ARS REE Administrative Portal Modernization: Overview of the New Portal Karen Brindle Deputy Director for Accountability and Organizational Performance Eastern Business Service Center Administrative & Financial Management Agricultural Research Service NOV 2013

The current AFM Customer Service Portal is a custom application built on the MS SharePoint 10 platform. The Office of the Chief Information Officer currently manages the portal on behalf of AFM. An outside service contract, FutureNet, provided maintenance support and enhancement services through the end of FY13. The current portal has varying levels of utilization by customers and business service center employees. Overview of the New Portal Background 2

We worked through challenges with the Portal Version 3.0 as we came to the end of FY13: Implications of contract for development and support ending Alternatives Considerations Overview of the New Portal The Challenge 3

Cloud-based application with expected lower maintenance and operating costs Access through eAuthentication, allowing for better document security Built-in dashboard and performance analytics tools Simpler and more intuitive work request & service delivery tracking functionality Overview of the New Portal The Solution 4 AFM has finalized an Interagency Agreement with USDA WCTS – Washington Communications and Technology Services – for the development of the AFM Customer Service Portal on the Salesforce ‘Force.com’ platform. The new portal will have several improvements:

Work Request and Service Delivery Tracking – Service Request Entry – Service Request Assignment – Service Request Tracking – Service Request Closeout – Customer Satisfaction Feedback Loop – External Links – Data Analytics – Mobile Device Support Service Team Collaboration Sites Role-based Document Sharing and Collaboration Process Automation Workflow Management Workflow, Form and Data Integration Overview of the New Portal Priority System Features 5

The new portal development project kicked off on 12 September. Completion and production release of the new customer interface is tentatively scheduled for March 2014, due to delays incurred by the furlough. Overview of the New Portal Timeline 6 TasksScheduleApprox. End Date Task 1 – Project Initiation/Project ManagementWeek Sep 2013 – Mar 2014 Task 2 – Iteration PlanningWeek 1Sep 2013 Task 3 – Iteration 1 Implementation Includes Requirements validation and Application design, System Implementation and Configuration, Data Migration, Application testing support, Application training, and Production Cut-over. Week 2 – 7Nov 2013 Task 3 – Iteration 2 ImplementationWeek 8 – 11Dec 2013 Task 3 – Iteration 3 ImplementationWeek 12 – 16Jan 2014 Task 3 – Iteration 4 ImplementationWeek 17 – 21Feb 2014 Task 4 – Additional Iterations (TBD)N/A Task 5 – ARS Staff Development and TrainingWeek 22Mar 2014 Task 6 – Portal Management and Enhancement Support Starts at the end of Iteration 4 Beginning Mar 2014

Iteration 1 Business Line: Information Technology Current Project Status Questions? For further information, please contact Karen Brindle at Overview of the New Portal Where We Are Today 7