Contents

• Summary
• Bibliographic Information
• Data Reference Model (DRM) Overview
• FEA DRM: OMB Guidance on Implementation
• Commentary and Press
• Principal References

On December 21, 2005, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) Data Reference Model (DRM) Final Version 2.0. The FEA Data Reference Model is companion to four other FEA reference models "designed to facilitate cross-agency analysis and the identification of duplicative investments, gaps, and opportunities for collaboration within and across Federal Agencies." It is reported that the FEA DRM was developed in conjunction with a 124-member Working Group comprised of 30 U.S. federal agencies in all three primary areas of government (civil, defense, and intelligence).

Other Federal Enterprise Architecture models include: the Business Reference Model (BRM), the Service Component Reference Model (SRM), the Technical Reference Model (TRM), and the Performance Reference Model (PRM).

The Federal Enterprise Architecture "consists of a set of interrelated reference models [which] collectively comprise a framework for describing important elements of the FEA in a common and consistent way. Through the use of this common framework and vocabulary, IT portfolios can be better managed and leveraged across the federal government."

"In contrast to many failed architecture efforts in the past, the U.S. Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) is entirely business-driven. Its foundation is the Business Reference Model, which describes the government's Lines of Business and its services. This business-based foundation provides a common framework for improvement in a variety of key areas such as: budget allocation, information sharing, performance measurement, budget/performance integration, cross-agency collaboration, e-government, and component-based architectures."

An unofficial (draft) version 0.3 FEA DRM XML Schema and a sample XML instance document have been posted for inspection. This XML Schema has been updated (relative to version 0.2) to bring it into line with the DRM Version 2.0 Abstract Model.

The FEA DRM is a framework whose primary purpose is "to enable information sharing and reuse across the federal government via the standard description and discovery of common data and the promotion of uniform data management practices. As a reference model, the DRM is presented as an abstract framework from which concrete implementations may be derived. Its abstract nature will enable agencies to use multiple implementation approaches, methodologies and technologies while remaining consistent with the foundational principles of the DRM."

The DRM describes artifacts which can be generated from the data architectures of federal government agencies. The DRM provides a flexible and standards-based approach to accomplish its purpose. The scope of the DRM is broad, as it may be applied within a single agency, within a Community of Interest (COI), or cross-COI."

The 114-page FEA DRM Version 2.0 expands upon version 1.0 (28 pages) with the new Chapter 6 "Abstract Model" which provides a consolidated abstract model view and "depicts the major concepts from each standardization area and the relationships between them. It represents an architectural pattern that represents the minimal level of detail necessary to convey the major concepts for the standardization area, with COIs extending the architectural pattern as necessary for their implementations."

Chapters 3-5 present the DRM's three priincipal areas of standardization areas: Data Description, Data Context, and Data Sharing.

(1) Data Description "provides a means to uniformly describe data, thereby supporting its discovery and sharing. The focus is on understanding the data at two levels of abstraction: the metadata artifacts required to understand the data and how those metadata artifacts are aggregated into a managed Data Asset. Two basic types of metadata are recommended in the Data Description section: logical data models, to describe Structured Data Resources, and Digital Data Resource metadata (such as Dublin Core elements), to describe Semi-Structured and Unstructured Data Resources."

(2) Data Context "facilitates the discovery of data through an approach to the categorization of data according to taxonomies; additionally, it enables the definition of authoritative data assets within a COI. A Data Asset is a collection of Digital Data Resources that is managed by an organization, categorized for discovery, and governed by a data steward. A key attribute of a Data Asset is whether it is authoritative and if so designated, authoritative on which Entity or Attribute of the logical data model. Implementation of Taxonomies could take the form of Extensible Markup Language (XML) Topic Maps, Web Ontology Language (OWL) hierarchies, or ISO 11179 Classification schemes."

(3) Data Sharing "supports the access and exchange of data where access consists of ad-hoc requests (such as a query of a data asset), and exchange consists of fixed, re-occurring transactions between parties. The key concepts are Exchange Packages as containers for fixed messages and Query Points as descriptions of data access points. Implementation of Query Points could be descriptions in a Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) or ebXML registry of a data access Web service."

