BACKGROUND:

The U.S. Postal Service operates one of the largest information technology infrastructures in the world and has an inventory of 795 computer applications. Data from many of those applications are collected into data repositories and shared widely within the Postal Service. Using those assets to make informed decisions is particularly important for the Postal Service, as declining revenue, the struggling national economy, and the increasingly digital nature of the world threaten its core business. One of its key strategies is to leverage its strengths by integrating data to improve business decisions.

In fiscal year (FY) 2012, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a series of audits related to how the Postal Service uses data to manage its operations. We also examined data governance, the process to ensure that data are managed and fully utilized, in six best-in class companies to identify best practices that the Postal Service might adopt to optimize resources and efforts.

Our objective was to determine whether the Postal Service was effectively managing and using data in a manner that assists employees in achieving strategic and operational goals.

WHAT THE OIG FOUND:

The Postal Service could improve management of critical data to assist managers and employees to achieve strategic and operational goals. We identified 148 data-related issues in OIG reports issued in FYs 2009 through 2012. The majority of the issues involved unreliable or inaccurate data or were caused by an absence of policies or the Postal Service not enforcing existing policies.

Although the Postal Service defined a structure for a data governance program in 2003, full roles and responsibilities were not uniformly adopted across the enterprise. Also, limitations in the Postal Service’s data governance program placed the Postal Service at risk to potential vulnerabilities that could affect data quality, availability, and integrity and result in inefficient operations, disruptions of service, and fraud.

We identified best practices used by companies with successful data governance programs. We used these best practices to identify a possible implementation strategy.

WHAT THE OIG RECOMMENDED:

We recommended implementing a formal, enterprise-wide data governance program.