About eCPIC
An Evolution of Capital Planning and Investment Control
The Electronic Capital Planning and Investment Control (eCPIC) System is a government-owned, web-based application that is designed to help agencies in the management and control of their initiatives, portfolios, and investment priorities, as well as in the preparation and submission of budget data to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This software provides streamlined functionality and a state-of-the-art eGov architecture that embraces over five years of lessons learned and best practices. Operations and maintenance of this application are governed through the eCPIC Service Level Agreement (SLA). Decisions regarding the current functionality and surrounding future enhancements will be implemented per direction from the eCPIC SLA. The Federal Agencies that make up the SLA participate in the eCPIC Change Management Committee (CMC). This group meets monthly to share lessons learned, review the status of the project, and prioritize actions associated with the application’s operations and maintenance.
eCPIC assists managers and staff involved in capital planning to assess initiatives in terms of their costs, risks, and expected returns, and to determine the appropriate mix of investments with regard to these and other organizational and technological considerations. eCPIC provides managers and staff with ready and shared access to up-to-date information about individual capital planning initiatives, a particular type of initiative, or about their entire investment portfolio.
eCPIC is not a replacement for a documented and functional Capital Planning and Investment Control process. As a tool, it is designed to be part of an organization’s CPIC and IT architecture management process – a process that complies with legislative and OMB requirements as well as appropriate to the size, scope, mission and structure of the organization.
History of eCPIC
eCPIC, or I-TIPS as it was originally named, began in 1997 with a joint investment from the Department of Energy and Al Gore’s IT Innovation fund to create a web-based application to support agencies in the management, selection, control, and evaluation of Information Technology (IT) initiatives. Today, and after years of lessons learned and continued governmental support, eCPIC is the leader in Investment Planning, Investment Control, and the submission of budgetary reports for the government.
Who’s Using eCPICFind out which agencies are using eCPIC and what they have to say.
Why Use eCPICeCPIC is a government-owned solution that is managed and maintained through an inner-governmental service level agreement.
Features, Functions and CapabilitiesDiscover the new functions and features of the eCPIC platform and how it can help your agency.
Complete CustomizationeCPIC gives you the flexibility to customize the product to adapt to the needs of your agency.
eCPIC Support Services
There are a number of support services available to eCPIC agencies:
The Federal eCPIC Steering Committee (FESCOM) has its own collaboration space on the OMB MAX site where agencies share best practices, answer community member questions, and disseminate guidance. The site is open to federal employees and contractors at eCPIC agencies.
The GSA PMO maintains two Listservs for agency representatives to help spread important communications. The PMO also maintains eCPIC.gov, the application’s public facing website for sharing feature overviews, background and history of the tool, and benefits of use.
The eCPIC Help Desk sends “eAdvisory” notifications to the FESCOM agencies when any time-sensitive or important operational activities occur, such as critical changes to OMB A-11 guidance, changes to the IT Dashboard submission rules, or when maintenance periods may affect eCPIC access.
FESCOM agencies are committed to continuous improvement of the eCPIC tool, including increased automation and productivity gains, and enabling strategic IT decision-making. Agency feedback informs development priorities, which are incorporated into functional releases, which occur typically 4 times each year.
The FESCOM aims to modernize eCPIC so it remains viable for years. A modernization strategy has been developed that guides the evolution of the tool over the next several release cycles. The modernization effort focuses on eCPIC’s technical architecture, usability & interface, security, accessibility, and functionalities.
Each agency is able to submit change requests (CRs) to the eCPIC Help Desk. These requests can vary from minor interface adjustments to significant functional enhancement, further enabling eCPIC to meet the needs of agencies. The eCPIC PMO organizes and tracks all CRs to prioritize for functional enhancements.
The eCPIC Help Desk sends “eAdvisory” notifications to the FESCOM agencies when any time-sensitive or important operational activities occur, such as critical changes to OMB A-11 guidance, changes to the IT Dashboard submission rules, or when maintenance periods may affect eCPIC access.
Technical Services support is available to all FESCOM agencies to enhance their adoption of eCPIC features and to improve their portfolio management practices. Technical service projects include tailored Investment Rating Scorecards, Custom Budget Formulation processes, and “Action-Flag” Analyses.
The eCPIC PMO posts user and administrator training materials on the FESCOM Wiki with walkthrough slides, test exercises, and agency use materials, enabling agencies to train their own personnel. Agencies can also request direct training sessions, conducted in classrooms or remotely, delivered by the eCPIC support team.
Train-the-Trainer training focuses on recently released functionality and topics selected by the FESCOM. These sessions are an effective forum for eCPIC agencies to share lessons learned and demonstrate the ways they can use eCPIC to manage their portfolios.
