Big Data PDF

DEMYSTIFYING
BIG DATA
A Practical Guide To Transforming The Business of Government
Prepared by TechAmerica Foundation’s Federal Big Data Commission 1

TechAmerica Foundation: Federal Big Data Commission
Listing of Leadership and Commissioners
Leadership
Steve Mills (Co-Chair) Steve Lucas (Co-Chair)
Senior Vice President and Group Executive Global Executive Vice President and General Manager,
IBM Database and Technology
SAP
Leo Irakliotis (Academic Co-Chair) Michael Rappa (Academic Co-Chair)
Western Governors University North Carolina State University
Teresa Carlson (Vice Chair) Bill Perlowitz (Vice Chair)
Vice President Global Public Sector Chief Technology Officer, Science, Technology and Engineering
Amazon Web Services Group
Wyle
Commissioners
Manish Agarwal Eric Gillespie Ray Muslimani David Shacochis

Attain Poplicus, Inc. GCE Savvis, A CenturyLink
Company
Sevag Ajemian John Igoe James Norton
Globanet Dell General Dynamics Hemant Sharma
C4 Systems CGI
Tim Bradley Prem Jadhwani
MicroStrategy GTSI Corp. Mike Olson Rick Sullivan
Cloudera Hewlett-Packard
Rich Campbell Richard Johnson
EMC Corporation Lockheed Martin IS&GS Steven Perkins Michael Van Chau
Grant Thornton LLP MEI Technologies
Stephen Coggeshall Yogesh Khanna
ID Analytics CSC Raghu Ramakrishnan Dale Wickizer
Microsoft NetApp
Bill Cull Bilhar Mann
Splunk CA Technologies Rich Rosenthal
TASC
Federal Big Data TechAmerica

Commission Staff Foundation Staff
Chris Wilson Jennifer Kerber
Staff Director President
2 Demystifying Big Data: A Practical Guide To Transforming The Business of Government

Table of Contents
Listing of Leadership and Commissioners 2 Technology Underpinnings 22

Introduction22
Foreword 5 Big Data Infrastructure22
Big Data Core Technologies23
Executive Summary & Key Findings 6 Big Data Accelerators24
Defining Big Data7 Integration Layer24
Leveraging Big Data – Networking Considerations25
Early Experiences and Lessons Learned7 Cloud Computing Considerations26
Recommendations For Getting Started – Understand Source Data
For Agency Leaders8 and Applications27
Beyond the Individual Agency – Data Preparation –
Policy Considerations8 Cleansing & Verification 27
Data Transformation27
Defining Big Data & Business/Mission Value 9 Business Intelligence/Decision Support27
Current Trends and Explosion of Big Data9 Analysts/Visualization27
Big Data Definition10
Characteristics of Big Data10 The Path Forward: Getting Started 28
Mission / Value of Big Data12 Observations & Lessons Learned28
The Use of Big Data: Recommended Roadmap
Potential Business & Mission Value 13 for Getting Started29
Healthcare Quality and Efficiency13
Healthcare Early Detection13 Public Policy 31
Transportation14 Accelerating Uptake of Big Data
Education14 in the Federal Government31
Fraud Detection – Education and Workforce Development 33
Healthcare Benefits Services14 Leveraging New Talent 33
Cyber Security15 Increasing Talent33
Fraud Detection – Tax Collection15 Research and Development
Weather15 Considerations34
New Ways of Combining Information – Privacy Issues35
Helping the Unemployed Find Work15 Removing Barriers to Use through
Conclusions15 Procurement Efficiencies 36
Big Data Case Studies 16 Conclusion 37

National Archive and Records
Administration (NARA)17 Acknowledgements 38
Royal Institute of Technology of Sweden (KTH)18
Vestas Wind Energy19 Deputy Commissioners 39
University of Ontario Institute of Technology20
NASA Johnson Space Center 21
TechAmerica Foundation: Federal Big Data Commission 3

Table of Illustrations
Table 1: Characteristics of Big Data 11
Table 2: Case Studies High Level Summary 16
Figure 1: Big Data Enterprise Model 22
Figure 2: Notional Information Flow – The Information Supply Chain 26
Figure 3: Road Map for Getting Started 29
Table 3: Practical Road Map Summary 30

Foreword
In recent years, federal, state and local government Although there clearly is intense focus on Big Data,
agencies have struggled to navigate the tidal wave of there remains a great deal of confusion regarding
sheer volume, variety, and velocity of data that is created what the term really means, and more importantly, the
within their own enterprise and across the government value it will provide to government agencies seeking
ecosystem. As this tidal wave has swept across to optimize service outcomes and innovate. This
government, “Big Data” has arisen as the new ubiquitous confusion may be due in part to the conversation
term. Everyone is talking about Big Data, and how it will being driven largely by the information technology
transform government, both in Washington and beyond community versus line of business community, and
the Beltway. Looking past the excitement, however, therefore centering primarily on technology. This
questions abound. What is Big Data? What capabilities report approaches Big Data from the perspective of the
are required to keep up? How do you use Big Data to key mission imperatives government agencies must
make intelligent decisions? How will agencies effectively address, the challenges and the opportunities posed
govern and secure huge volumes of information, by the explosion in data, and the business and inherent
while protecting privacy and civil liberties? Perhaps value Big Data can provide. The report breaks the
most importantly, what value will it really deliver to the discussion down into five chapters:
government and the citizenry it serves?
1. Big Data Definition & Business/Mission Value
In order to answer these questions and to provide
guidance to our federal government’s senior policy 2. Big Data Case Studies
and decision makers, the TechAmerica Foundation Big
Data Commission relied upon its diverse expertise and 3. Technical Underpinnings
perspectives, input from government representatives,
and previous reports. The Commission’s mandate 4. The Path Forward: Getting Started
was to demystify the term “Big Data” by defining its
characteristics, describe the key business outcomes it 5. Public Policy
will serve, and provide a framework for policy discussion.
The Commission based its findings on the practical

experiences of those government leaders who have
established early successes in leveraging Big Data,
and the academics and industry leaders who have
supported them. The intent is to ground report
recommendations in these best practices and lessons
learned, in an effort to cut through the hype, shorten
the adoption curve, and provide a pragmatic road map
for adoption.

Executive Summary & Key Findings

Big Data has the potential to transform government and These experiences reveal that although the
society itself. Hidden in the immense volume, variety and impact of Big Data will be transformational,
velocity of data that is produced today is new information, the path to effectively harnessing it does not
facts, relationships, indicators and pointers, that either require government agencies to start from
could not be practically discovered in the past, or scratch with greenfield investment. Rather
simply did not exist before. This new information, government can build iteratively on the
effectively captured, managed, and analyzed, has the power capabilities and technologies it already has
to enhance profoundly the effectiveness of government. in place.
Imagine a world with an expanding population but a reduced
strain on services and infrastructure; dramatically improved Perhaps as important, the path to harnessing the value
healthcare outcomes with greater efficiency and less of Big Data is now affordable. It is this convergence
investment; intensified threats to public safety and national of the availability of Big Data, the ability to harness it,
borders, but greater levels of security; more frequent and and the affordability of doing so that brings government
intense weather events, but greater accuracy in prediction to an inflection point. The time to act is now.
and management. Imagine a world with more cars, but less
congestion; more insurance claims but less fraud; fewer Success in capturing the transformation lies in
natural resources, but more abundant and less expensive leveraging the skills and experiences of our business
energy. The impact of Big Data has the potential to be as and mission leaders, rather than creating a universal
profound as the development of the Internet itself. Big Data architecture. It lies in understanding a
specific agency’s critical business imperatives and
Harnessing Big Data also will serve the key objectives and requirements, developing the right questions to ask,
recommendations described in the Digital Government understanding the art of the possible, and taking initial
Strategy report the White House released on 23 May 2012 – steps focused on serving a set of clearly defined use
“Digital Government: Build a 21st Century Platform to Better cases. The experiences and value gained in these
Serve The American People” (Digital Government Strategy). initial steps lead to more questions, more value, and
A primary component of the Digital Government Strategy is an evolutionary expansion of Big Data capability that
to “unlock the power of government data to spur innovation continually leverages prior investments.
across our nation and improve the quality of services for
the American people.” Big Data promises to fulfill the very It is instructive to remember the phenomenon of
essence of this objective. eBusiness. In the late 1990s, the buzz was that
eBusiness was going to change the world. By 2005,
The great paradox is that, as Big Data emerges as a new the term largely had faded away, it became passé.
resource, we struggle to keep pace. We find it difficult Yet, looking across government and society, it is clear
to discover, understand, and leverage the information it that effective organizations operate on the fundamental
contains, to find those true nuggets of knowledge that can principles wholly consistent with the term. eBusiness
improve the lives of everyday citizens and change the did in fact change the world. One can argue that those
world. Although there is more data available, our ability organizations that successfully harnessed the power of
to comprehend this data is reduced. The challenge lies in eBusiness started with their operational challenges and
capturing the streams of Big Data that we need, effectively requirements first, and asked, “How can the Internet
managing them, and extracting new and relevant insights. help?,” versus diving immediately into the technology.
So it will be with Big Data. Successful government
The good news is that not only is it possible to extract value agencies will seek to define their requirements and
from Big Data, but the path is relatively straightforward. use cases, and ask, “How can Big Data help?” versus
Leaders across government, academia, and private industry setting out to deploy Big Data projects. Ten years from
have made investments, have demonstrated success, now, we may have forgotten the term, but its principles
and we now know what “good” looks like; there exist best will underpin society.
practices from which we can define the path forward.

