United States Air Force

United States Air Force

by | Aug 4, 2020

Background:

The United States Air Force (USAF) Facility Engineering Directorate is a part of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, a 1,900-person primary subordinate unit assigned to Air Force Materiel Command and attached to the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center-Provisional. They are responsible for overseeing facilities management, spaces, and also IT assets as they belong to employees or service members.

The Challenge:

The USAF Facility Engineering Directorate uses Jira Software, Service Desk, and Confluence for tracking and managing issues. The USAF was looking to expand the capabilities of JIRA to include CMDB tracking and management capabilities, along with the ability to manage floor plans and movement of personnel between office locations.

The Solution:

Ascend Integrated designed and implemented a CMDB tool with Floor Plan traceability capabilities using Insight Asset Manager, SmartDraw, and Confluence. Floor plans representing multiple floors, personnel, and IT assets were incorporated into the Confluence pages, with each page representing a specific floor. Reports using Arsenale Dataplane have been developed and incorporated into Dashboards for managers/executives to view and approve.

Outcome:

The system developed is still in use by the USAF today, providing excellent visualizations for USAF facilities personnel. The application has led to a direct increase in efficiency across the USAF for accounting for and managing both IT Assets and Personnel. Ascend Integrated continues to support the USAF, providing additional updates and details to the application.

United States Space Force

United States Space Force

by | Jul 6, 2020

Background:

The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space warfare service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services. The sixth and youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, it was the first branch of the military established since the formation of the independent U.S. Air Force in 1947. The direct antecedent of the Space Force, Air Force Space Command, was formed on 1 September 1982 with responsibility for space warfare operations.[3] The National Defense Authorization Act for 2020 redesignated Air Force Space Command as the U.S. Space Force, and established it as an independent branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 20 December 2019.

The Challenge:

USSF integrates with current SpaceX systems to share information and data regarding the SpaceX launches undertaken in Cape Canaveral. The SpaceX and USSF system share information around the launches, including launch maintenance and site maintenance.

The Solution:

Ascend worked with USSF to establish a prototype Atlassian environment consisting of Jira Software, Service Desk, and Confluence to manage and maintain the maintenance items and categorizations with the SpaceX application. This included the ability for USSF users to quickly upload, update, review, and finalize maintenance related tasks and build outs, ensuring launches undertaken by both SpaceX and USSF are safe, secure, and successful.

Outcome:

Ascend continues to successfully demonstrate and deploy the Atlassian Tool Suite with the USSF.

National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA)

National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA)

by | Jul 6, 2020

Background:

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency under the United States Department of Defense and a member of the United States Intelligence Community,[8] with the primary mission of collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of national security.

The Challenge:

NGA recently deployed multiple server environments of the Atlassian Tool Suite, namely Jira Software and Confluence to support teams across the organization. An open solicitation was released over FBO for the training of the Atlassian Tool Suite by a certified training organization. Ascend bid, and won the training contract working with NGA. NGA was requiring the development of both basic and advanced training courses along with evaluations and certifications.

The Solution:

Ascend developed custom training for Jira and Confluence, which incorporated aspects of Agile project management. Ascend provided on-site and remote training capabilities with NGA, which included customized training slide decks, labs and exercises, and training certificates. Ascend worked with NGA leadership as well to help plan continued deployment and implementation of the Atlassian Tool Suite leading to widespread adoption across the agency.

Outcome:

Ascend successfully provided over 50 trainings to the NGA and continues to support the NGA with multiple successful engagements around the Atlassian Tool Suite, including advanced training and development.

USSTRATCOM

USSTRATCOM

by | Jul 6, 2020

Background:

The United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) head quartered in Omaha, Nebraska is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. The command is responsible for strategic deterrence, global strike, and operating the Defense Department’s Global Information Grid. It also provides a host of capabilities to support the other combatant commands, including integrated missile defense; and global command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR).

The Challenge:

USSTRATCOM was looking to stand up multiple Docker containers for rapid deployment of the Atlassian products (Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, Crowd, and FishEye/Crucible). System administrators were unfamiliar with the products and the underlying technical stack comprising each of the products and their capabilities. Ascend was called in to help provide an overview of containerization deployment of the applications using Docker and Kubernetes.

The Solution:

Ascend worked with USSTRATCOM onsite in Omaha providing hands on support and analysis of the Atlassian Tool Suite and its deployment capabilities across multiple low and high side environments. Following the onsite support, Ascend continued to support USSTRATCOM remotely through secure virtual meetings and conferences, and coordinating calls between USSTRATCOM and Atlassian directly.

Outcome:

Ascend successfully helped to guide USSTRATCOM in their overall strategy and implementation of the pilot Atlassian Tool deployment. The Atlassian Tool Suite is still supported by Ascend working with USSTRATCOM as the products continue to be used across multiple teams and environments.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation

by | Oct 18, 2018

Background:

CMS is is a federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and health insurance portability standards. Recently through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), CMS has worked to implement new healthcare models for the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The Challenge:

CMS, tasked with standing up new healthcare payment models has been tasked with standing up and implementing supporting systems to help analyze, evaluate, monitor, and control the new models. These systems normally center on Business Intelligence reporting, data warehousing, data storage & retrieval, and web application development.

The Solution:

Ascend Integrated, working in tandem with its partners has worked across multiple models under CMMI. Ascend Integrated provided eXpedited Life Cycle (XLC) support for all projects, guiding the project team through the CMS process framework. Ascend Integrated also developed the system architecture, using the standard 3-Zone / Tier architect used by the Baltimore Data Center (BDC), Virtual Data Centers (VDC), including the Amazon Web Services (AWS) instance. Ascend Integrated also worked across projects to help with the FedRAMP process, including the Security Control Assessment (SCA) and the Authority to Operate (ATO).

Outcome:

Ascend Integrated worked with over 15 projects across CMS / CMMI, working with project teams successfully passing XLC review gates (DDRs / ORRs), documenting and designing systems, prep for SCA’s and helping the project obtain ATOs. Ascend Integrated continues to support projects at CMS / CMMI in the capacity of a subject matter expert and advisor.