OPM Writes the Book on Government HR Practices

As the Office of Personnel Management developed a modern, strategic human resources function that transcends dozens of federal agencies, it got nearly the entire government on the same page—literally.

    OPM was tapped by the Bush administration in 2004 to overhaul the business of government—actually, to make government think of itself as one business when it comes to human capital management.

    It set about that task by bringing together 24 federal agencies to hash out visions and goals for a standardized, interoperable, government-wide HR function. The talks produced “seminal” reports, says Norm Enger, director of the OPM’s HR Line of Business.

    The foundational document is the Business Reference Model, which describes how the government is being organized around common business areas and the people management processes that support them. Other documents include the Data Model, Performance Model, Service Component Model and Technical Model. Each can be accessed by clicking here.

    “The HR community in the federal sector is very proud that for the first time they have been able to publish the documents,” Enger says.