Meet the CIOs: Energy

Energy: S.W. "Woody" Hall

S.W. "WOODY" HALL
Energy Department
Forrestal Bldg. #8H089/HR-4
Washington, D.C. 20585
Phone: 202-586-0166
Fax: 202-586-7966
E-mail: woody.hall@hq.doe.gov

Career Highlights:

1994-Present: Deputy assistant secretary for information management
1971-94: Various Air Force positions, including director of architectures, technology and interoperability for the deputy chief of staff for C4

IT Budget (fiscal years):
1996: $1.4 billion (estimated)
1997: $1.4 billion (estimated)
1998: $1.4 billion (estimated)

Priority Projects:

• Information Architecture - finalizing an information architecture guide, a technology standards profile and a vision document for future architecture plans.
• Corporate Human Resources Information System - using commercial, off-the-shelf technologies to improve business processes.
• Telecommunications Integrator Services - awarding contract intended to accommodate new telecommunications technologies while keeping costs down.

Biggest Challenges:

"Initiation of significant information management projects under a reduced budget. Information management continues to be viewed as a cost rather than an investment. Only in the past year have budget reductions forced stovepiped organizations to work collaboratively on mutually beneficial corporate projects."

Management Approach:

"We have established an executive committee for information management, which is chaired by the deputy secretary and comprised of the Secretary's senior managers. That same committee will likely serve as the investment board for our corporate and infrastructure investment portfolio. In addition, I am recommending we participate in the IT Capital Planning Pilot Program established by the Interagency CIO Working Group. The department is using the Strategic Information Management methodology to define, analyze and document requirements for business processes and to identify appropriate IT tools to support those processes. We are putting a system in place within the human resources organization to collect, analyze and monitor performance and benchmarking measures."

On CIOs:

"Increased scrutiny of information management practices by OMB and GAO is bringing significant visibility and credibility to the CIO role."

Hottest Technologies:

"We are routinely using video technology in business meetings and workgroups to manage projects and the future drive is to expand this media to the desktop. Video technology also is offering significant savings to departmentwide distance learning and training programs."