全球智库信息集成服务系统

DHS-HQ data are predominately unstructured

• In general, many of the analytic tools used by DHS business process owners are either documents that contain narrative descriptions of strategy, program risk, or operational requirements, or spreadsheets that contain information about staffing, budgets, program costs, or outputs.

Demand for analysis at DHS-HQ is high

• Elements of the analytic inventory (analytic capability, data culture, data management, systems and technology, and data governance) reflect a lack of maturity.
• Much analysis at DHS-HQ is document-based, requiring analysts to extract meaning from free text and analyze whether a prescribed course of action will achieve its goals. This approach is a type of predictive analytics.
• Predictive analyses often lack replicability and analysts may not be able to assess whether their predictions are valid. They are also highly compartmentalized among the DHS-HQ business process owners, as opposed to being DHS enterprisewide capabilities.
• DHS enterprisewide capabilities consist of disparate systems and groups, with data management occurring at the individual organization level (rather than at the enterprise systems level), and are of highly variable data quality.
• Consequently, while there is variation across the DHS-HQ business offices, analytics at DHS-HQ reflect some aspects of maturity. However, they are not easily replicable nor is this approach to predictive analytics likely to be highly reliable.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Headquarters (DHS-HQ) is developing an Analytic Agenda that defines key actions that DHS-HQ organizations will take in decisionmaking processes. Accordingly, the Analytic Agenda calls for an inventory of decision support analytics and corresponding analytic capabilities within DHS-HQ.

A lack of systematic data analytic processes within DHS-HQ precluded the development of a searchable, updatable database of analytic tools. However, this inventory of capabilities supporting DHS component business processes serves as a benchmark for evaluating DHS-HQ analytic maturity and provides strategic direction for improvement. Additionally, it provides a strategic direction for DHS-HQ to improve the data collection and data manipulation of the predominately document-driven process of strategy, requirements development, acquisition program accountability, and risk analysis and evaluation.

This report also helps advance the Analytic Agenda by providing a clear and functional working definition of an analytic capability, documenting the decision points at which analytic inputs are required within DHS-HQ business processes, listing and describing the analytic tools that are currently used in DHS-HQ business processes, and identifying potential improvements in business processes, data analytics, and collaboration for DHS.

• Chapter One

  Introduction to Analytic Capabilities

• Chapter Two

  Methodology: Collecting Information to Develop an Inventory of Analytic Capabilities

• Chapter Three

  DHS-HQ Analytic Capabilities in the Business Process

• Chapter Four

  The Role of S&T

• Chapter Five

  Conclusion: Major Findings and Recommendations

• Appendix A

  Interview Protocol

• Appendix B

  DHS-HQ Business Process Owner Capability Summaries

• Appendix C

  DHS-HQ Business Process Flow Charts

• Appendix D

  DHS-HQ Business Process Analytic Table