US Department of Agriculture (USDA) – Emergency Management Response System (EMRS)

Technik is providing all necessary personnel, management and technical services support to meet the performance objectives of the USDA Emergency Management Response System (EMRS) Enhancements project. EMRS-2 is used by the National Preparedness and Incident Coordination Center (NPIC) to investigate and manage animal disease outbreaks and instances. Technik is providing the specialized developers and personnel to provide the enhancements and system upgrades that are necessary as USDA APHIS responds to confirmed cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5 in multiple States.  EMRS-2 is the primary data collection application for this response.

Project Accomplishments

Project accomplishments and associated activities are described below.

Task 1: Program Management. 

Technik has a comprehensive project management approach and suite of tools. Our Project Manager (PM) conducts the tasks in this area by developing and publishing a full-term Integrated event-based Management Plan (IMP) outlining key implementation milestones and levels of effort. Our PM develops, publishes and uses this plan and uses it to manage the day-to-day execution of the program. Technik also uses this plan to track technical and schedule status, and keep USDA managers apprised of EMRS-2 progress at regular intervals.

Task 2: Configure and Customize Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Application Development: Technik develops all enhancements and system upgrades for the EMRS effort including plug-ins, workflow and CRM form customizations. Technik staff utilizes Rally to manage requirements and user stories, assigning timelines and plans of action for each item. Our business analysts gather requirements from USDA working closely with USDA developers, veterinarians and field researchers. Our developers provide advanced CRM workflow process knowledge and identify situations where custom activities can and should be used in dialogs/workflows.

Application Testing: We conducted unit and integration testing of our source code and prototype applications. USDA customers performed end user acceptance testing. Deliverables included test plans, test results and acceptance results.

Deployment: Enhancements and system upgrades are deployed after USDA approval. Release management efforts included development of release management plans and deployment plans. Our team delivered updated user documentation included installation guides, security guides, trouble shooting guides, operations manual and other architecture documents.

Task 3: Help Desk Support

Technik provides qualified personnel to support the USDA Help Desk.  Our Help desk technicians provide prompt responses to questions from employees. They troubleshoot, diagnose and resolve problems related to operating systems, hardware and software. They also document problems and conversations to create a log that can be referenced by other technicians and for training purposes.

Overall Performance:  Excellent
D
elivery: 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:  SSRS, SSMS, SSIS, Microsoft CRM 2011, Microsoft CRM 2015, T-SQL, C#, .Net