by Mike Brown | Oct 18, 2018
Background:
NewRez is a regional financial management and mortgage lender operating nationwide. They have multiple lending offices, commercial real estate, and loan management/operational services.
The Challenge:
NewRez is continuing to grow and is looking to expand/manage their IT Help Desk, management, and Agile project management needs. Utilizing multiple third party and homegrown applications, NewRez is looking for both an ITIL v3 and agile method for managing the multitude of services they are providing to their internal clients. NewRez also needed an effective method to report on and analyze IT findings, issues, and locations/configuration items impacted due to an IT outage.
The Solution:
Ascend Integrated worked with NewRez in developing a solution/path forward for the growing organization. Ascend Integrated highlighted a path forward for Agile Project Management and ITIL v3 compliance, utilizing a multi-phased approach. Using the JIRA Software and Service Desk data center instances implemented in NewRez, Ascend installed and configured Workflow Extensions, Dynamic Forms, ScriptRunner, and Arsenale Dataplane to track and manage tickets/requests entered into the JSD portal.
Ascend Integrated also refined the service desk request collection process, including updating workflows, building out automation, and providing custom ITIL v3 guidance for NewRez’s processes. Audibility and traceability were key goals for the solution, providing auditors the ability to review step by step all processes and procedures taken to resolve a request entered through their ticket management system.
Outcome:
Ascend Integrated continues to provide support to NewRez on all aspects of the Atlassian tool suite. NewRez is utilizing their JSD Data Center configured instance for tracking and managing tickets/requests and agile project management processes. ITIL v3 processes implemented by Ascend Integrated continue to help guide the management of the JSD portal, and the streamlined workflows/Arsenale Dataplane reporting capabilities continue to aide the IT Service desk team.
by Cody Stevens | Oct 18, 2018
Background:
CMS is a large Federal Agency dedicated to payment processing for Medicare and Medicaid patients. Their initiative, the Social Security Number Removal Initiative (SSNRI) renamed to the New Medicare Card, is an initiative aimed at removing Social Security Numbers from public forms and information that a beneficiary will need to provide when either registering or updating information with CMS.
The Challenge:
There are multiple policies, procedures, and discussions that were in development for implementing the New Medicare Card initiative. These included both technical discussions, as well as the tracking and managing of form reviews and SSN removals. A tool which provided these centralized capabilities was required in order to properly track and manage the development and implementation of these policies.
The Solution:
Ascend Integrated, working with Platinum Business Solutions implemented a Jira Software and Confluence instance, installing and configuring Ubuntu 16.04 AWS EC2 instances with PostgreSQL 9.6, Jira Software and Confluence. SSL certificates were installed, set up and configured on the servers to allow for secure traffic across the Jira instance. Licenses were purchased, updated, and the application was ready for use for the CMS personnel.
Outcome:
The Jira and Confluence instances are still in use today by CMS for tracking and managing policies, procedures, and technical implementations. Ascend Integrated continues to support the application, providing updates and design configurations for CMS.
by Mike Brown | Oct 15, 2018
Background:
AGIA Affinity is a technologically advanced, multi-faceted, full-service broker, marketer, and administrator managing insurance and non-insurance benefit programs for over 100 affinity groups representing over 30,000,000 members.
The Challenge:
AGIA’s fast-growing organization quickly outpaced the IT tools it was using for tracking and managing both projects and help desk tickets. Currently using a legacy mainframe-based application and an open source tool, MANTIS for tracking and managing project management tasks and help desk tickets.
The Solution:
AGIA engaged with RightStar, a large Atlassian Solutions Provider and Ascend Integrated to migrate the MANTIS and legacy tickets to a new application, JIRA Service Desk, JIRA Software, and Confluence. Ascend worked with AGIA in mapping out their current processes, implementing process improvements, and migrating configurations/tickets from Mantis to JIRA. Ascend also provided infrastructure support, installing, configuring, and developing/updating the JIRA and Confluence applications.
Outcome:
Ascend Integrated continues to support and maintain the AGIA Atlassian Tool Suite, including providing support for JIRA Software, JIRA Service Desk, and Confluence. Ascend is continuing to work with AGIA to define new project management processes and begin implementing ITIL v3 compliance across the enterprise.
by Mike Brown | Oct 15, 2018
Background:
National Life Group is a diversified family of financial services companies offering life insurance, annuity, and investment products. They work with clients providing financial market support, advising services, and insurance.
The Challenge:
National Life Group looking to optimize its IT infrastructure, wanted to migrate their applications currently hosted on their local instances to the Microsoft Azure cloud. This included Jira and Confluence, tools they are utilizing across multiple teams for tracking and managing project tasks and documentation.
The Solution:
Ascend Integrated was brought in to work with the IT directors at National Life Group to install Jira and Confluence in the Azure cloud instance, and successfully migrate both the data and attachments/files from the server instance hosted locally at National to the Cloud. This included setting up and documenting a migration process, performing the migration and testing it, and then coordinating and planning for a live production migration.
Outcome:
The migration was successful, with the local servers shut down and Azure currently powering the Jira and Confluence instances. Ascend also set up a separate DEV instance to test SEC compliance, and continues to support National Life Group for all Atlassian Tool configurations and updates.
by Mike Brown | Oct 15, 2018
Background:
Located in Boca Raton, FL, Lynn University is a private university founded in 1962 providing bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees. The University supports upwards of 2,000+ undergraduate students, and has a well defined and mature IT infrastructure and team.
The Challenge:
Lynn University is going through an agile, support desk, and DevOps transformation. After investigating multiple project management software tools, Lynn University decided to implement the Atlassian Tool Suite (Jira Software, Service Desk, Confluence, and Status Page) across their organization. This will allow faculty and students to easily interact with help and technical support services, and enable development teams to easily track and manage their software development projects.
The Solution:
Ascend Integrated was brought in by Lynn University to discuss processes, develop processes and procedures based on the agile initiatives, and finally to implement these processes through Jira Software, Service Desk and Confluence. Ascend worked with Lynn University in installing, configuring, and implementing the Atlassian Tool Suite. Ascend Integrated ensured all requirements were met and delivered to Lynn University, and held beta testing / User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with multiple departments before rolling it out to the student and faculty bodies.
Outcome:
Ascend Integrated continues to support Lynn University in the capacity of an Atlassian expert and Agile / DevOps consulting specialist. The system is used by the faculty and students for tracking and managing trouble tickets / issues. The system is also used by both the project management team and development team to track and manage software development initiatives, projects, and upgrades.
