 2 http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?programId=9980&channelId=-13451&ooid=12938&contentId=8825&pageTypeId=8199&contentType=GSA_BASIC 3 http://www.cio.gov/documents/Update2002_workforceit.pdf
4 http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?programId=9983&channelId=-13452&ooid=8808&contentId=8805&pageTypeId=8199&contentType=GSA_BASIC&program 5 http://www.cio.gov/documents/Update2002_workforceit.pdf
6 http://www.ndu.edu/irmc/partnerships/index.html
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