Introduction Section I – Integrated Science Directions for fy 2005

Enterprise Information Program

The Enterprise Information Program (EIP) is developing an initial 5-year program plan.

For FY 2005 and beyond, the Program will continue to emphasize two major objectives:

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  Provide the overall policy, management, and operation of bureau-level systems and activities in information technology (IT), information security, information services, information resources management, and capital asset planning.
  
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  Provide in-kind support (primarily in the form of technical expertise and assistance) for collaborative activities with USGS science programs and integrated science themes to assist them in meeting their information-related objectives.
  

Key program priorities for FY 2005 include the following that, with one exception noted below, will be conducted within existing base resources.

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  Collaborate on Selected Science Information Integration Projects: The Program will provide in-kind support (technical expertise and assistance, access to specialized hardware and software infrastructure, etc.) to collaborate on selected USGS science information integration projects. The goals are to assist in meeting specific information-related objectives of each project, while also documenting successful approaches and techniques that can be transferred to meet similar requirements across the Bureau. For FY 2005, emphasis in this area will be on collaborating on integrated science projects that address: the Mancos Shale, Urban Earth, and Mercury Contaminants, and on assisting in development of information management strategies for science programs and field science centers.
  

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  Continue to Enhance USGS IT Security: Enhancement of IT security infrastructure and operations continues to be the highest IT priority for the Department. The USGS is engaged in completing a significant enhancement of its underlying IT security operations infrastructure (including extensive network perimeter controls, separation of public and private systems and content, and enhanced vulnerability scanning and intrusion detection), and in providing program oversight necessary to maintain this secure infrastructure on a continuing basis. For FY 2005, the USGS is requesting an increase of $1.8 million in the President’s Budget to support these enhanced efforts. In addition, DOI has directed USGS to ensure that all information technology systems receive full IT security certification and accreditation (C&A) by the end of FY 2005. For the USGS, this includes major/critical application information systems (i.e., for science and for business/administration) and general support systems (i.e., infrastructure systems). The Enterprise Information Program is overseeing the bureau-wide C&A effort and providing technical expertise and funding to support completion of C&A for bureau-level systems by the end of FY 2005.
  

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  Implement Active Directory: Implementation of the Microsoft Windows Active Directory as the DOI-wide IT directory service is one of the key DOI-wide IT mandates. Use of a single directory service across the organization provides a centralized and standardized system to manage distributed network resources and services, administer user accounts, and provide more interoperability between offices. Benefits for USGS will include enhanced IT security, efficiencies and potential costs savings in management of our computing resources (desktops, laptops, and servers), and providing a fundamental building block of an integrated information environment that will make it easier for USGS scientists across the Bureau to collaborate and to share data, information and applications. USGS has been directed by DOI to ensure that all USGS offices have completed implementation of Active Directory by the end of FY 2005. The Enterprise Information Program is overseeing this bureau-wide effort.
  

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  Enhance USGS Public Web Sites: The USGS maintains approximately 300 public Web sites providing our science information to a wide variety of customers. The Enterprise Web project team works with interested science programs and offices to provide technical assistance and access to tools and services that can help ensure their public Web sites are secure, reliable, easy-to-maintain and update, and that they are carefully organized, designed, and equipped to allow customers to find, get, and use the data and information they need. Some of the important services provided through Enterprise Web include: a comprehensive USGS-wide thesaurus of technical and scientific terms and a thesaurus-based alphabetical index that supports more efficient indexing and searching of all USGS web sites; usability testing and automated customer feedback tools, tools to ensure web pages are fully compliant with Section 508 accessibility requirements; and an on-line USGS “Publications Warehouse” that provides an integrated mechanism to search more than 60,000 bibliographic citations for USGS reports and thematic maps and, in many cases, to link directly to the full on-line content of a given publication. In addition, the NatWeb component of Enterprise Web provides a highly secure, reliable, consolidated, and failure-resistant web server infrastructure that ensures that critical USGS public web sites will remain available during emergency situations. Migrating existing USGS science web sites into this secure infrastructure is helping USGS reduce the number of vulnerable public Web servers, reduce security related workload for content owners (i.e., science programs) and reduce traffic on internal networks.
  

Contact: Tom Gunther.