[ISN] FISMA reporting must use automated tool

http://fcw.com/articles/2009/08/25/web-fisma-automated-reporting-tool.aspx

By Ben Bain
FCW.com
Aug 25, 2009

Agencies must use an automated reporting tool to show their compliance 
with the Federal Information Security Management Act this year, Obama 
administration officials have said.

This year the Office of Management and Budget will only accept annual 
FISMA reports from agencies submitted with a new automated reporting 
tool that will allow manual data entry and an automated upload of data, 
OMB said in a memo to heads of departments and agencies. Previously, the 
agencies reported data by using spreadsheets.

“The reporting categories and questions are generally the same as last 
year, and the report will cover the same areas as in previous years,” 
Jeffrey Zients, OMB’s deputy director for management and Vivek Kundra, 
the federal CIO, said in the memo dated Aug. 20. “However, while the 
content of the report has changed little since 2008, the means of 
collection have changed substantially.”

The administration officials said CIOs, inspectors general and privacy 
officials – all officials who report data to OMB on FISMA compliance – 
will have to use the new tool. OMB said a test version of the tool will 
be available this month and that because of the new collection system, 
the reports will be due Nov. 18.

[...]


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