Federal Data Strategy: 2020 Action Plan 

Is your public sector agency on track for 2020 so far? Now more than ever, it’s crucial for government organizations to embrace modernization. Innovation, in particular, is a central theme for the federal government.

However, it can be difficult to know if your agency is headed in the right direction toward innovation. Read on to learn how you can prepare your public sector organization for success this year and what you should know to align with the current federal demands.

What is the Federal Data Strategy?  

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was established in 1970 and is currently the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The OMB’s underlying objective is to craft the president’s budget and measure the quality of policies, procedures, and agency programs. 

The OMB recently released the 2020 Action Plan with the contribution of stakeholder feedback. This action plan builds upon existing initiatives and executive orders that have underpinned federal data for the past two decades.   

Understanding the 2020 Action Plan is an essential first step to thinking strategically about public sector innovation and maximizing your organization’s impact.   

What is the 2020 Action Plan?  

In June 2019, the OMB released a draft of the 2020 Action Plan to ultimately give agencies goals to improve value, security, and accessibility. The plan, which has been refined and updated since the summer, lays down a solid foundation that supports the implementation of strategy over the next decade, pinpoints practice-related steps for each year, and establishes processes. The stated 10-year vision is to “accelerate the use of data to deliver on mission, serve the public, and steward resources while protecting security, privacy, and confidentiality.”   

At its core, the Federal Data Strategy’s 2020 plan fundamentally changes the way agencies use data to streamline operations and deliver services. Each annual Action Plan will consist of actions that cover one or more of the 40 practices the FDS has constructed to navigate agencies in leveraging the value of Federal data.    

The 2020 Action Plan includes 20 actions divided into three specific categories: agency actions, community of practice actions, and shared solutions actions. Ready to dive in? 

Agency Actions 

Agency Actions: these foundational steps are expected to support public sector agencies in establishing plans, processes, and priorities for better managing data assets to advance the organization’s mission.

The expectation here — because organizations have different levels of maturity in both their management and their use of data — is that public sector organizations will have different entry points and, thus, plans for executing the six Agency Actions laid out. Your agency should start by establishing a baseline for each action by assessing your organization’s current status. This will help inform an appropriate plan that you can develop and implement to fully achieve each of these actions throughout the current year.

This category is broken into six specific actions: 

• Action 1 — Identifying Data Needs to Answer Priority Agency Questions
• Action 2 — Constituting a Diverse Data Governance Body
• Action 3 — Assessing Data and Related Infrastructure Maturity
• Action 4 — Identify Opportunities to Increase Staff Data Skills
• Action 5 — Identify Priority Data Assets for Agency Open Data Plans
• Action 6 — Publish and Update Data Inventories

Community of Practice Actions 

Community of Practice Actions: these four actions are expected to guide both individual agencies and groups of agencies related to a common topic. These actions assimilate and coordinate ongoing efforts pertinent to existing regulations, laws, and executive orders that are especially relevant to the strategy.

This category is broken into four specific actions:

• Action 7 — Launch a Federal Chief Data Officer Council
• Action 8 — Improve Data and Model Resources for AI Research and Development
• Action 9 — Improve Financial Management Data Standards
• Action 10 — Integrate Geospatial Data Practices into the Federal Data Enterprise

Shared Solution Actions 

Shared Solutions Actions: these distinct actions are expected to guide a single agency or an existing council for the advantage of all agencies. To help carry out the efforts, the shared solution actions provide government-wide direction, thought leadership, tools, and services that all public sector organizations can use.  

This category is broken into 10 specific actions:

• Action 11 — Develop a Repository of Federal Enterprise Data Resources
• Action 12 — Create an OMB Federal Data Policy Committee
• Action 13 — Develop a Curated Data Skills Catalog
• Action 14 — Develop a Data Ethics Framework
• Action 15 — Develop a Data Protection Toolkit
• Action 16 — Pilot a One-Step Standard Research Application
• Action 17 — Pilot an Automated Tool for Information Collection Reviews That Supports Data Inventory Creation and Updates
• Action 18 — Pilot Enhanced Data Management Tool for Federal Agencies
• Action 19 — Develop Data Quality Measuring and Reporting Guidance
• Action 20 — Develop a Data Standards Repository

Strategic Plans for Your Agency  

Innovation is an imperative component in maximizing your agency’s impact and cultivating a robust understanding of the government’s larger vision. In many ways, public sector innovation makes it possible for wider cross-agency work and deeper community impact.

Adopting a modern software system that collects, tracks, and generates reports from your data can help your organization reach its goals and the actions outlined above.

Learn how Apricot 360 makes it easy for public sector organizations like yours to create a centralized database to track what matters most — from intake forms to cases to outcomes and everything in between. Our software arms your organization with the tools to do more with your data and leads innovation in both your agency and in your community.