The American Council for Technology – Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) has updated its IT Management and Maturity Model to mirror the changes in the FITARA scorecard.
The model, initially developed in 2015 to support FITARA’s implementation, is meant to set a “common baseline” for agencies to develop a roadmap for IT modernization. The model features large-scale functions, attributes, traits, and three levels of maturity for each trait.
“New, additional federal government-wide initiatives, policies, and legislation have recently been issued that directly affect IT management and FITARA. The ACT-IAC IT Management and Modernization Community of Interest (COI) developed the updated model to address these key changes,” the organization noted in a July 25 press release.
The new model adds cybersecurity as a function area, adds Technology Business Management (TBM) as an attribute, and includes IT workforce re-training, among other changes. In total, the model establishes 36 attributes, each with multiple traits at different maturity levels. The model includes a map to the Office of Management and Budget’s Common Baseline, and mapping to the FITARA Scorecard.
The model also suggests prioritizing governance and budget as the most important functions, with cybersecurity coming as the third most important function area.
“I found the ACT-IAC IT Management and Maturity Model provided the most comprehensive guidance for helping the USDA to successfully implement FITARA mandates and provide metrics to measure the Department and components maturity in managing IT. This model continues to support the USDA [Department of Agriculture] in its fourth year,” said Flip Anderson, director of FITARA Operations at USDA.