PHILADELPHIA –
The Defense Logistics Agency’s chief information officer talked to the DLA Troop Support workforce in Philadelphia June 12 about keeping the agency’s complex information systems secure while also taking advantage of the latest technology.
Kathy Cutler spoke during a town hall hosted by Army Brig. Gen. Mark Simerly, DLA Troop Support commander. (See full story about commander’s town hall.)
She presented the “Enterprise Enablers Strategy,” the agency’s IT plan to combat increased cybersecurity threats combined with an unprecedented pace of innovation. She said security is foremost on the minds of the J6 Information Operations team.
“We have to protect the data (and) have to protect our systems,” she said. “And bad guys are getting smarter everyday about how to get into our system and get information that they shouldn’t have.”
The technology is also changing too fast for J6 to keep up, she said.
“So it’s certainly something we need to figure out how we can position the agency in order to take advantage of the newer technology as it changes,” Cutler said.
J6 has five guiding principles for the strategy:
-
Information Technology as a Service: the IT service provider delivers IT service like a commodity, such as DLA email and the Learning Management System
-
Eliminate Government off-the-Shelf: eliminate purchasing technology created by the government
-
Minimized Infrastructure: DLA doesn’t need to own all networks or devices
-
Data as an Asset: how to make DOD-wide data available to all to help make better business decisions in support of the warfighter.
-
Challenge the Status Quo: question whether a process is the best way to get something done
J6 is focusing on systems availability and response times, Cutler said, including monitoring the military services’ systems and other non-DLA supply systems. The Service Readiness Dashboard, which provides DLA personnel a near real-time view of weapons systems and platforms, and the Single Point of Entry are two recent tools added to improve the IT experience.
One IT product that’s now being tested within J6 is DLA GO, a single sign-on portal that employees go to for IT capabilities instead of searching for each system. So when an employee goes to enter time and attendance, instead of going to the Eagle system, the employee selects the capability through the portal.
The portal is also tailored to a job, such as an acquisition specialist, and the systems an employee in that career field needs.
J6 also plans to be able to develop solutions faster than the current systems change request process, Cutler said, with a process that will enable delivery in weeks and months, not years.
More tools are on the way to speed up IT resolutions, including VAL, a virtual agent where employees will be able to chat with a live J6 technician.
Cutler also answered employees’ questions during the town hall. Those questions and answers will be compiled on the Troop Support Q&A page on eWorkplace as soon as possible.