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Public Sector Innovations
Deployment and Release Integration and Visibility Engine
Internal Revenue Service
The IRS created the Deployment and Release Integration and Visibility Engine to better automate software implementation. DRIVE operates as a database that tracks the life cycle of a software deployment from start to finish. At each step in a project, it updates the status of approvals, records of success or failure and any outstanding IT tickets that need to be addressed.
Affectionately dubbed “the spaghetti bowl” by employees, the previous collection of legacy processes used for more than 7,750 transmittals every year often resulted in “death by too many options,” said Stephen Dill, an IT specialist at the IRS.
“We were trying to streamline a lot of that and bring everybody back to more
of a standard and reduce the number of pathways that a project would take to get its code into a production environment,” he added.
DRIVE was meant to unspool the spaghetti bowl, a task that Robin Moses, acting director of the Enterprise Computing Center at the IRS, likened to keeping a plane flying while switching out engine components. Although the tool was initially developed for a single team, it has since become a critical vehicle to apply DevOps principles to 65 legacy processes across the IRS.
Officials credit DRIVE with cutting the number of steps needed to process software deployment transmittals in half, while increasing the percentage of automated steps from 2% to 45%. One internal study showed that under legacy conditions, the average software deployment took about 27.5 hours of combined effort. Under DRIVE, that time was cut to four hours, and officials believe they can get it down to two hours.
Developing the Cyber Degree Program
Savannah River Site, Department of Energy
Barry McIntosh, a cybersecurity expert at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site, is acutely aware of the challenges the government faces in recruiting and retaining cyber talent. So he seized an opportunity to develop a local pipeline for such workers by creating a cybersecurity program at nearby University of South Carolina Aiken.
University officials sought out McIntosh for his subject-matter expertise and knowledge of the government’s cyber needs. With the encouragement of his employer,
he spent several months working with the executive vice chancellor and the dean of the College of Sciences and Engineering to develop a curriculum for the program.
Cyber is now a concentration in the university’s applied computer science degree, with specializations offered in network security, cryptography, ethical hacking, cyber defense, digital forensics and cyber ethics.
McIntosh said the goal is to attract students interested in cybersecurity and offer potential employment opportunities
at the Savannah River Site. The Army’s Information Assurance Training Center is located nearby, he added, while the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command also need cybersecurity specialists in the Central Savannah River Area.
That concentration of government operations is drawing private-sector employers that are also looking to hire. Growing the talent pool is the only way the Savannah River Site can hope to refresh an aging workforce and find the cyber workers it needs.
Those efforts need to go beyond a single program, McIntosh said, adding that “SRS, the Army and NSA are all working with local colleges, high schools and even grade schools to develop academic programs that can supply a human talent chain that can support the ongoing missions of this local cyber industry.”
Empowering People Through Data Literacy
Defense Acquisition University
A program instituted by the Defense Department’s acquisition school has harnessed operations, finance and enrollment data to gain a holistic view of its operations.
Defense Acquisition University fosters the career development of the DOD employees who support one of the world’s largest
buyer of goods and services. DAU offers acquisition, technology and logistics training to military and federal civilian staff and federal contractors.
Gathering data on how those employees pay for tuition and schedule classes often took several months because information was spread across multiple agencies.
To speed the process, DAU Chief Financial Officer Mark Whiteside implemented Qlik’s data management and analytics platform. The platform gives the DAU a more immediate, enterprise-level view of student finance, scheduling, payment processing and other data. Armed with more detailed, timely data analytics, DAU can more readily brief congressional overseers, the Pentagon and other defense organizations on the specifics of its efforts to train the acquisition workforce.
The Qlik tool also allows acquisition workers to think strategically and become comfortable with various data analytics platforms and tools across missions and departments.
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