Defining Big Data
• Big Data is a phenomenon defined by the rapid acceleration in the expanding volume
of high velocity, complex, and diverse types of data. Big Data is often defined along
three dimensions -- volume, velocity, and variety.
• This phenomenon represents both a challenge in making sense of the data

available to governments, and an opportunity for government agencies that seek to
exploit it to enhance the business of government.
• Addressing the challenge and capturing the opportunity requires advanced

techniques and technologies to enable the capture, storage, distribution, management,
and analysis of the information.
• Government leaders should strive to understand the “Art of the Possible” enabled by
advances in techniques and technologies to manage and exploit Big Data. Example of
use cases and live case studies are critical in understanding the potential of Big Data.
Leveraging Big Data – Early Experiences and Lessons Learned
• While Big Data is transformative, the journey towards becoming Big Data “capable” will be iterative and cyclical,
versus revolutionary.
• Successful Big Data initiatives seem to start not with a discussion about technology, but rather with a burning
business or mission requirement that government leaders are unable to address with traditional approaches.
• Successful Big Data initiatives commonly start with a specific and narrowly defined business or mission
requirement, versus a plan to deploy a new and universal technical platform to support perceived future
requirements. This implies not a “build it and they will come” transformative undertaking, but rather a “fit for
purpose” approach.
• Successful initiatives seek to address the initial set of use cases by augmenting current IT investments, but do so
with an eye to leveraging these investments for inevitable expansion to support far wider use cases in subsequent
phases of deployment.
• Once an initial set of business requirements have been identified and defined, the leaders of successful initiatives
then assess the technical requirements, identify gaps in their current capabilities, and then plan the investments to
close those gaps.
• Successful initiatives tend to follow three “Patterns of Deployment” underpinned by the selection of one Big Data
“entry point” that corresponds to one of the key characteristics of Big Data – volume, variety and velocity.
• After completing their initial deployments, government leaders typically expand to adjacent use cases, building
out a more robust and unified set of core technical capabilities. These capabilities include the ability to analyze
streaming data in real time, the use of Hadoop or Hadoop-like technologies to tap huge, distributed data sources,
and the adoption of advanced data warehousing and data mining software.

Recommendations For Getting

Started – For Agency Leaders
Big Data is a phenomenon characterized by the exponential Beyond

expansion of raw data that is inundating government and the Individual Agency –
society. It is already here and it is accelerating. The path Policy Considerations
to effective government described in the Digital Government
Strategy lies in developing a set of capabilities to meet the From a policy perspective, the federal government
challenge and harness its value. Perhaps unlike any other should examine existing organizational and
technical challenge the government now faces, Big Data will technical structures to find and remove barriers
not be ignored. to greater Big Data uptake and, where needed,
take action to accelerate its use. Specifically, the
The question lies in how to respond. The good news is that government should:
leveraging Big Data is affordable and early experiences
offer best practices. As many government agency leaders 1. Expand the talent pool by creating a
take the first steps toward adopting Big Data solutions, the formal career track for line of business and
Commission makes the following recommendations: IT managers and establish a leadership
academy to provide Big Data and related
1. Understand the “Art of the Possible” -- Explore the training and certification.
case studies contained in this report, posted on the
TechAmerica Foundation Website, and otherwise in the 2. Leverage the data science talent by
public domain to find inspiration and practical examples. establishing and expanding “college-to-
government service” internship programs
2. Identify 2-4 key business or mission requirements that focused specifically on analytics and the
Big Data can address for your agency, and define and use of Big Data.
develop underpinning use cases that would create value
for both the agency and the public. 3. Establish a broader and more long-lasting
coalition between industry, academic centers,
3. Take inventory of your “data assets.” Explore the data and professional societies to articulate and
available both within the agency enterprise and across the maintain professional and competency
government ecosystem within the context of the business standards for the field of Big Data.
requirements and the use cases.
4. Expand the Office of Science and
4. Assess your current capabilities and architecture Technology Policy (OSTP) national research
against what is required to support your goals, and select and development strategy for Big Data
the deployment entry point that best fits your Big Data to encourage further research into new
challenge – volume, variety or velocity. (The entry points techniques and tools, and explore the
are described in detail in the “The Path Forward: Getting application of those tools to important
Started” chapter of this report.) problems across varied research domains.
5. Explore which data assets can be made open and 5. Provide further guidance and greater
available to the public to help spur innovation outside the collaboration with industry and stakeholders
agency. Consider leveraging programs like the Innovation on applying the privacy and data protection
Corps offered by the National Science Foundation, or the practices already in place to current
Start-Up America White House initiative. technology and cultural realities.

Defining Big Data
Defining Big Data & Business/Mission Value

Big Data is not a technology, but rather a phenomenon resulting from the vast amount of raw information generated across
society, and collected by commercial and government organizations. This phenomenon represents both a challenge in
harnessing this volume of data, and an opportunity for government agencies who seek to enhance their effectiveness. This
section describes the accelerating explosion of Big Data, the definition of Big Data, the characteristics of Big Data, the
mission and business value Big Data promises, and potential use cases.
Current Trends and Explosion of Big Data
In recent years, federal, state, and local governments have come to face a tidal wave of
change as a result of the drastic increase in the sheer volume, variety and velocity of data
within their own enterprise and across the government ecosystem. For example, in 2011,
1.8 zetabytes of information were created globally, and that amount is expected to double
every year. This volume of data is the equivalent of 200 billion, 2-hour HD movies, which
one person could watch for 47 million years straight. The impact of this phenomenon to
business and government is immediate and inescapable.
Because of the Internet and influx of information from multiple sources embedded within
every fabric of our government, agencies will continue to struggle with managing large
streams of data. Our government has access to a constant barrage of data from sensors,
satellites, social media, mobile communications, email, RFID, and enterprise applications.
As a result, leaders are faced with capturing, ingesting, analyzing, storing, distributing,
securing the data, and transforming it into meaningful, valuable information.
Since 2000, the amount of information the federal government captures has increased
exponentially. In 2009, the U.S. Government produced 848 petabytes of data1 and U.S.
healthcare data alone reached 150 exabytes2 . Five exabytes (10^18 gigabytes) of data
would contain all words ever spoken by human beings on earth. At this rate, Big Data for
U.S. healthcare will soon reach zetabyte (10^21 gigabytes) scale and soon yottabytes
(10^24 gigabytes).
Yet, the mind-boggling volume of data that the federal government receives makes
information overload a fundamental challenge. In this expansion of data, there exists
new information that either has not been discoverable, or simply did not exist before. The
question is how to effectively capture new insight. Big Data properly managed, modeled,
shared, and transformed provides an opportunity to extract new insights, and make
decisions in a way simply not possible before now. Big Data provides the opportunity to
transform the business of government by providing greater insight at the point of impact
and ultimately better serving the citizenry, society and the world.
1 Source: IDC, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, McKinsey Global Institute Analysis
2 Roger Foster, “How to Harness Big Data for Improving Public Health,” Government Health IT, April 3, 2012, at http://www.govhealthit.com/news/how-harness-big-data-improving-public-health

Defining Big Data
Simply put, government leaders find

themselves stuck between a rock and a hard
place while facing ever-intensifying mission
Big Data Definition
and business challenges, the explosion in
the data available, and outmoded, out dated
Although the term “Big Data” has become increasingly common,
information management capabilities that
its meaning is not always clear. For the purposes of this report,
simply limit their ability to respond. Some
the Commission tapped its collective experience, interviewed
of the questions government leaders face
government leaders from across the ecosystem, and arrived at
include:
the definition below:
• How do I capture, manage and

exploit all this new data?
• How do I secure and govern it? “Big Data is a term that describes
large volumes of high velocity,
• How do I improve cross-organizational
complex and variable data that
information sharing for broader
connected intelligence?
require advanced techniques and
technologies to enable the capture,
• How do I build trust in the data, storage, distribution, management,
through greater understanding of and analysis of the information.”
provenance and lineage tied back to
validated, trusted sources?
• What advanced visualization

techniques, tools, and formats are Characteristics of Big Data
available for presenting information
to enable quick analysis and to create Big Data is often characterized by three factors: volume, velocity,
new insights? and variety. Fifteen percent of the information today is structured
information, or information that is easily stored in relational
• Finally, how do I bridge the gap databases of spreadsheets, with their ordinary columns and rows.
in talent and human capital to take Unstructured information, such as email, video, blogs, call center
advantage? conversations, and social media, makes up about 85% of data
generated today and presents challenges in deriving meaning with
conventional business intelligence tools. Information-producing
devices, such as sensors, tablets, and mobile phones continue
to multiply. Social networking is also growing at an accelerated
pace as the world becomes more connected. Such information
sharing options represents a fundamental shift in the way people,
government and businesses interact with each other.
The characteristics of Big Data will shape the way government

organizations ingest, analyze, manage, store, and distribute
data across the enterprise and across the ecosystem. Table
1 illustrates characteristics of Big Data that more completely
describe the difference of “Big Data” from the historical
perspective of “normal” data.

Defining Big Data
Table 1: Characteristics of Big Data
Characteristic Description Attribute Driver

The sheer amount of data According to IDC’s Digital Increase in data sources,
Volume generated or data intensity that Universe Study, the world’s higher resolution sensors
must be ingested, analyzed, “digital universe” is in the
and managed to make process of generating 1.8
decisions based on complete Zettabytes of information - with
data analysis continuing exponential growth
– projecting to 35 Zettabytes
in 2020
How fast data is being • Accessibility: Information • Increase in data sources

Velocity produced and changed and the when, where, and how the
• Improved thru-put
speed with which data must user wants it, at the point of
connectivity
be received, understood, and impact
processed • Enhanced computing
• Applicable: Relevant,
power of data generating
valuable information for an
devices
enterprise at a torrential
pace becomes a real-time
phenomenon
• Time value: real-time
analysis yields improved data-
driven decisions
The rise of information coming • Structured – 15% of data • Mobile

Variety from new sources both inside today is structured, row,
• Social Media
and outside the walls of the columns
enterprise or organization • Videos
• Unstructured – 85% is
creates integration, • Chat
unstructured or human
management, governance, and
generated information • Genomics
architectural pressures on IT
• Semistructured – The • Sensors
combination of structured and
unstructured data is becoming
paramount.
• Complexity – where data
sources are moving and
residing
The quality and provenance of The quality of Big Data may Data-based decisions require
Veracity received data be good, bad, or undefined traceability and justification
due to data inconsistency &
incompleteness, ambiguities,
latency, deception, model
approximations

