GCSS-Army. Our Vision: Continuously improving the capability of our soldiers war fighting superiority by dominating through supply chain overmatch

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1 JULY 2017 MENTORSHIP PROGRAM PG.1 RELEASE MANAGEMENT PG.2 FORT LEE OUTREACH PG.3 ISSUE 12 FIELDING UPDATE FY2017 M I D - YEAR REVIEW PG.5 PG.5 Our Vision: Continuously improving the capability of our soldiers war fighting superiority by dominating through supply chain overmatch GCSS-Army MENTORSHIP PROGRAM By Isaac B. McKay, Logistics Division, PMO GCSS-Army Fort Lee, Virginia According to the National Mentoring Partnership website, one in three young adults reach the age of 19 without a mentor. On a national scale, that adds up to approximately 16 million youths, including those deemed at-risk (9 million). With the guidance of LTC Hayward and his Community Outreach Initiative, the GCSS-Army team he calls Varsity is doing our part to ensure that school-aged children in the Tri-Cities area are not part of these statistics. On June 21, 2017, GCSS-Army staff took the first steps to seeing this initiative come to fruition. Under the instructions of Ms. Rose Marie Wiegandt, Director of Program Services of the Virginia Mentoring Partnership, eighteen GCSS-Army employees completed a 2.5 hour New Mentor Training workshop. In this workshop, new mentors reviewed techniques that will prepare us to be the most effective mentors possible. The workshop included sections for developing a solid understanding of the following: a mentor s role, how to build a relationship techniques, stages of relationship development, reporting requirements, effective communication, setting boundaries, and the positive youth development framework. Ms. Wiegandt was careful to note the mentorship program is not meant to be a tutoring program to help children with their homework. Instead, the focus is on attitudes, esteem building and setting and achieving goals. Varsity s ultimate goal, with the help of the Virginia Mentoring Partnership, is to adopt a school in the Petersburg, Prince George, Hopewell, or Colonial Heights area, and work with school officials to identify at-risk students that may need or can benefit from having a mentor. Our plan is to meet with the identified at-risk students on a weekly basis from September through May providing the mentor ship to help kids with their attitudes, self-esteem, career choices, and goals. GCSS-Army Mentorship Program -New Mentor Training workshop. Photo by: Sherrell Satterthwaite, Program Management Division, PMO GCSS-Army 1

2 GCSS-Army Release Management: A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT HOW PLANS, EXECUTES, AND DEPLOYS RELEASES. By Craig A. Carman, GCSS-Army Release Manager, PMO GCSS-Army GCSS-Army Release content ranges from standard system maintenance activity (i.e., security patches, parameter changes, database indexes, certificate updates) to major new capabilities built as part of GCSS-Army Increments. The GCSS-Army Release Management Team works in conjunction with PMO) and Northrop Grumman Change Management, Configuration Management, Software Development, Test & Validation, Training, and Technical Management Teams to plan, execute, and deploy releases. Release planning begins a year or more in advance, with the determination of the GCSS-Army outage schedule. The outage schedule reserves up to two outage Windows each month a primary and an alternate date. The alternate date is used when unforeseen circumstances force a move from the primary date (or for emergency changes that require the system to be taken offline between primary dates). These Outage Windows are scheduled on Saturday night beginning at 2200 and concluding generally by 0600 the next morning (many have a duration much shorter than 8 hours). The outage schedule must be planned with respect to financial month-end and year-end closing (mock and actual), federal holidays, readiness reporting, and common leave windows. Release Management identifies three release types; sustainment releases, maintenance releases, and emergency releases. Sustainment releases contain functional changes (new functions and/or problem fixes) and can be major or minor in scope. Major releases are longer in duration and have significant or high risk functional content (i.e., complex new capabilities or SAP software updates) that requires significant testing activity. Most of GCSS-Army sustainment releases are minor releases occurring every 2 to 3 months during an Outage Window. Maintenance outages are for system maintenance activities (and occasionally an emergency change) that require the GCSS-Army system to be offline. Emergency releases can occur at any time and are only used for severe problem fixes that cannot be delayed to the next outage window. GCSS-Army currently has a large backlog of change activity. GCSS-Army s product backlog is tracked in a Product Portfolio that contains required system changes from a variety of sources: GCSS-Army User Help Desk tickets, funded new capability change requests, as well as change items related to infrastructure updates and performance enhancements. Backlog items are prioritized by GCSS-Army Capability Developers: Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM) and US Army Financial Management Command (USAFMCOM). These priorities are used in conjunction with Northrop Grumman s (GCSS-Army system integrator) available capacity to drive the targeted Release content documented in the Product Portfolio. Trading Partner availability (for development and testing of integrated items) and backlog bundling for development efficiency gains also have an impact on the targeted Release content. During release execution, the Development, Test, Training, Technical, and System Engineering Teams carry out the primary activities of preparation and analysis, prototyping, build, and test. Release Management s role in release execution is to maintain and communicate release status, coordinate technical reviews, update the release content with urgent changes, document release notes, and to begin development of the release deployment plan. The product portfolio is used in this phase to document release component status and to build the detailed content in the release notes. GCSS-Army conducts four technical reviews on sustainment releases; Preliminary Design Review (PDR), Development and Documentation Review (DDR), Test Readiness Review (TRR), and Release Management identifies three Releases Types; Sustainment Releases, Maintenance Releases, and Emergency Releases. Production Readiness Review (PRR). These technical reviews are joint reviews with the PMO, Capability Developers, and attending Northrop Grumman personnel. The PRR is also attended by senior leadership from AESIP PMO, G4, and PEO EIS. Each GCSS-Army outage window is managed with a detailed release deployment plan. During release execution, the release deployment plan is coordinated by Release Management to ensure all deployment tasks, their sequence, and durations are captured from the Development, Systems Engineering, and Technical Teams. This plan also includes a system monitoring plan for release components identified as high or medium risk. This early deployment planning ensures that all tasks and the personnel necessary to execute them are documented so the release deployment can be systematically executed. Release deployment begins after the PRR and includes execution of the release deployment plan, posting of training bulletins and release notes, and post deployment system monitoring. Much of this activity occurs from Thursday through Sunday on the outage window weekends, but system monitoring on high/ medium risk release components is conducted for two weeks after the release. Release deployment overnight on Saturday night is coordinated by Release Management. An open conference line is used to communicate status and coordinate handoffs between dependent release activities. Release Management plays a valuable role in the planning and coordinating the delivery of new capabilities for GCSS-Army users while protecting the integrity of the existing capabilities. Adding value by overcoming complexities, Release Management delivers change efficiently and minimizes risks. 2

