Attachment G - Web Management Task Force

Team 1:Cheryl Owens and Donna Eden
Other Participants: Dawn Kuhn, Letha Strothers, Cassandra Harkless Assignments: CPD, Field Management, NASA, CNN

Methodology used to arrive at conclusions:

The Team of OCIO and Housing conducted five interviews in total. We interviewed CPD Web Manager, Bob Meehan and Don Green, Program Manager of the Brownfields Program. We also conducted two interviews with the Office of Field Policy and Management. We spoke with Caroline Clayton, FPM Web Manager and Adrienne Datcher, Web Manager in the Greensboro, North Carolina Field Office.

We also conducted a limited telephone interview with Amy Wease, Public Affairs Office, Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive (WPNI). We were unable to reach other non-HUD contacts (FEMA, CNN, and NASA), either because they would not concede to an interview or because of non-response. It was interesting that the private organizations were reluctant to talk with us because they view the management of their website as proprietary information.

Issue #1: Workload

HUD's primary function is program management, so few HUD web managers have the web as their primary or full-time function. Frequently, other program priorities take precedence over web duties, so that the time required to properly manage the website is not allocated. In contrast, WPNI has 250 staffers who maintain their site, including writers, production and design specialists who are able to focus on the development and management of the site. The key difference between HUD and WPNI and other news media and interactive websites is that they are in the business of providing information, while HUD is in the business of implementing programs and the web is secondary to successful program implementation.

Result: Without web management as the primary responsibility, part-time web managers squeeze the work in between other duties. For the Department to move ahead into electronic government and paperwork elimination means having a dedicated staff who can devote time to getting there. Because HUD is about programs, the programs lead the business. With web management always on the sidelines or as an afterthought to the work that's being done, moving to electronic government will be slow going. The technology should be allowed to lead and for it to lead, the Department needs more staff who are comfortable with new technology and forward-thinking about ways to use it.

Issue #2: Training

In contrast to private sector web managers who are able to hire the skills they need to manage their websites, HUD relies heavily on existing program staff who self-train on the job.

Result: Most staff who are working on the web are learning on the job, on their own, or not working to their full capacity for lack of training. Staff time is spent training other staff, rather than on getting information out there. HUD web managers have to be creative in getting training resources for staff. Some seek out one-on-one counseling from staff in other offices or set up office-wide training sessions, where the staff person with the most experience serves as the trainer. Housing initiated discussions with the Departmental Web team to set up some ongoing training. While one successful session was held with Housing staff, subsequent training was put on hold for lack of contractor resources.

Issue #3: Software

There are different skill and experience levels among the web managers and technical staff. Because the software is the most important tool for getting the information on the web, the software needs to be user friendly. Some HUD web managers expressed the need for more current software that can save a Word document as an html file.

Result: Some HUD web managers who have used other coding software find Page Mill to be cumbersome. Others who haven't used other software say they believe it works well to get the job done.

Issue #4: Content/Timeliness

Information for the web is usually gathered by the Web Manager through internal channels (staff meetings, weekly reports). There is a need for better and more consistent flow of information from program offices to the web manager.

Result: Because HUD program managers/staff do not always think of the web in their daily routine, frequently important content is rushed to the web at the last minute rather than the web being part of the process. This results in information that isn't posted in a timely manner, and it also prevents opportunities to use technology to improve the process on the front end, rather than on the back end when making technological changes can be time consuming.

(Input from Brent Pick)
Issue 1: Skills

Result: To accomplish the objective, web managers and others responsible for web documents must possess the necessary skills to properly identify, prepare and post files to the internet. Without those skills, electronic government cannot proceed. All three web managers interviewed felt they need additional technical training.

Issue 2:Workload

Result: To realize electronic government, web manager workload must be such that the tasks involved can be accomplished within a reasonable amount of time. Two of the organizations interviewed felt their web workload was relatively small and appropriate to the amount of web presence their organization has. One felt the workload was too heavy to accomplish all they wanted to do.

Issue 3: Organizational placement of web managers.

Result: To help ensure the implementation of electronic government, web managers should be placed high enough in the organization to make recommendations to their organizational head and key management. All three of the web managers interviewed felt their organizational placement was appropriate.

