Business Transformation Agency
Encyclopedia
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
(DoD) responsible for guiding the Department’s business operations modernization. The BTA was active from 2005 and until its closure in 2011.
The agency aimed to foster business operations support for the American warfighter and seeks to provide accountability to the American taxpayer by systematically improving DoD’s business processes, ERP
Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...
systems and investment governance. Aiming to provide consistency, consolidation and coordination across the Department of Defense, the BTA produces the Enterprise Transition Plan (ETP) - an integrated and executable roadmap that observes the standards laid out in the Business Enterprise Architecture (BEA). The ETP and the BEA aimed to transform DOD business operations to achieve improved warfighter support while enabling financial accountability across the Department of Defense.
The Business Transformation Agency was established by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England on October 7, 2005. The founding executives of the BTA were Co-Directors--Thomas Modly, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Financial Management, and Paul Brinkley, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Business Transformation; Director of Transformation Planning and Performance--David Fisher; Director of Transformation Priorities and Requirements--Radha Sekar; Director; Director of Investment Management--Paul Ketrick; Director of Warfighter Support--Bob Love; Director of Information and Federation Management--David Scantling
David Scantling
David Scantling has led start-up technology teams at Uprizer, Econex, Grey Haven and Storage Continuity. As a senior executive at IBM, Hewlett-Packard and the US Department of Defense, he worked on major business transformation, Internet and telecommunications initiatives...
; and Director of Agency Operations--Navy Captain Michael Murphy.
In August 2010, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
Robert Gates
Dr. Robert Michael Gates is a retired civil servant and university president who served as the 22nd United States Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011. Prior to this, Gates served for 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, and under President George H. W....
directed the inactivation of the BTA. The disestablishment of the agency was to be completed by September, 2011. In his speech Secretary Gates said "The Business Transformation Agency was formally established in 2006 to foster the reform and modernization of this department's business practices. Since its creation, BTA, an agency that now employs approximately 360 people and spends $340 million a year, has shifted more of its focus to day-to-day oversight of individual acquisition programs, a function that can be performed by a number of other organizations. Furthermore, the mission assigned to BTA has largely been legislatively assigned to other elements of the department."
Business Transformation
In the last decades of the 20th century, the Department of Defense business model was configured to support a military dependent on large-scale weapons systems and prepared for sustained, predictable battlefield engagements in specific parts of the world. With the challenges that face the US military in the 21st century, the DoD seeks to allow the defense business enterprise to adapt, flex and react effectively to the needs of its modern jointJoint
A joint is the location at which two or more bones make contact. They are constructed to allow movement and provide mechanical support, and are classified structurally and functionally.-Classification:...
warfighter.
Transformation seeks to make DoD business operations more agile, lean and rapid. The Department calls its approach to this “federated” – meaning that uniformed and civilian leadership at all levels in the DoD are accountable for transformation progress.
This effort was announced to be structured to support four strategic objectives:
- Develop and provide support for US joint warfighting capability
- Enable rapid access to information for strategic decisions by fostering the development of interoperable and efficient ERP systems
- Reduce the cost of Defense Business operations
- Improve financial stewardship to the American people
The Defense Business Systems Management Committee, chaired by the Deputy Secretary of Defense, leads the Transformation endeavor. The BTA serves as a catalyst for transformation by coordinating and integrating transformation activity at the DoD enterprise level.
Organization
The BTA was divided into 8 directorates organized around the functions of supporting defense business transformation. Overseeing these directorates was Director David M. Fisher, author of Optimize Now (or else!) (ISBN 0-595-29837-0), a guide to successful organizational transformation.Defense Business Systems Acquisition Executive
The DBSAE provided direct oversight of 27 DoD-wide ERP programs. Notable among these programs are the Defense Travel System (DTS), the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources SystemDefense Integrated Military Human Resources System
The Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System was an enterprise program of the Business Transformation Agency's Defense Business Systems Acquisition Executive, within the United States Department of Defense . As the largest enterprise resource planning program ever implemented for human...
(DIMHRS) and the Federal Voting Assistance Program
Federal Voting Assistance Program
The Federal Voting Assistance Program administers the federal responsibilities of the Presidential designee , under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986. The Director, FVAP administers the Act on behalf of the Secretary of Defense...
(FVAP).
Enterprise Integration
EI worked to ensure fast adoption of DoD-wide information and process standards as defined in the BEA. They sought to eliminate burdensome processes that hinder successful, speedy deployment of ERP capabilities within the DoD components.Enterprise Planning and Investment
EP&I provided investment management leadership for DoD Enterprise-level business systems. It coordinates the efforts of DoD's acquisition policy as outlined in the DoD 5000 series pertaining to business systems. The Directorate also provides input for the Quadrennial Defense ReviewQuadrennial Defense Review
The Quadrennial Defense Review is a study by the United States Department of Defense that analyzes strategic objectives and potential military threats. The Quadrennial Defense Review Report is the main public document describing the United States's military doctrine.As stipulated in the 1997...
. EP&I is responsible for the Business Enterprise Architecture (BEA), the Enterprise Transition Plan (ETP) and the March Congressional Report (MCR). EP&I was the result of a merger of the former directorates Transformation Priorities & Requirements and Investment Management.
Priorities & Requirements – Financial Management
P&R-FM was the primary link to the Principal Staff Assistants within the Office of the Secretary of DefenseOffice of the Secretary of Defense
The Office of the Secretary of Defense is a headquarters-level staff of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. It is the principal civilian staff element of the Secretary of Defense, and it assists the Secretary in carrying out authority, direction and control of the Department...
and other DoD-level organizations; in particular the Defense Finance and Accounting Service
Defense Finance and Accounting Service
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service is an agency of the United States Department of Defense that provides finance and accounting services for the civil and military members of the Department. Headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, it was activated on Jan. 18, 1991...
(DFAS) and OSD (Comptroller). They ensured that the financial visibility priorities and requirements of these client organizations are reflected in the BEA and ETP, and in the guidance for business system investment management.