Introduction to Operational Analysis & Performance

Discover how the OMB circular A11 mandates operational analysis for steady-state investments in operations and maintenance outside the acquisition phase. Assess ongoing performance against cost, schedule, and performance goals.

Identify how operational analysis drives effectiveness and productivity by tying strategic objectives, budget performance metrics, system performance goals, and user satisfaction to cost and mission outcomes.

Assess whether investments meet strategic objectives, financial goals, and customer needs using performance data and baselines for cost, schedule, and performance; recommend modernization, reallocation, or termination as needed.

Conduct an operational analysis at least annually for investments in operations and maintenance or mixed life cycles, starting six to 18 months after a post-implementation review.

Review how your agency's annual operational analysis guide aligns with standard common core elements, identify gaps, and plan timely updates.

Identify when to perform an operational analysis by consulting the Capitol programming guide and OMB Circular A11 part seven, with related business case reports guidance in section fifty five.

Apply operational analysis to monitor cost and schedule using a work breakdown structure aligned with baselines, maintaining deviations within 10 percent. Reallocate resources to mission-aligned investments.

OMB uses operational analysis to measure cost, schedule, and performance against an approved baseline. Variances reveal whether an asset warrants redesign, modification, or maintenance to maximize its useful life.

The project or program manager leads the integrated project team and is accountable for operational analysis, ensuring technology and business align and investments run properly across acquisition and design.

Re-evaluate the cost-benefit analysis from the baseline in planning and budgeting phases. Use trend analyses, risk analyses, security assessments, and vendor commitments to decide when to replace or terminate programs.

Analyze annual operations and maintenance costs by examining personnel changes, scope shifts, and stakeholder needs, using data-driven insights to evaluate cost stability and alignment with technology business management.

Present findings, conclusions, and recommendations from an operational analysis to the IT governance board for concurrence. Align actions with stakeholder goals and performance to decide whether to maintain or change.

Present results to governing body in project, program, or portfolio reviews from a cybersecurity perspective. Support system recertification, re-accreditation, and disposition of assets through stage-gate reviews with business owner participation.

Explore using checklists to define performance measurements, early warning systems, stakeholder roles, surveys under OMB and NARA guidance; establish baselines, targets, data collection, and objective analysis for machine learning–driven improvements.

Identify the minimum core components required in any operational analysis, ensuring standard elements appear in forms or away guides used by your agency.

Analyze how operational investments and steady state maintenance drive strategic and business results, aligning with the current plan and supporting e-government and digital modernization efforts.

Align user assessments with performance.gov goals, the federal enterprise architecture framework, and the PRM, and evaluate efficiency, effectiveness, security, availability, reliability, PII handling, and environmental considerations to identify gaps.

Explore a chart or simple table that allows year-by-year viewing of your original goal, actual performance, and any gaps.

A gap analysis uses a simple table to identify corrective action, explain variances, and compare the as-is state with the target investment.

Measure performance across current and future years by charting baselines, rebaselining, planned improvements, and actual results within the federal enterprise architecture framework and PRM; assess investments for effectiveness and termination.

Assess financial performance by comparing options that meet customer needs at lower costs, including migration costs and better, faster, cheaper, and more secure subscription cloud solutions.

Assess budgetary changes, including 10 percent cuts and personnel losses, and evaluate whether rising salaries allow a return to the investment's steady state.

Engage enterprise architects to align as-is and target architectures and drive a roadmap from point A to point B, leveraging technology for efficiency, scalability, and stakeholder services across portfolios.

Identify and address innovation gaps in steady-state investment analyses by leveraging scalable platforms, cloud-based apps, modular contracting, technology as a service, and multiagency collaboration to align with governance and strategy.

Annotate whether an investment meets its performance goals and recommend whether to keep the investment the same or adopt a different approach.

Review federal mandates and standards for security and privacy, assess authority to operate, certifications, and testing for confidentiality, integrity, and availability, including records management and section 508 testing.

Read the OMB Circular A-11 and the A-130 to stay current on federal information resources; print completion certificates for continuing professional education and job applications.

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