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In the past, thousands of provisioning and provisioning-related actions were submitted to NAVSUP WSS by email or other means relying on multiple manual inputs to process the requests. In an effort to automate the process and provide visibility and transparency to internal and external customers, the Technical Department of NAVSUP WSS’s Surface Operations Directorate developed the Integrated Logistics Information Tool (ILIT).
“The Integrated Logistics Information Tool was born out of a need to consolidate several manual processes that were being tediously tracked by email, spreadsheets or other means,” said Aaron Hartzell, NAVSUP WSS ILIT Program Manager. “We knew gaining buy-in from all our external customers was going to take some effort. After pitching the idea at the Provisioning Center of Excellence meetings, along with some one on one discussions between activities, we gained support from a majority of our stakeholders.”
Development of ILIT began in June 2019. Current development of the suite contains three modules: a Provisioning Contract Control Number (PCCN) Log, Provisioning Workflow Tracker, and Supply Support Request (SSR) Workflow. Additional modules are planned for the future including Logistics Reassignments and Database Integrity related modules.
“Each module consumes one or many manual processes and improves the overall timeliness and communication between NAVSUP WSS and its customers,” said Hartzell. “Before ILIT, our mission partners would reach out to a point of contact at NAVSUP WSS to check on the status of their request. Now they have the capability to leverage the tool to see exactly where their request is in the provisioning process as a self-help feature.”
NAVSUP WSS released the PCCN Log to its mission partners in Oct. 2019. With the newest edition of the log, each Navy activity is empowered to assign PCCNs.
“This expedites the PCCN assignment process since each activity now has the ability to go directly to the source to assign PCCNs when provisioning is required for a Navy ship or equipment,” said Hartzell. “Ease of use of the tool has been improved to make the assignment process easier and more direct to the customer.”
The initial version of the Provisioning Workflow Tracker was released in March 2020. The tracker was designed to reduce risks of losing requests for provisioning actions sent via email by essentially eliminating emails from the process. In addition, the tracker also creates a permanent record of each step in the process.
“In the past, if a provisioner took another job or left the government, all the technical data and correspondence in their email was at risk of being lost and the next provisioner could be starting from scratch,” said Hartzell. “Now all the provisioning requests, correspondence, and technical data is retained for the life of the tool.”
The team added enhancements to the Provisioning Workflow Tracker in Aug. 2020 to improve communications between NAVSUP WSS and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) in relation to the Supply Support Request (SSR) process.
“Three additional workflows were added to the internal workflow capability for various Electronic Cataloging requests along with automated updates continuously informing our customers on the status of their request,” said Hartzell. “Also, with the Provisioning Workflow Tracker, NAVSUP WSS Program Managers have the ability to provide direct input in the provisioning process effectively prioritizing a provisioner’s workflow.”
The third module, the SSR Workflow is currently under development and targeted for release this summer. SSRs are NAVSUP WSS’s requests to DLA or other services to establish new DLA managed National Stock Numbers (NSNs) or to add a a user to another services’ consumable NSN.
“In this module we will be building in functionality to capture our SSR’s universe, display SSR errors, enhance our ability to send resubmittal requests, keep a history of our SSRs, and also interface with the Provisioning Workflow module to display an overview to non-provisioning users the status of theirs SSRs per PCCN,” said Sean White, DLA Interface Supervisor. “This enhances our SSR capability from the Provisioning Workflow Tracker and brings SSRs from Maritime and Aviation under one roof so DLA has a central hub to find a valid point of contact, and displays SSR requests at the individual part-level instead at the package level like in the Provisioning Workflow.”
The ILIT suite is currently being used by NAVSUP, Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, and DLA. Developmental support is provided by the NAVSUP Business Systems Center (BSC) Enterprise Web Team developers who are continuously working to incorporate enhancements and new module requirements.
“ILIT is a solid tool that has changed the way we communicate with our customers allowing increased accountability and transparency of the provisioning efforts at NAVSUP WSS,” said White. “This is our internal transformation to reduce our reliance on paper copies of process trackers and emails. Currently, the tool has over 1,100 users and continues to grow each day as word gets around about the functionality ILIT provides NAVSUP and its customers.”
NAVSUP WSS is one of eleven commands under Commander, NAVSUP. Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and employing a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel, NAVSUP's mission is to provide supplies, services, and quality-of-life support to the Navy and joint warfighter. Learn more at www.navsup.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/navsupwss and https://twitter.com/navsupsyscom.
| Date Taken: | 06.01.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 06.01.2021 12:07 |
| Story ID: | 397835 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 404 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, NAVSUP WSS automates provisioning workflow with ILIT , by Brian Jones, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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