ADP Architecture

In response to a congressional request, GAO assessed a Federal Computer Performance Evaluation and Simulation Center (FEDSIM) study to determine if it provided the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) with a basis for determining which computer system architecture best satisfied its current and projected information processing needs.

GAO found that the FEDSIM team: (1) concluded that a three-tiered architecture composed of central, regional, and local components would best serve INS requirements; (2) recommended that INS develop a prototype of a regional component, that would consist of four processors to implement the seven casework systems; and (3) recommended that INS implement local processing of the lookout system at two airports and one land port of entry. GAO also found that: (1) additional analysis was needed before INS implemented the proposed three-tier architecture; (2) although the credibility of the analysis, conclusions, and recommendations depended on the accuracy and reliability of work load and cost, the team relied on subjective judgments, rather than actual work-load and cost data as a basis for its projections; (3) both GAO and INS disagreed with the team's recommendation to implement local processing capabilities of the lookout system at two airports, since INS needed to collect and analyze more work-load and cost data before it could determine the system's cost-effectiveness at major airports; and (4) implementation of a local version of the lookout system at the land port of entry would provide data to test the feasibility of using machine-readable technology to improve the efficiency of the inspection process.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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