3 GCSS-Army FORT LEE OUTREACH By Alyssa Baron, Program MGT Division, PMO GCSS-Army The questions covered functional, technical, help desk, training and governance issues across the supply, maintenance and property book areas. Much of the discussion focused on the prioritization of help desk tickets and system functionality, as well as integration of future increments into the GCSS-Army baseline. Upon conclusion of the session, Mr. Billy McCain identified 11 questions captured during the session that required follow-up responses to the Fort Lee community by COB 7 July The session went extremely well and participants left highly encouraged and more informed on GCSS-Army s functional capabilities. On 27 June 2017, the Product Manager (PdM) Global Combat Support System-Army (GCSS-Army) and Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM) hosted the 2nd GCSS-Army Outreach Program event at GCSS-Army s Feldman Hall facility at Fort Lee, Virginia. The work of this session and the GCSS-Army Outreach Program supports units across the Army who have converted to GCSS-Army Wave 2 by identifying and addressing their most critical sustainment needs. The GCSS-Army Outreach Program is also scheduled to travel to Germany, South Korea, Texas and Afghanistan for future outreach events. The exact dates will be scheduled upon personnel availability and Operational Tempo of the program and its clients. This outreach initiative which first kicked off on 22 February 2017 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina for Forces Command (FORSCOM) and United States Army Reserve Command (USARC) clients is part of the GCSS-Army s sustainment effort going forward. Clients from Army Sustainment Command (ASC) and U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) filled the new GCSS-Army Medal of Honor Conference Room to capacity to address their Logistics Readiness Centers (LRC) fielding and sustainment issues from the conversion to GCSS-Army. Participants also dialed in remotely from the Army G-4 and Fort Benning. GCSS-Army and CASCOM subject matter experts were there to answer questions posed by Fort Lee users. CPT (P) Shana Gurley, Assistant Product Manager GCSS-Army, opened the session with a formal welcome, an introduction and a statement of purpose. She was followed by the GCSS-Army Product Support Manager, Mr. Billy McCain, who facilitated the forum. He introduced Subject Matter Experts and guided the discussion. The SMEs proceeded to address over 73 questions from Fort Lee users on their conversion to the GCSS-Army system. GCSS-Army Fort Lee Outreach Program Photo by: Sherrell Satterthwaite, Program Management Division, PMO GCSS-Army 3

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5 UPCOMING EVENTS FY 4 JULY- INDEPENDENCE DAY 26 JULY- TOWNHALL FEB LAST QUARTER IN REVIEW CELEBRATES THEIR MOVE TO FELDMAN HALL AT RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY 4 AUGUST- AESIP CHANGE OF CHARTER 30 AUGUST- FOOTBALL KICK-OFF LUNCHEON APR JUN CELEBRATES U.S. ARMY S 242ND BIRTHDAY HOSTS CAR SHOW & LUNCHEON 4 SEPTEMBER- LABOR DAY 22 SEPTEMBER- ORGANIZATIONAL DAY JUN HOSTS BG PATRICK W. BURDEN, PEO EIS DURING A BI WEEKLY FIELDING Wave 2 (PBUSE and SAMS-E replacement): -- 85% Complete -- Conducting Virtual Over the Shoulder for Fielding Group 26 --PdM GCSS-Army is collecting lessons learned from all fielding groups -- Fielding Group 27 entered Blackout phase on 13 July 2017 OMING UPC WAVE 2 EVENTS: -- FG 28 is in the D minus 30 window -- FG 29 is in the D minus 60 window -- FG 30 is in the D minus 90 window Fielding Group 27 Property Value: $12,344,747,676 Total Converted to Date: ~$240,752,122,