Ross Wilkers
Cost-efficiency is both a buzzword and a norm for the government in an era of tightened budgets. The Defense Department is no exception and the Pentagon is looking to information technology as the key to achieving the goals of both cost-efficiency and information sharing.
Semantic web is the path the Pentagon has chosen for IT, according to Federal Computer Week. In a request for information, the Defense Information Systems Agency and Deputy Chief Management Office said they are looking to establish an enterprise information web built on semantic web, which allows data to be shared and reused across different applications and systems.
The request for information says the new web allows for better data collection, analysis and reporting of data needed to manage personnel information and business systems, as well as giving troops intelligence while in the battlefield.
“The information necessary for decision-making is often contained in multiple source systems managed by the military services, components and/or defense agencies,” the RFI says. “In order to provide an enterprise view or answer questions that involve multiple services or components, each organization receives data requests then must interpret the question and collect, combine and present the requested information.”
Many of the Pentagon’s databases and business systems are not interoperable, according to FCW’s report, and reduced funds will make it imperative to “optimize our business processes and the systems that support them to reduce our annual business systems spending,“ Deputy Chief Management Officer Beth McGrath said in an April 4 memo.
