Think About Things Differently

busi·ness (noun) un·u·su·al (adjective):  Letting go of the certainties of the past, often thought of as "best practices" in pursuit of a spirit of inquiry and experimentation towards new approaches or "next practices".

The world as we know it has changed, and for the Fiscal Service, that means we are approaching a new way of doing business. With the launch of the TFM Volume I Glossary, Fiscal Service is showing its commitment to Business Unusual for delivering federal financial management guidance (FFM) to its stakeholders. 

In the federal financial management community, we have our own specialized jargon that’s needed to communicate  – and conduct business appropriately. These terms must have common, consistent definitions so people in one subject area (Payments), can  work with people in other areas (Budgeting or Collections). 

This is especially true for the Treasury Financial Manual (TFM), Treasury’s official publication of policies, procedures, and instructions on financial management in the federal government. Since the TFM is intended to promote financial integrity and operational efficiency, the terms used within it must be precise, consistent and kept up to date.

Changing how you conduct business is not easy!  We spent many years managing the Glossary the same way.  Let’s take a quick look at the Glossary’s history before we discuss the new practices deployed to make the Consolidated Glossary a reality.    

Originally - Treasury Financial Manual (TFM) was a collection of printed books  that were mailed to federal agencies; therefore, each chapter needed its own glossary section.

2013 - TFM was digitized into HTML and PDF formats but retained glossary sections in each chapter.

2014 - Fiscal Service tries to address the duplicate terms found throughout the TFM chapters, but other work priorities take precedence.

July 2020 – Success! 

• Terms found throughout TFM Volume I have been consolidated into one Glossary.
• Every term was reviewed, and quality improvements were made as needed. In some cases, duplicate or similar terms needed to be consolidated to one definition. In other cases, outdated terms needed to be modernized.
• In the end, one Glossary will now be available on the TFM website.

What had to change?  Everything!  To make the Glossary a reality, we needed new people to engage, staff to take on new roles and communicate differently and put plans in place to make sure the Glossary stays up to date. 

• Increase Collaboration – Chapters in the TFM have different owners which led to duplicate terms. Owners needed to come together and agree on a common definition. When communicating, content managers now reference one, common document so all terms are considered before making a change.   
• Embrace Community – With the Glossary work, came a shift in thinking from “I own a TFM chapter” to “we all own the TFM”.  Content Managers and Editors were now making edits to other chapters.
• Participate Appropriately – Decision makers vs. proxies started attending meetings to accelerate  progress.  Agreement on what terms to delete and what definitions to use happened more quickly. 
• Enhance Knowledge – When content subject matter experts became more knowledgeable about the TFM project (and the Glossary task within it), their participation and ability to contribute increased. 
• Conduct Reviews - Over time, the meaning of a term changes, erecting barriers to work across subject areas; that’s why glossaries so important since they give a common understanding no matter the subject area.

View the consolidated glossary on the TFM Volume I Table of Contents Page.  Here you will find one stop-shop for all 650+ approved terms found across the 50+ chapters of TFM Volume I and its supplements.  For convenience, it will be available in different document formats including HTML, PDF, and Excel.

In the coming months, the current terms and definitions in the TFM volume I chapters will transform into an interactive glossary on the TFX website. Stay tuned!

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