Continued Review of the Tax Systems Modernization of the Internal Revenue Service Final Report (1996) / Chapter Skim
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3. Management
3. Management
Pages 38-52
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From page 38... ...
Its scope has evolved over the past 5 years to include the re-engineering of all Internal Revenue Service (IRS) operations, including the computer systems to support these operations.
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From page 39... ...
(The committee, for example, has worked with three different Commissioners during its 5-year tenure.} Therefore, continuity of leadership for TSM cannot be expected at the Commissioner level. The logical leader of TSM is the Deputy Commissioner, and this structure has been recommended previously to the IRS., There is a need to clarify roles and responsibilities, making the Associate Commissioner for Modernization responsible for TSM operations and for systems changes and implementation, with the intent that the Associate Commissioner be the overall program manager.
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From page 40... ...
The three operating chief officers at least, together with the remaining supporting chief officers, should be heavily involved with TSM. However, they seem totally immersed in day-to-day affairs and delegate their input to the site managers for TSM, who are part of the Modernization Executive's organization.
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From page 41... ...
Throughout the committee's period of cleliberations, the Moclernization Executive was able to name only site executives, not project managers, and had little power to reward and promote or to withhold rewards and demote project managers or the manager of the Integrated Project Schedule.4 Based on information received through the committee's June meeting, the following contrasts can be noted between IRS organization and that of major companies now using matrix managements · In most matrix-managed organizations, all project managers report directly to the program managers. At the IRS, project managers have remained in the information systems organization; they do not report directly to the Moclernization Executive or her organization.
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From page 42... ...
The vast majority of midclle-level and senior executives have worked their way up the IRS hierarchy, beginning as revenue agents or service center workers and gradually moving into management jobs. Typically, a senior fRS manager is a generalist who has obtained broad (but not deep)
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From page 43... ...
The committee recommends that the IRS take steps to ensure that more top-level technical managers involved in TSM are brought in from outside the IRS and that IRS leadership ensures that these experts, who have not taken the usual IRS career paths, are not frozen out by those who are part of the more homogeneous, close-knit IRS culture. PLANNING ISSUES Because the TSM program spans such a long period, the Modernization Executive must understand, accept, and adapt to changing circumstances.
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From page 44... ...
The committee was disappointed to see some of the plans still lumping operating elements together as "business operations," as if the separate operating chief officers (the core business systems owners, or CBSOs} had never been appointed.' The committee suggests that the planning organization treat each CBSO as an individual client and structure its plans accordingly. Operational Risk Planning Based on private sector experience, there are two dimensions that need to be considered in planning for integrated networks: the degree of integration and the degree of operational risk.
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From page 45... ...
The highest operational risk is danger to life and limb, as in air traffic control, rail traffic control, and high-risk industrial process control (e.g., petroleum and chemical plants)
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From page 46... ...
This juggling of requirements and creation of intermediate releases indicates to the committee that the ICP project has not learned the following: After the original project has been changed once, it is best to reanalyze the collection of requirements and tasks represented by the next phase and proceed forward with the new expectations and evaluation metrics. Using the change control process to slide tasks around within "predefined" releases is not an effective management approach.
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From page 47... ...
Unfortunately, development of TDPS started relatively recently, and it will require longer than expected to develop the essential capabilities. Had it been started when TSM commenced, it could have been the focal point for the "new" tax return processing capabilities being provided by TSM.
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From page 48... ...
With the change in organizational structure recently announcecl, which involves the ClO reporting to the Associate Commissioner for TSM, the committee sees an opportunity to simplify program and project management tools into one seamless control system. Recommendation 3.5.
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From page 49... ...
Integration Test and Control Facility The Integration Test and Control Facility {ITCF) generated a heated debate among committee members.
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From page 50... ...
Succession planning must be carried out for IRS leaders and executives to maintain adequate key technical skills for completing TSM development. Other key human resources issues still of concern to the committee are facilities planning and contractor management.
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From page 51... ...
Although operational risk must be planned for, the level of integration and operational risk is not yet high, since a falIback to manual systems is still possible. The committee endorses the latest organizational changes as appropriate to having a unified and seamless organization from the Associate Commissioner clown through the ClO and the information systems development groups.
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From page 52... ...
Reward systems still appear to reward seniority rather than the accomplishment of assigned goals and the metrics thereof. Certainly, most recent organizational changes represent a major step for the IRS and for TSM, particularly when coupled with those that preceded them.
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