US Army Command and Control Support Agency Selects Microsoft .NET Platform to Manage Reserve Force Mobilization

The US Army's Command and Control Support Agency (CCSA) has transformed the Army mobilization process by deploying an n-tier Web-based solution created by MKGCS, Incorporated, using the Microsoft .NET Platform and the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET integrated development environment. The solution uses XML Web services to integrate manpower requirements, available personnel, regulatory approval processes and document production giving dozens of Army Commands and thousands of users an integrated means to request, source and manage the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of soldiers in support of the Global War on Terrorism.

Organization Overview

The mobilization of US Army Reserve and National Guard units and personnel is an extrordinarily complex and time critical function of the Army as a force provider, enabling deployed commanders to conduct military operations. The mobilization process involves the collection of requirements for forces, selecting an appropriate and available unit to fill a specific mission, generating the statutory notifications to Congress, and issuing a myriad of alerts and orders to the controlling commands for individual units. The US Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations (G-3) is the proponent for mobilization and CCSA provides the G-3 with the infrastructure and means to direct the Army's mobilization activities.

The Challenge

The CCSA required a Web-based solution that would integrate feeds from the Global Command and Control System, the Army Standard Organization Reporting System and from local Access mobilization databases, creating for the first time a single view of the authoritative data that drive mobilization decision making. Additionally the CCSA wanted a system that could provide business process and document management to tracking decisions, generate and store military orders and other required documents, and produce management reports on the status of mobilized forces for Army and DoD leaders.

Solution

CCSA turned to MKGCS LLC, ( www.mkgcs.com ) for help in developing a solution. MKGCS called upon the Microsoft .NET Framework. Built using Visual Studio .NET, the solution leverages the .NET Framework's comprehensive support for XML Web services-programmable application components that can be accessed using standard Web protocols.

The solution, built on Windows® 2000 Advanced Server, is based on the scalable n -tier architecture supported by the .NET Platform. The Web tier is based on ASP.NET, a component of the .NET Framework that enables developers to build powerful server-side Web applications and XML Web services. The user interface was created using the new ASP.NET Web Forms design tools in Visual Studio .NET, which enable developing Web applications using the same powerful form-based design techniques traditionally employed for building desktop applications.

Across the Department of Defense Classified Network, the application consumes a nd p rovides XML b ased w eb s ervices written in .NET for the exchange of data between dis p arate s ystems. The application consumes an XML Web service f rom the middle-tier server to draw authoritative data from personnel information systems and can then fill in required but missing soldier information to complete the mobilization process using near real time data.

The greatest benefit of using the .NET platform was the ability to create exactly what the customer wanted very quickly . "We were able to build a library of code that allows us to rapidly assemble a n application based on a evolving set of business rules " said Michael Karagiannis , President MKGCS. "Leveraging XML services to provide realtime data from authoritative systems gives our leadership situational awareness on a unprecedented level of accuracy."MKGCS also benefited from the integrated development environment of Visual Studio .NET.

"The Visual Studio .NET integrated development environment has brought the reality of rapid prototyping to n -tier application development," said MKGCS programming engineer Mark Barrineau . "Our clients are exposed to the a wide collection of professional IT journals and they expect us to employ Web-time development, agile architecting, and extreme programming. To do those things, you need the tool base. Visual Studio .NET is used by our developers and it seems to be the right tool for rapid prototyping and rich application development."

Solution Overview

Company Name
US Army Command and Control Support Agency

Profile
The Command and Control Support Agency (CCSA) provides mission critical automation systems, networks and data to support the command and control information requirements of Headquarters, Department of the Army (HQDA) and Army activities with Army-wide responsibilities, including mobilization, deployment, readiness and deliberate/crisis planning functions of the Army Staff.

Business Need
Provide mobilization information, management and integration to Army decision makers worldwide.

Benefits
Using the .NET Framework provided a range of benefits including:

• Ability to quickly react to customer needs
• Abillity to consume data from multiple sources of data distrubuted newtorks by leveraging XML web service
• Integrated development environment means enhanced developer productivity

Microsoft Technologies/Products
Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Advanced Server

• Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.0
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000

Microsoft .NET Framework

• ASP.NET
• ADO.NET
• XML Web Forms
• XML Web Services
• COM Interop

Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 

Hardware
Dell Servers

The Microsoft .NET Framework is a platform for building, deploying, and running XML Web services and applications. It provides a highly productive, standards-based, multilanguage environment for integrating existing investments with next-generation applications and services as well as the agility to solve the challenges of deployment and operation of Internet-scale applications. The .NET Framework consists of two main parts: the common language runtime and a hierarchical set of unified class libraries that includes a componentized version of Active Server Pages called ASP.NET, a loosely coupled data access subsystem (ADO.NET), and an environment for building rich Windows®-based applications (Windows Forms).