Defining Big Data
Mission / Value of Big Data

The manner in which Big Data can be used to
create value across the government and in the
global economy is broad and far reaching. We are
at the cusp of a tremendous wave of innovation,
productivity, and growth – all driven by Big Data
as citizens, companies, and government exploit its
potential.
Beyond the mission and business value derived directly by the
government’s capture, management, analysis, and storage
But, why should this be the case now? Hasn’t data of Big Data, such efforts will also create new markets and
always been a part of the impact of information business opportunities for the private sector. Harnessing Big
technology? Yes, but the scale and scope of value Data will enable businesses to improve market intelligence,
that data can bring is coming to an inflection point, thereby enhancing the value they provide to consumers. It will
set to expand greatly as the availability of Big Data also help to reduce business uncertainty for small businesses.
converges with the ability to harness it and the A recent report by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) finds that
affordability of doing so. The federal government leveraging Big Data for insights can create significant value
has a significant opportunity to boost the efficiency for the economy, enhancing productivity and competitiveness
and value of investments for citizens at a time for companies and the public sector, and creating a
when public finances are constrained and likely to substantial economic surplus for consumers.
remain so, as U.S. and world population ages and
diversifies, the economy continues to globalize, and
As Big Data becomes an increasingly valuable asset to the
the expectations on the part of the citizenry intensify.
government, the government’s embrace of the principles of
Big Data will lay the foundation for:
Many key tenets for “Good Government” and
Big Data overlap. At its core, Big Data enables
• Replacing or supporting human decision-making with
government organizations to be smarter to improve
automated algorithms
the productivity of the enterprise, and to serve the
needs of their stakeholders by improving decision-
• Reducing inefficiencies within an agency
making in individual agencies and across the
government ecosystem. The ability to drive critical,
• Creating transparency
accurate insights with speed across a variety of data
sets and across a variety of channels (e.g., web
• Improving performance by enabling experimentation to
portals, internal systems, smart phones, tablets)
discover needs and expose variability
will dramatically improve a broad range of critical
government policies and practices.
• Improving ROI for IT investments
• Improved decision-making and operational intelligence
• Providing predictive capabilities to improve mission

outcomes
• Reducing security threats and crime
• Eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse
• Innovating new business models and stakeholder

services

Defining Big Data
The Use of Big Data: Potential Business & Mission Value
Although the Big Data challenge is daunting, it is not insurmountable, and the opportunity is compelling.
There are many possibilities and approaches to managing and leveraging Big Data to address the mission
of government inclusive of stakeholder requirements. Ultimately, this report will provide guidance for a
framework to extract the Big Data needed to analyze and use for effective decision making. This will be
the baseline for a continuous feedback process to improve upon the outcomes identified or potentially
eliminate programs that are not delivering on the desired outcomes.
The potential applications of Big Data described below serve to illustrate the “Art of the Possible” in the
potential value that can be derived. These applications are consistent with the recently published Digital
Government Strategy.3 They require a customer focus and the ability to reuse and leverage data in
innovative ways.
Healthcare Quality and Efficiency
The ability to continuously improve quality and efficiency in the delivery of healthcare while reducing
costs remains an elusive goal for care providers and payers, but also represents a significant opportunity
to improve the lives of everyday Americans. As of 2010, national health expenditures represent 17.9%
of gross domestic product, up from 13.8% in 2000.4 Coupled with this rise in expenditures, certain
chronic diseases, such as diabetes, are increasing in prevalence and consuming a greater percentage of
healthcare resources. The management of these diseases and other health-related services profoundly
affects our nation’s well-being.
Big Data can help. The increased use of electronic health records (EHRs) coupled with new analytics
tools presents an opportunity to mine information for the most effective outcomes across large populations.
Using carefully de-identified information, researchers can look for statistically valid trends and provide
assessments based upon true quality of care.
Healthcare Early Detection
Big Data in health care may involve using sensors in the hospital or home to provide continuous monitoring
of key biochemical markers, performing real time analysis on the data as it streams from individual high-
risk patients to a HIPAA-compliant analysis system. The analysis system can alert specific individuals and
their chosen health care provider if the analysis detects a health anomaly, requiring a visit to their provider
or a “911” event about to happen. This has the potential to extend and improve the quality of millions of
citizens’ lives.
3 http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/egov/digital-government/digital-government-strategy.pdf
4 http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/Downloads/tables.pdf

Defining Big Data
Transportation
Through improved information and autonomous features, Big Data has the potential to transform transportation in many ways.
The nemesis of many American drivers, traffic jams waste energy, contribute to global warming and cost individuals time and
money. Distributed sensors on handheld devices, on vehicles, and on roads can provide real-time traffic information that is
analyzed and shared. This information, coupled with more autonomous features in cars can allow drivers to operate more
safely and with less disruption to traffic flow. This new type of traffic ecosystem, with increasingly connected “intelligent cars,”
has the potential to transform how we use our roadways.5
Education
Big Data can have a profound impact on American education and our competitiveness in the global economy. For example,
through in-depth tracking and analysis of on-line student learning activities – with fine grained analysis down to the level of
mouse clicks – researchers can ascertain how students learn and the approaches that can be used to improve learning.
This analysis can be done across thousands of students rather than through small isolated studies.6 Courses and teaching
approaches, online and traditional, can be modified to reflect the information gleaned from the large scale analysis.
Fraud Detection – Healthcare Benefits Services
Big Data can transform improper payment detection and fundamentally change the risk and return perceptions of individuals
that currently submit improper, erroneous or fraudulent claims. For example, a significant challenge confronting the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is managing improper payments under the Medicare Fee-For-Service Program
(FFS). The FFS distributes billions of dollars in estimated improper payments.7 Currently, contractors and employees identify
improper payments by selecting a small sample of claims, requesting medical documentation from the provider who submitted
the claims, and manually reviewing the claims against the medical documentation to verify the providers’ compliance with
Medicare’s policies.
This challenge is an opportunity to explore a use case for applying Big Data technologies and techniques, to perform
unstructured data analytics on medical documents to improve efficiency in mitigating improper payments. Automating
the improper payment process and utilizing Big Data tools, techniques and governance processes would result in greater
improper payment prevention or recovery. Data management and distribution could be achieved through an image
classification workflow solution to classify and route documents. Data analytics and data intelligence would be based
on unstructured document analysis techniques and pattern matching expertise.
The benefit is that the culture of submitting improper payments will be changed. Big Data tools, techniques and governance
processes would increase the prevention and recovery dollar value by evaluating the entire data set and dramatically
increasing the speed of identification and detection of compliance patterns.
5 http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/09/19/automakers-on-the-road-to-self-driving-cars/
6 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/technology/new-us-research-will-aim-at-flood-of-digital-data.html
7 http://www.mcknights.com/gao-medicare-spent-48-billion-on-improper-fee-for-service-payments/article/208592/

Defining Big Data
Cyber Security Weather
Government agencies face numerous challenges The ability to better understand changes in the frequency,
associated with protecting themselves against cyber intensity, and location of weather and climate can benefit
attacks, such as managing the exponential growth in millions of citizens and thousands of businesses that rely
network-produced datat, database performance issues upon weather, including farmers, tourism, transportation,
due to lack of ability to scale to capture this data, and and insurance companies. Weather and climate-related
the complexity in developing and applying analytics natural disasters result in tens of billions of dollars in losses
for fraud to cyber data. Agencies continue to look at every year and affect the lives of millions of citizens. Much
delivering innovative cyber analytics and data intensive progress has been made in understanding and predicting
computing solutions. Cyber intelligence and other weather, but it’s far from perfect. New sensors and analysis
machine generated data are growing beyond the limits of techniques hold the promise of developing better long term
traditional database and appliance vendors. Therefore, climate models and nearer term weather forecasts.
requirements exist for fast data ingestion, data sharing,
and collaboration.
Agencies are looking to incorporate multiple streams New Ways of Combining

of data to benefit both human and automated analysis.
Information – Helping the
Cyber data such as host, network, and information
from the World Wide Web, are being fused with human
Unemployed Find Work
oriented information such as psychosocial, political,
Consistent with the Government Digital Strategy of making
and cultural information to form a more complete
information available and having a customer focus, Big
understanding of our adversaries, motives, and
Data provides an opportunity to develop thousands of
social networks. In addition, deep forensics, critical
new innovative ways of developing solutions for citizens.
infrastructure protections, Supervisory Control and
For example, Big Data may be useful in proactively
Data Acquisition (SCADA) security, and insider threat
helping unemployed job seekers find new opportunities
protection are areas of focus for Big Data cyber security
by combining their job qualifications with an analysis and
capabilities.
mining of available job opportunities that are posted on the
Internet (e.g., company Websites, commercial postings).
It’ll take some innovation, piloting and experimentation
to make these new ideas work, but the payoff can be
Fraud Detection – significant for individuals and society.
Tax Collection
By increasing the ability to quickly spot anomalies,

government collection agencies can lower the “tax
Conclusions
gap” – the difference between what taxpayers owe and
what they pay voluntarily – and profoundly change the
Government agencies should think about Big Data not as
culture of those that would consider attempting improper
an IT solution to solve reporting and analytical information
tax filings. Most agencies practice a “pay and chase”
challenges but rather as a strategic asset that can be used
model, in which they accept returns and often pay out
to achieve better mission outcomes, and conceptualized in
tax refunds, and only ex post facto review a sampling
the strategic planning, enterprise architecture, and human
of returns in order to reveal unintentional or intentional
capital of the agency. Through this lens, government
underpayment. Big Data offers the ability to improve
agencies should create an ownership structure for the
fraud detection and uncover noncompliance at the time
data, treating it like any other asset – one that is valued
tax returns are initially filed, reducing the issuance of
and secured. Ultimately, agencies should strive to address
questionable refunds.
the following two questions – “How will the business of
government change to leverage Big Data?” and “How will
legacy business models and systems be disrupted?”

