b'InsightsWhat key challenges do you face? Most recently, U.S. Coast Guards FSM Solution (FSMS) went live. DHS now has 40 percent of its spending flowing Of our top three, the number one challenge is gettingthrough a modern, integrated, financial system. Prior to resources to support the growing mission areas. The scope ofthat, two other componentsCountering Weapons of Mass DHS continues to grow, especially in response to nationalDestruction Office (CWMD) and the Transportation Security emergencies, such as the pandemic and surge operations atAdministration (TSA)migrated to a modern, integrated the Southwest border. Many of these efforts require cross- financial system. These were the first to go live on FSMS. agency collaboration, such as partnering with U.S. HealthWhat lessons have you learned from yourand Human Services (HHS). Weve been given mission sets to lead unified coordination groups across the federalFSM efforts?government in response to things that the administration wants us to help tackle. Multiagency operations areFirst and foremost, the FSM is a component effort. We extremely challenging, given department restrictions onhelp, guide, and bring tools, but most of the work will always using resources for certain purposes.fall on the component. It goes without saying that subject matter expert engagement early and often in the process is The second challenge is attracting and bringing onboardirreplaceable. Grouping all user testing at the end of the the right talent and people. For me, it is essential to growproject is a recipe for disaster. User testing must be the pipeline of leaders for our organization and makingincorporated throughout. sure they have the right skills. Third, and perhaps the most significant challenge, is the ongoing pandemic and workingOne challenge we faced was migrating a massive quantity in a remote/hybrid environment. Its been a long, stressfulof old and often unreliable data. The migration was fraught two years for everyone. Here and elsewhere, it can bewith surprises. We performed five practice migrations before harder to show folks you care, harder to feel like a team,cut-over and still were often surprised and delayed by data harder to communicateharder to do everything. Dealinganomalies during cut-over. Another key challenge involves a with COVID has made us stronger in some ways andlarge, complex componentlike the USCG, which has many enabled more flexibility. Ive called it a social psychologybusiness processes across many layers of the organization. It experiment, whose longer-term impacts will become cleareris almost impossible to uncover all the business processes. over time.And those that are buried the deepest and arise at the last minute are the most difficult to migrate. Continuous SME So I encourage my team to be very adaptive. Becauseengagement is key to quickly addressing these issues. change is always difficult, you simply cannot communicateOverall, change management is a challenge, although our enough. The most important aspect of communication isold systems had shortcomings. Our users were familiar with listening. We need to mentally adapt and overcome. Wethem and knew how to make them work. need to work to get resources, training, and people in place to support our success.What progress have you made modernizing agency financial systems?Financial systems modernization (FSM) has been near and dear to my heart because weve lived it for the last nineteen years. Its been quite a long, bumpy journey, going around cliffs, up and down mountains, to get to where we are today. Weve made a lot of progress on the FSM front. To date, we have consolidated twenty-two separate federal agenciesall with diverse organizations, missions, accounting, and systems. When we were formed, DHSitself had twelve diverse financial systems, many with outdated technology. 2022 IBM Center for The Business of Government 57'