NSF FY 2006 Assessment: Organizational Excellence

Advisory Committee for Business and Operations

May 18, 2006

The Organizational Excellence Goal

Organizational Excellence: An agile, innovative organization that fulfills its mission through

leadership in state-of the-art business practices

In the current draft of the 2006-2011 Strategic Plan, the Organizational Excellence goal has been changed to Stewardship

Stewardship: Support excellence in science and engineering research and education through a

capable and responsive organization.

• The Stewardship goal is meant to be more inclusive Foundation-wide. Long-term investment priorities in the draft Strategic Plan attest to this more wide-ranging view.

Background for Current Year (FY 2006) Assessment

• Took into account observations from the Committee on the 2005 Assessment of Organizational Excellence– Clarify the connection between activities that address the

OE goals and NSF’s overall mission and purpose.– Emphasize strategic versus tactical accomplishments.– Highlight leadership in government-wide initiatives and

how these initiatives benefit the Foundation.• Noted that this assessment year is “between” Strategic

Plans

This year’s assessment is more mission-focused and strategically oriented

Key Questions for Committee Focus

• Does the evidence presented support NSF’s determination that it has (or has not) “demonstrated significant achievement” for the indicator?

• What changes in approach or methodology be considered as NSF develops an assessment framework for the Stewardship goal, as outlined in the draft Strategic Plan for FY 2006-2011?

Performance Indicator: Human Capital Management

Workforce Planning supports NSF’s Strategic Plan in several ways:• Improves capacity of the workforce to work effectively in a

business environment• Helps to respond to the changing nature of work and workload• Increases the effectiveness of human capital techniques and

tools

FY 2006 Focus• Develop an agency-wide Workforce Planning process

Results• Defined framework• Implemented Workforce Planning process• Developed workload and FTE models• Developed initial agency-wide Workforce Plan

Performance Indicator: Human Capital Management

Indicator Assessment: Fully Successful

NSF determined that it has demonstrated significant achievement in Human Capital

Management

Performance Indicators: Technology-Enabled Business Processes

• Leadership in Government-Wide Grants Initiatives• Increase Efficiency of Proposal and Award Process• Excellence in IT Management• Security• Improve Customer Satisfaction

Leadership in Government-Wide Grants Initiatives• Grants.gov• Grants Management Line of Business

Grants.gov• Find- 100% posted• Apply- 75% posted in FY 2006• FastLane/Grants.gov Integration Complete

Grants Management Line of Business• NSF was selected as consortium lead for the Grants

Management Line of Business (GMLoB) in Q1 2006

Leadership in Government-Wide Grants Initiatives

Key Activities- Grants Management Line of Business• Develop High-Level Business Case• Pilot a Grants Management service with another agency

(US Dept of Agriculture)

Indicator Assessment: Partially Successful

Increase Efficiency of Proposal and Award Process• Continue to support NSF’s goal to reduce paper-based

proposal processing through more extensive use of web-based eJacket.

Results• Dwell time has been reduced • Non-Awards: nearly all processed through eJacket• Committee of Visitors (COV) module: will enable groups to

view jackets and other documents electronically. Incorporates Conflict of Interest functionality.

• eCorrespondence module: improved functionality and automation will allow for seamless, workflow-oriented processing.

Increase Efficiency of Proposal and Award Process

Next Steps• Awards processing improvement

– 70% of volume is non-awards

Indicator Assessment: Fully Successful

Excellence in IT Management

• The re-tooled CIO Advisory Group (CIOAG) met initially in May 2005.

• The CIOAG will focus on three key technology management areas:– Capital Planning and Investment Control (CPIC) – Performance Management and Risk assessment– Enterprise Architecture (EA)

The cross-Directorate CIOAG team has met five times and has addressed key challenges in these management areas that has and will benefit NSF’s IT investments and investment

strategy.

Indicator Assessment: Partially Successful

Security

• NSF continues to do a good job balancing the need to maintain an open, collaborative environment for scientific research and discovery while assuring that we protect our information and assets from an increasingly hostile threat environment.

Results• The House Committee on Government Reform recently graded

24 Federal Agencies on security. The overall grade for the government was “D+”. NSF’s score rose from “C+” to “A” in 2006.

• Continued clean Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) audit results.

• 100% of major applications certified and accredited.

Indicator Assessment: Fully Successful

Improve Customer Satisfaction

• The second annual NSF-wide Customer Satisfaction Survey was conducted in December 2005– 24% of all employees (344) responded [96% confidence

level with 5% margin of error].– Over half of the respondents provided valuable comments– Most respondents self-identified Directorate worked and

role (e.g., PO, Manager, non-Manager, etc.).Results• Customers generally satisfied with services

– All services (10 rated) increased their scores

Improve Customer Satisfaction

Next Steps• Formulate Action Plans to address areas of

significance/lower scores– Strive for steady improvement

Indicator Assessment: Partially Successful

Summary: Technology-Enabled Business Processes

Indicator Success

Leadership in Government-Wide Grants Initiatives Partial

Increase Efficiency of Proposal and Award Process Full

Excellent in IT Management Partial

Security Full

Improve Customer Satisfaction Partial

NSF determined that it has demonstrated significant achievement in technology-enabled

business processes

Performance Assessment Indicator

Develop and use performance assessment tools and measures to provide an environment of continuous improvement in NSF’s intellectual investments as well as its management effectiveness

Acronyms

GPRA: Government Performance and Results Act of 1993

PART: Program Assessment Rating Tool AC/GPA: Advisory Committee for GPRA

Performance Assessment

FY 2006 Focus Areas

1. PART Integration2. AC/GPA Process Improvements

PART Integration

Emphasis on integrating PART with ongoing program management activities.

Efficiency measures tie directly to merit review process (such as dwell time).

Output measures focus on NSF-wide objectives, such as broadening participation and promoting partnerships.

Developing “Improvement Plans” for completed PARTs that focus on NSF-wide challenges:

Improving transparency in Merit Review. Improving project reporting.

Assessment: Fully Successful in FY 2006

AC/GPA Process Improvements

Addressed more than 50 committee member comments on process improvements.

Held training sessions on writing nuggets for NSF program officers. Reached 200+ NSF Program Staff (~1/3 of Pgm. Officers)

Convened orientation teleconferences for AC/GPA members at start of assessment process.

Clarified task & developed resources for OE subgroup.

Assessment: Fully Successful in FY 2006

Summary/Conclusion: Performance Assessment

Indicator Success

PART Integration Full

AC/GPA Process Improvements Full

NSF has determined that it has demonstrated significant achievement in Performance Assessment in FY 2006.

Key Questions for Committee Focus

• Does the evidence presented support NSF’s determination that it has (or has not) “demonstrated significant achievement” for the indicator?

• What changes in approach or methodology be considered as NSF develops an assessment framework for the Stewardship goal, as outlined in the draft Strategic Plan for FY 2006-2011?