The Veteran Health Administration, Spinal Cord Injury Disorder(SCI/D) System of Care mission is to support, promote, and maintain the health, independence, quality of life, and productivity of individuals with SCI/D throughout their lives. These objectives are accomplished through: rehabilitation; sustaining medical and surgical care; patient and family education; psychological, social, and vocational care; research; education; and professional training in the continuum of care for persons with SCI/D. The SCIDO application (version 3.0) provides a tool for establishing outcome measures and determining best-practices for care of patients with spinal cord injuries. It makes use of Red Hat Linux, Oracle, and Java. SCIDO is located in several facilities around the country and feeds data to a data collection facility in Austin, TX. We performed the user testing, technical writing, software release/installation and provided customer help desk support on this task order.
Project Accomplishments
Project accomplishments and associated activities are described below.
Task 1: Contract Award Meeting
Supporting the VHA Innovations Programs, Technik commenced on the task orders after coordinating and facilitating a Project Kick-Off Meeting with the VA PM. At the kickoff meeting, Technik presented a project plan (Microsoft project version), Draft Project Management Plan (including staffing plan, communication plan, risk management plan, quality management plan, facilities plan, training plan etc) and Project-At-A-Glance sheet. Templates of the monthly progress reports and weekly status meeting were distributed and meeting minutes for the Kick-Off meeting were sent within 5 days of the Project Kick-Off.
Task 2: Project Management Plan
Technik staff developed a Project Management Plan (PMP) that laid out the Contractor’s approach, timeline and tools to be used in execution of the work performed under the task order. The draft PMP was delivered on project Kickoff and updated through the duration of the project. The PMP addressed our approach to Risk Management, Change and Configuration Management, Quality Assurance, and Communications Management.
Task 3: Reporting Requirements
Technik provided the PM and COTR with monthly In Progress Reports. These reports reflected status as of the last day of the preceding reporting period. These Progress Reports covered all work completed during the reporting period; status of milestones and meeting with stakeholders; and work planned for the subsequent reporting period. The report also identified risks and their mitigation strategies and included Earned Value Metrics.
Task 4: Technical Writing Services
Technik analyzed current business applications and systems architecture for current features and new enhancements. We documented and maintained Functional Requirements Documents, Technical Design Specification and System Architecture documents. We use OED ProPath Methodology processes and compliant templates.
Task 5: Life Cycle Development and Application Development
Technik personnel have been completely responsible for full life cycle of program development of all applications including the Daily plan web, Meadows Web Services / MDO objects, Auto Order /Standing Sentry and SCIDO applications. We worked with the VA staff to gather information necessary for daily operations and participated in all required project calls with appropriate staff. We utilized a Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) that is classified as iterative and agile by VA.
Task 6: Provide Customer Service Help Desk Support
Technik provided Tier 2 and Tier 3 customer help desk to the VHA innovations team. We provided telephone and email support to VHA Innovation staff including Project Managers, clinicians and nurses. We also provided deployment and release management related help desk support for the SCIDO application.
Task 7: Provide User Acceptance Testing
Technik personnel performed the unit and integration testing services including creation of unit test, test plans, functional testing, system acceptance, performance testing and verified user account permissions.
Task 8: Provide Data Entry and Technical Writing Support
Technik produced written materials for the user manuals of the current and enhanced version of the applications, ensuring that they are written to the technical level of the users. We edited manuals to accommodate all updates made to the software packages or processes and stored/saved all documentation in Sub Version and Technik ShareNet Portal. Other user documentation included functional design documents, technical design documents, source code documentation, test plans test results, release notes, deployment plans, user guides, standard operating procedures, etc.
Task 9: Performance Metrics/ Criteria for Acceptance
Performance Metrics Reports used quality, responsiveness, timeliness, narratives, staffing/ vacancy reports, invoices, and accuracy of data.
Overall Performance: Excellent
Delivery: Technik adhered to all deadlines and produced deliverables in a timely manner.
Cost Control: Technik performed within cost and budget.
Corrective Actions Taken: None
Technologies Used
Technologies used include: Red Hat Linux, Oracle, and Java