Situation
BIS currently uses a manual process for receiving, processing reports from industry, producing activity declarations, vetting and delivering them to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
ADV developed an automated solution called Additional Protocol Reporting System (APRS) to replace the manual process with web applications resulting in shorter processing times and lower error rates. 300 US locations required to report their activities to BIS can submit their reports online and 5 government agencies process the reports to generate a final declaration for the IAEA.
ADV aims to provide innovative solutions to their customers who are facing new challenges. The company was chosen as a software development partner because of our ability to solve complex business problems. The project team, consisting of 15 employees, was tasked to develop an automated system using an agile development process. ADV’s development process includes collaboration with business units, management of changing requirements, employing a component based and service-oriented architectures, verification of quality of service, and delivery solution that meets or exceeds customers’ expectations.
ADV did not just offer tools but also incorporated them in the Agile Development Process. Contributing expertise and technical skills ADV helped BIS implement DevOps methodologies like Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery to accelerate development, test and deployment cycle. Our approach resulted in higher velocity, increased efficiency, better accuracy, lower error rate, closer cooperation between agencies, and adaptability to future transformation and goals.
Involving the development team with the stakeholders and clients throughout the process resulted in the higher quality end product in shorter time. Required application features are demonstrated to the client during review and release approval touch points which promotes transparency and generates trust in ADV’s technical capabilities.
ADV’s agile development process offers fast time to market results. The first version of the working product appeared only 3 weeks after the start of the project. Seeing immediate success in the use of an Agile Development Process inspired a change in stakeholder behavior, it started to nurture attitudes and culture which supported the iterative and incremental approach; cooperation, experimentation, trust and responsibility.
The Development Process
Additional Protocol Reporting System (APRS) takes advantage of prevalent open standards, technologies, protocols, automation tools, and best practices. APRS, built with the platform-independent, enterprise-grade Java programming model and utilizes standard-based technologies such as SpringBoot, MVC, XML, HTML5, JavaScript, Bootstrap, Thymeleaf, Hibernate, and web services.
The system wide communications use standard protocols such as TCP/IP, HTTP/S, LDAP/S, and SSL/TLS for interactions among system components. These standard based technologies and protocols are conformant to the government security standards established by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). By using open standards, ADV maintains the ability to upgrade as technologies and products evolve.
To achieve software modularity and to promote system maintainability, ADV used a component based and service-oriented development approach which supports superior design practices, software reuse and shared services.
To minimize the cost of development and operational support, APRS used a mix of Free/Open Source (FOSS) and Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) products and tools. The use of an Oracle database management system and Tomcat application servers provides the best of the breed software products in the industry, as well as reduces the cost of maintaining and supporting custom built software.
Benefits and Results
The APRS software system has allowed the BIS business to solidify a cost-effective expansion of its reporting capability. The development and fine-tuning of this mission critical software system has been crucial to TCD and its clients reporting requirements. The software simplifies collaboration among BIS, NRC, DOD, DOE and INTEL required to verify the reports and vet the final declaration for IAEA.
ADV has perfected a software development model that allows organizations to develop systems using the latest technology platform and technical applications.
Future
ADV mature technical capabilities resonate with our customers who engage with us in beneficial partnerships. Demonstrated performance and successful result driven solutions drive ADV to invest heavily in engineering technology for its Enterprise Services.