Washington, D.C. - U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Kay Coles James is driving the effort for shared human resources (HR) services across federal agencies through the Human Resources Line of Business (HRLOB). OPM and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) chaired a 22 agency taskforce that developed a business and architecture plan to implement information technology solutions which will improve the governmentwide strategic management of human capital.

"The objective of the HRLOB is to create a framework for governmentwide, modern, cost-effective, and interoperable HR solutions that provide critical support to the strategic management of human capital," said James. "The OPM/OMB taskforce has successfully completed all required architectural deliverables for the Human Resources Line of Business, and will enable a shift in emphasis within agencies from administrative processing to customer service and strategic planning, fulfilling components of President George W. Bush's management agenda."

OPM's e-Government office currently helps host and lead the cross-government working groups that are tasked with the verification and validation of federal HR sub-functions. Most recently, two verification and validation sessions have been performed in the areas of staff acquisition and HR strategy.  From now until fall 2005, cross-government subject matter experts and taskforce members will be holding additional verification and validation sessions on: Benefits Management, Separation Management, Position Management, Competency Management, Resource Training and Development, Compensation Management, and Employee Relations -- services that eventually will be shared among federal agencies.

"So far the results from the HRLOB taskforce has been a testimony that working across government to find solutions is not a just a possibility, but a reality," James said.  "This proves the willingness and cooperation by agency leadership and their representatives to work together toward the common goal of providing shared services in HR across government."  

The federal government has the unique ability to leverage some of the solutions that have been developed and implemented by federal agencies. Both commercial and government solutions and applications will be incorporated to create a dynamic network of methods and solutions that meet the needs of a rapidly changing federal work force.