Big Data Case Studies

The Commission has compiled a set of 10 case studies detailing the business or mission
challenge faced, the initial Big Data use case, early steps the agency took to address the
challenge and support the use case, and the business results. Although the full text of these case
studies will be posted at the TechAmerica Foundation Website, some are summarized below.
Table 2 – Case Studies High Level Summary
Agency/Organization/
Underpinning Big Data Initial Big Data
Company Public/User Benefits
Technologies Metrics Entry Point
Big Data Project Name
Case Studies and Use Cases
National Archive and Records Metadata, Submission, Petabytes, Warehouse Provides Electronic Records Archive
Administration (NARA) Access, Repository, Search Terabytes/sec, Optimization, and Online Public Access systems for
Electronics Records Archive and Taxonomy applications Semi-structured Distributed Info Mgt US records and documentary heritage
for storage and archival
systems
TerraEchos Streams analytic software, Terabytes/sec Streaming and Data Helps organizations protect and monitor
Perimeter Intrusion Detection predictive analytics Analytics critical infrastructure and secure
borders
Royal Institute of Technology of Streams analytic software, Gigabits/sec Streaming and Data Improve traffic in metropolitan areas by
Sweden (KTH) predictive analytics Analytics decreasing congestion and reducing
Traffic Pattern Analysis traffic accident injury rates
Vestas Wind Energy Apache Hadoop Petabytes Streaming and Data Pinpointing the optimal location for wind
Wind Turbine Placement & Analytics turbines to maximize power generation
Maintenance and reduce energy cost
University of Ontario (UOIT) Streams analytic software, Petabytes Streaming and Data Detecting infections in premature
Medical Monitoring predictive analytics, Analytics infants up to 24 hours before they
supporting Relational exhibit symptoms
Database
National Aeronautics and Space Metadata, Archival, Search Petabytes, Warehouse Provide industry and the public with
Administration (NASA) and Taxonomy applications Terabytes/sec, Optimization some of the most iconic and historic
Human Space Flight Imagery for tape library systems, Semi-structured human spaceflight imagery for scientific
GOTS discovery, education and entertainment
7
AM Biotechnologies (AM Cloud-based HPC genomic Gigabytes, 10 Streaming Data & Creation of a unique aptamer
Biotech) applications and DNA sequences Analytics, Warehouse compounds to develop improved
DNA Sequence Analysys for transportable data files compared Optimization, therapeutics for many medical
Creating Aptamers Distributed Info Mgt conditions and diseases
National Oceanic and HPC modeling, data from Petabytes, Streaming Data & Provide weather, water, and climate
Atmospheric Administration satellites, ships, aircraft and Terabytes/sec, Analytics, Warehouse data, forecasts and warnings for the
(NOAA) deployed sensors Semi-structured, Optimization, protection of life and property and
National Weather Service ExaFLOPS, Distributed Info Mgt enhancement of the national economy
PetaFLOPS
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Columnar database Petabytes Streaming Data & Provide America's taxpayers top quality
Compliance Data Warehouse architecture, multiple Analytics, Warehouse service by helping them to understand
analytics applications, Optimization, and meet their tax responsibilities and
descriptive, exploratory, and Distributed Info Mgt enforce the law with integrity and
predictive analysis fairness to all
Centers for Medicare & Columnar and NoSQL Petabytes, Streaming Data & Protect the health of all Americans and
Medicaid Services (CMS) databases, Hadoop being Terabytes/day Analytics, Warehouse ensure compliant processing of
Medical Records Analytics looked at, EHR on the front Optimization, insurance claims
end, with legacy structured Distributed Info Mgt
database systems (including
DB2 and COBOL)

The case studies represent systems that have been in production. Given their maturity, some
case studies identify existing and new challenges that will require even greater evolution
of their IT infrastructures and technology to handle the level of compliance, retention and
accuracy required by current and new policies and by public and economic needs.
These new challenges create new use cases for needed Big Data solutions. These new use
cases demonstrate how Big Data technologies and analytics are enabling new innovations
in scientific, health, environmental, financial, energy, business and operational sectors. That
said, the men and women involved with the systems described in these case studies and use
cases are persevering. They are committed to the positive outcomes that Big Data solutions
offer: better protection, increased collaboration, deeper insights, and new prosperity. The
use cases will demonstrate that using the current and emerging technologies for Big Data
(including cloud-enabled Big Data applications) will drive new solutions to deliver insights
and information that benefits both the government and the public, thus enabling real-time
decision making.
National Archive and Records Administration (NARA)
The National Archive and Records Administration (NARA) has been charged with providing the Electronic Records Archive
(ERA) and Online Public Access systems for U.S. records and documentary heritage. As of January 2012, NARA is managing
manage about 142 terabytes (TB) of information (124 TB of which is managed by ERA), representing over 7 billion objects,
incorporating records from across the federal agency ecosystem, Congress and several presidential libraries, reaching back
to the George W. Bush administration. It sustains over 350 million annual online visits for information. These numbers are
expected to dramatically increase as agencies are mandated to use NARA in FY2012.
In addition to ERA, NARA is currently struggling to digitize over 4 million cubic feet of traditional archival holdings, including
about 400 million pages of classified information scheduled for declassification, pending review with the intelligence
community. Of that backlog, 62% of the physical records stored run the risk of never being preserved.
The NARA challenge represents the very essence of Big Data – how does the agency digitize this huge volume of
unstructured data, provide straightforward and rapid access, and still effectively governing the data while managing access
in both classified and declassified environments.
NARA has adopted an approach that put it on the path to developing the Big Data capability required to address its challenge.
This approach combines traditional data capture, digitizing, and storage capabilities with advanced Big Data capabilities
for search, retrieval, and presentation, all while supporting strict security guidelines. Dyug Le, Director of ERA Systems
Engineering writes, “It is best that the Electronic Records Archive be built in such a way so as to fit in a technology ecosystem
that can evolve naturally, and can be driven by the end users in ways that naturally ride the technology waves.” 8 The result
is faster ingestion and categorization of documents, an improved end user experience and dramatically reduced storage
costs. NARA notes the importance of record keeping in their drive toward electronic adoption and the cost benefit. It states,
“Electronic records can be duplicated and protected at less cost than paper records.” 9
8 http://ddp.nist.gov/workshop/ppts/01_05_Dyung_Le%20US_DPIF_NIST%20Digital%20Preservation%20Workshop.pdf
9 http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/policy/prod1afn.html

Royal Institute of Technology of Sweden (KTH)
Researchers at KTH, Sweden’s leading technical university, wanted to gather in real-time a wide array of data that might
affect traffic patterns, in order to better managed congestion. This real-time sensor data includes GPS from large numbers of
vehicles, radar sensors on motorways, congestion charging, weather and visibility etc. The challenge was collecting the wide
variety of data at high velocity and assimilating it in real time for analysis.
Collected data is now flowing into a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Streams Analytics software, a unique software tool
that analyzes large volumes of streaming, real-time data, both structured and unstructured. The data is then used to help
intelligently identify current conditions, and estimate how long it would take to travel from point to point in the city, offer advice
on various travel alternatives, such as routes, and eventually help improve traffic in a metropolitan area.
The KTH Big Data Deployment:
• Uses diverse data, including GPS locations, weather conditions, speeds and flows
from sensors on motorways, incidents and roadworks
• Enters data into the Streams Analytics software, which can handle all types of data,
both structured and unstructured
• Handles, in real time, the large traffic and traffic-related data streams to enable
researchers to quickly analyze current traffic conditions and develop historical
databases for monitoring and more efficient management of the system
The result has been a decrease in traffic congestion and accidents in the target cities. KTH is now looking to expand the
capability to support routing of emergency services vehicles.

Vestas Wind Energy
Since 1979, this Danish company has been engaged in the development, manufacture, sale, and maintenance of wind power
systems to generate electricity. Today, Vestas installs an average of one wind turbine every three hours, 24 hours a day,
and its turbines generate more than 90 million megawatt-hours of energy per year, enough electricity to supply millions of
households.
Making wind a reliable source of energy depends greatly on the placement of the wind turbines used to produce electricity in
order to optimize the production of power against wear and tear on the turbine itself.
For Vestas the process of establishing a location starts with its wind library, which combines data from global weather systems
with data collected from existing turbines. Data is collected from 35,000 meteorological stations scattered around the world
and from Vestas’s turbines. The data provides a picture of the global flow scenario, which in turn leads to mesoscale models
that are used to establish a huge wind library that can pinpoint the weather at a specific location at a specific time of day.
The company’s previous wind library provided detailed information in a grid pattern with each grid measuring 27x27 kilometers
(about 17x17 miles). Using computational fluid dynamics models, Vestas engineers can then bring the resolution down even
further—to about 10x10 meters (32x32 feet)—to establish the exact wind flow pattern at a particular location. However, in any
modeling scenario, the more data and the smaller the grid area, the greater the accuracy of the models. As a result, Vestas
wanted to expand its wind library more than 10 fold to include a larger range of weather data over a longer period of time.
To succeed, Vestas uses one of the largest supercomputers worldwide, along with a new Big Data modeling solution, to
slice weeks from data processing times and support 10 times the amount of data for more accurate turbine placement
decisions. Improved precision provides Vestas customers with greater business case certainty, quicker results, and
increased predictability and reliability in wind power generation.
• Reduces response time for wind forecasting information

by approximately 97 percent (from weeks to hours) to help
cut development time
• Improves accuracy of turbine placement with capabilities

for analyzing a greater breadth and depth of data
• Lowers the cost to customers per kilowatt hour produced

and increases customers’ return on investment
• Reduces IT footprint and costs, and decreases energy

consumption by 40 percent

University of Ontario Institute of Technology
The rapid advance of medical monitoring technology has done wonders to improve patient outcomes. Today, patients
routinely are connected to equipment that continuously monitors vital signs, such as blood pressure, heart rate and
temperature. The equipment issues an alert when any vital sign goes out of the normal range, prompting hospital staff to take
action immediately.
Many life-threatening conditions do not reach critical level right away, however. Often, signs that something is wrong begin
to appear long before the situation becomes serious, and even a skilled and experienced nurse or physician might not be
able to spot and interpret these trends in time to avoid serious complications. One example of such a hard-to-detect problem
is nosocomial infection, which is contracted at the hospital and is life threatening to fragile patients such as premature
infants. According to physicians at the University of Virginia, an examination of retrospective data reveals that, starting
12 to 24 hours before any overt sign of trouble, almost undetectable changes begin to appear in the vital signs of infants
who have contracted this infection. Although the information needed to detect the infection is present, the indication is very
subtle; rather than being a single warning sign, it is a trend over time that can be difficult to spot, especially in the fast-paced
environment of an intensive care unit.
The University of Ontario’s Institute of Technology partnered with researchers from a prominent technology firm that was
extending a new stream-computing platform to support healthcare analytics. The result was Project Artemis -- a highly flexible
platform that aims to help physicians make better, faster decisions regarding patient care for a wide range of conditions.
The earliest iteration of the project is focused on early detection of nosocomial infection by watching for reduced heart rate
variability along with other indications.
Project Artemis is based on Streams analytic software. An underlying relational database provides the data management
required to support future retrospective analyses of the collected data.
The result is an early warning that gives caregivers the ability to proactively deal with potential complications—such as
detecting infections in premature infants up to 24 hours before they exhibit symptoms. This system:
• Holds the potential to give clinicians an unprecedented ability to

