In addition, formal training and education programs are available for CIOs. It is too early to evaluate a process that has been in place less than a year. The Clinger-Cohen Act took effect in August 1996, and Raines established his rules in October, too late to have much impact on the 1998 budget process. The adoption of these rules, however, gives a strong warning of what will happen next fall when budgets are reviewed. Supporters of Clinger-Cohen are pleased with early results in some federal agencies where electronic services to the public have been improved.
Architecture is an inadequately defined term.
It may mean not only internal, but also external, interfaces with systems of other agencies. However, these are interfaces that have not been seen as necessary until now. Local and state government officials often cite the difficulty of locating sources of information necessary to perform duties newly handed down from the federal level. The welfare reform act is a particularly troublesome example. Here a multitude of cross-agency connections was needed to acquire data.