The end of the federal fiscal year is a great time for public sector decision-makers to consider how their respective organizations can get a head start on supporting the Federal Data Strategy Action Plan. The current draft of the plan, which is scheduled to be finalized by September, contains several recommendations required to be completed within a 3-, 6- or 12-month timeframe.

The summer of 2019 is off to a great start for data professionals seeking to make valuable contributions working in the federal public sector.  After several solicitations for public comments over the last year, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has at last issued the final draft of the Federal Data Strategy. The Federal Data Strategy by design is intended to help the government accelerate the use of data to drive and deliver mission objectives.

The Federal Data Strategy principles (https://strategy.data.gov/principles), as currently articulated, are a set of best practices and guidelines, which could be utilized to govern the development and maturity of an organization’s management of data as an asset.  However, without guidance or a framework within which to actualize these principles, these principles may well be rendered a wish-list.