NBC Datamart A Case Study of the National Business Center

2 Who is the NBC? An agency of the Department of the Interior Provides administrative services and systems to the rest of the federal government Selected as one of four e-Payroll providers Named as one of five HR Line of Business Centers of Excellence Named as one of four Financial Management Line of Business Centers of Excellence.

3 NBC – Turning Data into Information Provide all FPPS users with on-line access to their HR and Payroll data. Improve data quality and integrity by –reducing data entry through auxiliary systems and interfaces with the authoritative source. –Integrating related data from multiple sources. Improve data security through reapplication of security from the authoritative source of the data.

4 NBC Datamart: 4+ years of production Independent assessment recommended NBC create a reporting system for the Federal Personnel/Payroll System (FPPS) Project formalized as FPPS Datamart –Team established and trained –Goals, including initial list of FPPS file to be included established. –Technology researched and established 2000 – First production environment 2001 – New project manager hired 2002 – All initial files implemented Present – Continued growth

5 What was the original Business Problem? FPPS did not provide a modern reporting environment Users did not have access to an analytical environment Users could not export data Users could not format reports for presentation

6 Objectives of the FPPS Datamart Provide a state-of-the-art reporting environment Original file listing –Combined File (HR and Pay) –Combined History –Transaction (SF-50 Actions)

7 Who are the primary Users? FPPS Agencies including –Social Security Administration –Department of the Interior –NASA –Department of Education –National Science Foundation –Department of Transportation –Securities and Exchange Commission –Equal Employment Opportunity Commision FPPS Usage expanded due to e-Payroll initiative –NBC services 37 agencies –paying over 300,000 employees

8 NBC Datamart Oracle Data Store Multiple Production, Stage, Test and Development databases FPPS FFS Agency Auxiliary Systems Bank of America Brio/Hyperion Agency Systems

9 Data Management Architecture Flat File Feed –Extract files loaded automatically –Good alternative for data not automatically maintained within source system or for crossing security lines I-Way Gateway –Real-time read of ADABAS (FPPS environment) Treehouse –Periodical update using ADABAS backup files Direct Oracle Client Read –Used for extracts

10 NBC Datamart – Auxiliary Systems Build upon data in Datamart Automate niche business process not serviced by larger NBC product. Reuse NBC Datamart infrastructure. Reuse Security of authoritative source. Examples –SEC Position Control System –NSF Intergovernmental Personnel Act System

11 Customer Service Level 0 –Extensive information on Web Page How to get training Table descriptions Newsletters Computed Items –Web-Based Training Level 1 and 2 –Helpdesk –Periodic DM User Group Meetings –Site Visits

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14 NBC – Three Years Later Scope expanded enough to change name of product, FPPS Datamart -> NBC Datamart, now includes, along with FPPS data, –Agency Managed data –Agency Historical HR/Pay data –Casual Hire data –Federal Financial data –Auxiliary System data –DOI Charge Card data Usage expanded by 496% of users and 477% of queries

15 Query Environment Brio and HPS8 Current environment Brio Three load balanced servers Known maintenance requirements Future environment Hyperion Performance Suite 8 Currently in pre-production testing

16 Future – HPS8 Issues Internal –New implementation of SSL –Dual Maintenance of queries while supporting Both 6 & 8 –Making time for administrators to learn HPS8 HPS8 –Publisher role –Organizational Administrator

17 Known Weaknesses Current audience are report writers –People who have a good idea of the information they are seeking and how to get it –Support these folks extremely well –Problem? These folks do not pay the bills No Web Services –No ability to expose reports as web services –Problem? SOA is the future architecture within NBC

18 Desired Behavior Create environment for Managers –Looking forward to View Manager and Dashboards –Need a way to expose macro level data without undermining security at the micro level Web Services –Need to be able to expose this data and the known presentation ability through callable web services.

19 The Future is Challenging We need to complete move to HPS8 –Publisher role –Organizational Administrator –View Manager –Dashboards We need to figure out how we fit in an SOA world

20 NBC Datamart Contacts Select Datamart Manager – Martin J. Quinlan –