Census Bureau

Creating Integrated Information Solutions

Services Rendered

  • Business Reengineering
  • Project Management
  • “As Is” Documentation
  • Process Modeling
  • Knowledge Transfer
  • Communication Planning

Innovation and Achievement

Recognizing significant limitations to its current data access and dissemination capabilities, the U.S. Bureau of the Census (BOC) undertook a radical re-design in the way it designs, develops, and delivers data products to its customers. A cross-functional team was charged with creating a business and technology solution that incorporated metadata, data, and finished data products from various internal and external sources into one “seamless” data access, delivery, and customer service site. The BOC also wanted to develop a team of internal business process reengineering (BPR) facilitators to be able to plan and execute this type of project for future efforts.

Project Objectives

Recognizing significant limitations to its current data access and dissemination capabilities, the U.S. Bureau of the Census (BOC) undertook a radical re-design in the way it designs, develops, and delivers data products to its customers. A cross-functional team was charged with creating a business and technology solution that incorporated metadata, data, and finished data products from various internal and external sources into one “seamless” data access, delivery, and customer service site. The BOC also wanted to develop a team of internal business process reengineering (BPR) facilitators to be able to plan and execute this type of project for future efforts.

Our Approach

This project involved many internal divisions including customer service, media production, multiple survey divisions, disclosure avoidance, geography, and IT among others. We led a cross-organizational team, representing these various constituencies, through a series of workshops to define the business processes, organizational structure, and high-level information and technology requirements of the new organization. Project deliverables included a viable, line-item budget initiative to Congress; high-level “As Is” documentation; design of the new organization including business processes, technology specifications, and information specifications to accommodate internal, external, and intra-agency use; and a design utilizing the current access and dissemination system.

Throughout the project, we organized and managed data collection for the business case and project communications. Our fast-paced, agile methodology allowed for rapid course corrections, addressing the essential problems and issues facing the team. We transferred our skills and knowledge to an internal BPR facilitation team through our Knowledge Transfer Program, a just-in-time training program designed to impart our methodology and years of expertise to the client team. This customized program included formal training sessions in techniques for as-is data collection; designing, scripting, and documenting workshops; gathering baseline measurements; and implementation planning and business case development techniques. In-workshop training sessions allowed the internal consultants to develop their skills, putting into practice the lessons they had just learned.