E-Enterprise Technology Library

In early 2021, the E-Enterprise Digital Strategy team conducted a series of sprints to obtain stakeholder feedback on the concept of a Technology Library for E-Enterprise partners. While there are no current plans to build the Technology Library, the goal of this notional product would be to provide IT managers, system owners and developers with a library of best practices and modern IT techniques.

Aggregating these resources in one place could help E-Enterprise partners adopt standards and best practices, share tools and lessons learned, and better coordinate their technology investments. Such a library could be housed in an interactive canvas organized by key topics, such as data exchange tools, customer-centric design, Cloud, API management, shared platforms, etc. The topics would link to additional information organized by key audience groups, including:

• Managers: An overview of the technical topic.
• Mission Staff: A more detailed description of the benefit of the technology and how it can be applied to environmental mission programs.
• System Owners: Examples and use cases of how the technology is being applied by E-Enterprise partners.
• System Developers and Technical Staff: Technical guidance, best practices, procedures and standards for implementing the technology.

For a more complete overview of the Technology Library concept, watch this brief explainer video.

Stakeholder Feedback Sprints

The Digital Strategy team conducted interviews with key stakeholders to obtain their initial input on the concept of a Technology Library.

Sprint 1: Conducted Initial Discovery Interviews (November 2020)

The team conducted discovery interviews with key stakeholders to obtain their initial input on the Technology Library concept. The Sprint 1 Findings presentation contains the full summary. Some of the group’s key suggestions included:

• Present content using a template with consistent headings
• Evaluate whether the matrix is the best presentation approach
• Develop metadata schema and ensure tagging is a core requirement
• Ensure the library reflects the Digital Strategy philosophies – e.g., Rent, Buy, Build
• Limit acronyms, use plain language whenever possible

Sprint 2: Prepared For Focus Groups (December 2020) – The team updated the Technology Library proof of concept based on feedback received during the Sprint 1 interviews and prepared for the focus groups in Sprint 3. Updates included:

• Reorganizing the content by personas.
• Developing content to align with the personas’ information needs.

Sprint 3: Focus Groups (January – February 2021) – The team conducted focus group sessions to obtain user feedback on the Technology Library proof of concept. For results, see the Sprint 3 Findings Presentation.

If you have questions or comments about the Technology Library concept or the sprint findings, please Vince Allen (allen.vince@epa.gov).