Issue 4: Additional resources needed to reach the objective.

Result: Adequate resources must be available to reach the objective of electronic government. Of the three web managers interviewed, one uses an outside contractor, and two use internal IT staff to prepare web documents. All three feel that recent IT budget cuts has had a negative effect on their organization's ability to implement additional electronic business tools. One of the organizations stated that the objective cannot be met without additional staff and technical resources. The amount of resources needed to accomplish the objective will vary depending on the organization's web-appropriate presence.

Issue 5: Other management problems that need to be resolved in order to meet the goal.

Result: With the exception of needing additional training and allocation of resources, the interviews showed an overall satisfaction with the level of management involvement and support of the objective. However, there is a consensus that overall emphasis on web usage should increase, depending on the appropriateness of web use for each particular organization.

Team 3: Bob Meehan and W.B. Erwin
Other Participants: Shirely Speed Assignments: FHEO, CIO, IRS, ABC News

Methodology used to arrive at conclusions:

Assess each web site
Customer Service Business Practices
Use of New

Technologies Accessibility Shared/Summarized

Information
Retrievable information assembled on demand

Site Management and structure

Interview HUD WEB Masters as assigned
FHEO CIO Eric Stout, Web Master; contacted: Donna Eden, E-Commerce and Janice Wolfe, Enterprise Architecture

Request information on External WEB SITES as assigned
IRS Site review and research of WEB structure/policies
ABC Site review and research of WEB
structure/policies

Other: Government Executive Best Feds on the Web

ISSUE 1: WEB Strategy and subsequent planning must be within the context of the HUD Enterprise Architecture and E-Commerce Strategy which has been defined to meet the BOP as well as the Government electronic mandate. The functions of and responsibility for managing the HUD WEB; therefore, should come under the organization of the Chief Information Officer.

ISSUE 2: The Department needs to identify performance measures for the web site that incorporate the six areas of measurement for Federal Web Sites:

Completeness: Are all of an agency's major information resources available online?

Timeliness: How long does it take to get new information posted to an agency web site?

Customer Satisfaction: Are web users satisfied with the agency's delivery services and information online?

Efficiency: How much does it cost to run the site compared to business methods like phone, mail, etc.?

Effectiveness: How is the site contributing to the agency's overall mission?

Policy Compliance: Does the site adhere to relevant agency guidelines, government rules statues?

ISSUE 3: The scope of the Web Task Force or a subset thereof should be commissioned by the agency to collaborate with the Enterprise Architecture Group and E-Commerce/Business Group in CIO with the objective of generating an approach to reengineering business processes and integrating the web into Departmental Operations. The results of this study which may require considerably more time commitment than the current Task Force ( probably 3-4 months minimally) should be presented to the CIO and subsequently the Deputy Secretary and Principal Staff.

ISSUE 4: Based upon HUD WEB MASTER interview summary, current Program Area WEB MASTERS lack the time, technical support, organizational structure and training required to do the job justice. During the interim of developing and implementing a comprehensive Web strategy and approach as a component of the Enterprise Architecture and E-Commerce strategy, it is recommended that a WEB MASTER training curriculum be identified and implemented, a standard refresh policy for WEB pages and posting prioritization be implemented asap.

ISSUE 5: Perhaps we have them stated somewhere; however, we clearly need to define a criteria for the WEB, i.e. customer service, business practices, use of new technologies etc. and discuss establishing a business framework to support the criteria. We, as a Department,need to do the same for the INTERNET, INTRANET, i.e. create standards that allow easy information exchange, increase availability of broad band connectivity, etc.

Team 4: Floyd May, Bob Etchison, D.J. Lavoy
Other Participants: Mykl Asanti, Caroline Clayton, Laurie Maggiano
Assignments: Housing, OGC, Census, American Red Cross

Methodology used:

Team 4 conducted interviews with 5 representatives from the Office of Housing, the web manager in OGC, and Web staff from the Census Bureau and the American Red Cross. It also conducted an email survey of each field office web manager.