interpret vast amounts of heterogeneous data in real time, enabling
them to spot subtle trends
• Combines physician and nurse knowledge and experience with

technology capabilities to yield more robust results than can be
provided by monitoring devices alone
• Provides a flexible platform that can adapt to a wide variety of

medical monitoring needs

NASA Johnson Space Center
As the nucleus of the nation’s astronaut corps and home to International Space Station (ISS) mission operations, NASA
Johnson Space Center (JSC) plays a pivotal role in surpassing the physical boundaries of Earth and enhancing technological
and scientific knowledge to benefit all of humankind. NASA JSC manages one of the largest imagery archives in the world
and has provided industry and the public with some of the most iconic and historic human spaceflight imagery for scientific
discovery, education and entertainment. If you have seen it at the movies or on TV, JSC touched it first.
NASA’s imagery collection of still photography and video spans more for than half a century: from the early Gemini and Apollo
missions to the Space Station. This imagery collection currently consists of over 4 million still images, 9.5 million feet of
16mm motion picture film, over 85,000 video tapes and files representing 81,616 hours of video in analog and digital formats.
Eight buildings at JSC house these enormous collections and the imagery systems that collect, process, analyze, transcode,
distribute and archive these historical artifacts. NASA’s imagery collection is growing exponentially, and its sheer volume of
unstructured information is the essence of Big Data.
NASA’s human spaceflight imagery benefits the public through the numerous organizations that create media content for
social and public consumption. It is also used by the scientific and engineering community to avoid costly redesigns and to
conduct scientific and engineering analysis of tests and mission activities conducted at NASA JSC and White Sands Test
Facility.
NASA has developed best practices through technologies and processes to:
• Comply with NASA records retention schedules

and archiving guidance
• Migrate imagery to an appropriate storage medium

and format destined for the National Archives
• Develop technology to digital store down-linked images

and video directly to tape libraries
Key lessons learned have revolved around data lifecycle management and NASA’s Imagery Online records management tool
which contributes to the state of the art in records management.

Technology Underpinnings
Introduction
Powerful advances in new information management and business analytics technologies, like map reduce frameworks (such
as Hadoop, and Hadoop-like technologies), stream analytics, and massive parallel processing (MPP) data warehouses, have
been proven in deployment to support government agencies in harnessing the value from the increased volume, variety and
velocity that characterize Big Data. This section describes the different capabilities provided by these technologies, and how
they are combined in different ways to provide unique solutions. No single technology is required for a “Big Data Solution” –
they are not “must haves” – as initial Big Data Deployments are unique to the individual agency’s business imperatives and
use cases. The technologies can be placed, however, into the context of a broader enterprise Big Data model. The model
below highlights the ecosystem of technologies that can be used to support Big Data solutions, coupling legacy investments to
new technologies. As a result, the technologies listed in the model are not all new, but can be used as part of the solution set
(see Figure 1).
Figure1 Big Data Enterprise Model
Accelerators
Text Statistics Financial Geospatial Acoustic
Internet / Intranet Image/Video Mining Times Series Mathematical
Connectors Analytic Applications

Satellite
Legacy IT Ecosystem
Core Technologies
Integration Layer
Social Sites
Realtime Analytics Map Reduce Data Warehouse/
& Streaming Frameworks Database
Video/Pictures
Infrastructure
Mobile Devices
Provisioning Workflow Cloud/
Security Virtualization
Job
Documents Job Tracking
Scheduling
Storage Data
Configuration Infrastructure Compression
Admin Tools
Manager
Activity Identity &

Monitor Access Mgmt

Big Data Infrastructure
A suitable technology infrastructure is a key prerequisite for embarking on a successful Big Data strategy. The proper
infrastructure is required to leverage the data that originates from the varied applications and data sources. Many government
agencies operate a diverse collection of systems based on a wide variety of technology architectures. Adjustments in data
center infrastructure may be necessary to implement a Big Data platform. For example, additional dedicated data storage
may be necessary to manage massive amounts of unstructured information. Network bandwidth is also a concern of current
environments.
Big Data Core Technologies
Real-Time Analytics and Streaming Frequently, the software includes redundancy in

performs the analysis of massive volumes of streaming the file system (e.g., Hadoop File System) or error
data, frequently with millisecond response times. The checking in the data that can facilitate the use of
data can originate from many sources: sensors, social commodity hardware. As a result, it is well-suited
media sites, digital pictures, video, transaction records, to deal with semi-structured and unstructured
and communications surveillance and has a wide data, and is particularly ideal when there is a large
variation in form. It is particularly ideal when users amount of data maintained to discover new insights
need real-time decision support for high velocities of over time and when there’s not a firm understanding
data. The characteristics of real-time analytics and of the value or use of the data a priori. It is good
streaming capabilities include rule-based algorithms, for finding a needle in the haystack among data
large I/O capability, and parallel processing. It does not that may or may not be “core data” for an agency
necessarily require a significant amount of storage for today. Hadoop and Hadoop-like technologies tend
data at rest. to work with a batch paradigm that is good for
many workloads, but is frequently not sufficient for
Map Reduce Frameworks are often based streaming analysis or fast interactive queries.
upon Hadoop and Hadoop-like technologies. They
work by providing parallel processing capabilities that Data Warehousing can be part of an overall
move subsets of the data to distributed servers. The integrated Big Data solution because it is ideal for
primary use is processing massive amounts of data analyzing structured data from various systems
in a scalable manner. Use cases include business to deliver deep operational insight with advanced
analytics, extraction, transformation and loading (ETL), in-database analytics. Traditional on-line analytic
log analysis, and Web search engines. Most Hadoop processing (OLAP) data warehouses have scale-
adopters rely on the native Hadoop Distributed File up characteristics, require relational, structured
System (HDFS) configured with direct attached storage data, and have a ceiling on the size of the data that
(DAS). HDFS is a distributed file system that provides can be processed (e.g., when joining the data with
fault tolerant storage capable of managing distributed structured query language), but can be a powerful
data across many nodes. The systems commonly work source of analytical capability that can be integrated
in a “map and reduce” paradigm that allows for a master to provide significant customer value. Frequently
server to distribute (i.e., map) the problem to worker the data in an OLAP-based data warehouse has
servers, collect each server’s results, and reduce it to been pre-processed and is known to be of high
a collective result. These technologies are “scale out” quality.
and can accommodate large, unbounded data sets
without the format requirements of a relational database
management system (RDBMS).

Big Data Accelerators
Accelerators are software applications,

connectors, or interfaces that provide
value-add capabilities such as
implementing analytics or enhancing
the ability to integrate. Accelerators can Integration Layer
decrease deployment time and speed the
time to realizing value from the Big Data Integration between new Big Data capabilities and legacy
investment. Accelerators include: IT investments is often necessary for deploying Big Data
solutions. Information integration and governance allows
• Text extraction tools or interfaces to agencies to understand, cleanse, transform, manage, and
common Text Extraction or Natural deliver trusted information to the critical business initiatives.
Language Processing products
We recommend that agencies develop Big Data governance
• Financial tools and interfaces to plans. The plans should be a holistic approach to help guide
common financial products the agency from an information management perspective and
follow these key items:
• Geospatial support and interfaces
for ground station and ingest • Identify data and content that are vital to its mission
solutions
• Identify how, when, where, and to whom information
• Geospatial integration and should be made available
dissemination
• Determine appropriate data management, governance,
• Acoustic interfacing support and security practices
• Imagery and video mining, marking, • Identify and prioritize the information projects that
monitoring, and alerting capability or deliver the most value
interfacing support
A Big Data information plan ensures that the major
components of the governance plan are working in unison.
There are four components to an effective information plan:
• Information strategy is the vision that guides decisions

and helps the organization determine how best to support
business goals
• Information infrastructure is the technology and

capabilities that are needed to establish a common
information framework
• Information governance is the policies and practices

that facilitate the management, usage, improvement, and
protection of information across the organization
• Road map is a phased execution plan for transforming

the organization

In practice, Big Data technologies can be integrated to provide a comprehensive solution for government IT leadership. Big
Data solutions are often used to feed traditional data warehousing and business intelligence systems. For example, Hadoop
within a Big Data model can be used as a repository for structured, semi-structured (e.g., log file data), and unstructured
data (e.g., emails, documents) that feeds an OLAP data warehouse. The analytics and visualization tools pull data from the
OLAP data warehouse and render actionable information through reports. However, the fundamental step of cleansing the
data prior to loading the OLAP data warehouse is absolutely critical in developing “trusted information” to be used within the
analytics.
Technologies are evolving to provide government IT leadership choices of characteristics and costs. For example, NoSQL
and Hadoop technologies include the ability to scale horizontally without a pre-defined boundary. These technologies
may run on commodity hardware or can be optimized with high-end hardware technology tuned specifically to support Big
Data. Similarly, NoSQL and Hadoop have different characteristics and capabilities than traditional RDBMSs and analysis
tools. The ideal enterprise data warehouse has been envisaged as a centralized repository for 25 years, but the time has
come for a new type of warehouse to handle Big Data. MapReduce, Hadoop, in-memory databases and column stores
don’t make an enterprise data warehouse obsolete. The new enterprise data warehouse will leverage all of these software
technologies in the RDBMS or via managed services. This “logical data warehouse” requires realignment of practices and a
hybrid architecture of repositories and services. Software alone is insufficient — it will demand the rethinking of deployment
infrastructures as well.
Scalable analytics using software frameworks can be combined with storage designs that support massive growth for cost-
effectiveness and reliability. Storage platform support for Big Data can include multi-petabyte capacity supporting potentially
billions of objects, high-speed file sharing across heterogeneous operating systems, application performance awareness and
agile provisioning. Agencies must consider data protection and availability requirements for their Big Data. In many cases
data volumes and sizes may be too large to back up through conventional methods. Policies for data management will need
to be addressed as well; the nature of many Big Data use cases implies data sharing, data reuse and ongoing analysis.
Security, privacy, legal issues such as intellectual property management and liability, and retention of data for historical
purposes need to be addressed.
Networking Considerations
Many Big Data implementations require the movement

of information across the network and between disparate
organizations that operate separate networks. This is
especially true when working with near real-time data sources.
Current networks may need remediation as information is
pulled into storage repositories from multiple sources. New
network loads may necessitate a restructuring of agencies’
networks to separate traffic used in Big Data solutions from
that of normal business operations. The good news is
that most government agencies are undergoing significant
data center transformations to consolidate operations and
standardize on common infrastructures. The impact of
standardization, especially at the network and physical level,
will allow data center operators to achieve greater flexibility in
how they deploy modular data centric solutions. Agencies will
gain efficiencies if they ensure data center transformations
address these necessary Big Data infrastructure requirements
as part of their consolidation strategy.

