Service management - LICENSE MANAGEMENT PLANNING

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The USMC along with other Department of Navy (DON) components were aligning to be consumers of an enterprise service provided by a DON program office. The utilization schedule, to include the number of users from each component and when exactly they would be using the system continued to change as development delays and requirement changes impacted the end users ability to migrate to the system.  

CHALLENGE:  The DON program office was not prepared to manage licenses across multiple organizations, each with their own requirements and processes for internal cost accountability for budgeting and utilization of licenses. Their operating process for development was based off a functional requirements document that did not even have a portion dedicated to Access Management. The need for license management had been a subject of discussion for at least 6 months with minimal to zero movement besides the acknowledgement that it needed to be addressed.   

SOLUTION:  Hartwood Consulting Group documented the many discussions related to License Management and cost allocation from the functional representatives of all current and future service consumers and created a requirements list that would satisfy the needs for transparency of license utilization, and management of licenses at the appropriate levels within each DON component.   

RESULT:  Hartwood was able to convert the notes from previous meetings into a complete license management plan that was presented to the functional community for review. After two special meetings, the license management plan was approved and utilized by the DON program office for the management of licenses. The plan also included the technical modifications required in the form of engineering change requests to allow for the implementation of the plan.

When Hartwood Consulting Group was first awarded the ARDB Records Management (RM) contract, the state of the program was nearing total disarray. Lack of policy contributed to an extremely disaggregated user knowledge base, technology support proved minimal to non-existent, training options were limited to a single outdated, computer-based class, and all requests for information (RFIs) had to be filtered through ARDB government staff, who themselves were limited on manpower and bandwidth.   

CHALLENGE:  Immediately, Hartwood staff went to work to identify and remedy the most immediate, critical gaps within Marine Corps RM. After probing conversations within the target community, historical research, and data analysis, our subject matter experts (SMEs) soon recognized that the programmatic decline was related to three main factors: a scarcity of current policy regarding the electronic RM migration, a lack of clarifying guidance resulting in varied program management from unit to unit, and the absence of “reach back resources” or personnel to conduct proactive outreach. 

SOLUTION: In order to communicate the current state and outline plans for future improvement, contract support took the initiative to write a comprehensive RM program plan of action. In it, it detailed the need for full-time Outreach and Training Coordinators—personnel dedicated to daily liaising with command RM representatives in order to bridge communication gaps between ARDB and the RM community. The plan also detailed the need for technology support, specifically a senior SharePoint developer, to revamp the RMKS site that was created under the previous contract. These development efforts would ultimately standardize the programmatic construct of USMC RM across the enterprise and serve as the genesis of CROSS (Command Records Operational Support Site). Finally, Hartwood began drafting policy to collectively update and inform the RM population as to specific, phased requirements for program compliance. 

RESULT:  The execution of Hartwood’s RM plan has been extremely well-received, both by ARDB government as well as RM customers. Not only has CROSS evolved into the USMC’s official Phase I RM system solution, but Hartwood’s outreach efforts have also exponentially boosted site traffic—up more than 33% in less than 18 months. Additionally, Hartwood trains upwards of 150 personnel per month on RM policy and system compliance. Finally, due in no small part to contract support, ARDB published clarifying policy on 5 March 2021, outlining the enterprise’s three-phased approach in support of a wholistic ERM migration.