Bibliographic Information

• The Data Reference Model Version 2.0. November 17, 2005, released December 21, 2005. U.S. Federal Enterprise Architecture Program. 114 pages.

  "The Data Reference Model (DRM) is one of the five reference models of the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA). The DRM is a framework whose primary purpose is to enable information sharing and reuse across the federal government via the standard description and discovery of common data and the promotion of uniform data management practices. The DRM describes artifacts which can be generated from the data architectures of federal government agencies. The DRM provides a flexible and standards-based approach to accomplish its purpose. The scope of the DRM is broad, as it may be applied within a single agency, within a Community of Interest (COI), or cross-COI.

• Federal Enterprise Architecture Reference Model Maintenance Process. Federal Chief Information Officers Council. A Joint Proposal of the Architecture and Infrastructure Committee (AIC) and the e-Gov Federal Enterprise Architecture Program Management Office. June 2005. 39 pages.

  "The Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council, Architecture and Infrastructure Committee (AIC), in its advisory role, has assumed responsibility for recommending a process for maintaining the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) reference models. This recommendation is being provided to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Federal Enterprise Architecture Program Management Office (FEA PMO), as input to assist their decision on how best to maintain and refresh the reference models over time."

• FY07 Budget Formulation FEA Consolidated Reference Model Document. 88 pages.

  "The Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Office of E-Government (E-Gov) and Information Technology (IT), with the support of the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Federal Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council, established the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) Program which builds a comprehensive business-driven blueprint of the entire Federal government. The FEA Program Management Office (PMO), located within OMB's Office of E-Gov and IT, equips OMB and federal agencies with a common language and framework to describe and analyze IT investments, enhance collaboration and ultimately transform the Federal government into a citizen-centered, results-oriented, and market-based organization as set forth in the President's Management Agenda (PMA)... The BRM provides a framework that facilitates a functional (rather than organizational) view of the federal government's lines of business (LoBs), including its internal operations and its services for citizens, independent of the agencies, bureaus and offices that perform them. The BRM describes the federal government around common business areas instead of through a stove-piped, agency-by-agency view. It thus promotes agency collaboration and serves as the underlying foundation for the FEA and E-Gov strategies..."

Data Reference Model (DRM) Overview

From the Reference Models and DRM web pages:

"The FEA is being constructed through a collection of interrelated 'reference models' designed to facilitate cross-agency analysis and the identification of duplicative investments, gaps, and opportunities for collaboration within and across Federal Agencies...

The Data Reference Model (DRM) describes, at an aggregate level, the data and information supporting government program and business line operations. This model enables agencies to describe the types of interaction and exchanges occurring between the Federal government and citizens.

The DRM categorizes government information into greater levels of detail. It also establishes a classification for Federal data and identifies duplicative data resources. A common data model will streamline information exchange processes within the Federal government and between government and external stakeholders.

The DRM provides a standard means by which data may be described, categorized, and shared. These are reflected within each of the DRM's three standardization areas:

• Data Description: Provides a means to uniformly describe data, thereby supporting its discovery and sharing
• Data Context: Facilitates discovery of data through an approach to the categorization of data according to taxonomies; additionally, enables the definition of authoritative data assets within a community of interest (COI)
• Data Sharing: Supports the access and exchange of data where access consists of ad-hoc requests (such as a query of a data asset), and exchange consists of fixed, re-occurring transactions between parties

The FEA PMO is collaborating with members of the interagency DRM Working Group, chartered by the Architecture and Infrastructure Committee (AIC) of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Council, to implement and maintain this reference model.

FEA DRM: OMB Guidance on Implementation

A Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies was issued on December 16, 2005 under the title "Improving Public Access to and Dissemination of Government Information and Using the Federal Enterprise Architecture Data Reference Model." It provides OMB Guidance on Implementation of Sections 207(d) and 212 of the eGov Act. Excerpts:

"[You now have] three new requirements in this area although many of you are already meeting them in part. As outlined below, you must: (A) organize and categorize your information intended for public access, make it searchable across agencies, and describe how you use formal information models to assist your dissemination activities...

