Ensuring Systems Resilience for Intelligence Units

Case Story

Context

Supporting Army Intelligence Operations

The U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) conducts intelligence, security, and information operations for the U.S. Army. Since 2021, Cognosante has provided enterprise IT and management support for INSCOM’s Integrated Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) operations, thereby ensuring the seamless and dependable functionality of the systems environment analysts use to achieve this mission.

The Challenge

Ensuring Critical Systems are Available and Maintained 24/7

Intelligence analysts depend on having timely access to complete, reliable information in a form that is actionable and easy to digest. The Geospatial Intelligence Enterprise Tasking, Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination Services, or GETS system, used by GEOINT analysts, must be secure, available, dependable, and maintain rigorous continuity of operations protocols. A loss of system availability in this context due to regular maintenance or disruptions beyond the program’s control can compromise the mission’s success and the safety of personnel.

Worldwide workstation deployment and maintenance

24/7 Enterprise IT and Management Support

100% of critical systems’ availability maintained

Unified, dependable functionality for Intelligence Units

Our Solution

Applying Our Mission-First Expertise and Unifying the Platform for Consistent Experience and Availability

Cognosante maintains the availability, usability, and dependability of the GETS system through:

Mission-First Culture: Cognosante recruits for mission-passion. Many of our GEOINT IT professionals have been with the program in various capacities for decades and feel a strong connection to the work they do. This tenured team is dedicated to achieving program results and understands the very real consequences of outages that compromise the success and safety of the intelligence analysts they support.

Program Management Excellence: The 24/7 environment requires near-constant uptime. Maintenance updates must be carefully scheduled, and unplanned events must be resolved quickly to maintain continuity of operations. Our program management rigor and dedication to the mission has enabled the team to maintain a highly available environment, and quickly and creatively address challenges when they arise.

Process Rigor: Maintaining Authority to Operate (ATO) in this dynamic environment requires careful planning and execution. Cognosante’s rigorous process controls, change management processes, and thoughtful staffing have enabled the team to complete the actions needed to maintain ATO without disrupting mission-critical work.

Forward-Focus: The GETS solution is currently used by GEOINT analysts in several locations across the United States and overseas. The legacy platforms vary considerably by site, creating differences in interface and functionality. By considering program needs strategically, we have developed a solution that will unify the platform across sites, creating a more consistent experience and functionality for analysts, regardless of their location.

Our Tangible Results

Enabling the Army to Make Intelligence-based Decisions Faster

During 2022, our process rigor led to 0% downtime for the software and web portal used by GEOINT analysts, exceeding maximum availability goals.
Combining innovative thinking and program management excellence, we improved the monitoring and support of critical infrastructure after-hours, reducing misdirected support calls and maintaining 24/7 systems support.
By implementing our new GETS solution, we’re ensuring unified and dependable functionality for GEOINT analysts worldwide.
By reducing the need for 24/7 onsite staffing, we’re helping the customer achieve significant cost-savings over the life of the contract.
We’re enabling analysts to gather information, analyze it, and form a bigger picture of intelligence so the Army can make timely decisions for their units and squadrons.

We build secure, highly available, highly reliable systems that increase safety and security by delivering information at the speed of the mission.

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