Create a useful data layer

Use Advana as a data layer only. Any solution that is able to gather data from multiple sources and present that data with proper tagging and structure would be sufficient. For a variety of reasons, Advana is likely to remain in place.

Advana’s strengths are its approved ATO, a breadth of commercial and open source software tools, and its existing data connections. Advana falls short as a user-facing system. It is especially poorly suited for Congressional staff and should not be used as a user interface. Developing the UI is a task better suited to commercial or open source solutions like a Customer Relationship Management platform (CRM). DoD should find other solutions like Login.gov to handle authentication. The data contained within Advana is useful. The user interface and applications built on top of Advana are not.

The Advana team lacks the appropriate development skill and HCD mindset to build customer-facing applications. Instead, the Advana team should focus on establishing better data collection, governance, access, and oversight controls. Improved business processes will be critical to scaling Advana across the DoD enterprise, including support for the enclave.

Implement a data strategy that is consistent across Advana. Labeling information at the data layer is a simple best practice with many benefits including security, usability, and cost efficiency. By doing so, Advana would eliminate the need to maintain separate infrastructure for different organizations. It could expose the appropriate data to each application that requests it based on what a user is approved to see rather than what system they are using to access it. All of the DoD will benefit from improved flexibility around a user’s changing needs, such as when they change jobs or responsibilities. If a user was given oversight of a new program, for example, the system could read that change and their applications would begin showing them information related to their new responsibilities. Importantly, implementing a tagging structure at this point in time will require a significant investment of resources. More research is needed to understand those costs.

Implement a single instance of Advana. The architecture and usability of Advana should be dramatically simplified. A consolidated architecture would mean fewer instances and user controls to support. By applying data controls, all Advana users across the enterprise can access information they are authorized to see through a single environment. Only those who have appropriate access to underlying data would be able to use it.

Each piece of data should have a single, authoritative location. Any time that information is needed, it should be pulled either directly from the authoritative source or, if that is not feasible, it should be pulled from a single updated source and appropriately marked as being updated at a specific time. Unfettered data replication across environments and security boundaries leads to situations in which a system is presenting data as current when it is, in fact, out of date. This may occur when multiple organizations edit different copies of the same information that are not synchronized. This means some copies of that data may no longer be up to date due to changes having been made by another cognizant organization.

Implement a data architecture that allows single user accounts across all data sets and applications. In order for an enclave to successfully bridge the gap between people, organizational silos, and data, a single set of applications should be made available. These applications should be able to fetch any data a user is authorized to see. This type of centralized approach would improve security and communication while drastically simplifying data sharing, including sharing data with Congressional staff.

In addition to reducing administrative burden by managing fewer instances of Advana, there should be more cross-organization sharing of tools and resources. This could reduce the overall cost of the contracts that are required for enclave development and support while also inspiring more creative and beneficial uses of data across the DoD. This approach also centralizes technical support services for Advana to a single organization, lowering costs, providing consistency, and improving oversight. When implemented correctly, centralized data, tools, and services is the primary benefit of Advana.