This is because almost all of IRS's critical systems that have just been made Y2K compliant were put in place for this filing season, and generally performed well. Speaking at ASPM's Annual Government Symposium held in Washington, D.C., Rossotti updated members on IRS restructuring. The commissioner divided the areas of IRS administration into groups, including processes, tools, and people. There is no single change that will resolve all the problems, Rossotti noted.
Some broad changes being made include a new system to measure worker performance.
Another broad initiative is to replace IRS's aging technology base. This will take a sustained effort over a number of years, Rossotti noted. For example, an integrated e-mail system with a common directory is not yet internally available to IRS workers. Rossotti expects the internal e-mail system to be common and secure internally by the end of 1999. Building on that, Rossotti anticipates a secure exchange of correspondence and information with stakeholders via e-mail.