A 'formal information model' unambiguously describes information or data for the purposes of enabling precise exchange between systems. Formal information models typically include definitions of the "entities" (concepts and facts) defined in or managed by the system, as well as relationships or mappings between those entities and the operations/business rules applicable to those entities. Examples of formal information models include, but are not limited to: taxonomies, ontologies, data models (conceptual, logical, and physical), thesauri and other controlled vocabularies, UML class models, entity-relationship models, topic maps, exchange packages, XML schemas and DTDs, data dictionaries, and metadata element sets. Formal information models may be needed to efficiently categorize, disseminate, and share information stored in systems not easily indexed by readily available commercial search technology. These include: 1) structured data sources such as databases, datamarts, and data warehouses; and 2) multimedia collections containing sound, video, and other non-textual information. Some formal information models may be found in consensus or industry standards or widely accepted practices..."

Commentary and Press

• "OMB Releases New Version of DRM." By Joab Jackson. From Government Computer News (December 21, 2005). "The U.S. Office of Management and Budget has posted the second version of the Federal Enterprise Architecture Data Reference Model. OMB intends for the DRM to be used by federal data and system architects to describe information in such a way that it can be easily located and used across multiple federal agencies. It provides the resources to standardize the description and context and means of sharing data. [According to] Michael Daconta, the Homeland Security Department's metadata program manager, cross-agency sharing of information will happen more and more frequently; the DRM will be the blueprint to get you there.' The new version of the document heavily revises the older version, which was released in September 2004 and subsequently criticized for insufficient specificity. While that document was 28 pages in length, the new version is 110 pages. The new document adds more details on description, context and sharing attributes, and adds a DRM abstract model, which depicts the major concepts from each standardization area, allowing managers to understand the relationships between them..."

• "FEA Data Reference Model (DRM) 2.0 Now Final." Posting from: Joseph Chiusano (December 22, 2005). "I am happy to announce that the FEA Data Reference Model (DRM), which has been in process since February 2005, was released publicly as final yesterday by the U.S. Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Its release was originally thought to be delayed until 4-6 more weeks, but OMB surprised us (the DRM 2.0 initiative) by releasing it yesterday as final, with no updates requested. The biggest change since the last draft is the addition of guidance for federal agencies on how to use (implement) the DRM... This reference model, part of the U.S. Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA), was developed in conjunction with a 124-member Working Group comprised of 30 U.S. federal agencies in all three primary areas of government (civil, defense, and intelligence)... A data management strategy is also in process, and its release is planned for early 2006. An updated draft DRM XML Schema is also in process; it should be available publicly in early 2006..."

• "CIO Council sends Data Reference Model to OMB for Final Approval." By Rob Thormeyer. From Government Computer News (November 28, 2005). "The CIO Council delivered Version 2.0 of the Federal Enterprise Architecture's Data Reference Model to the Office of Management and Budget last week for final approval. This is the last stage before the draft is finalized by Dec. 17 as required under the E-Government Act of 2002. Kim Nelson, Environmental Protection Agency CIO and co-chairwoman of the CIO Council's Architecture and Infrastructure Committee, said the document could be one of the most important documents produced all year. The first version of the DRM, released in October 2004 by OMB's Federal Enterprise Architecture Program Management Office, met heavy criticism for being difficult to implement and left agencies unsure how to define certain data in the business context and package information to be shared. Along with the reference model, the DRM working group developed an Extensible Markup Language schema that agencies can use to describe their data, specifying what format the data is in, what topics the data addresses and how the data can be accessed..."

