CFATS Knowledge Center Update 09-11-13

Yesterday the folks at DHS ISCD published a news item on the CFATS Knowledge Center that they had revised the responses to two of the frequently asked questions (FAQs) on that site. The two FAQs were:

#1614 - My circumstances have changed from my original Top-Screen submission. What do I base my SVA on – my original submission or the material modifications I have made?

# 1663 - I have a Final Tiering determination and SSP deadline, but have not yet submitted my SSP. I have also made material modifications to my site. What should I do?

The news item states that the changes made to the FAQ responses concerned the change to the email used to contact the CFATS Help Desk. The ‘new’ email is csat@hq.dhs.gov. This change to the email address was actually made over a year ago and several other FAQ responses have been previously updated for this change. With several hundred FAQs there is no telling how many others (if any) still have this email address to be corrected

FAQ #1614 had an additional minor change made. The old version had a peculiar typo in three locations; an inexplicable ‘^A’. That has been removed in the recently changed version.

Explanation for CFATS eMail Change

Earlier this month I wrote a brief blog post about a notice on the CFATS Knowledge Center that the Help Desk email was changing. I mentioned that I had sent an email to the old Help Desk email to see how long the old email address would be active. Today I got a response that gave an indefinite answer to that question, but provided a little more detail about why the change was necessary.

The CFATS Team email explained that: “DHS email addresses now include a DHS-entity acronym immediately before ‘.dhs.gov’.”  They then went on to explain that: “This email address format integrates independent email systems established throughout the Department and establishes the efficiencies of enterprise-wide email.”

While the Department is updating their web sites to show the new updated email address, the Department has taken measures to ensure that even if the old address is used, for some reasonable length of time (apparently not yet determined) the system will automatically forward the message to the correct address.

Change is inevitable, especially in a conglomerated organization like DHS. Appropriately planning for that change is unusual, even if only in the little things.