The U.S. Army Reserve’s 88th Readiness Division (RD) Directorate of Public Works (DPW) is knocking down data silos to create a new robust facilities management dashboard. Partnering with other staff sections and stakeholders, the 88th RD is consolidating reporting components to create a single robust facilities common operating picture (COP) tool that can also be used across the Army Reserve enterprise.
“This effort came about when we realized that two directorates were focusing on further developing a facilities COP,” explained Ike Rebout, 88th RD Knowledge Management Specialist. “With leadership support, a continuous process improvement project was signed by the Chief of Staff – with an all-hands-on-deck approach to create a single tool and to get it done right. Collaborators include personnel from the 88th RD’s G-6, the Chief Data Analytics Officer, the Data Analytics and Business Automation Laboratory, the Knowledge Management Office, and the DPW. We started by taking inventory of our POWER BI reporting pieces and what components will comprise our Facilities COP. We’re also exchanging dialogue on use cases that we know will help our leaders to be able to interpret our facilities data and make informed decisions.”
For the 88th RD DPW, this effort first began in 2024 when Lieutenant Colonel Steven Keister assumed the role as Chief of Engineering and Energy. “When I joined the DPW, one of my first questions was how are we capturing all the good things we are doing? How do we see the complete DPW portfolio? It started with a simple sketch of a dashboard with our focus areas – including our investment plan, energy program, assets management, etc. We took it a step further and established a working group with representatives from our divisions and asked ourselves, what are the questions we want this dashboard to answer? That research enabled us to work through an existing services support contract to get a POWER BI tool into place.”
Moving beyond that initial design, Keister sees the widening of the aperture beyond an 88th RD DPW-only facilities COP into an enterprise-wide system beneficial to allow for additional customization, enhanced leadership usability, and ultimately, readiness. “In addition to syncing with Knowledge Management and the other organizations on the facilities COP, other projects are now in the works to automate the way data is captured and fed into the new system. We’re building a new module within the Facility Equipment Maintenance System (FEMS) to serve as a system of record. One of our divisions will pilot it by adding project data into the new FEMS module to produce an export that can feed into the dashboard. Next steps are to include our four other divisions to paint a more complete DPW picture.”
With completion anticipated in Q3 FY26, the facilities COP will be available for use by all Army Reserve Commands. “When we started pulling data, we questioned whether we just use 88th RD data or U.S. Army Reserve Command data,” shared Rebout. “It was a no brainer to use enterprise data because why not build this for everyone to use? Our COP is pulling facilities information for CONUS and the specific data sources are easily viewed in the tool for complete transparency.”
“We have to work proactively and collaboratively,” said Rebout. “We’re getting after this in a way now where everyone realizes this is too big for one group to do alone. We’re going to miss blind spots if we only look at it from one foxhole. As our Commanding General has positively pushed us to focus on maturing our data operations, our culture is shifting. Instead of referencing static briefs, we want to give our decision makers qualitative near real-time data so if the sky falls, they’re prepared. Everyone will be on the same page and understand what the analytics are telling us versus gut reactions or opinions.”
(Released by LTC Xeriqua Garfinkel)
| Date Taken: |
02.23.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
02.23.2026 12:38 |
| Story ID: |
558600 |
| Location: |
FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: |
28 |
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This work, 88th Readiness Division Collaborates Across Staff Sections to Create Robust Facilities Dashboard, by Ashley Bradford, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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