Metrics That Matter

Background

Metrics provide a quantitative measure or assessment that can be used for comparing and/or tracking the performance of an organization, entity, project, or program. All across the Federal government, Agencies are continually gathering and reporting metrics for all sorts of Federal mandates, Agency efforts, initiatives, and so forth. However, not all metrics are meaningful, nor do they represent usable data that actually impacts organizational change. 

To this end, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) proposes the ‘Metrics that Matter’ Project.

Project Objective and Mission

The Metrics that Matter Project intends to establish a public-private collaboration within the ACT-IAC community of interest to gain a greater understanding of ‘useful’ metrics and elicit ideas on how to best leverage these valuable metrics to significantly change the cyber landscape. This project will harness the greater power from data collection and use such to develop effective approaches for metric collection that can really institute better organizational decision making and promote efficiency. 

Methodology

Collecting data and transforming it into meaningful quantitative information requires strategic planning and analysis. This project will “hone in on” the following key principles of metric collection and use to ensure productive dialogue amongst participants:

• Defining Goals – this is the “what” is intended to be accomplished, but also must be specific and measurable. 
• Defining Metrics – evaluate what data really matters and is in scope based on the defined goals.
• Collecting Metrics – developing the most effective way to gather the data (e.g., passive techniques and technology)
• Analyzing Metrics – evaluating the data collected and interpreting the information to identify if defined goals are being met.

Deliverable

The result of this project will be a white paper describing the findings and group’s recommendations identified that specifically define an approach for gathering metrics that matter. The paper should be at a sufficiently detailed level that a potential demonstration of the approach could be implemented across the ACT-IAC community of interest.

Membership

The Metrics that Matter Project is looking for ACT-IAC community of interest volunteers from a broad cross section of members ranging from operational experience in how data is captured and reviewed to technical understanding in data management and analysis. Federal government members of the ACT-IAC community may benefit from this project as it will build a coalition of metric-focused leaders, working to deliver organizational change.