Cloud Computing Considerations
Consistent with federal CIO policy, Big Data presents federal IT leadership with options for deployment infrastructure that can
include cloud computing for development, test, integration, pilots and production. Cloud computing approaches can allow for
faster deployment, more effective use of scarce IT resources, and the ability to innovate more quickly. Innovation is enabled
through the dynamic use of low cost virtual environments that can be instantiated on demand. This allows organizations to
succeed quickly or fail quickly and incorporate their lessons learned. As with any deployment option, cloud computing should
be evaluated against the ability to meet application and architecture requirements within the cost structure of the organization.
Figure 2: Notional Information Flow – The Information Supply Chain
Source & Data Data Preparation Data Transformation Business Intelligence Analysts
Applications Metadata Repository Decision Support
Data Mining
Streaming Data
& Statistics
Text Data Industry

Optimization
Domain Expert
& Simulation
Multi-Dimensional
Semantic
Time Series Analysis
Analytics
Geo Spatial Fuzzy Solution End
Matching User
Video& Image
Network
Relational Algorithms
Other
Social Network New Analysts and
Algorithms Users
Security, Governance, Privacy, Risk Management
Filtering, Cleansing, Storage, Hadoop, &

Data Acquisition Core Analytics Users
and Validation Warehousing
A notional flow of information can be a helpful approach in understanding how the technologies underpinning the Big
Data Enterprise Model can come together to meet government’s needs. This flow follows a simple Understand, Cleanse,
Transform and Exploit model. At the end of the day, the key is to map available data sources through the analytic
process to the target use cases.

Understand Source Data and Applications
The first step in any information integration and transformation initiative – Big Data or otherwise – is to identify and
understand the relevant sources of data, their degree of volume, variety and velocity, and their level of quality. This
understanding helps determine the degree of difficulty in accessing the data, the level of transformation required, and
the core Big Data technologies that will enable to agency to manage and exploit it.
Data Preparation – Cleansing & Verification
Once an agency understands data sources in the context of the target use case, it can begin to define the method and
manner of the data preparation required to support the target use case. For example, unstructured data may require a simple
pass through for direct analysis or it may be filtered, cleaned and used for downstream processing. Structured information
– such as addresses, phone numbers, and names – may require standardization and verification. Specifics depend on
operational and business requirements.
Data Transformation
Once the data fueling a Big Data use case has been cleansed and verified, agencies may consider additional transformation
to extract insight and enhance its value. Data may be available for direct analysis (e.g., through Hadoop) or may need
additional processing before it can be fully leveraged for the intended use case. Unstructured data, for instance, may
be broken down and rendered in a structured format – an agency may want to perform entity extraction to associate
organizational or individual names with specific documents. Further, agencies may seek to aggregate data sources, or to
understand the non-obvious relationships between them. The goal is trusted information – information that is accurate,
complete, and insightful – such that every nugget of information has been extracted from the base data.
Business Intelligence/Decision Support
Once trusted information has been established, agencies can then use the broadest range of analytic tools and techniques
to exploit it. These tools and techniques range from the most basic business intelligence capabilities, to more sophisticated
predictive analytics, to anomaly detection, content analytics, sentiment analytics, imagery, aural analytics and biometrics.
Once the data is brought into the Big Data environment, the critical step is to process it to glean new insights. For example,
Hadoop can be used to analyze unstructured data residing on many distributed compute instances or business intelligence
tools can be used to analyze a structured data warehouse.
Analysts/Visualization
The final step in the information supply chain is to deliver the new insights created in the previous steps in a manner that most
effectively supports the business requirements and use cases. This implies one of two approaches, depending on the users
and the business requirement. Either the collection of new insights is provided through a visualization or collaboration tool
that enables the users to explore the information, ask questions and uncover new insights; or, the information is simply used
to fuel existing work process applications to improve existing processes. Either way, the user needs to be provisioned with
data that meets the Big Data needs.

The Path Forward: Getting Started

The TechAmerica Foundation Big Data Commission’s report describes the business and mission challenges government
agencies face, and the unique role that Big Data can play in addressing these challenges. The report defines the
characteristics of Big Data – Volume, Variety, and Velocity – and the key underpinnings required for government leaders
to address Big Data challenges and capture the opportunities it offers. This report seeks to illuminate the possibilities
by examining potential government use cases, and case studies describing successful deployments. In addition, the
Commission has described proven technology and governance principles, methods for getting things done, and ways of
addressing privacy and security concerns.
Observations & Lessons Learned
So what have we learned? In our discussion with leaders from across the government
ecosystem, and examining the case studies, five central themes have emerged -- each
of which coincidentally is well aligned with established engineering best practices:
1. Define business requirements: Successful Big Data initiatives commonly start

with a set of specific and well defined mission requirements, versus a plan to deploy a
universal and unproven technical platform to support perceived future requirements.
The approach is not “build it and they will come,” but “fit for purpose.”
2. Plan to augment and iterate: Successful initiatives favor augmenting current

IT investments rather than building entirely new enterprise scale systems. The new
integrated capabilities should be focused on initial requirements but be part of a larger
architectural vision that can include far wider use cases in subsequent phases of
deployment. This approach provides government leaders with lightweight, low trauma
solutions to their most immediate pain points within a strategic context that will move
them towards an ever greater ability to leverage Big Data.
3. Big Data entry point: Successful deployments are characterized by three

“patterns of deployment” underpinned by the selection of one Big Data “entry point”
that corresponds to one of the key characteristics of Big Data. Some initiatives do indeed
leverage a combination of these entry points, but experience shows these
are the exception.
• Velocity: Use cases requiring both a high degree of velocity in data processing
and real time decision making, tend to require Streams as an entry point.
• Volume: Government leaders struggling with the sheer volume in the data they
seek to manage, often select as an entry point a database or warehouse architecture
that can scale out without pre-defined bounds.
• Variety: Those use cases requiring an ability to explore, understand and analyze
a variety of data sources, across a mixture of structured, semi-structured and
unstructured formats, horizontally scaled for high performance while maintaining low
cost, imply Hadoop or Hadoop-like technologies as the entry point.

4. Identify gaps: Once an initial set of business requirements have been identified and defined, government IT leaders
assess their technical requirements and ensure consistency with their long term architecture. Leaders should identify gaps
against the Big Data reference architecture described previously, and then plan the investments to close the gaps.
5. Iterate: From these Phase I deployments clients typically then expand to adjacent use cases, building out a more robust
and unified Big Data platform. This platform begins to provide capabilities that cut across the expanding list of use cases,
and provide a set of common services to support an ongoing initiative. Beyond adding in adjacent core capabilities – e.g.,
Streams, Hadoop, Warehousing and Streams, these services often include:
• Information Integration and Governance
• Privacy & Security
• Common Metadata Management
• Visualization and Discovery
Recommended Road Map for Getting Started
Based on these observations, the Big Data Commission recommends the following
five step cyclical approach to successfully take advantage of the Big Data opportunity.
These steps are iterative versus serial in nature, with a constant closed feedback loop
that informs ongoing efforts. Critical to success is to approach the Big Data initiative
from a simple definition of the business and operational imperatives that the government
organization seeks to address, and a set of specific business requirements and use cases
that each phase of deployment with support. At each phase, the government organization
should consistently review progress, the value of the investment, the key lessons learned,
and the potential impacts on governance, privacy, and security policies. In this way, the
organization can move tactically to address near term business challenges, but operate
within the strategic context of building a robust Big Data capability.
Figure 3: Road Map for Getting Started
Define Assess Plan Execute
Review

Table 3: Practical Road Map Summary
Define the Big Data •  Identify key business challenges, and potential use cases to address
opportunity including the •  Identify areas of opportunity where access to Big Data can be used to better
key business and mission serve the citizenry, the mission, or reduce costs
challenges, the initial use •  Ask – does Big Data hold a unique promise to satisfy the use case(s)
Define
case or set of use cases, •  Identify the value of a Big Data investment against more traditional analytic
and the value Big Data can investments, or doing nothing
deliver •  Create your overall vision, but chunk the work into tactical phases (time to value
within 12-18 month timeframe)
•  Don’t attempt to solve all Big Data problems in the initial project – seek to act
tactically, but in the strategic context of your key business imperatives
Assess the organization’s •  Assess the use case across velocity, variety and volume requirements, and
currently available data determine if they rise to the level of a Big Data initiative, versus a more traditional
and technical capabilities, approach
against the data and •  Assess the data and data sources required to satisfy the defined use case,
technical capabilities versus current availability
Assess
required to satisfy the •  Assess the technical requirements to support accessing, governing, managing
defined set of business and analyzing the data, against current capability
requirements and use •  Leverage the reference architecture defined in the report above to identify key
cases gaps
•  Develop an ROI assessment for the current phase of deployment (ROI used
conceptually, as the ROI may be better services for customers/citizens and not
necessarily a financial ROI)
Select the most appropriate •  Identify the “entry point” capability as described in the section above
deployment pattern and •  Identify successful outcomes (success criteria)
entry point, design the “to •  Develop architectural roadmap in support of the selected use case or use cases
be” technical architecture, •  Identify any policy, privacy and security considerations
Plan
and identify potential policy, •  Plan iterative phases of deployment

privacy and security •  Develop program management and acquisitions planning
considerations •  Identify required skills, resources and staffing
•  Plan development, test and deployment platforms (e.g., Cloud, HW)
•  If appropriate, Pilot to mitigate business and technical risk
The gov’t agency deploys

the current phase Big Data
project, maintaining the •  Deploy the current phase project plan
Execute
flexibility to leverage its •  Build out the Big Data platform as the plan requires, with an eye toward flexibility
investment to accommodate and expansion
subsequent business •  Deploy technologies with both the flexibility and performance to scale to support
requirements and use cases subsequent use cases and corresponding data volume, velocity and variety
Review
•  This is a continual process that cuts across the remainder of the roadmap steps
•  Throughout the assess and planning stages, continually review plans against set
governance, privacy, security policies
The gov’t agency continually
•  Assess big data objectives against current Federal, state and local policy
reviews progress, adjusts the
•  At each stage, assess ROI, and derive lessons learned
deployment plan as required,
and tests business process, •  Review deployed architecture and technologies against the needs of the broader
policy, governance, privacy organization – both to close any gaps, as well as to identify adjacent business areas
that might leverage the developing Big Data capability
and security considerations
•  Move toward Big Data Transformation in a continual iterative process

