This is the sixth and final deliverable submitted as part of Booz Allen's Analyis of Technology Barriers to Home-Based Telework

Summary of Deliverables Schedule

Purpose of the Study

The overall study identified telework technology barriers and the results were used to propose solutions in order to make telework practical to Federal workers.

• Technology barriers to development, implementation, expansion, and/or successful functioning of federal home-based telework programs were identified and described
• In addition, the mechanisms by which these barriers impact telework were discussed
• The prevalence of barriers across agencies, number of employees impacted were estimated and organizational, occupational, and/or demographic prevalence relationships were determined
• Current market-based technology solutions, projected future technology solutions and time-to-market, and expected results were presented
• Methods by which Federal agencies can take advantage of current and near-term technology to break down barriers to home-based telework were described

Drivers of the Study

Recent legislation requiring Federal agencies to enable all eligible emloyees to telework was the impetus for this study of technology issues that may have an impact on organizations' ability to comply with the law.

• Congress requested a study of technology barriers to telework and potential solutions to help organizations negotiate these barriers
• The U.S. General Services Administration, one of the leading Federal agencies to promote and utilize telework, contracted with Booz Allen Hamilton to conduct this study on technology barriers to home-based telework
• Beginning with the hypothesis that information technology issues do present barriers to telework, Booz Allen investigated:
  • The existence and prevalence of technology-related barriers to telework
  • How these barriers are viewed from a variety of different organizational perspectives
  • What kinds of solutions to the technology-related barriers are available
  • Which solutions have proven to be successful in Federal telework programs

Summary of the Study's Major Activities

The study collected information from several different groups of telework stakeholders, which was analyzed to draw conclusions and make recommendations for Federal telework programs.

• Interviews with Chief Information Officers and their staff provided insight into the technical issues surrounding the high-level planning, management, and support of information technology that enables telework
• Focus groups with Telework Coordinators from the departments and agencies involved in the study shed light on the component-level issues related to developing, communicating, and enforcing policies on the use of equipment, services, and other technology for telework
• Questionnaires gathered information from Teleworkers and Managers of Teleworkers about their experiences with the information technology that is used for telework, and their perspective on which IT issues present the greatest challenges to telework
• Case studies of organizations with mature telework programs gave an organization-wide perspective on the technology-related factors that created the greatest barriers to their telework programs, and some common solutions that helped the organizations effectively overcome or avoid these barriers

Outline of Deliverable

The remainder of this report presents the study methodology, key findings from each of the telework stakeholder groups, and the conclusions and recommendatons that were derived from these findings.

• Chapter II discusses the study methodology
  • Overview of the study's research plan
  • Selection of participating agencies and departments
  • Summary of the methodology used to gather data from each perspective
• Chapter III summarizes the major findings from different telework stakeholders' perspectives: CIOs and their staff, Telework Coordinators, Teleworkers, Teleworker Managers, and Case Study Organizations with mature telework programs
• Chapter IV provides aggregate findings across the different perspectives and identifies the sources of those findings
• Chapter V presents conclusions and recommendations that will help Federal organizations recognize, evaluate, and navigate the technology issues that may arise as barriers to the success of their telework programs

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