Issue 1-Organization and structure of the web

Result: There is an inequitable distribution of web staff in relation to program size and workload. For example, Housing is woefully understaffed to support half the entire Departmental workforce. There is no formal standard of practice for managing web responsibilities within program areas. Current web managers do not feel they have enough time to do the job right and have not received enough training. Thus, web manager duties are either being neglected or web managers have to do web work on the weekends, in the evenings. Some web managers have taken the initiative to learn on their own, purchase tutorial books, etc.

Issue 2-HUD web management is decentralized
Result: There are tangible benefits to a decentralized system including, enhanced responsiveness to customers, faster development time, greater ownership by program areas. There are also challenges that HUD will need to deal with in the near future. These include duplication of material, contradictory information, difficult navigation, non-responsive search feature, inadequate cross referencing between product areas and poor quality control over both content and functionality.

Issue 3-Senior Management commitment to using web as primary vehicle of communication

Results: Currently there is an inconsistency among program and support areas about commitment to the web. While some areas place great importance on web communication, in some program offices it is an afterthought, under-funded and under staffed. HUD is not fully complying with Executive Directives to use the web as a primary communication vehicle.

Issue 4-Software and hardware do not adequately support growing demand.

Result: HUD continues to develop new interactive applications for customers to transact business on line. These applications are well received by our customers only when they work. HUD has recently experienced repeated server failures as a result of under-capacity and other server configuration problems. Additionally, there are many business processes that are common to both HQ and field offices that could easily be maintained on a shared drive if server capacity was available. Currently these functions are duplicated at individual offices (for example, all HUBs maintain separate lists of non-profits eligible to purchase REO at a discount). Finally, HUD's web managers complain that the Adobe PageMill software, the departmental standard, does not offer enough flexibility. Specifically we are hampered because we do not have the methodology to post and maintain changes to large documents, power point presentations and other types of shared files

Recommendations:

1. 1. Develop a model for structure and organization of web management, based on defined business objectives and workloadThere are a number of ways HUD can proceed, but we need to start from a clean slate. Our suggestion, based on the Red Cross model, is to have an inverted pyramid with a large group of program area liaisons (data disseminators) who are responsible for content of specific sections of the web. They feed information to a central group of full-time web staff responsible for formatting and posting. The HQ group should be more focused on management, research, training and quality control and less on posting/content of individual pages as more fully described in Issue 2 below.
   2. Ensure that the web management plan includes funding for dedicated web staff with appropriate training and HQ support.
   

• Recommendations:
  
  1. Reduce the number of web managers. Make the web management function a full time, dedicated position and consolidate responsibility now spread among several part time staff. Augment full time web managers with program area liaisons who provide content and have defined responsibilities for page monitoring and maintenance (see recommendation above).
  2. Develop a unified web team.
  
  
  
• Initiate monthly meetings of all web managers.
• Develop standards and protocols to encourage/require coordination of postings.
• Form affinity groups that regularly share resources and work together to post news or notices of common interest.
  
  3. Maintain centralized support and quality control. The function of HQ should be to: · Provide training and technical support for web managers. · Fund research and development of new web technologies. · Initiate on-going review of web pages for QA of format and content. P · Provide regular feedback and guidance to Web managers.
  

Recommendations:

1. Elevate web managers to true management positions. This just applies to the full time, dedicated of web managers described above. Liaisons could be any level of staff. 2. Provide written guidelines for Executive and Senior Management detailing expectations and minimum standards for use of the web. This document should require them to incorporate use of web in all policy and management decisions. 3. Consider including web requirements in BOP goals.4. As part of a comprehensive QA effort, the HQ web team should monitor adherence to web standards by each program or support area and provide remedial assistance when required.

Recommendation:
1. Review and upgrade existing server capacity - We understand that HUD has recently contracted with KPMG for a study and recommendations leading to reconfiguration of its main servers. Implement the recommended actions as soon as possible. 2. Add capacity for shared database access -With adequate server capacity duplicative data base maintenance can be automated to save staff time and improve data quality. 3. Consider use of new technology applications like XML for web development. In the words of a current HUD Web manager, we are using 1995 technology in an environment that is advancing monthly. Our reliance on HTML and PDF for most of our web postings is limiting. New software needs to be constantly reviewed and implemented by the HQ web team. Unique problems like large document size and video, broadcast and power point options need to be better addressed. Additionally, electronic signatures will enhance our ability to automate processes.