Breaking News - Operating Systems & Middleware:
Sapient Helps Navy Improve Performance With Web Logistics System
Sapient, a business consulting and technology services firm, announced it
helped the Department of the Navy eBusiness Operations Office develop the
Joint Expeditionary Warfare Logistics System (JEWLS). Utilizing Web services
technology, JEWLS provides an integrated logistics decision support and
execution system that enables total material and operational visibility in a
joint command environment. The system allows the Marines, Naval Construction
Forces and other expeditionary Naval units to access shared information across
geographies, regardless of service.
The JEWLS project team, which debuted a pilot of the system in December 2003,
has already received multiple government IT awards that acknowledge the
system's contribution to improving readiness for deployed forces.
"Providing logistics integration and supply chain visibility is a tremendous
challenge for Naval Construction Forces and the Marine Corps units they
support when deployed under a Joint Commander," said Captain Joseph Mecca,
U.S. Navy. "JEWLS is the only system available in production today that can
provide logistics and operational interoperability in a tactical environment
to Marine Corps and Naval Expeditionary Forces."
Benefits of the system include:
- Promotes resource visibility and reusability among Naval Expeditionary
Forces.
- Produces a 20 percent reduction in man-hours needed to collect, aggregate,
and disseminate logistics information.
- Improves Marine Corps unit readiness by leveraging construction material
inventory carried by Naval Construction Units.
- Follows commercial best practices for maximizing efficiencies for request
and order management.
- Leverages existing communication assets, providing tactical
Inter-Networking between currently procured stove-piped networks at minimal
marginal cost.
Sapient applies its unique, iterative methodology -- commonly known as
Sapient|Approach -- to rapidly define user requirements and build
mission-critical IT solutions that successfully meet those requirements in a
fixed-price, fixed-time model. For the Department of the Navy, Sapient used
its Fusion workshops to define user requirements for a multi-functional set of
stakeholders. Sapient was then able to create a set of initial system
prototypes, which were made available to the expeditionary Navy in a matter of
months, not years -- a sharp contrast to many traditional Government programs.
From the prototypes, Sapient utilized agile development methodologies to
develop field-ready software releases in small, rapidly testable iterations.
This approach allowed Sapient to create multiple releases of the system and
respond rapidly to changes in the real-world environment by providing updated
features in the shortest possible timeframe.
"We are proud that this solution has already received so much recognition,
underscoring the system's criticality to improving mission readiness in the
near term," said Boyd Scroggins, a vice president in Sapient's Public Services
industry group. "This partnership with the U.S. Navy demonstrates how Sapient
can build mission critical systems in accelerated timeframes for the
government using our proven Fusion workshop approach and unique agile
development methodology."
Earlier this year, JEWLS was awarded the Intergovernmental Solutions Award,
which acknowledges innovative technology solutions that provide
intergovernmental collaboration, show measurable results in improving an
agency's ability to meet its mission, and have widespread national or regional
application. The JEWLS system was also recognized by The American Council for
Technology, which honored eight outstanding intergovernmental programs.
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