Veterans Affairs puts brake on struggling IT projects
Monday, July 20, 2009
The Veterans Affairs Department is temporarily halting further progress on 45 information technology projects that are behind schedule or over budget, including several major health IT programs.
Roger Baker, the agency’s chief information officer, will review the patient appointment scheduling replacement, next generation health data repository and other IT projects to determine whether these can be saved and, if so, to fix the management gaps that should put them back on track.
VA Secretary Gen. Eric Shinseki (ret.) ordered a review of the department’s 300 IT projects and the establishment of the Program Management Accountability System designed to improve the department’s oversight of its IT projects in a July 17 announcement. Project managers will have to meet the requirements of the management accountability system and gain the CIO’s approval.
Baker wants to increase the success rate for VA’s systems development projects.
“We will use every tool at our disposal to bring about greater accountability and ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely,” he said.
The management accountability system and the IT Dashboard, which the Office of Management and Budget launched last month, will be critical indicators of whether VA IT projects are on schedule and on budget.
“If they are not, we will take swift action to cut down on waste and redundancy,” Baker said.
Over the next year, all VA IT projects will have to follow the requirements of the management accountability system.
The management accountability system and the analytical tools incorporated in the IT Dashboard will help VA project managers set milestones to accomplish a new functionality for agency offices and healthcare facilities. Failure to meet the deadlines indicates a problem within the project.
A customer delivery milestone that is missed three times could result in the project being stopped and revamped.
Some of the 45 IT projects Shinseki halted include scheduling replacement, laboratory system re-engineering project, pharmacy re-engineering, health data repository II and master patient index. Learn more that the Department of Veterans Affairs Web site.