Principal References

• FEA DRM web sites:
  • FEA Data Reference Model (DRM) web site
  • FEA Reference Models
  • FEA Library for FEA PMO documents
  • Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA)
  • Data Reference Model Public Forum
  • DRM Implementation Through Iteration and Testing Team
  • FEA-DRM Public Forum
• DRM and related reference models:
  • The Data Reference Model Version 2.0. [source]
  • Earlier versions of DRM:
    • The Data Reference Model DRAFT, Version 2.0 (07). October 17, 2005. [.doc format, source]
    • The Data Reference Model. Volume I, Version 1.0. September 2004. 28 pages. [source]
  • FY07 Budget Formulation FEA Consolidated Reference Model Document [source]
  • Federal Enterprise Architecture Reference Model Maintenance Process [source]
• Improving Public Access to and Dissemination of Government Information and Using the Federal Enterprise Architecture Data Reference Model. Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies. From Clay Johnson, III Deputy Director for Management. OMB Guidance on Implementation of Sections 207(d) and 212 of the eGov Act. December 16, 2005. [source]
• FEA DRM draft version 0.4 XML Schema:
  • Draft FEA Data Reference Model (DRM) Schema Version 0.4. Provided by Joseph Chiusano 2006-01-03. This is an updated version of the DRM XML Schema version 0.2; it was created in order to bring version 0.2 in line with the abstract models that are included in the DRM 2.0 document.
  • Sample XML instance for FEA Data Reference Model (DRM) Schema Draft Version 0.4
• Earlier FEA DRM draft version 0.3 XML Schema:
  • Updated Draft FEA DRM XML Schema (0.3) and Sample XML Instance Document. Not official. Summary of changes. Posted by Joseph Chiusano. December 16, 2005.
  • FEA Data Reference Model (DRM) XML Schema Draft Version 0.3 [source from the posting December 16, 2005. This is an updated version of the DRM XML Schema version 0.2; [it] was created in order to bring version 0.2 in line with the abstract models that are included in the DRM 2.0 document as it existed on [December 16, 2005]. All definitions provided for elements and attributes in this schema were taken from the DRM 2.0 Glossary and chapter text, if that element or attribute was discussed in DRM 2.0. All major relationships between concepts in the DRM 2.0 abstract model are described in this schema (see "RELATIONSHIPS" under element definitions). Most relationships that are reflected in this schema are outbound relationships, as in the DRM 2.0 abstract model. However, there are some cases in which inbound relationships (i.e. the reverse of the relationship in the abstract model) are reflected, as this was the best approach for the XML schema..."
  • Sample XML instance for FEA Data Reference Model (DRM) Schema Draft Version 0.3 [source]
• Earlier FEA DRM Version 0.2 Schema:
  • FEA DRM Schema Specification - Draft Version 0.2 [ZIP file, file list]
  • FEA DRM Schema v 0.2 (.xsd)
  • DRM XML Schema. Directory listing.
• Associated web sites:
  • CORE.gov. The Component Organization and Registration Environment. "This component resource registry/repository is where inter- and intra-agency user teams register processes, capabilities, case studies, best practices, documentation, and software they have developed or modified together in a CORE.gov collaborative environment or at other government-sponsored organizations."
  • Federal Enterprise Architecture Management System (FEAMS). "FEAMS supports the FEA maintenance and upkeep process through the automated EA repository and analysis tool. The Federal Enterprise Architecture reference models and related information are being stored in FEAMS."
  • Federal CIO Council. "The Chief Information Officers Council is the principal interagency forum to assist CIOs in realizing their mandates to ensure the rapid and effective implementation of information management and information technology (IM/IT) solutions within each agency and to create a more results-oriented, efficient, and citizen-centered Federal government. The CIO Council works to improve agency practices related to the acquisition, modernization, use, sharing, and performance of Federal government information resources."
  • CIO Architecture and Infrastructure Committee. "The Architecture and Infrastructure Committee (AIC) of the Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council develops policy, direction, and guidance for the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) to drive business process improvement, investment management, and technical decisions. These efforts assist with institutionalizing the FEA in concert with agency enterprise architectures (EA)."
• "U.S. Interagency FEA DRM Working Group Releases Draft XML Schema." News story 2005-06-20.