Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Enhances Key Program Activity
Challenges
The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) manages a key program that relies on systems that were designed and built over 10 years ago. These systems provided a very rudimentary user interface that was slow and inefficient. One of the biggest challenges is that tasks were performed manually, and many of the processes behind these tasks were inefficient, causing significant time delays which would impact the mission. The system was also prone to regional outages and had limited access controls which would lead to multiple reworks and the need for manual validation and deconfliction.
Windward created a design that allowed for avoiding the technical debt introduced by heavily customizing the standard applications.
Solutions
Windward created a design that allowed for avoiding the technical debt introduced by heavily customizing the standard applications. The design included:
- A table structure that was modeled from the Task table hierarchy
- Utilized out of the box capabilities (such as auto-mapping and the Flow Designer) to automate most of the existing manual tasks
- Ability to add or manipulate process with minimal/no development knowledge
- Role-based access controls to provide better data security and reliability
- Improved import mechanisms to reduce duplication of data and to better define foundational data, with the goal of automating the imports to be
This solution simplifies the user’s interactions and provides guard rails and validations to minimize entry issues. It also provides a data-focused viewpoint into the processes, which enables notifications for out-of-the-ordinary events and reporting and dashboards for better analytics and awareness at all levels of the organization
Results
Custom application within ServiceNow, utilizing separately scoped tables, flows, notifications, reports, dashboards, and other supporting components.
Automated and system-driven process to support assessments, approvals, work order fulfillment, and the compliance activities via MM0001 file generation at the completion of an assessment.
Use of ServiceNow tools such as Flow Designer and auto-mapper table extension provided a visual stage identification that provided fast insight into the progress of each work order in the assessment lifecycle.
Context-sensitive flows populated critical information into records at the appropriate time in the lifecycle.
Legacy information from multiple systems was imported into the new application and made available for linking and reference.
Better access controls for users to both see and act on the various data components in the system as appropriate for their job role and level.
Detailed auditing capability for every field being changed to promote accountability and compliance with DoD requirements.