One of the Department’s means to achieve its vision is through optimizing the value of its data assets. In order to implement it a Department-wide Data Administration Program has been set up through Department Order No. 159 Series of 2002. The program will provide a data environment that will promote better communication and decision-making for both internal and external stakeholders; improve the quality, accuracy, and integrity of data; promote the sharing of data across organizational boundaries; minimize the cost of gathering, processing, maintaining, and accessing data; establish authority, responsibility, and accountability for data management activities throughout the Department; emphasize the integration of data with business activities; and ensure a Department-wide perspective of data.
 
The Department Order also created the Data Administration Steering Committee to support the management of information as a strategic DPWH asset and shall serve as a user-oriented decision making group in support of the Program.  The Committee is composed of Assistant Secretary Raul C. Asis as the Chairperson, Director B. Elizabeth E. Yap as the Vice-Chairperson, Directors Linda M. Templo, Clarita A. Bandonillo, Assistant Director Pedro Herrera, Jr., P.M. Nimfa Potante, Ms. Adoracion Mojica, and Ms. Elizabeth P. Pilorin. The D.O. has been amended to reconstitute its members by including the following: Directors Gilberto S. Reyes, Antonio V. Molino, Jr., Aristeo O. Reyes, Faustino N. Sta. Maria, Huillio B. Belleza, and Assistant District Engineer Daisy B. Toledo. Its Secretariat is composed of Ms. Nieva S. de la Paz, Ms. Abbygail L. Laurente, and Engr. Susan P. Oareza to assist the Committee in executing its functions.
 

An amendment to this Department Order is being prepared to reconstitute the members considering that many of them has retired and/or transferred to other offices.

Not everybody in the Department knows that the Committee has been meeting since its creation to resolve issues and make decisions such as approving the numbering convention for Contract Id of Civil Works projects and Employee Id of the Department nationwide. D.O. No. 112 S 2002 (as amendment to D.O. 241 S 2001) sets the guidelines for assigning Contract Identification Number to Civil Works Projects upon advertisement. The Id number will be used also during the processing of contractor eligibility. D.O. No. 41 S 2002 gives the guideline for assigning a permanent Employee Id Number for all DPWH personnel nationwide. This Id will be used in all computer system applications of the Department, from processing of payroll to processing of leave credits, etc.
 
Since the importance of data awareness has been spread out, every Business Improvement Implementation Project (BIIP) under the Road Information and Management Support System (RIMSS) and application systems being developed by the Monitoring and Information Service (MIS) submit data occurring in their application to ensure that those data are not duplicates and whether they are already previously defined in Phase 1 of RIMSS.

Thus, aside from approving numbering conventions for application Ids as described above, the Committee has given each DPWH terminology being used as data in several computer applications its definition, such as what a “project” is. Having sealed their imprimatur to these definitions, the list can be seen in the DASC approved terms in the DPWH intranet and updated every time a new data is defined. The users will have an easy way to understand what data they are looking for, where to search for them, and what are their relation to other data thus minimizing if not eliminating confusion and duplication of creating the same data in the future.