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Cloud Information Center (CIC)

Introduction

The Cloud Information Center (CIC) is a product created in partnership between GSA and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Cloud Smart. The Cloud Information Center (CIC) provides a managed collection of cloud computing information, best practices, guidance, and templates. It also provides an explanation of what cloud computing is and the associated benefits. The CIC assists in identifying and conducting market research on Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) and assists government agencies with their journey through the Cloud Lifecycles (e.g., acquisitions, operations) with cloud Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) support. The CIC also promotes communication and collaboration between the government cloud community and industry.

Description

When the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy transitioned from Cloud First to Cloud Smart in 2019, the top action to be taken was the creation of "a central location to share guidance and best practices on cloud-related topics with agencies."

The CIC was born out of this transition and aligns with Cloud Smart to demonstrate how government agencies can use cloud computing technology to effectively enable their respective missions. It also shares the more specific goals of alleviating the three common pain points agencies are facing along their cloud journey:

Current Environment

The CIC is a static information hub currently (May 2020) hosted by GSA, 18F, Federalist SaaS solution and uses the US Web Design System (USWDS) templates that provides government cloud stakeholders with cloud education, strategic cloud acquisition resources and best practices concerning fundamental cloud issues like security, technical capabilities, and implementation. Initially launched in May of 2019, the CIC continues to:

To achieve these goals, a System Architecture was proposed as follows:

Figure 1 - Proposed CIC System High-Level Architecture

This is further supported by the diagram below that shows the helicopter's view of how the FCS ecosystem enables CIC system cloud transformation. FCS infrastructure, security/compliance planes provide backbone infrastructure, networking, security fabric supporting CIC system and CIC will benefit from inheriting all built-in security controls within the fabric.

Figure 2 - Proposed CIC System Reference Architecture

Conclusion

The CIC system is part of the overall systems modernization effort in FAS and relies on a common architecture strategy migration to eliminate technical debt, provide cloud-based flexibility and - most importantly - enhance user experience.