Merging Business Analysis and Architecture to Support Zero Based Budgeting Initiatives

On February 3, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced that agencies should consider expenses from a zero-based level, referred to as Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB). The basic premise is straightforward – budget allocation starts from zero dollars, rather than breaking down from a congressionally approved budget amount. A ZBB approach theoretically means spending only what is necessary rather than spending up to the allocated budget.

While the concept may seem challenging, existing disciplines such as enterprise architecture and business analysis can be combined to support ZBB.  This merged approach is called Architecture-Based Analysis or ABA.

In a general sense, there are two states that need to be addressed in any budget: 

·       Steady state – the ongoing costs associated with executing a business function.

·       Business change – the costs to improve some aspect of your business.

Executives must have a good handle on both types of costs for ZBB.  For steady state budgeting, accounting for business functions are generally known.  ABA uses this information as a tool to assess the way a business function is conducted.  Executives can investigate business processes to analyze the effectiveness of resource usage.  Frameworks such as Technology Business Management (TBM) can provide insight into asset utilization, helping to understand asset duplication or when assets may need to be upgraded / replaced to support mission objectives.

VA Secretary Sloan Gibson Addressing Congress

When it comes to business change, requirements become the basis for cost management because requirements describe “what it takes” to deliver a business improvement.  ABA treats requirements like Lego blocks. Lego blocks have attributes - colors, thickness, or number of bumps.  These attributes can be sorted and organized in any number of different ways to build a “solution” using a standard set of reusable components. Requirements can be managed exactly in the same way, except the attributes might change to be the requirement type, requester, application area, related requirements.  For the purposes of ZBB, implementation cost becomes a necessary attribute for any requirement.

Though simple in concept, requirements provide the “building blocks” for budget justification. Several tools exist to provide accurate estimates, but all rely on a straightforward process to determine costs for any requirement, whether it is associated with a business process changes, compliance control implementation, or licenses needed to replace a legacy system.

When an agency needs to justify an investment, ABA requirements provide traceability by linking high-level requirements (i.e. expand telehealth support for veterans living in rural communities) to the specific people, processes, and technologies needed to satisfy them (VA testimony clip)

Once in place, this traceability works in reverse, providing program executives “build up” a budget to deliver legal mandate by assembling all relevant requirement “Lego blocks” which must be satisfied in order to deliver the mission objective(s).

ABA also helps identify waste. For instance, if there are lower-level project requirements that cannot be directly linked to a program or strategic objective, the logical question arises: "Why are we spending money on this?" This may indicate a need to reconsider strategy or suggest that the expense is unnecessary.

2md provides services using Essential Intelligence and other platforms so that your organization can conduct Zero Based Budgeting with confidence.  To learn more, email us at enquire@2md.com.