The Challenge

The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) requires that Federal spending data be “accessible, discoverable, and usable.”  The Department of the Treasury required a comprehensive data analytics approach to efficiently collect, review, and submit spending data in a unified format using common data elements and reporting standards.

Our Approach

TSPi’s approach focused on key data science elements using data tools to provide Treasury with actionable decision models for accurate and useful data reporting.  TSPi led efforts to create the Treasury Financial Data Warehouse (TFDW) to serve as the warehousing solution to launch the DATA Act analytics initiatives. The TFDW collects summary financial information and award detail level information via the Department’s Treasury Information Executive Repository (TIER), an integrated financial data repository application that provides Treasury-wide financial management, financial reporting, and financial control. TSPi implemented TFDW storage requirements to include data dimensions, fact tables, and other tables related to DATA Act reporting. TSPi leveraged Microsoft Business Intelligence Suite tools (including SQL Server Integration Services, SQL Server Reporting Services, and SQL Server Analysis Services) for TFDW data collection and reporting. 

TSPi designed, implemented, and tested the information system data mart, validation framework, and the automated Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) processes to collect all financial and non-financial data from all the Treasury Bureaus. TSPi defined and implemented the necessary interfaces with other government-wide and Department source systems and provided visualization interfaces for data stewards. The technical solution was developed through an iterative process with close collaboration with Treasury bureaus and stakeholders.  TSPi performed studies and analyses to support design, development, test, maintenance and training activities for various systems engineering projects. TSPi conducted market research trade studies to analyze application design alternatives and identify the associated tradeoffs in the areas of performance, functionality, life cycle, development cost, schedule, risk, and supportability. TSPi also recommended specific alternatives to the new Treasury architectural design and develops prototypes to demonstrate the feasibility of potential technical solutions.

Results

TSPi’s successful data science approach led to the successful design and development of the Treasury DATA Act data mart and implementation of repeatable and consistent ETL processes.  Our data science team also developed and implemented the data validation framework for checking that submitted data is complete, consistent, and reconciles across the modules of the DATA Act schema (e.g., checking that amounts in the awards module reconcile with outlays, obligations, and appropriations in the United States Standard General Ledger – Financial module).