NBC Datamart

A Case Study of

the National Business Center

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Who is the NBC?

• An agency of the Department of the Interior• Provides administrative services and systems to

the rest of the federal government• Selected as one of four e-Payroll providers• Named as one of five HR Line of Business

Centers of Excellence• Named as one of four Financial Management

Line of Business Centers of Excellence.

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NBC – Turning Data into Information

• Provide all FPPS users with on-line access to their HR and Payroll data.

• Improve data quality and integrity by – reducing data entry through auxiliary systems and

interfaces with the authoritative source.– Integrating related data from multiple sources.

• Improve data security through reapplication of security from the authoritative source of the data.

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NBC Datamart: 4+ years of production

• 1998 - Independent assessment recommended NBC create a reporting system for the Federal Personnel/Payroll System (FPPS)

• 1999 - Project formalized as FPPS Datamart– Team established and trained– Goals, including initial list of FPPS file to be

included established.– Technology researched and established

• 2000 – First production environment• 2001 – New project manager hired• 2002 – All initial files implemented• 2002 - Present – Continued growth

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What was the original Business Problem?

• FPPS did not provide a modern reporting environment

• Users did not have access to an analytical environment

• Users could not export data

• Users could not format reports for presentation

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Objectives of the FPPS Datamart

• Provide a state-of-the-art reporting environment

• Original file listing– Combined File (HR and Pay)– Combined History– Transaction (SF-50 Actions)

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Who are the primary Users?• FPPS Agencies including

– Social Security Administration– Department of the Interior– NASA– Department of Education– National Science Foundation– Department of Transportation– Securities and Exchange Commission– Equal Employment Opportunity Commision

• FPPS Usage expanded due to e-Payroll initiative– NBC services 37 agencies – paying over 300,000 employees

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NBC Datamart

Oracle Data Store•Multiple Production, Stage, Test and Development databases

FPPS

FFS

Agency

AuxiliarySystems

Bank ofAmerica

Brio/Hyperion

Agency Systems

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Data Management Architecture

• Flat File Feed– Extract files loaded automatically– Good alternative for data not automatically maintained

within source system or for crossing security lines

• I-Way Gateway– Real-time read of ADABAS (FPPS environment)

• Treehouse– Periodical update using ADABAS backup files

• Direct Oracle Client Read– Used for extracts

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NBC Datamart – Auxiliary Systems

• Build upon data in Datamart• Automate niche business process not serviced

by larger NBC product.• Reuse NBC Datamart infrastructure.• Reuse Security of authoritative source.• Examples

– SEC Position Control System– NSF Intergovernmental Personnel Act System

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Customer Service• Level 0

– Extensive information on Web Page• How to get training• Table descriptions• Newsletters• Computed Items

– Web-Based Training

• Level 1 and 2– Helpdesk– Periodic DM User Group Meetings– Site Visits

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NBC – Three Years Later

• Scope expanded enough to change name of product, FPPS Datamart -> NBC Datamart, now includes, along with FPPS data, – Agency Managed data– Agency Historical HR/Pay data– Casual Hire data– Federal Financial data– Auxiliary System data– DOI Charge Card data

• Usage expanded by 496% of users and 477% of queries

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Query EnvironmentBrio 6.6.4 and HPS8

•Current environment•Brio 6.6.4•Three load balanced servers•Known maintenance requirements

•Future environment•Hyperion Performance Suite 8•Currently in pre-production testing

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Future – HPS8Issues

• Internal– New implementation of SSL– Dual Maintenance of queries while supporting Both 6

& 8– Making time for administrators to learn HPS8

• HPS8– Publisher role– Organizational Administrator

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Known Weaknesses

• Current audience are report writers– People who have a good idea of the information they

are seeking and how to get it– Support these folks extremely well– Problem? These folks do not pay the bills

• No Web Services– No ability to expose reports as web services– Problem? SOA is the future architecture within NBC

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Desired Behavior

• Create environment for Managers– Looking forward to View Manager and Dashboards– Need a way to expose macro level data without

undermining security at the micro level

• Web Services– Need to be able to expose this data and the known

presentation ability through callable web services.

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The Future is Challenging

• We need to complete move to HPS8– Publisher role– Organizational Administrator– View Manager– Dashboards

• We need to figure out how we fit in an SOA world

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NBC Datamart Contacts

• www.nbc.gov

• Select Datamart

• Manager – Martin J. Quinlan– Martin_j_quinlan@nbc.gov– 303-969-7228