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The job of managing and modernizing the federal government's information resources is enormously complex, involving everything from government payroll systems to worldwide military communications networks. Over the years, GAO has pinpointed major problems in updating the government's information systems, including huge cost increases, major development delays, and systems that fail to meet users' needs. In many cases, these shortcomings were due to poor planning and premature design commitments. Information systems can be vastly different, but the analyses to determine an agency's information needs are essentially the same regardless of the complexity of the problem. In this report, GAO presents a generic framework for analyzing, designing, and developing open and flexible information system architectures that can be used to meet any information-processing needs. Intended for use by GAO staff when evaluating how federal agencies develop and acquire information systems, this framework may also be useful to internal and external auditors, other oversight organizations, and program managers.