In a world where digital transformation is the ultimate game-changer, one constant stands out—change. For the Federal government and Department of Defense to achieve their missions in today’s technology-driven environment, digital transformation is not just important; it’s essential. At Ignite Digital Services, we facilitate digital transformation for our clients using an agile approach. Welcome to our Changing Landscape series, where we’ll highlight trends and insights on how digital practices are making mission impacts.
Dump the Documents
Digital engineering goes hand-in-hand with digital transformation; it replaces the conventional document-based engineering processes with digital models to represent characteristics of complex systems, like satellites and shipboard networks. Related data across system models is digitally connected, integrating a system’s design, development, delivery, and lifecycle support for a more fluid, higher-performance product value stream. This gives businesses a more robust understanding of their operational state and facilitates quicker decision-making — allowing everyone to keep pace with emergent mission changes.
Different disciplines fall under the concept of digital engineering, and the “digital thread” ties data together between them. The digital thread informs decision makers throughout a system’s lifecycle by providing the capability to access, relate, and transform previously disparate data into actionable information. For example, data related to a system’s design (including system structure, requirements, parametrics, and behavior) can be threaded through mechanical, software, electrical, testing and logistics models, to name a few. There is a broad spectrum of use cases for digital engineering in all forms, but today, we’ll dive into a specific initiative of the Navy.
Navy Use Case: Model-Based Product Support (MBPS)
As a close partner of the Navy, we’ve seen a significant uptick in Model-Based Product Support (MBPS) initiatives as our clients transition to MBPS practices. MBPS is a Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA)-managed, Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV)-resourced program to modernize the Navy’s lifecycle logistics systems and establish an authoritative source for all configuration data and associated artifacts. This digital engineering inclusive program enables configuration management, provisioning, readiness modeling, and technical data management support for Naval ships and weapons systems and aligns with the vision and guidance in the DoD Digital Engineering Strategy.
MBPS is a Navy-specific program geared toward using models to support the entire lifecycle of Fleet systems, from ongoing procurement to sustainment to lifecycle management, with the mission of ensuring fleet readiness. The digital tools under the MBPS program facilitate the scheduling and executing of availabilities for ships and defense systems as they undergo maintenance and modernization overhauls.
The demand for MBPS understanding is growing, so we are expanding our capabilities with certified specialists to support this digital engineering work. We have several Configuration Technical Data Manager (CTDM)-certified team members on staff and a pipeline of additional staff preparing to become CTDM-certified this fall.
A couple of exciting areas in which we support client adoption of MBPS include managing C4I systems for Navy submarines and C3 equipment in MILCON projects. As a newly integrated, large-scale program-of-record, we expect MBPS will face hurdles — including change management concerns, skills and training gaps, and evolving customer needs — as it reaches its full operating capacity (FOC). IDS is ready to overcome these hurdles by:
- Investing in staff training to cement our status as early adopters:
- Staying in tune with MBPS integration plans and training opportunities; and
- Training personnel across multiple relevant task orders to relay pertinent information and prepare plans that prevent the hurdles from becoming problems.
IDS is uniquely situated as a growing subject-matter expert to support the MBPS program office and its end-user clients. We are committed to accelerating the transformation of the DoD to a data-centric organization with a culture that views data as a strategic asset.
You can learn more about our companywide capabilities in digital transformation, managed services and data solutions, then reach out to us if we can help you navigate your own digital transformation.
Contributor:
Rob Stolin is a Principal at Ignite Digital Services, a leading digital transformation and systems integration company serving the national security sector.
