Welcome to IT Dashboard – The Blog!

MONDAY, JULY 13TH, 2009 AT 1:36 PM
Welcome to IT Dashboard – The Blog!
Posted by Vivek Kundra
Cross-posted from the new IT Dashboard blog.

It has been an exciting time since we launched the IT Dashboard. There have been more than 20 million hits so far, and we’ve received an encouraging response from members of Congress and the public in support of our efforts to increase transparency. One of those 20 million hits was from a prominent IT user; see for yourself here:



(The President looks at the new IT Dashboard at his secretary's desk outside the Oval Office.
White House Photo, 7/2/09, Pete Souza)

For anybody just joining us, the "IT Dashboard" is a new, one-stop clearinghouse of information that allows anyone with a web browser to track federal IT initiatives and hold the government accountable for progress and results. A part of USASpending.gov, the dashboard allows you to see what IT projects are working and on-schedule (and which are not), offer alternative approaches, and provide direct feedback to the chief information officers at federal agencies – in effect, keeping tabs on the people who are responsible for taxpayer dollars for technology.

Leading up to the launch, we tapped the brightest and most innovative minds from Federal agencies, Congress, independent oversight organizations, and the private sector as we built the IT Dashboard. Over 400 federal employees joined our daily open house sessions for a hands-on opportunity to try the Dashboard, check their data, and suggest improvements. Until July 31, CIOs can submit investment evaluations and update other investment data. During this time, you will notice that the site will continue to be in "beta" as we deliver additional key features.

But we can’t simply make this an exercise in federal agency reporting. That is why we started this blog. We want to hear from you about what works and what doesn’t with the site. Is there a more innovative approach that an investment should consider? Does the contract data look incorrect to you? Is there an application that we should add? This is a site to serve you, and to do that, we need to hear from you.

So bookmark this blog, and come back to us often. There is a lot happening over the next few weeks as we review the entire federal IT portfolio, assess the performance of investments, identify areas to save money, improve performance, and share best practices.


Vivek Kundra is Federal CIO.