Information Resources: HCFA Must Better Justify Further Data Center Expansion
IMTEC-91-65
Published: Sep 05, 1991. Publicly Released: Sep 05, 1991.
Skip to Highlights
Highlights
GAO reviewed the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) plans to upgrade its data center, focusing on: (1) the planning and analysis documentation used to support this expansion; and (2) whether HCFA had a capacity management program to analyze its current data center work load and forecast future needs.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Health and Human Services | To ensure that future HCFA computer capacity acquisitions are adequately supported and meet the needs of top management, policymakers, and researchers, the Secretary of Health and Human Services should direct the Administrator, HCFA, to work with the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Resources Management in developing a requirements analysis that clearly links HCFA information needs with planned data center expansion. To support this analysis, the agency should provide a more precise basis for planning future growth by implementing the methodologies included in good capacity management. |
Closed – Implemented
The Department has established methodologies and automated reporting mechanisms to more accurately measure existing and projected resource utilization. The Department added that it has developed mechanisms to identify user requirements and obtained software and computer modelling tools for work-load forecasting.
|
Full Report
Office of Public Affairs
Topics
IT acquisitionsCapacity managementRequirements definitionSystems conversionsData centersComputer capacityInformation resources managementProcurementDatabasesComputer hardware