Public Policy
Public Policy
Accelerating Uptake of Big Data in the Federal Government
As the federal government moves to leverage Big Data, it must look closely at current
policies and determine whether they are sufficient to ensure it can maximize its promise.
Issues as varied as procurement processes for acquiring Big Data solutions, research and
development funding and strategies, and workforce development policies will have a dramatic
effect on the success or limitations of federal Big Data efforts. Furthermore, understanding
and addressing citizens’ expectations on privacy and security is critical for government
to implement Big Data solutions successfully. The government should evaluate Big Data
policy issues with a view toward removing the unnecessary obstacles to Big Data use, and
driving specific actions to accelerate the use and dissemination of the government’s data
assets. In this section of the report, we address specific strategic policy areas where careful
consideration by policy makers can greatly accelerate uptake of Big Data efforts.
The culture of information sharing and decision making needs to grow to include Big Data
analysis. Without providing decision-makers the policy; and the incentives to use Big
Data for insights and predictions; and the guidance on the use and sharing of information,
government will not realize the tremendous value Big Data can offer.
The best private companies today are relentlessly data-driven. They have led the way in
industry in measuring their performance carefully and in using hard quantitative information to
guide plans and decisions. Unfortunately, in the federal government, daily practice frequently
undermines official policies that encourage sharing of information both within and among
agencies and with citizens. Furthermore, decision-making by leaders in Congress and the
Administration often is accomplished without the benefit of key information and without
using the power of Big Data to model possible futures, make predictions, and fundamentally
connect the ever increasing myriad of dots and data available. As recognized in a recent
Government Accountability Office (GAO) report,10 Congress may miss opportunities to use
performance information produced by agencies. Such data could be leveraged to enact
targeted law and policy. So too, the Administration may miss the chance to leverage real-
time data as it fulfills program missions. Both branches of government stand to benefit from
enhancing policies directed at the use of Big Data approaches as part of their daily routine.
10 Managing for Results: A Guide for Using the GPRA Modernization Act to Help Inform Congressional Decision Making (gao.gov/assets/600/591649.pdf).

Public Policy
The federal government should examine existing organizational and technical

structures to find and remove barriers to greater Big Data uptake and, where
needed, take action to accelerate its use. Specifically, the government should:
• Assess if annual reviews should incorporate performance metrics based on

whether the use of value-added data collaboration activities would improve
department and agency performance. Such metrics could promote data
sharing and uptake of Big Data in every-day activities. The Administration
has made progress in utilizing a host of data-driven reviews to enhance
performance. Building upon the success of the TechStat IT program review
process, many agencies have instituted data-driven review programs aimed at
overarching business and service delivery challenges. HUDStat, FEMAStat,
and similar efforts at the Social Security Administration serve as good
examples upon which to build. Agencies use these approaches primarily on a
quarterly basis. Their use should be expanded.
• Expand upon requirements in the Digital Government Strategy to share

and expose data assets of federal agencies to the public and private sector.
Requirements to share are beginning to take hold across federal agencies,
but stronger requirements and evaluation of agency compliance will help drive
further efforts ahead.
• Name a single official both across government and within each agency
to bring cohesive focus and discipline to leveraging the government’s data
assets to drive change, enhance performance, and increase competitiveness.
To be certain the value of data is properly harnessed across organizational
boundaries, Big Data should not be seen as the exclusive domain of the IT
organization or CIO.
• Examine innovative agency approaches to focus on Big Data

organizationally, such as the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC)
decision to appoint a Chief Data Officer at the FCC, and whether such
approaches would be appropriate at other agencies.11
These efforts should take a strategic view of the importance of leveraging Big
Data for new ways of optimizing operations. It will also be important to clearly
define roles and responsibilities to ensure that the discipline of Big Data is not
overlooked, but rather is integrated into daily agency operations and decision-
making.
11 www.fcc.gov/data/chief-data-officers

Public Policy
Education
and Workforce Development
The ability to glean new insights from the massive amounts

of data demands new skills and “out-of-the-box” thought
processes. At the same time, competition for these new
skills and key talent is increasing. Growing demand and
competition for top talent, particularly in science, technology,
engineering, math, and analytic fields has made hiring and
workforce retention increasingly difficult. Recent workforce Increasing Talent
analyses indicate that there are looming talent shortfalls in
key IT disciplines, including those required to implement and The White House Office of Management and
manage evolving technologies, such as those associated with Budget (OMB) should create a formal career track
Big Data. We recommend a strategy to leverage new talent, for IT managers and establish an IT Leadership
while increasing and retaining existing talent with Big Data Academy to provide Big Data and related IT
skills. training and certification. This academy should
foster intellectual curiosity – a trait required to
shift workforce focus from transition processing to
Leveraging New Talent
analytic thinking and continual improvement. To
complement these OMB initiatives, agencies should
Our greatest source of new thinkers is the collection of
cross-train IT managers to understand functional
students coming from colleges and universities around the
disciplines so that Big Data and related IT solutions
country. For government to leverage this source of creative
can be effectively utilized to support the mission.
thinkers, the internship programs that currently exist could
We recommend that the IT Leadership Academy
be expanded to include areas of specific data analytical
be organized using established and proven
focus that demand new ways of addressing difficult problems
models of professional development, competency-
by instituting project focused internship assignments. The
based education, and in collaboration with select
additional advantage of such a program would be the
academic centers. These centers can be selected
increasing connection of government internal issues with
based on their interest in the Academy and their
people who, as they go out into private industry, can leverage
accomplishments in professional development.
their learning and experience as interns to identify and bring
back to government new innovations and opportunities for
To help acquisition and IT personnel understand,
applying the data that abounds across government agencies.
adopt, and use Big Data solutions, government
agencies, companies, and academia should
develop and disseminate educational resources and
programs aimed at educating the federal workforce
on the technical, business, and policy issues
associated with the acquisition, deployment, and
operation of Big Data solutions.
We also recommend a broader coalition between

Big Data Commission members, academic centers,
and professional societies to articulate and maintain
professional and competency standards for the field
of Big Data. Such standards will guide colleges and
universities across the country to develop relevant
programs, thus increasing the pool of qualified
students for Big Data related roles.

Public Policy
Research and Development Considerations

The Administration’s announcement of $200 million in The R&D strategy should also move beyond technical
Big Data R&D funding demonstrates its commitment attributes and solutions, to address the wide range of
to the transformative nature of Big Data solutions. domains where improvements are needed. Among the
These investments are a useful start, but much more is issues we recommend including in the national Big Data
needed. In much the same way that sustained federal R&D strategy are the following:
investment in the technologies underlying the Internet
spawned an entirely new technology and economic A. Education and training advancements, including
ecosystem, continued and aggressive investment in the novel approaches to curriculum development and
Big Data discipline is critical to the development of new data-intensive degree programs and scholarships to
tools, economic models, and educational approaches to expand the preparation of new generations of data
advancing Big Data uptake and utilization. scientists;
The Commission recommends that the OSTP further B. New management and analytic tools to address
develop a national research and development strategy increasing data velocity and complexity;
for Big Data that encourages research into new
techniques and tools, and that explores the application of C. Novel privacy-enhancing and data management
those tools to important problems across varied research technologies;
domains. Such research could be facilitated, and cost
could be optimized, by considering the establishment of D. Development of new economic models to
experimental laboratories within which agencies could encourage data sharing and monetization of Big Data
explore and test new Big Data technologies without the solutions and collaborative data science efforts;
need to spend funds on their own. This strategy should
not be limited to the major research organizations in E. Continued research and development of advanced
the federal government, but rather focus on the roles computing technologies that can effectively process,
and skill sets of all levels of government and create not only the vast amounts of data being continually
incentives for the private sector to innovate and develop generated, but also the various types of data; and
transformative solutions.
F. Policy guidelines that mandate that agencies

identify clear objectives for use of Big Data
technologies with a focus on metrics that can
reduce the cost of operations.
The Commission has spent time with the cross-

government Big Data Steering Group operating under
the auspices of the National Coordination Office for
Networking and Information Technology Research
and Development (NITRD). We applaud their efforts
to explore additional avenues to innovation, including
competitions and prizes, and encourage the R&D
strategy to address this approach explicitly. The
Administration has achieved success with internal
government competitions, and we encourage efforts
of a similar nature.

