Literature Review and Public

¶ … New IT Infrastructure at the FBI There appear to be room for improvement in the current situation at the FBI. The results of the research indicated a number of potential areas of improvement, these concern the tangible and the intangible aspects of the department. The initial research clearly indicated the department was stretched, with a number of tensions in the way budgets were allocated and used.

There can be little doubt the FBI will be under constant pressure to ensure their systems remain up to date in order to undertake its task, which support millions of Americans. With the problems associated with the bureaucratic procedures, there are a number of dangers faced in the FBI, including the mismatch between the budget needs and the timing of the allocation and receipt of funds.

The current system is aging, therefore, the solution suggested has been the development of a new, state of the art infrastructure, which will allow the division to operate efficiently, and avoid the issues which are inherently linked with the problems seen in the old incumbent infrastructure.

The literature review clearly indicated there was a significant level of inefficiency in terms of both funding and procurement, which is also resulting in the IT contracts not always obtaining the best value for money through a failure to manage acquired features, as currently as many as 45% of IT features are not being used. The research outcomes were highly aligned with the results and issues which were indicated as present in the literature review.

The findings support the need for a new state of the art infrastructure to be developed, seen with the primary research findings which clearly indicate a degree of fragmentation and numerous data marts and different project silos, a problem which also increased reliance on specific skills and personnel sets which could be increasingly difficult to access. Overall, the results demonstrated a lack of integration between the different systems, projects and functions.

The ongoing nature of these issues were not only creating problems, but maybe argued is likely to predict future problems, where the existing issues will become further exacerbated. The recommendation to implement a brand-new up-to-date data infrastructure may have some sort term costs which exceed existing budget forecast. However, when considering any investment it is necessary to consider the entire impact, not only the short-term impact, often considered through strategies such as the use of a cost benefit analysis or cost-effectiveness analysis (Holloway, 2015).

The literature review above has already demonstrated the problems associated with failing to act, problems which are not only economically difficult, but also politically and socially unacceptable. Therefore some type of action has to be taken. By examining the results, it is apparent that the system needs continual updating, and that the existing approach is effectively a patchwork of different systems which are not always tied together in an efficient manner.

Therefore, the recommendation for implementation of a brand-new IT architecture/infrastructure will help to overcome many of the existing problems, as well as guard against future problems. For example, the development of a singular but highly integrated system would help to reduce the potential problem of reliance on a few very specialised personnel associated with the various individual projects or silos within the existing system.

The potential effectiveness of this solution is not only for the creation of a new system that is able to meet public expectations, but the ability to building the features and functions that are currently missing, such as facilitating a greater level of integration which will improve overall efficiency.

The application of semantic data lakes provide particular benefits in terms of their ability to deal with big data, and allow for meta data management and may be implemented with a forward looking strategy to accommodate significant growth in the size and complexity of the data being managed. The new infrastructure should also include a revised and improved data governance which should be developed not only the consideration of the system, but with consideration of the users.

By developing both the system and the governance framework at the same time, there will be increased abilities to create processes that are intuitive for users and achieve their aims, the same time as being efficient, and meeting the legal and ethical requirements expected of a governance of the department. Importantly for any public body, the implementation of this strategy will not only improve efficiency, it will also have a positive impact in terms of the reputation of the organisation.

Firstly, by acting now before there is a negative or adverse event linked to the IT policies, procedures and capabilities of the FBI, the organisation may prevent negative publicity which would undermine public.