The Business Transformation Agency (BTA) was an organization of the United States Department of Defense responsible for guiding the department's business operations modernization. The BTA was active from 2005 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 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 R. England on October 7, 2005. [1] 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; and Director of Agency Operations, Navy Captain Michael Murphy.
In August 2010, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates 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." [2]
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 U.S. military in the 21st century, the DoD established the Business Transformation Agency to allow the defense business enterprise to adapt, flex, and react effectively to the needs of its modern joint warfighter. Transformation seeks to make DoD business operations more agile, lean and rapid. The department called its approach to this need for transformation “federated”—meaning that uniformed and civilian leadership at all levels in the DoD were considered accountable for transformation progress. This effort was announced to be structured to support four strategic objectives:
The Defense Business Systems Management Committee, chaired by the Deputy Secretary of Defense, led the Transformation endeavor. The BTA was intended to serve as a catalyst for transformation by coordinating and integrating transformation activity at the DoD enterprise level. As of 2020, the Defense Business Systems Management Committee still functions to oversee development and management of business systems within the DoD.
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.
The DBSAE provided direct oversight of 27 department-wide ERP programs. Notable among these programs are the Defense Travel System (DTS), the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System (DIMHRS) and the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP).
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.
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 Review. 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.
P&R-FM was the primary link to the Principal Staff Assistants within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and other DoD-level organizations; in particular the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) and Office of the Secretary of Defense (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.
P&R-HRM was the primary link to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) regarding all human resource management related transformation activities. They aligned functional priorities and requirements of these client organizations in the BEA and ETP, and in the guidance for business system investment management.
P&R-SCM served as the primary link to the Principal Staff Assistants within the Office of the Secretary of Defense and other DoD-level organizations as they relate to Supply Chain Management. They ensure that functional priorities Material Visibility, Common Supplier Engagement, Acquisition Visibility, and Real Property Accountability are reflected in the BEA and the ETP, and in the guidance for business system investment management.
WR identified and resolved urgent DoD business issues that are directly affecting the troops. The WR also serves as an advocate for soldiers within the BTA. WR projects included economic roundtables that brought together organizations responsible for Mideast economic redevelopment with personnel who are about to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. These roundtables established a working relationship that can be continued once they are deployed.
The office of the Chief of Staff provided operational support for the employees at the BTA. This included sections managing personnel, pay, planning, budgeting, infrastructure, IT, and internal management activities.
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), known as the Defense Communications Agency (DCA) until 1991, is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) combat support agency composed of military, federal civilians, and contractors. DISA provides information technology (IT) and communications support to the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, the military services, the combatant commands, and any individual or system contributing to the defense of the United States.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency within the United States Department of Defense whose primary mission is collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of national security. Initially known as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) from 1996 to 2003, it is one of the "big five" members of the United States Intelligence Community.
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United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) was a Unified Combatant Command of the United States Department of Defense. USJFCOM was a functional command that provided specific services to the military. The last commander was Army Gen. Ray Odierno. As directed by the President to identify opportunities to cut costs and rebalance priorities, Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended that USJFCOM be disestablished and its essential functions reassigned to other unified combatant commands. Formal disestablishment occurred on 4 August 2011.
Washington Headquarters Services (WHS) is a Department of Defense (DoD) Field Activity, created on October 1, 1977, to provide administrative and management support to multiple DoD components and military departments in the National Capital Region and beyond.
NetOps is defined as the operational framework consisting of three essential tasks, Situational Awareness (SA), and Command & Control (C2) that the Commander (CDR) of US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), in coordination with DoD and Global NetOps Community, employs to operate, manage and defend the Global Information Grid (GIG) to ensure information superiority for the United States.
Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations (JTF-GNO) was a subordinate command of United States Strategic Command whose mission was to: direct the operation and defense of the Global Information Grid (GIG) across strategic, operational, and tactical boundaries in support of the US Department of Defense's full spectrum of war fighting, intelligence, and business operations.
The United States under secretary of defense for policy (USDP) is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Defense. The under secretary of defense for policy is the principal staff assistant and adviser to both the secretary of defense and the deputy secretary of defense for all matters concerning the formation of national security and defense policy.
Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) was a United States Department of Defense (DoD) agency whose size and budget were classified. The CIFA was created by a directive from the Secretary of Defense, then Donald Rumsfeld, on February 19, 2002. On August 8, 2008, it was announced that CIFA would be shut down. The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) absorbed most of the components and authorities of the CIFA into the Defense Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center which was later consolidated into the Defense Clandestine Service.
The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks & Information Integration was an appointed position that provided management and oversight of all DoD information technology, including national security systems. The ASD(NII) also served as the chief information officer (CIO) of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), a position distinct from the ASD and governed by the Clinger-Cohen Act.
The Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996 is a United States federal law, designed to improve the way the federal government acquires, uses and disposes information technology (IT). It was passed as Division E of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996. Together with the Federal Acquisition Reform Act of 1996, it is known as the Clinger–Cohen Act.
The under secretary of defense for intelligence & security or USD(I&S) is a high-ranking civilian position in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) within the U.S. Department of Defense that acts as the principal civilian advisor and deputy to the secretary of defense and deputy secretary of defense on matters relating to military intelligence & security. The under secretary is appointed as a civilian by the president and confirmed by the Senate to serve at the pleasure of the president.
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 (DoD). As the largest enterprise resource planning program ever implemented for human resources, DIMHRS was to subsume or replace over 90 legacy systems. The first phase of DIMHRS was expected to roll out first to the U.S. Army in 2009 and bring all payroll and personnel functions for the Army into one integrated web-based system. The U.S. Air Force, United States Navy and the Marines were expected to roll out in that order after the Army had implemented it. On January 16, 2009, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a memorandum directing the MILDEPS and the Defense Finance Accounting Service (DFAS), to confirm the "core" enterprise requirements of the capability at that time. Once, confirmed, the BTA was to transition the solution to the individual MILDEPS to build out and deploy their own required personnel and pay solutions using the "core" to the maximum extent possible..(Memorandum, Deputy Secretary of Defense, January 16, 2009, Subject: Acquisition Decision Memorandum for the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System). The solution was transitioned to the MILDEPS on September 30, 2009. After numerous delays, technical problems, and other issues, in February 2010, the DoD completed the transition of the program, after 11 years and $850 million.
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Elizabeth Ann Hight is a retired United States Navy rear admiral who served as the vice director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). She assumed this post in December 2007. In 2008, she was nominated for appointment to the grade of vice admiral and assignment as director, Defense Information Systems Agency; commander, Joint Task Force – Global Network Operations; and deputy commander, U.S. Strategic Command Global Network Operations and Defense, Arlington, Virginia. Her nomination was rejected by the Senate due to a perceived conflict of interest with her husband, retired Air Force Brigadier General Gary Salisbury, who is vice president of business development and sales for Northrop Grumman Corp.'s mission systems sector, defense mission systems division. She retired from the Navy in 2010.
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