Public Policy
Privacy Issues
As the earlier best practice section reveals, good data 1. Ways to simplify the understanding of privacy management
protection practices are in place, as evidenced by the obligations through the issuance of one guiding set of
existing policies and industry best practices related to principles and practices to be applied by all agencies. Along
privacy and security by design context, accountability, with the streamlining of access to what management practices
and transparency. The Commission does not believe are required, this guidance also should explicitly note the
that realizing the promise of Big Data requires the penalties for violating privacy requirements.
sacrifice of personal privacy. Accordingly, education
and execution on existing privacy protections and 2. The government’s use of data that is not part of a Privacy
procedures must be part of any Big Data project. Act System of Records.
There are over 40 laws12 that provide various forms of 3. The growing concern about the use, aggregation, sharing,
privacy protections. Some, such as the Privacy Act retention, and deletion of data with an eye toward identifying
of 1974, provide protections to personal data used by best practices that may be needed to realize Fair Information
government; others are more sector-specific, such as Practice Principles (FIPPs).
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA), and the Financial Modernization Act (Gramm- 4. The need to recognize and promote citizen confidence by
Leach-Bliley Act 1999), which concern health and communicating clearly that, for many of Big Data projects,
financial information, respectively. Further guidance the data being aggregated are non-regulated, de-identified
from OMB, and greater collaboration with industry and information with no need to re-identify to derive benefits.
stakeholders, on applying these protections to current Of particular note should be the fact that data sets can be
technology and cultural realities could help accelerate used without personally identifiable information (PII) and still
the uptake of Big Data. Specifically, we recommend yield positive results (e.g., disease spread predictions).
that OMB strongly collaborate with industry and
advocacy groups and issue additional guidance that 5. The use of clear public policies regarding notice and
addresses: access for Big Data to enable choice and transparency, as
articulated by the FIPPs. Along these lines, stakeholders
could explore a “layered notice” approach, where basic
information is available for all, with notice/consent/access
requirements scaled to instances where more information is
sought.
Most importantly, leadership at all levels of government is

needed on privacy as over time with relatively little guidance,
agencies have taken action, or not, as they best saw fit.
Privacy guidance from OMB should be updated regularly to
take into account the latest technologies, cultural attitudes
and norms, and government needs. Fundamentally, any
policy must be drafted carefully to enable both innovation and
appropriate data protection.
12 http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_11113_911059_0_0_18/Federal%20Privacy%20Laws%20Table%202%2026%2010%20Final.pdf

Public Policy
Removing Barriers
to Use through Procurement Efficiencies
The acquisition process for IT increasingly involves multiple buying vehicles with low
minimum government commitments, compelling industry to participate through numerous,
duplicative contracting channels to maximize the ability to win government business.
A recent Bloomberg study indicates that the number of multiple award contracts in the
federal government has more than doubled from 2007 to 2011.13 This process continues
to inflate administrative costs with no appreciable value added, and threatens to reduce
incentives to participate in the government market.
Big Data continues to evolve rapidly, driven by innovation in the underlying technologies,
platforms, and analytic capabilities for handling data, as well as changes in user behavior.
Given this rapid evolution, coupled with the scarcity of funds competing for public sector
initiatives, the proliferation of contract vehicles, especially at the agency level, creates
potential problems for its adoption by government. The process- and cost-intensive
nature of the current contracting trend creates a barrier to industry vendors offering
cutting edge solutions, and at the same time, it hinders federal government efforts to
deploy Big Data capabilities in standard approaches across the landscape of disparate
federal agencies.
The government should avoid Big Data contract vehicle duplication by promoting an
express preference for the use of existing successful government-wide vehicles for Big
Data solutions and use of the minimum number of buying vehicles necessary to fulfill its
needs, including the Federal Supply Schedules program. Although that program would
have to be modified to address some shortcomings, which can restrict its use in the
acquisition of complex solutions, it could supplement GWACs, and together, these existing
contract vehicles could be leveraged fully before any consideration is given to creating
new contracting vehicles. While having the right contracting vehicles is important, the
government model for buying technology also needs to be updated to allow for a shift,
when appropriate, from a capital expenditure (CapEx) to an operating expense (OpEx)
model to pay for usage.
The government has within its management purview the means to craft buying
solutions for Big Data without turning to new contracting vehicles that will add cost and
administrative burden to the implementation of Big Data solutions. Channeling Big
Data solutions through the minimum number of contract vehicles necessary would
allow maximum integration, strategic sourcing, governance, and standardization.
13 “The Future of Multiple-Award Contracting” Conference, Presentation by Brian Friel, Bloomberg Government, July 18, 2012.

Conclusions
Conclusion
We live in an exciting time, when the scale and scope of value that data can bring is coming to an inflection point, set to
expand greatly as the availability of Big Data converges with the ability to affordably harness it. Hidden in the immense
volume, variety and velocity of data that is produced today is new information – facts, relationships, indicators and
pointers -- that either could not be practically discovered in the past, or simply did not exist before. This new information,
effectively captured, managed, and analyzed, has the power to change every industry including cyber security, healthcare,
transportation, education, and the sciences.
To make data a strategic asset that can be used to better achieve mission outcomes, data should be included in the strategic
planning, enterprise architecture, and human capital of each agency. These precepts are embodied in Digital Government
Strategy, a primary component of which is to “unlock the power of government data to spur innovation across our nation and
improve the quality of services for the American people.”
Within this report, we have outlined the steps each government agency should take toward adopting Big Data solutions,
including the development of data governance and information plans. The Commission recommends that the OSTP further
develop a national research and development strategy for Big Data that encourages research into new techniques and tools,
and that explores the application of those tools to important problems across varied research domains. We recommend that
the OMB strongly collaborate with industry and advocacy groups and issue additional guidance that addresses privacy issues.
Because of the importance of data in the digital economy, the Commission encourages each agency to follow the FCC’s
decision to name a Chief Data Officer. To generate and promulgate a government-wide data vision, to coordinate activities,
and to minimize duplication, we recommend appointing a single official within the OMB to bring cohesive focus and discipline
to leveraging the government’s data assets to drive change, improve performance, and increase competitiveness.
By following these recommendations, the early successes we described at NARA, NASA, NOAA, IRS, CMS, and the
Department of Defense can be expanded and leveraged across government to reduce cost, increase transparency, and
enhance the effectiveness of government ultimately better serving the citizenry, society, and the world.

Acknowledgements
TechAmerica Foundation gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the Commissioners, their

colleagues and staff to the successful completion of this report. The Commission interviewed and
collected input and feedback from a variety of federal government representatives. We express
our thanks for their participation in this effort and the valuable knowledge and innumerable years
of experience they shared to inform the recommendations of this report.
• Jeff Butler, Internal Revenue Service
• Mark Hogle, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
• Suzanne Iacono, National Science Foundation
• Tom Kalil, Office of Science and Technology Policy
• Mark Loper, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
• Vish Sankaran, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
• Lisa Schlosser, Office of Management and Budget
• George Strawn, National Coordination Office for Networking and Information Technology
Research and Development
• Larry Sweet, NASA Johnson Space Center
• Tony Trenkle, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
• Steve Van Roekel, Office of Management and Budget
• Wendy Wigen, National Coordination Office for Networking and Information Technology
Research and Development
• Marc Wynne, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Deputy Commissioners
Phil Agee Caron Kogan

Attain Lockheed Martin
IS&GS
Amr Adwallah
Cloudera Jake Kolojejchick
General Dynamics
Joe Barr C4 Systems
ID Analytics
Tim Paydos*
Greg Bateman IBM
Microsoft
Brendan Peter
Chirayu Desai CA Technologies
CGI
Bethann Pepoli
Roslyn Docktor EMC Corporation
IBM
Larry Pizette*
Carolyn Eichler Amazon Web Services
CSC
Parvathy Ramanathan
John Ellis Poplicus, Inc.
Dell
Brian Reynolds
Jackie Ervin Grant Thornton LLP
Globanet
LiMing Shen*
Greg Gardner Wyle
NetApp
Seshubabu Simhadri
Steven Garrou GCE
Savvis, A CenturyLink
Company Tom Sisti
SAP
Tom Guarini
MicroStrategy Andras Szakal
IBM
Samuel Henry
MEI Technologies Peter Thawley*
SAP
Darren House
GTSI Corp. John Topp
Splunk
David Jonker*
SAP Diana Zavala 601 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Hewlett-Packard North Building, Suite 600
Soo Kim
TASC Washington, D.C. 20004
*The Commission especially thanks these individuals for their significant contributions to the development of the Commission’s work.

601 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. North Building, Suite 600 Washington, D.C. 20004

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DEMYSTIFYING

Prepared by TechAmerica Foundation’s Federal Big Data Commission 1

Leo Irakliotis (Academic Co-Chair) Michael Rappa (Academic Co-Chair)

Western Governors University North Carolina State University

Teresa Carlson (Vice Chair) Bill Perlowitz (Vice Chair)

Manish Agarwal Eric Gillespie Ray Muslimani David Shacochis

Federal Big Data TechAmerica

2 Demystifying Big Data: A Practical Guide To Transforming The Business of Government

Listing of Leadership and Commissioners 2 Technology Underpinnings 22

Big Data Case Studies 16 Conclusion 37

TechAmerica Foundation: Federal Big Data Commission 3

Table 1: Characteristics of Big Data 11

Table 2: Case Studies High Level Summary 16

Figure 1: Big Data Enterprise Model 22

Figure 2: Notional Information Flow – The Information Supply Chain 26

Figure 3: Road Map for Getting Started 29

Table 3: Practical Road Map Summary 30

4 Demystifying Big Data: A Practical Guide To Transforming The Business of Government

The Commission based its findings on the practical

TechAmerica Foundation: Federal Big Data Commission 5

Executive Summary & Key Findings

6 Demystifying Big Data: A Practical Guide To Transforming The Business of Government

Defining Big Data

• This phenomenon represents both a challenge in making sense of the data

• Addressing the challenge and capturing the opportunity requires advanced

Leveraging Big Data – Early Experiences and Lessons Learned

TechAmerica Foundation: Federal Big Data Commission 7

Recommendations For Getting

Big Data is a phenomenon characterized by the exponential Beyond

8 Demystifying Big Data: A Practical Guide To Transforming The Business of Government

Defining Big Data & Business/Mission Value

Current Trends and Explosion of Big Data

TechAmerica Foundation: Federal Big Data Commission 9

Simply put, government leaders find

• How do I capture, manage and

• What advanced visualization

The characteristics of Big Data will shape the way government

10 Demystifying Big Data: A Practical Guide To Transforming The Business of Government

Table 1: Characteristics of Big Data

Characteristic Description Attribute Driver

How fast data is being • Accessibility: Information • Increase in data sources

The rise of information coming • Structured – 15% of data • Mobile

TechAmerica Foundation: Federal Big Data Commission 11

Mission / Value of Big Data

• Improved decision-making and operational intelligence

• Providing predictive capabilities to improve mission

• Reducing security threats and crime

• Eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse

• Innovating new business models and stakeholder

12 Demystifying Big Data: A Practical Guide To Transforming The Business of Government

The Use of Big Data: Potential Business & Mission Value

Healthcare Quality and Efficiency

Healthcare Early Detection

TechAmerica Foundation: Federal Big Data Commission 13

Fraud Detection – Healthcare Benefits Services

Listing of Leadership and Commissioners 2 Technology Underpinnings 22

Big Data Case Studies 16 Conclusion 37