Since October 1, 2003, the National Business Center (NBC) has utilized Activity-Based Cost Management (ABC/M). We are half way through the first year, which, as other government and private-sector organizations have confirmed represents the initial test phase of an ABC/M Implementation. Thus far, there have been two main focuses in the implementation: 1) Educating NBC employees on the Quicktime Time & Attendance System; and 2) The evolution and refinement of activities categorized in the NBC Data Dictionary (i.e., from changes in definitions to addition of new activities).

On October 1, 2003, the NBC Data Dictionary debuted with 185 individual activities. These activities were developed in collaboration with our business line managers and staff. By December 31, 2003, approximately 88% of the ABC/M codes had been utilized when coding time & attendance. While there is still more analysis to be done, this statistic shows that our first Data Dictionary presented a good representation of the activities performed across NBC. It also shows that employees are taking the time to select the activities that reflect their workdays. As the data becomes more reliable, we will utilize it in increasingly in budget and pricing decisions, both at business line and corporate levels.

We have made many progressive changes to the NBC Data Dictionary. At the request of business line managers, we have added codes to capture costs for new requirements. We have also added codes for events such as Code Orange alerts and the Internet shutdown. In April 2004, we formed an ABC/M Review Team to evaluate the ABC/M implementation. This team, formed in partnership with the Planning, Performance, and Oversight Office, will make recommendations for changes to the Data Dictionary, assist in documenting policies and procedures, and make overall recommendations for improving the ABC/M implementation.

The next steps in the ABC/M Implementation will be to revise the NBC Data Dictionary in preparation for FY 2005 and develop reports for our business line and upper level managers. These reports will give our NBC managers and staff additional information to use in business decision making and analysis. The most current NBC Data Dictionary, as well as the Department's Data Dictionary, can be found on the Department of the Interior website at www.doi.gov/training/abc.

For more information
Christopher Richey

Christopher_W_Richey@nbc.gov